My meeting with Mr. Hejeebu did not
end up how I expected it to—in a good way. Mr. Hejeebu, although a very
successful man, was extremely easy to talk to. Not only did he explain to me
how he ended up where he is today, but he gave me some great advice… advice not
only for my future endeavors involving innovation, but great advice for life in
general.
Mr.
Ananta Hejeebu grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, and attended West Virginia
University, and graduated with an impressive degree in mechanical engineering.
However, he did not become a mechanical engineer. After he graduated, he
claimed it was just not what he saw himself doing. This is when he taught me
one of the top 3 lessons I took away from this meeting. He explained to me that
just because someone does not know exactly what they want to do as soon as they
get out of college, does not mean they should settle for a career they will be
unhappy with. After he graduated, he ended up working in sales, selling
children’s books. He then ended up at a startup company call F5; a company
involved with selling software for the internet. At the time, the internet was
up and coming. He explained to me that although he had no experience with
working with the internet, he saw an opportunity, and he went for it. He
applied for the job and was hired as the sixth employee, but by the time he
left that startup company, it had over 900 employees.
In
2009, Mr. Hejeebu decided to create his own company. After talking to his
friends who said they could not find an IT company they really liked, he
created Howard Tech Advisors, which brings me to the second lesson he taught
me. He explained to me that the best times to start a company are before the
age of 30, and after the age of 50 (give or take). This is because in between
those ages are when people typically have the most responsibilities such as
children and a spouse. The third and most important thing I took away from this
meeting was his advice to really just to “jump in.” He explained to me how he
believes that If you are passionate about something and have done your
research, then just taking a reasonable risk is a great thing to do as soon as
possible. Putting it off is pointless. If you want to reach your goals and make
your dreams come true, you need to be willing to take risks. He stated that
“the more you do something, the easier it is. The first time is always going to
be the scariest, that’s why you just need to get it over with.”
His
lessons and advice really convinced me that I need to be able to take risks in
my future. I have always dreamed of creating chain of my own daycares, and his
advice really just taught me that if I can get all the logistics figured out
and it is a reasonable risk to take, there is no reason I shouldn’t. He really
motivated me to be innovative with my ideas about my future and the career path
I end up taking. He showed me that if I do not want to work for someone or want
to have a job that doesn’t exist, I can create that. I can create a chain of
daycares that is integrated with technology if I have the motivation and
resources and knowledge to do so.
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