THE PASSION PROJECT : PART VIII | Jaini Haria
As far as I can retreat to retrieve into depths of my mature mind, there has always been this one obsessive idea that has propelled me through my professional life – “Why work doesn’t feel like work for some people?”. Some people seem to breeze through the weekdays, hardly waiting for the weekend to come and when it does, they simply carry on working, oblivious of the calendar constraints. Monday morning blues is not a relevant thing for them. They get up every day rejuvenated with a sense of excitement for the day ahead and what they are about to achieve. These are of course people who have found their passion in life that is now leading them purposefully in whatever they do. And yet, as we have these real-life examples strutting around, it seems like an almost-alien concept that doing something you love, professionally, is even a remote possibility. It’s just a myth they say, something out of a fantasy film they feel. “Nobody is that happy with their job”. But that is exactly the point. For these people, what they do isn’t a mere job, it is the joy of their existence. I have stumbled through life, trying to find that joy for myself. And while I still may be an amateur, I thought to seek out the experts who may help shed some light to find what we all are looking for. This series encapsulates those people who have not only found their passion but are living it. And I hope their stories will inspire you to live your purpose too.
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“If you never try, you’ll never know.”
– John Barrow
“So many people told me not to do this. They don’t think I’ll succeed, you know. I have heard it all – that you are too young, you are too inexperienced, you won’t get investors, you shouldn’t be putting your own money. People told me that 95% of the startups don’t pan out. But I still want to do it. I want to try. I want to bet on myself when the world won’t.”
I was talking to Jaini Haria. With a vivacious voice and enduring spirit that shone even through the speaker, she was telling me about her startup story. It‘s been just a week since Jaey came into existence as a platform to re-imagine workwear through fashion-tech, aimed at providing comfortable customized outfits for women of every size. But the beginnings of this were long brewing within Jaini.
“I remember watching these MBA graduates during my schooling and thinking to myself that I want to be like them. They were suave, smart, and so with it. They seemed to know the answer to everything. I immediately knew then and there that I definitely wanted to do an MBA, get into the business side. But even besides that, I always had this entrepreneurial spark in me, I guess. I was always thinking of how I could make things work better, ideas that could change the way you live, visions that added value in some way. Obviously, I still had some ways to go before I could get there. I still had to complete my articleship as a part of the Chartered Accountant (CA) degree.”
Jaini had taken a leaf out of her father’s book and went for commerce than science at the start of her career, choosing to do a CA course that entailed the articleship. But again, like her father, who practiced it for a few years and opted to shift gears into a software industry, she too found herself getting de-mesmerized by the domain. “Don’t get me wrong, it was still a learning experience and I wanted to try it before I could chuck it. I took those 3 years to figure out that, firstly, I don’t like the field, which is a great thing to find out, helps you get closer to know what you want to do. Secondly, it helped me understand other aspects of corporate. So, I don’t regret it. I just maximized my learning from it knowing that I won’t return to that field.”
At this point in time, Jaini was also dabbling in a hobby that she hoped to make into a business. “I was really into the whole crafts space. I was making personalized gifts for my loved ones, for other people who wanted help gifting their loved ones, and it was truly something I enjoyed doing. So, I thought to turn it into a business. I went to my then boss and talked to him about it. He asked me for a business plan, and I was completely blank. It was then that I understood there were so many things that I was yet to learn. That realization coupled with my entrepreneurial streak, led me to try for an MBA. It wasn’t just for the glamour of it like those MBA grads I had seen but I knew that this would be something that could help me shape myself for the better.”
So, while all her friends applied for jobs fervently after completing the course, Jaini focused on the entrance exams only. The fear of no backup plan or no job offer didn’t deter her as she sailed into XLRI. “Marketing, I was set on doing marketing in my MBA. It was the perfect combination of creativity and business. But of course, choice is an earned luxury through those years. My resume was overwhelmingly finance driven and so, I had to pay my dues there first. I remember going to this pre-placement talk by one of the finance companies. I just didn’t get good vibes from it. The guy who was giving the presentation also seemed like he hadn’t slept in years. And they were wearing it like a badge of honor! I just didn’t get it and told my friends I will never work for such a company, ever. But lo and behold, I ended up doing my internship and accepting a full-time role for that company!”, she laughs into the phone, surprising me.
