Saturday, January 15, 2011
Never let your dreams disappear.
I still remember the days when I used to dream loads of dreams. My dreams were as small as owning a candy to as big as owning a jet. It hardly mattered my ability to realize those dreams. It hardly mattered what it would need to fulfill those dreams. But somewhere I strongly believed in my abilities to make them come true. If I am not wrong that's how many of us used to dream in our childhood.
If I look back and see then it makes me laugh as well as worried. Why it makes me laugh you can understand but why worried? Hmm well, it creates some sort of fear in me, The dreams which I was so sure of fulfilling now seem to be a far possibility. The only barrier to my dreams in those days was my young age. I still remember the time when I used to pray God to help me grow as fast as possible so that I can start realizing my dreams. But now when I am grown up, the situation has completely changed. If I dream of owning a jet now then it will make me laugh on myself and it doesn't seem to be a possible thing. If I think seriously on that, what's the barrier now? What is that which makes me feel that it's nearly impossible dream? Then I will get few answers. May be I am more matured now. May be I have seen enough people around me dreaming such things and letting them go as they grow up. It's funny but even today my age seems to be my barrier but in a different way.
If you look at the people who have achieved some thing in life no matter how big or how difficult it was then you can make out the difference. What if MK Gandhi let off his dream of free India? What if Wright brothers had given up their dream of making humans fly? It's their strong focus and belief on their dream, their persistence towards making them come true. No matter how the circumstances were and no matter how many others have failed before achieving a similar dream.
The key factor to fulfill your dream is to keep your dream alive regardless of your age. If you really stick to your dreams and put sincere efforts then no matter how big it is and no matter what it takes to realize everything will start falling in place.
Never let your dreams disappear.
Praveen
Saturday, October 23, 2010
It's WOW!! - Is it sellable?
Many organizations are working towards some of the great ideas. The ideas which they think can change the world. Working on your idea is always a great thing. But you need to be extra cautious when you want to make money out of it, specially if you are a startup. I suggest you not to work on something which is WOW, which is extraordinary, until and unless you are very sure of making money out of it or you are backed by some investing agencies. The very reason behind this is my personal experience. We have learned it by hard way. Let me share it, so that it benefits the people who are starting their entrepreneurial journey with a great idea.
We had an idea to build a fudge safe job portal, a very first of its kind. Job portal space was already crowded when we thought of it. But we had something different, something which no other portal had. Our portal had lot of intelligence built into it. It had many interesting features like versioning of marks, versioning of joining and releasing dates from organizations. We used to track all the modifications done by the candidate and based on the recorded changes we used to predict the genuineness/truth fullness of the candidate to the recruiters. Believe me, eight of ten persons who had seen the product have told WOW. But was it sellable? Are we able to make money out of it? The answer is NO.
So is the case with many organizations. Heard of Google wave? It was the much talked product in recent times backed by Google. It had many WOW features. It claimed that it will change the way the world communicates. Even Google had to scratch their one of the most ambitious product "Google Wave". But it hardly matters for the organizations like Google. Such things doesn't pinch them anywhere but for their ego. So is not the case with the startups. We will lose everything - our time, our effort, our money and if you are weak hearted then even courage to move ahead.
The lesson here is , We can't sell something because we have a great product. We will have to check its sellability. As told by Sir Winston Churchill "It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required."
If you want to make money. Build something sellable.
Praveen
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Sunday, October 17, 2010
A dream neglected
Everyone in the world have one or the other dream. Dreams are part of our life. Dreams are not something which people force you to see or visualize, dreams are something which comes from within, its your wish, your imagination. The big question here is, what are you doing with your dreams? Are you working towards it? Are you waiting for the suitable time to start living your dream? or are you neglecting your dreams?
Many of us are waiting for the right time and in the process we are neglecting our dreams. If you just see the people around you, the way they live the way they work, there is no motivation no enthusiasm, our work life is filled with boredom, we crib about our daily routine. Its all because we don't do what we love, we don't follow our dreams, we fear walking on different path we always want to do what people and the world can accept.
The most successful and most happy people in the world are the people who walk their dreams. There are many examples from sports to business. Be it Sachin or be it Dhirubhai Ambani. Remember, It doesn't matter what's your dream. What matters is are you living your dream? Don't be bothered about the end result don't think what if I fail. Its better to fail at what you love then to excel at what you hate.
As told by our former president APJ Kalam "Small dream is crime" I would rather say "A dream neglected is a bigger crime"
I personally believe "The pleasure in living your dream is much higher than the pleasure in seeing a dream"
Live your dream!!
Praveen
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Labels: Dreams, small dream is a crime
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Let’s build something tangible.
This article was long due from my side. This is part of my story to why I choose to be an entrepreneur .It may not apply to everyone, but if you have a dream and not made up your mind then give it a thought.
An American author Les Brown has told "Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears." Let me modify it a bit "Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living others dreams." That’s exactly what many of us are doing. Have we ever tried to answer some of the most important questions which shape our lives?Let’s do it.
