The Power of Relationships Over Profit

Zajjad Zaheer's journey from a small Indian village without electricity to becoming a successful global textile entrepreneur captivates from the first moment. Born to a lower-middle-class family in Kerala where his father studied under kerosene lamps, Zajjad's path was shaped by determination and an unwavering commitment to relationships over immediate profit.

What sets Zajjad's story apart is his linguistic journey. Speaking six languages fluently, he didn't learn English until age 21, yet this didn't prevent him from ascending to leadership. After taking a three-day train to Mumbai for his first job paying merely $35 monthly, Zajjad chose stability and culture over a competitor's offer of double the salary. This decision proved transformative as he rose to become the second-highest paid employee within six years through his philosophy of making himself "indispensable" to the organization.

The founding of Scottic Designs in 2002 marked Zajjad's entrepreneurial leap, beginning with a $200,000 order for TJ Maxx through his former employer's connections. But success wasn't linear – after expanding to 200 employees, the business nearly collapsed in 2007. In a moment of profound risk, Zajjad sold his wife's car, left his pregnant wife with just $1,200 for emergencies, and flew to America seeking new opportunities. Through persistence and relationship leverage, he revitalized his business and eventually fulfilled his dream of opening a New York office in 2023.

Behind Zajjad's business acumen lies a commitment to philanthropy through the Muslim practice of zakat, giving 2.5% of profits to those less fortunate. His enduring friendship with his Jewish business partner Eric demonstrates how shared values can transcend cultural differences. Ready to transform your approach to business relationships? Follow Zajjad's example of persistence, integrity, and putting people before profits.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome to Real People, Real Life.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Welcome back to Real People, real Life, and we're now
in Charleston, south Carolina.
I want to welcome back my goodfriend and host of the show, mr
Ryan Shero Zajad.
Welcome to the United States,thank you.
You flew in from India just tosee me correct.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, Maybe a little bit of business to take care of,
but no, I was excited to meetyou.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
We went to dinner last night.
Turns out you are a good person, just like Eric said.
Oh, thank you, thank you.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
That went to dinner last night turns out you are a
good person, just like eric said.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
Thank you, thank you.
Um, that was a short flight,though, right short almost.
They can't even serve water andpeanuts, or you or you.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
Just you're good, you're, but two hour flight
three yeah, I went from new yorkto or from iowa to here.
This was like that.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
But then, yeah, how long a flight is that?

Speaker 3 (01:01):
um from india, so I flew to dubai, which is about
four hours from my city, andthen from there it's about 14 to
15 hours to New York orwherever it is, and then you
flew from New York to Charleston.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
That's not too bad, right A couple of hours.
Yeah, yeah.
India Very unpopulated country.
Very how many people live inIndia?

Speaker 3 (01:24):
Oh, we have just about 1.4 billion people.
That's it, oh wow.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
Yeah, and what area in India do you live North,
south?

Speaker 3 (01:32):
From the south side.
I was born and brought up inKerala, the smallest southern
state in India.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
And from there I moved to another southern city
to study my textile, and then Ilive in Bangalore right now,
Okay.
So, and from I moved to toother Southern city and to study
my textile, and then I I livein Bangalore right now, Okay.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
And so you're in textiles.
Appropriately enough, we're ina manufacturing, clothing
manufacturing office again thesecond time we've come here in
South Carolina remote.
Let's talk about the beginning.
As a child in India, you did,did when you were.
You speak English very well.

(02:09):
Oh, okay, eric says you speakmore than English and you speak
some Indian languages or otherlanguages.
How many languages do you speak?

Speaker 3 (02:17):
I speaks about six language and I can read and
write another one more, two moreactually.
Oh, wow, yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
I can speak one, that two more actually.
Oh wow, yeah, I can speak one,that's more than enough.

Speaker 3 (02:27):
Actually, the world speaks that language Not
necessarily anymore.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
It'd be beneficial to understand and speak more.
What's it like growing up inIndia?

Speaker 3 (02:36):
So I've you know, as I said, I was born to a very
small, lower middle class familyin India where you know, my dad
was one of the 11 children soand he was the oldest of you
know.
I mean, he had two, one brotherand one sister who passed away
before he.
You know he was born so he wasthe only graduate back in 60s

(03:00):
from my village and we had noelectricity at that point of
time.
My dad used to tell the storyof, you know he says like he has
to.
You know the little uh lamp,kerosene lamp so that's how he
studied and, I think, towardshis uh college.
You know, we started gettingthe street electricity so he
used to go under the street lampand study, and so that's how we

(03:22):
started off.
And then he was.
So I was the eldest of fourchildren, my, you know, I have
two.
I have twin sisters and abrother, so that's how you know.
I mean, that's where we startedoff and my dad worked hard and
he was a teacher in the initialpart of his uh career and then
he moved on to serve thegovernment and he was become an

(03:42):
executive officer in the smallcounty we call it in uh in india
.
So that's how it started off.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
And then was your childhood normal as far as that
town, that village?
Do you have a enjoyable, funchildhood?
Oh yeah, we had what was beinga child, like in that area of
the world.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
So for us it was like you know, it's a carefree world
and we didn't have any gadgetsand we had no TV.
We only had the luxury of aradio which kind of comes up, on
and off and you know, and thenso there's like music comes in
once in a week, so we used totune into the radio to listen to
that.
That was the big day.
Yeah, it's like a big day, Ithink it's all every Thursday or

(04:24):
every Friday and then new newscomes in like twice a day.
So, is it state sponsored news.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yeah, it's a state sponsored news.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
Yeah, so that.
And then we used to.
We played a lot of cricket.
I don't get the game, I watchit, I try to figure it out, I
don and 11,000 fools watching,but I can say no to it.
I mean it's one of our numberone sport.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
So I played a lot of cricket as a child Do you ever
think of being a a lot ofchildren playing sports.
Be like man someday, I want tobe a professional.
Do you ever think about being aprofessional cricket player?

Speaker 3 (04:57):
I wasn't really, like , you know, when I was, when I
grew up, there was a lot offriends of my.
My friends all played muchbetter than me and so I never
could.
Actually, I was always the lastman, you know, in the batting
or you know.
I could never get the balluntil I go to the college.
And I thought like I was fairlydecent, you know, and I got a

(05:18):
fair chance of leading the Ateam in my college and things
like that.
Yeah, I was always a goodplayer when, when I went to the
college, but back home I couldnever get a chance.

Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah, yeah, I was never good at anything.
They I ran track I was nevergood at anything with.
If I wasn't running and thenthey handed me something, I
would probably fall down.
I didn't have the hand eyecoordination.
So growing up in India, are youtaught to speak English?
Well, no, are you taught tospeak English like at first

(05:50):
grade?
I don't know what the gradesystem is like, but very first
day in school, no.

Speaker 3 (05:55):
So in India, back then, I've studied in Malayalam
medium, that's, my mother tongueis Malayalam, so we don't have
the English teaching untilfourth grade.
So in fourth grade they'llstart teaching you the alphabets
a, b, c, d, and they say a forapple, b for ball.
You know things like that.
So your exams are never written.

