After scavenging the streets of Lamington road, Mumbai, India after about a decade wearing my favorite Adidas and a college backpack, I was already feeling like a bumpy college kid! My college bag was full of the following items,

1. Solering Iron

2. Solder stand

3. Solder wire

4. Multimeter

5. Breadboards

6. Nose pliers

7. Stripper (No – human stripper can’t fit in my bag)

8. Male burg strip

9. Couple of LM324′s

10. Resistance box

11. Capacitor box

and finally my Macbook with Arduino DIY stickers! Phew! Suddenly, I saw a train rushing onto platform no. 2, somehow squeezed myself into the so called elite first class compartment and stood still, thinking about how the day was amazing, I totally loved the shopping list and was excited to read about basics of C and embedded C. Suddenly, my status quo was disturbed by a loud obnoxious guy speaking on his not so cool Blackberry,

Loud obnoxious guy: Arre bhai, bola na aapko paisa mil jaayega (Dude, you will get your money)

Some pissed off guy at the other end of the line: Aap chaar mahine se yahi bol rahe hain ( You have been saying this for the past 4 months)

Loud obnoxious guy: Haan, lekin abhi mere boss se approval mil chuka hain aur market bhi down tha, paisa aapko yeah mahine main pahuch jaayega (Yea, but Ive got the approval from my boss and moreover, the markets were down, you will definitely get the money this month)

Some pissed off guy at the other end of the line: Agar mujhe paisa nahi mila tou bahut bura hoga! (If I dont get the money, then you would be in trouble for sure!)

Loud obnoxious guy: Patel bhai, aapko paisa mil jaayega, tension matt lo, ab main phone rakhta hun (Patel bhai, please be tension free, you will get your money but now I need to hang up)

When he hung up, he realized that the whole compartment was staring at him. He pretended as if, he was not the one! Finally, there was silence for sometime, however now thanks to that silence, I could hear another conversation right next to me between a pretty girl and an ugly boy!

Pretty girl: I am 24 and my parents are really getting on my nerves, every single day, they ask me to have a look at a photo of a boy!

Ugly boy: —–Long prevailing silence——

Pretty girl: You don’t wanna marry me, right, you just wanna have fun…(There was a giggle around the compartment)

Ugly boy: (Realizing that he needs to speak up) – Thats not the case Preety, I simply can’t marry now, I am not even an MBA, I am earning just Rs, 10,000, how can you expect me to marry you now?

Pretty girl: (Almost in tears) – So you have to forget me!

Ugly boy: Listen its Bandra, We need to get down!

Enter Bandra – the conversation was over and so was the rush!

I was hanging at the door of the local train with Eric Johnson playing on my iPod (please don’t imitate this action, Ive been doing so for the past 12 years and am a expert), the breeze was flowing on to my mind and I had a seed for my thought, Insecurities!

I wonder, do Mumbaikars stop traveling my local trains for the fear of some terrorist attacks?

Does ISRO not stop working on PSLV for the fear of the satellites dropping from the orbit?

Does the Indian army scared of any potential attack from China or Pakistan?

What if Pakistan attacks India with some nuclear weapon or maybe a biological one? Would it attack Mumbai first? Does India stop working because of this insecurity?

My trusted and hard working product guy is researching on PWM and working with mains, does the thought of electric shock stop him from not working on the research project?

Have been playing the guitar for almost 10 years now and i still don’t have a single original with a band, should I quit and start playing in cover bands?

Ive been a failed entrepreneur all my life, does the thought of failure probe me to quit my startup?

The train had touched Andheri and my life was going on, probably, one step closer to success…

The time was 8.00 am in my watch, the day was bright and unshaven. I was determined and totally prepared for my 60-minute cardio workout. After successfully finishing my time on the treadmill, I was moving to the Exercycle, when I met my personal trainer. I could sense that he wanted to talk to me other than the usual protein, glutamine and “how to get those 8 pack abs”. Apparently, he had a fight with his employer and he was not been treated well by his employer (He was the head trainer and has been loyal to the same gym for 9 years, yea – 9 fricking years!). The conversation was something like this,

Personal trainer: Hi Shreek, please can you do something and try to get $250,000 for starting a new gym, I will take care of everything and see to it that the gym beats every competitor in this geographical area.

Me: (Pondering to myself): My company makes $250,000 revenue after a 2-year stint. Even if I had money, would I invest in a traditional business like this, oh god what’s happened to me, why am I thinking like a bloody tech. investor?

Me: Sir, I don’t have that kind of money but the day I do have that money, I will straight away invest however right now I will have to pass…

The trainer obviously got the vibes and he left, I continued with my exercycle, thinking, how would he be feeling about this rejection, I was watching him from the glass and I could see a little pain on his face however, after about 5 minutes, I found him alright and he continued his job as if the conversation never happened.

