tarunmor

[tarunmor]

Online Videos vs Private Tutoring

As a founder of an EduTech Start-up, I often get asked, if online video content providers such as Khan Academy or Byju will replace private tutors. My response to that is, if one could learn something by just watching videos then, I have watched so much tennis, I should have become Roger Federer by now. 

The honest fact is, learning and getting better at anything, whether it be tennis or math requires inspiration, motivation, practice, concentration, personal attention and momentum. All of which, videos are incapable of doing for a student. It is only a “person” (a teacher) that can ignite a spark that burns into learning and perfection. 

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GaryVee Lessons

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Highest, brightest and nicest

Story of when I left..

(GE and Oz)

I don’t want to leave like this wherever I leave from next. You want to be at your brightest, nicest and highest whenever you leave a place.

One shouldn’t be tired, low or perceived arrogant. I wish I could go back and change that. I wish I could go back and have let gone of peoples mistakes. I wish I wasn’t as busy this month and have had time to just enjoy these people I am leaving. I wish I have given back a lot more to GE.

Highest, brightest and nicest is the best way to be.

Highest - meaning being at peak of my performance

Brightest - meaning doing things that you are passionate about

Nicest - meaning building long term relationships

How does one create highest, brightest and nicest? It starts from here and now, be nice to people and help as much as you can every time you get a chance. Exercise, eat well, sleep well and have a balance in life. Work on what you are passionate about. Learn, lead and grow. Be honest, be innovative and know the streets.

Do all these as a ritual on a day to day basis and highest, brightest and nicest will be there when you are gone.

[tarunmor]

Good Habits

Think about how smokers quit smoking. It seldom happens in a moment. It is a long, on-n-off process they go through.

Here is how it happens for them: 1) They decide to quit 2) Then they stop smoking for a period of time 3) An incident occurs - for some this incident is pressure from work, for others it’s a missing a smoking buddy 4) They start smoking again after this incident and keep to it for a period 5) One fine day they decide to stop smoking again 6) The cycle repeats (refer to step 2). The only difference is, this time the period of non-smoking is different from last time.

For a good quitter the period of non-smoking increases with every attempt to quit; until the smoker has completely quit. For a bad quitter the period of non-smoking reduces with every attempt to quit, until the smoker has quitted on the idea of quitting.

Good habits are the same.

Here is how it happens in the case of habits:

1) You decide to take-up a new habit, such as going to the gym or eating healthy 2) You follow that habit for a period of time 3) An incident occurs - such as a holiday or pressure from work 4) You go back to your old habit 5) One fine day you decide to restart the good habit 6) The cycle repeats (refer to step 2). The only difference is, this time the period of good habit is different from last time.

For a strong person the period of good habit increases with every attempt to start the habit again, until the good habit has become second nature. For others the period of good habit reduces with every attempt to start the habit, until the person never thinks about starting that good habit again.

So when it come to good habits, my advice is be a good quitter. :)

[tarunmor]

Zone-In

Goals, motivation and targets seldom give me results. I am a creative person and the thing that gives me results is “Zoning-in”. So, what exactly is “zoning-in”?

Let me give you an example:

I recently got married. During my wedding week, there was a lot of singing and dancing going on, as is in all traditional Indian weddings. I had to perform a dance routine with my fiancé in front of 300 people. We learnt the steps and practiced them a couple of days before the wedding week. On the day when we had to perform, I did not get to practice the routine even once. I was scared that I would forget the steps and not give my best performance. Luckily I had a video of my practice session in my phone. Just 60 minutes before my performance I decided to zone-into my routine. I took my focus out from the huge crowds and the other performances that were going on. I sneaked out my phone and started looking at my practice videos. I would have watched the 5 minute practice session a few times. Then just 15 minutes before my performance I left the crowd and took a washroom break. That break helped me stretch my legs and got my heart pumping. I went to the washroom, looked into the mirror and told my self ‘I can do this’. I came back with a smile and felt that I was ready to perform.

There it was, we went on stage and gave a killer performance.

So, what helped me give that excellent performance? I could have easily forgotten the steps. Taking my focus out of the crowd, other performances, watching the video, washroom break and the prep talk was all a part of zoning-into my performance. And that zoning-in helped me forget everything else, sparked the creative juices in my head and helped me give my best to the task in hand.

All great athletes ‘zone-in’ before their big games, all great artist zone-in to find their creative spark. In that zone they give their best performances and create their best art. Zoned-in performances break records, zoned-in art stands the test of time.

So, instead of trying too hard to push for results, try zoning-in.

[tarunmor]

Playing my part in the development of India. Getting you the knowledge that is not available anywhere on the web. Writing 600 reports on industries in India.

