How I Got into My Profession | Steem Sri Lanka 3G Contest Series| Week 09 | 5% for SL-Charity

Hi fellow steemians, its time to let you know how I got into my profession. First of all I must thank @alejos7ven for organizing this event.

I am an entrepreneur. According to Oxford dictionary meaning of entrepreneur is "a person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit". Becoming an entrepreneur was not an easy task. Actually it was a very bumpy ride. I made my own set of rules. Those rules made me the person today. I made them using my years of experience. Let me walk through the path of my life while explaining my rules.

Rule #1: Don't give excuses.

I was a bright student. I always got good marks. I even got an island rank for grade 5 scholarship exam, 7th place in the island. When I was in grade 10 I got really low marks for mathematics. My dad didn't even ask why I got low marks. He only said "Don't give excuses for your failure. You don't have to explain. Learn from your mistakes". Up to this day I have never given an excuse to anyone when I failed.

Rule #2: Learn to let it go.

When I was 16 years old I met this beautiful girl in my maths class. It was a complicated relationship. I was a very shy guy. All I wanted is to think about her. I went to tution classes only to see her, not to learn. One day she broke up with me. It hit me so hard. I didn't want to learn anymore. My grades came down rapidly. I even failed the Advanced level exam. When I got the result sheet I understood that I need to "Learn to let it go". I took the exam again next year. I didn't get the marks I expected. But it was barely enough for me to get in to the university. I followed two degree program in parallel. In 2015 I joined one of the major electronics companies in Sri Lanka as an Electronics Engineer. If I did not learn to let it go non of this would happen.

Rule #3: Believe in your self.

When I was in school I joined the boy scout movement. That was one of the best things I have done in my life. Our scout group was one of the oldest scouts groups in the world. Even the founder of boy scout movement Lord Baden Powell has visited our scout group 3 times. Scouting taught me to believe in my self. In 2013 we have organized an international jamboree to celebrate 100th year of our scout group. My scout leader gave me a huge task. They asked me to plan and organize one of the major event of the jamboree, a jungle survival skills competition. Due to limited resources I had to plan the whole event all by my self. It took me three months to plan the event. Execution was perfect. Scouts from 20 countries participated the event. And they enjoyed it a lot. On that day onwards I started to believe in my self.

Rule #4: Earn people, not money.

As I mentioned earlier I joined one of the leading electronics companies in Sri Lanka. Actually that company was like a human slaughterhouse. Most of the employees were unhappy. So many cold wars were going in between everyone. Fortunately the Deputy General Manager took me as his right hand. He was a good person from the inside. But from the outside he was a demon. Most of his decisions were unfair. He cut employees' salaries every month, suspend some employees...etc. I understood that he was acting like this because he was an inexperienced person. He was a cousin of the Chairman and joined the company directly as a DGM without prior experience. Somehow I managed to help him out. Salary cuttings and suspensions reduced. I have saved some employees' jobs several times. Of course, I had to remove some "bad apples" in the process. I worked in that company for three years. In that time I earned love of many employees. Up to today some people still call me and support my businesses. Earning people is a better investment than earning money.

Rule #5: Take risks.

I got this rule from Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Inc. He always said "Stay hungry, stay foolish". I knew that no one can learn to swim without getting into water. I took the gamble and at the end of 2019 I resigned from my job. I started my own company called Seroniya (Private) Limited.

Under that company I formed a subsidiary company called HT Engineering Service. Main function of HT Engineering Service is to provide after sales services. Remember I mentioned that I earned people? Those people came to support me and joined hands with me as Franchisers. Now I have about 35 franchisers island wide. HT Engineering Service is successfully operating since 2020 with the enormous help of my people. HT Engineering Service will be the base for my future adventures.

Rule #6: Do it your self

To run the HT Engineering Service I wanted ERP system and an mobile app. I wanted to go 100% paperless. But ERP system and mobile app were so expensive. There was no way I could spend that kind of money. So I learned to make ERP systems and an apps. After some research I found out that I can make a complete automated system using Google sheets. I found some Youtube videos and I built an ERP system all by my self. It has all the functions a company need. 100% automated. Its pretty amazing what Google sheets can do!
Next I wanted an app to run the operation paperless. I didn't know any coding. So I took an alternative path. MIT AppInventor. I built the app with all the functions I need. I am continuously learning everything I can. When I need something I build it my self.

Rule #7: You've got to find what you love.

Another one from Steve Jobs. When I passed out from the university I wanted to join renewable energy field. I applied for several renewable energy companies. But all of them turned me down. So in 2021 I started my own renewable energy solutions company, named Seroniya Renewable Energy Solutions. I got pretty lucky from the beginning and got projects continuously until the pandemic situation turned from bad to worse.

Rule #8: If you are going through hell, keep going. It has to end someday.

Pandemic situation hit me hard. Incomes are almost NIL. So I decided to use the pandemic situation to make an income. Government imposed a two-week travel restriction period which will end on 7th June. So I gathered two experts, one from agriculture, one from marketing. We are planning to start a big project in agriculture field. Hopefully we will be able to launch by end of July. One special thing about this project is that we are planning to make business opportunities for the poor families. Let's see. Fingers crossed.

That's my story. My 8 rules brought me to this day to become an entrepreneur. I don't give excuses, I learned to let things go, I believe in my self, I earned people, I took risks, I got my hands dirty, I found my passion and I never ever give up. I strongly believe that as long as you help people you won't fail.

I would like to invite @milankodi, @ranjith1kn and @yasi92 to join this competition and share your experiences. You may find the link to the contest here