27

How to Become a Great Public Speaker

The way your words make people feel decides whether you will end up being a leader or
a follower.

From not being able to speak a sentence in English to delivering over two
hundred speeches across the world. From being denied a chance to host an
event in school to being the youngest Indian to speak at the United Nations
Assembly in Vienna, and having my own course on public speaking. I
really have come a long way.
Everybody is a learner and then they become a teacher.
So how did it happen? How did a useless kid get to do all these things?
Well, just like Zuckerberg, it happened in college.
My experience of being ridiculed in school left me with no self-worth
whatsoever. I dreaded speaking in front of people. So, when I got to know
that I needed to do a college presentation in order to pass a subject, it felt
like my worst nightmare coming true. I could hear myself stuttering and my
classmates laughing. But I still had one thing. I had thirty days to prepare
myself. So, for the next month, I turned on my phone camera and recorded
myself giving that presentation. I did that for one hour, every day for the
next thirty days. I prepared for thirty hours for a five-minute presentation.
 And on D-Day, when I went on stage to deliver that presentation, the
entire class, along with my professor, applauded me. I could say that was
my Eureka moment, because I loved every bit of it. I loved giving that
presentation on stage, I loved the reaction I received, I loved the confidence
boost it gave me. And I knew this was what I really wanted to do. My
professor even took me around to different classes and asked me to give
that presentation in order to show them how a presentation needed to be
made. Later, she asked the dean to permit me to speak on stage. I did, and
the whole college applauded.
I was so happy that I told myself, now this is exactly what I want to do,
and I acted on that. I reached out to all the colleges in my city, requesting
them to let me give a presentation on ‘How to give amazing presentations’
at their institute. Some of them replied, most didn’t. Meanwhile, I knew that
I wanted to take this to the next level, and for that, I had to get better at
public speaking.
So what I did was, I picked up the speeches of speakers I admire(d) the
most—Martin Luther King, Les Brown, Gary Vaynerchuk—and started
copying them, the exact same pauses, exact same voice modulations, the
exact way of speaking. When I did this with speeches by ten different
people, I started to understand how I should speak, where to use a high
pitch, where to lower my pitch, everything.
I’ve put a lot of time and practice to reach the level I am at as a public
speaker. There are two rules if you want to become a good public speaker.
But before that, you should understand who a public speaker is. If you’re
talking in front of four people, be it your friends, your relatives, anyone,
you’re a public speaker. People confuse public speaking with stage
performance. Going on a stage and talking or giving a speech is not public
speaking, it is a performance.
Public speaking is about how you talk to people in order to influence
them and then handle all the objections and questions that they throw at
you.
What I am talking about here is public speaking and not stage
performance. You won’t fail at a performance if you are well prepared.
Once you become a good public speaker and prepare well, you will succeed
at stage performance as well.
Now, as I said, there are two rules for public speaking.
Rule 1: Never use words that people don’t understand.
Rule 1: Ask questions to engage with the audience.
Now, did you see I wrote ‘Rule 1’ twice? It wasn’t a mistake. I never say
Rule 2, I always say Rule 1, because all my rules are Rule 1.
So, the first point: did you notice in what you’ve read so far that I’ve kept
this book simple? That’s the same thing I do with my speeches. If you use
difficult words, you won’t be able to communicate your message to your
audience. And for me, it is more important to deliver my message than to
use words that are extremely hard to pronounce or understand.
A person who has learnt how to communicate can be a really good public
speaker. All of us have to communicate, irrespective of which field we are
in. If you are a businessperson, you need to be a good communicator to
connect with your customers, inspire your employees and even convince
your investors. If you are an influencer, you need to communicate with your
audience in order to build a deeper connection with them.
The reason people are unable to talk to someone or tremble at the thought
of speaking in front of people is because they are scared of judgement. But
what we forget is that everyone is scared. Every single one of us. And one
way to lessen your fear is preparation. Prepare to put yourself out there,
prepare yourself to handle rejections, and work on improving yourself.
Yes, no matter how much you prepare, you’re going to falter at some
point or the other. Learn from your mistake and convert your goof-up into a
story that you can tell an audience.
I follow a framework in order to be a better communicator and a better
public speaker. It has everything that I’ve learnt in these past seven years.
How to get noticed
The first step is to pause. Shhh! You need to stand in front of your
audience and just say nothing for a few seconds. The main reason for this is
to command attention. Every single human being has an auto-response
system embedded in themselves. Let’s say I go to a bar, I see a pretty girl
and suddenly say, ‘Hey! I’m Raj.’ The girl will be like, ‘Nope!’ We see
Instagram ads, we scroll past, we see YouTube ads, we skip them. That’s
our auto-responder working for us. That’s why you need to pause and put
the ball in the ‘Arey, what happened, why isn’t he saying anything’ mode.
You create anticipation. That’s how you break the pattern.
So you step out in front of the audience, pause and command their
attention. You indicate that you’re not going to say a word unless you have
their full attention, that they’re not doing you a favour by listening to you,
you are doing them a favour by speaking to them.
Start with a bang
After you have paused for about ten seconds, start with a bang. If you
don’t catch your audience’s attention in the first few seconds, the men will
be daydreaming about women and beer, and the women will be worrying
about their loved ones’ WhatsApp messages. If you haven’t captured their
attention in the first ten seconds, then you’ve lost them for good. So, start
with a BOOM! Once, I started a Tedx Talk by playing a guitar and I’m not
even good at playing the guitar. Why did I do it? Well, everyone was
expecting me to start my talk with a thought-provoking message, but I
chose a way that would grab their attention and that they wouldn’t quickly
forget. Even if they didn’t take anything from my talk, they’d still
remember me because I broke the pattern and did something that they
hadn’t expected.
There are four ways to start with a bang.

1. Clichés are a no-no. How do people start their Tedx Talks? By

saying something inspirational. How did I start it? By playing a guitar. I
don’t know if my talk was good or bad, I don’t know whether I inspired
them, but I made sure that out of the ten speakers that day, people would
remember that there was one who played the guitar.
2. ‘Yesterday’. Yesterday is a good way to start. Suppose you are at
your company’s sales meeting. You can’t start your five-minute speech
playing a guitar. If you start with ‘I promise this won’t be long, I won’t
be boring’—the moment you start with these lines you’re planting the
idea that it won’t be that long, but long enough to make them lose
interest, it won’t be too boring but somewhat boring. Let’s say you’re in a
board meeting and you have to say that last month the sales were good
but this month we just couldn’t do it. So, you start like this. ‘Yesterday I
was trying to book a slot on the CoWIN app. I tried everything, my
phone was charged, I got the OTP, I put in the OTP, but I couldn’t get the
slot. That’s what I think happened with us. We tried everything to achieve
the sales, but we couldn’t, and that’s just life. But that doesn’t mean I’m
going to stop trying to get the slot for vaccination. And the sales figures
of this month don’t mean we are going to stop achieving our sales
targets.’
Now, this is such a powerful way to connect with people. You just
have to make it relatable. You don’t have to think about how you can
make it relatable, you just have to talk about yesterday.
‘Yesterday I was calling my mom over and over, but she didn’t
respond. So, I went to her and said, “I was calling you. Why didn’t you
answer?” And that’s what happened with us. We were shouting out loud
with our marketing messages, but the customers weren’t listening. We
need to go out there to every single customer and make them listen to us.
That’s what we have to do this quarter.’ Immediacy and relevance can be
built instantly.
3. This is an important thing. Appreciation should be real, not
necessary. What do I mean by that? Let’s go back to our schooldays.
When we had chief guests coming in for any of the functions, the
announcement would start with ‘Respected principal, respected teachers,
respected students’. We all knew there were no respected students there,
so that was a formality. That is why you should never start with fake
appreciation. There should be delayed appreciation. I appreciate all of
you who are reading this book, who took an interest in learning about
personal growth. I’m appreciating the fact that you’re still reading this
book. You stayed even after my boring start, even after my boring stories.
That’s what I appreciate. You bought this book because you wanted to
learn a lot of things. I’m writing this book because this is a part of my
personal branding. It’s a pure give-and-take relationship. There’s no need
for either of us to appreciate the other. Appreciation is something you get
beyond what you expected. So, never start your speech with appreciation,
it should come in between and be genuine.
4. The last thing is, start with your strength. Everyone has a strength.
Mine is rhyming; I love rhymes, so that’s what I bring into my speeches
in the beginning. Your strength could be anything: your wit, your ability
to explain complicated concepts, anything. How to find out what’s your
strength? It’s the way you talk to your friends.

Signature appearance

You should have a signature appearance or gesture. Mine is my whiteboard

and marker. You can see the whiteboard and marker in all of my videos.
Barack Obama has a signature handshake. Every influential person has a
signature gesture that differentiates them from the rest of the crowd. If you
want to earn money and fame, you need to come up with something that
will be associated with you.

Your one minute of fame

What do I mean by this? Sometimes there are situations where you get only
one minute to impress people. Elevator pitch, conferences, you want to
impress an employee, you want to impress your boss, you want to impress
people on social media, but you just have one minute. This one minute, or
even just the first thirty seconds, are going to decide whether you’re going
to get the next five minutes or not. So how do you prepare for your one
minute of fame? The first thing you need to do is understand where you are
and what your objective is. And then you start with your strength. You tell
people what you have done or what you have achieved. So, I’ll start, ‘I’m
Raj Shamani and I’ve given speeches in more than twenty-six countries,
and I’ve taught college students as well as the president of Coca Cola, and I
have a following of one million people to back this up. Do you want to
know how I did that?’
 This will either impress them or make them wonder, ‘Why is he so cocky,
what makes him so full of himself?’ In either case, I have their attention
now and I have the five minutes that I wanted to get.
It might seem arrogant, but the truth is, I believe in my achievements,
and I am bold about it. This gives me the attention that I want. Now I am
not asking you to be arrogant always, but to believe in your pitch and in
yourself and then, once you have their attention, you can be humble, kind
and a nice person who is willing to help.
Now that you have their attention, leave them with a question. Never end
a conversation with a statement. Always end with a question and keep
people curious so that when they go home, they look you up.

Kiss

Your speech should be like a kiss. A kiss is good when it is short and sweet.
If it is really long, it could get suffocating. That’s how the message of your
speech should be—sweet and simple. The more you try experimenting with
it, the worse it will get. The longer you try to stay there, the more your
message will get lost. So, how can you make your speech like a kiss? By
following the ‘less is more’ concept. Do not try to add loads of examples;
the shorter it is, the better.
The next thing is you need to tell a story, not give a speech. How do you
write a speech? You go on Google and copy a few things from here and
there and it becomes your speech. If you’re going to tell a story, people will
connect. If you write a speech, people will get bored.
Now there’s a rule that I follow—it’s called the 50 per cent rule. No
matter what you do, cut it down by 50 per cent. If you have written one
page, cut it down to half. If you wrote a ten-minute speech, cut it down to
five. I’ll give you an example. I can say, ‘If I don’t evolve on a day-to-day
basis, I won’t be able to win in life.’ Or, ‘I need to change myself today.’
Most people think the longer the speech and the tougher the words, the
better. No bro, nobody has the time. Everyone is busy. So, keep it concise,
and you’re good to go.
Key Takeaways

1. Never use words people don’t understand.

2. Ask questions to engage with the audience.
3. Don’t be scared of getting judged.
4. Make the initial few seconds the most captivating.
5. Have a signature appearance.
6. Keep it short and simple.
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 28
Vision, Mission and the Thirty-Second Rule

You want to get fit? Start with doing a plank for thirty seconds every day. If you do this
for thirty days straight, you will automatically be able to do more than that.