[tarunmor]

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth

Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim Because it was grassy and wanted wear, Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

[tarunmor]

The Absolute Entrepreneur

In my little experience as someone who is trying to make it in this world, I think there are four key skills that make an entrepreneur tick. 

1) Ideas: Entrepreneurs need the ability to generate ideas and solve real problems.

2) Implementation: Entrepreneurs need to have the ability to bring ideas to life and build products. 

3) Sales/Capitalization:  Entrepreneurs need to have the ability to sell products and build sustainable businesses. 

4) Leadership: Entrepreneurs need to inspire, motivate and lead people all along the way.

If an entrepreneur falls short on any of these skills then it gets hard to find success and being strong on only one or two of the above seldom helps.

Invest your time and effort in building these skills or find a co-founder that completes the traits list. 

[tarunmor]

The story behind 'gift a saree'

This was December 2011, when I came to India for my cousin Priyanka’s wedding. I was sitting with my dad and brother at our family’s saree retail outlet and discussing how the business was going.

Before I dive into what we were discussing, let me give you a little bit of background on our business. Me and my brother are the third generation at this business. Our saree shop ‘Mor and Sons’ was started about 50 years ago by my grandfather. My father and his two brothers worked there for most of their life until all three brothers decided to go on separate paths. Dad decided to stick with Mor and Sons, as my uncles ventured out to different businesses. After school, I used to help out dad and uncles at the shop from the time I was 14 years old. I used to do various roles there from sales, to accounting, to stock management. I worked there until I left for Australia for further studies and since then I have been providing the business only strategic direction on major decisions. My younger brother joined the business after he finished his engineering and he has pretty much been running the show since then. Whenever I visit India, I take an update on the business and try to get a sense of how things are going.

Traditionally the way saree business has been done, we would purchase stock on a regular basis and sell that stock to potential customers that walk into the store. A percentage of customers that walk into the store buy sarees from us. Based on the quality of the stock and customer preferences, a percentage of stock that we purchase gets sold immediately, a percentage takes a while to sell and a percentage never gets sold. The stock that never gets sold is classified as ‘dead stock’.

'Dead stock' in the saree business is a huge problem. How dead stock is managed can make or break a business. This is stock that no one buys and over a period of time due to ware and tear and due to it gathering dust, becomes useless. Dead stock either sits on our shelves for years and never gets sold or gets sold at a loss for a fraction of its cost price. Over a period of time this stock gets written-off. One of the reasons dead stock gets accumulated is due to bad stock purchasing decisions. The way stock is purchased is by forecasting sales. Due to the location of our outlet, most customers that walk in to the store are of an Islamic background. So all the Islamic festive seasons such as Ramzan and Islamic wedding season is our peak sales period and hence a demand to purchase stock then is higher. If in any given season the forecast goes wrong or the stock purchased does not have a high demand, then the percentage of dead stock for that year will be higher.

The other reason there is dead stock is due to the traditional Supply Chain followed in the industry. Sarees are made by the manufacturers, they are then send from the manufacturer to the wholesale via an agent, then from the wholesaler they are send to the retailer and from the retailer to the customer. Manufacturers sitting in entirely different states decide what gets supplied to the end consumer. Along the way, a lot of stock that the manufacturers produce never gets liked by the customers and never gets sold in the market. This stock becomes a form of waste and it sits on shelves of retailers like us. This form of supply chain also turns out expensive for the customer, as every middleman charges its margin before passing the saree on to the next stage.

The other reason there is waste in the industry is because there is not a lot of analytics and data. The industry is unorganised and most decisions in the sector are made based on gut and instinct. These are all forms of ‘dead stock’/waste in the industry. So, coming back to the conversation I was having in December 2011 with my dad and Himan. During that visit, I was seeing a wave of eCommerce companies starting in India. We were discussing about how the problem of dead stock is still inherent in the business. In the middle of that discussion, I connected dots and it was evident to me that eCommerce is going to be the way saree business is going to be done and problem of dead stock will be solved. I immediately opened the conversation for starting an eCommerce business for sarees. I said, the way eCommerce is going to solve this problem is by firstly we can reverse the supply chain. We can put up a designs on the website, once a customer selects a design and pays for it, only then we will start making the saree through our own karigars (saree makers). Typically it takes 3 to 7 days to make saree that is ordered. And we deliver the saree to the customer’s location in an other 3 days. This way customers get access to all our sarees by a click of button on their computer and get their selected sarees delivered at their home within 10 days. We benefit by making sarees only that the customers order. We transform from being just the saree retailer to owning the complete supply chain. We will make sarees through our own karigars and supply them to the customers. Another way customers benefit is because by doing this we have eliminated all middle men. There are no wholesales, brokers or any other middle men. Only customers and us. So the savings that are generated by eliminating these middle men is directly passes to the customer. How did the name ‘gift a saree’ come by? After returning from India, one day I was watching Jab Tak Hain Jaan, staring the very popular Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan in one of the Australian cinemas. There is a scene in the movie where the actress of the movie Katrina Kaif receives a present from her mother. The present was a saree, wrapped in a beautiful box.

