How Epitom Trinergy as a Tech Start up has achieved the 2nd year target in style

Starting a business is, both, a challenging and tempting idea but from what I have seen, most people start a business with just profits as their goal. Yes, this is one of the goals but business is a long road and a considerable amount of time, energy, patience and strength has to be dedicated in order to finally achieve the profits you want. Let me share my story, the Epitom Trinergy story.

I’m not a tech guy but I always had a passion for it and that’s what enabled me to start Epitom Trinergy two years ago. I completed my A/Ls and enrolled in the University of Colombo at the Faculty of Management and Finance. But my passion for technology kept tugging at me until I used the internet to learn everything I could about web development. Using my knowledge, I developed my first ever tech site www.youthlanka.com. The website isn’t available anymore and I couldn’t continue it because of my studies but it is what I could consider to be my first stepping stone with which my interest for technology only increased, finally leading me to start Epitom Trinergy.

I should say, the first year was hard and that’s expected. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy but I also trusted that so long as I kept persisting, success wouldn’t be too far away. So during my first year, I didn’t make much profit and people kept telling me that the competition was too strong, the team was too young and inexperienced and so on. But you know what? If you keep trying with the resources you have, then in time, you’ll achieve what you wanted. With the very same marketing team, in 2016, we achieved the two digit sales target and there are so many reasons behind how and why we actually did that.

Put your ideas down on paper

Always remember to form all your sales plans on paper or target driven format. That way, you can stay focused and you know where you goals are so you can work towards it.

Be positive 

I can’t stress enough on this. You need to have nerves of steel to start your own business or set up your own company and there will be ups and downs. Brace yourself for the down and always look for reasons to be positive. In the field of business, the only way to survive is a positive mindset.

Take calculated challenges

Business – or should I say life itself – is all about confidence and belief that you can do it. So if you have an amazing idea and you don’t believe in yourself, then it will never come true. No matter how hard or challenging it may seem, push yourself to do the handwork and it will pay off eventually.

Motivate your team and believe in them

I couldn’t have done what I’ve done without my team. It’s true when they say your team is an extension of yourself and this is why you need to keep motivating and inspiring them. Be a part of the team and most importantly, believe in them so they will believe in themselves more. You won’t believe the miracles this can do!

Have the right kind of people with you

There will always be people who will discourage you and however hard we try to ignore them, it can actually affect how we work. The question will keep looming over your head – ‘Can I actually do it’? ‘Did I make the right choice?’ ‘Will I be able to carry on?’

So be around people who have the right mindset, people who are positive and encouraging. And when they keep telling you ‘You can do it!’ you’ll believe that you actually can too.

Reward your team

You can’t deny the fact that your team are working for you so remember to always reward them for their productivity. After all, they deserve it for their hard work, don’t they?

Have your ideas predicted perfectly

Whether it’s your financials or final product, make sure you have a thorough ideas about how it’s going to be. This will set you up against any challenges, should it arise, and more importantly, you will have a clear picture of what to expect so you can expend the energy required for it.

Counter arguments with actions

Let your actions speak louder than your words. If people doubt your abilities, then take up the challenge in a positive way and make sure that your actions win the arguments. Let your work do the talking.

Effectively plan your projects

Planning is the key. Take the time to do the required research, spend some time on looking up for new ideas and plan your project thoroughly. You can never get into a project with only half a plan. So don’t overlook even the tiny details. Plan your projects in details and this will save time, effort and money.

Make your customers happy

Most of you clients are through referrals and we have achieved this by making our existing clients happy. Go the extra mile to wow your clients and, trust me, it will do your business a world of good.

Don’t underestimate your scope

When we were building websites for our clients, our competitors limited their prices to pages but we didn’t do so. We under promised our clients and over delivered, making our customers more than just satisfied. And by doing so, we managed to gain many more clients as well. Our 65% of total business comes from referrals.

I’ve had my fair share of challenges before, while and even after starting Epitom but I refuse to give up. Now, two years down the line, I’m proud to have achieved this much and to have people come up to with encouragement. Stepping into the frontier of establishing your own business is a tough ask and I’ve met people who have the talent but zero confidence in themselves. You can either sit down, doing nothing and wondering about all the things you could have actually down or you could get up, motivate yourself and then do the things you’ve wanted to do. Trust in yourself and your abilities and if you think you’ve got what it takes to build your own business, then by all means do so. But don’t ever forget where you started from and keep learning -you can never get enough of it.

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Life as an Entrepreneur

Challenges, sorrows, failures, disappointments, success, risks, recognition, satisfaction etc these words are always entangled with an entrepreneur’s life. As much as you gain you lose the same. Sometimes joys, sometimes sorrow, sometimes confusions, sometimes challenges, life is not easy as you think. When travelling in this path, after some time if you turn back and see you will realize what you have earned as well as what you have lost.

Now I’m an entrepreneur. It’s nearly one year since I started to be on my own and just thought of writing this post today to share the difficulties and experience I underwent during this period.  I’m sure I would not have learned so much if I had worked for a company because I wouldn’t have taken such risk if I worked for someone. As an Entrepreneur, I faced so many challenges and there are heaps of risks accumulated in my list. I was always willing to take challenges not only these days even when I was schooling.  I guess this life further strengthen my challenging ability.