(06:16):
So the first uh, two, uh uhsection, they will ask you
what's your name, you know?
Oh, my name is sujata andthat's how you start doing it.
And so you, you learn until10th grade to read and write,
never speak.
So so when I went to, Ifinished my 12th grade and then
I went to do my um, you know, mytextile um, you the.

(06:38):
The medium was english, so butyou just barely understand.
You have to start writingthings that.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
Yeah, writing is much different than speaking.
I think it's the other wayaround for us.

Speaker 3 (06:48):
You know, I mean the same thing, even like Hindi, our
national language, wheremajority of the Indians speak.
You know, you learn to read andwrite, but you don't speak, you
know.
But it's handy when you're ableto probably understand things
like that.
So when I so, that's handy,when you are able to probably
understand things like that.
So when I so, that's I have.
I haven't spoken english until21, so I mean, in during my

(07:08):
college, we kind of speak brokenenglish and there's never
proper grammatical.
You know this thing, but the oncontrary, my dad spoke good
english and he taught spokenenglish to my village villagers
or people who that's what hisstrength was.
So that's, you know.
So but he didn't teach it in thehouse.
He used to.

(07:33):
But I think you know we hadthis thing where you know, and
for me it was against, you know,when he was trying to force to
us on it.
You stay away from that right,until I realized, I mean, you
know, when I, when I, went towork in Mumbai, that was my
first out of home after college?

Speaker 1 (07:45):
What was your job in Mumbai?

Speaker 3 (07:49):
I went to Mumbai.
It was like a three-day trainjourney from my village to
Mumbai, first time in a big city, and I had a friend who used to
be in my school and he invitedme to find a job in there.
So I went there and so I stillremember the day.
It's four o'clock in themorning and I get there.

(08:10):
I wasn't sure that he's goingto pick me up from the station.
You've never been to a big city.
You know, I've never been to abig city Couldn't speak English
or Hindi.
I mean, hindi is the languagein that part of the world speak,
which in that part of the worldspeaks.
So, basically, going to anothercountry, Absolutely In the
country.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely so.
But luckily for me there usedto be no phone calls or nothing.

(08:31):
So I sent him a telegram sayingthat I'm on this train reaching
so-and-so date, and I wasn'tsure whether he's got my
telegram.
So he picked me up and then wewent into this.
The way he lived was in a small.
It wasn't Because where he livedwas in a small, it was in a
slum you know, probably about100 square feet space where we
would take a shower, cook andsleep in the same space, Because

(08:53):
you know he was working, andthen that's the only place we
could afford to do it and it'sso.
So that's how I first startedoff in Mumbai, and what?

Speaker 1 (09:01):
were you in textiles when you were in Mumbai?

Speaker 3 (09:03):
Yeah, I finished my college.
I went there because I didn'tget a job.
So I that's that was to searchfor a job, you know, okay.
So he, um, he had a friend whoknows a friend, so that's how I
got to this, my first job.
And I remember the two weekslater.
So this guy said you come withme, I'll take you for a, an
interview.
So he, I didn't know him, so Ididn't even, I couldn't even ask

(09:26):
him what kind of a job it is, Ihave no idea.
So I walked behind this guy,took on a train.
It's about an hour and a halfon the local train.
This is like a differentversion of the New York subway
system.
It's just like the, you know,the whole train is like filled
with people, you know, in thesense, like it could be.

Speaker 1 (09:44):
With air conditioning right no.

Speaker 3 (09:47):
So it's about like a thousand people in a small, you
know.
So you go there and so he takesme to this place.
It's an interesting.
That's how everything startedand changed my life.
So he takes me to this smalloffice and where he was working
as a quality controller for thatoffice.
It's an American, new Yorkbased company where it was a
licensed office for the New Yorkcompany and so we manufacture

(10:12):
from different factories.
And so he tells, sit around,let me finish my work and then
I'll take you to a factory.
So I'm sitting there not knowinganything.
So as I'm sitting there, peoplewalking in it's a cool office,
everyone is like well-dressed,nice, spoke, nice English.
And you know I was sittingthere and I said I wish I got a
job here.
So you know I'm sitting in thesmall couch.

(10:36):
I still have the couch in myoffice now.
So this guy you know thereceptionist tells me he's
saying you know they're callingyou upstairs.
So I walk up.
There's this lady, you know,who's started interviewing me.
She's got my resume with herand so she started asking me
what do you do?
And you know.

(10:56):
So I said I've studied textiles.
You know the language I kind ofknew I mean broken English and
I know I was talking in severalthings which she asked me, I
couldn't follow but I keepsaying sorry, can you repeat
that again?
kind of a scenario, so, and sheasked me what kind of a salary
you need.
So I said three thousand rupees.
Uh, three thousand rupees intoday's terms is probably um

(11:19):
about, uh, forty dollars, youknow for a day no, for a month.
A month, yeah.
And immediately I correctedmyself.
I said it's negotiable.
So she probably would have ashock of her life and saying
there's a guy who's studied didyou know what the market was for
the?
Position.

Speaker 1 (11:38):
I had no clue, I had no idea let's assume well, could
you have survived on 3000rupees in Mumbai?

Speaker 3 (11:44):
yeah, assumed, well, could you have survived on three
thousand rupees in mumbai?
Yeah, I mean, I could barely doit um, I did got some help from
my dad, you know, for twomonths, but I still managed to
do it and still send home abouteight dollars for the second
month living on 32 a month, yeahso she gave you the three
thousand rupees.
So no, she, she still negotiateduh, five hundred rupees less,

(12:05):
so it was two thousand fivehundred.
So she took.
Then took me downstairs to thebig boss's office.
There was an american lady, hername is joyce, and the country
head was sitting down and andthat office not had, did not
have any, any, um, like textile,you know, graduates and things
like that, though they'veoperated on garments and things

(12:28):
like so I was a fabric expert,so they wanted an assistant who
can probably do like swatchingjobs and arrange the showrooms,
just like this and, you know,just wanted to hang things and
all that.
So they didn't wanted anyone.
So here is a guy who comes andstudied from textiles and
willing to do this job, and youknow so.
So they asked me like what kindof?
You know what you studied?
So I kept saying so the theamerican lady who was sitting

(12:50):
next to the corner of the.
She kept asking me in americanaccent.
I couldn't understand one wordof what she asked.
So, but I don't know, to mysurprise they said, okay, when
can you join?
I said right from now.
So, and I was, you know.
And then she said, okay, jointomorrow and the next.
So basically they were.
There was a set of customerswho was coming into the office,

(13:12):
so they wanted someone to helparound with managing things.
You know, that's how theyprobably would have thought okay
, this guy will take him off ifit doesn't work out.
Two months there's nothing tolose.
So I have to let the guy knowwho took me there said that I
passed through interview and Igot the job.
So I started searching for him.
So I couldn't find.
So I went back to thereceptionist and asked I wanted

(13:33):
to meet this guy.
So what can I do?
So he said just walk up to theother side.
His boss is on that, so you canfind him there.
So I went up and I told him Isaid I caught a job.
So he, um, I said I caught ajob.
So she asked me what's and whatkind of a salary you agreed for
.
So I said 2500 rupees.

