Chasing the dream
As a son of military personnel, I always wanted to be a military officer once I grew up. Soon after I finished college, I joined the Bangladesh Naval Academy & became a Naval Officer. In 2002, I left the Navy & headed for the capital city. I was clueless about what to do next. So,I spent few bohemian months in the campus of BUET, Dhaka University and Dhaka Medical College. Then I suddenly decided to sit for the admission test of MBA program in IBA, Dhaka University. Surprisingly enough (given how clueless I was), I got in and I graduated in the blink of an eye. After completing my MBA in marketing, I did what everyone wants to do: join a corporate job. So, I joined BATB IN 2005. I was posted in Sylhet where I practically learned distribution, trade marketing, consumer engagement & brand marketing techniques. Later, I served in Dhaka too. In 2008, I moved on & joined Banglalink marketing team. When I left Banglalink after more than 5 years, I was looking after the Market Research portfolio of Banglalink, the 2nd largest telecom operator of the country. It was a great learning experiences for me to be part this dynamic team. The fast pace of telecom industry was quite an exciting journey.
I believe the best assignment any marketer can have is to market himself. So I decided to do something that will create strong word of mouth and hence, started stand-up comedy along with my 9-5 corporate life. Even though there was a battle going on inside of me and I was confused to take a leap of faith, I started doing shows as a stand-up comedian. I was a midlevel executive in a leading telecom company & often I had faced this accusation that actually standup comedy is “lame” & it doesn't suit my professional status. There were even people who mocked me for being a standup comedian. Ever after the endless resistance, I kept going strong. I believed that they lacked the necessary information to understand how respectful a thing it is in many developed civilizations. But when things started gaining momentum & my humor videos started spreading over YouTube, many of them actually understood how difficult & intellectually demanding stand-up comedy is & eventually started appreciating my efforts. In continuation to the acceptance received, I started video blogging 2 years back to raise awareness about various social issues. I felt every citizen has responsibility to do something about the society he/she lives in and that's the least I could do for my country. The video blogs didn't receive much appreciation at the beginning. It took people some time to get used to Video blogs and soon, they started getting the whole idea of it. My video blogs have received more than a million minutes of viewership so far & all these happened in a 2G era. I am eagerly waiting for the 3G. I can only hope that there will be more views with way more access to fast internet.
The thirst of doing something more remained in me. I felt the necessity of more space and broader minds to work. Corporate life has its limitations and it started to get tedious. I have the flexibility to work faster and at a reasonably low cost. The combination of military experience, marketing career and all those stage hours I have spent in front of live audience as a comedian helped me read the consumer mind efficiently, then identify and offer solution to any brand & image issue and I love to keep things short & simple. Yet again, I left my job to do something I love, without any boundaries around me. I started my independent career as a Brand & Image consultant. My first client was Fujifilm Bangladesh. Soon after, I worked closely with Elite Force and have been in talks with few other prominent brands of the country and you know what? I enjoy every moment of my life now! Working with brands is always fascinating. To me, it's a game of imagination & mathematics. Planning way forward for any brand, executing that plan, and measuring the impact is an exciting journey for me. I love to see how consumers react to the brand's messages and the impact of that on marketing return on investment. Most importantly, I'm happier than ever as an Independent Brand & Image Consultant. That's the thing about doing what you love to do, you enjoy every bit of your work.
I am a 35-year-old man who is refusing to grow up and I believe that spreading happiness is the only motto of life.
Comments