Why I worked on my 41st birthday
The 3 types of players, The Memonto Mori Calendar I use, internal tussles and more
I am an entrepreneur that has found success by focusing on daily progress. I share what I learn on the road to wealth. Here are my insights from the week:
Why I worked on my 41st birthday
The 3 types of players
The Memonto Mori Calendar I use
Internal tussles are bound to happen when there is money involved
Should you go out of your way to attend weddings?
You can access previous editions of my weekly emails here. Let’s begin!
(1) Why I worked on my 41st birthday
I turned 41 yesterday.
The first thing I did when I woke up was rush to my office so that I could get some work in before everyone woke up.
As the birthday wishes started to come in, one question kept popping up: "how are you celebrating?"
"I am working the first half of the day and will spend time with friends and family in the second half," I'd say.
The response is usually: "Take a day off! Why are you working?"
I often end up saying that I have pending tasks that I want to check off. But the truth is that I am working because I love working. It is exciting to be part of teams that are growing, improving and making real progress.
This morning, my focus was on reviewing the past week at iDeals. I went over outcomes, analyzed activities, gave feedback, asked questions, and set clear goals for the coming week. We have an immediate pipeline of $921,408 in front of us - a number that is set to grow exponentially. Sales is a disciplined craft and helping my team hone their skills to deliver beyond expectations is something I genuinely enjoy. Closing each sale gives me a high.
We're competing in a $2.1 billion Virtual Data Room industry which is expected to grow to $5.1 billion by 2030. My biggest two competitors, Intralinks and Datasite, with whom I've competed for 16 years, generate nearly $800 million dollars in combined sales. Over the last quarter, my team and I have been systematically breaking into their relationships, funnel by funnel. Each layer we add strengthens trust and credibility to our overall strategy, like pieces of a puzzle coming together to form a complete picture. As these efforts turn into tangible results, everyone on our team is starting to win at every level.
As we gain traction, the company is giving me more resources, which is fueling the momentum. More leads are turning into more deals, and the word of mouth is spreading, leading to even more opportunities. Management has consistently tried to empower me which I really appreciate. For a systems thinker like me, it's like being handed a Bazooka in a gunfight.
When work feels like play and you are winning more often than you are losing, how do you think your competitors can keep up? They can't! You will always outwork and outperform them. And as your results compound, one day you'll be the biggest player. And then they'll be the ones saying, "Our biggest competitor is iDeals, and they're doing $400 million in sales every year."
(2) The 3 types of players
Players who love to win.
Players who hate to lose.
Players who just love to play.
Winning gives me a high. Losing gives me lessons. But playing gives me joy.
The days I am exhausted are the days I have lived it up the most. Yesterday I was driving back home exhausted and I said to myself "well done Harsh. You emptied the tank. You made the most out of the day. You played."
The best in the business and sports world are unfazed by victory and defeat. They are married to the process. They love the game. For people like that, winning and losing is just a byproduct of loving what they do every single day. It's not surprising that they win a lot!
Listen to Kobe Bryant talk about winning, losing and the process in this short clip:
(3) The Memonto Mori Calendar I use
I see this calendar by default everyday, several times a day. Every time I open the browser it shows.
It is a Chrome Extension called "Memento Mori Life Calendar". Each dot is a week in an 80 year old life. When you plug in your age, it marks the weeks that you have already lived in black. It leaves the weeks left in your life in white.
I find this zoomed out version of my life empowering because it acts like a reminder that time is limited so focus on the things that matter.
The things which are most important to me are split into three pillars.
(1) HEALTH - Mind & Body
(2) WEALTH - iDeals, Happy Ratio, Marcellus
(3) PURPOSE - Daily Progress, Family & Relationships, Everything Else
I have projects for each of these categories on Basecamp. I try to make daily progress on these three pillars of my life.
What system do you follow?
(4) Internal tussles are bound to happen when there is money involved
When there is money on the line, people fight to win their fair share.
I have seen this play out multiple times over the past month within my team. As one of the leaders to regional revenue, I have had to lay out rules that promote equality and fairness while encouraging hustle and hard work.
In sales, commissions are usually involved to drive results. The more you sell, the more money you make. Some business development managers are more skilled in the art of selling than others. Some land on big opportunities by chance. And some plant the seeds to relationships not knowing how well they may pay off in the future. It's a game of skill and luck.