(13:54):
So the next thing was like hegave me a big.
You know.
Like he said you're not goingto do that, I'm going to take
you to another factory where youcan probably get double the
amount of what they offered forand that's what my original plan
was.
This was just like a steppingstone yeah.
So I said no, I want to workhere.
So I said let me just see if Ican work it out and for six
months if it doesn't like it,and then I'll quit.

(14:14):
But the moment I walked intothat office I wanted to see if I
can work there.
You know that's.
It had that feel that.

Speaker 1 (14:20):
Yeah, it was, it was more than yeah.

Speaker 3 (14:22):
Yeah, you know, it had very positive vibes and
people were nice and there werea lot of young girls at that
point of time.

Speaker 1 (14:29):
I was 21 years old you know.

Speaker 3 (14:32):
So probably it is.
I mean, I don't know what mademe do that.
So, and finally he got upsetwith me and he said do whatever
you want to do it.
And you know I mean, it'sthat's your decision, it's up to
you, and you're going to regretit.
That's what he said.
So I started off.
I was a laughing stone for alot of people because I couldn't
speak english.
My accent was very different.
Did the company most of thecompany speak english?

Speaker 1 (14:54):
as the primary language.

Speaker 3 (14:55):
Yeah, that was the primary language and there was
and everyone come from a verydifferent background there and
then we used to work with the usoffice, so they they made sure
that people who speak on thefront line they can't speak
english right or you know,because they had to write faxes
during those days there was noemail system, so you have to
write faxes and things like that.
So, but for me I was never goingto be in the friend line for

(15:17):
them, so it was.
It didn't matter for them, youknow so.
So that's how I I got startedoff and initially everything was
like whatever I say, they don'tunderstand what they say I
don't understand.
I can't make a conversationwith them.
So I have to.
Literally, if I need to speakto my boss, I have to first
start framing words in my mindand I can just go speak only
that much and come back and sit.

(15:38):
You know, because they won't, Ican't if she asks me something
else.
I, even probably I wouldunderstand.
I can't you know.
Reply that, reply back.
Even probably I wouldunderstand.

Speaker 1 (15:47):
I can't, you know, reply that, reply back.
I actually get that because mywife speaks Spanish and I
understand a lot of Spanish, butI cannot have a conversation.
So I can get understand whatshe's when she's talking to
people.
I can, I can read a lot of it,but if we were to have a

(16:07):
conversation you ask me aquestion, I'd have to.
I can formulate an answer thatyou would understand.
And then if you came right backat me again, I'd be like oh,
you know, I don't know yeah.

Speaker 3 (16:19):
Yeah, that's a similar situation for me.
So, but then you know it was,it was a challenge for me to to
learn the language.
So I started listening topeople, you know, picking up
small little bit of vocabularyhere and they're starting to
apply that and starting to toread newspaper, read any books I
can get it those kind of things.
So that's how I starting totook it on me to like I just

(16:42):
wanted to make sure you knowthat I I learned and I wanted to
be like one of them.
Well, you did good, yeah, I hope.
So, I mean I I still haveproblems in you know, I, I am I
have problems speaking english.

Speaker 1 (16:53):
Actually the uh, yeah , you see, you got english, but
then you got seven others too,yeah, so I speak my, my mother
tongue, uh, which is malayalam,which is easy for me.

Speaker 3 (17:03):
I can read, write, speak, and then I speak, uh,
tamil, which is another southindian language.
Then I speak Tamil, which isanother South Indian language,
then I speak Telugu, which iswhere I studied.
I speak a little bit of Kannada, which is where I'm based right
now, and I speak Hindi and Ican understand a little bit of
Arabic.

Speaker 1 (17:20):
The Indian languages.
Are they similar enough?
No, so they're totallydifferent languages.

Speaker 3 (17:26):
So it's very different, so each dialects are
different.
Some words in certain languagesare common, but it's very
different meanings, so, but it'scompletely different to each
other.
So how would you?

Speaker 1 (17:37):
say hello in each of the Indian languages.
You know, hello is hello foreverything.
Really, I speak six differentIndian languages.

Speaker 3 (17:45):
Yeah, I know, I think , yeah, that's an interesting
question.
I never thought about it.
I think we say hello toeveryone.
I mean we do that.

Speaker 1 (17:52):
Well, look at that I can say I know hello in six
different English.

Speaker 3 (17:57):
Yeah, like for example, good morning is good
morning for us.
I mean we don't say inMalayalam like Shobh Dinam or
you know.
You know, I mean it's just,it's the same thing.
So I mean but in these daysit's a lot of English has been
used.
My office has common language.
We all speak English.

Speaker 1 (18:12):
So we went in there, got this job, 2,500 rupees,
which is now about $35 a month.
Yeah, you're still sending $8 amonth to the family.
The guy that kind of got youthe interview thinks you're an
idiot because he thinks he canget you out there and get five

(18:34):
thousand rupees, which would be,you know, that's huge if you
could live barely live off ofthe the 22,500 um.
But you had the vibe, youstayed.
How long did you stay?

Speaker 3 (18:47):
so, um, this was my only job.
Who I worked for, I mean?
So I started in 95, you knowwith that and then I grew up.
So here is an interesting thing.
So every opportunity I got Iworked hard for it, you know.
So the third month they send medown south to look after some.
You know some developments andthings like that.

(19:08):
So and I think I did good theygave me a raise for thousand
rupees in the third month.
So from 2,500, I went to 3,500in the third month and I was so
naive and I called up.
I still remember the boss calledme and said she called me, I
mean the country head.
She passed away and she calledme.
She used to call me son, youknow, like in hindi, beta, you
know.
So she said but I'm giving youanother thousand rupees raise.

(19:30):
So I was so innocent, I didn'teven know that.
I thought like she was going togive me a like a token of
appreciation for what I did.
So I asked her.
I said is it going to be it'sjust one time, or will I get
this like?
I was so innocent that way.
So she said she laughed and shesaid it's going be, you're
going to be.
Was that another like eight?

Speaker 1 (19:47):
bucks.

Speaker 3 (19:48):
Yeah, yeah.
So then in the seventh month,and this is in 90.

Speaker 1 (19:53):
95.
95.
I mean 95, I think.
Let's see that I can thinkabout this.
So in 89, the minimum wage was$3 and 85 cents an hour and in
90, it went to, I believe, $4.25an hour.
Interesting.

Speaker 3 (20:13):
Yeah, but I was happy , I was.
I was happy in Condon, I mean Inever.
I mean the only idea was not todepend on the parents to to
make your living, and so thatwas nice.
And you know I, still today Ifollow the principle of you know
, every salary I get and I, youknow, just part of that goes to
my mom or my dad, is no more.
So you know so, but it stillhappens that way, and so every

(20:38):
so you're smart and generous,we'll get into that.

Speaker 1 (20:41):
We were talking about that a little bit this morning.
I like the idea that you stillhave this couch.
How did you, how did that cometo be that?
That the couch you sat down on.
You said, okay, I'm leaving thecompany now.
I'm taking the couch with me,so you know as it's all.

