Shaping Minds

WElink covers one of my counselling experiences, calling it,'Shaping minds'. Sharing the write up with you all. I am so very happy that a very inspiring story from my kitty gets featured here. Have loads of them, all coming from the gems of people I meet!.... hope you like it too!

Shaping Minds : 

There are many wonderful people around us who are contributing substantially to various causes. One such person is Laxmi Todiwan who is an Associate Professor & Head of the Department of Apeejay Institute of Hospitality. Laxmi has almost two decades of experience, is an educational counsellor who follows her passion of guiding young people in making good career choices.
But today is not about featuring her - it's about sharing an experience of her witnessing a successful journey of a passionate young boy which ignites a belief of " yes I can".

" I meet very interesting people as a part of my role as a trainer and counselor. One such meeting, lead to a great association with an individual who was extremely motivated and passionate about his life. He had dreams and made them a reality, I feel lucky to have witnessed the transformation and being a part of it.

One fine day I got a call from one of my professors saying that he was sending a boy to me and that I should counsel him. He told me that the boy comes from a humble background, had lost his father when he was young.
With this backdrop I waited for this boy to see me on the appointed day and time. He was there dot on time, He was Holsten D’Souza. We got talking, I simply loved his attitude and the sparkle in his eyes, an 18 year old self motivated person who could do wonders given the right direction and inputs. He told me that he was working part time at a famous cake shop in Mumbai, Theobroma. We exchanged a few thoughts. Counseling him was one of the best experiences that I have had, I knew fee would be a bit of a concern for him but knew that if there's a will, there's certainly a way!

He took admission at the institute (Apeejay Institute of Hospitality). He was focused, took directions from his professors and constructively worked on the feedback given by them. He was not the most brilliant student but someone who was consistent and who worked hard. His attendance, was the best in spite of the fact that he worked in the evenings and weekends. He managed to get scholarship all three years of college. In academics, in the first year he was among the top 5 students, he improved on that, was in the top 3 in the second year and in the final year he topped the college in the university examinations. He had his own benchmark that he kept improving on. He was one student that I kept a watch on, admiring his passion and the level of commitment he showcased. His batchmates loved him.There are two gold medals awarded to the graduating students at the institute. One is awarded to the academic topper and the other one is given to the student all rounder with best values and attitude. He was the academic topper but for the second medal too he was one of the top contenders. Which is a rare incident in the institute.
Today it gives me immense pleasure in writing about Holsten. He taught us to believe in self and remained focused. I share his story to many of my other students to instill faith in the old saying that " there's no shortcut to success."

Inspiration - The PureMart Story

Aww I keep forgetting that I have a blog! Have been busy with a million things happening at my end. Most of them are happy things, cheerful things and things that are going to inspire me .....if not others! I have developed some good training content that's happy. Attended some fabulous training sessions in Kolkata and was invited as a trainer for a very prestigious event. I shall certainly share it here on my blog in the due course of time.

But what I want to share  here is a story, a story that may inspire a lot of people. A story that inspired me!

The background

Sahil Verma, my brother in law, kid sister is married to him. Once came to my office on my birthday and me sitting behind my Prof.'s desk and sharing the donkey's years experience with him. He just told me," Didi (sister) I can't imagine sitting in an office like you for so long.... this was 2 years ago and I was sitting in this kind of an office for 15 years. Not that at the same place, this is my third job. I absolutely love what I do. Have always followed my heart and have chosen my profession and organisations accordingly.

His question made me think. He had just started his pet venture PureMart and was working fulltime too. He was really working round the clock, weekends not spared and would skip some social family gatherings too. My sister was supporting him all she could, she too had a challenging job and was newly married so a home to take care of too.

I loved the way these two were building their dream project. As an elder sister I kept boosting their morale as much as I could....You see I am a professor and a trainer and this quality comes naturally to me!

Rest of the story please read below, as they feature on the cover of  " Business for all" magazine. 

Pure Mart

Sahil Verma was only 26 when he thought of setting up PureMart. The Jammu born and bred boy had spent almost a decade outside his home state to pursue his degree in pharmacy and, subsequently, a job by that time. He was appalled to see people from other parts of the country associating J&K with gun toting terrorists most of the time, besides the scenic beauty and abundant snowfall which the region gets. Or else, saffron and walnuts.

The young and zealous entrepreneur sensed opportunity in the fact that he had easy access to products which were considered ‘delicacies’ and highly prized by others located far away from Kashmir.

While working in Mumbai with Cognizant as a ..??..in 2011, he happened to attend a seminar by Amit Grover, CEO Nurture Talent. This, recalls Sahil, was the turn around. When he shared his vision with Grover after the session got over, he received a huge pat on the back which helped embolden him and think of taking a plunge.

As wife Rajani also extended support, Sahil went ahead and submitted his resignation on his birthday in 2011. The next 14- 16 months were spent doing offline research and getting in touch with producers and cultivators directly. This, they were sure, would help enable them have access to the purest saffron while also helping push up profit margins.

PureMart went live in early 2013 with only 10 kilos of walnuts and 20 grams of the aromatic delicacy- saffron by way of inventory. Wife Rajani, who is a co-founder, takes great pride in mentioning that the project was entirely bootstrapped.

Within six months, the site was bubbling with activity and they were even earning a decent profit out of it. At the same time, they also started getting queries from satisfied clients who wanted to know if they could ‘arrange’ other dry fruits like almonds, hazel nuts, dried figs and organic personal care products.

This, shares Sahil, they took as a green signal to try diversifying and adding more products on to their site which had been, during the first six months, confined to walnuts and saffron alone. The new products also seemed to go in line with their overall motto of promoting good health by eating healthy and, more importantly, eating pure foods.

