Gujarat trip with friends!

मोदी जी और बच्चन जी, दोस्त की शादी में गए थे हम गुजरात में । स्टेशन पर पहुँचते ही घूस खिलानी पड़ी और ख़त्म हो गए 5000 रु बात ही बात में, ऐसे शुरुआत हुई हमारे कुछ दिनो़ की गुजरात मे़ ।।

सड़कें मक्खन जैसी, कि 350 किमी. का सफ़र भी मज़े से कट गया बात ही बात में । खाना इतना स्वादिष्ट और सस्ता कि, मन किया थोड़ा घर के लिए भी pack करवा लें साथ में । तब लगा कि कुछ दिन तो मज़े से गुज़रेंगे गुजरात में ।।

Dry state की आड़ में बार बार घूस माँगते हैं पुलिस वाले हाथ में, तब समझ आया कि बस थोड़ी हिम्मत और नोट गरम रखो हाथ में, जहँा चलती थी मधुशाला हर दम हमारे साथ में, ये नयी कला सीखी हमने गुजरात में ।।

यूँ चार लाइनें लिख कर बयान कि आप बीती हमने आपके साथ में, तो जनाब हमने इस तरह गुज़ारे कुछ दिन गुजरात में ।।

The lost art of "Thank you"

Let's start with a story - You are in a busy mall with a friend and it's too loud and you are barely able to talk. All you see everywhere is the rush of the Christmas BUMPER SALE. Showrooms are swarmed with girls collecting all they can grab and with boys waiting outside the try room to give a reaction on the newly tried dress. Then suddenly you are pulled into a showroom that's boasting 75% FLAT discount (how they manage that discount is still a mystery). Anyways, you notice a doorman who mostly without even looking at you, opens the door in the most machine like manner (work as usual). Then you say "Thank you" to him and he throws a dry smile back at you and let's you in.

On your way out you say "thank you" again and this time he looks up with a big smile and a lot more life in his otherwise mechanical action and opens the door for you. You smile back.

I usually say thank you to everyone, it has become a habit now. What I started noticing after this incident was how many people say 'thank you' and it is a completely personal observation that I found none. ZERO...

These two words changed things for me a lot of times. However today I just want to talk about the gratitude it gives you back. I tried talking to a few doormen and janitors (some were completely uninterested) and found out that it gave them a sense of pride in their otherwise petty job (as per them). When someone said 'thank you' or smiled back, they felt respected and motivated.

One of the metro janitors Satish at dwarka sector 12 metro station said "sir mujhe jab koi thank you bolta hai toh mujhe lagta hai main Modi ji ka kaam kar raha hu" he was referring to the Swachchh Bharat mission.

In one of the cases where I was at the other end, I picked up an empty water bottle and a lays packet from the road and threw it in a bin nearby. A guy from somewhere came and said "thank you". It made my day, I smiled back and thought about Satish and a few others who do this job everyday with an underlying wish to be respected and appreciated.

Let us all genuinely start thanking the unsung people we meet daily. From the guy who cleans our car, to the guard who opens the society gate for you, to the office boy, who helps you with daily stuff, to our colleagues who do things for us and never ask a thing back, to our family which gives us never ending love and support.


A few interesting ways in which you can say thank you are:-
- Cook a meal for someone
- Gift an ebook with a personal note
- My favorite - Write a personal note/letter if you can


Don't just say thank you, mean it. Thank you for reading :)

You can write back at prateek@polldance.in or tweet @prateeb11

Why you no blog!

Do exactly as written - Count on the instances when you were absolutely alone in a day. No phone, No TV, No one around, No distractions at all.

How many could you count? None, Right? It's hard in this age to think of anytime without distractions. We have become a species with an attention span of a rodent. Where not only people but technology also is pushing hard to get a piece of our attention.

I can think of a few times when you can't be distracted, while driving (of course with radio off and assuming you don't use your phone while driving) and just before sleeping or in the rest rooms.

Can you recall the thoughts that cross your mind at these times. These are Ideas, about your current job, your business, family and other general things. But mostly they are possible solutions to the problems you face in your life and if you are good at imagination, these thoughts are just beautiful.

