Why
I Stopped Wearing my Socks, by Alok Kejriwal, founder of Contests2win.com
(Disney bought one of his companies), is a memoir that is very easy to
traverse. His life journey, business insights & lessons are put across astutely.
I have been following him on LinkedIn for his #DhandheKiBaat and this book does
complete justice to any reader looking for insights into the journey of an
entrepreneur. Below is my interpretation of the book –
PS –
A great first book for anyone who wants to start reading/reading nonfiction!
- I grew up with the feeling that we didn’t have enough
money. I believe that my drive, restlessness and ambition spring from this
fear. This paranoia made me
constantly compete with myself, even when not needed – This paranoia
of money can act as a huge boost if channeled correctly. This exact
feeling makes a lot of kids being derailed in their purpose & outlook
towards life. Channelization is the
key here!
- How dare you call me ‘Yaar’!? There’s a story in which ONGC
inspector who didn’t like Alok calling him ‘yaar’ and started taking his
case (bullying) till Mr Shashi Ruia (Essar family fame) stepped in for
help – Yes, it is important for the
elder to forgive and mentor the junior (always ask for help. Ask!). But
it is as important that the young
learn the basics of business,
language and present-ability unless they’re pretty sure they’re the
next Steve Jobs. (Disclaimer - even Steve Jobs did perhaps the best work
of his life in Pixar and then at Apple in all humility. The egotistical
Steve only got fired from his own company)
- Try your hands at basic and simple businesses to get a
real world feel of ‘Dhandha’. Business
is just connecting dots between opportunities and people. Like Alok
trying his hands on banking, leak proof drums for Henkel. The idea is to
just do & gain experience which can be life changing!
- If you get
used to cheating and manipulating people and businesses for quick, selfish
gains, it quickly becomes your nature. If you pursue pure unadulterated businesses, the goal
of the enterprise then becomes excellence, not the management of lies
- Costing is
the lifeline of a business and must be appropriated, reviewed and actioned
upon by the owner or founder directly. This exercise of costing requires a granular business
understanding – Alok did this exact exercise for each SKU (socks) that
they manufactured
- Awareness
of micro and macro business matters is very critical. This helps in
identifying opportunities. But seizing the opportunity requires hard work
and patience. Life
teaches you about the sales funnel (Read the similarity between Sales Funnel & Coho Salmon fish here)
- Seeing is believing and believing is buying. An
entrepreneur must always look for ways to improve margins. This coupled
with honesty will give you the best results. The owner of a business knows
his machines inside out. That is
how they’re able to innovate. Don’t
be afraid of being termed as a mechanic
- Meet
people. It is not for “networking” as few people perceive. It is about
knowing more, expanding your horizons in true sense – I have been talking to B-School
students about this way of “expanding your horizons” in its truest form. Always try & be the dumbest person
in a room at least once a week!
- Many of us have ideas (some genuinely brilliant), but
very few of us do something about them. The important thing is being proactive, leveraging people around
you and initiating the execution
- To get a
new business off the ground, it takes hard, gruelling, undying, maniacal
effort
- If you want to create something unique and valuable,
you will have to learn to please
and seek. It’s a cruel trade-off
between your ego and your ambition. You must have the ability to wait
endlessly outside people’s office waiting for them to call you inside
- When an entrepreneur starts doing something innovative,
disruptive and compelling, capital begins to chase the entrepreneur. But
the entrepreneur must choose the VC
prudently. The strategic guidance, hiring insights, connections, and
business assistance far outweighs the money they invest
- Though
fame, fortune and glory are important, it is utterly futile and silly for
an entrepreneur to sacrifice precious personal moments to chase transient
business events
- Why was contests2win not generating revenues - because
Alok never asked for it! This is a
classic case of entrepreneurial passion blindsiding the logic perhaps.
Opposed to what he did for his dad’s socks business (executing & then
advocating a detailed costing & then pricing for the socks), Alok did
not ask for money for the services fearing he might lose clients &
subsequently business will close. This is where the right VC is needed for
the strategic business guidance (The same helped Alok)!
- Cultivating
partners and trusting them is vital and crucial to creating long term
value in business
- Never
underestimate the power of ‘creativity of naivety’
- For a
successful sales person, sacrificing profit margins, underselling,
competing blindly (often to prevent someone else from getting the order)
should never be an option. You must boldly say ‘not interested’ and move on
- Never lose
or compromise your self-respect for anything, leave alone a business deal. Losing dignity means
stopping below the threshold of purpose, intent and effort. Sales and ego never go together (Read more about Sales here)
- What the
entrepreneur must do is keep building his business hour by hour, day by
day, year by year.
When doing becomes more important than succeeding, everything falls into
place. All things start small! – I remember an interaction with Mr Sanjiv Bhikchandani, founder of
Naukri.com, that left a lasting imprint: “Dream Big! But it’s not too bad to start small”
- Key insights on selling –
- The third sale is the
real sale. Awareness and observation are a salesperson’s best friend
- The art of storytelling
is important for sales. The art of listening is as important. Solid sales
rehearsals before any meeting are a must
- Be original,
interesting and genuine. Your demeanour must be everything but that of a
seller
- When
things go better than expected, don’t hurry. Keep your composure on how the client intends to use your
product/service and then price it for a win-win
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