THE DOERS with AASHISH ADHIKARI || REDMUD COFFEE/MERO2PAISA || EP 10 PT2 || NEPALI PODCAST

AASHISH ADHIKARI: I'm 15 years older than you and I just did that six million faster than you. Like during the lockdown. We were among the only few restaurants that were serving a full menu. My brother just got shot in Kentucky some weeks ago, months ago. The Prime Minister or any government official going abroad and saying it's a homecoming campaign, that didn't happen, right? I had 50,000 rupees when I started my company. Anup Ghimire: So does that, does that why separates a businessman from an entrepreneur? Is it the idea of doing something impactful in this world that separates them? AASHISH ADHIKARI: Um, I've made money, I've lost money, I've again made money. I don't mind if I lose it again. So money is not the drive. I think, um, it's about leaving some satisfaction or some legacy. What are you going to take with you? It's about leaving a name, right? What did Aashish do while he was here? Or what did Anup do? Anup Ghimire: You want to be a legend. AASHISH ADHIKARI: In that term, definitely. To leave a creation. An artist can leave their creation. Anup Ghimire: And he's already a legend, right? And are you relating that legacy to empowering people, like touching people's lives, and... AASHISH ADHIKARI: Everyone does it for themselves. Anup Ghimire: Nice. AASHISH ADHIKARI: I think I grew up in that environment. There was a quote on my grandfather's wall that said, "Service is religion." So I grew up with that philosophy. And like, if I were to do it just for myself, I can do 10 other things, get into different verticals, hustle, and make money. If I feel like it and put that energy into it. But that doesn't drive me anymore. I think in the US, I was like that. I used to do all sorts of hustling. Anup Ghimire: You didn't do any entrepreneurial exercises in the US? AASHISH ADHIKARI: I did. I ran a store on eBay. I... Anup Ghimire: You made money. AASHISH ADHIKARI: I made money, I blew money, and understood the nature of money. How it stays with you, it doesn't stay with you. It's like dirt on your hands, it doesn't last. But if you're smart enough, you can hold it for a certain period. You can direct it in the right way. Invest in the right things. But to learn that, you have to lose the money. Anup Ghimire: There's this saying, you know. Smart work or hard work? AASHISH ADHIKARI: I say smart. Anup Ghimire: Okay. AASHISH ADHIKARI: It depends. Some places, like when I was trekking recently, you have to put in that hard work. Anup Ghimire: What if both at the same time? AASHISH ADHIKARI: Yeah, you should, you should be flexible. Anup Ghimire: No, Gary tells me this. AASHISH ADHIKARI: I say be smart. Anup Ghimire: Of course, be smart. What he says is, "I'll be smart and I'll work hard. Now beat me." AASHISH ADHIKARI: I connect hard work with patience. Because if you're smart, persistence. Doing the same thing tomorrow, tomorrow, don't look at it like hard work. Just look at it like, you know, it takes time. There's no shortcut to success. You have to keep doing it. Most people might see me here doing this podcast today, but they don't know my story for the period between 2013 and 2016. All my co-founders, me, we all did everything from making burgers in the kitchen to mopping and then leaving the staff home in the evening. From buying vegetables. Anup Ghimire: Tell me your story once. AASHISH ADHIKARI: You need to understand that. Anup Ghimire: I remember that story. Like, you didn't see efficiency in your staff, and then you went there and started making burgers. I don't know if I heard it from you or someone else. From you. You made burgers. AASHISH ADHIKARI: You put a track on your time and here by. Anup Ghimire: I think that's Pravesh. That's Pravesh. My co-founder. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Whatever it is, you shared that story. I might have said that somewhere. You show them how it's done. I think we did that a lot. Anup Ghimire: To make them feel guilty. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Or you're not putting in your 100%. "I'm 15 years older than you and I just did that six minutes faster than you. You should be ashamed of yourself." If you say that, the person would fix themselves. I use that against them. Mostly I worked with boys. And then in a kitchen environment, when it's busy with coffee or a restaurant, only a restaurateur knows what happens. That is a massively pressure environment. Working in that environment, what kind of leader is there? Who is leading in the kitchen? Who is leading on the floor? It depends. The whole synchronicity there can be disrupted. So I think when we worked in such situations, the brothers and sisters we groomed at that time became very good managers. Because they worked with us together, and in very difficult times. Like during the lockdown. We were among the only few restaurants that were serving a full menu. And we were jam-packed every day. Now, if they go and work in any other restaurant, they won't get that experience of one month or two months. Because at that time, no one was free. We were busy non-stop. Continuously from morning to evening, two shifts. From bringing supplies to fighting with the traffic outside. My customers' vehicles would get locked. You know, after understanding all that stress, they see what it takes to run a restaurant. So now, without me, you know, there are at least two or three people in our team. Who, even if I'm not here, even if I'm gone, you know, they'll take care of it. They know what it takes, how I would handle it. Anup Ghimire: That, that would be a real achievement, right? You created Aashish, more Aashish. