The unpublished journal of a successful entrepreneur
by neo
One year ago, I spent an entire night dreaming that I was a giant fly. When I awoke, I was startled to discover that I was myself. I decided that this was a vision, and asked my Guruji (from Better Living through Conscious Snoring) what I should do with it.
Guruji told me to stop depending on other people to tell me what to do, become an entrepreneur, and document my journey and daily achievements in a journal.
This is the journal:
Day 1
- After much contemplation, I have decided to stop depending on other people to tell me what to do, become an entrepreneur and document my journey and daily achievements in this journal.
- Changed my LinkedIn title from “Project manager” to “Technology Guru/Entrepreneur/Evangelist in Social/Mobile Web, Biotech, Digital Media, Internet Gaming, and Other Related Technologies.”
- Created a blog and twitter account to chronicle my entrepreneurial journey.
Day 2
- It’s hard to think of cool ideas for a web-based business during a meeting, but it’s easy if you know Conscious Snoring – Guruji taught me how to keep it quiet and do it without anyone noticing.
- Idea 1: It’s just like Twitter, except everyone’s pretending to be someone they’re not! Users can pretend to be a foreign-policy expert, a comic, a hipster, or even an entrepreneur! The addictive nature of Twitter + the excitement of a game = I’d use it.
- Idea 1b: The same concept could be applied to make a LinkedIn clone too.
Day 3
- Read two fascinating articles, “Strategy: The Execution Trap”, and “How Rebranders Unleash Innovation On The Frontline.”
Day 4
- Posted my first two blog entries: “Rebranding: The Strategy Trap”, and “Execution On The Frontlines of Innovation.”
Day 5
- Got five comments on my blog today. It’s nice to see so much interest in my journey. I feel good.
- New post: “Emerging trends in Indian technology for 2010: Mobile phones.”
- Finding .com domain names is hard.
Day 20
- Finally found and registered an awesome domain name: indeaspace.com - it’s a play on “idea space” and “India”. I might need to rework my business plan a little to fit the domain name.
- Attended TEDx. Amazing to have one in southern Ulhasnagar! Met several fellow entrepreneurs, and pitched my idea to a couple of them.
- At TEDx, I managed to hand out all two hundred Conscious Snoring brochures. Guruji was thrilled.
- What exactly does it mean when people say “worked with five Fortune 500 companies?”
- I’ve never liked the About page of my blog – not punchy enough. I hired a professional freelance business writer to write a better one for me. I hope it’ll be worth the money.
Day 25
- I finally launched indeaspace.com, and announced it on my Facebook, Twitter and blog. Emailed everyone I knew. Five subscribers so far. Not much, but exciting times!
- Created my own account on indeaspace. I’ve decided to pretend to be an author and also an expert on relationships.
- My blog post on “10 blogs entrepreneurs must visit” was linked from IndianStartups.com. Huge traffic spike!
- I visited the Sony office to evaluate their new laptop; I must have interacted with people from up to twenty Fortune 500 companies right there. I’m also realizing that there’s all these Fortune 500 people I’ve met at the Ashram. Sent all this to my bio writer.
Day 28
- Traffic to indeaspace.com is growing slower than expected, plus I’m getting a lot of spam. Not nice.
- I got interviewed today by IndiStart, a well-known Indian podcast dedicated to startups. Lots of interesting questions from other entrepreneurs!
- I’ve started a new series on my blog, “My Vision of India in 2020.” (Thought the title was funny: 20/20)
- Created my matrimonial profile on shaady.com to keep my parents quiet for a while. I decided to show some of my humor and flirty skills on my profile: “I’m thirty-six! Do you know the significance of this age ? You have to wait to be thirty-six before you can legally marry a girl half your age! LOL.”
Day 45
- AWESOME, awesome, awesome: WindyBook Publishers called me up today. They want me to write a book about my experiences!! He said there was a huge market for entrepreneurial stories.
- As an entrepreneur, I’ve realized: nothing sells more than the dream of entrepreneurship.
- Also, the freelancer finished my bio. It looks awesome. Got lots of positive feedback. One person said it looked as good as Chetan Bhagat’s bio.
Day 62
- I’ve put indeaspace.com on the back-burner for now. Between the long Conscious Snoring – where I am now a Senior Disciple – sessions, writing the book, and my blog, there is very little time left to work on indeaspace.
