How I ‘Sold’ My Story to Geo TV’s Program ‘Zara Sochiye’?

December 20, 2012December 19, 2019 Ashraf Chaudhry 0 Comments

Geo TV Channels (Geo News, Geo Super, Geo Entertainment) are airing a video story of my struggles in life. I am getting lot of queries from all over Pakistan that how my story got selected.

When I came to know that Geo was on prowl for inspirational stories of self-made people, I also aspired to be selected so that many people know how a kid without resources can materialize things that once seemed impossible. I sent the following email to the producer and the very next day, Geo was in contact with me.

Journey from Aroti* to Amazon

A true story of perseverance, grit and determination

*Name of my village

42 years back, when I opened my eyes in a small cottage in a tiny village on the outskirts of District Toba Tek, poverty, disease, dust, hunger and darkness welcomed me. At the age of 5, my parents sent me to a school with literally no walls, no roofs, no teachers…

This is how Pakistan’s #1 Sales Trainer started his life’s journey!

One of the 10 siblings, even in childhood, I worked with my parents on farms to earn livelihood. I tended sheep and goats and still remember the pain of thorns piercing my tender feet.

Incredibly lucky was I when someone gave me a translation of Dale Carnegie’s book “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. I remember I was in 7th grade. That changed the course of my life forever.

I used to go to my school on the roofs of public buses. Despite challenges, I topped my school in Matric. Like Martin Luther King Jr, I had my dreams too. The dream of dismantling the mighty shackles of poverty! I had the dream to take revenge from wretchedness.

One day, I rose from dusty and dingy streets of my village to gate-crash into the top-notch business school of the country (IBA Karachi). With state-of-the-art MBA degree, I started my career with Chevron (Fortune 500 Company); rose to the position of General Manager Sales with one of the biggest industrial houses. Finally, I decided to “retire” at the age of 39 to pen down my life long learnings to share them with the world. I compiled my learnings in the form of “The Craft of Selling “YOURSELF”, the book was published in USA in 2009 and is selling all over the world including at Amazon.com.

As boy, I was rejected for a job of a waiter at a small restaurant, as a young man, I was Corporate Manager Marketing & Communication for 7 five star hotels!

Today, I am Pakistan’s #1 Sales Trainer. During the last three years, I have trained CEOs/Directors/General Managers of local blue chip and multinational companies.

Trust me, life threw me the toughest challenges at every step. I survived various diseases in childhood; funded my entire education by myself all the way; had a near death experience because of a road accident; remained on crutches for years… but journey continued non-stop.

The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.
Michelangelo

I “sold” challenges and crises to myself as opportunities to grow, to expand, to stretch… I “sold” to myself scars as stars, rejections as results, failures as feedbacks, denials as delays, defeats as detours and diversions. I “sold” months of post-accident hospitalization as an opportunity to read, reflect, ponder and wonder.

My journey from Aroti (a small slum town in District Toba Tek Singh) to Amazon is a great inspirational story. How can one fast-track to Amazon with early education from roofless and ghost schools; how can one create abundance in life despite excruciating pangs of poverty; how can one convert stumbling blocks into stepping stones; how can one transform millstones into milestones…Zara Sochiye………….it is the love of books.

Today I have everything that books promised to me!

My mad love for books helped me wriggle out of vicious circle of disempowering mindset resulting in scarcity. I am living story of rejuvenation, resurgence, revival and rising from the ashes of pain, sufferings and worst poverty…. …”