You start figuring out where you want to go on day 1 and keep at it till your
last day. You should be very okay with, ‘I don’t know what I want to do but
I’m going to do something in my life’. If you have a vision and mission
statement for yourself, that’s great. A clear vision helps you accelerate the
process. But even if you don’t, it is completely okay. You should just focus
on the next step—what do you need to do right now, right at this moment—
rather than obsessing about getting a vision or mission. Don’t overwhelm
yourself by overthinking; don’t stop your progress or stop acting because
you don’t have that clear idea of what you want to achieve in life.
Think about what you need to do right now, and you take that action and
then you keep doing that over a very long period of time. When you are
doing it, you realize, okay, this is the one thing for me, and that’s when you
start accelerating the process. Of course, once you have a clear idea in your
mind that this is where you want to be, you can reach it much faster. But in
order to reach anywhere, you need to make that start. You need to take
some steps. Until you get on the road, how will you start walking? Until
you start walking, how will you start running?
 In the same way, if you have a mission and vision but don’t put in the
required work, that would be, well, stupid. What’s the point of planning so
much if you’re not going to actually do anything about it? For those who
belong to this category, I have a magical rule for you. A rule that has helped
me so, so many times in my life. I call it the thirty-second rule.
Anything that you want to do, anything that you want in your life is just
thirty seconds away from you. You just have to embrace thirty seconds of
embarrassment.
Thirty-second reels every day grew my following to another level.
Thirty seconds of courage in front of strangers helped me connect with
the who’s who of the world.
Thirty seconds of reading finance news every day helped grow my
money.
Thirty seconds of morning planks strengthened my back.
The hardest thing to do is not the actual work, but to start. And all it takes
is thirty seconds. Unable to bring yourself to finish that assignment? Just sit
down and work for thirty seconds. Thinking about reaching out to
someone? Just accept the thirty seconds of discomfort and send that mail.
Scared to go and talk to someone at a conference? Decide to give it a shot
for thirty seconds and go up and introduce yourself. I’ve met so many
amazing people just by gathering thirty seconds of courage in front of
strangers.
Apply this rule in your life. The initial thirty seconds are the hardest, but
if you can get past it, your life will get thirty times better. All your goals
will be reached, just through these thirty beautifully embarrassing seconds.
And once you start, keep figuring it out on a daily basis. Goals keep
evolving, visions keep evolving, and so do you.

Key Takeaways

1. Be okay with not knowing everything at the beginning.

2. Learn as you go.
3. The hardest thing to do is to start, so start.
OceanofPDF.com
 29
How to Create Wealth

You give your time and work to make money, and you create wealth by making that money
work for you.

How much money you make in life is directly proportional to the hours you
put in at work. But that is not wealth. Wealth is when you are able to make
enough money to sustain your lifestyle without putting in any effort, time or
skill. It means even if you want to sleep for the next thirty days, your rent is
getting paid. Your bills are getting paid. All your wishes are fulfilled.
Everything’s happening automatically, even if you’re not actively making a
single penny right now.
When you don’t have to worry about earning money and you are able to
do whatever you want, that is when you know you have wealth. You have
become financially free, which means you have money in excess of your
expenses. How can you do that? You have to understand that you’re not
going to achieve wealth unless you can get other people to do everything
you’ve learnt. If you have to put in effort every single day to make money,
there will be a day when you won’t be able to make money. You need to
make money, then you need to start investing this significant amount of
money into something that grows automatically, without you putting in any
effort. That is why wealth creation is important, that is why investing is
important.
Think about it. All of us on an average start working in our early
twenties. We work till about sixty with full energy, but after that we won’t
be able to make as much money as we were making when we were younger.
For forty years we make money, and how long do we have to live? Till
ninety? So, from twenty to ninety, we only earn for forty years, but have to
sustain ourselves for seventy years. After sixty, when we aren’t able to
make money for ourselves, we’ll need to have someone who can make
money for us, right? In India, it’s called having babies. What you should do
is start investing in mutual funds, or set up your own company, or invest in
other companies and hold equities. Then start putting away a significant
chunk of the money you’re making through your skills into these
investments, so that after sixty, when you stop making money, that creates
money for you. This is the absolute gold level of wealth creation.
Think about it this way: if you have to live for seventy years on forty
years of income, then how would you live your life differently? Over the
years, as your knowledge grows, your money also grows. Learn
compounding and use it, or find someone to do it for you. Whatever money
you are making, invest at least 20 per cent to 30 per cent of it.

Key Takeaways

1. The amount of money you make is directly proportional to the

amount of work you put in.
2. Make your money work for you.
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 30
The Art of Investment

Invest your time before you invest your money.

This is how I decide on my investments.

I trust in people more than technology. If you tell me there’s some person
who has some technology that’ll change the world, I’ll tell you I don’t care.
I believe in Tata, some other company might have better technology, but I
trust Tata more. I trust in a group of people, and that’s why I put 50 per cent
of my investment money in people who are running good companies. It’s
not just Mukesh Ambani who is responsible for the success of Reliance
Industries. The company has hundreds of people exceptionally well-
equipped with knowledge—that’s how they’re running that company.
So, 50 per cent of the money I want to invest goes into blue chip
companies where I feel the management teams are very, very strong. It
could be stocks of good companies, it could be mutual funds, all of that. I
could also give that 50 per cent of my money to a good financial advisory
company and ask them to handle my entire portfolio. This 50 per cent of my
money is invested safely, where people have shown great past results, are
riding current highs, and have a good vision for the future. They have an
exceptional track record because they have been steered by qualified
people.
 Then, 30 per cent of my investment money is in less safe investments.
Again, I trust in people, but with this 30 per cent, I give myself the liberty
to take some calculated risks and have a little fun. I go with my gut feeling,
my understanding of the market, and my understanding of the economy. I
put my money in start-ups when I feel that the person has created an
extremely strong company, where the idea is very innovative, and I see the
growth potential. Now, from a large group of people—like a management
team for the 50 per cent—we have narrowed it down to two or three
hustlers and entrepreneurs running a start-up. This 30 per cent I put into
angel investing. I get in early so there’s a risk-to-reward ratio. As it is said:
Heere ko jaldi tarasho to paisa jyada milta hai. Sure, I pick up some rocks
in the process too, but the returns are high.
The next 10 per cent of my investment money is my fun money. I invest
in crypto and uncertainties—who knows when, or if, it will pay off. I
gamble with this money and bet on whether the market will go up or down.
Even if I face a loss, at least it won’t be a huge one. If I were to put Rs 100
in ten years but only get 90 bucks, it’s not a bad deal. Alternatively, if that
Rs 100 jumped to Rs 200, I’d be happy, as it was just 10 per cent of my
money. It really doesn’t matter too much either way. I enjoy myself with
this 10 per cent.
The remaining 10 per cent I put in absolute certainties, like real estate
and insurance. My logic is, if nothing works in life, at least this 10 per cent
will.
That is how I invest.
Sandeep Das, strategy consultant and bestselling author, says that,
considering the current scenario, the ideal portfolio should be like this: say
you’re saving Rs 100, 60 per cent to 65 per cent should be in quality debts,
because the more you have in safer instruments, the better bets and the
better risks you can take. About 25 per cent to 30 per cent should be in two
equity classes—large-cap funds and the US stock market. The remaining 5
per cent to 10 per cent should be invested in gold, because it is an excellent
diversification vehicle. According to him, the equity market might not give
you as much as you think in the upcoming decade. After considering
inflation and the LTCG tax, the stock market can realistically give you
around 7 per cent to 8 per cent. There are debt instruments which give you
that much with no volatility. So, the notion of taking risks and generating
returns is actually questionable. The only class of assets which can give you
such a disproportionate return is if you have your own firm, because then
the return on capital employed can go up to 18 per cent to 20 per cent.
If you invest your money or time in something that is a trend, something
you don’t know anything about, then it is a bad investment. The hype
market is very different from the real market. If we take cryptocurrency, for
example, 90 per cent of investors don’t know anything about it. No one
knows where it came from, what it’s about, nothing—people are just
following the trend.

Key Takeaway

Take time to understand the market before investing; don’t follow trends
blindly.
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 31
How to Invest, for Those Who Don’t

You will have to give it time to grow your money, either in finding the right investment
product or in finding the right person who can do it for you.

Now the question comes, how should you invest? That depends on what
kind of investor you are and what your risk-taking capacity is. There are
two kinds of people who don’t invest—those with decision paralysis and
those with loss aversion. The first type of people are those who keep
reading and researching and don’t end up making a decision. The other type
are scared of losing money. They will not invest because of the fear of
incurring a loss. Usually, these people have been told not to invest money in
stocks. But I know you guys genuinely wish to learn. So, let’s talk about
how you can come up with an investment strategy.
Analyse your situation and risk-taking appetite. There are three
categories—low-risk, medium-risk and high-risk.

Low-risk

A person who has no knowledge about the stock market and cannot risk
losing their money should ideally postpone investing till they learn more.
Do your research. Watch YouTube videos, listen to podcasts, or better, enrol
yourself in a course that teaches investing in the stock market. Meanwhile,
Nifty ETFs are a safe choice. Add a small amount monthly and it will give
you profits in the long run. Be consistent.

Medium-risk

Medium risk-takers have some knowledge of the stock market. If you

belong to this category, you can invest in equity-oriented mutual funds
where you get to pick stocks. Work on increasing your knowledge of the
stock market. Also, you can look for and invest in products that you believe
can be the next big thing.

High-risk

High risk-taking investors can pick individual stocks. It is risky, and if you
want to avoid huge losses, then I would suggest you diversify your
portfolio. Invest in different sectors. Invest in a systematic manner and you
will surely get good profits in the long term.
Aside from this, if you are in your early twenties and don’t have enough
knowledge on how to invest, then you should let people with the relevant
expertise do it for you. Nowadays, there are several apps that you can use to
invest. If you don’t like to read about investing then just read about these
apps and what they do and how they can help you.

The Five Worst Investments You Can Make

Everyone tells you where you should invest your money, but nobody tells
you where you shouldn’t invest. When we invest for the first time, we do it
because someone told us to do so. Be it a bank agent or an individual agent,
they try to sell you those products where they get the most commission. It is
very important to know what products we shouldn’t invest our money in.
I’ll tell you five financial investments that financially smart people never
invest their money in.

1: Regular Mutual Funds

Now you’ll be like, ‘Bro, everyone says invest in mutual funds, mutual
funds sahi hai. So many ads are running, everyone is saying mutual funds
are the easiest way to become a millionaire.’ Yeah, that’s right. Mutual fund
SIP is the easiest way to become a crorepati; it’s when you buy regular
mutual funds that the problems arise. Mutual funds are of two types—
regular and direct. Regular mutual funds are when you buy a mutual fund
through an agent or bank. They get a 1–2 per cent commission but won’t
tell you about it. A direct mutual fund is when you invest in a mutual fund
directly, without using any intermediary. You save on commissions and
increase your returns. For example, imagine that after ten years your returns
in mutual funds are Rs 1 crore. When you get the money, you would have to
pay Rs 2 lakh to the agent. Save the Rs 2 lakh and invest in a direct mutual
fund.

