Kāma, Krodh, Kasht - 3Ks to shun (Part 1)

3Ks to shun to become eligible to start the entrepreneurial journey

• Kāma (Sanskrit, Pali; Devanagari: काम) is translated from Sanskrit as pleasure, sensual gratification, sexual fulfillment, pleasure of the senses, desire, eros, or the aesthetic enjoyment of life
• Krodh is derived from the Sanskrit word krodha, which means wrath or Rage.
• Kasht is suffering, pain, agony; hardship; distress; penury, affliction; difficulty, trouble; labour, toil, exercise

Kāma - An emerging entrepreneur can be easily distracted by Kāma - the glamour, the appreciation, the urge to accumulate material things, the pride of initial "apparent" success and of course, the fairer sex. It becomes very essential to "talk" oneself out of these to maintain a clear vision of the long-term goal. A Junoon like faith and "Point of No-return" like attitude are the only tools that can help you do so.

Krodh - When the hard work is unfavorably disproportionate to the results and need to put in the greater efforts is constant, Krodh sometimes, become inevitable. A VERY STRONG mind is needed to keep quiet and let the rage pass away.On some occasions you fail and on some occasions you fail miserably. Accept your mistake and apologize quickly with a ZERO tolerance to SELF-EGO.

Kasht - Despite the constant satisfaction of "creating something out of nothing", Kasht will continue to be borne by the striving entrepreneur. Foregoing short-term benefits (say iPhone, that Chevrolet Spark) and 365 days constant work with almost 18 hrs./day of engagement in work, the Kasht will be both Physical and Mental. Need to constantly train your Body and Mind becomes a necessity. Constant self-conversation becomes a habit. Mind holds dialogue with itself to the point of being insane.

Controlling these 3Ks require constant "Self-brainwashing" and it does not ensure success but yes, one could be a step closer to the Lakshya. As always, Lakshya ko HAR HAAL mey paana hai !

"You can't win if you're not at the table"

People have talked about "'right time-right place" time and again. To look at the idea from a different perspective, let's make sure we are at the table to be in the game. Our mere participation/presence may not be able to win us any Poker game, but our absence will surely not make us win.

Be it pitching to a client, trying to woo that sweet damsel, securing that academic degree - getting a foot in the door is super-essential.

Recently, Excel Next acquired clients that it had pitched more than a year back. It kept them engaged during the entire year with knowledgeable reports/industry insights. Just being there "at the table" made sure Excel Next was still very much "in the game".The moment opportunity arose, it was well positioned to capitalize on that. Conversely, it also did lose track of significant number of companies/potential clients who it pitched to initially and has never heard from them since - Atleast one of them could have given Excel Next it's next big break. Talking about "big-break", every business / professional practice needs one to move the next Orbit. As propounded by Late. D Ambani, it takes MASSIVE effort for a person/business to move to the next orbit of economic level and social status. It would be foolish to let go of that "big-break" that may make this "orbit-jumping" process a lot simpler. To cut a long story short, let's try to be at the table as much as possible.

With its fair share of mistakes, Excel Next is glad to share its experience, even if it is "seemingly non-material".

When the CEO Cold calls...

May 27, 2010


I hated cold calling. 6 weeks of Office-with-no-receptionist situation put me back into the Hot seat. But gradually, I realized it is one of the best ways of keeping abreast with the market (customer/client) pulse. My experience:

1. Maintain eDatabase of all the people you will call or have called. Note down things unique to them. E.g. Doing MBA-exams in June,Sunday timings will be preferred,Working in a call centre-looking for a shift etc. Hence, the next time you call the person, you have the essence/response of last conversations before you. Also, noting the positivity in the tone, say by denoting *** (3-stars) or ***** (5-stars) besides their name, helps you focus on "potentially Top' clients

2. Try to Listen (not just hear) to their preferences/problems and DO NOT PUSH them. Rather, give them alternatives/options. E.g. Client says- I have only Monday offs and hence cant join in any of the available batches.Provide him with info/convincing examples that compels him to think about Long-term gain and find a way to join the batch by taking special study-leave from the office.

