Life hacks that made these 5 Indians exceptionally successful
Being a successful entrepreneur has nothing to do with money or fame. It is all about what you are made of. To prove this to you, here’s a list of Indian Entrepreneurs who made it to all the way to success from scratch.
Patricia Narayan:
This bold woman started off her career as an entrepreneur about 30 years ago. Amidst all sorts of personal battles such as fighting a failed marriage and dealing with an addict of a husband apart from looking after two children, she managed to sell eateries from a mobile cart on Marina Beach. She started her business with as little as 2 persons. As if that wasn’t challenging enough, this woman let nothing stop her. Today my friend, she makes a whopping 2 lakh a day from 50 paise a day. She now has over 200 employees working in her chain of restaurants. Now if this isn’t the purest definition of success, what is? She is a shining example of hard work and determination. And that is exactly what made her who she is today. Always keep in mind that your confidence is your biggest asset. Never let anyone tell you you can’t do something. If you put all you have in it, nothing will stop you either. Just like Nothing stopped Ms. Narayan.
Karsanbhai Patel:
This wise man is the mastermind behind Nirma. It was in 1969 that Dr. Karsanbhai Patel started Nirma and that day onwards, there was no looking back for him. If you think you need all the resources in the world to become a successful entrepreneur, then what do you have to say about the fact that Mr. Patel made detergent powder with his own hands in the backyard if his house? He wasn’t the one to wait for opportunity to knock on his door. Instead, he went right ahead and knocked on opportunity’s door. Oh wait, knocked? or broke it down? He went door to door selling his product. He was smart enough to know that for his product to work, he needs to gain people’s trust. Hence, he gave a money back guarantee with every pack he sold. He sold each pack for a mere Rs. 3 per kg while the cheapest detergent that time was for Rs. 13 per kg. Nirma, as we all know became a mind boggling success, still is.
The most important thing to learn from Mr. Patel is research. Know your audience well. Give them what they want, not what you think they want. Know exactly what your customer wants, when he wants, where he wants and at the price he wants and selling will be done automatically. Don’t test the depth of a river with both feet.
Dheeraj Gupta:
Dhiraj Gupta, the owner of the vada pav chain, Jumbo King, completed his MBA in hotel management in 1998, he then decided to start his own venture. The idea was to establish a sweets manufacturing and distribution business. Within two years, he lost around Rs 50 lakh. But he didn’t stop there. He observed how successful food chains such as McDonalds, Dominos and Subway primarily focused on one product — burger, pizza, sandwiches — and, yet, had a huge customer base. This got him thinking. Vada pav is a spicy Maharashtrian snack. He found that there were hundreds of vendors selling the snack on the city streets. The market was huge but unorganised. he decided to get into the vada pav snacks business. And that gave birth to Jumbo King. In spite of many turn downs and failures, he went on to own one of the most successful food chains in India with a turnover of Rs. 25 crore.
This man showed us how you can make what already exists, better. There is always room for improvement. Look around and you’ll get a million examples of things you can always improve. He is what a smart man is all about.
Prem Ganapathy:
This Dosa wala’s amazing story began with betrayal, failures and losses. But all of that was too small to come in the way of this great man. He was abandoned at Bandra station by the person accompanying him. He knew nothing and no one in Mumbai. Not even the language. Can you even begin to imagine how awful that might have been for him? So he gave up and went back to where he came from? Of course not! He got himself together and moved on. He started with cleaning utensils in a restaurant. Taking baby steps, he went on to a neighborhood dosa restaurant as a tea boy. As they say, you can hide a diamond but you can’t hide its shine. Just like that his amazing customer service and initiative paid off as a customer asked him to be a 50% partner in his tea shop in Vashi. Business started flourishing but the happy times didn’t last long as his business partner got greedy and kicked him out of the 50% partnership contract. You’ve probably predicted by now that Mr. Prem was no quitter. He got back up and went on to open up a small South Indian stall when he knew nothing about Dosas and Idlis. It was his observation and determination that got him through. He finally went on to open up The Dosa Plaza with 108 different types of dosas. He also went to ad agencies to create the brand identity including the logo, brands, menu card, waiters dress etc.
Learn from this man, the art of being broken down a million times and getting back up each time. It doesn’t matter how many times you fall down, the day you don’t get back up is the day you’ve really failed.
Ramesh Babu:
He’s the barber who owns a Rolls Royce. Yes, you read that right. The hands that just cut people’s hair actually drives the wheel of Rolls Royce Silver Ghost worth at least $600,000. Mr. Babu lost his dear father at a tender age. After which his mother was left to provide for the family. So she began cooking in people’s houses, all the while giving out their salon on rent to make some money. The entire time the family survived on one meal a day. Tough right? Mr. Babu made sure that didn’t last long. Encouraged by his mother’s hard work, Mr. Babu decided to go get himself a diploma. He then thought, why not work in the salon himself? So he did exactly that. In 1994 he decided to buy a Maruti Omni for personal use. But since the car was idle most of the time, he decided to lease the car. One of his mother’s employers advised him to lease the Omni to Intel, the company she worked with. And boom! that’s where it all started. From just an Omni he went on to rent luxury cars like luxury cars – Toyota, Volkswagen, Mercedes Benz, BMW, Rolls Royce, you name it. His business began to touch the sky. But guess what still touched the earth? Mr. Babu’s humble feet. Despite all the success he still continued to cut hair at his salon and charges a mere Rs.65 for men and Rs.150 for women. He still keeps his Maruti Omni but he does not rent it out anymore, the car is now a lasting monument to his success, showing that one good choice coupled with hard work can lead to success.
Becoming successful is difficult, but what’s more difficult? Staying successful. How do you do that? No. 1 rule, no matter where you reach, how far you reach, always be humble. Never in a million years let go of your roots. Always remember to be grateful for the things that worked out in your favor. Don’t let arrogance ruin things for you. And if you ever find it difficult to do so, well then remind yourself of Mr. Babu and it won’t be so difficult anymore.
These people shared their stories for you to start yours. Get up and get started. After all dreams don’t work unless you do.
