Heres a story of a kid who inherited his father’s business
of selling groceries and other FMCG goods at a very young age and how he has
learned from his father the various skills that’s required in selling and how
he himself learned some, in his own way through sheer experience. His name is
Akshay Patni, he is 24 and has already had close to 10 years of experience in the business. He lives in a city called
Guwahati which is in Assam and I have since I was a child known him and hence I
am more than glad to narrate his story here. We have been friends since I was 9
and so I have seen what he has been through. Though I don’t live in that city, I
used to visit there once or twice every month or two and so it was easier for
me to spot the changes that was taking place within him. He used to be in the
shop with his father all day and since I dident know many people in that city
other than my relatives I used to spend time with him in the shop, I used to
notice how his father used to tell him to bring things from inside the store for the customer and how whenever
he made a mistake, his father would first scold him and then make him learn
from his mistake and gave him a chocolate.
He
used to stare at his father whenever his father tried to convince a
customer and would often intervene with
his own negotiations which would often make the customers smile and even buy
the item. His father would later tell him about the do’s and dont’s of
negotiating with a customer and he would often argue to which his father would
smile and say one would you’ll understand. When he was 16 his father fell ill,
while his mother had passed away when he was just 2 years old. He also has a
sister and a grandmother who depend on the business for their livelihood. Due
to his father’s illness he had to take the entire responsibility of the store
upon himself and since then I started noticing drastic changes in him. He had
become a lot more matured and very devoted. He started opening the store
earlier than his father used to and close it a lot later. He had gained
tremendous amount of determination within himself, and when I asked how he said
that if I don’t do this I’ll lose everything I love in this world, and I wont
let that happen, not as long has I can, I remember this cause it had shaken me
up to hear it from a person I knew quite well and that made me realize how
determined he was.
Because
of his determination and hard work, the store I used to know I no longer
around, rather he now runs a much bigger store and has had a lot of success in
this time, and now at just the age of 24, he had bought himself a new house and
is married and lives at his new home with his wife, father and sister. His
business continues to flourish and he is looking to get into the wholesaling
business and make his father even more proud.
-By Pratik Dutta
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