Day 97
- My book, “Metamorphosis: How I Transformed Myself Into an Entrepreneur”, was released – 20,000 copies sold in one month. Epic. Win.
- Guruji says I owe him royalty. My fiancee is already picking out houses. I’d love to pay Guruji, but I can’t break the heart of an eighteen-year old.
- Changed my LinkedIn title to “Entrepreneur, best-selling author and strategy consultant.”
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ROFL. :)
My pick – nothing sells more than the dream of entrepreneurship. :)
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Narsi,
I had a different favorite line – I’m waiting for someone to feel the same. :)
-Neo
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Awesome! The title of this post should be, “If Deepak Chopra was an entrepreneur”.
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We are all Deepak Chopras now.
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I think I just got sold on the idea of becoming a résumé writer. Before I publish 87 Things to Remember for the Perfect Résumé to Apply for Entrepreneurship”
Here’s to Day 97 :)
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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You’re at day 44. You just don’t realize it. :)
-N
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Hilarious! Specially the freelancer completion of ur bio. Like CB gave due credits to Winword n wife (like every other author), your due credits are directed to?
You’re top notch Entrepreneur now. You must hire a PR for tweeting n running Indeaspace for ya ASAP. :)
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Supreme. The description of his pathetic attempts at publicity were real and dark.
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Thanks, dude :)
-Neo
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I appreciate your ability to synergize the value paradigms and consolidate Web 2.0 resources to monetize your upwardly mobile ideation.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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I agree violently.
-Neo
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I would like to join Better Living through Conscious Snoring too! Where can I apply? Do I have to make a donation to Guruji first to compensate for the royalty money you owe him?
I sure hope a senior disciple can show me the ropes….
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Lesson ~ It “pays” to keep your Linked Profile and Twitter bio updated , and nothing sells more than the dream of entrepreneurship . So keep snoring.
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The story of many lives – the entrepreneur realizing that the dream sells better than anything else!
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very funny post…
“nothing sells more than the dream of entrepreneurship…oh how true..
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Indea’s pace is slow, blog traffic-wise.
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So that’s what I’ve been doing wrong… Damn!
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ROFL. Idea Sells.
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Checkout if Mrs Neo is ready for driving in NCR.
http://www.digitalpost.org/2010/03/driving-advisory-for-new-drivers-in-ncr.html
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witty and wonderful post! I hope many readers would be an entrepreneur now :)
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Hahaha….I liked this post. I like your sense of humor. :D
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Neo,
You certainly have your finger on the pulse of the “software/r2i/urban” junta! Enjoyed this post….like almost all others ;-)
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Joanne,
“Almost” ? :)
-Neo
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Neo,
I enjoyed this one as always. I must mention you are improving with every blog.
My fav:[Entrepreneurship] It’s just like Twitter, except everyone’s pretending to be someone they’re not!
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Thanks, twinks :)
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this is one of your best posts, so true so true!! I know so many people like this!
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kaex88,
Please feel free to forward this to them, and let me know their reaction! :)
-Neo
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Did Arindam ‘going beyond milky way’ Chaudary read this first or he became an entrepreneur first? :D It’s a typical chicken and egg situation. But wait. He counted his chicken at least. :)
Great post there!
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I’ve been stalking your page for a couple of days now, and every post is comment worthy (What’s stopping me is the time I take to think about something alecky to write; because what I write should also look spontaneous!).
So, I have this friend of mine who became a desi videshi and started up (and ended too) with all the above steps. With a nice(??) NY accent started showing off how in vogue he was with all the business articles and interviews in some godfor—-n magazines and websites I’ve ever ‘UNheard’ of. The point is like all big guys, you text(that’s because they seldom pick up calls) the clan for dinner, they say, “Busy man.. In a dinner meeting”. Text them for lunch and you get a text back (if you are so fortunate) saying, “Sorry man, I had a midnight meeting with a prospect last night..I am not outta bed yet”.
Don’t text them, and they call saying “I’m doomed”..Touche?
***I may have to write a post on this! I took up a lot of bits of space*** But you have another fan in here who is awaiting stuff from you.
Whoever said office is boring??Especially with www under your fingertips?
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You have missed a few.
Day n:
I published the video interview conducted by ANNABN news channel on indeaspace on Youtube and provided the link on my Facebook feed. 20 people liked it and there were 14 comments. 1 comment was from a person who was not my friend. Exciting times!!!
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