A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step – Lao Tzu

Starting with dreams in mind and finding our interests we stumble, make mistakes and learn through the process. It has been no different for me. Being born in a family that has been doing business for the last 80 years, I have been taught that there are no shortcuts to success. Hard-work, dedication and determination are things that I constantly worked to achieve the best in my academics and as well in every aspect of my life.

The entrepreneurial journey is about making decisions, solving problems and taking that risky leap ahead. Reflecting on how amazing this journey has been so far. In 2015, I joined my family business to learn and start something new by leveraging existing capabilities. I started by diversifying family business by taking Jewellery business on an online marketplace. I failed in the first year and made a loss. I was quick to adapt and learnt that this platform can be used in another way around i.e B2B rather than B2C. This was a test and I’m glad that I failed because it led me to believe that there is more to this life and nothing is going to come easy.

During this time, I felt I want to have the exposure to learn in a different country and experience a different culture that would allow me to think out of the box and challenge my abilities. That’s when I applied for my Master of Entrepreneurship and Innovation. I’m proud of my decision today and for the people, I have met during my time in Australia. Rather it is in networking events, casual jobs, Uni mates or professional setting, I have learnt a lot from all of you in my network!

I realised that the only way to survive here is to build a network. It didn’t come easy to me about reaching out to someone and network with them. I failed at the start and I’m grateful as it allowed to me come out of my comfort zone and act on impulse.

My first job was as a Car washer. For the first time, I was working under a boss. I believe every job does teach you something and I learnt to be relentless and keep putting that hard work. It’s a matter of perspective and I think I got through that by believing great things only come to those who are ready to get their hands dirty. Working from housekeeping which taught me time management to cleaning to a packer to a student advisor and now working with a Start-up as Customer success officer it doesn’t come easy. You certainly have to believe in the process!

I met some amazing people during this time. People that have inspired me, people that taught me life lessons, people that helped me in developing new skills, people that have challenged me. One thing which I did right was saying yes to every opportunity and the first of it was writing a research paper on Autonomous vehicles. I didn’t have good research skills but I had really good mentors Dr. Dimitrios Salampais, Hadi Ghaderi and my fellow research mate Volkmar who believed that I can do it! Thanks for believing in me and giving me the opportunity!

I’m grateful for the opportunity to represent the Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship, Swinburne at UniSuper and Deloitte for the Investment symposium in 2019. Thanks again to Dr. Dimitrios Salampasis, Alexander Kaiser and Mile Terziovski for the opportunity!

My student advisor job at Swinburne has taught me patience and developed strong communication, negotiation and customer relationship management skills. Thanks to my Managers Maranda and Katie for seeing that potential in me and allowing me to work in 3 different teams within 2 months of starting the job!

Industry Project with Swisse was another amazing opportunity where we had to analyse the culture and come up with an implementation plan to build an innovative culture. I learned collaboration, analytical thinking and critically analysing scenarios. I truly believe that I got this opportunity because of having a good network and the ability to make things happen.

Thanks to Career Ahead Team– Shannon, Stephanie and Jonathan for giving us the opportunity. Thanks to my Swisse Supervisors Abby and Liam for being so patient and helping us grow in a professional environment. Thanks to my team members Ayon and Manan without whom the project wouldn’t have been possible. Special thanks to all the professionals who gave me their valuable time over a coffee – Mark, David, Tina, Zuoung and all others, I have learnt a lot from you. Thank you to all my close friends, your support has been immense.  

I didn’t have much experience for all the roles that I have held to date but I had strong self-belief that I could do it and thanks to people who believed in me! I was thrown into vulnerability in every job and I did prove myself. The biggest hero or the competitor in your life is yourself. If you can believe it, you can do it! Thank you so much to everyone who has been part of my journey so far and continues to be with me! We all learn and evolve by standing together!

When you hear great success stories remember that you do have your own story inside you and you’re going to say it soon. You’ll fail once, twice and many times before you succeed.

Just when you think if this is going to work out,

I want to assure you that it will. It will because you saw that dream, you’re working for it. Accept it, it is going to be tough and you’re giving your absolute best. When you feel you haven’t done anything or achieved anything? I want to let you know that we don’t see it now because we’re in this process.

Everything you go through is building you for something much bigger in life. The fear you’re hiding, the goodness that you’re embracing, the inner belief that you’re trusting, the decisions you’ve been making. You’re undergoing a transformation and you won’t realise it now. Your time will come you, achiever. And when it does you will exactly know why it was all worth it! You’ll see the sequence and how everything was connected!

I believe this is just not a small start, this is an epic to start to something really big. Never give up! Life can go from 0 to 1 real quick.