You: Knock Knock
Me: Yes
You: Are you there, the lazy Entrepreneur
Me: Yes, I am there.
You: What does silent killer mean?. Whom did you kill.
Me: Ok. Let me continue my story. You will know then…
In the year 2006. I started my new innings at a design agency which was Better and made my professional life Better. Was aligned to one of the most professional banks, The HSBC bank.
I was leading a team and we handled the below the line advertising of different verticals i.e. NRI banking, Premier, Advantage, Insurance & Financial and the Liabilities etc etc…of the bank.
The work pushed me upwards and brought the best out of me operationally and creatively. Only Sachin Tendulkar could play Shane Warne and Glenn Macrath properly and consistently.
I not only matched up with their pace but also exceeded the expectations and was the blue eyed boy of my super efficient boss Ms Lakshmi Iyer. (At least I felt that 🙂 ).
Cracked the SIP mailer with the Snakes and Ladder concept. Burned the midnight oil on a regular basis to meet up the deadlines.
It was indeed an experience which transformed me from a boy to a man.
My creative head who was envious of my success christened me The Silent killer.
The takeaways from these 3 years
1. Teamwork is very important. You may be a good captain but you are as good as your team. I was lucky that I had a great team: Sandy, Nitin, Hiral , Shur etc etc
2. It really helps when your boss is supportive and empathetic. I had one. So taking care of your employees is very important.
3. Provide power to your team. And with power comes responsibility and accountability.
4. Appreciation and Motivation plays a big part. HSBC team at every given point appreciated the work we did. It kept us motivated all the time to work in a high pressure situation.
Also you need to keep your team motivated and more importantly yourself.
Also there is no substitute for monetary motivation.
5. Never, never change a winning combination. Many businesses do internal swapping which I personally feel should be the last resort.
6. Your work will speak for yourself. No need to shout from the balcony.
What goes up eventually has to come down:-) (Dirty minds think alike)…
There is a constant need to upgrade yourself. I also upgraded. Enrolled and got selected for the Executive MBA from NMIMS, Mumbai and then decided to take a sabbatical.
The Lazy Entrepreneur was back.
The sabbatical really helped. With a short stint in advertising again, I changed my profile and joined The Bombay Store, where I worked under Mr Anaggh Desai, CEO of the company, the real entrepreneur.
It was learning time. By that time I had completed my MBA and was ready to take on the corporate world. My KRA was to bring in more footfalls at the various stores of TBS and for that we did marketing alliances with JetAirways, Banks and fashion shows at LFWs… to name some…
Those 3 years I saw myself growing up along with my son…
There were many takeaways from this experience, some of them are
1. Unlearn and Learn: You need to continuously Learn and Unlearn new things which caters to your existing challenge.
2. Mental status: You need to be mentally strong and keep pushing yourself harder to prove yourself better.
3. Work smart: You need to work smart and not necessarily hard. Working smart will only be possible when you will know your business perfectly.
4. Sell yourself effectively : The corporate world demands selling or packaging yourself well…You need your voice to be heard to the right person at the right time!
You : Knock knock
Me: Yes
You: Sorry to interrupt but I don’t see much of entrepreneur in the above. You are still working for someone.
Me: Hmmm… Let me tell you that it is not necessary to run your own business to be an entrepreneur…
You: What?
Me: Yes, because Entrepreneurship is a thought process. You can still be an employee and be an entrepreneur by the way you work.
Gone are the days of employees progress up the ladder was solely based on seniority. In this cut throat competition, the way you think, the way you perform decides your way to the top. (ie Attitude and Aptitude)
Finally it was time that the malware in my brain was activated and I decided to do something of my own…
Picture abhi baki hai… The journey in a new place, in a new area of business is yet to begin.
Do come and read my entrepreneurial journey… which was cheesy yet tasty.
The Lazy Entrepreneur – (Part 3 – Cheese and Mayo).
the journey continues…. all the best!