The Way things were

On one not so bright Monday evening of August 17th,while working for a project,  i suffered an Existential Crisis. It was a recurring project that i have to do, it was the bad boss that i had, It was the 6 by 6 cubicle that i had occupied for past one year. The Existential crisis was “Is this the working life i for see ‘. Does not this cubicle job sounds like Prison. I quickly typed my resignation letter, I know if i would not do it quickly, the “Rationalizing tendency” of my mind, would take over, like it had done before.

My period of Existential crisis was always there, i hate office jobs, i hate switching job, i love work i do, i hate office politics, i hate licking ***, i am what i am. But somehow i manage to stick to it. The familiar rationalizing tendency

1. 9 to 5 job, Saturday Sunday off, what is better then that ?
2. Business is tough. And what business  i would move into ?
3. It is just stupid thoughts, a kind of anger on boss, job is good ?
4. Money and Marriage, Who would bet his girl on a business man, especially in my state ?

It acted like a drug, I know i hated, i do not like myself working for someone else, called it an individualization, or call it young man with a hot blood tendency. This time, i thought “enough is enough”, forget it, I have done for.

Resignation Period

“To succeed in something, burn your bridges ”

I never told my family, i had resigned. I had two months notice period. I did not wanted them to know because once they get the news, they will start sending me “threatening vibes”. I agreed, in our Society, Job is placed at higher altar. Though our family is harcore baniyas, but they believe in “safety of child” , In Business you can be butchered, but in Job, its a safety net. But here Mitesh believe in what Nietzche said, to feel alive , live on a razor edge. Business was exciting and i was feeling alive, but I HAD NO PLANS.

Once i know, i do not wanted to be in Job, i listed down all the thing i can do, which included giving Coaching. I had no plan but one goal — “NO JOB” . So during those two months , i explored all the opportunity i had. I did not concentrated on any one industry, because i know the “Business Jungle” would be totally different, on the plans i would make while viewing Internet. And after four months, i think i was right.

October 22 – Into the wild

Till then, i had zeroed down to following ideas

• Maya51 – selling online painting. Rational was, my cousin was in London looking for paintings from India. I needed to start a website and feed paintings.
• Campus Triangle – a social media site for education purpose.
• Zen Solar – For roof top and Solar water heater installation.
• Social Media sites for leaders – Every one is using twitter, even Narendra Modi too..why not Rajasthan Leaders use it.
• Small IT projects.

The list was long, i agree. Anyone with a cursory view would say, He is bound to fail. I agree, i was not concentrating on any Idea, but after job, i have to work for any Idea. I do not want to put all my eggs in single basket. Genius and Insanity has an inch difference, i would say, My mind was oscillating between these two, before i finally settled here. But i would say, It was a mark of genius from my side.

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The army of my well wisher

I did not know, i had so many well wisher, when i arrived in Jaipur, told my mom flatly, i have done for in Job. What translated was flood of calls and an army of relatives coming in my home, wishing me if all was all right. Why some one leaves a high paying job ? What is in business ? Business is tough ? There was a plumming of my stock in the market, with advert flying that “Mitesh has given up Job”. I mean , “Mitesh is starting Business” was stupid.

It was really really really tough. It was showing your tough face, when your “well wisher” comes, but inherently you felt you are still “exploring”. It was tough, when your well wisher, always come and tells your “OPPORTUNITY COST”, of loosing this amount of salary per month, and you have to listen.

There is something more then “MONEY”, there is life. I had no answers, but i had to listen. I used to get angry very very very much. But slowly, i started getting a tough thick skin. This was the first thing i earn during entrepreunurship. People like to impose there own rules on you.

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one of the poignant moment, visited an orphanage for Biiness, the girl in pic, came to me and started pulling my legs crying,”mumma , mumaa…”..which was nowhere to be found.. 😦

The Start

I an IIT graduate, an IIT graduate. ..this was a good thing i got credential, but this was a bad thing, because first thing people used to ask, “IITians get good money, what are you doing in Business”. All your reputations you have to loose when you are in Business. Well, i earned “thick skin” but i lost my reputation. My first loss.