As soon as the distractions step in, these thoughts puff into the air like smoke. To pen these thoughts and use it for later reference and in the process help others is the best reason for 'Why SHOULD you blog.'

Some Facts:-

- Did you know that more than 70% information sharing on internet happens through blogs. Yes it's that big.

- We don't get the kind of environment these days to freely voice our opinions. Hence applications like 'Secret' are successful :). In fact a lot of doctors recommend blogging to relieve stress.

- Blogging makes you better at expressing your thoughts. You become more confident about what you think and talk.

- In today's time, it is extremely important to market your own brand and have your own POV, what could be better than writing a blog.

- Its a fact that a lot of people have become rich and famous by writing blogs ONLY. For instance - Neil Pasricha, find out who he is and then see his blog which got the best blog award in 2010. He even spoke at TED.

Why do we 'NOT' write blogs:-

- Fear of getting judged.
- No time
- Just don't like writing

Or 

- No internet

All these problems now have solutions:-

- If they judge you with what you write, they are not the ones you are writing for

- Having no time is not a reason, it's an excuse, get over having 'no time.'

- Even if you don't like blogging, just write and post. If someone likes or comments on your post, experience that feeling.

- 'No internet' is solved at the coffee shops these days. Almost all of them have free internet. Go get yourself a cup of coffee :)

Most importantly you should write because you care about what's going on and you do give a damn about it. All the best.

Share this blog if you liked it. You can write back @prateekb11 or email at prateek@polldance.in

Be the Shahrukh Khan of your life!

"Haar kar jeetne wale ko Baazigar kehte hain" 

"Oops!! Not an SRK fan, me neither, but wait till the post is over - smiles guaranteed."

I am ready to put my money on it, when you read that dialogue, you didn't think of anyone but SRK. By the way I am not an SRK fan, but I admire what he has achieved in this one life and how!

He came from a very humble family, we all know that. But what we may not have seen is the otherwise glowing entrepreneurial streak he possesses. As an entrepreneur he has a lot we can learn from.

Wit:- He is by far the most witty celebrity you would ever come across, unless of course, if you are 'Tony Stark'.

As a kickstarter one needs to be intelligently witty and smart in communication. Communication is of utmost importance, this can help you save your words and still be able to convey the message exactly how you want it.

Focus:- You must have heard the story that in his struggling days, he announced that he will own a bungalow at the same spot he was standing and he did. We will never know if it was a true story but, We all say things like these to ourselves when we want to lift ourselves up. But how much do we work towards it. It is that focus towards the goals that you set which should be unwavering and rock solid.

Drive:- There is one question that I want to ask all the successful people I can find. The Zuckerbergs, The Steve Jobs, The Bill Gates, Sir Richard Branson, Narendra Modi, Obama, Larry Page, Elon Musk, The SRK and all the ones I could not name here.

Here is that question. "You have everything you always wanted, name, fame, money, wisdom, knowledge, unquestioned access and authority. What is it that makes you get up every morning and go to work, and work so hard?" If we have this level of drive in us, there is nothing, believe you me nothing, that can stop us from greatness. In fact, this drive is one common trait in all the heavyweights mentioned above.

Confidence:- Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the most confident of all, it's you SRK. In a recent Comedy Nights ad that's doing the rounds on TV, SRK is asked to deliver a dialogue angrily and he says with all the flair that for being angry I need to got to the Wankhede.Cheeky but confident.

Confidence brings audacity in you, it has brought some in me :). Hence the post on SRK ;). Confidence can change things for anyone at anytime. It is the biggest gift god gave us to keep going when it's not easy. Be confident about yourself.

This and a lot more is what I have learnt from SRK and still am. Let's all go and be the SRK of our own lives "kyuki picture abhi baki hai mere dost" :)

Thank you for reading this post, you can write back @prateekb11

When do you cross the bridge?

Have started my own venture 7 months ago. A start up, specially if it is your own, teaches you more than any teacher in the world can and will, sometimes the most obvious of the things.