Speaker 3 (20:57):
I think it's all destiny.
You know, I think I alwaysstayed very close to people,
from day one, you know.
I think you know whoever I metand I'm very loyal to, loyal to
people.
And you know the friend whogave me an opportunity to move
down to bombay and, you know,gave me a place to stay for the
first time, you know, to the guywho actually took me to find

(21:18):
the job.
He, you know, a few years laterhe came to work for me for
several years so you know sothat those kind of things, and
you know the person, um, shelives in new jersey now.
The person, the first time shegave me an opportunity to push
me into the friend line and told, recommended me saying that
this guy could probably do thejobs and so send him down south
to supervise this particularproject, you know.

(21:39):
So all of them are still a bigpart of my life and you know I
always stay close to them andyou know things like that.
So, yeah, and so the couchthing happened.
So when I first wanted to start,you know so, in 2000, the
company moved its headquartersfrom India, an Indian
headquarters, to Bangalore, fromMumbai.
So by then I become a big partof the company.

(22:02):
And the bosses in New York, youknow kind of knew my strength
and potential, so they made mestay close york, you know, kind
of knew my strength andpotential so they made me stay
close to you know their um, youknow part of their daily jobs
and things like that.
So they offered me to move downto to bangalore.
I wanted to do that because myparents you know my dad was
retired and I wanted to getclose to my family so it's, yeah

(22:24):
, it's much more easier.
So, rather than like two days ona train, I could probably get
to my parents overnight.
So that was one of my and plus,I think you know I and you know
, being from South, and I alwayshad my, you know, I mean, back
home I had a slightly hundredsquare feet, uh, you know, in a
room so you sleep on the floor,there's seven of them sharing

(22:51):
the room.
You know, it was like differentthings for me and I thought it
was always like you know, it wastime, for by then I was 26 and
I thought I wanted to startbuilding a little bit of my life
and, you know, starting to planmy, my.
So that's how I got in.
I got an opportunity to toactually move up in the career.
So that's how I got in.
I got an opportunity to toactually move up in the career.
So that's how I moved toBangalore.
So in 2000, I moved to Bangaloreand in 2002, I thought, okay,

(23:16):
probably it's time for me to dosomething, you know.
And then it just came from aspark.
I never intended to do businessand a friend of mine inspired
me and said you should dosomething about this.
You know, like you know, you'reso good at doing things and a
couple of other friends, he kindof inspired me to do something.
So the business really startedoff to help someone up front.

(23:36):
A roommate of mine who was inmumbai with me, who was a
graduate in textile school,wasn't doing well.
So when one of my trips downsouth with one of the factories
I met him and he said you know,I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm doing so bad
here and I wanted to get out ofthis place and come to a big
city.

Speaker 1 (23:51):
So by then, but this is the same company, right?
Yeah, I was still with the samecompany.
You, just when you say you weredoing bad, is that you were
financially.
You know he was doing.
I mean, he was I apologize.

Speaker 3 (24:01):
So I was actually doing.
I mean I.
By then I almost rose to thenumber four in the company.
So from in six years, and bythe time I quit in the seventh
year, I was the number twohighly paid employee in India.
How much 4,000 rupees.

Speaker 1 (24:16):
No, I was much higher .

Speaker 3 (24:19):
I was almost doing by then.
I was almost in today's world.
It's probably more than $1,000.
Back then in 2002.
So that was Big difference than40.
Absolutely, absolutely.
Probably more than thousanddollars back then in 2002.
So that big difference than 40,absolutely, absolutely.
So that's how I've.
You know the, I mean my companythrough hard hard work.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
I love, I love the dedication.
No, they gave me my firstchance at this job.
Plus, I like the atmosphere.
Your friend, or your friend, oryour the guy says you're a fool
, you know, make double.
No, I'm going to do my thingand in six years you're right to
the number four in the companyby not chasing the dollar or the
rupee, but the idea is look.

(24:55):
I have.
I want to make a difference inthe company.
So many people today go howmuch you know?
Instead of what can I do forthe company.
The question is what can you dofor me?
Yeah, how much am I going toget?
What are my benefits?
What are these and you know andthose?
They're out there, but it's thewrong attitude.
You should be bringing yourselfand selling yourself to the

(25:17):
company.
How can you improve the company?

Speaker 3 (25:25):
So I mean it's very interesting what you said,
because I have always wanted to,I've always loved my job.
I mean till today, I think aboutwork 24, seven you know so I,
I'm so passionate about what Ido and you know so I, every
opportunity I had, and I willalways want to add value to what
I do.
You know how different can youdo this, or what more values can
you add to do that?
That's how it's always been.
So, you know, and just being aperson who can't speak english,

(25:48):
I, you know I used to, like Isay I mean I become their number
one person to.
When you know, when you havecustomers traveling from the us
to india, so the flights landsin the middle of the night,
right so, and it's the firsttime for most of the americans
to come to india, a place whereyou don't speak the language,
they get intimidated becauseit's, you know, when, the moment
you get out of the airport,there will be like thousands of

(26:09):
taxi drivers trying to grab yourluggage and try to take you.
You know so it's it can getvery, very confusing and, you
know, overwhelming sometimes.
So the boss in the and you knowso they used to send me down to
the airport to pick thosecustomers.

Speaker 1 (26:23):
So I used to stand there with the names of the
customers you know, say alongwith the no english to the guy
who speaks the english.

Speaker 3 (26:29):
Yeah, so the next morning when you walk in there
for the meetings, I would betheir best friend.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
So I used to be like an uh, like a company ambassador
trying to you know that's agreat way, though, because you
know the travel and all this,and then you're going to a
company you know, and thenthere's a friendly face, yeah,
somebody that welcomed you, andthen, all of a sudden, you also.
Not only is's a friendly face,yeah absolutely Somebody that
welcomed you and then, all of asudden, you also.
Not only is he a friendly face,but he's just not the driver.

Speaker 3 (26:50):
Yeah, he's actually kind of high up in the company.
Yeah, that's pretty great yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:54):
That'd be fantastic.
What a great way to beintroduced.
That would be fantastic.

Speaker 3 (27:00):
So it was so nice to you know.
So all that In 2002, when Isaid I wanted to do something
and I, you know my theory eventill today whoever I work with,
I wanted to make sure that I'mindispensable.
Right, I tried to make themdependent on me.
So, in the sense, like in myown way, you know, in the sense
like I kind of give them morethan what they want.

(27:21):
Sometimes people say that's abad thing to do.
For me it's always knowledgesharing or, you know, making
them look good in front of theirbosses or their competitors is
always my theory.
So by then I knew, and I I kindof developed a culture in the,
you know, in the area where Iwas doing, though I was actually
the fabric, you know,technologist and my job was to

(27:42):
do more of textile, but thecompany always throw me down for
presentations, for garmenting.
They used to send me down toHong Kong, they flew me down to
the US and say, okay, here is aguy who can probably speak about
, you know, fabrications andtechnical side of it and things
like that.
So you know.
So that then when I wanted todo something on my own, very

(28:04):
reluctantly, they, on my own,very reluctantly.
They said what you guys want todo.
So I I didn't want to competewith the company or I had no
idea about the, the technicalside of garmenting then.
So I want, I said I want to dosomething in home furnishing.
You know so.
So you know.
My boss asked me, said what,what kind of home furnishing are
you talking about?
Show me something, what you candesign for.
So I did something, which isyou know, I put together a nice

(28:26):
package and different things andI showed to her and she then
went and sold that to TJ Maxx.