2: Product

Product is physical gold. Now you might say that gold is a good and safe
investment. Yes, it absolutely is. But if you’re buying gold just for
investment, then please don’t buy physical gold—which means jewellery or
brick form. Because, first of all, if you have physical gold, then the fear of it
getting stolen will be there. And secondly, it’s difficult to know what quality
of gold you’ve been given. Also, when you buy physical gold, there are
making charges, melting charges and several other charges which lead to
depreciation.
If you have to invest in gold, then do it the smart way—invest in digital
gold, or gold mutual funds, gold bonds or buy a gold smallcase, which is
the smartest investment in my view. If you compare the returns on physical
vs digital gold after ten years, you’ll see that smallcase will have given
higher returns. Your money is safe, and it appreciates too.

3: ULIP

Bankers will try to sell Unit-Linked Insurance Plan, or ULIP, saying it’s a
smart investment, but I would suggest you steer clear of it. ULIP is a
combination of life insurance and investment. It means that some money
will go into insurance and some in assets like equity or debt. On hearing
this, you will probably feel like it’s a great product, two hits with one arrow.
You’ll think you will invest in one place and that will cover your investment
and insurance too. Amazing! But that’s the problem. Let me explain.
When you invest in ULIP, you can’t withdraw your money for three to
five years; with mutual funds you can do it any time. Sure, you would have
to pay some minimal charges, but it can be done. Overall, ULIP charges can
be around 5 to 10 per cent, which is very high. In mutual funds, the charges
are around 0.5 to 2 per cent. There is very little transparency in ULIP—you
won’t know every detail about how your account is being handled or where
your money is being used. But in a mutual fund, your portfolio is clear, you
are aware of every change. That’s why I think mutual funds are much better
than ULIP.
Now let’s compare ULIP with a term life insurance plan. Premium
charges for ULIPs fall between Rs 25,000 and Rs 60,000, which are high.
Premiums for term insurance plans, on the other hand, fall between Rs 4000
and Rs 20,000 which are affordable. When it comes to life coverage, you
will see that it is generally ten to fifteen times your annual premium
amount. That means you will get only Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh, whereas
life coverage amounts in term insurance plans can go up to Rs 1 crore,
meaning that if you take an affordable term life insurance plan, then that
gives Rs 1 crore life coverage. That’s why, rather than investing in ULIP,
invest your money in mutual funds and term life insurance plans separately.

4: Penny Stocks

Penny stocks means those stocks for which prices are very low, for
example, from Rs 1 to 10. People think, ‘The price is very low, I can buy
one stock for Rs 10, which means 100 stocks for Rs 1000; it’s very low and
it will increase drastically tomorrow, so let’s buy it today for cheap,
tomorrow I will be able to earn a lot.’ NO. Not every small stock becomes
big. You need to remember that if a stock is cheap, there must be some
reason why it is so. There must be some reason why the stocks of HDFC,
Reliance, Tata are so high, and penny stocks are available for Rs 2 to Rs 5.
Why? Because their performance is not good or there is some problem,
that’s why they are cheap. Try to figure out what that problem is and stay
away from such products. Buy the right thing, at the right place and at the
right time. Especially stay away from stocks that are less than Rs 10 if you
don’t know the stock market properly.

5: Lottery or Get-Rich-Quick Schemes

Get-rich-quick schemes are like ‘Twenty-one din mein paise double!’ Or

‘Come invest some money and become rich overnight’. People sell products
like these on the internet—buy this lottery ticket and you will earn lakhs of
money. Understand one thing, if you fall for it the only one becoming
wealthy is who you’re buying it from. You are only becoming a fool.

Key Takeaways

1. Analyse your situation and risk-taking appetite and figure out what
category you belong to: low-risk, medium-risk or high-risk. Invest
accordingly.
2. It’s important to know what products not to invest in.
OceanofPDF.com
 32
Seven Ways I Make Money

People say you need to learn multiple things to build more income streams, but I believe
that you should become an expert in one thing and then build multiple income streams out
of that one thing.

You must have heard that if you want to earn a lot of money or create
wealth, then you would need to earn through multiple sources. Because one
income stream is just not enough to help you earn a fortune. But has anyone
told you what these five to seven different streams of income can be? How
do you build these sources? How do you earn through these many methods?
Well, I can’t tell you this either, because it varies from one person to
another. But what I can tell you is today I’m twenty-five and I have seven
different sources of income. I can tell you what I did to reach where I am
today. I focused on only one thing to create these seven sources of income.

1: Consultancy

Now, what is consultancy? As a consultant, you tell people things they

don’t know much about. With your knowledge, you help them benefit in
some way. Big companies pay good money to consultants.
When I decided on this route, I was a seventeen-year-old kid. What could
I teach, at seventeen, that big companies would hire me and pay me for? I
was trying to figure it out so I went to my father and asked him, ‘What shall
I do so that the world will know my value? Tell me some three–four things
that I can do which will increase my value.’ He said, ‘Don’t run behind
three–four things. Just find one thing and learn it so well that you become
an expert at it. When you become an expert, people will regard you as a
high-value person, and then you can think of how you can earn money and
which companies you can consult with, or what you can do in your own
company.’ I found that enlightening. I went on Google and looked for skills
that would earn me a lot of money, because that’s what I wanted to do. But I
found nothing.
At that age, kids look for the best courses to join and the best colleges to
attend. But instead of this, I searched for ‘Which skill will be in most
demand in the future?’ Then I found out that digital marketing is something
that is going to soar, and people don’t know much about it. I thought, this is
something good. I called some of my friends, talked to them and realized no
one knew anything about it, so I went back to Google and looked up
‘Where can I learn digital marketing from?’ I found out that Google itself
gives free certificate courses where you can learn digital marketing in
detail, so I did that. I didn’t learn all of it, but I did learn one specific thing,
which is how Google ads are run. Then I learnt how Facebook ads are run.
Now, when I learnt these two things, I had learnt something that many
people didn’t know, even in my friends’ circle.
The father of one of my friends worked in a car company, so I went to
him and asked whether I could get an internship in that company. He said,
‘No, you’re too young.’ I said, ‘Just tell me some of your problems and I’ll
tell you if I can solve them.’
So, he told me his problem was with the local dealerships, those who
actually sold the cars. They needed to run ads telling people that they now
sold this particular brand, but their budgets were low. I asked them what
their budgets were. He quoted a number and I told him, what if for half of
that budget I ensured that everyone knows about the dealerships?
He first chided me, asking me not to talk nonsense. But I insisted. ‘If I do
it, give me Rs 25,000. I’m saving you Rs 2 lakh.’ He finally agreed, and I
then told him about social media marketing and running ads on Google and
Facebook and then, because of those ads, people got to know about the
dealerships, and this was my first consultancy project.
Since then, I have consulted with many companies about how to grow on
social media, how best to sell their products with Google and Facebook ads,
and that has become one of my income streams. How much time do I invest
in this work? One hour a week. How did I learn it? I did a course, but one
course was not enough. I kept on taking courses, and I’m still learning
about it today.
Now, when I was doing it, I realized this was a very good skill. One
client became two clients, two clients became three clients, till I had six to
seven clients and I was still a kid in college. At that time, clients were
paying Rs 2000, Rs 5000 or Rs 10,000. They were small amounts, but it
made me think—what if I do this on a bigger scale? Even if I am making Rs
500 per person but I’m getting it from 100 people at the same time, it will
be a lot of money and the time spent will be relatively less.
Then I got to know about public speaking, and it became my second
source of income.

2: Public Speaking

I had learnt social media marketing and how to scale small businesses
through social media at cheap prices. So, I started talking about these things
in public. In the beginning, I spoke in front of four people, then five people,
then ten people, then delivered speeches in many small colleges for free. I
used to mail or call them myself, and say, ‘I want you to let me speak on
stage to your students and I will do it for free. I want to talk to them about
how they can earn money through social media marketing in future.’ Out of
the hundred colleges I contacted, two or three got back saying, ‘Okay, since
it’s free, you can do it.’
I went to those places, and they liked what I said, and through their
connections was able to get more such gigs. It kept on growing like this,
and I delivered so many free speeches. In fact, the first 100 or so were for
free. I went from college to college and said the same thing for free. After
100 speeches, finally everyone started recognizing my value and I got a call
saying, ‘We will pay you for it, will you speak to our students?’
So, my second stream of income started.
Now, when I started giving these talks, I observed that, after I would give
a speech, the people from there would follow me on social media. At that
time, I was not making any content online. I would just post photographs
and say where I had been speaking—today I gave a speech in Mumbai,
today I gave a speech in Pune, today I gave a speech in Indore, etc.
Instagram was new, and I was interested in it. Since I talked about social
media, I was obviously on it.
When I noticed people were following me, I saw it as a good sign. I
thought, why don’t I start speaking on this platform? Because if I go to
some place, only a hundred people are watching me. But if I make a video
and post it on Instagram, then all the people who are following me can
watch this speech and eventually the numbers will grow. I started putting up
my talks on social media. I kept on uploading speech after speech after
speech for two years. Then I started uploading my content as well, which
was not just clips from speeches but specifically made for social media, and
after two years, I reached 1,50,000 followers. When I hit that number, I
knew that now was the time for a third source of income, that is, brand
deals.

3: Brand Deals

If 1,50,000 people are listening to me, then brands are going to be ready to
give me money to talk about them and promote their products. I’m still
giving a speech, still talking about the same things, but I’m doing it while
wearing branded suits, so that brand would pay me. If I am talking about
some bank, they would pay me. Say I am talking about some stock broking
company, they would pay me. That’s how my third income source started.
Meanwhile, my followers increased, till I had 1 million followers. That’s
when my fourth income source started, and that is, affiliate marketing.
4: Affiliate Marketing

Now, what is affiliate marketing? Suppose I’m talking about a mobile

phone and I put a link in the video through which people can purchase that
mobile phone. If people click on that link and order a phone, I get a small
part of that sale. Say you ordered a Rs 10,000 phone through a link I put up.
I will get some Rs 50 because of that purchase. You don’t lose anything; for
you the phone has been purchased at the MRP of Rs 10,000, but the
company will give me Rs 50 because the buyer came through my link. So,
this is my fourth income source.
Then I started asking myself, how can I grow on social media? How can I
build my own brand? How can I become a content creator? I realized I have
an interest in giving speeches about business, about mindsets, about social
media. Now since I was thinking and breathing these things day and night,
why not start teaching people about it? Due to my expertise in these things,
I had four different income streams, so why not make people learn about it
too? That’s how I started my fifth income source.

5: Courses

I developed a course and priced the ticket for it at Rs 500. So, whoever
wants to learn how to speak online and offline and start earning through
public speaking can buy my course for Rs 500. People who trust me, people
who like my work, people who think that I can teach them something, they
can go and buy it, and out of the Rs 500 they pay for it, I give some to my
team and my partners, and the money left becomes my income. So, this
became my fifth income source. Then people who attended the course said,
‘Raj, your course is very good. All the things that you have done and learnt
in the last five to six years you have provided in a nutshell in this three-hour
workshop. You compressed five years in three hours, you must not have
revealed everything, you must have something more.’ So, I said, ‘All right’,
and I started writing a book.

6: Book
I signed a deal with Penguin Random House, and now they are paying me
to write a book, and this has become my sixth income source. My
consulting is going on, my speeches are going on, my brand deals are going
on, my affiliate marketing is going on, my courses are going on, and now
I’ve written a book, which will be my sixth income source. I got an advance
from the publisher, and how this works is, with every copy sold, I’ll get a
percentage as royalty. The more the books sell, the more money I will get.
And it is not just a short-term thing; whenever a copy is sold, I’ll get the
royalty.

