Does our age define us as people? When do we become mature enough to achieve a spectacular success and make our so called first million? Is there any rule for that? Unfortunately, I have no choice but to disappoint you, as I know neither a magical mixture nor a secret recipe, which would make you gain your dreamed success in a miraculous way. Everything depends on the way how you were brought up, your cultural background, and most importantly the strength of your character. All of these factors have a certain impact on who we become in our lives. Of course, there are more such aspects which either facilitate or hinder pursuing our own goals and it’s only up to us how we deal with some possible obstacles that may occur on our way.

In my experience, I know that wrong choices have a tremendous impact on our lives and on the way we function, both when it comes to our body and our mind. I’m quite a peculiar example of a person,who comes to understand different matters with a huge delay, I dare say I’m even 10 years behind others… But why? The main reason of such a state of affairs is the fact that I’ve lived in a protective ‘bubble of glass’, focusing on wrong goals, and thus losing quite a lot of vital energy and faith in my own abilities. The moment when I poked my nose outside the earlier mentioned protection zone, I noticed that I was capable of doing way more things in a way better manner than I had previously expected. Unfortunately, difficult decisions are still ahead of me. Even though my truly exhausted soul and body have been pushed to their limits, I still believe that all what is bad and difficult in my life will end and good times are still to come.

What makes me have such a positive attitude in these difficult and uncertain times? My frail optimism is derived from other people’s successes, the people who give me hope that one can gain everything if one just wants to. The age, both the very young one and the advanced one, is not an obstacle on the way to our happiness. Our dreams won’t come true on their own, we are the ones who are in control of our lives, and everything depends on us, on our strength and involvement, also on how far we will manage to swim off the coast to reach our goals. Today, I’m truly pleased to introduce you to Vidhi – a teenage entrepreneur and visionary, who desires to change the world and to do what she loves the most.

Passion Piece: Could you tell my readers a few words about yourself?

Vidhi: I am a 19 year old ambitious teenager from India. I always refer to myself as “Infinite” because I know I can do infinite things. Since I was little, I have been a dreamer. Some days, I want to be a pilot flying in the sky, other days I want to be a doctor. While growing up, especially in my teenage years, bit by bit I realized that the blood running in my veins is all entrepreneurial.

I was kind of an introvert for a very long period of time, always surrounded by books and a few girls. Slowly and steadily, with new friends and a bit of a push, I started talking to a lot of people and exploring things.

Passion Piece: How did you come across the idea of setting up your own business? What do you deal with?

Vidhi: Well, in high school, I wanted to go to Medical school and I worked really hard for it. But quite a lot of times, I got signals that Medical was not for me. Being an ambitious girl, I ignored them and kept studying. But on the final day, when it was time to take the decision, I just couldn’t do it. My heart was pumping faster, telling me to stop ignoring it. That’s when I stopped, took a breath and decided to take a gap year to explore. The gap year has been the best decision of my life.

I always loved writing, and I was really good at it. So I started taking commercial projects for writing. I used to write articles in the day, pitch more clients in the night and make strategies over in between.

After about a month, I was getting so much work flow that I wasn’t able to cope up. Since then, I started hiring writers and managing projects with a lot of companies.

I went deeper in the industry, and felt the need of digital media literally everywhere. That’s when I started a Digital Marketing course and learned A-Z about the Digital world. Slowly, I kept hiring more people and built a company around it that provides digital business consultancy and services. We are very different from other Digital Marketing agencies. We provide deeper insights to our clients in the form of consultancy and help small businesses make space in the online world.

I trained my team to do every single thing, and my only job now is to pitch and consult clients.

Passion Piece: Is it easy to be an entrepreneur in India? Especially if you are a woman?

Vidhi: Well, in India, whatever be your career, it is always a bit difficult for girls. I am fortunate enough to be born in a family that lets me do things my way.

While I was attending guest lectures in my gap year, I always found myself as the youngest in the group. Once, I was in a sales lecture, and I was the only girl, let alone 19 years. The other group members were men aged 35+. Even in my Digital Marketing classes, I was the only girl. A lot of people feel that technicals are not for girls, but I enjoyed it a lot and thus I didn’t give any fucks.