Speaker 1 (28:32):
Oh, my goodness.

Speaker 3 (28:33):
Yeah, so that's how my company was born.
So they gave me an order.

Speaker 1 (28:37):
Oh sold it to TJ Maxx as a customer.

Speaker 3 (28:40):
Yes, oh.

Speaker 1 (28:42):
I thought you meant she went behind your back and
sold your idea to TJ Maxx.
No, no, no, oh, wow, how coolis that yeah.

Speaker 3 (28:49):
She sold the product to TJ Maxx and through her
company.
And she said so how do youexecute this?
So that's how you know.
And I said, okay, I mean, Isaid you have to give me a
letter of credit.
So she gave me a letter ofcredit for $200,000.
Then that was my first order.
So the company believed in me.

(29:10):
She gave me an order.

Speaker 1 (29:12):
Oh, my goodness, yeah , oh, my goodness.
So from making $1,000 a monthto being trusted so much that
they give you a line of creditfor $200,000.

Speaker 3 (29:28):
Yeah, wow, if you were a dishonest man you could
just take that money and run andlive forever so that's how the
scottic design was born and umso you know what is the name of
the company.
Again, scottic designs excellentyeah okay, so, um, so then I
didn't have any.
I had no clue, I mean, otherthan I know how to make the

(29:48):
product.
I did not know how to executethis.
So I then called you know, thesame people who brought me into
the industry.
So I called that guy, my friendwho took me.
His name is sunny, so I calledhim and by then he had no jobs.
So he said, okay, I'll write to, I'll come to and help you out.
So he came in from mumbai.
Then a couple of other seniorpersons by then, who retired to,

(30:09):
came and joined me.
They came out of retirement.

Speaker 1 (30:10):
yeah, so they came and joined me, they came out of
retirement, yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:12):
So they came and joined me and they executed it
for me.
So, and then by 2003, when thecompany was almost I mean the
company who I worked for I hadalready quit, then you know.
And then I went back as aconsultant for them because they
couldn't really figure outwithout me.
So I went, worked for them as aconsultant for about six months
, parallel running my company,and you know so.

(30:35):
Then when they wanted toactually kind of shut down and
they offered me a lot of thingswhat I did use for and I said I
want a couch, so they gave me acouch and they gave me a like a
grid which is still I have inthe office.
They gave me a color box like alight box.
We call it just to check colorsand a few things.
I still have those position inmy in my office.
That's a great story.

Speaker 1 (30:55):
Yeah, so what year was it when you started the
company?
It was 2002.
That's a big risk.
Yes, I mean you had a jobmaking decent money.
Yeah, you could survive.
Still send money back home, yes, maybe have a little bit of fun
.
It's not wealth or anything,but you know, would that have

(31:16):
been considered middle class?

Speaker 3 (31:19):
Yeah, I think I guess so, because by then, you know,
I was this 27-year-old guy, youknow, making a decent amount of
money, flying around in businessclass, staying in five-star
hotels across the world whenevertheir company sent me.
So when I first wanted to, Iput up the idea to my parents
and I said I wanted a kid.

(31:39):
They were in shock.
They said why are you doingthis?
In saying that you are theblue-eyed boy for this company
and you are the number twoposition of the this thing and
you have blessings of the.
You know the bosses from the usand they fly you to the us.
They're flying you to the hongkong and you know, I mean I was
traveling everywhere.
You know, I mean I always hadan opinion about what they
wanted to do and you know, Imean I was pretty much very good

(32:00):
by then.
You know, in the sense of, theyhad a shock of their life and
saying don't do this.

Speaker 1 (32:04):
Most people do, yeah, most people do, and a lot of
times it's the people closest toyou because, whether it's out
of their own fear, yes um a lotof times it's out of fear of the
they're, they're, they'recomfortable, that you're
comfortable.
Yeah, and if you getuncomfortable, it'll make them
uncomfortable.
So say don't, don't messanything, people don't like.
Change you.
You, you come from making asteady income flying all over

(32:28):
the world to two hundredthousand dollars in debt.
Yeah, in a business you don'tknow how to execute.
Yeah, you, in a business youdon't know how to execute.
You know the product, you don'tknow how to execute it.
See, this is what people don'tsee when people start businesses
.
They don't see the risk, youknow, and a lot of businesses
fail.
That's a huge risk you took.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
Yeah, I mean, actually I wasn't really
thinking ahead.
All my focus was to execute.
You know the opportunity I'vegot and if I do it well, and I
thought I would probably able todo it and and we did the first
three years I mean.
So my brother was also agraduate in textile, so he
joined you know, I joined me andyou know we started together
the company and in 2002, 2005,we did very high.

(33:14):
I mean that's one of our topyear in three years.
But then we tanked.
So that's the downside.
I mean we started havingproblems and we grew too fast
probably.
And then we had this young kidsand he was five years younger to
me and he was handling all thecash and you know I was focusing
on product and you know theface of the company, and so we
made a lot of mistakes early onin our life in terms of business

(33:36):
and you know, then we wanted toset up a small factory, so we
didn't go to the bank to takemoney and you know we had our
own money, so we just startedusing all the cash, what we had,
and you know we couldn't.
We just couldn't handle it.
So in 2005 to we had problemsand you know, being being the
best of the year.
And then you know, I mean, it'sjust like it was.

(33:56):
You know, all problems startedoff then in 2006 onwards and
then finally, in 2007, I shutdown the factory and I told my
brother, I said, let's both ofus not suffer, you know, I mean
then family was involved interms of, like, they were
worried about it and it was toomuch chaos at that point of time
.
And so, you know, and thenfamily was involved in terms of
like they were worried about itand there was, it was too much

(34:18):
chaos at that point of time.
And so, you know, I let mybrother go, I took on all the
debts and things like out in thecompany and I said, so we
shrunk.
So in 2008 we were about 200people in the company, wow so,
and I, I shrunk to six a-memberteam.
That's a huge drop in business,yeah, yeah.
So then we moved to a smallerplace, so I cut down everything
and I changed, I remodeled, soby then my son was born in 2002.

(34:45):
And so I did not know what todo and I said okay, and at one
point, when I shut down thefactory and I said, okay, maybe
it's time to go back and revivethe connection to the US.
So the only the last asset,what I had, was my my wife's car
, so I sold that.

(35:07):
And that's the that's the secondpart of my, you know so and I
and she was pregnant again.
So I said okay, I put a hundredthousand rupees in her bank and
account and I said this is theonly money I have for you to,
you know, for your medicalemergencies and things like that
, and I took a ticket for Ithink it was $800.

Speaker 1 (35:26):
And let's remind the American listeners how much is a
hundred thousand rupees at thetime in dollars.

Speaker 3 (35:34):
About a thousand,200, maybe Because the value changed
, then yeah.

Speaker 1 (35:40):
It's all the money we got 1,200.
Yeah, and you're pregnant andwe have a son.

Speaker 3 (35:45):
Yeah, and the business is falling apart and
the business is falling apart.
So I have a mentor from day onein my business and he's still
with me.
His name is Mr Anian.
So he's always stood by methick and thin and so I've told
him.
I said I wanted to go and seeif I can do something back and,
you know, get into the US sideof it.