These were six things. Now, along with doing this, I did one more thing. I
started a business.

7: Business

People like the content I make and the way it’s presented. There is a whole
process involved in creating content. I have to decide what I want to say in
the video, write everything down, record it, then it gets edited, and I decide
when it will be uploaded. Now, whoever wants to become a content creator
and wants to tell stories online and make it a lifestyle, they don’t need to
learn all of it from scratch. They can come to me, and I will give them a
video editor, I will give them a script writer, I will give them ideas and I
will tell them what works and what does not. I will give them a team that
will upload for them too. The team will tell them which videos worked and
which didn’t and why something didn’t work, and to do all of this I take
money from them, and the money that I earn from that business becomes
my seventh source of income.
So, from one thing, which was social media marketing and how you can
grow your personal brand on social media, I created all my current sources
of income. I started studying about it in 2014–15, and since then there
hasn’t been one day, not even one day, where I haven’t learnt something
new. I research and learn more about this topic every day, and due to that, I
have been able to build seven income sources.
 Some people come to me and say, ‘Raj you did it, great, but nowadays
everyone is doing it, so how can we do it?’
Right, everyone is doing it, but there is still a lot of scope left in the field.
In today’s world, thanks to the internet, tell me one thing through which you
cannot make money? Let’s say there isn’t scope in this area, then pick any
other field. The only condition is, whatever it is, you should become an
expert in it, because if you’re an expert, you can also earn through ten
income sources, let alone seven. And you only need to learn one thing, you
don’t need to learn seven different things for this.
Look at the future, what is the future made of? Technology, Artificial
Intelligence. You don’t want to learn about that? Learn about finance,
stocks. If you don’t like that, and you think what I spoke about is really
easy, then learn about marketing and social media. Let’s say you don’t even
like that and you only want to speak and earn money through it, you enjoy
speaking, then do what I did. First of all, learn about how to speak, how to
deliver a speech, how you should do it so that people will want to listen to
you. What can you offer so that, after listening to you, people will share
your content and follow you too?
Learn about the art of storytelling, the art of social media, anything in
which you have interest. It could be coding, it could be politics, music,
photography, it could be any damn thing. You grab that one thing and
become the best at it, and to become the best you don’t need years, you just
need the first day. Focus on one thing for one whole day from morning to
evening and, at the end of the day, you will know more about that thing than
the people you live with.
That’s how it begins. On day 1, you will know more than the four people
around you. Then you keep learning and you’ll know more than the forty
people around you. And that forty people will eventually become 4000,
then 40,000, then 40,00,000 then 4,00,00,000 and then the whole country.
It all starts from day one. So, pick one skill and start learning and in a
few years, you will have seven sources of income and when you have seven
to eight income sources, you will be secure. Today, at twenty-five, I don’t
have any fear of what will happen tomorrow. You, too, won’t have the fear
of what will happen tomorrow.

Key Takeaways

1. Focus on becoming an expert in one skill rather than running after

multiple things.
2. Learn about every type of business and think about how you can
apply your skill in them. Wherever your skill fits well, try making money
from it.
OceanofPDF.com
 33
Creating a Personal Brand

People like people who are like them, or people who like them; genuinely do both and you
will see millions liking you.

Your life is your niche. You would have heard me say this so many times.
But it is true to its bones. People who tell you that this is how you can find
your niche, this is the formula to find your niche, I really don’t like such
people. My own friends, when they sit with me for podcasts, they say this is
the model to find your niche and I’m like what model, bro? Why are you
telling someone to be what they are not?
People think personal branding is about packaging. People think they
need to package themselves into something that is in demand out there and
others will want to follow them for it.
For me, personal branding is about revealing yourself, it’s about
unpackaging yourself. I will only be able to connect with my audience on a
deeper level when I expose myself completely. This is how Raj wakes up,
how he eats, how he sings. Then people will think, ‘Oh! Raj is just like me.
He also wakes up at four in the evening and then works. If he can make his
life like that, so can I. The important thing is to build your life around that.
Raj is figuring things out on a daily basis and building his life, I can too.’
This is how you connect with your audience. This is how you create a
personal brand. When you think about branding, it is about packaging your
product. But when you think about personal branding, it is about
unpackaging yourself. Exposing yourself is how you scale. Because then
you don’t need to think about how you have to speak in front of different
people or how you have to present yourself differently around different
people. You don’t have to think about any of it because you will just be who
you truly are.
I don’t have to talk just in English or Hindi, I don’t have to wear fancy
clothes, I don’t have to stick to my niche, because I am my niche. If you
look closely, even the biggest brands, whether in India or the world, are
their truest self in front of the camera, that’s why they have the biggest
audience.
To get something from your personal brand, you need authority. How do
you build authority? By adding value to people’s lives. How do you add
value? By either entertaining, inspiring or educating someone. How do you
do that? By just putting out what you are doing and helping other people
find the answers that you are trying to find out for yourself. Because you
are your own niche.
For example, you want to be the greatest writer in the world and you are
trying to figure out how to get there. Whatever you learn, you try to
experiment with in your life, whatever works, you share it with other people
as entertainment, inspiration or education. Once you start doing that, other
people will start applying your learnings in their lives, and once they apply
those learnings and see results, they will consider you an authority, and
when you have that authority, you’ve built your personal brand in front of
them.
Branding is about trust. At the end of the day, I am doing something that
ten other people are also doing. But I’m providing it in a much better way
so that people now see that they’re getting more value out of me. When
they see that, they’re going to differentiate me from the other speakers: Raj
is much more brutal and real than the others. So, everyone is a speaker, but
how do you identify someone who speaks honestly? You tag them as Raj.
 There are hundreds of Rajs as well. How do you differentiate between
them? Then Raj becomes Raj Shamani. That’s what a personal brand is for
me. That’s the tag of trust. You build trust by continuously providing value
in people’s lives. When you do that, people consider you an authority—and
until and unless you are an authority, they won’t trust you.

Key Takeaways

1. You are your own niche.

2. Build trust in order to build a brand.
OceanofPDF.com
 34
Creativity and Growth

Nothing happens with talent; the game is only about consistency. Consistent effort =
Consistent growth.

All through my school, all through my life, I tried so, so many things. One
thing I got to know about myself is that I’m not creative at all. I’m the least
creative person around. The only thing I know, the only thing I am a master
of is discipline. When I’m making content, I rarely go, ‘Oh! I have got this
amazing idea and I am going to make a new product around it.’ No. All I
know is, today, at 6 p.m., a reel has to go up. If I don’t have it ready yet,
then I have to make it. It doesn’t matter what I’m going to make, but I know
I’m going to make something. I force myself to create, I’m not a creative
person.
When it comes to business, I apply the same discipline. When the
pandemic hit, my usual products were put to a halt, and I knew I had to
make new products in order to sustain my business. I didn’t have any
amazing ideas that I knew for sure were going to work. So, how was I
creative about building a product that would actually work?
I started with sanitizers, because that was the need of the hour. Now, I
had to decide between premium and low-priced. I decided to make it
premium and launched a disinfectant spray. Soon, I realized I would have to
make a low-cost product as well because the premium range only had a
limited market. So, I launched a toilet cleaner. Once I launched the toilet
cleaner, I realized homes need floor cleaners as well, so I launched that as
well, because most people buy toilet cleaners and floor cleaners at the same
time. And then I thought, let’s launch a handwash too.
So, in six months I launched five new products. Out of these, I stopped
three, and the other two products are still working well. If I had just sat
around thinking how I should creatively make a product which has a nice
bottle, smells good, and can beat the existing brands, I would never have
been able to launch any product.
I don’t have creativity, I have discipline. If I have to launch a new
product this month, I will. I don’t know what product I it is, but I will make
it. I don’t know what reel I have to post today, but I will post a reel. I have
discipline that forces me to keep on creating. And as I keep creating, my bar
keeps getting set higher—I want to create something better than what I
created yesterday. I keep on doing that every single day, so at the end of the
tenth day, whatever I create is going to be better or more ‘creative’ than
what was done on the first day. It is going to be an improved version of my
original idea. This is how you can be creative too—by creating on a
consistent basis.
Do you have a basic sketch of an idea? Go ahead with it. Start creating,
start posting, take people’s feedback, see how you can improve, post the
improved content the next day and keep repeating the same steps. As you
keep creating, you’ll keep improving. You just need to be better than who
you were yesterday. That’s it. Do that, and it will be a game-changer.

Key Takeaways

1. Build systems to keep you consistent and that will force you to get
better.
2. There is no one talented enough who can’t be beaten by consistency.
OceanofPDF.com
 35
Growth

You know how to achieve 50x growth in a year? By growing 1x every week.

Think of growing 1 per cent every day, instead of 100 per cent in one day.

When you start hustling early in life, you don’t have to worry about whether
you’ll be able to pay rent tomorrow, and it gives you a certain peace of
mind. Sure, some things take more effort, some take less effort, but once
your business is set up, the struggling period is over, and then you just
enjoy it.
Most people don’t do anything in their life because they are comfortable.
The biggest step they have to take is leaving that comfort zone. Sure, that is
a big step, but the life you live after is worth everything.
I’ve always been a pampered child. Growing up, I didn’t have to do
anything on my own, I never had to make my own bed, never had to clean
or anything. Then I chose a career in public speaking and with that too I
was very comfortable. I stayed in luxurious hotels and that meant I didn’t
have to do anything myself.
In early 2021, I decided to move to Mumbai, and then I had to do all the
little things on my own. These little things keep you organized and give you
a sense of responsibility; you know that there are things that need to be
taken care of on an everyday basis because, if they aren’t, you’re going to
have cockroaches in your home. And this is something you need to apply to
all aspects of your life. If you don’t put in effort every day, things will rot.
So I learnt a lot after coming out of that comfortable bubble I was living in.
The only reason I did it was because I knew I wouldn’t be able grow as
much if I stayed in my comfort zone.
Earlier, I was someone who wouldn’t share another person’s content
when I thought it was good. I would wonder why I didn’t think about this
first? And I’d hope that others wouldn’t watch that content. This was
because I felt inferior. When he realized that I felt inferior, my dad tried to
help me overcome it, not by buying me things but by making me more
confident. Now, this new Raj shares every good thing he comes across.
Now, I take inspiration instead of getting intimidated.
See, I still think ‘why didn’t I make this’ when I see someone posting
something good. But now I also think, ‘This is great, and I’ll be inspired by
you. Your good content will push me to do better myself. I don’t care
whether you have 300 followers or 300k followers, I’ll still post you. I
don’t care whether you are a small creator or a larger-than-life brand. I like
your content, I’ll share it.’ It gives me a reality check—Raj, there are others
who are making better content than you and if you don’t up your game,
you’ll cease to exist. If I need to move forward, I need to make great
content like this.
There’s no space for jealousy in my life anymore, there’s just inspiration
and growth.
Let me tell you a secret tip to grow: whomever you’re jealous of, start
promoting them. Now, there are two things: one, it takes A LOT OF effort
to promote someone, and two, you feel better about yourself when you do
it. You feel that you are becoming a part of this person’s journey; it may be
small, but you are a part of it. Once you start doing this, you automatically
get into the give, give, give mindset, and that’s a game-changer.
Give, give, give so much that the other person feels guilty and will give
you something in return.
Key Takeaway

Since childhood we have been taught, if you have taken something, give
something back; use this to your advantage. Give to people up front, so they
always feel like giving something back.
OceanofPDF.com
 36
Why I’m Unbeatable

Your audience will move on if you don’t give them new reasons to stay every day.

