That One Thing

That One thing that changed my life.

While the title may be suggestive of a click bait, I promise; it is so much more.
Have a Nice Read! Do leave a comment.

As mentioned in my recent blogs, off late I have been interacting with so many people. While the medium and touch points have been wide ranging, the topic of discussion has been pretty similar in most cases. More than often I get the opportunity to discuss with friends & family about my mediocre attempt to balance work & my passion.

Somewhere in one of these discussions, I got lucky to hit a point where I had to sit down and think about How it all began & What is that one thing that gives me the confidence in what I do.
After a lot of thought, honestly thinking back to as long as I can remember – I did find the answer. And I would love, for as many people possible to know and learn about it.

The Answer : Selling!
The Ability Art of Selling – is that one thing !
The thing that changed my life in more ways than I imagined.

Selling in the Modern World comes as naturally as a Survival Instinct. In this Blog I want to share with you why everyone really needs to learn & practice Selling and how it will change your life. 

Anything can be sold!

I was in class 9, at home with a fractured leg & going through my closet of outgrown clothes when I came across a blank tee. Recently exposed to the Ed Hardy brand & very well aware of its price I decided to replicate one. So, here I was! Painted it and put it out on Facebook.

To my surprise, people appreciated it. What more? They wanted to buy it, pay for it.

Before I knew, I was making bulk orders for fests, selling Tees at Carnivals for Fund Raising & was running what became a brand – Mom, I want a HM thanks to a very dear friend. *Also, still remember the headmistress calling me and telling I cant be selling clothes at school.

So? Do not stop yourself from doing stuff just because you doubt if there is an audience for that. Remember, people paid 100s of rupees for fidget spinners, you surely can offer something too.

Dil-se Tip: * Getting paid for working feels way more amazing than being paid to work *

Selling completes the loop!

I am not sure of the statistics because I doubt if this study has been carried out yet, but a lot of dreams drop-out because they aren’t sustainable in the economic sense.
I like to believe, Selling is like a Scholarship.
One math I learnt pretty early in life – Rs.1000/- = Mom / Dad taking tuition for a half-interested student for 2 hours for 1 month.
Class 10, Because I was selling Tees – I started having more friends – I started getting invited to a lot more birthday parties – Birthday parties meant buying presents.
Spending a 250/- or 500/-  on a gift didn’t feel fair towards my parents. I had to make the loop sustainable. How ?

I learnt Photoshop – Started designing Personalized birthday invites & merchandise- more than knocking off the expense for my parents – meanwhile giving the gift of my choice. Not to miss, I have been really lucky to find very supportive friends & family.

Selling taught me – How Return on Investment is the key to Growth.
Even now when I started with brush lettering, with a 200/- kit – trying new stationery, better brush pens, better inks, good quality notebooks everything had a cost to it. For me to sustain this beyond just a hobby level – I had to complete the loop. And hence, as mentioned – selling came as a survival instinct. No doubt workshops & products are extremely satisfying to create but are incidentally also the fuel to keep it going.

So? I there is something that you really want to pursue but it seems too expensive- Complete the loop, make it pay for itself. 

Selling teaches you Opportunity!

Class 10th, and given the well maintained distance from reading anything, I was far from being introduced to the term ‘Opportunity Cost’. But looking back, I feel it is one of the most important things I have learnt by far.
As I like to beautify it and say – ” When you choose what you want to do, you also choose what you shall not be doing.”

Sitting in one of the Carnivals, I see this stall – Bustling with crowd  – Intrigued by their work I visited them and realized they were painting Tattoos at 150/- per person.
Clearly parents weren’t willing to spend 150 for a temporary tattoo for a 5y/o. That’s the moment I realized whats called ‘ Opportunity ‘
I took my cycle, paddled to a near by stationery shop, got 2 packs of paints & a paint brush. 30 mins later I was running a Pay as you like Tattoo stall.

By the end of the day, we made a little over 5000/- and had talked to so many people about our work and brand.

So? If you think you can bridge any sort of demand-supply-price gap, beat it out of that opportunity. And as mentioned, everything sells.

