Here’s How You Emerge As A New Person.
If I can do it, literally anybody can.
In 2019, I took a very shitty job. It paid me 1/3 of what I should have been paid and the work environment was toxic. But, it was this or nothing.
How did I get there? Bad decision-making and an ego as big as Mumbai, made me believe that I could do anything and get away with it.
What I remember from this time is that everything I thought I knew was absolute nonsense. I was 29, broke, and I had a giant-sized ego that didn’t allow me to think from my perspective. When I began to overrule its authority, my life flourished. That’s the only thing you need to remember from this piece.
The corporate world is a savior
I don’t have a lot of corporate experience. Truth be told, I think I’ve had a love-hate relationship with this world. Some of you reading this might relate to that. A few others may not.
As I wrap up my second corporate job and move to the third, I reflect. I feel grateful. The corporate world, as villainous as it has become in pop culture, is what helps so many people achieve their dreams, big or small.
I think everybody should have some corporate experience. It makes for a good foundation and an excellent ‘returnship’ platform too.
This is a story of how I regained my faith in myself through the corporate world.
Finding Google, then Zumba Fitness, and dropping them both
Before I started to work at Zuora, my confidence was at an all-time low.
My career was a joke. I had torn it to shreds with my bare hands, I mean, stupid decisions.
First, I worked at Google. I know now some of the sheen has come off, but a decade ago, it was the best place to work.
People could kill… their sleep, hunger, and even relationships for a job at Google.
So, I considered myself quite the lucky bunny to have made it through. “My life is set.” I thought to myself.
Little did I know, that life would change and so would my career.
One fine day, Zumba Fitness came into my life. And, it was the proverbial love at first sight (class).
I took to Zumba Fitness like a fish to water. I excelled, grew, created a name, built a client base, and just when it was at its peak, I quit to pursue higher studies in Australia.
Experiencing failure abroad
For the record, it feels worse.
I loaned up and moved to Melbourne. Also, I thought it would be fun to specialize in Accounting, just because. I was an idiot.
I went to the University of Melbourne, supposedly the best in Australia, but undoubtedly the most expensive.
I could afford this steeply-priced business school only because I had a 50% scholarship. But, I blew it by failing Financial Management, a subject in my first semester.
So, I’d given up my fairly successful dance fitness business, moved to a new continent, to pursue a course I couldn’t care less about, and failed.
I was crushed.
My confidence plummeted like productivity post-lunch. I wanted to pack my bags and return home, curl up on my mum’s lap, and cry my heart out.
Instead, I had to find a job, make more money to support myself and my tuition fee, and change my major to Marketing.
Slowly, life seemed to get back on track. I had wonderful roommates who ended up being my family in a foreign land. So, I somehow assembled the broken pieces.
Direct sales — A direct attack into my soul
Just when you think that life is normalizing, something comes to remind you that it’s always peaks and troughs.
In came the next stupid decision. Direct sales.
I’m not going to ruffle feathers and speak about the industry and its pros and cons. But I will say this.
I wasn’t cut out for direct sales.
People who did well were typically those who had influence over their network, or some social proof to back them, or just the hunger to make it big in life.
I had none of this.
So I screwed things over in my quest to become rich and successful through this opportunity.
I had to pay off an educational loan. I had a moratorium period for about a year but I was still accumulating interest.
Anyway, I was now back in India, trying to run this business on the side while hunting for jobs most of the time.
I finally landed one. But, I was being paid my salary from 2013. In 2019.
My self-respect, whatever little I had of it, took an absolute beating. I was humbled.
I took the job thanking my lucky stars that I had something to start off with. But, it was not the best experience. It was a small organization, with legacy practices, policies, and systems.
From being married broke to finding financial stability
During this time, I was also prepping to get married. And I had no money in the bank. I was officially broke.
I relied on my parents to fund the biggest event of my life. Then, I moved to a new city to live with someone whom I had met on a matrimonial site and had a long-distance courtship with.
It was an uphill task. Smoothening out the rough edges I’d so carefully preserved and changing course. But, I did it.
Finally, stability showed its head. I told myself that I wouldn’t let my mon(k)ey mind control me. It would be the other way around. I would stick to doing one thing, or maybe two (old habits die hard), and nothing more.
I closed my business. Found a job with Zuora and rebuilt — my life, my bank balance, my confidence. It took me about six months to breathe freely and have a semblance of a bank balance.
Today, as I look forward to a new job, I feel proud. I also feel very grateful that I found a partner who trusted me, believed in me, and gave me the space to falter, and finally find my footing.
Am I where I want to be? Not yet. None of us are because we’re never happy with ourselves. But I’m far ahead of where I was. If this isn’t growth, I don’t know what is.
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