[RajeevSharma]

I feel sorry for the situation we are in due to uncertain times. It is evident that you planned your future by way of good investments and will get through the rough phase, but many with no substantial earnings, let alone savings, will lose their small jobs.

I guess questioning one's self-worth is a phenomenon tied to a midlife crisis as I tend to do it myself as well, but I do find people around who struggle to make proper life choices, let alone take a decision, in tough business situations.

You have also pointed towards a great point in your post and that is finding happiness in all situations and celebrating what we have instead of sulking about what could have been! You have the most important thing going for you - the support of loved ones.

Thanks for penning down your thoughts. It matters as your sentiments resonate with many of ours. Let's hope that the dark clouds of uncertainty give way and we see a silver lining soon.

[Huzi]

@malyraj, hope you pick up from where you left, soon.

Besides this I would just like to add 1 point. Covid is testing - human spirit, businesses & governments. We will see a few emerging stronger than before & a few fading. Pick up, watch out & restart. We learn the most from our failures.

Stay safe & healthy.

[Sting]

Malyaj - what a fantastic post. Straight from the heart and so relevant and apt.

Sharing a favourite poem of mine from John G Whittier, with lines I often use highlighted in bold:


When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Life is strange with its twists and turns
As every one of us sometimes learns
And many a failure comes about
When he might have won had he stuck it out;
Don't give up though the pace seems slow—
You may succeed with another blow.
Success is failure turned inside out—
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell just how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit—
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

Cheers
Sting

[no_fear]

@Malyaj,

You will lose a thousand battles but will win the war in the end. Do not give up. I admire your perseverance and spirit.

These are not normal times, but during these times, we often discover who we are. Last year, due to Covid, my business shut down and I have not been able to start it till now. I re-skilled myself and took on a new job to keep the income flowing, and there are a lot of us in this situation.

I am in my mid 30s and often I feel dis-illusioned and wonder if there is something better out there, or is this the only reality. Luckily, I am single (had a gf, broke up due to unavoidable circumstances) and I have my parents who are in good health + my hobby to keep me tied up. Life is often hard, and sometimes downright impossible, but often things have a way of working itself out.

My hats off to you sir, and I hope things turn better for you.

[Maverick5490]

Originally Posted by S2K

I have a few questions regarding this. More like anticipatory advices.
I am assuming that since you are a DINK family, you are a young couple in their early thirties or even younger.

Hey!

We are in our 40's and DINK by choice. Our only EMI was for a flat in Mumbai which we closed in 10 years. Our car and motorcycle was bought outright with savings few years back as those are depreciating assets, as per your post you have also done the same so no need to worry of a liability.

Since you are yet to be married, major expenses are the marriage ceremony itself which in todays time can be totally minimized. Next would be buying an apartment, the property prices in Mumbai are way too high, and having a decent apartment requires 2 people to pool in for the EMIs. So having a partner with similar financial goals definitely helps.

As mentioned by other members, taking EMI's for luxury goods, gadgets, holidays, should be totally avoided and living frugal is the new thing to follow.

The pandemic has made us realise the things that we need the most and re-aligned our priorities.

[PatienceWins]

Malyaj, thanks for sharing your experience. Very useful to tide over such times.

Emergency fund/ savings is like oxygen in such times, as you have mentioned. Though it is important to have multiple sources of income, it would not help like savings in such times as they may also be affected. For e.g. a rented property may not yield any income (with fixed expenses) because of tenants vacating/ requesting for waved off rent. Risk free income matters a lot during these unpredictable times.

Expenses are more in our control than income. So cutting down expenses that are luxury/ not really required is helpful.

[sgmuser]

Just want to add personal practices I follow during any tough times especially in job. I had once a tough time in the beginning of my overseas career and I learnt some good lessons.