In the last two months, i did every thing and failed in everything. I started Maya51, hoping to sell paintings online, but could not reach the threshold of 150 paintings, to make it viable. The website is still active. www.maya51.com

I started campus triangle, visited 12 university. What i learned was , in this catherdal of knowledge, where Saraswati needs to recide, Laxmi dictates the term. They were not interested in the product, but in “Return on Investment”. This was one more earning, In business talk about “Munafa”. No one is here for charity. Even if it means improving students life, it should translate into monetary benefit.www.campustriangle.com

My Social Media business, I got an ex-MLA facebook page to maintain, I did got the work, but not the Money. www.facebook.com/ramjiofficial

After one and half months of chutiaps, i realized i need to earn some money. and i got a lead of installing a solar water heater in an industry. I did not had any sort of information on solar water heater, but i needed “any work”. I went there, saw there working, they needed a water pre heater. I told then need to have solar water heater. They said, they will think and told me to come next time.

I did research to get the dealers, found the margins, and in the next meeting i got the deal done. It as a “Beginner luck”, i got a dealership with no paid money, i got the client who was willing to trust my “IIT tag”. Now i had to install it and get the money.

The Solar water Heater — Learning Economics

“Mitesh , you fly.”- Ankit Dusaad

In your first venture, remember you will loose money. I intuitively knew it. Not because they are the word of wisdom, but I do not know any thing about Solar water heater. And also the economics part. As i retrospectively look, on how my 50% margin vaporized into 20% loss, following are the lessons i learnt.

1. There is something call Margin, which is not profit, but a cost cushion in case of eventualities. A grocery store can sell potatoes at 10% margin, because risk is less, but A brand new Toyota Land Rover would sell with 40% margin because of associate risk of delivery and finding customer. I thought 50% margin for Solar water heater was good enough, but did not realize it is a hydra monster with many hidden charges.
2. Over promise and Under deliver :- Why we promise so much and then deliver so little ? , we were desperate for our first deal, and we did what was expected in desperation. To get the deal, we told we will do all the plumbing, we will do all the grouting, we will do “all things” required. We were smothered because we promised everything, without thinking what we were telling. And to add to that, we did not have any written contract.
3. A fool and his money are easily parted :- a hole can sink a ship, thats why Baniya will spend 10 rupees to save 25 paise. Complacent with our margins, we were easy with money. We did not bargain with the plumbers, with the painters , with the technicians and at the end we realized, we were smothered. The pet dialogue of all these parties were ,”you people look genuine, thats why we are asking genuine rates……1000 rupees”. I mean, even a lowly plumbers, thought we were fools, though we did not look like fools, but in there lingo, people who do not bargain a lot are there to be slaughtered.
4. Belief is a hard commodity :- A pack of thieves or a pack of wolves work well, because there relationship are based on mutual distrust, they all know each other secret. If one start having blind trust in other, know it will be butchered. In Business too, we did not take any measure to inquire about the process, about the stake holders “margin”, or on what they are upto. We behaved business to be like in nursery school playground, but found it to be a jungle. Hard lesson learnt, when the client paid us half the money and kept the rest, when he told, we will get when we will get the subsidy. I mean, it was not told, but he told, he did not trust us. We did not prepare ourselves for this eventuality. We were butchered.
5. Dont trust the professionals :- We can expect when money is involved, belief would evaporate, but what if i paid money to a professional CA for his service. I paid five thousand of my hard earned cash, to get my company registered and get the documents ready ; but at the end i found the CA , whom i blindly trusted had goofed up with the TIN and the Registration number, which made me loss ten thousand because of CST and Inter state transportation fine. Lesson learnt, you have to be intelligent in Business, otherwise pay for other people stupidity.

My Partner in Crime

The Lead

“Fortune favors the prepared mind” – Louis Pasteur

I think, the above quote should be the most revered quote for an entrepreneur. While moving from one uncertain venture to other, The only credo that