Build Don’t Talk Summary: Journey of Entrepreneur
Raj Shamani author of Build Don’t Talk shared his Entrepreneurial Journey with his ups and downs, he will teach you that life is not fair, it’s a brutal place, so you have to make peace with it. He has also shared some of his business lessons along with his childhood memories and how he started his first business.
Build Don’t Talk by Raj Shamani Quotes
‘People who study a lot often study about people who do not study at all.’
‘I try something, I realize I suck at it, and I analyze how crucial that thing is for my growth. If it’s important, I try to get better at it. If I get better at it, then great! I can go ahead with my life and find the next thing that I suck at and try to improve on that.
‘You increase your price based on how many people are ready to pay you for your product.’
‘Okay! Listen! Fail ho gaya toh ho gaya. But do I really want this thing? If yes, then I’d better prepare for it well and get it.’
‘There are two rules for public speaking. Rule 1: Never use words that people don’t understand. Rule 1: Ask questions to engage with the audience.‘
Let me first say thank you for reading this. This will be a weekly newsletter, hope you enjoy it. Now I will see you every Sunday at 9:00 AM (IST).
Build Don’t Talk Summary
First, let me just share my thoughts about the book, and then we will go chapter by chapter and see what exactly, Raj Shamani is trying to teach you.
I personally, didn’t gain new knowledge from the book. It felt more like the article’s book, just like how I wrote the “My Phone Addiction” article, multiply that article with different titles. It could be, “how I invest my money” “where to Invest money” “how to become a great public speaker” and so on.
From the start, the book feels a bit boring but hey, I read the entire book because I wanted to write this article. In the middle, I loved how Raj shared how he started his first business with help of his father, basically, his first start-up when he was in high school.
By the way, he has also shared how to start YouTube Channel, how he picks ideas for his videos and the Journey of becoming a public speaker.
If you’ve started reading books then I’m sure you will love this book because it’s written in a simple way but if you have read books like Atomic Habits, Rich Dad and Poor Dad or even Re-work then I would suggest you save your time and go ahead with your life.
Or, better, read this article.
Starting with the 1st Chapter. (I won’t add the entire 39 chapters, I will try to add the ones which might add value to your life)
Our Education System Sucks
Yes, it does, the Indian education system needs to build from the ground up. It can’t just stay the same forever, I don’t want our future generation to just memberwise the answers and write the same on exam papers.
I have done the same when I was giving my 12th exam, I just collated the last 10 years’ exam papers and analyzes the repeated questions, and guess what, I got 91 out of 100 in the Finance Account subject. I was able to do it because no one from Gujarat changed the syllabus for decades or professors were lezzy to make changes in exam papers.
The school should have taught us how to communicate with people and how business works.
One more thing, if you’re in your schooling days, ask questions, and don’t hesitate, don’t think about how other students will react.
Admit it
In fact, Raj Shamani didn’t write this book, he hired a professional writer because he thinks, he is terrible to write.
So instant of writing Build Don’t Talk, he told his thoughts to a professional writer and the rest is history.
What he is trying to say is,
Don’t hold something, if something is not working, don’t spend years on that one thing all alone. Just hire someone else to do the heavy lifting and move on with your life. Just don’t get stuck in a loophole.
Lastly, keep in mind, it’s okay to quit.
Like for Raj, Comment for Dubai
In this chapter, his has shared his school story,
Raj wanted to look cool, so he told his friends that he went to Dubai on vacation, he told them that Dubai is such a beautiful place there is a beach, big buildings, and much more.
After that, he become kind of famous, and everyone wanted to hang out with him but that coolness didn’t last for long.
The thing was, one of his cousins was also studying with him in the same school, so one of his friends went to Raj’s cousin and told him, why didn’t you go to Dubai with Raj?
So that was the day when everyone from the school and even family started calling him Dubai. Now, because of that, he didn’t go to school for some time.
Later that day, his mother went to his room and they both started talking, his father was there too. While talking his father started getting pain in his chest and they took him to the hospital. (his father is fine now)
That was the day, Raj decided that “I will do something big in my life.”
So here, let me add a line from the book, “The harshest realities of your life teach you the most important lessons”.
How to Become Rich
Raj wanted to become rich because of that accident, (the father one)
So he went on Google and started typing “how to become rich” and there he found one article where he found a person called “Andrew Carnegie”, where he has written three ways to get rich, which follows,
- Have Business
- Meet as many people as you can
- Start a Business in the FMCG Industry
Raj went with the third option,
He analyzes that, Liquids started becoming popular in 2013. Be it, shower gels, hand washes, or even dishwashing gels. So he chooses the dishwashing gels, back then there were two popular brands who were making dishwashing gels: Vim and Pril.
