From an overweight nerd to a CEO at a successful start-up
The Importance of Family, Failure and Perseverance
I have done a lot of things in my life. I have succeeded and I have failed. But, I would like to pen my thoughts on how, learning the importance of failure taught me to move ahead and scale forward when I was at a breaking point in my life.
Nerds like me encounter bullies in our daily lives. When we are in school, the bullies have a physical form. But as we get older, the bullies start to take an invisible form. We become our own bully. The same thing happened to me.
I was fresh out of school and weighed 134 kgs. My morale was at an all-time low in my life because of my constant weight problem. I joined a prestigious college but found it hard to cope up there. I was insecure of my own inner voices.
Fast forward to my college completion, I was so insecure about my weight, I did not sit for placements.
After graduation, I joined my father's business. Under his guidance, I learned a lot about life in the next 7 years of my life. I can proudly say this, A PERSON'S PARENT'S ARE HIS/HER BEST TEACHER. YOU CANNOT GET A BETTER EDUCATION ANYWHERE ELSE.
My father slowly in his own way motivated me to lose 50 kilos. Trust me it wasn't easy. I failed for the first 3 years miserably and wanted to give up each day. But my father's motivation kept me going.
I now look and feel great.
He even motivated me to follow my passions and never stopped me from doing anything. After working for him for 6 years, and attaining a post of Ex. Director at his firm, I wanted to get into an Ivy League College. He did not stop me and encouraged me to apply. I gave it a shot and landed an interview call with Indian Institute of Management, Indore.
This was also not easy. I got rejected by 5 colleges in the Top 10 before I got a call from IIM, Indore. Every time, I wanted to give up. But his motivation kept me going.
While I was preparing for my entrance exam, I noticed a pattern among fellow students. A lot of them were wasting a lot of unnecessary funds. I made it my primary objective to help them avoid this. I got a lot of motivation from my parents and I ventured into the startup space. Believe me, this was not easy. I wanted to quit on day one because of the lack of resources I had compared to my competitors. But again I was taught to persevere.
I am proud to say that in the first 20 days, I not only partnered up with 6 companies and also managed to get 15 students, who appreciated my paid services.
All this was not easy. I have failed a lot of times in the process of accomplishing this.
I had to persevere and have patience to accomplish my objectives. I would only say one thing to people like me with low self-esteem or weight problems,
"IF I CAN DO IT, SO CAN YOU. NEVER GIVE UP. ALWAYS PLAY TO FAIL. FAILURE IS GOOD. WHEN YOU PLAY TO FAIL, THEN DEFEAT CANNOT DEFEAT YOU"
Ayush