Everything I do in terms of my content creation comes from my business.

Let me explain through examples. If you look at my content, you’ll see that
I am constantly searching for my Product-Market Fit (PMF). Anyone who
understands the start-up world knows that this is what people are trying to
zero in on. So, what does this PMF mean? It’s when a product finds demand
in the market—it fits the market and becomes successful. For instance, you
come up with a product which is in demand in a particular region or
platform. You give the market exactly what it wants, and it will blow up.
In India, when TikTok got banned, Instagram spotted the opportunity and
launched Instagram reels. Instagram decided that whoever makes TikTok-
like content on Instagram will be given a lot of reach. So, the entire TikTok
crowd moved to Instagram. Now, the market was ready and the demand
was there. All I did was launch a product to fit this demand. At first, I tried
to keep my speeches to thirty seconds, but that didn’t work out. Then I
started making coffee and stuff, but that didn’t work out either. So, I
decided to show my sneakers and, no shocker, that didn’t work.
I thought, leave all this, I will do what I do best. I provide information in
easy-to-understand terms. I read the news daily and no one is talking about
it, so I will talk about it and people might like it. I did three business-news
reels. The first video did okayish and the second one too. The third video
blew up. So did the fourth. Then the fifth. And I saw that this was my
product-market fit. So, with the help of an entrepreneurial mindset, I had
experimented and adapted till I found my PMF.
Here’s the thing: creators need to reinvent themselves constantly, or else
people are waiting to steal their audience from them.
Now another thing: once you get your product-market fit, all you need to
do is scale. So I made a system for myself. I used to wake up, go to the
washroom, and while I was there, I’d read the news and pick up three things
for that day. I would come out, make the video and upload. And within ten
minutes my whole day’s work was done. Now the rest of the day was only
about—what’s next? I experimented with more content. I introduced
finance, then I introduced mental health, then public speaking—everything
following the ‘three things’ concept.
Now, when I started to grow, a lot of competitors came into the picture.
Even the big creators whom I admire a lot started copying the ‘three things’
format. What do you do when competitors come in? You either scale up so
much that they can’t touch you, or you improvise and pivot to different
things.
I scaled up for a month and started posting multiple videos a day. But I
realized this wouldn’t work and I needed to pivot—go in another direction
instead. So, what I did was, I brought my public speaking back into the
picture because now I had an audience. Then, I pivoted from there as well
and went into an angry, shouting mode, because everyone else started
speaking slowly as well. Then I moved to rap (see my high school hustles
finally paying off?), and I started using rhyming words. Then I found my
product-market fit again and I started with extremely slow and
conversational content. Now, all this I have learnt from the business world.
You need to constantly pivot so that you can actually nail the market and
sustain the audience that you have built.
Another thing that I learnt from the business world and applied in my
content was that you need to build your moat. What is a moat? Have you
seen old forts and castles? They have a body of water surrounding them. A
gate in the fort opens up and acts as a bridge across this water, and as soon
as people enter, it closes. Until and unless that gate opens, no one can enter
the fort. That moat is to stop people from attacking the fort. So, build a
moat and guard yourself so that other people can’t come and attack you. I
told myself, Raj, you need to find your moat. Every start-up has a moat.
Some people have technology, some people have money, so what is my
moat? My moat is that I can break down any complicated topic and present
it in an easy-to-understand manner because that is what I have been doing
for the past seven years of my public speaking career. BOOM. That worked
out. The first video I did based on this concept blew up. It reached 30
million views. It went mad viral.
Now that that happened, the other business lesson comes in. How do
people remember you? What are your brand guidelines, so that whenever
someone sees something they instantly remember you? That’s where the
whiteboard, the marker, the mic placement and different camera angles
come in. I did it so much that people started telling others to copy my style.
Now that is my brand guideline. And if you guys remember, each of my
reels ends with a doom sound. Sometimes the message might not be
complete, the last word might be cut, but that doom won’t be cut. That
doom is my logo, my signature, my audio branding.
Now comes another business-world lesson. Every business has a vision.
Content creators don’t have a mission or vision. But I have a vision—I
believe that people know what they want to do; all they want is for someone
to remind them from time to time. Raj Shamani is your daily reminder. I am
that reminder for you. You know what you want to do but you need
someone to remind you. So I’m going to come to you every day and remind
you, ‘Hey! Listen, you are better than who you were, you don’t need to be
jealous, you are comfortable, you can do this.’ I just tell people basic things.
So now that I’ve set up these things—when I created a vision, set a
guideline, pivoted, created a moat, when I decided on my signature and
audio branding—now that there are so many things combined in making my
content, it is very difficult for anybody to come and beat me.
Key Takeaways

1. Creators need to reinvent themselves constantly.

2. When there is competition, you either scale so much they can’t
touch you or you improvise and pivot to different things.
3. Create personal brand elements, so whenever someone sees
something associated with you, they instantly remember you.
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 37
Stand Out from the Competition

When you work hard on something you’re passionate about, money is a byproduct that
will show up at your door sooner or later.

Do you think of competition as a roadblock? A villain in your life of

dreams? As a hurdle to your becoming successful?
I’m going to give you a concept, a mental model that will help you
eliminate most of your competition.
I call this concept the Circles of Life.
So, imagine the whole world as a circle. Now, create multiple circles
inside of it to represent different fields and niches that people work in.
Now, identify your place in it by following these steps.

1. Figure Out Your Interests

When I realized my deep interest in start-ups and businesses, I knew it was

something that I should pursue, because a normal day for me was spent on
websites like CrunchBase, MoneyControl, Forbes, etc.
So, keeping your interest in mind, you will eliminate the first set of
people from your competition. Your first circle.

2. Figure Out Your Strengths

What is that one thing about you that can help you gain leverage in the
crowd? It doesn’t have to be an obvious ‘entrepreneurial mindset’ or ‘hard-
working nature’. It could be as simple as being a good listener, an observer
like me or a people person.
This is the quality that, when combined with your interests, will guide the
career path you want to take.
After I realized my interest in start-ups, I used the strength of my
curiosity to start the Figuring Out podcast.
Similarly, once you know your interests and strengths, you can eliminate
another set of competition by reducing the size of your circle.
When you know your strengths and interests, you look around to find that
most people you thought of as competitors are not even in the game now!
They either have different interests or different strengths.
Is there a way to further reduce competition? Yes, there is. It might be a
little cumbersome to work on, but it’s effective.
By now we know that to decrease competition, we need to decrease the
size of our circle. Now, how do we further do that?
By being more specific in our approach.
So, let’s say once I knew that I wanted to start a podcast about
entrepreneurship, I still had to compete with a lot of other podcasts around
the same topic. I removed myself from the competition by adding just one
more thing to my roster: interviewing 100 unicorn founders about how they
built their businesses.
This made Figuring Out stand out as a podcast, and now we rank number
one in the entrepreneurship charts.
You can look at any successful creator who has grown recently and see
how they eliminated their competition.
Sharan Hegde from Finance with Sharan is one of the many finance
creators that boomed. But why is he the biggest right now? It’s because he
eliminated competition by being specific and elaborate with his target. He
started sharing financial knowledge on Reels, which were funny and had a
unique format. You can spot four circles here.
 Similarly, Tanmay Bhat leveraged his sense of humour while he was
streaming with popular gamers and comedians, and then applied his
business acumen to build a content empire on YouTube. Another four
circles here.
A lesser-known name is Shaurya Shikhar. Shaurya is one of the most
sought-after people on YouTube in India. He works with big names,
including BB Ki Vines and Ankur Warikoo. The reason why he doesn’t
have competition is that he became an amazing data analyst for YouTube
and publicized himself through threads on Twitter. Yet again, four circles
and minimum competition.
Just like all these people, you have to start looking for your circles.
Interests and strengths are going to be the most basic, and they will
eliminate a lot of competition. But you will still have to figure out more
ways to further reduce this competition. It could be your platform, medium,
language or style.
After this filtration process, you will know what you want to work on,
and there will be limited competition as well.

Key Takeaways

1. Use the circles of life concept to identify your niche.

2. The more specific you can get with your strengths and interests, the
more you can eliminate competition.
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 38
Short-Term or Long-Term?

If you want to make money, work on the things that are trending today; but if you want to
become filthy rich, work on things that will be trending ten years from now.

Everyone who has become a billionaire has done so by playing a game that will be
relevant ten years on. Mark Zuckerberg started building a social media platform years
ago, Jeff Bezos started building an e-marketplace years ago, that’s why they are rich
today. They invested in the future and played a long game, a very long game.

There’s no doubt that our generation expects instant gratification. We want

what we want and when we want it. Is this good or bad? Well, it depends on
your intent. You can do whatever you want, have whatever you want if you
have the right intention. Now, you’ll ask me, Raj, what defines the right
intent? I’ll tell you. You see someone the same age as you, from a similar
background, but doing better in their life in some way, and you would like
to be in the same place they are. Or your ex broke up with you and now you
want to be successful just to show them what they lost. Though you are
trying to improve your life, you are doing it for the wrong reasons.
Let’s take an even more simple example. Let’s say you earn Rs 20,000 a
month and you want to buy an iPhone. Now, if you want to buy an iPhone
because you really want to and you think it’ll make you happy, by all
means, go ahead, buy the phone on an EMI plan if you want to. That’s why
we have EMIs. But if you want to buy an iPhone because you think it will
increase your social status or because your friends have it or because your
favourite content creator has it, then STOP—that right there is the wrong
intent. That is when you need to let go of the instant gratification mentality
and think about the long term. Do something because you want to do it, not
because someone else is doing it.
Now, in my case, my FMCG business was my instant gratification, and
my content creation was a long-term goal. Moving from my FMCG
business to being a content creator was a big step for me. I was moving
from an established business that I knew would grow more than content
creation would. But I also knew that after six years of creating my personal
brand, the reward I’d receive in the seventh year would cover all the losses
I’d incurred so far. And that my personal brand would also help me scale
my FMCG business to a level I otherwise wouldn’t be able to reach or
would take me significantly more time to reach. I got so many deals for my
FMCG business because people wanted to work with me as a brand. So,
whatever I’m creating is going to help me reach the level I envision for
myself.
That is my short-term goal. My long-term goal is to create a community.
When I started, no one supported me. So, I decided to build a community
through which I can support everyone. I never say no to anyone who is
trying to do something new. If I see that their intention is good, then I give
everything I have to help them grow. I give my time, my reach, my
distribution, my brand, I give my money, anything that is needed. This is
the reason I’m becoming a creator and expanding my reach, so that I can be
a crucial part of the Indian growth trajectory, where we can build and
nurture young start-ups and take them to a global level. I don’t want any
start-up with good potential to struggle for five years to reach the one-
million point like I did. If our values align, I’m ready to provide my one-
million reach to someone and help them grow. Because when they grow, I
believe that I am growing.
As I said earlier, thirty seconds can change your life. What you do in the
next thirty seconds of closing this book is going to decide the next thirty
years of your life. Once you finish this book, decide your short-term and
long-term goals, and start working on them.
You have self-doubt? Do it anyway.
Feeling anxious? Do it anyway.
Feeling scared? Do it anyway.
If you want to get somewhere in life, you have to do it anyway.
Because if you don’t do something, you’ll be stuck.
And trust me, worse than self-doubt, worse than feeling you are not
enough, worse than feeling inferior, is the feeling of being stuck in one
place.

