My Worst Investment Ever Podcast
Business:Investing
BIO: Vishal Bhardwaj is a serial entrepreneur and founder of Predictions For Success, Engineer By Mistake, and Passionate Management Services.
STORY: Vishal gained immediate success when he started his company and had about 100,000 followers. He thought this indicated that people loved what he was doing, so he decided to sell a corporate gift for Diwali 15 days before the festival. He didn’t do any market research, so when he went to sell the product, no one would buy it as they had ordered their gifts months in advance.
LEARNING: Do proper research before you jump into anything. Don’t let emotions run your business for you. Timing is as important as pricing.
“You may have a lot of good audiences, but those may not be the people who will purchase the products you introduce.”Vishal Bhardwaj
Guest profile
Vishal Bhardwaj is a serial entrepreneur and founder of Predictions For Success, Engineer By Mistake, and Passionate Management Services. He loves to inspire students and aspiring entrepreneurs and has been at TED Talks, TCS, Money Control, Bakstage, and others.
For any personal guidance on career and relationships, Vishal is reachable on WhatsApp.
Worst investment everVishal started Predictions for Success in 2014 and got around 100,000 followers. This immediate success motivated him to leverage everything, and he thought that whatever he touched would turn into gold because people loved what he was doing. Vishal and his team thought selling something would be a good idea.
Diwali was just 15 days away, and Vishal suggested to his partner that they sell corporate gifts for the famous Indian festival. They started shopping for things even though they had no idea what the people would want. They thought having something in the range of $10 would be easy to crack. While at the market, Vishal suggested that rather than purchasing everything at a wholesale rate, they should buy something a little pricey but as a sample. So, if it didn’t get sold, they would only have a little inventory sitting idle. His partner was against the suggestion. He thought they should buy cheap and in bulk. Vishal insisted that they forget about profits and try to learn something.
They invested 100,000 rupees (about US$1,200) and purchased products in bulk. They did a professional photoshoot, and everything was exciting until it came time to sell the products. They talked to the companies to see if they were interested in purchasing the products, but the prices they quoted were less than even what the company had bought the products for. They couldn’t sell even a single product and had to give them out as gifts to their customers for the next three years. Vishal still has a couple of them lying around in his backyard.
Lessons learnedWhen you hear any idea, even a unicorn idea, wait seven days before acting on it. If you feel great about that idea after seven days, it’s good to go. If your emotions decrease daily, you either take more time to think about it or let go of the idea.
Vishal’s recommendationVishal recommends reading The Bhagavad Gita to learn the world within you to quickly discover the world outside.
If you’re looking for any guidance regarding your personal or professional life or if you’re stuck and don’t know where to go, connect to Predictions for Success on WhatsApp, and Vishal and his team will help you tackle the problems you’re facing right now.
No.1 goal for the next 12 monthsVishal’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to read into the spirituality of one billion people.
[spp-transcript]
Connect with Vishal Bhardwaj
Vineer Bhansali – You Create Real Value by Being Different
Brenden Kumarasamy – Follow the Data, Not Your Emotions
Julian Klymochko – Arbitrage Trades Don’t Always Turn Out to Be Risk-free
David Hay – The Importance of Range Expansion
Rex Salisbury – Quitting Can Be a Very Important Skill to Exercise
ISMS 23: Larry Swedroe – Do You Allow Yourself to Be Influenced by Your Ego and Herd Mentality?
Harvey Sawikin – Do Your Own Homework
Paul Krake – Surround Yourself With Experienced People
Noel Smith – Always Have Risk Measurements in Place
ISMS 22: Toyota vs. EV Extremists – Who Is Right?
Guillermo Cornejo – Don’t Underestimate the Value of Experience
Eugene Ng – Keep Playing the Long-Term Game of Investing
ISMS 21: CPI Collapsing Across the Globe
Nick Maggiulli – Don’t Buy Individual Stocks
ISMS 20: Larry Swedroe – Do You Extrapolate From Small Samples and Trust Your Intuition?
Larry Shumbres – Invest in What You Know and Is Regulated
Jesse Felder – Don’t Rationalize a Lousy Trade
ISMS 19: 5% March 2023 CPI Could Fall to 4% By Year-End; If Oil Doesn’t Fly
Sachi Wickramage – Target the Customer With the Problem at Scale
ISMS 18: Dave Collum – What Makes Your Investments Good or Bad
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The emPOWERed Half Hour
U.S Property Podcast
Aligned Money Show
Dubai Property Podcast
The Ramsey Show
The Clark Howard Podcast