How an MBA grad became a marketplace millionaire by selling umbrellas

Before you read: some questions to help you think about the topic and the words you might need.

Do you think someone can become rich selling something like umbrellas? How?

Why do you think someone with an MBA would  choose to sell umbrellas on the street?

An umbrella, as we know it today, is primarily used to protect us from the rain and sunlight. But unlike many, Pratik Doshi saw the opportunity to build an entire business on selling umbrellas. For someone who has made a revenue of more than $50,000 in about two months by selling umbrellas, Pratik welcomes and embraces the rain with excitement that nobody else can know.

Pratik has been through the roller-coaster ride of entrepreneurship with very difficult experiences of time. The feelings of success and failure.

Turning the tables

Pratik started a company called Cheeky Chunk in 2014 when he advertised and promoted a few umbrellas in a small market. Because of the great response, he decided to start a company selling unique designer umbrellas at easy to afford prices and decided not to take a job after his graduation.

He says he got this idea for two reasons – It wasn’t done by anyone before, giving him an opportunity to a mostly untapped market. Secondly, he could not live with the monotony of a day job where he says he would have to work to make someone else rich.

Pratik remembers friends talking about him when he could not hear and laughing at his plans. They were ridiculing the idea since none of them thought of selling umbrellas for a living. While all his MBA friends enjoyed big paychecks at a desk job with little worries, Pratik was hustling throughout the city with nothing but a small amount of money and a smart idea that needed starting.

He was able to get 500 umbrellas manufactured and sold through friends and family. Pratik invested his savings of about $2,000, which he earned by tutoring in his college days, for validating the idea. This money was spent on designing, manufacturing his product and developing the website. The idea was validated, but he hardly earned any money.

After the season, when he was jobless, he was told by people that the ‘time-pass’ was over, and he needed to get a real job now. What his friends earned in a month or two in their comfortable desk jobs, he earned through hard work, hustling and giving his full effort for more than half a year. There were times when even he thought, is it worth it?

However, the tables have turned now.  What a regular MBA would earn in two years, Pratik earns that much working for just three months of the year only from selling umbrellas.

Try to guess the meaning of the words in bold and match them with their closest meaning from the choices in the right. Some of the answers are very close and have similar meaning. The meaning of these words is how they are used in the reading. Some of these words have different meanings in the dictionary depending on how they are used.

 The answers are below the table.

A=7, B=1, C=5, D=2, E=8, F=3, G=6, H=4

Some example sentences using the new words or phrases from the meaning of how they are used in the reading to help you understand better.

1. He embraced the idea that to be successful he had to study and work harder.

2. My shares in Samsung have taken a roller-coaster ride this last month.

3. Smartphone technology has turned the tables on how we do online business.

4. Myanmar is still an untapped market, but Korean companies are looking to enter there.

5. I had to wait ten hours at the airport to change planes, it was so monotonous.

6. Those red pants make you look ridiculous.

7. Busy cities like Seoul have a lot of hustle because there are so many people.

8. My high school teacher was a role model to me because she validated my dreams by telling me anything was possible.

Some questions using the new words/phrases. Try to use the words/phrases in your answer.

1. What thinking or ideas do you need to embrace if you want to be successful?

2. Describe a roller-coaster ride in your life? What advice would you give to someone who is having a roller-coaster ride in their life at the moment?

3. Describe a technology that has turned-the tables.

4. Do you know of any untapped markets in the world? Why are not yet tapped?

5. Do you agree that office jobs are monotonous? Why or why not?

6. How do you think Pratik’s friends who were ridiculing him feel now?

7. What do you think it means that Pratik was hustling throughout the city? Describe what hustling would be when it comes to selling umbrellas.

8. How do you feel about how Pratik validated his belief that he could make money selling umbrellas?