Mihir Koltharkar - Don’t Count Your Chickens Before They’re Hatched

Oct 9, 2022

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BIO: Mihir Koltharkar is a Global Award Winning Trainer, TEDx and Keynote Speaker, and Author with a rich experience spanning 22 years.

STORY: Mihir partnered with a friend to offer his services to a government company in Mauritius. The profits from this deal would have been in millions in just about 45 days. Then, out of the blue, the company declared bankruptcy nullifying the contract.

LEARNING: Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched. Be careful not to get into the entrepreneurial seizure. Even if you have a signed contract, the deal is not done until the money is in your bank account.

“The deal is not done until the money is in your bank account.”

Mihir Koltharkar

Guest profile

Mihir Koltharkar is a highly accomplished and a Global Award Winning Trainer, TEDx and Keynote Speaker, and Author with a rich experience spanning 22 years. He delivers sessions in his unique and engaging way, and has a proven track record of enhancing performance and growing revenues spanning sectors and industries.

In the last 2 decades, he has conducted 2,000+ live sessions in 12 countries and inspired hundreds of thousands of people. Mihir’s life purpose is to add value to people’s lives. He is featured among the Top 20 Global Trainers - Sales (2021), and was recently awarded ‘Master Trainer - Pride of India - Negotiation Skills’. People and Media call him ‘Smiling Buddha Of Sales’ and ‘Mr. Sales’ for his wisdom and knowledge in the domain.

Worst investment ever

Mihir worked for a luxury real estate company headquartered in Dubai with more than 800 sales professionals. He stayed at this company for one year and managed to increase its turnover by 4.5 billion dirhams. When that happened, Mihir decided that his knowledge shouldn’t be restricted just to one organization. So he took the risk and decided to start his own company.

Mihir moved from Dubai to India, where he registered the company. He was full of hope and planned to give himself six months to set up the organization.

Mihir started from zero without any investment. He did everything for himself, from setting up the website and social media to writing proposals and attending client meetings. Gradually, things started kind of moving. When revenue started coming in, Mihir invested all the money into the business for marketing purposes.

There was this guy in Mauritius whom Mihir had known since 2001. The guy encouraged Mihir to partner with him and take his training sessions to Mauritius. Mihir thought this was a great idea and arranged some training sessions there. The sessions went on well. After the training sessions, the guy told Mihir that he had a potentially huge client—a government company.

Mihir traveled back to Mauritius to meet the company. The meeting went well, and the company was interested in Mihir’s services. He mentally calculated the profits. It would have been in millions in about 45 days. Mihir’s mind started going crazy.

After the meeting, Mihir gave them a proposal. They liked it and requested a second meeting. Mihir went again, met them, and they suggested some modifications to the proposal. The parties went ahead with the negotiations as well. The company was okay with the negotiated price. Mihir was super happy and was already building castles in his head.

Mihir’s partner was also super excited about this deal. He suggested that they get an office space in Mauritius. They signed a two-year lease for an entire building and placed an order for furniture in China. Things were moving forward, and then suddenly, the government company declared bankruptcy. And that was the end of Mihir’s contract.

Lessons learned

Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched
Even if someone signs the contract or gives verbal approval, the deal isn’t finalized until the time the money is in your account.

Andrew’s takeaways

When a business idea sweeps into your mind, it can take you over. So be careful not to get into the entrepreneurial seizure.

Actionable advice

When starting a business, don’t just rely on hopes, have a structured plan, and even when an unexpected event occurs, don’t deviate from your plan.

Mihir’s recommended resources

Mihir recommends reading Allan Pease’s books to learn about communication and better handle problems in business and your personal life.

No.1 goal for the next 12 months

Mihir’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to take his training sessions to 15 countries, up from the current 12.

Parting words

“Plan your work, and work your plan. Most people plan a lot, but they don’t put in the effort or work on that particular plan.”

Mihir Koltharkar

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