Taking Action Without Desperation: A Story of Growth | Mr. Manoj Prabahar Asokan | TEDxTRP

Key Concepts

• Muted/Unmuted: A metaphor for lacking confidence and an answer to societal questions about one's career, transitioning to confidence and purpose.
• Desperation vs. Proactive Action: The distinction between making decisions out of urgent need versus strategic foresight.
• Playing at Your Strengths: Focusing on areas where one has inherent advantages or expertise.
• Accepting Failure: The importance of acknowledging setbacks and moving forward rather than clinging to a failing venture.
• Capital Expenditure (CapEx): Funds used by a company to acquire, upgrade, and maintain physical assets such as property, industrial buildings, or equipment.
• Operational Expenditure (OpEx): Ongoing costs for running a product, business, or system.
• Runway (Business): The amount of time a company has left until it runs out of money, typically calculated by dividing current cash by monthly burn rate.
• Minimum Viable Product (MVP): A product with just enough features to satisfy early customers and provide feedback for future product development.
• Hub and Spoke Model: A distribution or business model where a central "hub" provides core services, and "spokes" (clients or satellite offices) connect to it for various needs.
• Tier 1/Tier 2/Tier 3 Cities: A classification of cities based on population, infrastructure, and economic development, with Tier 1 being the largest/most developed.
• Decentralization of Operations: Shifting business activities or decision-making away from a single central location to multiple, often smaller, locations.

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The Journey from Muted to Unmuted: Early Struggles and Lessons

The speaker begins by reflecting on his state at 25 years old, jobless and "muted" by societal expectations and the question, "Why?" from relatives. This initial lack of confidence and direction set the stage for a transformative journey.

The Triango Construction Experience (Age 24) In 2016, after failing to secure a job, the speaker joined his father's friend's construction company in Triango. He anticipated learning construction from the ground up. However, the reality was disappointing:

• Limited Role: The project was nearly complete, leaving only minor "patchworks." His primary task was getting snacks for workers, leading to prolonged periods of idleness.
• Envy and Despair: He felt like "a dog without even a needle lying at one corner," contrasting himself with the active watchman, Rajan, who was constantly engaged in tasks like watering plants, arranging plywood, and cleaning the site.
• Duration of Inactivity: This period of doing "nothing" lasted for 180 days (six months), leading to immense desperation and a feeling of wasting his "prime age" of 24.
• Outcome: He quit the job and returned to his hometown, Trichi, with a strong resolve to "do something."

The Hyderabad Construction Venture: A Costly Failure Driven by Desperation

Driven by desperation, the speaker quickly seized an opportunity in Hyderabad. A contact informed him that leading construction companies were outsourcing projects, and any company with "10 masons and 10 helpers" could apply.

• Impulsive Action: He "quickly jumped in," without considering if it was his "cup of tea."
• Execution: He arranged 10 masons and 10 helpers from North India, moved them and himself to Hyderabad, and set up accommodation for all 20 individuals.
• Major Challenge: Communication Barrier: The top management of the construction company spoke only the local language and Hindi. The speaker's Hindi was rudimentary ("tora to to Hindi").
• Attempted Solution: He hired a local manager who spoke both the local language and English, creating a communication chain: Speaker (English) → Local Manager (Local Language) → Project Manager (Local Language).
• Outcome: This "great business idea" (as he perceived it at the time) failed. "Bigger cracks appeared," the project "started to slip," and he went "completely cashless," facing a "costly failure."
• Self-Realization: Before calling his parents for money, he rehearsed his plea and realized he wasn't convinced himself, leading him to drop the plan.
• Decision: He chose to accept his "miserable failure" and move on, rather than asking friends/relatives for money to fuel a dying business.

Three Golden Lessons from Hyderabad:

1. Action out of desperation is suicide: While taking action is crucial, acting solely out of desperation can lead to poor decisions, making even a "threat seem like a golden opportunity."
2. Play at your strengths: Entering a construction business without local language proficiency or prior experience was not playing to his strengths.
3. Accept failure and move on: It is vital to acknowledge when one has failed miserably and to move forward.

