…and you yelled at the king bravely, “I can do it!”
As if on cue, the whole durbar reverberated with a thunderous applause, everyone started looking at you with their respective 32 watt appreciations, some stood to emphasize their gratitude. A few flunkies even started chanting your name, Flower petals began to shower from god knows where.
Suddenly, the beautiful princess herself stood from her asan (seat) and started walking towards you. It quickly made the thunder of the applause graduate into a collective ‘in-loop’ rhythm of various anxious heartbeats – she had a mysterious smile on her face, eyes anchored on to you – she came uncomfortably close, smiled and then bent a little to whisper something softly into your ears, the words were electric – “Did you finished the pitch presentation?”
You wake up with a snatch – boot up your memory, trying to figure the immediate what – where and why’s. “There is a pitch presentation at 9 in the morning today”, a voice cries from inside, you suddenly realize, you had planned to make the ppt after work in the night – you thought you’d read a few articles and check a few mails before starting on it and then you clearly dozed off somewhere during the process – you slowly bring your wrist to your eye level, half hoping that it is still 3 in the morning – the watch disappoints you like your first crush – 8:45 AM, it says. Your meeting starts in 15 mins!
You jump out of your bed as if it is full of termites – run towards the bathroom – you know, you don’t have the time for the details – after a few quick splashes – you try your best to convince your hair into submission; clearly, it is not your day today. You decide to conveniently settle for the ‘creative guy’ look for the meeting – in the process realizing that you actually don’t have an ironed shirt left in the cupboard.
You desperately look for a T Shirt sans attitude, the “Best Actor in a Supporting Role” award is hurriedly conferred to the dependable cologne. 10 more mins, and the frustrated Autowallahs get to see your waving hands and desperate expressions down on the main road. One of them thankfully is in the mood for some charity.
Once you are settled inside the auto, it’s time to get the ppt in order. You quickly try and recall of a brand name from your previous pitches, closest to the prospective client – fishing out an old ppt from your D Drive. You quickly “find replace” the brand name to the current one. Thanks to the data card and Google Image Search –the right logo gets pasted to the lower right corner of every slide. You change a few lines here and there and you are ready for the show.
After the ppt – its time to tackle the next challenge – you quickly call-up the client to inform him that you are traphucked and might be late by a few minutes (knowing well that you would at least take 15 more minutes)
You ask the saintly Autowallah to speed up, even trying to incentivize him with an extra ‘bakshish’ (bribe) and a plea for help. He takes the cue and speeds up and you are at the client’s office at 9:15. You message the client to assure him of your presence in his office building. You quickly go through the security and rush up.
Once in the lobby, you are asked to hatch the sofa springs with your warmth and wait as the client is on his way. 20 more minutes fly by, primarily used in shining the shoes, tucking the T-shirt, and convincing the hair one last time, a few minutes are also invested to make a few changes on the ppt slides.
Client comes out finally, and you give him a re-assurance about India’s chances of winning a medal at the London edition of the Olympic games, had there been an event for the brightest and the most confident smile. You are ushered into the conference room and made to sit again while a waiter brings you some refreshments. You thank your stars and gobble up all the biscuits on the plate – Your breakfast. You open up your laptop again to do a last minute change.
The client arrives after a few minutes and you apologies for the delay sincerely, this time choosing not to give a reason. After a few more niceties, the client starts speaking about the challenges his brand is facing – while you are nodding and smiling – you realize that your PPT is useless – Your client is expecting Osama while all you have there on the ppt is Suresh Kalmadi.
You have the ppt’s first slide open – the client has seen the slide while speaking and knows that you would be showing a ppt – at this moment, something takes over your system – you shut the flap of your laptop and ask for your client’s permission to use the white board. Client looks around and suddenly jumps-off from his seat – by the time you realize what’s happening, he’s back and offers you a blue white-board marker to write with – he by now looks like a 13 year old, about to be handed over a PlayStation X for testing.
You start with some of the obvious re-iterations taking your time, warming up your engines, You ask him a few questions as you draw and write gibberish. As he is speaking and you are thinking – ideas start flashing into your head – there is an old jingle which has an interesting line – an old idea which was rejected by another client, you are evaluating your pros and cons and in a few seconds, you are ready for the show – you create the build-up with a story – you gradually narrow down the prepositions, leading the client to the idea you are about to unravel – the solution – the plan – The dream – Client’s facial expressions and body language provides the cues – he is nodding – it’s all right – an emboldened you goes a little further and explains implications – implementations and possible scenarios and why the idea you suggest is the best. The client now is smiling – you can visualize a bulb glowing over his head. The client cuts you in middle and looks right into your eyes as he whispers – “It’s great, let’s sign the agreement next week, we would like to work with you!” – It’s a home run!
After a few more minutes of cementing the preposition, you shake hands and exchange pleasantries for the final time, this time, it’s the client’s turn to re-assure you that India can safely expect two medals instead of just one in the Brightest and most Confident Smile Category this olympics. You promise to send the minutes of the meeting and take a quick flight out.
Once out, while you are looking for another benevolent autowallah, you are smiling. It is personal. There are no applauses. You won’t be given a trophy, a plaque or a shield for this one, not even a certificate of appreciation. There is a high chance that no one will even know what just happened. You would thank your stars and be relived. Another day in the life – Another challenge tackled – It’s personal – You are, after all…an Entrepreneur.
PS: The idea of this post was just to share a feeling. We all must have experienced something similar one time or the other. It is a thankless job – this Entrepreneurship, but it’s just awesome – it’s personal! Do share your thoughts, comments and experiences whenever you can.
-Heisme