Businessmen - it sounds proud

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Commerce has always attracted attention, like any area where big money is spinning. It can be logically assumed that merchants are people who are engaged in commerce. However, there are some difficulties and conventions in this issue, so it is worth looking into it in more detail.

Kommersant: the meaning of the word and history

The rich Russian language is rich in synonyms, and each of them has its own emotional connotation. With a respectful accent, they talk about merchants, entrepreneurs and businessmen, but such terms as a merchant and a merchant are already outdated, although these are all absolute synonyms. If you change the emotional tone, it turns out that businessmen are speculators, speculators and traders.

Historically, in our country, entrepreneurs were in a difficult position. Tsarist Russia extolled noble blood, but the merchants belonged to the merchant layer, and the contemptuous nickname "merchant" was commonplace. Peter I gave the merchants respect, raised them to a new level, but the Soviet Union again brought them down into an even more bottomless pit. Under the USSR, privateproperty was denounced to such an extent violently that there was only one entrepreneur - the state. A new definition has appeared, according to which a businessman is by default a greedy and dishonest person, a huckster and a speculator. Now commerce is back in the right place and is respected.

Talent or Profession?

What does it take to become a businessman - a special flair or can it be learned? Theoretically, it can be argued that a businessman is a profession, and a rather difficult one. You need to have a broad outlook and innovative thinking, be able to combine several different speci alties, be a financier, trader and diplomat at the same time.

But why are there so many mediocre entrepreneurs around, who year after year survive on modest profits that are barely enough to cover daily expenses? At the same time, there are amazing people about whom they say that money literally sticks to their hands. It turns out that the real businessmen are the descendants of the legendary King Midas, who turned everything he touched into gold. Of course, commerce can be learned, just as you can learn musical literacy. However, if there is no natural instinct, then the ideal may not be achieved.

Complexities of modern commerce

At the moment, businessmen are more diplomats who try to slip through the rather imperfect legislation in order to manage not to go broke and to comply with all laws at the same time. It's not for everyone, becausethat in addition to the inaccuracies of the law, there will always be envious and greedy people who want to get an undeserved piece of someone else's pie. In the "dashing nineties" a businessman was automatically considered a bandit, because business acumen went hand in hand with criminal talent, otherwise it was simply impossible to survive. It is surprising that under such conditions, entrepreneurs were able to do anything at all.

Now the borders are wide open, but not wide open, global markets beckon with wide opportunities, but at the same time one has to closely study the mentality of world business, which in each country has its own unique national flavor. If we now ask the question: "Businessmen - who are they: criminals or merchants?" - then the answer may turn out to be discouraging, because the modern term "oligarch" is most often perceived as a "mega-merchant". An entrepreneur who does not want to fall behind the ever-accelerating rhythm of life is forced to continuously learn and stay on the crest of the wave. New technologies have to be adopted faster so that competitors do not have time to drown the business of an overly conservative businessman.

How to become a merchant

Although a talent for entrepreneurship is desirable, it is also true that a hard-working craftsman will be more successful than a lazy talent. Active natures take a broad approach to their opportunities on the path of entrepreneurship, first of all they subject their own talents to critical analysis, look for their strengths and work on their shortcomings.

So, who are the merchants:merchants gifted with trading talents or persistent dilettantes? Anyone can become a merchant, because by and large, even a grandmother selling seeds is also engaged in commerce, and very successfully. Such a grandmother has delicious seeds, and the place is chosen wisely, and the image meets the expectations of buyers. Entire analytical departments are fighting over such harmony in serious firms. Becoming a merchant is simple - you need to get up and start acting, and the degree of success of the enterprise depends only on your determination.