In order to win individual battles and the eventual war, I first laid out the map so that I could see everything. I then split up our plan of action into five funnels. A sequence was then created for each funnel before my team was assigned equal opportunities to take on the challenge of meeting their respective goals. So far so good. We hit our Quarter-3 target. We have a pipeline that can help us meet our Quarter-4 target. Will we achieve all the targets? I don't know! But we sure as hell will increase the probability of achieving it by doing the work.
The problem now comes when my teammates either don't have defined territories or defined targets. For example when two business development managers (BDMs) fight over the same deal. This is where I have to take a decision which is fair to the people involved but also in the best interest of the company. Last week I had to take a deal away from one BDM and give it to another BDM. This scenario also played out across territories because a prospect contacted two different BDMs, one from my team and another from our European team. The deal was passed on to my European counterpart because it was the fair and right thing to do. The friction was amicably resolved internally.
Where there is money involved, there is bound to be friction. Everyone wants to make more money. What I try to do is create systems and processes which makes everyone win without stepping on each other's toes. I wish to get to a point where there is no friction but I am certain the odd case will keep coming up.
(5) Should you go out of your way to attend weddings?
I've attended weddings in Delhi, Jaipur, Punjab, Kashmir, Thailand, the United States, Canada and Slovenia. They have all been fun. Memorable. And expensive.
It's easy to attend weddings when they are in and around the city where you live. But if you have to fly all over the world to attend them, the numbers add up. If you have kids then your costs multiply.
The question then becomes should you be going out of your way to attend the few days of celebrations which cost you thousands of dollars?
The answer is very personal.
I have never regretted attending the weddings I have attended. In fact I have gone out of my way to attend my cousins weddings and my friends weddings because it's my way of telling them that they are important to me. I can't really attach a price to the memories that those few days create. The bonds that those moments form add another layer of bonhomie that is priceless in a full lifetime of relationships that you carry with them.
There are obviously other factors to consider. There is reciprocity, expectations, relationship dynamics and priorities. When I got married, I had a fairly small gathering because the people who are really important to me can be counted on my fingers. Not everyone attended. But the ones who did, left a mark. I will always remember the fact they made the effort to turn up for one of the most happy days of my life.
How do you decide which weddings to attend?
Harsh Batra (LinkedIn)
Whenever you are ready, here are 3 ways I can help you:
iDeals VDR - If you are running M&A transactions, planning an IPO, or sharing anything confidential online, you won’t find a better Virtual Data Room partner than us. Here is a 90 second video overview of iDeals. Companies like Pfizer, Mercedes and Tata trust us. Thousands of Indian investment bankers, lawyers and insolvency professionals use us everyday to run their due diligence processes. Send us an email on india@idealscorp.com so that we can customize your proposal and save you more time and money than anyone else in the industry.
Happy Ratio - I founded Happy Ratio because I am immensely passionate about health. To get the most out of life you need to be healthy. To be healthy you need to eat the right foods and drink the right beverages. But this is not always possible or easy. Happy Ratio provides clean, tasty and healthy foods and drinks. Our breads are baked fresh every morning with zero maida or preservatives. Our cold coffee meal shake gives you all 39 essential nutrients along with your daily dose of caffeine. We can replace one of your daily snacks or meals through our delicious yet healthy sandwiches, wraps, bowls, shakes and cold-press juices. Check out our menu on Zomato and Swiggy. We serve employees from Deloitte and Marks & Spencers and do events for companies like Samsung and Oppo. If you want to elevate the health of your employees or feed your family something healthy and tasty, reach out to us at ops@happyratio.com.
Marcellus Investment Managers - I am a Marcellus client because their investment philosophy resonates with how I think about investing. I believe that Marcellus can generate average returns of 18% per year over the next 10-20 years. That is 5x returns every 10 years. This means that 50 lacs invested can compound to 2.5 crores in 10 years. 2.5 crores can further compound to 12.5 crores in 20 years. And 12.5 crores can further compound to 62.5 crores in 30 years. Yes I know that those numbers seem outlandish but I think that their approach to investing in clean, honest and cash flow positive businesses can yield these returns if you have the patience to wait. I trust them with my savings and evangelize their approach. Investing comes with inherent risks so please do your own due diligence before deciding where to put your money. I am also an Independent Financial Advisor with Marcellus.