Everyone likes a story. When the story is about firsts, it’s always special. You like to recite it again and again. Here is the story of my firsts where ABG, unknowingly, played a huge role.
We all remember our school tiffin boxes and how they form a large part of our school memories. For me, it is the hand cricket and big ball we used to play with the Freshwarap’s foil in the school recess that I cherish the most. Prior to researching for this article, I had no clue that fresh wrap is also a part of ABG.
From school to college a lot of things changes. The most visibly prominent change is clothing. So, for the first time, I really wore a pair of proper formals was during my under-graduation college interviews. I tried all the available brands out there, but I was not able to get the required fit. The last store and my last hope was the Allen Solley store in Rajouri Garden, New Delhi. Allen Solley didn’t disappoint. The shirt and trousers were just the way I wanted them to be. Comfortable, smart and affordable.
You can never forget the first customer of the business that you start. So, after graduating me and my co-founder from BITS, Pillai started an online tailoring company. The first suit that we sold was a grey Grasim suiting. Sold to Mr. Amit Kumar, Woking in Idea Cellular at that time. Since then, Grasim has been our top-selling brand owing to superior quality, latest designs and reasonable prices.
I am not a spendthrift. I like to see my money grow. So when the business started bringing in cash, I invested it in a mutual fund scheme. I started a SIP in Aditya Birla Sun Life Frontline Equity Fund. It has always been one of the best performing funds in my portfolio. So, one day I committed a silly mistake of telling my close friend about my growing fund balance. She never took an interest in these kinds of conversations. To my surprise, she was very attentive this time because it was her birthday in the coming weak and she wanted to buy the dress she saw at FOREVER 21. Ah! I had to sell some 20 units of the fund and get her what she wanted. But her smile was priceless. Similarly, I sold some additional mutual funds units last month and bought a TED Baker bag for my sister before she left for Canada. It was my way of wishing her a happy and safe journey.
Ultimately this is what we live for, seeing our near and dear ones being happy. In a lot of my happy memories, ABG has been there, most of the time without being noticed. It is not just me but close to 7.5 million people in over 5000 villages and other deprived areas that are being benefitted by ABG. Its CSR projects like healthcare, education and sustainable livelihood programs have already brought significant improvement in the quality of life of these people. This is my big shout out to ABG for giving me and 7.5 million other, innumerable good memories.
How you overcame challenges to achieve your ambitions in life so far?
Imagine being on the deathbed, surrounded by the ghosts of your dreams, your ideas that were given to you by life. The dreams only you could have made possible. Scared of challenges, you never put a sincere effort to make them a reality. With their large angry eyes, they are yelling at you that, “We came to you. Only you could have made us possible, you could have brought us to life. Now we must die with you. Forever” This has been my worst nightmare that I remember, a nightmare that has changed my perception of challenges. The biggest thing that defines us is not how we go through challenges, but how we grow through challenges! For me, no challenges mean no success. Whenever hit with the challenge, I talk to myself, spend some 10 minutes in solace. Sometimes I complain, sometimes criticize, sometimes get angry and sometimes I just stand mum. So, what happens when the 10 minutes are gone? I go back to my first-day dream, the first love, which originally set me out on the path of achieving my goals. In the phase of challenges, I try and protect the first-day dream, the vision with which I started the things. Ultimately, I derive the power from this dream that has been nurtured in my mind and is constantly maturing. The biggest challenge so far has been starting an online cum onsite custom tailoring service in order to organize the most unorganized aspects of the tailoring industry? Ambitious- Yes! Impossible- No.
The first roadblock no sales and absolutely zero bank balance at the end of 2 months. After all, the criticizing and analyzing, I took the team back to the first daydream. We realized that there is an abundance of opportunities out there. We tilted our focus a little bit and the magic happened. We achieved our first set of goals just in time despite being an initial failure. I follow a similar approach in my personal and professional life whenever stopped by a challenge. I don’t have an influential father, but I was lucky to be taught by an optimistic one. He taught me the concept of the MASTERMIND Alliance (a group of 3 closest people). Whenever clueless about the solution, I talk to them and consider their advice before reaching a decision. It helps me shift my focus from the challenges to opportunities. This is exactly how I overcome challenges to achieve my ambitions.