So he thought, there is a big scope here, only two brands are making dishwashing gels, so why can’t I make dishwashing gels? So he did make dishwashing gels with the help of his father, and further he also contacted many chemicals experts on Linkedin.
Out of everyone, one person on Linkedin said yes in exchange for 20% of the initial capital, so Raj gave him Rs 2000.
This is how he made the dishwashing gels. Back then dishwashing gels cost about 110 but Raj was selling them for only Rs 45, he gave the free samples to his friends and this is how Raj Shamani started the first business with only Rs 10,000.
The lesson is, you don’t need lakhs to start a business, you can just start with whatever you have.
Just Stop Overthinking
You all need to just stop overthinking and worrying about the consequences of every action that you take because thinking is like a prison and your success is the prisoner.
Once you set yourself free, once you stop giving things a second, third, or fourth thought, you break free. You will stop thinking and start doing.
Do all that you can because you’ve got just one lifetime to prove your worth. This is your only chance to build the lifestyle that you’ve always wanted. Do it, live it.
Nothing comes out of thinking about the same things again, again, and again. Stop it, now, and enjoy your life.
Stop Innovating, Start Copying
There are two ways to get rich
- Invent something new that doesn’t exist and people need it.
- Copy someone better, ex, BookiesTalk, Here I write book summaries but in a different way, I don’t write to please Google, I write what I am proud of.
It’s okay to copy, what’s not okay is copying the same exact thing. Learn from someone but do add your expertise too.
If you want to start a website like mine then do it now but do it in your way, don’t copy the way I write, or the way, I present the article.
How to be Successful
If you learn about one thing for just six months-complete one course, read two books, and read twenty blogs then you would be at least 10 percent better than the rest of the people around you.
There is no right answer to “how to be successful” the only answer is consistency.
If you do the same thing again and again then you will master it. Be it, writing, Video editing, public speaking, or anything else.
The key formula is to be consistent.
How to Price Your Product
Let’s say you are a writer. You decide to charge Rs 100 to write a book of 50,000 words, and twenty people are interested in hiring you. When there are twenty people, you know you can increase the price. Now you decide you can charge Rs 1000 for a book.
If there are twenty people ready to pay you for your work, you realize you can charge Rs 10,000. If there are ten people ready to pay you, you know you can charge Rs 10,00,000. Then you’ll be like okay, I have only one client now. Great! Even if only one client comes, it doesn’t matter, I can do it and it will still be worth it.
“You increase your price based on how many people are ready to pay you for your product.”
How to Grow on Social Media
Start what you love, in my case, I love reading books, so here, I’m writing articles and making videos about books.
When you love something and if you do that then, you will never get bored and if you don’t get bored then there is a chance that you won’t quit.
So again the same thing, consistency.
One more thing, start making what social media platforms want you to make.
For example, when Tiktok was banned in India, Instagram show the opportunity and added the Reals to their platform.
Now, you can’t say that I don’t like to make short videos, I’m okay with long videos. Look at it this way, if Instagram wants you to make short videos then make short videos, don’t just post photos.
So be relevant and make what is required and don’t just stick to one plan.
The Best Advice I can Give You
Don’t ask for advice is the best advice you can get.
Let’s say we meet in your city and you ask me, Rahul, “what is the best advice you can give me”
Instant you should ask me, “I recently started a new website and it’s been almost six months and I’m not getting any views or making money, what should I do?”
Now, that’s where I can give you advice because I’m running five websites, so I will be able to tell you what you’re doing right and wrong.
So whenever you meet your idol or the person you’re following for years, just ask about a specific problem and you will get a solution.
Build Don’t Talk Review
Build Don’t Talk feels more like Ankur Warikoo‘s Do Epic Shit book. It’s an article book but as this is written by YouTuber, you might able to connect with him.
Now, if you’re following Raj Shamani for years then you won’t get bored and you won’t put the book aside, just like I was about to do but I finished the book because I wanted to write this article and make videos.
The reason was simple, if any YouTuber published book, their subscribers will want to know about the book hance, and I will get views. Just like how Raj Shamani said in his book, it’s Give and Take Relationship.
Still, if you have any questions then feel free to comment, and I will chat with you right away. See you there. Also, I will add Amazon buying links, so still, if you want to buy Build Don’t Talk then just click on the links.
By the way, we also have a WhatsApp Channel, so if you love reading then it’s better to join the channel. And yes, it’s FREE…
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