Keep yourself in POSITIVE MIND. Yes, it is the most important one! Pray hard not just for a better job but to keep going, to retain mental strength and positive attitude. Many a times, we lose our temper and unload them all onto our family for silly reasons. Keep everything open to your spouse. That is one best way to relax your mind. Let her know each and every small bits to the spouse. It not only relaxes you but as well makes her not to feel over confident and control the family expenditure to start with. SAVE, another all caps! When in better situations, start saving (basic insurance, ULIP, MF, FD etc). Even small amount of savings over a longer period will grow exponentially and you wouldn't believe until you do that. Be spiritually inclined, should I say? It helps in a big way and makes you humble. Read books especially the spiritual ones (the two books I read 1) Bhagavad Gita and 2) Thirukkural (Tamil) during tough times and somehow I thought these too books were simply written for me!) The most important other two books, all of you should read The Secret & The Magic. I did not count how many times I bought the Secret book and gifted. Please buy and read it. Positive Minds, researchers say, keeps Cancer as well away. Recently I read another medical article that even for Covid-19, being positive helps a lot. Hope this is useful.

[SN88]

Originally Posted by Malyaj

Last year I lost my business to Covid. Without going into the sob story, here are my experiences in the last 12 months, some lessons learnt and how to keep your motivation up. No fluff and getting straight to the point.


I am not trying to portray a very rosy picture of how things can be. Not everyone has enough savings, a working spouse or even the same level of motivation. But I have learnt repeatedly during this period that no one is going to pull you out of your misery. Only you have to do it and there is no other option. No one gives a damn about your misery. You need to keep digging a deep well at one place instead of digging many shallow ones.

I totally get you and cheers to your positivity, I share a similar story.

I lost my 4 restaurants and my relocation business all based in the middle east since around 9 years due to covid. Started with the first one falling in May 2019 when the lease got over and the landlord wanted advance rent to renew the lease ( imagine - during lockdown), and then the other 3 had to be closed down with landlords forfeiting the entire deposit to cover their rent.

When the lockdown was lifted they wanted a new 8 month deposit to renew. This figure goes into a couple of crores and we were already burdened paying salaries etc for a closed outlet for 6 months.

I decided this was it and could foresee that the covid wasnt going to go away and this was going to have an impact for years to come as dining out would never be the same. The idea of only home delivery did not work for my kind of a place. Also being in the middle east and not in your own country I realised that I would soon be in a soup if I took any further risk.

With all the courage my wife and me had , we packed up and took the leap of faith. We both are very bold people and I should thank my dad for bringing me up this way to think that nothing can break you. Whenever you feel low , just ask yourself what is the worst thing that can happen, and the answer is really nothing as long as you have your head straight!!

With new found motivation and support from wife and parents, we moved back to India, cherishing our times abroad as good memories and looking forward for better ones.

Money comes when you stop chasing it, its like a very pretty girl the more you chase the more difficult it gets. Get your act together and just do what you do best and it comes running to you

Touchwood we are almost out of our troubles, I had my relocation experience help me. I took a chance and approached a company back in the middle east who we used to do business with offering to manage their export business remotely thus saving them the cost of at least 3 employees. It worked out and now Im getting paid as per there but working from here in India.

Have decided I will get back into restaurants as that is what I love doing once this whole covid mess is gone for good. Until then smile back at whatever life is throwing at us.

Not saying it was simple, or is simple, trust me it never ever is how it sounds, but keep going until things that hurt you get tired. IT HAPPENS TRUST ME!!

Cheers

[itsaj]

Appreciate your candid post and your thoughts in it. You might be experiencing one of the biggest lessons of life. And given your approach towards life, I am sure you would turn out much stronger than ever after this phase. Your future version of yourself might even thank for these experiences.

Having a supportive spouse is a blessing. The mental strength and motivation they bring is immense.

Wish you the best.

[nbhar24]

@Malyaj

This is something many of us have been facing in this crucial times and as such can seriously relate to each and every point mentioned.
Like many, I too lost my job in Feb 2020, Even though being IT industry for 15years I am still looking out some source of earning. For me its a nuclear family with infant Twins to be cared for. At times, I too felt depressed and felt that nothing good is left in life to survive.

But then, there is something which I missed to locate earlier, the twinkle in the eyes of my daughter, Suhana. The smile on the faces of Twins [boy and gal] just pump up so much energy that all the distress is vanished.

I am ready to face all the Joy and Sorrow that shall come.
Remember, This too shall pass.

[Vipinprasad]

Originally Posted by Malyaj

Last year I lost my business to Covid. Without going into the sob story, here are my experiences in the last 12 months, some lessons learnt and how to keep your motivation up. No fluff and getting straight to the point.

Fabulous 10 points on keeping the head high and navigating the crisis around business!

