The other day I was in a hospital cafeteria. I picked up a “coffee with jaggery” from Natural Coffee Club. It was weird but good (#Weird blog). As always curious to know about other people’s backgrounds, I started talking to the guy behind the counter. I was surprised to hear from Mr. Satish B.V that he had completed his higher education from France and he mentioned about his work in Nano Science. So I asked him “Why are you running a café?”
His “why” for his business amazed me. He wanted to make people aware of healthier food choices for a healthier tomorrow. His focus was to get people to remove refined sugar from their diet. It reminded me of the much-acclaimed concept of “Start with Why?” by Simon Sinek. This reinforced my belief that the “meaning of life is to find your gift and the purpose of life is to give it away.” (quote attributed to both Shakespeare and Pablo Picasso). For the first time, I had met with a person who had identified his purpose and meaning in life. So obviously, I had to take a selfie with him!
The same week I was at the airport book shop. These days it is my hobby to hang around in book shops and figure out what the world is reading other than social media. I was astonished to note that Mr. Ashok Soota, serial entrepreneur, was over the counter and signing books. I had read his articles before so I picked up a copy of his book. The book was called ” Entrepreneurship Simplified.” I reflected that Satish B.V was an example of the type of entrepreneur mentioned in the book.
In his book, Ashok Soota has compiled his experiences of working in various companies like Wipro and Mindtree. He shares his insights with aspiring entrepreneurs on how to take their business from Idea to IPO. He says that a very important lesson for all Entrepreneurs is “You should be passionate about your venture, but don’t get consumed by it and let it destroy your personal life.” He mentions that apart from financial success it should be a happy and joyous journey and a journey filled with purpose to be called truly successful. Well Satish to me embodied the same.
My take on Life is “Be Open.” When you open a book, be ready for change. When you meet a person, be ready to engage. You never know what life lessons are awaiting you.
Hey Vinod.
Another interesting blog from the RICH category. Simple and powerful lessons. Like the way you have linked the experiences. I also like the way your blog is shaping up… specially with the use of quotes to drive your point… your play with words and expressions (simple entrepreneur – entrepreneurship simplified). Finally… and most importantly… I like the the simple style through which you are creating your blog writing signature.