(36:06):
And so I was always in touchwith people who liked me, with
people who liked me, and so I,you know, I took, I took a
flight over there, stayed in asmall hotel in new jersey and I
did not know anyone else backthen and about six days later I
had didn't go anywhere, Icouldn't get the contacts I
could establish, and all that.
So I still remember.

(36:27):
I mean, you know, in new yorkyou get this quarter, you put
the quarter and you, you dialthe coins.
And so I I spoke to one of myum, you know person, uh, her
name is Cheryl.
I mean, she's still in touchwith me and you know.
So she said why don't you callthis man Peter Mui?
You know he's um, he, I met himonce before and I helped him a
little bit on his side of thebusiness when he had some issues

(36:49):
and all that.
And so he said why, why don'tyou just speak to him?
So I tried to speak.
I tried to call him everysingle day, the day I landed and
the last.
Then, if I'm going backtomorrow, I said one last
attempt because I couldn't havethe money to change my flights
or anything, right?
So I said, hey, pete, I mean hepicked up the phone.
He had a cell phone by then.
He said so, he calls me jazzbecause he couldn't pronounce my

(37:11):
name sajad.
So, like you, just you and ericcalled me z, they call me jazz.
You know?
I mean, he's a very huge guyand he said he always had a very
you know hey jazz, you know whydon't you get here?
you know, I mean you know in adifferent voice.
So I I walk up to the officeand I said, um, things changed
again.
He said, um, he always had highregards for me because whatever

(37:35):
the little bit of help I didfor you know, in terms of work.
So he said when are you goingback?
And I said I'm leaving tomorrow.
So he said you need to stay foranother two days.
So I'm going to put togetherthis package for me and I'm
working with Harley Davidson.
You know they like my productand I want you to work with me
on this.
You know they like my productand I want to work with, I want,

(37:55):
I want you to work with me onthis.
So I mean, I couldn't say thatI have no money to extend my
trip, and you know.
So I called back Sheryl and Isaid what do I do?
She said you have to dosomething to stay back and you
know.
So somehow I managed to extend,you know, the hotel for two
days and change my ticket.
I called back and my my mentorand I said listen, you need to
change my ticket for two moredays and this could be something

(38:17):
for us.
So he gave me, you know.
So I, he gave me all theartworks and so I went back.
I flew back with it and it wasliterally two weeks.
He said I want you to.
I have a show coming up in lasvegas.
Really, I want you to.
My designers are working ontheir product.
I want you to come up with youriterations of it, of this right
.
I mean I want you to.
My designers are working ontheir product.
I want you to come up with youriterations of it, of this right
.
I mean I want you to do whatthe designer is asking for it,
but I'm giving you a free handto see what you can come up with

(38:39):
differently.
So that.

Speaker 1 (38:41):
So you don't actually have a deal, you have an
opportunity.
I just have an opportunity.

Speaker 3 (38:45):
There's nothing promises nothing happens.
You know they were alreadydoing with their sources.
It's time to just test me outof India.
That's all they did.
So I went back.
Um, you know, I took and I saidagain I, I mean, I had to go
down to the factories.
I stayed in the factories forthe next 12 days, got this line
developed.
So now how do I do it?
It was like just three daysbefore the Las Vegas show.

(39:07):
So I called him back and I saidlisten, I have the products
getting ready and if I ship ityou won't get it.
He said you fly down with theproduct and I'll pay you for
your flights.
So I flew back with the line intwo and a half weeks later and
so the flights were all booked.
So I walk into the office, Istarted opening.
He likes wow, you know, it'sjust.

(39:31):
He started liking the product,the product, and he said you're
going with me to vegas, you know.
So he booked a flight and hetook me to vegas.
I saw the real world, you know.

Speaker 1 (39:38):
Then you thought so we got some orders there.

Speaker 3 (39:43):
Then he said I said I don't have money to execute it.
He said how much do you need it?
I said I need to pay salariesfor my employees and I probably
need to board.
He said you can pay me on mycommission.
But so he started giving melike two thousand dollars for
six months and he took it offfrom my commissions later on.
So I executed the order andthen I got started back again
into the us with the connectionsand then you know just from

(40:06):
there a couple of you know tripslater.
Then I met eric things changed.

Speaker 1 (40:11):
Yeah, I know, your life went backwards when you met
him.

Speaker 3 (40:13):
I bet.

Speaker 1 (40:14):
What a terrible, terrible person to meet.
No, I'm just kidding.
Eric Krawcheck was one of ourguests.
He's amazing, amazing guy.
Yeah, and we're actually in hismanufacturing office here in
Charleston, south Carolina Not abad place for me to fly out to.

Speaker 3 (40:27):
Absolutely not.

Speaker 1 (40:35):
To meet you guys and hang out and do the podcast.
How did that?
Talk to me about meeting Ericand how that helped contribute
to your business, the firstmeeting and et cetera.

Speaker 3 (40:41):
Oh, it's been, it was interesting.
So I was in.
So after I started off withPeter Mui and a couple of years
later he passed away, you know,I mean he was, things were going
very well between for us, forboth of us, and he used to call
me from different parts of theworld and he said, hey, jess, I
mean you know we go to work onthis.
And so one one morning I got acall um, you know, saying,

(41:02):
saying that I'm in, I am in umla, and I said I just got off
the meeting with the worldbusiness chairman, we got a line
to work to work on that, andI'll call you back with more
information tomorrow.
So be ready for it.
You know, just we're kickingthis off.
So you know he's very, and hesaid okay, bye, you know that's
how he talks, and so so I saidokay, I mean just let me know

(41:27):
how he wants to him.
By then Cheryl calls me and shesaid Patriot is gone.
So I said I know he's, he'straveling, I know he's not in
New York.
And I spoke to him last night,I mean yesterday.
I said he's no more.
So I was shocked.
I mean I know what to dobecause you know things started
coming down on me again.
I said the things starting tospread the guy then he died.
Yeah, he, I mean he, he had amassive after attack and he

(41:50):
walked into the uh, into theknow, to the hotel lobby and he
collapsed and he's gone.
He was 55 then.
Oh, my goodness, yeah, it waslike.
You know, I mean I still havegoosebumps and you know he's the
one who actually kind of put meback into the map and brought
me back into it and nice guy.
And you know I mean people usedto love him for things and you

(42:13):
know I used to fly into indiabring gifts for my kids and, you
know, like very uncanny way oftouching people's life you know,
that's what he did.
I mean, in a way he was it'sjust like from.
You know, I was going backwithout empty-handed and then
took me back into into businessand, you know, paid more for my
salaries and things like thatwas was a great guy.
So things started slowing downa little bit again and I can't

(42:36):
lose hope.
And so one of the trips toVegas I was helping a friend's
friend who wanted to do someshoes out of India.

Speaker 1 (42:47):
So he said okay.

Speaker 3 (42:48):
I mean I'm a product guy, I can develop anything.
So I said okay.
So he said why don't you comeand visit me in Vegas and so you
can see how the show looks likeand all that?
And so it's a necessary show,not necessarily anything to do
with garments and things likethat.
So I was in the booth with himand he said there's a garment
show happening right behind thebuilding.

