Quit Complaining, become a Go-Getter (A Real Life Story)

Mitul Thakkar
Sep 5, 2018 · 3 min read

This story goes back to 2015 when my previous company, Customer360, got acquired by Interactive Intelligence (NASDAQ: ININ) and we moved to a nice big office. This story about one of the security guard Mr. Amit Mishra (Person in the middle of the photo) in our office. An extremely soft-spoken guy with a big smile on the face always.

He was always keen to learn new things and used to ask a lot about computers. It came to my notice that he went to Graphic Designing classes after finishing his duty as a Security guard. He was working for 10 hours as a security guard, walks back home (Another 1 hour) and then going to classes near his home. Practically he was working good 14–15 hours/day. His only motive was to give a better life to his family (Wife and 2 Kids).

Moreover, this was not his first attempt to up-skill himself to give a better life to his family. In his last 15 years in Mumbai he has tried multiple things:

  • Working in a double shift as Security Guard
  • Trained as a Professional Electrician
  • Selling soaps in free time
  • Driving Ola / Uber Cabs
  • Now Learning Computer Graphics (Latest one)

The guy with an extreme honesty, never die attitude and giving everything he could to secure a better life for his family. All our team members at Customer360 used to encourage him to continue what he is doing. Moreover, we made some arrangements and allowed flexible and reduced work timing (unofficially, without informing his employer) so that he can focus on his mission.

Life went on thereafter and we decided to quit Interactive Intelligence to start a new chapter in our life @GreyAtom. We got busy with our lives, starting up again and got busy scaling GreyAtom.

One day somewhere in June 2018, we got a call from him, and he wanted to come and see me and my co-founder Mayuresh Shilotri. We agreed and he came to meet with the same smile on his face.

It seems he tried his luck with Civil Contracting after graphic designing and it really worked for him. In two years his company has more than 40 employees and taking contract work from big brands like Reliance and Tatas. He is making way more money than some of the white collared skill people make. He has taken some of his extended family members in the business as well.

He felt that the encouragement provided by us and some of the flexibility in his work timing has changed his life completely. He came to pay his gratitude and his eyes were all wet when he was updating us with all the progress. Honestly, we were thrilled:

What did I learn from this real-life story:

  • There is no replacement for HARD WORK, Imagine working for 13–15 hours for a good 17 years without losing hope!!
  • Don’t ever give up. Keep Trying — You never know where you will find the GOLD!
  • Sometimes people around us need a little push, a little encouragement. Be good and help each other.

I don’t think we did anything great by giving him some flexibility in his work hours. I think it was all him, how he utilized those extra hours he got for the betterment of his family.

All the best Mishraji. You are a real inspiration. More power to you!!

Mitul Thakkar
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