The Co-working Space: Proactive Problem-Solving and Exponential Growth

Returning to Trichi after the Hyderabad debacle, the speaker faced a "pathetic situation" at home, with parents trying to arrange his marriage and relatives questioning his lack of stable employment. This time, however, he waited for the "right opportunity" in a "proactive manner," not out of desperation.

• Identifying a Market Gap: An architect friend needed a small 150 sq ft office space in Telagar. They discovered a significant mismatch in the market:
  • Availability: 80% of available office spaces were above 1,500 sq ft.
  • Requirement: 80% of office space requirements were below 1,500 sq ft.
  • Small spaces (150 sq ft) were typically "shutter models" unsuitable for offices.
• Friend's Dilemma: His friend was forced to rent a 1,000 sq ft space, incurring a significant "capital expenditure" of 10 lakh (4 lakh security deposit + 4 lakh interiors) before generating any revenue.
• The Business Idea: The speaker conceived the idea to "bridge this gap" by offering small, flexible office spaces starting from ₹5,000, inclusive of all amenities (table, chair, electricity, Wi-Fi, cleaning, maintenance, power backup).
• Initial Implementation: They rented a 750 sq ft 2BHK home, installed 12 seats, and began advertising.
• Early Challenges: Clients initially struggled to perceive a 2BHK as a legitimate office space, often asking, "where is the office space?"
• Perseverance: After "huge struggle," it took 9 months to sell a portion of the property and another 3-4 months to fully occupy the facility.
• Initial Expansion: They expanded from 750 sq ft to 1,500 sq ft, then to 5,000 sq ft, serving 14 clients.

COVID-19: A Blessing in Disguise The COVID-19 pandemic initially caused a severe setback, reducing their client base from 14 to 4, leading the speaker to consider quitting. However, he decided to "push for one more year," which proved to be his "greatest business decision."

• Decentralization Trend: COVID-19 led many companies in Tier 1 cities to "decentralize their whole operations," seeking satellite offices in Tier 2 cities like Trichi.
• Flexibility for Pilot Projects: Companies needed flexible office spaces for 3-6 month pilot projects, which his co-working model readily provided.
• Hub and Spoke Model: The business evolved beyond just providing space. They started acting as a "hub and spoke model," connecting clients with various support services:
  • Office registration: Connected with auditors.
  • Recruitment: Connected with HR professionals.
  • Legal support: Connected with lawyers.
  • Office space: Provided by themselves.
• Exponential Growth: This problem-solving approach led to exponential expansion: 5,000 sq ft → 10,000 sq ft → 25,000 sq ft → 50,000 sq ft, and recently exceeding 1 lakh sq ft across Trichi and Coimbatore.
• Achievements:
  • Received the "Best office space solution provider in tier 2 tier three cities" by the Times Business Award.
  • Served over 500 clients, ranging from small startups to NYSE-listed companies.
  • Achieved year-on-year growth exceeding 100% for the past four years.

Core Business Philosophy and Conclusion

The speaker emphasizes the critical importance of starting small and validating an idea.

• The "What If" Scenario: He posits that if he had initially rented a 3,000 sq ft office space instead of a 750 sq ft 2BHK home:
  • "Capital expenditure would have skyrocketed."
  • "Operational expenditure would have easily crossed 1 lakh 50,000 per month."
  • His business "runway" would have expired in just two months.
  • He would have closed the business in 3-4 months, mistakenly concluding that co-working wouldn't work in Tier 2 cities.
• Profound Realization: "There is no business that fails. It is only the businessman that fails." This statement is repeated for emphasis.
• Golden Rule for Entrepreneurship (especially without financial backup):
  1. Start small.
  2. Get a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) done.
  3. Make it positive.
  4. Scale it bigger.
• Synthesis of Unmuting Moments:
  • The Triango incident taught him to take action.
  • The Hyderabad incident taught him to take action proactively, not out of desperation.
  • The co-working incident gave him a vision and enabled him to build a successful business.

The speaker concludes by stating that he can now confidently walk into any social gathering, having transformed from a "muted" to an "unmuted" person.