Key Takeaway

Decide on your short-term and long-term goals and start working on them
immediately.
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 39
Things I Wish I Was Taught in School

Ten Things I Wish I Was Taught in School about Finance

By Sharan Hegde (management and investment consultant)
Instagram: @financewithsharan

1. Asset Allocation
The stock market has historically been the best-performing asset class
beating gold and debt by a huge margin. So, for long-term goals (>seven
years), logic would dictate that we should invest all our money in equity
instruments such as stocks and equity mutual funds.
Over the past thirty years, 100 per cent equity investment was only 0.4
per cent better than an equal allocation strategy across equity, debt and
gold, but at the same time it was twice as risky.
Research conducted by Capitalmind found that a simple equal
allocation strategy, i.e., 25 per cent Indian stocks, 25 per cent US stocks,
25 per cent gold and 25 per cent debt, showed 14 per cent compound
annual growth rate (CAGR) over the past thirty years but with half the
risk. Meaning for only a 0.4 per cent reduction in CAGR compared to the
100 per cent investment in Indian stocks mentioned above, the risk
reduced by half.
 Thus, asset diversification is paramount to improve our risk-adjusted
returns and quality of sleep at night. The research further goes on to say
that the best asset allocation for long-term investing, such as retirement
or financial independence, is 50 per cent Indian stocks, 25 per cent US
stocks, 15 per cent debt and 10 per cent gold.

2. Life Insurance
Before investing even a single rupee on mutual funds or stocks, it is
important to take care of two things—health insurance and life insurance.
Out of the two, the amount required for life insurance can be a little
tricky to calculate because, unlike health insurance which only takes care
of medical expenditure, life insurance needs to account for our entire
lifetime value which would incorporate our lifestyle, future plans,
dependents, liabilities, etc.
Purchasing a simple term insurance policy is the most economical and
smartest way to purchase life insurance. Avoid money-back policies such
as endowment and ULIPs since they have very high premiums.
Having said that, it might also be a good idea to purchase ‘riders’ or
add-ons to our term insurance policy to cover exceptional circumstances.
The most popular riders are explained below:
Accidental death: If you pass away due to an accident, your family
gets an additional amount over and above the basic policy. This rider is
usually taken by people who work in hazardous environments like
factories or by people who travel frequently.
Accidental disability: If you are partially or completely disabled due to
an accident then you get paid a certain percentage of the sum assured
over five to ten years.
Critical illness: If you are diagnosed with a critical illness like cancer,
or have had a heart attack or are paralysed, you get paid a certain amount
of the sum assured.

3. Health Insurance
 Get an insurance policy with restoration benefits especially if it’s
group insurance with your family.
• Avoid policies which have a limit on room rent.
• Avoid policies which have a co-payment clause in it.
• Prefer policies which do not have disease-wise sub limits.
• Prefer policies which have day-care treatments covered.
• Purchase policies with less waiting period, such as one or maximum
two years.

4. Investing in Gold
From an investment perspective, purchasing physical gold jewellery is
the worst way to go because you lose 12 per cent of its value as soon as
you walk out of the store due to ‘making charges’.
The best option is Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGB) issued by the RBI.
We can purchase up to 4 kg of gold bonds per year. They are issued in
denominations of 1 gram, and hence are affordable to most middle-class
investors. Gold appreciates at 6–7 per cent every year. SGB also gives a
2.5 per cent interest rate on top of this. This way, the effective returns
turn out to be 9–10 per cent.
The tax treaties of SGBs are very investor-friendly. The capital gains
component (i.e., tax on the normal 6–7 per cent appreciation of gold) is
completely tax-free and is held until maturity of eight years. The 2.5 per
cent interest rate is disbursed semi-annually and is taxable as per income
slab. The post-tax returns overall are still lucrative enough to make it an
essential requirement of our portfolio.

5. What Is Money?
The world revolves around money. But have you ever stopped to think
and ask yourself what exactly is money? The most common definition is
that money is a medium of exchange. But what exactly is being
exchanged?
The answer: TIME.
 The only valuable asset that every person on this planet has is the
twenty-four hours we get every single day. It’s like businessman and
author Kevin O’Leary says, ‘Salary is the drug they give to make you
forget your dreams.’ To test this, simply ask yourself if you would go to
work every day if you had all the money in the world. Most likely the
answer would be ‘no’. All of us have other unconventional goals and
aspirations which we would like to explore before our time is done on
earth. That’s why financial independence is so important. Otherwise, you
will work for the rest of your life for people and companies who have
achieved financial independence.

6. Education Loans
The interest rate parity concept states that the interest rates in different
countries cannot be compared on an apple-to-apple basis.
Let’s take an example to understand this better. Let’s say you take a
$100k loan at a 10 per cent interest rate from both a US and an Indian
bank. This is roughly around Rs 80 lakh (assuming $1 = Rs 80). Let’s
assume that the repayment period is three years. In those three years, the
rupee would have depreciated against the dollar to an average of Rs 86
(Rs 80 to Rs 92). Also, the loan amount accumulated including interest
would be $132k or Rs 1.05 crore. Now, when you repay the US bank,
you have to repay the entire $132k. But when you repay the Indian bank,
you have to repay Rs 1.05 crore/Rs 86 = $122k. See the magic? You save
$8,000, which is about Rs 6.4 lakh. If you consider a longer repayment
period, the savings are even more.
So, that’s why a 10 per cent interest rate US loan is not equal to a 10
per cent interest Indian loan. It’s actually equivalent to a 15 per cent
interest rate Indian loan. Opt for a US loan only if the difference in
interest is greater than 5 per cent.

7. Psychology of Money
MRI studies have shown that the act of paying stimulates the same part
of the brain involved in processing physical pain. Hence, the time
duration of paying for an item plays a significant role in determining our
spending habits. When we pay for something in advance, we are far more
likely to enjoy the item as opposed to paying for it while consuming it.
This psychological bias is what brands leverage upon to alter our
purchasing behaviour. Amazon and Uber gift cards are prime examples
of this tactic, where we are asked to pay a certain amount in advance with
the lure of ‘CASHBACK’.
When the time comes to actually purchase the product or consume the
service, we do it guilt-free since the pain of paying has already occurred
in advance, thereby reducing ‘checkout friction’, which happens to be the
biggest friction point in the purchasing cycle.
In the process, we are also likely to spend more than we are
accustomed to, since the pain of paying has been eliminated altogether.

8. Tax-Saving Strategies
A home loan is most likely going to be the biggest loan of your life,
which would last for twenty to thirty years. During that period, the
government gives us multiple avenues to reduce the cost of home
ownership through tax breaks.
The law states that you can utilize up to Rs 2 lakh of the interest
payment in a year to reduce your taxable income. Also, you can utilize up
to Rs 1.5 lakh of the principal component in a year to reduce your taxable
income. Thus, the total reduction becomes Rs 3.5 lakh.
If you’re in the Rs 10 lakh+ income bracket, then that implies a
savings of 30 per cent of 3.5 lakh = Rs 1.05 lakh every year. You can
double this tax savings if you co-borrow the home loan with your spouse
or family members. Hence, it becomes very tax efficient to take a joint
home loan, especially when there are multiple working members in the
family.
• Caveat for interest deduction: Cannot be used when home is under
construction.
• Caveat for principal deduction: Home cannot be sold within five
years, else tax savings will be reversed.
9. Credit Card
A lot of us are clueless about the mechanics of a credit card when we
first get one. It may seem like a simple tool that enables us to spend
money and pay later but there are certain nuances which we need to be
aware of to avoid hefty interest expenses.
One of the jargons which deceive a lot of us newbies is the ‘minimum
amount due’. This amount is usually 5 per cent of the credit outstanding.
If you pay only the minimum amount due, you avoid getting tagged as a
defaulter and maintain your credit score, but it leads you into a spiralling
path of credit debt. No other lending product comes close to the sky-high
interest rates charged by credit card companies—they charge 2–3 per
cent per month (~40 per cent annualized).
Also, if you’re paying only the minimum amount due, the interest gets
calculated on a daily basis from the day of transaction. Meaning, even if
the payment was due five days back but the purchase was made twenty
days back, the interest would be calculated for the entire twenty days,
and not five days. However, if you had paid the entire amount due, the
interest would be zero.
If you’re unable to pay off the entire amount due, it would be better to
convert it into a low-cost EMI, balance transfer or personal loan.
Another thing about credit cards is the CIBIL score. It is a score that
represents your credit worthiness. It ranges between 300 to 900, the
higher the score the better. A higher CIBIL score gives you benefits like
low interest loans, better car insurance, etc., whereas a lower score may
result in rejection of credit card or loan application.
How can you increase your CIBIL score? Here are some tips:
• Ensure you spend only 30 per cent of your credit limit per month.
• Ask your bank to increase your credit limit. You need to show that
despite having a lot more credit, you keep your utilization low, thus
improving your score.
• Get a secured card against a fixed deposit and repay the balance on
the due date.
 • Avoid being a guarantor of loans or having a joint account because
any default from the other party will reduce your score.
• Have a good credit mix of secured and unsecured loans.
• Pay on time.

10. Investing in Stocks vs Debt

Why is it so hard to convince ourselves to avoid investing a bulk of
our net worth in fixed deposits? This is because of something called ‘risk
aversion’. Most of us cannot fathom the fact that investing in the stock
market entails a probability of losing a part of our principal investment.
Even though the probability tends towards zero over a 7–8-year horizon,
we are unwilling to invest our hard-earned money unless it gives
guaranteed returns.
But we don’t realize that putting all our money in 100 per cent assured
zero-risk investments such as fixed deposits is a sure-shot way of
guaranteeing negative real returns after considering tax and inflation.
Even though we see the absolute number increasing year over year, the
purchasing power of our slow growing money decreases. It will take us
significantly longer to achieve our financial goals, if we ever reach them
at all.
Hence, it is important to allocate a certain portion of our portfolio
towards riskier asset classes such as equity, to ensure real growth in the
value of our overall portfolio over a long-term period. Even though there
is a probability of facing short-term losses, it is imperative to build the
financial discipline to stomach those losses and understand that it’s part
of the process which would eventually lead to real growth in the value of
our wealth over a long-term period. Taking no risk at all is also a kind of
risk, which we don’t realize until it’s too late.
Nine Things I Wish I Was Taught in School about Growth and Marketing
By Vaibhav Sisinty (entrepreneur)
Instagram: @vaibhavsisinty

1. Generating Traffic from Search Engines like Google

 In today’s world, it is very important for kids to understand how search
engine optimization works. Why a particular bakery shows up when you
search for bakeries on Google, and what role content plays in it. If
students know how basic SEO works, they can start creating content and
drive traffic very early on.

2. Power of Content Creation and Building a Personal Brand

Personal branding means how you can create content about everyday
things that you are learning that other people will be interested in
consuming. For example, if you are someone who loves creating
handwritten notes for yourself, you can make it shareable with other
people with an interest in the same subject matter, and project yourself as
an expert in that particular domain. You can do this through blogs, short
videos, etc.

