Girish Kulkarni started his journey in the social sector accidentally , during his college days he had a friend who never spoke about his family , one day they happened to find out why , his mother was in flesh trade. This shook Girish , he saw the poverty , the utter helplessness of the family . He could not sleep , he decided to do something about this and fight to get women and children out from flesh trade. He gathered a few friends and then began a journey for a cause of freedom and life of dignity for commercial sex workers . Today Snehalaya an NGO run by Girish is a home to over 800 children of commercial sex workers over 400 of them are impacted with AIDS , another NGO Snehankur takes care of infants who are abandoned on the roads by mothers.
How could one man achieve so much , he yet teaches in college . He shared with me the secret one day , he said “I just began and people joined me on the way” .
Get into the water, get wet
Every success story starts with a fire within to change something and the first step is to begin , take that first step . Most people in the place of Girish would look away , leaders in the social sector I have met don’t look away , they get involved . They don’t even care about resources and challenges they may face . Girish had to face the mafia , he was not afraid . So may times you have an idea but you hold back because of fear and the fear is of the unknown .
We all get used to our comfort zones we are told , stay safe , don’t rock the boat , survive . You cannot learn swimming without getting into the water , you cannot ride a cycle by reading books and watch videos on YouTube . You cannot build your passion into business by just thinking . You have to take the step , you need to begin.
They will warn you , its tough , but do it anyway
You will not have all the answers , last year when I began my entrepreneurial journey at the age of 54 after over 30 years in the corporate world I had no idea of what to expect , there was no comfort of monthly paycheque , I was also warned this is not the age (I don’t know what age has got to do with anything). I had to stay flexible , I had something in mind but there is so much I have learned by being open to opportunities .
The places I expected would open doors did not , those I expected support from did not and for this I have nothing against anyone , I had to learn this is the way of the world for an entrepreneur , you are on your own ! this is a solo journey and some times it does get lonely .
There were so many friends who warned me in good faith , “the market is bad , things are tough , it is not easy” , then there was “you are cut out for the corporate world” and it is true I also had all these fears when I began.
But I was passionate about helping those with passion with my 30 plus years of marketing experience , in the past one year I helped a healthcare brand scale 3x , I trained with over 500 NGOs on fundraising with storytelling , I built so many more networks, I have added many more clients . Every day is a new possibility , I have read so much more , I have travelled so much more , I have grown so much more. I have been doing what I call is “blessed work” with some amazing people. I also found a business partner on the way.
I have worked with some highly successful entrepreneurs they all began from zero , Madan Bahal to founder of Adfactors PR which is the largest agency in Asia began with a table space in a shop, when I joined him he had a very small rundown office at fort, Ashank Desai and the Co-Founders of global IT company Mastek began their journey at one of the Co-Founder Ketan’s home , they had no money and were first generation entrepreneurs, I have visited that place with Ashank. Dr Pramod Tripathi who I work with now in healthcare began with supporting just a few people with diabetes reversal with diet , today the team has touched over 50,000 diabetics with a team of over 100.
The reason to begin now is simple
- You are given your gift to share with the world
- Your heart beats when you sing your song , share your gift
- Don’t die with your song in your heart
You have only one life , don’t wait for tomorrow , don’t live a life you don’t love . Begin Now !
Sanjay Mudnaney
#passionproject
It is my passion to help those with passion scale , find their tribe , live their purpose . I am open to keynote sessions, motivational talks on living your purpose , call me on 9821876559 . Visit my website http://www.digitaltribes101.com
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