Effort & Skills, not Talent!

“Oh you are so lucky you are talented, I wish I could do something like that!”
The biggest lesson I have learnt from selling – You need not be talented / You don’t need to be talented. Accept it, Embrace it & Conquer it!
March 2018, I was lucky to meet Rohit Raj – Artist Manager for Bhuvan Bam a.k.a BB Ki Vines – He said something that made laugh so hard & think even harder.

“I always knew I was not talented” – However it is a really modest remark to his amazing personality, he mentioned he  had 2 options – Either he could be struggling as an artist or he could do what he was really good at – managing other artists & events.

Today, You can literally buy shutter stock images – print them on postcards – sell at a markup cost & make money. You need not be a seasoned artist, just be a practical seller.

So? Don’t fool your self under the impression that you aren’t talented enough to be making money. Go out there, pick up anything – add value and sell it off.

Be confident about the 1st sale!

I think some of the most amazing lessons that I have learnt in my life are from all of firsts, infact they are the reason I legit get into anything that excites me. There is a high in each first.

I am sure we all agree that doing things for the first time takes a hell lot of courage than doing it the second or the third time! So, What do you do ?
Now, Maybe not the best advice but it would be a lie, to say there are no lies. Fake it, till you make it.
Yeah, that cliche dialogue, but I kid you not – It is insanely practical. Why?
Well, I guess most times in our head we are decent confident of what we can pull of but we fear expressing it to people, to face the rejection associated to your first.

1 year out of college, November 2017 – I wanted to host a session about HR Interview Prep. I could have just done meetup somewhere, but I knew I cant reach as many people as I wanted.
Now, given my experiences and interactions I knew what I wanted to talk about & why I can do good at it.

Its just as Steve job said “customers don‘t know what they want until we’ve shown them.”
So, I talked to the concerned people and mentioned – ” Quite a few people have reached out to me regarding help for HR interview prep, I did help a lot of my batchmates after I got my PPO. I was thinking if we could call in a session in a place so that more people can be helped. ”
Now, to be honest, no one had explicitly reached out to me by then, But I did help a lot of people in HR Prep earlier and C’mon you have to trust your gut. So, I did kind of fake it, only after being sure that I can deliver what I promised.

Fake it till you make it, but ace it once you make it.

And, as promised and as I trusted the session went extremely well, House full and more standing. Not by chance, I did spend hours making the PPT, sharing each and every point that I wanted to discuss, to the extent of making slide notes for talking points.
And I was so glad that it helped.

(Cont.) Selling brings feedback

The best thing about selling? Feedback is real honest because people don’t owe you anything. You sold it to them, they paid Value for Value – So grab a handful of salt and take it pinch by pinch.

I was overwhelmed by the suggestions, criticism and feedback by people.

And honestly, after the firsts, you always have something that not only you can trust but also something that others will buy into.

And now, One final Lesson ! – How to start ?

Sample before Sale!

Okay, you are now an inch away from selling! However, I think there is one basic principle of sale – No one from the biggest of MNC to the smallest of hawker has ever been able to defy – Customer is the Lord.
How to praise the lord? Well, there has to be an offering before you can eat the pie. I have a simple principle that has always helped me & at times when I have tried to skip it – I did not have the smoothest experience.
Maybe, for the first time – Do it for free.

Why? a.) Obviously, marketing makes sense. But more importantly, b.) It’s a drill that helps you think through possibilities. What all can go wrong.
Also, I think the price that people pay is that they support you on your Trial, in a way they are sponsoring your education.

And because it’s for free, Risk is less, Freedom is more & Output is great. My first few Sand Art, first few Shoots, first few Postcards first few Logos, first few design projects, first workshop and off late – My first House Party. I have done all of these completely free and there has been insane learning in each one of them.

There. I shared my secret.

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I am not sure to how many of you and how much this helped, but it would mean immensely to me if I am able to help even one individual in setting them up with their dreams.

If you think this was even little bit helpful, Don’t be selfish but go ahead share it with people. I shared my secret with you, and I dont mind this reaching more.

Thank you.
Yours (Very) Truly.