22/09/2020
“When you’re 52, have 2 kids and no full-time job– life can seem daunting; you think to yourself, ‘What the hell am I doing?' That was me 6 years ago when I decided to quit my stable job to start my own business. All through the 9-5 corporate life I’d think of how exhausting my routine was. It was an endless cycle of long working hours.
I’d reached the point where I just wanted to be my own boss– nothing else. So I used all my savings to launch BindassParty– an online platform for organising events. But my decision wasn't well-received by my family. My kids were well-settled but they’d say, ‘Dad, get a real job,’ and my wife would say, ‘This isn’t work!’
I was determined to prove them wrong, but for a while things were a mess. I had a friend from my old corporate job heading the back-end of the business. But we missed opportunities with so many clients because he would never finish any task on time. He’d even blame other employees when he ran out of excuses.
I remember once, we got a chance to pitch to Sanjiv Kapoor– India’s biggest celebrity chef! But he made excuses again and delayed everything. We weren’t able to get anything ready on time, and the opportunity slipped from our hands. I was so disheartened.
I knew I had to restructure– so I took a year-long sabbatical and downsized to a team of just 4. It actually worked because it left very little room for miscommunication! I put a blog about my business on Wordpress and Facebook, and started getting orders. We needed a payment gateway, and got on PayPal– it took us only 5 minutes to set up. And most of our international customers consider it safer! Slowly, we got back on our feet.
But honestly, my business only felt like a ‘real’ business when I onboarded 20 interns… and they mentioned me in their CVs! I remember one intern who I was hesitant to hire because he didn’t know anything about Bombay. But he turned out to be brilliant– he got so many clients!
Things were going uphill until the pandemic hit. In March, we’d planned huge Yoga events with the Dalai Lama and Sri Sri Ravishankar– but they were all cancelled.
Again, I was in a turmoil. I immediately started searching for events that were still taking place online. I knew I had to make the most of the opportunity and moved to the online events model. Now, we’re building a new customer base for upscaling and yoga events.
My family still tells me to focus on stocks and trading– ‘We want to see results,’ but I’m following my heart. Recently, a customer texted me saying that they had the most amazing experience at one of my events. They told me they’d be using it again and told their friends about it! It made me so happy. It just goes to say that age is just a number– the hustle can begin when you’re 20, 30 or even when you’re 50.”
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https://bit.ly/3iUXgkJ