Speaker 1 (43:08):
So you were in a convention the show that was not
related to garments.

Speaker 3 (43:11):
Not related, yeah.

Speaker 1 (43:12):
But you were interested because you're a
garment guy.

Speaker 3 (43:13):
So I walked around.
So because with the same youknow, you can walk around the
show and I saw everything islike sports, you know, like
sports dress, pants and sportscoat and things like that, which
I don't do.
So this is one little you knowbooth which has patch mattress,
you know, which is necessarilycomes only out of India.

(43:34):
You know it's just like it's a,it's a, it's a shorts, which is
.
You know, you, you make allthis fabrics and you, you patch
them together and then you sewit together and you know you
make shorts out of it orproducts out of it.
So I woke up to the to this umgentleman and I said um, I said

(43:58):
I started to introduce again.
I mean, I, you know, I, I stillhave problems with my language,
so I I have to be very carefulabout how I say something
because I don't, I'm not anatural guy who can go and make
strike a conversation.
I got better out of it now andyou know I tried, tried to
strike a conversation.
Thank you so much.
So so I I told, you know, Ikind of rehearsed a little bit
and I said I walked up with thecourage and I said, listen, I do
some kind of products similarto what I do.
So he asked me who do you makethat for?
You know, I mean Eric, wasn'tthere in the booth at that point

(44:19):
of time.
His person, you know, he usedto handle his sales system, his
name is Shane.
So I said the competitor's name, without knowing that these
guys know each other.
Okay, so immediately hisreaction was you are the guy I
was looking for, really, yeah.
So he said, um, so the the nextthing.

(44:39):
He said hang on, and he calls,he picks up the phone, gets so
eric.
And said eric, hey, there's agentleman from here in, from
india, you might be interestedto see him.
So eric walks in, doesn't askany questions.
He asked me which part of indiayou're from he's familiar with
the different factories yeah, sohe's.
Uh, so I wasn't.

(44:59):
I had no clue why this.
What kind of question is that?
You know, I said.
And then I was kind of takenback and I don't know where to
answer his.
His next question come.
He said if you say you're fromthe north, I've been looking for
an indian from the North ofIndia.
So no, I said okay.
Then I sensed that there couldbe something in there and I said
you know?
I said, I said, luckily, I'mfrom the South so, and I didn't

(45:22):
realize that Eric is also fromthe South of it.
I mean no offense to peoplefrom different part of the.

Speaker 1 (45:26):
you know I'm just, but he was familiar with the
factories in the south so that'sthen we started going into a
conversation and um so, um.

Speaker 3 (45:35):
So he said what do you have?
I mean, what kind of productyou make for you know the other
guy so and I put him in the map.
Initially, I mean, he wasn'tthe guy who was, so I was.
So it's all destiny, it's allkarma.
You call it as right.
So I was trying to look, I wastrying to get away from that
person because, you know, hiscommunication was very different
.
He used to abuse on the email,he used bad words on the emails

(45:58):
and you know, I mean, you usethings for fun, but you can't
use it on official language,sort of things.

Speaker 1 (46:04):
So I always had this feeling that it's demeaning also
if he's doing that to thepeople that are actually
manufacturing the product forhim, and that's not a good
relationship.

Speaker 3 (46:15):
Yeah, I mean I'd say, people all have different words
of communicating.
You know, I mean it's just likeI have no offense for people.
I mean, you know, in France youalways use like you know.

Speaker 1 (46:24):
Yeah, that's different.
We call that busting balls andthat's fun.
But, in business, there's alevel of respect and
relationship building that youmust have.

Speaker 3 (46:34):
This person wasn't a good person.
So he used to, like you know, Imean, I'm a, you know, I'm
necessarily a sourcing company,you know.
Like you know, people comesthrough us to get to the other
side of it.
So if I take him to a factory,that person used to just start
to establish a direct contact.
I always, always, was insecureabout it.

(46:54):
And then I go to a point wherehe hasn't started paying back,
you know, and so I wanted to getaway from him.
So that's when, um, so I gotinto and I started showing some
product and we hit it offinstantly, you know, and then,
um, a season later, eric startedcoming to india and then, you
know, earlier this morning wewere talking about, you know,
those manufacturers, you knowstealing product and all that.
So in the last 14 years and Ihaven't gone to any of his

(47:17):
competitors and even though Ihad opportunity to work with
people in the similar businesseson doing so, I have not done
any men's product for anyoneelse.
Whether it was good or bad, Ialways stood by it because I
didn't want to have the conflictof interest.
Absolutely not good or bad.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
I always stood by because I didn't want to have
the conflict of interest, or youknow, absolutely not, and you
know you have.
You have a responsibility toprotect your customers.
Yeah, and if you dilute theirproduct or damage their brand
because you're just chasing abunch of dollars, or you know
that's just like you're gonna.
You're gonna lose in the end,yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (47:49):
And loyalty pays in dividends um outside of money
yeah, I mean I think you know,see, and for me I never chase
money, you know, for me it wasalways about, you know, building
a relationship which can, which, uh, you know, I mean for me
again, the business comes, youknow, second.
Um, it's always a relationship.
It's always about you know.

(48:10):
You know, I mean I think that'swhy, and I think when I, when
you go and see you know, eric'salways about you know, you know,
I mean I think that's why.
And I think when you go and seeyou know Eric's family, I mean
you know, so he, they think I'mpart of the family you know.
So that's how I mean it's forme, my kids, it's the same thing
for Eric, I mean they call Ericuncle you know, so that's how
it is, and then when you guysneed to get down to business,
you get down to business.

Speaker 1 (48:31):
Oh, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (48:32):
I mean it's again.
It's a very thin line and Inever cross the line, never.
When we talk about business,when we talk about issues, we
have a fair amount of problemsoff and on Because it's
manufacturing.
There's a lot of things whichcan go wrong.
You deal with people who don'tunderstand English.
Sometimes they mix up thingsyou know in manufacturing.

(48:54):
You don't even realize it untilthings comes up maybe three
months later, six months later.
But we always figured out andyou know we.
We had our ups and downs andbut we stayed.
You know together each other,we solved problems and you have
great.

Speaker 1 (49:07):
You have great character and I just met you
yesterday.
But Eric talks highly of youand I loved you right away.
You're just a great guy, butyou have character.
It just emanates from you.
You know, even when you weremaking nothing at the first
factory, you were loyal to thembut you consistently sent money
back.
You take care of.
You know you actually do whatyou say.

(49:30):
You know a lot of people go Idon't chase the dollar, I'm not
chasing money when they factactually are.
We need money to survive.
I mean this is something.
But money's really good forthree things, right, it's good
for paying our bills and eatingroof over our head, investing
and saving and giving it away,helping people.

(49:51):
What else are you going to dowith it?
You know, wallpaper your house.
You do all of those things youknow, and one of the things you
do is philanthropy, and you'vecontinued to to provide for your
family.
But you also help those inIndia that aren't necessarily

(50:11):
able to help themselves yeah, Imean it's.