I have been dabbling in entrepreneurship since 2004 and have been impacted multiple times due to various world events!

Got my bearings in order while I plunged again in 2015. Few pointers that many of you mentioned in the thread helped. Summarising my mantras below

1. Be Debt Free- Cleared of all the loans. The car loans, especially, used to dent me heavily since I used to change my car every 2.5 years
2. Don’t fall for peer pressure- Be it fancy holidays, change of cars, lifestyle accessories etc. Have a mind of your own and be clear about what is needed for your definition of lifestyle requirements
3. Create an emergency Fund of at least 6 months - This helped me coast through June 2020 to Dec 2020 when there was zero revenues
4. My smartest decision- Picking up a used BMW X1 . Decided not to fall prey for the temptation of buying a new one with a loan - The journey documented here on the thread (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-...ml#post4827421 (My pre-worshipped BMW X1 (E84) - Titanium Silver Crossover)) . I am able to enjoy the car without guilt and worrying about servicing the loan. With the second wave now, business is jeopardised again and don’t know when things will get back to normal.

Stay Safe all of you

[gjiyap1]

Good topic in these new normal.

The Thread title may not sound too positive. But all the contributions here, shows the courage and courtesy of our fellas. Thank you @Malyaj for starting.

My 2 cents here:

1. Saving as a Habit. If we can create a habit of saving & by every family member - it will hold the fort, any given day or situation.
Tax Saving, Financial planning, Investments, Growth, Systematic approach - all looks good and sounds good on paper plus sales pitch. BUT, the underlying objective should be Savings.

2. Learning as a Life Style. As a child, we were learning multiple things and without any expectation or aimed at result. Once learning becomes part of our life, we shall sail through any storm.
Cross skilling, Up skilling, Certifications, Crash courses - all of them can only give an entry card. The real value is on delivering what is expected on the ground.

3. Be Original. Again, we all had our originality as a child. Even while imitating others, we had our own flavour included. We are unique and original by birth. So, believe in it.
IF copy/paste was that easy - then, we will have clones of - KFC, McD, Starbucks, Japanese - across the world. But, it is NOT possible.

Objective Investing & Subjective Learning is a short term result oriented approach. For Longer terms, we need to invest more in our habits, attitude and living. Values education & Value Investing is the key for sustainability.

Watched this video sometime back. A Japanese Method to Develop Creativity in Kids. Goes well for grown-up as well.

https://youtu.be/kXnugJEcVE8

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by Malyaj

Last year I lost my business to Covid.

Noticed this thread rather late, and I feel sorry that you had to shut down your restaurant. I am unaware of the actual circumstances that forced you to do so, but on the other hand, it seems that the home delivery food industry (cloud kitchens) actually flourished during the extended lockdowns during the first and second waves of Covid-19.

Though you have shifted away from running the restaurant, I certainly hope you get back to starting it (or another) up again, as things return to normal in another year or so.

[Malyaj]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Noticed this thread rather late, and I feel sorry that you had to shut down your restaurant. I am unaware of the actual circumstances that forced you to do so, but on the other hand, it seems that the home delivery food industry (cloud kitchens) actually flourished during the extended lockdowns during the first and second waves of Covid-19.

Though you have shifted away from running the restaurant, I certainly hope you get back to starting it (or another) up again, as things return to normal in another year or so.

In hindsight it was a good thing that I moved away. The business was already struggling with rampant discounts, increasing commissions, predatory rentals and poor tax regime. Cloud kitchens did better relative to dine-in model, but on an absolute basis they too suffered a sharp decline. I am part of a large online forum of restaurant owners in Bangalore and the stories there are very depressing. Folks who relied on catering have borne the brunt.

[woodstock3001]

Originally Posted by Malyaj

Last year I lost my business to Covid. Without going into the sob story, here are my experiences in the last 12 months, some lessons learnt and how to keep your motivation up. No fluff and getting straight to the point.

Rather very late to post, but thank you Malyaj for sharing. I hope no one go through this in early 40s, as that's the time at least i will be thinking of kids further education, savings etc etc.

All the points listed by you are honest and hold extreme value. Going to share with close friends for sure so that if not all points, at least we can incorporate 1 or 2 points from you.

Like my signatures say - This too shall pass, I'm sure you will overcome this. All the best for future commitments.