3. Be aware of the Season. Exams season are not the right time to increase your marketing campaign as it would go unnoticed and precious $$$ & efforts would be wasted. Parallels can be drawn to other Industry.

4. Do not hate cold calling as this is the first step towards bringing in new clients/leads. Make the first call and make him beg for more information. So, rather than you telling the details, the potential client ASKS for it.

5. Make your scope of responsibility known upfront. E.g. Service is not equal to on-demand Consultancy. Of course, if you are enthusiastic and energetic, cover the extra mile/add-ons to make your client Hardcore loyalist.

6. If the client is busy, make sure to close the call with a fixed date by when we can give a call again.

N.B.(1) A lot of examples pertain to my area of work. Some may / may not be applicable to other industries.
N.B.(2) My 'ordeal' ends as a new receptionist took away my 'Job' :)

Excerpts from "Dale Carnegie - How To Stop Worrying and Start Living"

Chapter 7 - Don't Let the Beetles Get You Down

Here is a dramatic story that I'll probably remember as long as I live. It was told to me by Robert Moore, of 14 Highland Avenue, Maplewood, New Jersey.

"I learned the biggest lesson of my life in March, 1945," he said, "I learned it under 276 feet of water off the coast of Indo-China. I was one of eighty-eight men aboard the submarine Baya S.S. 318. We had discovered by radar that a small Japanese convoy was coming our way. As daybreak approached, we submerged to attack. I saw through the periscope a Jap destroyer escort, a tanker, and a minelayer. We fired three torpedoes at the destroyer escort, but missed. Something went haywire in the mechanics of each torpedo. The destroyer, not knowing that she had been attacked, continued on. We were getting ready to attack the last ship, the minelayer, when suddenly she turned and came directly at us. (A Jap plane had spotted us under sixty feet of water and had radioed our position to the Jap minelayer.) We went down to 150 feet, to avoid detection, and rigged for a depth charge. We put extra bolts on the hatches; and, in order to make our sub absolutely silent, we turned off the fans, the cooling system, and all electrical gear.

"Three minutes later, all hell broke loose. Six depth charges exploded all around us and pushed us down to the ocean floor -a depth of 276 feet. We were terrified. To be attacked in less than a thousand feet of water is dangerous-less than five hundred feet is almost always fatal. And we were being attacked in a trifle more than half of five hundred feet of water -just about knee-deep, as far as safety was concerned. For fifteen hours, that Jap minelayer kept dropping depth charges. 

If a depth charge explodes within seventeen feet of a sub, the concussion will blow a hole in it. Scores of these depth charges exploded within fifty feet of us. We were ordered 'to secure'- to lie quietly in our bunks and remain calm. I was so terrified I could hardly breathe. 'This is death,' I kept saying to myself over and over. 'This is death! ... This is death!' With the fans and cooling system turned off, the air inside the sub was over a hundred degrees; but I was so chilled with fear that I put on a sweater and a fur-lined jacket; and still I trembled with cold. My teeth chattered. I broke out in a cold, clammy sweat. The attack continued for fifteen hours. Then ceased suddenly. Apparently the Jap minelayer had exhausted its supply of depth charges, and steamed away. Those fifteen hours of attack seemed like fifteen million years. All my life passed before me in review. 

I remembered all the bad things I had done, all the little absurd things I had worried about. I had been a bank clerk before I joined the Navy. I had worried about the long hours, the poor pay, the poor prospects of advancement. I had worried because I couldn't own my own home, couldn't buy a new car, couldn't buy my wife nice clothes. How I had hated my old boss, who was always nagging and scolding! I remembered how I would come home at night sore and grouchy and quarrel with my wife over trifles. I had worried about a scar on my forehead-a nasty cut from an auto accident.

"How big all these worries seemed years ago! But how absurd they seemed when depth charges were threatening to blow me to kingdom come. I promised myself then and there that if I ever saw the sun and the stars again, I would never, never worry again. Never! Never! I Never!!! I learned more about the art of living in those fifteen terrible hours in that submarine than I had learned by studying books for four years in Syracuse University."
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