Speaker 3 (50:16):
It's again, I think it's as a human, you know um,
you come to this world with apurpose, right?
Sometimes you don't know whatthat purpose is, sometimes you.
So you know it's.
It's always in in the business.
I mean, you know um, I'm, I'm aMuslim, so you know it's.
It's always in in the business.
I mean, you know um, so I'm, my, I'm a muslim, so you know, my
beliefs are slightly differenton certain things.
Like you know, we have areligious tax which we call the

(50:38):
zakat, you know, which isvoluntarily.
I mean, it is, it's a it's,it's not a voluntary, sorry,
it's, it's not a thing where youhave an option.
It is you have to make surethat you pay for it.
So it is the 2.5%.
What you do is, you know it'safter all your debts and after
the profit, what you make, andyou know, based on your needs,

(51:00):
and then you need to pay thatback.
And always, we always did that.
You know, from day one, you know, and my parents came from a
very humble, you know,background.
My, you know, and my parentscame from a very humble
background.
My dad was, you know.
He taught us the world and howwe need to probably live our
life and there is less fortunatepeople out there.
You know you need to take careof them and you know you just
have to.

(51:20):
I mean, our religion also saysthat if your neighbor is hungry
and you are eating food, you'renot a Muslim, right?
So you just?
I mean, it's just basicallyevery religion tells you same
thing in a different ways.

Speaker 1 (51:32):
Yeah, yeah, you know so it was interesting because we
all went to dinner last night.
We had a great time.
We had a muslim, a jew and achristian, absolutely, and we
all had a great time, had agreat meal, laughed, laughed,
told stories.
Yes, I mean, you're bestfriends with Eric.
He's a Jew, you're a Muslim.

(51:53):
I intend to become more of afriend of you because I just
like you.

Speaker 3 (51:56):
Thank you so much.
He's a good guy.

Speaker 1 (51:57):
Yeah, and it's like why can't the world be like that
?
You know, why can't their innercharacter express outward and
just look after each other forwho they are, not what they
claim to be, absolutely theactual person, what you look at
them, look at their merits, whatare they actually saying versus
what they actually are doing?

(52:18):
Yeah, and we think we'd have alot more peace in this planet if
we did that.
You know, I mentioned earlierand I just thought of it, but
I'm like you know there's onlyone time.
And then you said twice, whichactually I agree with you, but
you said there's only one timein the world that all humans are
the exact same.
And that's the very first breaththey take.
But as soon as that breath isexhaled, things change.

(52:42):
Now they're where they wereborn, the parents they're born,
the situation they were born in.
And then so everyone has aunique path, including people in
their own family.
You know, you see twins andthey're completely different
people Absolutely different yeah, because of whatever it is you
know on the twins.
It's not genetics, yeah, so it'sjust the environment and how

(53:04):
they respond to it are allindividuals.
We need to hold peopleaccountable for the person and
you know their actions and whothey become and literally judge
people by what they do and notjust by what they say.
You had a dream with thisbusiness to someday get to New

(53:26):
York, yeah, and Eric mentionedit to me just before we got onto
the podcast.
But did that dream ever cometrue?

Speaker 3 (53:36):
Yes, absolutely, very , very recently actually.
I mean, it's just like so.
So the first time when Istepped, my first trip to New
York was 1999, you know, withthe company.
And so, and I, the moment Istepped into this land and I
said, okay, one day I wanted tohave an office here, just like
the way, you know, my, mycompany, who I used to work for,
had it.
You know, I mean by by then Ididn't have a sense of like

(53:59):
saying that, okay, maybe Ididn't have a business idea, but
then I wanted to have some.
You know, you know, to beassociated with new york is like
a bigger, better version ofmumbai, where I first started my
, my life.
You know, it's the, you know,the chaos kind of excites me,
you know, and the kind of likemy, my family always like jokes
about it.
Oh, new york is your secondhome and you know, recently my,

(54:21):
my family was here for the firsttime, my wife and my youngest
son.
My older one was always here,he went to the college here so
he came for the graduation, soit was first time.
So I took them to new york andthen and she said the whole of
you know 12 days when wetraveled around I wasn't happy
and the moment I go to new york,I was very happy.
So you know, and I kind of knowthe survey system just in the

(54:43):
now new york has it's.

Speaker 1 (54:45):
It's a extremely unique city.
It has yes, it could be its owncountry.
Yes, it's so unique and thenwithin New York, it's so
different the state of New Yorkis so different from the
different boroughs to upstateNew York.
It's an amazing state as far asthe diversity and the cultures.

Speaker 3 (55:02):
Absolutely yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:05):
You go to Manhattan.
It's different than StatenIsland.

Speaker 3 (55:07):
It's different than Long Island, absolutely yeah,
it's different than Staten.

Speaker 1 (55:09):
Island.
It's different than Long Island.
It's different than the Bronx.
It's just crazy how it is.
My family is all from StatenIsland, so it's its own culture
there as well.
I'm not from there, obviously,I don't have a Staten Island
accent.

Speaker 3 (55:22):
But my family is Well .
Congratulations, Thank you somuch.
So we started a little smallplace in March.
So we have a small office ofScottic Designs in New York now,
which I'm very proud of.

Speaker 1 (55:34):
Which I need the address because I need to send
some product for you to designfor me.

Speaker 3 (55:39):
So it's been a long journey.
I mean it's from 2002 to theups and downs and I've been
through the grill and so youknow.

Speaker 1 (55:49):
The bottom line is persistence, yes, willing to do
the hard work, negotiating theups and downs of business.
So many people that don'tunderstand business just think
oh, you own your own business,you're rich.
No, nope, it's not.
As a matter of fact, when youstarted your business, you were
in debt $200,000.

Speaker 3 (56:09):
Yes, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (56:10):
You were literally broke.
Yes, and there is no linearline in most businesses.
It's a roller coaster.
Absolutely, absolutely, andthere's only so much you can
control.
You can't control the economy.
You can't control your owncustomers going bankrupt?
Yeah, the economy.

(56:32):
You can't control your owncustomers going bankrupt.
You know we've had that happento us, where we put a lot of
money into a company and thatthey owe us or that they owe us
and next thing you know, sorry,gone.
You know you lose hundreds ofthousands of dollars and there's
nothing you can do about it.
And if you ever do get paid youknow pennies on the dollar,
yeah, absolutely do get paid.

(56:52):
You know pennies on the dollaryeah, absolutely.
So you know most people don'tsee the whole story and this is
why I like having people on likeyou, taking the three-day train
to a city you'd never been to,on the advice of a person to
potentially find a job, toeventually get the job and then
told you're an idiot for takingthe job because it was too
little and staying at that onecompany, learning all that you

(57:15):
learned yes and saying I'm thengoing to go out and do this on
my own and success.
Yeah, it's a great success story.
Thank you so much, z.
Thank you for coming.
Thank you so much.
This is a of fun.
It's an honor to be here withyou.
When I go to win, I go to India.
Sure, I'll make sure you pickme up at the airport.

Speaker 3 (57:36):
You're only successful.
Yeah, All right, thank you somuch.
Thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (57:40):
You've been listening to Real People, Real Life.
Our passion is to have realconversations with real people
who've made it.
Real people who've made it whodid it on their own terms.
We'll be back soon, but in themeantime, catch us on Twitter or
X at RPRL Podcast and onYouTube at Real People Real Life

(58:04):
Podcast.