There are lessons at every step, some you can look at and learn, some you choose to overlook and some you just don't see. One such lesson I learnt recently and would like to share with you here -

The Error

When you are an entrepreneur, you are the most restless and most eager of the pack (a very common mistake), almost like a child with a toy, the only difference is the attention span of the child is a little longer. You want to go ahead and do everything and even worse, all at once.

We are making a product, so I was focused on getting all the features and all the plans integrated in the first release itself. Pushing the team and myself to dish out a flawless product in the first go. This was making us loose the following:-

- Early reaction of users and a chance to incorporate their feedback
- Another chance to get in touch with our users about a new release
- Most of all, killing the joy to let the ship in the water and see it sail.

The Learning

My Co-founder then gave me my recently acquired wisdom, to not worry about all the features, because we will never have enough, It is an ongoing process. Look at any product in the world, it keeps upgrading itself, it keeps dishing out newer versions and features, We will never have control on this aspect of business, what we do though have a control over are the efforts to make sure that every release works perfectly. Simple words these were, but made me learn something very important. Cross the bridge only when it comes.

I do not mean to say that you should settle for mediocrity. Do nothing if you can but don't be ordinary. What I do want to share through this experience is that, creating something is an on-going process, it never ends and it should not. So do not worry about perfecting it, just focus on releasing versions that work just fine.

Remember "never worry about crossing the bridge that hasn't come yet."

Thank you for reading, you can write back @prateekb11

Sale is just a 'by-product'!

"Once a Salesman, always a Salesman". This statement is as true as the gravity that's pulling you down right now.

We all do Sales, sometimes while convincing the parents to delay the marriage, sometimes justifying it to your boss on why is your decision the best and sometimes negotiating the auto-rickshaw fare with the driver (yes, we do that in India).

A sale has 5 stages:-

- Finding the prospect

- Meeting the prospect

- Showcasing product/services

- Negotiating

- Closure

All of us know about these 5 stages, but the focus is mostly on the last stage, rather than focusing on all the stages equally and aptly. Statistically, if the process is focused on more, the sales triple.

Case:-

One of my friends was not getting any reply from a big prospect. Every time he would go to the client to find him busy. One day he asked him a straight question, "what occupies your time that you can't take this discussion ahead?" Client replied, "competitive analysis". Next day when the client reached office, he saw the competitive analysis email in his inbox. There were 4 other vendors trying to get this business. You won't get any points for guessing who bagged it.

Case in question shows one thing, while all other vendors focused on how to get the client's time and close this deal, the real salesman found out what took most of client's time and shared client's responsibility and hence surprised the client.

Focusing on each stage of the sale, being creative at each step and not getting overwhelmed with the sale's outcome are the keys to a perfect sale. Remember,"A Sale is just a by-product." 

Thank you for reading, you can write back @prateekb11

How to zero in on a business idea!

We are all entrepreneurs, in our own different world's and ways. In most cases the fixation to the idea does not last long and hence it never springs up to reality.

The most important thing in starting up a business is the IDEA. Then the Team and then the Implementation. To find the right Idea is the key. That Idea should not only appeal to you monetarily but also emotionally. To find out :-

Make 2 Lists

Make a list of all the things you love and cant live without. Don't hold back or restrict, get a sheet and pen everything down from your hobbies like swimming and philately to interests like cooking, watching movies, hanging out with friends. Basically a list of all the things close to your heart.

Now make another list of skills that you have and you can acquire, do not shy away from penning down anything. Write whatever you think you are good at from excel skills to people skills and writing good blogs to public speaking to even coding, jot down everything.

Compare the lists

Now compare the two lists, and more often than not you will find one thing where your heart and your mind will coincide. You could be a food lover and coding could be your skill, you can start a food blog or a product for eateries. Or you could be a motor enthusiast and have public speaking skills, you can then start a video blog on motor sport or your own motor reviews channel.

There are many things you can be, but the ones which will bring a smile to you will be the ones closest to your heart.

Remember "we are all entrepreneurs!"