SetbacksObstacles Failures The Secrets To Success

[Music]

[Music]

the year was 2005.

i had just finished my class 12 exams i

had grown up in small town jamshedpur

also known as tata nagar and this would

be the first time i would be leaving

home

i was moving to bombay for my graduation

and as cliche as it may sound

it was a culture shock in itself so as i

was getting used to the new city the

crazy speed the unknown set of people

i also started preparing for my

chartered accountancy

it was not that i loved ca it was

because everybody told me

some perk you’re good in accounts you

should go do ca

so i did three months into it i realized

this is not my cup of tea i was not

enjoying it and i knew i would not enjoy

it further as well

we’d invested good 35 40 000 into this

already

a big sum for the family that i came

from but i was sure i decided i wanted

to quit and i did

i was 18 i was still trying to figure

out what i eventually wanted to do in

life

so i experimented with a few part-time

jobs

and it was during one of these jobs that

i eventually found my calling

i started working with a small

electronic store

selling television so every morning from

7 to 12

i would go and attend college every

evening from 4 to 9

i would go and sell tvs i was making

some two thousand five hundred rupees a

month

and i was absolutely ecstatic people

told me

sampak what are you doing what will your

friends think if they see you

my friends eventually did notice me

there but i was not bothered what they

were thinking

because i was liking what i was doing

this was where i fell in love with the

whole thing of closing sales

this was where i found the high of

talking to people convincing them

and seeing them walking out satisfied

with their purchase

and that’s where i decided i wanted to

make a career in sales and marketing

2008 i enrolled for my mba and as luck

would have it

the financial crash came in a year and a

half later when i was sitting for

placements

the situation was still grim and i

walked out without a placement

another thing that i had not planned for

coming from a typical

indian middle class when you invest

lacks in education

you want to come out with a stable job

but that

did not happen and i moved to delhi i

had a few relatives there

and i started walking into offices with

resume in hand looking for a job

some i got rejected some turned me away

saying i was overqualified

a few months into this a friend’s dad

offered me a job

but it was an industry i had no clue

about

astrology so i landed up selling

software to astrologers

i landed up selling rings and gems and

yantras and rudraksha and crystals

standing in exhibitions

shouting at the top of my voice again

people questioned me

sun perk you deserve to be an mnc some

park you deserve a bigger brand

i knew i did but i knew that my

shot will eventually come so i kept

giving my 100

into this job as well 12 months later

that big break did come in i landed up

an interview with asianpaints

the interviewer was amazed with the

industry i came from

that my whole interview was around the

fact how did you convince astrologers

how did you generate leads how did you

close sales etc etc

there were 10 people sitting for the

interview that day i was the only one

who got through

this began my five awesome years at

asian paints

it laid the foundation for me as a

professional it made me the man that i

was

after that the startup bug bit me i

moved for three great years at ola

followed by two fantastic years at oyo

i was going from strength to strength i

was riding a wave

2019 was a landmark here i started the

year

getting awarded as one of the top 100

marketing sales and growth professionals

in the country

somewhere in the year i also won the

linkedin spotlight 2019 award

it was an award by linkedin recognizing

the top content creators in the country

everything seemed perfect nothing could

have gone wrong

but then 2020 came in covet struck

the vertical i was leading crashed and

in one day

i had almost lost my job my income was

gone

everything seemed topsy-turvy at this

stage

i could have sat craved cried and

lamented on

why me why did this happen to me but i

knew that was not the solution

while i’d been very very active on

linkedin i’d been building a network

on the side but it was never with the

intention of doing something full time

entrepreneurship was never on my cards

but as i stood on the crossroads that

day

something in me said sun park you have

nothing to lose

go ahead take the plunge so this forced

plunge

made me an accidental entrepreneur and

over the last 10 months

i have not taken my foot off the

accelerator

i have been coaching i have been

training i’ve been mentoring

i’ve been consulting and i’ve gone on

and on

in the last 10 months i’ve trained over

12 000 people

i’ve done sessions across five

continents across the globe

the fun fact is whatever income i was

able to reach in 10 years

i’ve been able to rise back to that from

zero

within 10 months itself now coming to

the crux

of what i learnt in these last 15 years

there are seven learnings

one if you do not enjoy something

move on the problem with the world is

people don’t know when to let go

if i had not left chartered accountancy

i might have become a ca

but would i have been happy no so if you

are giving a best shot to something

yet you don’t enjoy it look for

something that you do and move on

second there is no work big or small

irrespective of how small the work is

give it your 100

you will eventually get recognized if i

had sat down and said

why should i be selling tvs or why

should i be standing in exhibitions and

shouting at the top of my voice

i would not have reached where i am

third

always be confident of yourself that’s

what will take you forward

a lot of people will raise questions a

lot of people will point fingers

but you should know what you’re capable

of keep learning

keep re-skilling keep growing but a word

of caution there

understand the difference between

self-confidence and overconfidence

fourth there will be ups and downs

irrespective of

how high you are flying there might be

something that will pull you down

a lot of times you may not be the cause

of it something completely out of your

control would

but then that’s what life is did i

expect to lose my job

no did i expect my income to take a hit

no

it was at this time that i remember my

favorite dialogue from the movie rocky

balboa

life ain’t all about sunshines and

rainbows it’s a very mean and nasty

place

and i don’t care how tough you are

because it’s going to beat you to your

knees

and keep you there permanently if you

let it you

me or nobody gonna hit as hard as life

but it’s not about how hard you can hit

it’s about how hard you can get hit

and keep moving forward it’s about how

much you can take

and keep moving forward that’s how

winning is done

point number five stay positive

don’t cry don’t don’t complain no

one cares

no one bothers so if it’s your problem

only you are going to solve it

nobody is going to do it for you and

that’s been my mantra of success

that’s what has helped me achieve

whatever i have

point number six always

ask this question whenever you’re taking

a major decision

what is the worst that will happen i do

ask that question

and if it is not life-threatening then

go ahead and do it

what is the worst that will happen you

might need to restart you might need to

put in some more effort

you might need to uh do it all over

again

but if it is not life-threatening do it

the problem with the world is

the people think of the failure and give

up

the moment you start thinking of victory

your half

the problem is solved the moment you

start doing it you are

anyways ahead of 98 of the people

point number seven always work on your

foundation

the deeper the roots the the mightier

the storm that you can bear

if your roots are not strong enough even

a gust of wind will uproot you

over the last 10 years i’ve been very

very consciously

building those routes learning from

every organization that i have worked

with

so if you ask me what has my

organizations taught me the first

organization taught me life at the grass

root level it taught me the power of

empathy and the problems that you face

asian paints taught me the whole thing

of systems and processes

ola taught me the whole thing of speed

and agility

oyo taught me how do you manage people

how do you understand people dynamics

when you’re leading a team of 200 plus

all of them combined maybe what i am all

of them combined

make the foundation of who sun park is

all of them combined

help me resurrect myself in 10 months

and that’s where your foundation becomes

important

now you will ask me some park what next

what does the future have in hold i

don’t know

but what i know is there will be

victories there will be setbacks

there will be highs there will be lows

there will be good times

and there will be bad times but one

thing i am 100 sure

irrespective of what happens i will keep

going on and on

end of the day it does not matter how

tough the situation

is end of the day it does not matter

where you come from

if you’re positive if you’re confident

and if you’re striving to do what you

want to

you will eventually reach where you

should be

thank you