“Wait, so you didn’t want to do it and you still went for it? How did that work out for you?”, I ask amused. “Pretty well actually! See, getting a marketing job right away was difficult for someone from my background, so I thought to just go with the flow and see where it takes me. That’s one thing I have consciously done throughout my life – I don’t negate my options. I let them take me wherever it be. And only if I see them diverging vastly from who I am, do I take a step back.”
I pondered over those phrases as she uttered them. How many times I shut things down before they could work? How many times I said no before I had even given something a chance? How many times I let something get away just because I was too afraid to try? Probably more times than I should have. The danger with not trying is that you are not growing. Only if you try will you know what works and what doesn’t, why something happened and why something failed, how to pursue it or how to let it go. But all of this is immaterial if the premise of ‘try’ remains untested.
“So, I joined Avendus Capital as an investment banker”, she continued, jolting me out of my reverie. “I liked the work I did there. It was a good mix of strategy, business, finance, research, and people management. I was meeting who’s who of the industries, learning about the inner workings, experiencing deals upfront. I was finally living the dream you know. I was finally one of those suited, smart, sophisticated MBA grads that I had always glorified. I was one of them. And yet I didn’t seem to be ‘with it’. And yet I didn’t have all the answers.”
“All around me, I saw others enthusiastically talk about what’s next, be updated with all the recent deals before they even hit the papers, numbers seemed to roll off their tongues so easily. And I, I was just blank – again. I was good at what I did, but I wasn’t as updated, I wouldn’t know of things till they were told to me, I didn’t feel as enthused about them. I wasn’t invested in investment banking. I thought of 5 years down the lane, and I didn’t see myself in it. So where did I see myself, I asked from within? I don’t know, came the answer”, she chuckles.
But the answer was lying in the casual conversations, passing thoughts, and wistful visions through her 1.5 years at Avendus. “There was always this one thing that kept cropping up in most of our team conversations. You see, our team mostly comprised of women. Our dialogues sometimes gravitated towards fashion, and we often voiced our frustrations over not finding good workwear. It was either ridiculously expensive or unflatteringly designed. And we were in an industry where formals were like second skin! So, I had this idea of bespoke workwear, formals that were tailored to you and not the norms you had to fit in, clothes that you could conveniently buy online. I immediately surveyed around 300 women about it and found a definite white space.”
And that was the birth of Jaey. Cut to 6 months later, Jaini has a business model in place, knows the ins and outs of tailoring, has launched the website and is ready to soar. “It has been a long journey to a place where I can now say that I love what I do. Every day. But I have known my passion only after I have known to pursue different things, things that were not a part of the plan and yet I did them. They led me to where I am now.” I ask her where do we even start if we want to try, because there are so many options in today’s world. “By introspecting”, pat comes the reply. “Ask yourself the hard-hitting questions with yes or no answers. You like CA? No. You like business? Yes. But do you like IB? No. Do you like to do something creative? Yes. But you also want to start something of your own? Yes. So, do you want to do something about it? Yes! And when you find that yes, make sure you dig your heels in and say you want to do it no matter what. Listen to others for wisdom but act for your vision.”
But the more challenging part comes with committing to it. Jaini tells me that not everything was a joy in making Jaey. “Before the business has even come into existence, I have lost money, I have fired people, I have had to redo the entire website. But I haven’t stopped. I have still pushed through. It’s about finding ways when you are stuck and knowing how to ask for help. I will never expect that I can do it all. And that’s why I go with the flow and don’t plan anything. Plans don’t go according to plan but if I don’t even take that first step, how will I ever reach where I want to go? Yes, it is scary sometimes, but I feel that’s when the best of you and your circle comes to light. I have met such amazing people out of nowhere, some like my knights in shining armor who have helped me without even knowing me! I couldn’t have been here had it not been for their support. So, I really feel that if you give your 100% to something, it will somehow work out, you will succeed. All you have to do is try your best and leave the rest. Baaki jo hoga, dekha jayega (Then whatever happens, we will deal with it).”
It’s almost past bedtime and I know we are at the end of the conversation, but I yearn to ask her one last question. “What do you think of when you get up every day? Is this the thing that makes you want to wake up?” “No, it is not about the thought I wake up to everyday”, she says, “it’s in fact about what I go to sleep with. Every day, before closing my eyes, I say to myself ‘Jaey is going to be huge soon’. That is the thought I sleep with. So, I instinctively wake up to it too, with all the motivation I need and knowing this is exactly what I want to do.”
This is second in the series of The Passion Project. To know more about the author and the origination of this series, read here.