That was a light bulb moment for me. Diamonds are not for every occasion and not for everyone. Imagine giving a diamond ring to your mother-in-law on her birthday. You can’t, right? But, sarees can be a beautiful present on any occasion and to anyone.

'gift a saree' on a birthday, anniversary, festival or any other auspicious occasion to your mother, sister, girlfriend, wife or your neighbour's wife. ;)

I feel that the story behind ‘gift a saree’ has just begun so, all you readers, please wish us luck and spread the word for what we are trying to do.

[tarunmor]

The birth of ImaginMor

People with strong will and determination can make anything happen. 

I got the idea of ImaginMor when I was studying MBA from Swinburne University. When I was at Uni it was really easy to find information on industries in Australia through ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) or IBISWorld. But, I discovered that finding information on industries in India is really difficult. There is nothing as such ABS or IBISWorld there. Finding simple information for industries in India is very tedious. This is because most of the data is scattered and one needs to look at number of sources to get the data they need. Most of the data is still published on paper which is almost impossible for students in Australia or other parts of the world to access. 

I want to solve this problem and provide information on about 600 industries in India online through ImaginMor. The name “ImaginMor”, suggests “imagine India” and is portmanteau of the words imagine and Mor (Mor meaning Indian Peacock – national bird of India). 

At ImaginMor, I also want to allow users to tap into their imagination to post, share and discuss ideas on improving Indian industries.

ImaginMor currently has 3 reports, Wine Industry India, Automobile Industry India and Telecom India. Writing each report takes about 80 to 100 hours. At the moment its a "one man army". I am doing all the work from writing reports, to managing finances, to accounting, and to creative thinking. 

I feel lucky to be born in India and working in Australia, as I could see the best of both worlds. I can use a lot of leanings from Australia and apply them to India to make it a better place. The plan with ImaginMor, is to build a team that dares to make a difference and change the world for good. And hey, improving lives of 1.2 billion Indian's is technically changing the world. ;)

[tarunmor]

Bruce Lee

In his last interview (year 1971), the interviewer asks Bruce Lee's venture with other actors and if he teaches them Martial arts or Acting when he trains actors for movies.

Bruce Lee answers by saying that, he teaches neither Martial arts nor Acting. He says both Martial arts or Acting are knowledge and all forms of knowledge is teaching yourself. 

“It is the combination of both. Here it is the natural instinct and here it is the control. You have to combine two in harmony. Not if you have one to the extreme you be very unscientific, if you have other to the extreme you become all of a sudden a mechanical man no longer a human being. So, it is a successful combination of both. So therefore it is not pure naturalness or pure unnaturalness. The idea is unnatural naturalness or natural unnaturalness.”

  About philosophy, art and sports... He says

“Man listen, you see, really to me ok, to me, ultimately Martial arts means honestly expressing yourself. Now it is very difficult to do. I mean it is easy for me to put on a show and be cocky and be flooded with a cocky feeling and then fell like pity cool and all that. Or I can make all kind of phony things, blinded by it or I show you some really fancy movements. But to express oneself honestly, not lying to oneself, and to express myself honestly, now that my dear friend, is very hard to do. And you have to train, you have to keep your reflexes so that when you want, its there. When you want to move, you are moving. And when you move you are determined to move. Not taking one inch, not anything less than that. If I want to punch I am going to do it man, I am going to do it you see. That is the thing, you have to train yourself into it. To become one with the.. You think its there.”

 He speaks about his philosophy and how he has learned everything. He says.. 

“Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put in a tea pot, it become the tea pot. Water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.”

[tarunmor]

badminton match story

In India, we have a culture where during weddings we have these celebrations that go on for a few days. During this time all the family members come together, we sign, we dance, we are up every night and its a lot of fun.

So, during one of my cousins wedding, we had a similar night where all of us were up singing and dancing. My uncle was also up until 3am and then he went to bed. I was still up chit-chatting with my cousins. I was about 14 then.

At about 6.30 in the morning my uncle got up and started getting ready to go for a badminton match. I asked my uncle with astonishment, “uncle you were awake until about 3am, you hardly slept and you are going for a badminton match now”.

He looked at me smiled and said, “Tarun life is not about sleeping. It is about getting up, getting out there, making a difference and having a lot of fun along the way”

And that is exactly what I have been trying to do since then. I have getting up getting out there, trying to make a difference and having a lot of fun along the way.

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What's in the ocean when the whole world is my paradise..

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Absolute Freedom

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Feelings vs Personality Emotional intelligence vs You An archive from 2008

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Look what I found..

A diary note from 13th March 2010

What pushes me?