3. Understanding Numbers and Analysing Them so They Work for You

So much of the math we learn in school or college feels almost
inapplicable after we graduate. If we were taught to understand numbers
and build correlations, that would make us analytical thinkers and help us
more in the long term. If math were taught in a more real-life scenario, it
would become way more powerful. If you can teach yourself how to
understand the numbers, like how many impressions you got, how many
likes, if there is any correlation between the impressions and the number
of likes, etc., that would be very useful to you.

4. How to Make New Friends and the Art of Networking with People
Something I was never taught was how to make friends and network
with people. It is one of the most important and fundamental skills that
everybody needs to possess, but only a few are born with it. Students
should be taught how to approach people, help them get in touch, how to
start a conversation, or talk in a room where no one is talking. All these
skills can be taught, and schools should be focusing on this because it’s
what helps you evolve as a person going forward.
5. Copywriting
Copywriting is the ability to write content that makes people act.
Putting your ideas into words and pushing it out in a way that it creates
an impact. Copywriting is basic psychology—how a change in wording
can change everything for you. And it is a skill that must be taught in
school very early on.

6. Collaborations Are Everything

One of the fundamental things that schools can do is organize
assignments and competitions for groups rather than solo students. That
way, students are able to understand how to work with other people,
handle what another person wants with what they want, figure out what is
their strength and what their teammates’ strengths are. It’s a great
building exercise for working in a team and together finding a solution to
a problem. This will help kids evolve to become good partners later on.

7. Learning How People Behave and How They Make Decisions

Understanding human psychology, what people do and why they do it.
Teaching students basic psychology will help them become better
humans and make better decisions.

8. Brand Building
People don’t buy ‘anything’, people buy a ‘brand’. To build a
successful business, you have to build a brand. Why do people want to
buy an iPhone instead of a Micromax? How a brand name impacts its
business is something that must be taught in school.

9. Basics of Economics
Teaching kids how numbers work, how economics work, basics of
economics, savings, investment, etc., is very crucial. Inflation as a topic
is something that schools need to teach kids very early on. The biggest
problem I have with the education system is that they don’t teach kids
how money works, and that needs to change.
Eight Things I Wish I Was Taught in School about Social Media and Beyond
 By Ranveer Allahbadia (social media entrepreneur)
Instagram: @beerbiceps

1. Education Degree
When I was starting out, people told me I should focus on getting a
degree rather than wasting my time on social media. But we live in a
modern world and, in this world, we don’t necessarily need a higher
education to earn a living. Sure, in certain corporate jobs you need formal
education, but you can bridge even that gap by self-educating through
courses or the internet. Your knowledge is always going to be more
valuable than the degree you hold.

2. Higher Goals Require Bigger Circles

Everything grows because of people and never alone. The further you
want to go, the bigger your team needs to be. It’s something I’ve thought
about a lot. When your goals get higher, the number of people you have
to take with you also becomes higher. The game is to find the right mix
of people who fit with you. Ideally, don’t try to bring your friends into it,
instead bring in the people you meet professionally and then turn it into
friendship. Business through friendship is bad, but friendship through
business is good.

3. Wellness
It is important to focus on your health and wellness. Eating right,
exercising, meditating, etc., increases your mental endurance in the long
run. The higher the level of your mental endurance, the more you will be
able to push forward in life. Your mental endurance is as important as the
skills you need to get ahead. You need to inculcate wellness habits from
when you are in college itself, and follow them for the rest of your life.

4. Don’t Compromise on Your Sleep

If your job is making you compromise on your sleep, either
compromise on your job or compromise on your current schedule. Sleep
is core to your long-term happiness and performance.
5. The 3Cs
Consistency, compounding and creativity—these are the three pillars
that social media stands on. It’s the guiding principle to becoming
something big on social media. Consistency is the cliché we have all
already been told about. Along with that, compounding is equally
important. The longer you stay, the faster you will grow.

6. Video Skills
Video skills are something people take for granted. Some people think
that, since the future is virtual reality, video skills won’t be required
much, but the truth is all this is an extension of one skill only, i.e., video
editing. The deeper you go into video editing, the more you will grow on
social media. Video skills are much more than just editing; it includes
storytelling as well. It is something that is both an inherited skill and
something you can learn. The inherited part of it is the way you look at
your life and your experiences, whereas you can also learn through
improving your communication skills.

7. Delegation Is the Key

For me, social media is a creative job. And I think delegation leads to
creativity. You need to create a system around you in a way that you are
only handling the creative part of the process. I personally don’t handle a
lot of the business; I have people who do it for me. Every creator should
work up to that point where they are only focusing on the creative part of
the whole process and not wasting their energy on other things, because I
feel like the more energy you save, the more creative you can be. It’s not
just limited to social media; once you enter any form of entrepreneurship,
it’s the same rule. The less you have to focus on the operational aspect,
the more creative you will be. Delegate everything that takes away your
energy and creativity. You don’t like looking into finances, delegate it to
someone you trust. That’s the only reason I have been able to create as
much as I have. It takes time to create that system, though.
8. Focus beyond Social Media
Social media is just a stepping stone. It is true for every job in the
modern day: you shouldn’t stick to just one thing, instead you need to
keep thinking what you can do beyond. You need to do something, make
it stable, then do something else, make that stable as well, and so on and
so forth. What you can do beyond social media is the constant question
that you should be asking. You should network with people completely
outside of your circle, because they will be able to give you a perspective
that you would otherwise miss out on. Your media circle will only give
you one kind of input, but your other circles, say finance, will be able to
give you a completely different perspective. Apart from that, you should
be open to taking intense risks and failing. After three or four failures,
you figure out what you’re actually built for and have an intense amount
of self-discovery through those things. When you are attempting this, you
should be financially and mentally at a position where you can afford to
fail. Because if you’re failing at this, you’d be failing in public, which a
lot of people are not ready to do. We should acknowledge that it is okay
to fail in public—there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s just part of the
journey.
Seven Things I Wish I Was Taught in School about Becoming a Millionaire
By Raj Shamani
Instagram: @rajshamani

If I was to start from zero, if everything that I have is gone, then how would
I start an investment journey to become a millionaire? Read and start taking
notes because I’m sure that you will have your investment plan ready by the
end of this section.
Whether you are a college-going kid, a person in your thirties or a person
starting their investment journey post retirement, you can follow these
seven steps to become a millionaire. Those who have thought, ‘I want to
invest but don’t know how to’, or those who listened to their friends or
somebody on the internet and started investing, but don’t know what to do
next—this is for you too.
1. Know Your Money
First of all, find out how much money you have. If you get a salary
every month then how much is it, or if you have an income then how
much is that, or even if you get pocket money then how much is it?
Whatever money you get on a monthly basis, note that down and then
add your old savings or investments that you have made earlier.
Once you have done that, make a list of necessary monthly expenses—
food, electricity, travel, car, etc. Once you know how much is your
income and how much you need to spend, only then will you be able to
decide what you want to do next, or how you can start investing.

2. Set Goals
You know how much money you have; now you must be confused
about where you should invest. Mutual funds are there, stocks, equity,
gold, crypto, so many things . . . WAIT. First of all, figure out why do you
want to invest?
You won’t be able to reach your destination if you don’t know where
to go and what is the destination. So, what are your goals? Why do you
want to invest? Goals can be anything like to buy a big house, a luxury
car, international vacations, education, kids, anything. Write down all
your goals and assign a period to each one. Everything must have a time
period. For example, I want to retire by the age of forty-five, I want a
new car in the next five years, I want to be able to buy a house in the next
ten years and go on a vacation to Europe next year. Now, what did I do
for every goal? I attached it to a particular timeline. Once you have your
goals and a clear vision about timelines, you will be able to choose the
right investment options to achieve them. Different plans are suitable for
different goals. One type of investment won’t achieve all your goals.

3. Salary and Income Allocation

Now, what are salary and income allocation? You know the amount
that is coming in, now you need to know where to put that money in
order to achieve your goals. This way, a system gets formed and you can
also grow an investment discipline. Obviously, it depends from person to
person. Everyone has different goals, everyone will have a different
salary allocation. You can either think, oh, I will blow up all the money
that I have and figure out what happens tomorrow. Or you can think, I’ll
save today by living a minimal lifestyle, and will live peacefully
tomorrow. I would choose living a minimal lifestyle and investing today,
so you have a chance of a better tomorrow. Some people will argue, why
not live lavishly today, instead of a ‘chance’ of a better tomorrow, which
is uncertain. It’s because, as we get older, our energy keeps on
decreasing, and our responsibilities increase.
So, I usually put 50–70 per cent of my monthly income into
investments and only 30 per cent goes towards my living expenses. But
when I started, I would put only 10 per cent of my income into
investment. It depends where you are starting from. Earlier, I would
invest whatever I was left with after travelling, shopping, parties. But
then I decided to first invest according to my goals, and after that,
whatever was left, I would use for my living expenses. And this helped
me grow my net worth significantly.
I would always suggest trying to invest at least 30 per cent of your
income, and as you move forward, keep increasing that percentage. Try
to keep reducing whatever unnecessary expenses you have and invest
that money to achieve your goals faster.

4. Know Your Risk Appetite

Risk tolerance is how much of your investment you’re willing to lose
in order to earn higher returns. Also, what is your goal for that particular
investment? For example, let’s say you need money for higher education
next year. If you need money the next year itself, you won’t invest it in
high-risk products, because if the market goes down next year, you will
lose your money. So, you need to make sure that whatever you have
you’re putting it as per your risk profile and as per your goals.
How to decide your risk profile? Ask yourself these questions: What is
my current financial situation? What responsibilities do I have right now?
What do I want to do with this money or what are my goals? Just because
a friend is saying invest in crypto, it will increase overnight, doesn’t
mean you have to invest in that. They might have a different risk profile.
Every person’s risk profile, goals, financial situation, family condition,
family background, everything is different. So, don’t do it just because
some friend is doing it; look at your situation and then make a decision.

5. Investment Strategy
This is the most important part. Now that you know your goals and
your risk appetite, it is time to decide on an investment strategy that will
help you earn the highest returns possible.
Now, write your long-term goals, medium-term goals and short-term
goals on one side of a paper. In the long-term column, write ‘high risk’,
write ‘medium risk’ in the medium-term goals column, and write ‘low
risk’ in the short-term goals column. Do this right now, on a piece of
paper. Your investment strategy should be decided according to this. Your
money grows the quickest in high-risk investments, but it also has the
highest risk of tanking too. So only invest in high-risk investments when
you don’t need that money for the next five to ten years. Only then will
you be a fruitful investor. High risk, high returns mean US stocks, crypto,
and small equity funds.
Now, your medium-risk investments are for when you need money in
three to five years. Like blue chip companies, large cap companies, and
large cap mutual funds. Your low-risk investments are for when you want
the money in a year or two years, like debt funds, government bonds,
digital gold, these are comparatively safe and they have less returns too.
So, formulate your investment strategy as per the basis of your goals and
what you want and your risk analysis. That will also help you stay on
track with your investment strategy.

6. Insurance
Life is unpredictable; we don’t know which problem will arise when,
particularly when it comes to issues related to your health, the life of
someone in the family or accidents. I know many people who made great
investment plans but had to remove their money because of urgent
medical needs, and because of that they were not able to achieve their
goals even though they were on the right track. That’s why the best way
to keep yourself and your family and the money that you have invested
safe is to get insurance. And the best age to get insurance is right now.
Because the younger you are, the lesser the premium you will have to
pay.
Generally, one should have at least two types of insurance: life
insurance and health insurance.