The time was 12 noon, It was the time for a conference call with an investor, investor made us wait for 15 minutes over the phone till we decided to hang up since I had to get on a call with our long term client, after about 30 minutes, I get an email from the investor apologizing for the delay and to get on a call immediately if possible, which I obliged. After explaining about our company for about 30 minutes, the investor hung up saying, he can comment more after seeing the financials, which was again a euphemism for a “NO”. I felt a bit bitter, however being a sales guy, rejections had been a part of my everyday life! Maybe I felt bad because I felt in someway that it was the bad karma being rebound to me because of the rejection of the proposal made by the personal trainer in the morning, I needed a break – so I interviewed a prospective employee and gave him a job! There was still something which was hitting me at some corner of my brain and thats when I realized the first lesson on rejection,

1. Rejection is not personal: Entrepreneurs shouldn’t ruin their day because of a simple “NO”. Remember its not about “YOU” being personally rejected, in fact the moment, you get a rejection, it means you are one step closer to a “YES”

After a small break, which consisted of a great meal at a restaurant and beautiful women at the restaurant, I wanted to get back into action, which is what I did,

2. Move on: Yes, that’s right, pick up that phone, call the next client/investor/girl and move on in life – personal or professional. I feel, life is all about numbers. When I run a online CPM campaign, the click through ratio on the campaigns is on an average 0.1. Man, which means only one out of 100 people who see the ads click on it. Love it! I hope you got the point!

3. Knowledge is power: Most of times, rejection might mean that the other person is simply demanding for more information and it is the next step, a step closer to a “YES”. Maybe in my case, the same thing had happened, the investor had demanded for the updated financials! This is especially true when the client is more detailed oriented and to take a more calculated decision, he needs more information from you, which is what you will furnish when asked! umm- I guess, here I will write, “Applied Knowledge is power”

4. Be positive, ALWAYS!: Positivity dwells in people who have the courage to face rejections, yea, endurance comes when the mind and body tries to go that extra mile. Did you know that J.K.Rowling had faced rejections from various publishers for one year. Some pubs, din’t even bother to open her proposal letter, that’s life but we all know who J.K. Rowling is now, thats life again!

5. Ponder,analyze, improve: Self criticism and improv. is the key to every question. Learn from every meeting, denial, experience (good/bad), take mental notes and try to feed them in your grey matter forever!

The time is 11.46pm, looking back, it feels a total roller coaster ride, however that reminds of one of my fav. bands song – watch it, I am sure, you will love the video and song too!

I know this is really cliche but hey, isn’t it the fact of life, we all love motivation and Entrepreneurs love motivational quotes, don’t they? Motivation is the fuel which pumps their everyday life. It keeps them going when the going gets tough and this is the main reason, I thought, I should write my first blog post on the same. In fact, I am so moved by motivational quotes is that I am thinking of getting the best one tattooed on my chest, yea, that’s what I will do.

These are just some of them, don’t forget to add some in the comments and lets pump up the entrepreneurial spirit.

1. “It’s a lifestyle – train like there’s no finish line.” – Anonymous

2. “If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you’ll find an excuse.” – Anonymous

3.  “Be proud, but never satisfied.” – Anonymous

4.  “If you always do what you have always done, then you will always get what you have always got.” – Anonymous

5. “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog” – Magic Johnson, NBA Star

6. “Pain is temporary, pride is forever – Anonymous

7. “Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Philosopher & Writer

8. “Try and fail is the manner of losers; try and learn is the way of the strong.” – Anonymous

9. “Suffer the pain of discipline or suffer the pain of regret!” – Anonymous

10. “Only the weak attempts to accomplish what he knows he can already achieve.” – Stella Juarez Author

11. “If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.” – Jim Rohn

12. “In life and business, there are two cardinal sins: The first is to act without thought, and the second is to not act at all.” – Carl Rahn

13. “Failure will not overcome me so long as my will to succeed is stronger” – Micheal S. Kirby

14. “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

15.  “If you are hurt, whether in mind or body, don’t nurse your bruises. Get up and light-heartedly, courageously, good temperedly get ready for the next encounter. This is the only way to take life – this is also ‘playing’ the game!” – Emily Post

16. “The human body experiences a powerful gravitational pull in the direction of hope” – Norman Cousins Author

17. “A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts.” – Richard Branson

18. “Can anything be sadder than work left unfinished? Yes; work never begun.” – Christina Rossetti

19. “Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.” – William Jennings Bryan.

20. “That which does not kill me makes me stronger” – Friedrich Nietzsche, Philosopher, Poet, and Classical Philologist

21. “Watch, listen, and learn. You can’t know it all yourself. Anyone who thinks they do is destined for mediocrity.” – Donald Trump

22. “Fall down seven times, get up eight” – Chinese proverb

23. “There is nothing we cannot live down, rise above, and overcome.” – Ella Wheeler Wilcox

24. “Success must be felt within before it can be seen on the outside.” – Unknown

25. “There are plenty of difficult obstacles in your path. Don’t allow yourself to become one of them.” – Ralph Marston, Author and Publisher of The Daily Motivator