My transformation thru CTF

On a calm August Saturday afternoon, as is usually my routine, I watched TV and browse social media apps, namely, Facebook and Whatsapp. I chanced upon Arfeen's advert and registered for the Live Preview event the same evening at Hilton Hotel, Anna Salai, Chennai. I attended the preview of the CTF program by Smitha Nair sometime in August 2019. What were my reasons to enroll for the Coach to Fortune program? I was having a job with a top IT company. So career-wise, I was doing fairly well. There were a few personal challenges at work, but I knew how to deal with them. I had got a divorce in 2015 and had just started a long-distance relationship in the year 2017. The relationship was going fairly well too, although on the slow lane for about two years. So good job, check. Good relationship, check. Healthwise, I had been having recurrent problems with my eyes, such as boils, etc. and these were minor irritants. On the Financial front, I was burdened with home loan EMIs which took a considerable portion of my salary. Since the year 2014, I had been wanting to become an entrepreneur, but I didn't know how to. I had discussed with my parents on a couple of options to start my own business but didn't get much moral support from them because they had no experience in running or managing a business either. So, the entrepreneurship streak was still alive in me, although lying dormant.
If I'd to place my fingers on some things, that I was sorely lacking in my life, they were my urge to be financially independent, become a successful entrepreneur and to lead a satisfying relationship. I had no clue about these three things. When I heard Smitha's story, I got confidence that I too could start my own business, and looking at the skills needed, it seemed like I wouldn't need to cross a mountain. After signing up for the program, I started attending the Mastermind meets and in each of them, I was learning and discovering newer things about myself. The program itself had given me a framework to identify my Inner DNA, my Integrated Power Coding, and my Outcomes+, Unleashing Myself, and creating My Success Blueprint.
While I went through the Integrated Power Coding module, I ended up with 6 N-codes. I came to know that I had a N-code about Love, that Love must be earned. Another N-code that I had was about my being dicey about starting a business, that I had no idea how to start a business. In this blog, I will just focus on these two N-codes and how transforming my thoughts around these two had a profound impact in my life. I will also touch upon briefly how I had blocks identifying my exciting real Outcomes when I underwent the Outcomes+ module. As I stepped through the Integrated Power Coding module and identified the E-code for my Love N-code, it seemed like a simple yet powerful way to overcome my failings in relationships. I knew what was holding me back in loving someone freely and when I removed the block, love came rushing to me abundantly. To this day, in my journey of self-discovery, my biggest transformation has been in love. Now, I can confidently say that I am a recipient of love from everyone I know and also, that I love everyone I know. I was still clueless about starting my own business, but that breakthrough came later, as I proceeded through the other modules and went into the Certification week.
As I went through the Outcomes+ module, it was becoming hard for me to list down my fifty outcomes. I could list at the most, 10 outcomes, after which I hit a mental block. Every time, I attempted to list an outcome, my mind used to go blank and I could not list one more outcome. That is when my Mastermind Coach, Dhivya helped by teaching a technique of breathing in and breathing out which helped my brain to relax and focus on what I wanted as outcomes. As I endeavored to list my fifty outcomes, my Mastermind coaches helped me to unbox my imagination and list out some daring outcomes that I could not have listed if I had not attended the CTF Mastermind.
Then I learned the ultimate trick taught in Unleash Myself and created my own Success Blueprint. Then came the Certification week, when I had to create videos of me coaching others. I had done the videos along with three other fellow CTF aspirant coaches and submitted these videos for Certification. After about a week of submitting the videos, I got the Certification email. I had acquired Certification, just before the lockdown due to Covid-19 started. After the certification, came the marketing campaign. I was super excited to continue the journey of self-discovery that I had come across thru CTF. Before I close this blog, I like to point out that I have been reiterating to myself that I am a Business Mastermind. I have found many more worthy things to do than watching TV. I use Social media apps sparingly and judiciously. That's also a personal transformation that I credit CTF for.