Tells Rajani, “This was also the time when India was beginning to awaken to good health and switching over to organic products, courtesy Baba Ramdev who had single-handedly shaken a nation of its deep slumber and inspired them to switch on to a healthier mode of living. An average middle class family spends anything from 5-8,000 a month on groceries. Switching to organic products will increase their monthly expenditure by only 5-10% but benefit them immensely by strengthening their immune system and making them much healthier.”

To ensure the purity, which they insist is their essence, PureMart source their nuts and saffron directly from cultivators. The organic cereals and kitchen supplies come from Kitchen Organic, with whom they have joined hands only recently. The beauty and health care products are sourced from NeeV Herbals (National Award Winner).

The team which started with only two members aboard had the husband –wife duo handling all operations right from procurement of supplies to receiving orders, packing deliveries, finance, marketing, customer feedback, emails, etc. Sahil had, at that point of time, stood ground on handling it all himself ‘to understand the challenges which my team might face when we grow bigger.’

“Together with my Co-founder wife Rajani Verma, I went to several cities for about a year doing awareness campaigns and other promotions to learn what the people understand about organic products from the north. To our surprise most of them did not even know what a saffron bud or a walnut fruit looked like,” explains Sahil, who always had to carry unadulterated products to show them to his audience.

Almost two years later, they have orders pouring in from all corners of the country and even beyond. They have now delivered products to 3,000 pin codes across the country. From Kanyakumari to Nagaland and Andaman to Kolkatta. Besides, they have also executed more than 2,000 orders from Canada, UK, and Dubai- all of which have a sizeable Indian population. With more business pouring in, PureMart is now a five member team.

Sahil shares, “We got our first order ever the day we launched our site. That was from one of my ex-colleagues based in Mumbai but we have come a long way since. I have personally visited many customers in Mumbai to understand their behaviour and to get feedback from them.”

When asked to explain the challenges faced so farm Sahil takes a minute to reflect on the journey so far. “Delivery is the biggest challenge in e-commerce today. There are two important arms of any e-commerce business- Payment & Delivery Channels. We have been using leading payment partners and delivery partners since inception. But we realized that having one’s own delivery arm helps remove lot many hindrances while also helping build up trust among customers. With that in mind, we have already started our own delivery model in Bangalore where we are now doing one day delivery without any extra charges. We are, keeping our fingers crossed, thinking of getting started in other cities soon too.”

PureMart is now looking forward to expand its reach through multi-channel marketplaces & through organic fairs. They are also looking for like-minded partners from Metro cities to join hands, hoping that would help them set up a more streamlined delivery channel. They are now trying scale up their presence by employing social media

Asked about future plans, Sahil says, “We plan to come up with a Handicrafts and apparels category soon too. We are sure this will help create employment opportunities for artisans across the state.”None of the two co-founders would deny that the road so far has been pockmarked with hurdles and challenges. Inspite of that, they are upbeat and raring to go ahead. Their confidence growing with every successful order they undertake.

Now, thats inspiring right? If there is a dream and a will.... anything is possible. So we must follow our hearts and dare to dream big!

Link to PureMart:
http://www.puremart.in/

Credits to Business for all magazine.

Countdown to Countdown - Day 21

Yesterday, I spoke about Goals and how they are related to dreams. Now on, during the rest of the countdown I wish to share some success stories. Stories of ordinary  people like you and me who had extraordinary dreams and they achieved them. There are many such stories but those many still are a handful!

As we prepare ourselves for Dream Live, Lets also look at our own dreams and find ways to achieve them. Let me emphasize again that dreams have to be Big, they have to be the best that you can do or the best that you can be! 
The poem selected by Bharadwaj Dayala is so apt, Dreams need that grit, perseverance and being able to visualise success. The 'never quit attitude', goes a long way. 
Just read a quote by another super achiever, " No way as way and no limitations as limitation." Make way where there's no way and there's no limitation to anything that you want to pursue or do!
Found this very profound indeed. Achievers need to have that kind of a foresight. That becomes the driving force for them. With that attitude how can anyone even think of failing? Success comes to those who believe in themselves and have that 'do or die' attitude!

I think I am quite fortunate to meet individuals who dreamt big for themselves and have realised  those dreams as well. They are not the famous faces but people who live among us. One such example is a recent message I received from an old student of mine. The message read, " Ma'aaam... I bought a car with my own money. Very happyyy today. Want to thank you for inspiring us.... Got to learn a lot from you." I replied,"Congrats". I was thinking in my mind 8 years after passing out buying his own car was okay, was it actually such a big deal? I read the message again, I remember that student to be very focused and had a good understanding and foresight. I asked which car he had bought. To that he said he'd send the picture. I received the picture the very next moment and the car was an Audi,  A4 Premium Plus. I was impressed, not with the car but the achievement of that student. Again, I wish to highlight that you never know whom you inspire and how!

There are many such people I know, I am sure there are many more of them out there. Such people become an inspiration for others. The achievement is of varying degrees, whats too good for one may not be anywhere close to the benchmark for the others. Its relative, so everyone has to try to be the best that they can be.

Would love to hear your dream stories. A lot of us believe in the magic of that secret. 

Tell us your stories too and will share them with others, you never know when someone gets inspired and your story changes a life.

Follow #DreamLive to witness how dreams become reality. Bharadwaj Dayala, the first Indian to go around the world on a motorcycle, will show us how to live our own dreams by realising his dream of riding from Russia to South Africa in just 100 days starting with nothing.  He'll then help 12 to 24 passionate bikers to live their dream of riding in a foreign country by getting sponsors for them.

DreamLive: Dare to dream and care to achieve it.

https://www.facebook.com/BJsDreamLive

@letsdreamlive