In 2005, operating from a two room office in India, I got to know of the Internet Retailer Conference - a large - first of its kind tradeshow exclusively for US online retailers. It was fascinating to read about the show, the participants and all the new exciting stuff in the online retail industry. For me .. sitting 12,000 miles away in Hyderabad.. this seemed like a different world. A world that seemed so distant and so impossible to get to.
When you are an entrepreneur you may not have clients or cash or resources... one thing that you definitely have is an ability to dream. No one can control your dreams. That's all yours. I also dared to dream. My dream was to one day become a speaker at the Internet Retailer Show. It was an audacious dream for someone whose firm had zero revenues, no US presence and very little cash (as I have mentioned in one of my earlier posts, we had at one time, approximately $5 in our corporate bank account) to survive on.
On 15th June 2009 (2 days back) I was lucky enough to fulfill my dream.
I spoke in front of an audience of 500+ online retailers and online advertising experts at the Internet Retailer show in Boston. It was a very important moment in my life. The presentation was well appreciated. More than 20 retailer attendees walked up to me and expressed their appreciation.The Director of Online Marketing of one very large retail firm mentioned that his only complain with my pesentation was that it was too short.
Needless to mention, I was humbled.
As I write this post sitting in Amtrak from Boston to New Jersey, I can't help feeling nostalgic. I am so very thankful to God and my family, friends, team, clients and well wishers for helping me realize my dream.
I remember those days of desperately trying to build contacts in US through LinkedIn sitting in India, the endless number of 3am India time phone calls to US hoping to get new business or sales partners, the struggle to remain cheerful and positive even when nothing seemed to be working, being literally lifted and carried into the AA flight from Atlanta to Detroit in an unconscious state (I was in hospital for 15 days after reaching Ann Arbor - typhoid+pneumonia+severe sodium-potassium imbalance), mustering courage and cash to exhibit in 2006 edition of Internet Retailer, devoring any material that I could lay my hands on related to online retail and online advertising...
Yes, Dreams do come true. Life gives every person a fair chance to achieve his dreams. I believe this 100%. It is all about being patient and persistent, maintaining razor focus, working very very hard and believing in one's dreams.
- Udayan
hi I found your story very interesting as i am trying to establish a business .
As you say it requires hard work and never giving up
Posted by: ian amor | August 03, 2009 at 09:02 AM