Why I Stopped Wearing My Socks

by Alok Kejriwal

I believe that entrepreneurs must learn business development and sales skills early in their careers. Generating business needs passion and drive. The salient process of sales must be experienced first-hand by an entrepreneur, and not delegated to someone else. I believe that a market is available to anyone who has the persistence to keep knocking on doors and asking for business. The simple lesson I learned was that business begins to happen when you work towards activating it.

The more significant lesson I learned was that the busiest, most successful people in the world are available to help others if approached. All that one has to do is ask! Entrepreneurs thrive best when they regularly connect with accomplished people who can mentor and guide them. There are mentors out there waiting for you to ask them for help.

I learned that business was about connecting the dots between opportunities and people.

Whatever business you want to pursue, try and spot a real problem (like the IPO refund issue I identified) and build a solution around it. If your solution is scalable and affordable, it can become a great business that will not just make you wealthy, but also help many people too!

My tryst with my HDFC Bank shares taught me that wealth gets created with patience and perseverance . . . and some good luck! And one more thing: strategically doing nothing is doing something too!

Sitting quietly taught me the value of patience and the power of observation. I realised how important it was to inculcate the discipline of self-learning to become adept at business and develop an expertise. I realised that while books, schools, teachers and professors do teach you many things, learning does not end when your stint in an educational institution ends.

There is an inexhaustible reservoir of lifelong lessons a person can imbibe by just being aware, and by asking the eternal questions of why, when, what, who and where, as often as possible. This is the framework I adopted to learn everything about my father’s factory. My interaction with the workers exposed me to the importance of ethics, values and responsibility and also how it was critical to be able to live up to the trust that people so often blindly placed in us.

Costing is the lifeline of a business and must be appropriated, reviewed and actioned upon by the owner and founder directly.

I believe that for an entrepreneur, awareness of macro and micro business matters is very critical. Entrepreneurs must always have their ears on the ground, looking for signals and developments around them, to seize a business opportunity. With this very discipline, I spotted a chance in the devaluation of the rupee and acted upon it, even though this event had no direct correlation with my business. While trying very hard to get my first business order, I learnt about the tough grind of business development. A lot of backbreaking work, patience and persistence is required when you are trying to sell something. You can multiply that effort many times when you are trying to sell something that has never been sold before. A successful sale can sometimes even take years and frustrate the most optimistic of sellers. Having infinite patience to sell is a critical lesson for startup entrepreneurs.

Bad times never last. Honest people always do.

we have to deal with toxic people and situations and develop the ability to tolerate them to get on with our lives.

There are unseen and unknown forces in the universe that are waiting with bated breath to grant you your wish. You have to activate them. Of course, you then have to act to make things happen.

as an entrepreneur trying to solve a new, unfamiliar problem, it was imperative to do lots of research on the industry I was trying to enter.

I have learned that if you spend quality time with your clients and consumers, they will point you to what they are looking for. All you have to do is remain super-alert and aware. Often their rebukes and excuses not to do business with you will tell you what you need to do! Another valuable lesson I learned was the value of patience and to be an unapologetic seeker of business.

You must have the ability to wait endlessly outside people’s doors waiting for them to call you inside. It feels humiliating but it is the price you have to pay for enjoying eternal glory.

‘All good things in life take time’ is the tenet I live by. One has to first learn to wait and watch. The win will come in time.

An entrepreneur must develop the confidence and courage to seek partners confidently and without hesitation when he thinks they are the right people to partner with. Being meek and reserved are qualities unbecoming of an entrepreneur.

‘You never get money when you most want it, but it’s always available when you least need it.’

Sales and Ego never go well together.

‘Everything starts small’ was the most prophetic blessing I had ever heard in my life. To this day, I thank my father for giving me the best advice I had ever received.

Reading voraciously, immersing yourself in passions that interest you outside of work such as sports, art, music, literature can go a long way in building a personality that becomes magnetic and sales friendly.