1. What are we doing?
We work work work and work. We work day in and day out. We go early and stay late at office. Put in our extra effort to make things happen. Our work has effected our lives to a greater extent. It commands us rather we commanding it. All said and done I am not against it any day, but who is reaping fruits of our hard work? Are we getting what we are suppose to get? That’s exactly what my second question is.
2. What are we getting?
Hmmm... well! A five/six digit pay check? A Flat? A Four wheeler? An expensive Holiday trip to Newyork or anywhere for that matter? Yes we are capable of spending for all of those but only on EMIs, which will stretch to years together. We can’t even afford any of them at a single shot and that’s where it ends more or less. Is it worth working for whatever we are getting?
3. How long will it last?
Believe it or not six out of ten people are just a paycheck away from being homeless. Many of us scramble from paycheck to paycheck. No matter what our position is and no matter what the size of our paycheck is. Isn’t it strange that we work for decades and cant even manage a year if we quit our job today.
So, why work this way? If we should work anyways then lets work for ourselves, lets make ourselves more powerful and more independent. Let’s build something tangible, something which creates true value. And ofcourse for that you will have to work more harder than what you are working now and you will get much lesser than what you are getting now , But yes it will last more longer and it will be more valuable.
Wonderful thought by a student .
“It's better to live a few years of yours life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t”
Let's do it!!
Praveen
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Chase your Passion
Let's salute Mr.Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar for his unbeaten 200 on last Wednesday. It was his innings which made me write this article. It inspired me in many ways. I was wondering its almost 20+ years in international cricket and virtually he holds almost all records but still so hungry for runs. What keeps him going at this age with this pace. Definitely its not money, its not fame. Its his never dying PASSION towards cricket. He still plays it as if he is 16. A living example of power of passion.
PASSION can make anything happen. If one is passionate about anything then he should follow his passion and rest all will fall in place.
Many researches have been done on passion. In year 1960, Srully Blotnick tracked the lives of 1500 men and women over 20 years after their graduation. People were divided in two groups. Group 'A' made up of 83%(1,245 ) of the sample, which consisted of people who had chosen their career solely to make money and Group B consisted of the remaining 17%(255) who chose their career based on their passion. After 20 years, Blotnick published the results of his research, there were 101 millionaires in the entire group of which 100 were from Group B who followed their passion.
There is nothing more powerful than a human soul on fire!Be Passionate,
Praveen
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Road Side Innovation
I was on the way to one of my customer's place when I made a stop at a traffic signal. The moment the signal became red, couple of guys came with some kind of LED batteries in their hand and started selling them. I was looking at them and wondering whether they will be able to sell their goods in about 60 to 90 seconds. If yes, then how? And if no, then how are these guys surviving? The question was unanswered at that point of time.
A week later I was on the same way and I made a stop at the signal. Again some guys came and started selling some weired kind of thing which I was seeing for the first time.It was of the shape of an octopus. I was very curious to know about it. So I called a guy and asked him what he was selling. He told that it was a head massager.It had around 8 legs made of flexible copper wire and had rounded and smooth tips at the ends. I bought it.(I love to relax while massaging my head :-)).
The signal became green and I started moving. While moving I just gave a thought to the question which I had a week earlier. And this time I had an answer. Those guys were able to sell their goods in so called 60 to 90 seconds. And that was possible only because of their (or may be their leader's) "Innovation". Every week they will have a new item. I have seen them selling a funny toy,a car window sun shield, a head massager and many more...
I remembered a line said by French writer Milan Kundra. “Business has only two functions - Innovation and Marketing” Thats absolutely true.No matter how big you are and no matter how small you are. One should always keep innovating new things to be in business.
Keep innovating,
Praveen
Labels: Road Side Innovation
Monday, November 30, 2009
My AMC Experience - AOL
Hmmm.......Jai Gurudev.......It was a great experience. I dont think anybody can put that in words. It was just amazing. Its just being with yourself,knowing yourself to the next level in presence of Gurudev!!.
Everything was awesome Silence,Seva, Satsang..to name a few. The most I loved was the "creativity process". Because of which I feel somewhere I got back my poetry skills which I had lost since my college days.. I used to write like a mad!!. I have again started to write and the first one after such long time was my AMC experience.
Here it goes....
Alag maza tha us khamoshi ke keher me..
Doobe rehte the hum khushiyo ke leher me. .
Khud jaake ehasaas karo to pata chale
The kaise hum us guru ke sehar me.
kami na thi kabhi sevako ki kasar me. .
Gam aata tha na kabhi is nazar me
Khud jaake ehasaas karo to pata chale
The kaise hum Sriguru ke sharan me.
Aate the jab bhi woh satsang me..
Bhakti beh utah ti thi har tarang me..
Khud jaake ehasaas karo to pata chale
The kaise hum us Sadguru ke sharan me.
Har atma ka har pal ye prayas ho..
sab kho kar paane ke dil me aas ho..
Khud jaake ehasaas karo to pata chale
Lagta kaise jab guru tumhare pass ho!!!
Jai Gurudev!!
Praveen
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