Monday, May 23, 2011

Dreamers world

Life has been good. I have been given ample time to think, lie down, relax, dream, get tired and fall asleep to dream again. Its rare that we get this opportunity when we have seen so much of the world.

When we are young we rely on others as at that time we do not have the required experience and wisdon of the older lot. As you grow, you get engulfed in the rat race and then time flies. There are jobs to be done, milestones to be achieved and money to be earned. When you get time to relax sit and think, you would have lost 10-15 years of your precious life.

-This is good in a way that you have gained a lot of worldly wisdom.
-Bad in the sense you have lost the most productive period of your life.

Then its your choice to take in whatever way you want, but at the end its true that
देर आये पर दुरुस्त आये, इसलिए कहते है की जब भी सूरज निकले  सवेरा है. 
So lets say whenever you gained consciousness, its good for you. one has to be greatful to god that atleast you got this opportunity otherwise people realize this when they take retirement, but then its too late to react.

So when i have been given this chance i want to make the best use of this. I want to be very sure of my aim and ambitions. I should have ample resources at hand to take care of my whims and fancy as now I am solely responsible for my own life. My actual journey begins now.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Reinvention

I consider this as my 3rd innings of my professional life. This started taking shape when I met Shikshantar school principal. She met us and asked about my life as to why I chose to be an engineer and not a badminton player or a sportsperson. I looked inside and got lost in the vividness. the questioned started piercing me day in and out.
I always used to think that if I were not an engineer then what??
I am a very average person with the limitations of an average man. And like all avg person I also have some special skills. I can pick up things very well. I can be inspired very easily. I can work for the betterment of society. I cannot hurt anyone and I try to be politically correct all the time.
Of late i have started to say NO. Wow what an achievement.
I left the 2nd innings ( my pure corporate world) at the pinnacle of my career. I did not know what I will do but I knew I will do good. So I let myself loose and let time go by. The answer came 3 days back when I lost my sleep. However hard i tried I could not sleep. I fell in love. This new found dream had all the ingredients, love, climax, drama tragedy and my mother who always stood by me (others too but this had to rhyme with the dialogue). It had everything that I loved to do- adventure, exploration, glamor, daring to go, inhibited growth, society development, inclusive development, leveraging Anju's network and experience, then I had found my true love.
I consider shipping as my 1st professional innings, IT world as my 2nd professional innings and my new found love for retail as the 3rd innings.

My new Avatar where I will ply the role of :
  • Creative designer of my site, my people, 
  • Breaking the rule and riding the wave at the right time.
  • Usage of high tech technology
  • Leading my supply chain
  • using my knowledge of consultancy, understanding and doing business course correction as and when required
  • Setting of new processes
  • Using technology to reach out to people
  • Sharing my business profits with people who need money for development (poor schools, students, underprivileged people)
  • Model photo shoots
  • Photographer
  • Apparel designer
  • Textile fitment
Yup its challenging and very exciting and the ride would be rough but very interesting. Anyone interested can partner

Monday, May 16, 2011

The Vanca- reinvents itself

Of late I have been dreaming. Dreaming a lot. These dreams are not letting me sleep. I plan, dream, lie down, get up write down things lest I forget or get muddle up in lots of ideas.
I knew that my third innings will have surprises for me and its unfolding in a beautiful way. I am the master of my destiny. This is I assume where my heart lies.
The Vanca started just like that. I had to do something to indulge myself into some some work and hence researched, took help of my friend Mr Jangid and christened this name. I fell in love with the name.
The name created a passion for me to spell it differently, logo it non conventional fashion, brand it on FB, T and Google. The dream was like a cocoon ready to be transformed.

I slept over the idea for some time as I did not understand retail, fashion but I always had a penchant for being in style. The idea remained with me for 6 weeks and then it started taking shape. The turning point came when Anju and Yavi had gone to LKNW and I had lot of spare time for myself.

My passion for brand was getting stronger and stronger. I knew I was up to something. I have learnt to be my self as I have my lows and then I spring back with new desire for better things.

Did some research and discovered that there are lots of online sites that do similar business and that the market potential is huge. Also learnt the way to deal with my first partner, learnt to negotiate. Yeah that's me I take time, learn and then come back with a bang.

Now the online, combined with sales agents, commission based and then team of free lancers. I am sure to go miles in just few months. My current estimate to sell 3K online and 3K B&M by September 2011. If I do this then it will be a big achievement.
Multiple hats that I have to wear:

  • Be a creative web designer, eye for detail and passion for designing. Understand my segment well and go for it.
  • Be a visionary and lead in style, understand the trend and move fast dexterously.
  • Get good models and learn to shoot. Understand camera and photo shoots
  • Learn the art of editing and making high quality, light images
  • Be a creative garment designer, model creator, shoot specialist and a great publicity guy.
the good news is that I am not driving for money. I always believe that if you follow your passion money will flow in. Money is the engine to keep your passion /business running but its always the by-product. It comes naturally, provided you have an eye for detail.


Loving my dream.

This is part of my 3rd innings. I will have inclusive growth of team, society, brand and my step wise dream unfolding.

Eventually I want to be a lifestyle specialist- created out of sheer passion and lifestyle rather than study and career.

I am loving it.