So yeah, it’s not really easy for girls. They are expected to do the stereotypes, marry and build a good family. But on the other hand, girls are proving their worth. They are standing besides boys, and going ahead of them. Because everyone knows, the future belongs to girls, haha.

Passion Piece: How do your clients react to your age? Is it easy to gain their trust?

Vidhi: Hahaha, really good question. This has always been an obstacle on my road, but I always figured to jump over it. My speech has always been mature. Most of the time, if the client doesn’t ask my age, I don’t reveal it. But when I have to, it gets difficult. They don’t take me seriously at times, but at those times, I feel really challenged to convert that client and prove my worth to them which is way beyond my age. And once that’s done, it gets easy to gain their trust.

Passion Piece: Is taking a gap year useful if you don’t know which direction to choose in life? How did you use this time?

Vidhi: Taking a gap year was really the best decision of my life. It not only helped me explore a lot of things, but motivated me to realize and rethink who I really am. Most of the time, we decide our future and fate according to the surroundings, according to what people think and expect of us. But it is really important to look inside. Just so you know, taking a drop in the Indian society might be the worst feeling you get, but we’re not going there.

I’ll definitely recommend each and every person to take a break to figure things out, whatever stage of life it be.

Well, in my gap year, I explored in abundance. I began working on my startup, Rent Help. I started contributing my skills and gaining knowledge from my dad’s apparel business. I started taking a variety of courses from different fields. I started cooking a lot. I even started an Instagram food blog- @foodadoof. It gave me that calmness during the chaos. Most importantly, I started giving myself time to think.

All the way here today, I am happy. I am fit. I am sober. I am confident. I have grown. I can approach people now. I have friends. I have a clear mindset and goals for my career.

Not just a clear mindset, but I’ve grown to heights I couldn’t even imagine. I am the best version of myself.

Passion Piece: You’re going to launch a new project. What will it be? What is your blog going to be about? Which topics would you like to touch upon?

Vidhi: Well, the new project is going to be exciting for all of you. I am bringing you a platform from where you can travel the world, explore cultures and dishes, communicate with the locals and best of all, make friends all from your bed!

I am going to start a blog, called lifeofworld.com, where I’ll post blogs about the cultures and habits of people from around the world. It will be a multi-niche blog covering Food, Fashion, Travel, Beauty, Lifestyle, Home and Technology. It’s not just reading, the blog will have a forum to put up polls and QnAs and participate in contests and a lot more. Along with that, I’ll also be posting videos on YouTube and podcasting!

Passion Piece: What do you enjoy doing in your free time? Do you have any special talents?

Vidhi: I am a very creative person. At times, I love reading books, other times, I enjoy editing pictures or researching something new. I have always been a passionate learner, and I always touch that infinite point where I love to learn and do a lot of things simultaneously. I shall say, planning and organizing is my special talent. In both of my businesses, it required a lot of planning and organizing things to execute them in a timely manner, and I believe that I did it wonderfully.

Passion Piece: What kind of business would you like to own in 10 years’ time?

Vidhi: Well, I wish to open a group of companies under myself. I want to not only help people find solutions to their problems, but also entertain them and help them relieve stress in difficult times. To help create a better world, I need to start bit by bit, and I’m happy to say, I’ve already taken a mini step down the road.

Passion Piece: Which motto would you like to share with my readers?

Vidhi: Usually, people advise one or two things, but I’d like to say a lot, because it takes a lot. One, believing in yourself is important, but sticking to the belief among what other people say is way more important. Two, I strongly believe that only those people can really change the world who are able to risk. Risking things for yourself is powerful. Three, the brain is beautiful and happiness is attractive. Four, quitting is necessary. Quit those things that don’t affect you. Five, never judge anyone. You wouldn’t believe a 19 year old saying these things, but it is what it is.

Passion Piece: Thank you very much for this truly inspiring conversation and I wish you continued successes in the future.

Don’t judge people by their appearances or their ages, but try to see who they are and how they change the world around them. I hope that Vidhi will be a wonderful inspiration for you to stand up for your dreams and to never give up.

See you around!

Yours,

Passion Piece

Photos by: Vidhi Chotai