Enterprise: Ebizfiling India Private Limited

Founder: Ravi Kariya

Industry:  Business Services & Consultancy 

Year it was founded: 2016

Based out of: Ahmedabad, India

Les Brown once said, “You must tell yourself, no matter how hard it is or how hard it gets, I’m going to make it." Many years later in another continent Ravi Kariya unknowingly said something similar to himself. Today it is easy to buy into the myth of the overnight success of EbizFiling India Private Limited but the reality is that it has taken years of hard work, persistence and one brave decision. 

 When life gives you lemon, make some lemonade and sell it!

Ravi Kariya had never imagined in his wildest dreams that after being an all India ranker in the Chartered Accountancy exams, he would get rejected by six companies during his campus placements. Dejected and left with no other option, he started his ‘so called’ traditional practice of Chartered Accountancy on his own. With a fire in his belly, he worked and grew his firm to such an extent that by 2014 he was being referred to as a senior Chartered Accountant in the profession, a feat rarely achieved in only five years of practicing Chartered Accountancy. 

On one hand his CA firm had been growing at a decent pace but on the other hand, he had to take a very conscious and thought out decision if he should venture into a field that was totally not his strong suit. 

Finding your comfort zone

Years and years of practice made Ravi realise that there were a dime of dozen service providers but a few solutions providers. Each client is unique as they have a unique combination of problems based on their background. Although at the very start, there were a few clients, but they became his largest supporters as Ravi provided solutions to their issues across law, technology, systems and family (yes, he chose to address this messy topic as well), amongst others. He had found his comfort zone and was excelling at it.

A comfort zone is a beautiful place…but nothing ever grows there

In December 2016, when he started an ambitious venture called Ebizfiling India Private Limited, a fintech startup, roles were decided and agreed internally. Out of the many departments, IT and Digital Marketing were proposed to be taken care of by him.

On one hand, he had to take a very conscious and thought out decision if he should venture into a field that was totally not his strong suit. Their other firm (CA) had been growing at a decent pace and not to forget that his forte was into legal and advisory services. He did have a hidden interest in IT field thanks to solving systems issues for his clients in his earlier days but that was nothing compared to what this task demanded of him.

But on the other hand, they needed to take some big decisions regarding setting up IT infrastructure, developing a website, framing marketing strategies and hiring and training an IT/marketing teams systematically capable of executing routine tasks. These big decisions, if not dealt properly it could backfire and could lead them to failure. But once he realised how high the stakes were, he knew he had to do them, and do them well. Once he committed to invest thousands of man-hours and all his best and earnest effort, he knew this decision had to yield good fruits. His decision to take up the IT and Digital Marketing role in his organization, an unconventional path for a Chartered Accountant, was one of the (best) bravest decision in his career (yet!).

Find reasons to keep going, not give up

In today's context, people tend to focus more on why something cannot be/should not be accomplished! They sit on a pile of reasons of 'not doing something', which ultimately stops them from positively responding to an issue. It is not uncommon how people sit in a deliberating meeting and respond to an opportunity only by finding fault with it.

Ravi mentioned to GlobalLinker that his managerial skills are largely influenced by many books that he keep reading. What has influenced him the most is a concept called ‘possibility thinking’, which is inspired from a wonderful book by Robert Schuller, 'Tough times don't last, tough people do!' The book teaches meaningful segregation of positive ideas from negative ones. Some thinkers instinctively react negatively towards a possibility-laden idea, while possibility thinkers see possibility and ‘doability’ in every idea. Let’s not reject an idea just because it is impossible at first sight or you see problems with it. Let’s not reject a possibility just because your mind is already made up.

Lets convert that negative thinking to possibility thinking - the thinking of achievers!

Sweet are the results of sweat

Interestingly, Ravi mentions that his horizon of thoughts and the perspective as to how he sees things have drastically changed and widened both. In one single day, he is now attending several meetings in which they talk of improving coding quality, introducing AMP, aggressively forming and executing content marketing strategies etc. and the same day, he is speaking to his teams and clients, advising them on choosing a right form of organisation to start a company, obtaining legal registrations to get going, transfer pricing, FEMA and what not. They now have an in-house IT and marketing team, which is doing wonders.

Ravi says, “Day like this is fulfilling! Mind it, this is not stressful! It is fun as you start learning to reason in its purest form. Your decision making gets fine-tuned further as you look at the bigger picture now. You have an edge as you are also seeing the other dimension which is not visible to the others.

When you are afraid to venture into something which is seemingly not your cup of tea, make sure you still dive in it confidently, but not blindly. Do your homework, conduct research, assess risk points and above all, estimate the rewards, for rewards are going to be the drive for you to dive deep.”

We could not agree more with Ravi. The moment we stop being afraid of what could go wrong and start being excited about what could go right, we have changed how we have been hard wired to think. Exploring possibilities amongst impossibilities is what achievers are made up of. Here is to you, Ravi Kariya!

Interested in reading more SME Inspirations articles? Check out our other articles here:

From ramp to real: Making fashion affordable

Bringing pride back to the ‘Made in India’ tag through quality and innovation

Woman entrepreneur recycles flowers to produce eco-friendly fragrances

Network with Ravi Kariya by clicking on the 'Connect' button on his profile.

Disclaimer: This article is based solely on the inputs shared by the featured member. GlobalLinker does not necessarily endorse the views, opinions & facts stated by the member.