7. Diversify Your Investment

Now comes one of the most important things—don’t keep all your
eggs in one basket. Because if anything happens to that basket, then your
life’s worth of efforts will go in vain. Everything will be gone and all the
money earned in your life will also be gone. You all must be thinking that
my only goal is to buy a car, why should I diversify? Why not put all my
money in one place? NO. Even if you have one goal, don’t put all your
money in one place. Diversification is very important. You need to invest
in two or four or five different kinds of ways to reduce your risk.
Because, just like how in life we have good days and bad days, the same
way we have bad days in the market as well. And if you have only
invested all your money in one thing and there is a bad day, then all of
your investment will be gone. But if you put it in different places, one
will increase, one will decrease, or while one is decreasing, another is
increasing, so all your investments will automatically rise together and
sometimes two will increase so rapidly that it will take care of eight other
losses.
How would I have started my investment journey if I had to start
today? Suppose my income is Rs 50,000 rupees per month, then I would
have invested at least 50 per cent of my income in a couple of things.
How? Let me tell you. I am twenty-five years old right now and I don’t
have any family responsibilities. Since I live alone, my expenses are less.
So I would have invested Rs 25,000 every month in different things. I’ll
give you the breakdown. I would have invested 25 per cent in direct
equity, small-cap and mutual funds. Since I am investing small amounts,
I will do it in mutual funds and small caps because my risk appetite is
more at this age. Then I would have invested 25 per cent of my money in
index funds. I would have invested another 10 per cent in US stocks
mutual funds, because if I am investing less than Rs 2 lakh in US stocks,
then I will have a lot of tax problems. So, I will do it in mutual funds that
directly invest in US stocks. I would have put 15 per cent into
cryptocurrency because I want to and because it has a high-risk high
reward.
Then I would have put another 15 per cent in debt funds for
emergencies, so that if something bad happens tomorrow then every
month my 15 per cent will be secured for emergencies. And then the rest
10 per cent into gold and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) for more safety.
And that’s how I would diversify.
Six Things I Wish I Was Taught in School about Where to Invest
By Raj Shamani
Instagram: @rajshamani

1. Indian Stock Market

You can invest your money in the Indian stock market. If you don’t
have any idea how to make your investments, you can do it through a
portfolio management service (PMS). You need to have Rs 1 crore in
order to invest through a PMS. Alternatively, if you don’t have that
amount, you can invest through smallcase.

2. American Stock Market

The next place you can invest in is the American stock market. If you
don’t know which companies to invest in, you can go for FAANG: that
is, Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google, which are the five
most popular and best-performing American tech companies. That is how
I started investing in the American stock market.
3. Early Age Start-ups
You can invest in promising start-ups which have the potential to grow
tremendously in the future. There’s higher risk in investing in early-stage
start-ups. But it also promises higher rewards.

4. Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrencies are all the hype right now. You can start small and, as
you keep learning about it, you can keep increasing your investment.

5. Mutual Funds and Debt Funds

There are different kinds of mutual funds. I invest in equity mutual
funds which deal in small-caps. Every month, I put a small amount from
my portfolio in this through SIP, or Systematic Investment Planning. If
you have a lower risk appetite, you can invest in debt funds which have
very nominal risks associated with it. You can put a small amount of
money in a debt fund, which you can also use as an emergency fund, and
take out money whenever you need it.

6. Others
You can invest a small portion of your investment in things which are
new or a craze in the West, because by the time they reach India, they’d
have grown many times over already. A few such things are NFTs,
sneakers, art, wine, etc. I invest a small portion in these fast-growing
technologies or ideas, and highly valuable items.
Five Things I Wish I Was Taught in School about Money and Investing
By Rachna Ranade (chartered accountant)
Instagram: @ca_rachanaranade

1. Savings
I think the first thing that should be taught in schools is saving—what
is saving, why is it important to save, etc. A lot of kids in school think it’s
very easy to access money, they don’t even understand where money
comes from or how much effort is required to earn money. They need to
be taught that their parents work every day, day in and day out, and after
putting in a lot of effort they get paid for whatever work they do; and that
they have to spend from that money and whatever amount is left after
that is their savings. If kids are taught at this basic level in school, they
will have an understanding of why saving is important and its benefits for
a household as a whole. And it is something which can very easily be
taught in schools through stories as well.

2. Insurance
Just saving isn’t enough. Kids need to be taught how they can protect
the money they have saved as well. Even this can be easily taught in a
story format. Suppose you have something which is very valuable to you,
let’s say, an iPhone. Someone comes to you and tells you that if you pay
Rs 2000 to them now, they are going to protect your iPhone for the next
two years. That is, if anything happens to your phone—it breaks or gets
stolen—they’ll give you another iPhone. Now, if nothing happens, he’ll
still keep that Rs 2000. That person is the insurer, the amount you paid is
called premium, and the service you’re getting is insurance.

3. Taxes
Students should be introduced to the basics of taxes, like what are
direct taxes, indirect taxes and GST. They should be taught the
importance of taxes and why people have to pay taxes. Once we grow up,
it’s all about how to save taxes, but it should be taught why the country
needs tax collection, how we are contributing to a bigger cause by paying
these taxes, how the government needs money to spend on infrastructure
and how it in turns help us as citizens. We should feel happy while
paying taxes—we are contributing towards the success of the economy.

4. Investment
The first thing that needs to be taught about investment is the risk-
return pyramid. Imagine a pyramid. The base of the pyramid is where the
risk is the lowest and also the return is the lowest; the more we move
towards the tip of the pyramid, the more the risk and the return on the
investment increases. Fixed deposits with nationalized banks, post office
schemes, etc., come at the bottom of the pyramid. Above it would be
mutual funds, then above that would be equity, above that would be
crypto, above that would be collectibles or NFTs. If this pyramid is
taught in school, people will know which asset class has the highest risk
and which has the lowest. Everyone should do their risk profiling
according to their risk appetite. People who can’t take risks should invest
in fixed deposits; people who have a high-risk appetite can go for NFTs,
etc.

5. Basic Financial Knowledge

Many people don’t even have basic financial knowledge, like how to
open a bank account, what’s the difference between a debit card and a
credit card, etc. There’s an emerging concept of pay-later cards, which
should also be taught in school. Many people don’t know the importance
of having a nominee to their account. People should also be taught that
when they keep money in their savings’ account, up to Rs 5 lakh is
insured by the Deposit Insurance Credit Guarantee Corporation
(DICGC), which means that if you have a savings’ account in a co-
operative bank, and that bank goes insolvent, up to Rs 5 lakh of your
account is safe. It’s surprising that so many people don’t even know these
things; it’s important that they should be taught in school.
Four Things I Wish I Was Taught in School About life
By Masoom Minawala Mehta (entrepreneur)
Instagram: @masoomminawala

1. How to Pay My Taxes

School didn’t teach us anything about paying our taxes. It is something
we all have to do, irrespective of our fields. Paying your taxes is a skill
we are assumed to learn on the job or we have to trust someone else with
it. It is not a financial skill, it is a life skill. Schools should teach us the
process and procedure of paying our taxes because, at the end of the day,
we end up paying taxes in one form or another.
2. It’s Okay to Fail
I wish I had been taught in school that failing is completely okay. It’s
not spoken about enough, and it’s not normalized enough. In a given
twenty-four hours, we encounter so many failures, whether big or small
—as an entrepreneur, we are failing at least three to four times a day,
whether it is in the form of disappointments or rejections. How we should
react to them and how we should respond to them is something I wish I
had been taught. Failure is not about one devastating moment, it is more
about everyday moments. We need to normalize failure because, no
matter what you do, if you are trying to grow, you’re going to fail more
times than you’re probably going to achieve success.
So many stories that we are taught in school are success driven. If
failure could also be celebrated in that way, imagine how fulfilling life
could actually be. The thing we should be celebrating is our efforts and
the process.

3. Time Management
Time management is the most important life skill that one can have. If
you know how to manage your time better, you can have a four-hour
working day and achieve as much as you would in a ten-hour working
day. Time management is a skill which should be taught in school like
algebra, because it is the solution to living a balanced and fulfilling life.

4. Networking
Networking is a skill which you need in your day-to-day life. Schools
don’t teach us how to network. People complicate networking as well.
You know someone, who knows someone, who knows someone else—
this chain is basically called networking. Now, how can you do that?
More often than not, networking is done with the intention of getting to
know someone instead of having an end goal in mind. You need to
identify people you would be interested in knowing. After that, all you
need to do is know how to make conversation. And how can you make
conversation? By talking about something that the other person would
want to engage in. Find common ground—it could be anything that
interests both of you—and ask questions that the other person would
want to answer. By the end of the conversation, you would know
someone who would know twenty other people who would know fifty
other people who could help you in the future.
Three Things I Wish I Was Taught In School about Making Money
By Nikhil Kamath (entrepreneur)
Instagram: @nikhilkamathcio

They don’t teach you anything about making money in school—that is the
whole problem.

1. Timing Is Everything
The first thing school fails to teach us is that timing is everything.
What you do when determines how well you do it—for example, what
business you should start and when. If you’re graduating from college
today, are you going to start a business which is working now or a
business which will be relevant in the next decade? Choosing the right
industry and right job at the right time is very important. How can you do
that? When you are out of school, what do you do to find the right course
or college for yourself? You research. And that’s what you need to do
here too.

2. Have a Side Hustle

Your side hustle doesn’t have to start when you’re grown up. Start
looking for opportunities when you are in college instead of when you
have graduated and have to work. Having a side hustle early in life
teaches you a lot. It teaches you how to work in a team, how to build a
product together, money management, and the discipline required to keep
a job. Americans have this culture and we need to adopt it too.

3. Teach Finance in a Pragmatic Manner

What school teaches us about finance is outdated and irrelevant.
Schools need to teach finance in a more pragmatic manner. More
practical and real-time financial knowledge will help people manage their
money better when they eventually start earning. Schools should teach
the importance of diversification, the different asset classes, what are
some of the things that people who have done something in their lives did
with their money, and the like. Finance is not as complicated as people
make it appear. What school teaches us is the history of finance and the
Indian banking system, which is irrelevant. Instead, it should focus on
more relevant aspects like which investment worked in which era and
why.
Two Essentials of Life I Wish I Was Taught in School
By Ashok Ramachandran (CEO / President, Schindler India)
Instagram: @ramachandranash

1. Mindfulness and Focus

Mindfulness is the ability of being present in the moment. ‘Keep your
mind where your hands are’—we have all heard this age-old saying. It
means you should only pay attention to what you are doing at a particular
moment. The point of ‘eating what you are eating’ is not the eating but
developing focus. When you’re fully engrossed in the one thing that you
are doing, you develop focus. How does this help, though? It helps you
when you actually need to focus on something. You’ll be able to focus
when you keep practising it every day.

2. How to Be Disciplined
You don’t have to wait for some major event to happen in your life in
order to do the right things. Discipline comes from doing the right things.
And you do the right things when you have bigger goals in mind.
Discipline comes from having good habits. Having a good set of people
around you also helps you to be more disciplined.
One Thing I Wish I Was Taught in School
By Raj Shamani
Instagram: @rajshamani
One thing school doesn’t teach us is how to figure out things. They tell us a
set path to follow, and a way to learn and do things. Schools never teach us
how to get stuff done either; we should be taught how to make things
happen. Schools should become more practical and less theoretical. Instead
of making us repeat what we crammed from a sheet of paper, schools need
to help us figure out things for ourselves.
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