School Student becomes an Entrepreneur!!

Some instances in life fade with time, But only till the time you don’t See, Hear or Read some else who had gone through similar experience.  Because then, on that very moment the memories tumble out and face you as it was just yesterday.

 Some thing similar happened with me almost 15 months ago, when I read a Blog named Malegaon to Mumbai  here By Mohammad Faizan Ansari.

I read it, got Inspired, some Memories rekindled and then I wrote a few lines about my experience in the comments section.

While writing the comment, I promised to myself that I have to write about it and just to ensure, I do not forget, I snipped my Comment and Saved it.

 A few days back I saw the Snip and realized that It’s been long and I have to write about it, and So I Did, the same very night.

 Here is The My Experience 

This was the year when my results for Class 10th board were announced. And to me, it seemed as if I have crossed the English Channel even without knowing Swimming.

Ok, I know I am exaggerating. But believe me I didn’t study for my boards. Apart from English no Subject lured me enough to study it. And whatever English I would study and learn, would go waste, because due to my BAD handwriting my teacher was not able to decipher what I had written.

Anyways, I was relieved that now Board Exam is after 2 years… And I can LIVE!!!

For me Living would mean, going back to the days, when I went to Pragati Maidan for any and every kind of Exhibition that was running or to hire Video cassettes of Hindi Movies or Pakistani Plays or Tom & Jerry cartoons.

I loved Pakistani Plays more, the Comedy ones Like “Bakra Qisto Pay”, “Buddha Ghar par hai”, “Nayee Ammi Purane Abba” etc etc.

Umar Shareef was the person who made Pakistani Comedy Plays So Popular. If you note closely , you may find DNA is same in Comedy Nights with Kapil

And all these Cassettes were rented from a Video Library just 2 houses away from ours in Karol Bagh.

The Uncle who ran this Shop was an Amazing person. He was first a Neighbour, A Family member and then a person from whom we rented cassettes.

I remember, once Budda Ghar par had released and I went to his Video Library and asked uncle “Budda ghar par” hai?

And he cutely Said “Yes beta,Saamne baitha hai” ha ha ha ha….. Such was the relation 🙂

Most of the Times, when we used to go to get a cassette, Aunty would ask us to wait and then would cook some Delicious Anda paranthas. I still yearn for those tasty Paranthas.
I can still eat them, but for that, I need to go to London and not walk down a few steps as I did Earlier. As aunty is settled there now.

After my Exams…. I went to Uncle’s shop and asked for a few latest videos and he told me that he does not have it and shared his decision of closing down the Library.

For Sure, it made me sad and then I Casually asked him what he would do with these 700 cassettes.

And he replied he shall sell them at throwaway price at the earliest

I went back to home, Read an India Today magazine and “while I was trying to sleep the crazy entrepreneur in my awakened”.

I decided to buy the entire collection for Rs 7000 (Rs 10 a piece)

Sep 1994 issue of India Today, I began to Read Every India Today Word to word since I was in Class 8th and whatever English I have learnt is thanks to the Magazine.

 

Next morning I shared my decision with my father and asked for the money. He asked my Plan, Smiled and gave me the money.

I went to uncle, gave him my offer, he Smiled and Accepted the money.

In my House, I had a Small room on Mezzanine Floor. The kind of room, where If I went today… I would not even be able to stand straight due to its low height.

So, I made around 30 Trips for 2 days, Every trip had me carrying 20 cassettes & dropping it to my room.

(An Actual photo of those cassettes in my Room, neatly Stacked as if it’s in an Actual Video Library)

 

Decision Taken, Money paid, Cassettes in my Custody, Now What!!

So, the First Step I took was to Sort them. English Separate, Hindi Separate, Pakistani Plays Separate and then sorted it according to new and Old. Next step was to sort them as Original and Recorded.

 

Sorting was one process That I Loved & today when looking back, I realise that probably Sorting helped me Focus on what to Sell/Push. Also, it is Very Akin to Setting priorities in Life.

Uske baad I fixed the price for New Original Movies @Rs 50. Then I spread a Word of the same to my School Friends and Home Friends about it. They seemed Excited and I sold 40 of them in the same weekend.

40 Units * Rs. 50 = Rs. 2000

I still remember, one of them was “Shahenshah”(Can be Spotted in the Pic above) and was a Special Double Pack and I sold it for Rs 80. Rest was priced at Rs 25.

Out of them, there were 40 of them which were not named. MY only fear was that they could either be Blank, Corrupted or even Porn.

And Porn was the last thing I wanted to sell.

So, I gathered some Courage and asked Uncle if any of the cassettes were X, Double X or Triple X.

He answered in negative. I was not sure whether I felt Relieved or was Disappointed.

Anyways, a query cleared I focused on selling my cassettes and in a Month Sold 300 of them and collected Rs. 10,000.(Average rate Rs 35)

Out of the Money Collected,I Returned Rs 7000 to my Dad. Along with the amount was a small gift, because he had loaned me that money.

After a Month, I had Rs 3000 profit and still 400 Cassettes to Sell. I had already exhausted all my resources and had no Idea what to do with them.

If by any chance, you would have read my BLOG The Gift of Lessons, My Gifting Company Taught Me, You would know that I was a Frequent Visitor to “Sunday Chor Bazaar” behind Red Fort in Delhi

So, One Day I decided to go there and check if any trader there would be willing to buy the remaining cassettes.

So, I went one Sunday morning and talked to a few shopkeepers selling VCR’s and TV’s and shared my reason to be there. Thank Fully, One of them agreed to come to my home and inspect the Cassettes the same day. Within 2 hours, he was at my home, and after giving the cassettes a Glance, he offered Rs 7 per Cassette!!!!!!

The feeling I got was so Awesome, that I said YES, without Bargaining!

So, that Sunday my Month Long Rendezvous with those cassettes ended and left me Richer by Rs 5800, Increased Self Confidence & Lots of Contentment.

After that I had many more of these Short and Long Term Entrepreneurial Experiences which I shall be sharing in my Blogs to come.

Thanks a Lot for Reading TILL HERE!

 

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Some Images are mine and some have been sourced from Google Images 

This Blog was originally published HERE