User:Rmpaswan786

I was born in a slum in India. During my childhood, I was living with my family in a 10X10 feet hut; and paying a rent of $0.1 each month. There was no electricity in the hut. The landlord rented out half of the hut to a beggar. I used to study under streetlight in nights and sleep in open sky. The roof of our hut was broken and whenever rain starts, we have to put several pots wherever water is oozing from roof.

My dad was working in a jute factory and making $20 per month. Although I was good in school, my family cannot afford to have a quite separate room for me to study. Since our hut was openly connected with other huts next to it, it was mostly noisy and hard to study. Everyday I used to go to different houses where it was quite to study. There were many times, when I slept with empty stomach especially when my dad factory had strike for few months.

During school time, I used to get $0.001 every day as pocket money. I used that money to watch Bollywood movies. It was lot of fun and I loved to see big cities like Mumbai through Bollywood movies. There was not much expectation from life and so the life was quite happy. After high school, my dream job was to earn $100 a month.

When I finished my high school, I used to go for Physic tuition. Once my Physics teacher said about Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). He said that the students who attend IIT become officers but the students who attend ITI (which name wise similar), become peon.

I don’t know what triggered me but I decided to go to IIT. I was stubborn and I decided that if I have to continue my study, I ONLY have to attend IIT. I made my dream to go to IIT and terribly failed for six years in entrance exams. I finally cleared entrance exam; and interred into IIT. It was again fun to study with students who are called cream of India. I did not scored well and left with GPA 5.96/10. I dreamed to earn at least $300 a month after graduating as an engineer. However I did not get a job after graduation.

My fighting attitude again placed me to Imperial College London to work with the research team in Petroleum Engineering department. I was proposed a PhD position but later denied. I did not want to come back to India and loved European lifestyle. I loved white chicks and party life in Europe. It was like heaven for me. During my time at Imperial College, I was offered a job in Scotland. The job was interesting but they were paying me even less than my scholarship at Imperial College. Financially, It was OK for me but certainly NOT OK when I have to support my family back home.

When I was working for my first job in Scotland, I realized that there are many smart people in industry, who are able to sale combs to bold men. I thought that I could build much better product, which can create bigger values to industry and can build an excellent business around it.

Entrepreneurship was always part of me but I did not have courage to start. When I was living in slum, I did suggest my dad to buy an auto rickshaw and rent it out; and when I passed out of high school, I wanted to start a washing powder making factory with an investment of $150. Unlike many successful entrepreneurs, I did not find the courage to leave my study and start my entrepreneurial journey.

At this stage of my career when I look back and think then I wish that I have listened to my heart and started my entrepreneurial journey long ago when I finish my high school. It would have been extremely risky but If I would have succeed, I would have done extraordinary. I would have invested 14 hours each day in my dream/business rather than in my study, which was never interesting. During initial three years in industry, I tried to fulfill my parent’s dreams and improve my family's financial situations. After 3 years of working in industry, I decided to start my entrepreneurial journey.

It has been 6 years for me working as an entrepreneur. Despite lots of challenges, the good part is that my family and I am financially stable, I ONLY work with people who I like, I do help financially people from my village; I am happily married and have a kid (which is awesome), and I have NO bank balance. Being an entrepreneur, there are times when it’s frustrating but it’s more fun than doing regular jobs and making good salary. I am happy and love this challenging life being an entrepreneur.

I learnt and still learning some hard lessons. I learnt NOT to compromise with talent and time. I am learning to work towards building a team of smart guys and finish projects on time. I am learning to be grounded and follow ethics in business. I am learning to bring value rather than revenue, because revenue is just to pay expenses but value is the ultimate outcome of a business. These are small but important lessons; and these will make huge difference for me molding myself as a successful entrepreneur. I wish success to all other startup entrepreneurs in their endeavour.