Hi all,
I found the following article very inspiring, and I hope it benefits you too.
Regards.
Source:
http://outlookmoney.com/scripts/IIH021C1.asp?sectionid=10&categoryid=48&articleid=5272
He started out as an office boy at Rs 120 a month. He now runs a Rs 5 crore business.
It’s been a hard journey from office boy to multi-millionaire, but Anil Sharma is not one to cavil at hardship. For almost a quarter of a decade now, he has been logging in 14-hour workdays, with no breaks for Sundays or holidays. The result? A Rs 5 crore visa consultancy, which employs 55 people.
They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and Sharma took that step when he began working as a jack-of-all-trades at Paradise Tours, a small, Delhi-based in-bound travel agency. He was 16. “I was fiercely independent from a very early age. Financial independence was essential, and that’s why I started earning at 16; I pursued my studies simultaneously through correspondence,” he says.
The first step. At Paradise, Sharma’s salary was a princely Rs 120 a month, for which he did everything from sweeping the floors to bringing in the coffee to buying tickets to camping out at airports to receive guests. Did he find all that demeaning? Far from it. “My stint at Paradise Tours taught me two things: the dignity of labour, and a hands-on knowledge of every department in a travel agency,” he says.
Luckily, Paradise recognised hard work and rewarded Sharma with promotions and salary hikes; in about 10 years, Sharma was earning Rs 50,000 a month. Excellent progress for someone who started out with less than nothing, you would think. However, Sharma had different plans. He was tired of working for someone else, and decided it was time to strike out on his own.
Moving out. In 1989, Sharma quit Paradise to set up his own business in visa consultancy. He knew he had built a good network of contacts and was convinced the business would prove a goldmine. His parents, however, were not as confident. “My father was a government employee, and as conventional wisdom reigned, he found my decision immature and whimsical,” says Sharma.
Refusing to yield to his family’s wishes, Sharma borrowed an office in Delhi’s Connaught Place from a friend and set up Jet Save Tours. Since the business was just starting up, his friend let him use the office free of rent. Overwhelmed, Sharma took on his friend’s wife as partner, even though she had made no capital investment.
“Securing a toe-hold is a big step, especially in the visa business, as passports are extremely sensitive documents and to get a client to trust a veritable stranger with them is a Herculean task.” But Sharma was not a man to give up easily. He travelled to the metros, renewed old contacts, made new ones and got the business going. “There were times when I would wait for hours to meet people and they would refuse to see me. At other times, I would literally be thrown out of offices,” he recalls.
Thorny path. But his perseverance paid off, and he returned to Delhi with a list of definite clients, and more people ready to sign on. “The arrival of the postman used to be the most eagerly awaited event of the day since he would, quite literally, bring in business.”
But a disagreement with his business partner almost resulted in destroying him. “All my business accounts were joint with my partner. Because of a disagreement, she suddenly froze the accounts. I was broke, as I had sunk every last paisa of my savings into the business.” But Sharma was not one to be intimidated so easily. By now, he was married, and he borrowed Rs 20,000 from his wife’s parents, moved out of the Connaught Place office and into a new one at Pragati Towers in Rajinder Place.
Moving up. It was not a debt he kept for long. Seventeen-hour workdays and no holidays to speak of, and Sharma was able to repay his in-laws in two months flat. In six months, he had 100 clients. By the end of the first year, Jet Save was earning Rs 2 lakh, and was getting 10-15 visa applications every day. At the end of two years, turnover was Rs 10 lakh. There’s been no looking back since.
Sharma still faces some problems on the monetary front. “Since clients pay us only after the visa has been stamped, a constant cash flow of about Rs 5 lakh is needed daily. Delayed payments pose another big problem,” he says. Also, he has to stay on his toes to meet the challenge of increasingly aggressive competition. “In this business, the loyalty of clients in not a bankable commodity. One has to work at networking constantly; complacency spells disaster,” he says.
Which is why even today, in spite of having built up a Rs 5 crore company, you will find Sharma at his desk at 7.30 in the morning. And he’s still at it long after everyone has left. Hardworking, committed, focussed. That’s how anyone would describe Sharma.
Except, possibly, his family. “I hardly have any time to spend with my family,” he rues. “In fact, I don’t even know what class my children are in.” But, as he adds: "Success demands sacrifices; it’s a trade-off you have to make.
business Visa Consultancy
company Jet Save Tours
launched 1990
starting capital Rs 10,000
current turnover Rs 5 crore
secret of success Hard work, hard work...