When I was working for a company I was in two minds i.e. a year back, whether to start my own venture or not. I know the decision I’m going to take has an opportunity cost. If I continue to work on my own definitely I can earn more than what I would have been getting by working in a company per month. However, I knew an entrepreneur’s life is not an easy one. I realized that always I cannot be in the safe zone. So many advices from people circled my mind. Some advised positively and many negatively. Some looked at this as an immature decision and some laughed at it. When I told I’m going to be my own, the biggest question people asked was “how you are going to survive?”. However, my gut feeling didn’t allow me to keep quiet and quit my decision. I know I can make it, but the big concern I had was about my parents and my girl. Even my parents were not in favour of my decision. They told me to try and see.  Generally, girls want their guys to be in a decent job with a safe zone life. It’s rare that they want the person whom they are going to marry to be an entrepreneur at his very early stage struggling to achieve the victory.  When I told the decision to my girl, “You can, we will rock “, that was the reply she told me. All the questions I had about my decision vanished away and I started to be on my own.

After struggling for 8 months I’m the happiest person these days with the smile thinking about my company. Now I have a brand of my own. I’m not going to say I have earned money but I’m happy about the growth of my brand. I can proudly say that I’m an owner of a brand.

I never compare my life to any other. Because I know each individual’s path of journey is totally different. I know now I’m no more in the safe zone. Now I have taken my brand to a certain extent. I have clients both locally and internationally. Apart from that “Epitom” is a quite a known brand in the HR sector of Sri Lanka. Those days handling foreign clients was a nightmare to me. Because it was very difficult to understand their language. These days I feel it’s pretty easy, one thing always there in my mind, all are human. Deals are done.

I’m very grateful to my cousin because he is the one who encouraged and supported me to get into the business with him. Now we both are in two different fields. We both meet up regularly and discuss the progress of our brands. Though we are not partners today still we share our experiences.” friend in need is a friend indeed” this is a common saying and I realized it as 100% true because of my friend who helped me to start my journey as an entrepreneur. Also, I’m thankful to my previous bosses who helped me and guided me in many occasions.

Whenever I’m disappointed and say “I’m totally fed up” I had an encouragement always. The words from my girl “Don’t worry we will rock” keep myself motivated which I feel as the real motivation exists in the word. It carries lots of value and energy. Still, a long path to go and  I know I have to answer so many people who are around me but I will try my best and work hard to keep the spirit going.

Few things I would like to share with people who are thinking of starting something of their own.

1-      Always keep in mind that money is not the ultimate thing, it’s the experience you earn.

2-      Try to avoid partnerships, but get good assistance and guidance from someone.

3-      Do not have second thoughts of what you are going to do.

4-      Always value your gut feeling, If it says yes for anything “GO FOR IT”.

5-      Careful about your competition, always monitor them.

6-      Hard work matters a lot, but you should believe in god too. Always start the day with a prayer.

7-      Make sure you are not away from family and friend. Be in touch with them (This I failed to do).

8-      Though you are struggling do not give up. One day you will succeed. It is always dark before dawn.

9-      Do not get discouraged by others words. Only action can win arguments. Prove them and show that they are wrong. Do not argue with others. You will lose your precious time.

10-  Always remember people helped you. Even a small help matters a lot.

11-  Do not reveal your secret to anyone. One day it might destroy you.

12-  In business, you will start something and end up in some other. That’s the entrepreneurship nature. But love what you do.

13-  Take big risks, the return is always high.

14-  Manage your cash flow properly. Keep reserves for future growth.

15-  Try to attend as much as external events. It will help you one day. Create your own network. Don’t place yourself in a short circle. World is too big.

16-  If you think the negatives in your mind are beating positives try to speak to someone who encourages you. Try avoiding speaking to the negative mindset people. Because their thoughts can destroy you.

17-  Listen and watch motivational videos and read articles about entrepreneurs. It will keep you in the game. That’s why people say if you want to get the real motivation to speak to an entrepreneur because they are the people always motivate themselves.

18-  Give rest to mind and thought. That is important for more productive days.

19-  Pay your overheads on time, do not keep any balances.

20-  People might say “You cannot be a Bill Gates”, Even if you cannot be you can have a try. Speaking from the safe zone is always easy. Forget about them.

21-  Create a clear vision and work towards it. When you see the success the best happiest person is always “YOU”.

22-  Always look for opportunities. It’s all around you.

23-  Until you establish yourself strong enough try to do one thing at a time. Do it correctly. Do not consider too many options at once. It will diversify your effort and bring you less success.

24-  Save some cash for marketing.

25-  Never fall into debts. It will destroy your liquidity.

26-  Try to get the help from others but give the return back. If you didn’t do that then you will be stuck in the middle.

These are some key learning points I have studied during this one year. I didn’t lose any but instead, I gained so much. New set of people, a new pattern of thinking, new ways of implementing things, international contacts, out of box thinking, understanding of so many people, market, the taste of failures etc.  It’s not about money, it’s about the experience which are worthy than money. In the entrepreneurship life, you will lose money. Money won’t come as you expect. It will take its momentum first to get the control.

“The Secret” and “The Power” those are the two books given me the control over this life. Sometimes mind works in a negative way. If you feel so, just take a deep breath and continue your work. You will see the real difference. I would recommend you all to read these books / even you can buy the movie at Liberty Plaza. Listen/read these, your world will change.

To get the outcome of your hard work it will take time. The negative thoughts might take you away from your vision. Do never give up. Walt Disney took 10 years to come up with the world loving character Micky Mouse and even he had pulled off from the company he worked for saying he is not having creativity. Steve Jobs got pulled from his own company later again he became the CEO of the business. It’s all about hard work, but in the entrepreneur life, it will take some time for you to get the maximum out from the hard work.

Entrepreneurs remember one thing,

“Winner Win by pushing their limits until the limits become the norm