Bharath Bhushan CTF Welcome and Rapport Building video

My take on India's Land Acquisition Bill deadlock

Industrialized nations damaged the environment for about 100 years. Then they realized that developing nations would catch up. So they'd to find a morally unquestionable way to keep the development of the developing countries in check. So they put in place green standards for developing countries to follow. They also funded heavily some NGOs such as Greenpeace in every such developing country to keep their development in check. Greenpeace India's foreign funding has been throttled lawfully under FCRA. This should have been done in the past 10 years, but the previous UPA govt didn't stop their foreign funding because they didn't care to alleviate India's poverty. They didn't care for India's development. Now that we've a govt that is bent on developing India, Greenpeace India and other NGOs operating in India have been advised to rely only on domestic funding. You'd find Facebook posts asking you to support Greenpeace and the environment and to oppose the govt actions curtailing the foreign funding of NGOs. Let's analyze some facts. India has about 9% of unusable land in the form of mountains, deserts, water bodies etc. India has about 11% in forest cover. The other 80% is arable land. Of this, less than 3% is used for urbanization, but supports nearly 30% population. The govt wants to increase urban land area to increase to 10% of the total arable land. That's 8% of our total land area to support 30% of our population. Agriculture can be carried out in 90% of arable land which is about 72% of the total land area supporting 70% of land area. Fair enough, right? By not touching forest cover, there is no harm to the environment. Also, more urban land means less congestion, less pollution, more development and better standards for our people. Let's not be blind or ignorant to facts. Let's oppose the evil designs of NGO's such as Greenpeace which are working to hamper India's progress.

I have a loan pending in xyz bank and I take a loan to pay it. Is this allowed?

You are taking a loan to pay another loan. In effect, you are robbing Peter to pay Paul. What's the interest rate (Int 1) you have to pay for the loan with xyz bank (Loan 1) and what's the interest rate (Int 2) for the fresh loan you're going to take (Loan 2)? If Int 1 < Int 2, do not take loan 2. If Int 2 < Int 1, you can take loan 2. Am I missing any possibilities?

What economic changes, if made to India over the course of the coming 25 years can bring it at par with the top 25 richest countries in the world?

There are many questions like these that have been lurking in my mind as well. Thanks for articulating it. In my opinion, more than economic changes, we have to make political and personal changes and invest a lot in financial ethical education. We could see much faster growth if every one of us was ethical in our dealings. 1. A small country like Singapore or Hong Kong (until it was recently handed over to China), which has no natural resources of its own, has been a bigger economy than India in nominal terms. 2. A small country like Japan happens to be in the top 5 economic powers. 3. I can quote several such examples, just to help understand what is differentiating small resource-less countries from India when it comes to managing the economy. Are the large number of poor people suddenly going to become rich and can the benefits that are given to them be suddenly removed? If so, how will they get on with their lives, without skill or education or job opportunities? Will they move from agriculture which is not productive to industry which fetches more per capita gdp? If they moved away from agriculture, who would feed the majority? What would be the cost of importing food from other countries? How long are the benefits programs going to continue? Will people give up their benefits at least for the shorter term? Are we 100% ethical in our dealings in day to day life? Do fellow citizens perceive us normally or as aliens from a different planet if we behave financially ethically? How do our politicians account for their public and private spending and are they really accountable for every rupee of tax payer's money?

What should be my product for a start-up business?

If you are a start up entrepreneur, please answer yourself the below questions: 1. Have you identified the missions in your life? 2. Do you want to be in business to make money? 3. Do you want to solve people's needs and problems? 4. What is the people's need or problem that you wish you had the resources to solve? 5. What (values, missions) differentiates you from other start up entrepreneurs?

I'm 25 years old, have $500K saved up and have founded two businesses. Should I get a degree or start something new?

I am going to say pretty much what others have said. 1. What's your current cash flow from the two businesses you have founded? 2. How long can you support yourself, your girlfriend, pets etc with your savings? 3. Why do you need to undergo the stress to manage two businesses? 4. Why not sell the business which gives you the most stress? 5. Invest a part of your savings in Mutual Funds, Equities, etc to create the corpus for growth and for future. 6. With the rest, can you get interest from deposits and be less stressed, spend more time with your girlfriend?