In closely knit Indian families, it is quite common for children to face harsh behaviour from the family members. Often they are momentarily thrown out of the house because of problems in family and parents quarrelling with each other or they get frustrated with the nagging behaviour of the child. Mostly, such situations arrive when the children fail to pass the school examinations or they get associated with so called the bad guys. In both the circumstances, such children are not properly accepted in our society and marked as worthless children who will never be successful in life.
But there are a few of these children who were once tagged unsuccessful, later realized their mistake and decided to start their life afresh. Learning from their past mistakes, they usually face the challenges in life boldly and become inspirations for others. Vimal Patel is one such life winners, whose life started gloomily and everything seemed lost. But, today his success in life is unique in itself and inspiration to many.
Hailing from Anand, Gujarat Vimal failed to clear the final examination of school when he was in the STD 7. Frustrated by his dismal performance in school and equally bad conduct in home; his parents asked him leave the house and make his own living. However, he did not lose his courage and went to Mumbai to start his life afresh. Vimal started his new life in Mumbai as a labourer, earning Rs 4,000 per month. He had to make out his living in Mumbai with that paltry amount.
Remembering those days, Vimal explains, “After leaving school, I used to go around with friends. During this time, I learned the work of Gemstone Polishing from my father, who was in the business of polishing diamonds. One day, I got into a quarrel with a 20-year-old man living in our neighbourhood and I beat him badly. After that I scored poorly and failed STD 7. Father got so angry with this incident that he thrown me out of the house.”
After that incident in 1996, the real struggle of Vimal began. The gemstone polishing work that he learnt from his father came in handy during this period. He started working in diamond polishing factory in the Cheetah market of Mumbai. All those days he had a clear idea that he could never change his present condition by doing the work he was doing to sustain his life. So, Vimal started saving most of his wages of Rs 4,000 he was getting per month at that time.
Some of Vimal’s friends used to work as broker of uncut diamond and other gemstones and used to get decent commissions. Vimal learned all the tricks of the trade from his friends and decided to work as a diamond broker. In 1997, after working for nearly a year as gemstone polisher, Vimal started working as a diamond broker and soon in 1998 started his own diamond business. Initially he was earning around Rs 1,000 to 2,000 per day that enabled him to get settled in Mumbai and opening a company named Vimal James in 1999 with his savings of Rs 50,000.
In the beginning, he started running the company with the help of his brothers and relatives. By the end of the year 2000, his company had a total turnover of Rs 15 lakh with the help of a total of 8 people. But then again tragedy struck. In 2001 one of his employees ran away with diamonds and gemstones worth Rs 29 lakh from different traders. Vimal had to compensate the loss of the traders by selling all his investments. Once again his life was struck at zero as he had nothing left. However, Vimal is never lost hope and courage. He never gave up. Once again, starting from zero he worked hard year after year and eventually reached the top of success. But, yet again his fate had hard times written for him. The ill-famous recession in 2008 hit him hard and gave him the second big blow.
As usual Vimal never retreated. He planned to step into the world of retail to face the recession. In 2009, he opened his first jewelry store in Jalgaon and also hired an astrologer. His idea was that with the help of the astrologer, the customer will choose the right gem for them and buy it from the shop itself. This idea clicked immediately and proved very effective from the very first day. Gemstones worth lakhs of rupees were sold, and from that point Vimal never looked back.
Currently, there are 52 outlets of Vimal Gems in Maharashtra and he has been providing jobs to more than 550 people. Moreover, the yearly turnover of the company is over Rs 50 crore. Vimal is working tirelessly to include his company in the Rs 100 crore-clubs.
Vimal reached the peak of success after starting from zero, and never gave even after hit by multiple disasters. He continued to chase his dreams and never allowed to deter the goodwill of his company even under tried circumstances. His life is an inspiration and visionary to many of us.
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