4 long years of Painful yet Successful journey of “Outsourced CMO”
It has been 4 long years since I made the life-changing yet the most difficult decision of my life, the decision of leaving a completely stable, well-paying job & the last one from the major business conglomerate of India ,to work on a completely unique, least known concept.
The decision of leaving the well-paying job proved to be even more difficult, especially if you are the only earning member in the family, with retired parents and several mouths to feed, taking care of various loans stacking up, which is the true scenario in my case. Amidst all these, doubt and anxiety were at its peak as entrepreneurship appeared as an alien term after giving more than two decades to the corporate world.
Self confidence and faith on the concept of “Outsourced CMO” was the only driving force to keep me motivated through the journey as I was confident that the concept of “Outsourced CMO” is the much-needed concept in the world of SME/ Startups, as it’s an expensive business for new startups to hire a CMO having 20+ years of experience, forcing them to compromise with their needs.
With the financial backup of mere 18 months before going bankrupt, I had no other option then to set the time limit for proving myself in the same duration otherwise if failed then moving back to the pavilion i.e. corporate jobs. After innumerable rejections, financial tornado’s shaking the life, soul-shattering situations and working as one man team, the first taste of success came to me. It is truly said that if you stick to your concept like an adamant ass, no matter how bitter the taste of failures gets, you will taste the success which will be the sweetest, sooner or later.
The journey to success was no easy, success demands sacrifice and I did my part from following strict financial discipline to using the public transports, no vacations, no extra spending and many more, I did everything so that my venture sustains, while I stand on the expectations of my family.
With the 4-year long journey and more than 8 companies have hired Outsourced CMO, the journey to success has just started. The long term relationships with the companies who have hired has turned into an unbreakable bond where each each company from the day of joining this loop has turned into the pearls of the pearl necklace never leaving the hands of OCMO. The the various rounds of funding raised through with some contribution from OCMO, speaks the glorious tale of success of each of the individual company boosting the confidence of OCMO encouraging us to work with newfound enthusiasm.
The journey is long and the destination nowhere in sight, as it’s still a cloud of doubt that keeps forming among various CEOs / entrepreneurs who do not feel the need of hiring a CMO with 20+ years of experience at an affordable cost but every time these roadblock teaches us the thinking of new age millennial entrepreneurs, inspiring us to be better and smarter.
Another factor that added an additional charm in our 4 years of the long journey was the turning of the face of the team from a One Man Army to the joining of various exceptionally talented marketing professionals having more than 2 decades of experience. It would be absolutely wrong to call these exceptional gems as the employees of “Outsourced CMO”, as they are our proud partners and more like a family of marketing professionals best at their work. Whether it be Sridhar Raman, Anuj Khanna, Rashmi Sharma, Abhilash Manapat & the other members of Outsourced CMO fraternity who proved their expertise and made Outsourced CMO proud at each step for which I would personally like to extend my personal gratitude for imposing their faith on this unique concept.
Not only the partners but the companies like Vedantu, Pikkol, Wealthapp & others who have shown their faith on OCMO by using its services without a break for such long time, keeps us motivated to work on this idea with new found strength and vision. The investment rounds raised by these companies speaks for itself as somewhere down the line OCMO has kept the promise it made before joining these companies, contributing to its success.
The struggles of life, the path to entrepreneurship, each sweat shed, all the sleepless nights worrying about the business along with the financial trauma with the need to prove the self-worth feels like yesterday’s tale, still fresh in mind. The struggles and fears worked as the driving force motivating me to keeps these memories fresh with not a speck of proud so that I can move back to the basic living standards without breaking to the hardships, for only one reason, to make Outsourced CMO a concept adapted not only by startups / SME by larger companies as well.
This is a real life experience of Vineet Arya — Founder Outsourced CMO
Originally published at blog.outsourcedcmo.in.
