January 8th 2013 is the day I will never forget - It is the day I will never forget because my dad passed away because of Cancer. Every single second, every single minute, every single passing day i think of my DAD. I reflect about the things he had taught me, the time we spend together and lessons he taught me about Entrepreneurial journey. Here are the few lessons i learned from my dad over the years.
1. Love What You Do
My dad had a business about manufacturing Electrical Panel Boards with a small factory situated in Mumbai. The truth is I never continued the family business. It was an easy start for me to continue working in my dad's factory, but that was not the carrier I choose. Instead i choose a carrier of what i loved, which is called sales.
One day, I went and told my dad I had no interest in his business as I was not enjoying the scope of work. All he did was smiled at me and said " Son, choose something what you love to do " that day he smiled and said, " You are a born sales person " that's when i found out that's what I love to do.
2. Failure is the first step to success
The day I found out I loved sales, I decided to start a business of selling websites for small scale business in India. Initially me and my partner did not have an office, we started our business from home. We went door to door knocking and pitching the great idea of having a website for a small scale company. But the result was we were turned down every time we pitched in for the idea of having a great website. Result was we Failed in our business, but we never failed with our idea at age of 21.
3. Believe in the idea
After We failed, I still didn't loose hope. When my partner pitched me the idea of Investment Advising Firm for the real estate brands in India. We believed in the idea. We started the firm by looking backwards of the mistakes that we made in the past. I remember when my dad started his factory, all he told me was he started because he failed in his first and second business.
We started the firm in our bedroom with our personal laptops and mobile phones. We started the firm with a Rs 60,000 investment and within a year we did a business of 85 lacs with almost 72 satisfied clients around Mumbai.
4. In Search Of Happiness.
I always asked my dad, why are you always happy and smiling ? Answer to my question was he found happiness not just by being rich. But happiness for him is defined as small joy's. My Dad's factory main client was the Indian Army, where he manufactured machinery parts for the Indian Navy Research. Years later my dad had received his first appreciation award from the Indian Defence Army. I remember my dad's words on the stage " This award has bought happiness to my life, which money could never buy "
I kept reflecting on the words he said. I regret because my dad was not able to see me graduate and I failed in my studies as I was not a bright student. But after my failure in studies, when me and my partner had started our second firm at age of 24, Our company was awarded as one of the top 10 Investment Advising Firms in Mumbai. That evening when I went on the stage to receive my first Entrepreneurial award, my dad's words came back to me like a star. I felt so happy within my heart, saying this is called " Happiness" as I knew my dad was watching me from heaven . Later we had also won top 10 startup awards for 2014 and Appreciation Award by Lifestyle Group for 2015.
When we think of the word "entrepreneur," images of iconic business leaders typically pop into our heads, such as Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg, Mark Cuban or Elon Musk, just to name a few. But When I think of the word Entrepreneur the only person that comes to my mind is my " Dad" who i always miss a lot.