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Hopefully. I would like to think that. And I hope they will also watch this podcast and see what I think about them. Now, my core team consists of my brother, my co-founder. You know, I have team leads in every store. We also have a mechanism for training and support. So there are staff in the office. So this core team still gets to call me "dai." Anup Ghimire: Nice. AASHISH ADHIKARI: I'm not there, even though they should call me sir. You know, that's the relation I have with them. They can tell me about their problems. I'll listen to it. Where I need to scold them, I'll scold them like a "dai." So I don't just boss around, you know. Where I need to boss around, I will. But Anup Ghimire: You have to, too. AASHISH ADHIKARI: I think that's why they are still working with me, because of that. Because of that relationship. Anup Ghimire: Okay, moving on. I had a podcast with Aashish yesterday too, right? Yesterday's podcast, we had a chef. He came back from Dubai, right? And he's doing amazing in Nepal. And I asked him the same question, and the same question to you. I get to work with a lot of restaurant owners, right? A lot of restaurant owners. And when it comes to marketing and branding, a restaurant is one business that I really like to do because you get to explain such amazing ideas. AASHISH ADHIKARI: There are many products too. Anup Ghimire: There are many products, and you have to play with people's psychology, right? And the content is at that level. At the end of the day, what I do is produce content for any business, right? And when I talk about that, I've met so many restaurant owners who say, "Wow, it's a huge profit, man." "It's a great business, man. I'm making so much money." You know. "Yeah, you should start a business. I'm rolling," right? I haven't met anyone like that. Everybody is like, "It's okay, it's hard, man. This isn't going to pay the bills. What other business should I do, Anup ji?" That's what happens, right? These people are running businesses with interiors worth a crore or two, and they're like, "We haven't made any money, man." I feel like either the sales are hidden, or they're hiding it, or they don't want to show they've made a lot of money. Or is it really that tough in the industry? That's not the case. On the other hand, in our circle now, all the young friends who are around, everyone wants to open a restaurant. Everyone has a dream project, a coffee shop, a restaurant. Right? And I was like, "Is this a trend?" Right? And now, I also feel like opening a restaurant, man. AASHISH ADHIKARI: They think it'll run on PR. Anup Ghimire: It'll run on PR. This needs to be demystified, brother. AASHISH ADHIKARI: It's a very difficult business. It's it's very um, you have to be very meticulous also. It's definitely not the kind of business where you just open it and it runs. Or having somebody that has been working in the HM hotel management field. Anup Ghimire: Or just having a good PR. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Employee or having a good PR is not going to cut it. Because you have to understand your own business very well. And plus, I was talking about supplies here. Supplies are very expensive. Most of our products are imported, and you know, so the restaurant industry... Anup Ghimire: What is imported, brother? I'm sorry if I'm asking a very blunt question, right? Meat is produced here. Like momos. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Are you sure meat is produced here? Or vegetables. Right. We make an effort to find Nepali ones. But the majority of your restaurant supplies, you know. Anup Ghimire: Like. To be specific. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Let's just say I need sugar. The sachets used in coffee. What it costs me in Nepal, if I can buy from an Indian supplier, I can get it, or from a Chinese supplier, I can get it for a lot cheaper price. So the cost of supplies here is very high, so the margins in the restaurant industry are low, specifically in food. Then, if you're not able to maintain that cost of goods, you don't see profit, which is what you were saying when you talk to friends, they see revenue. Profitability isn't there. Because of, and there's also the issue of wastage in the restaurant industry. So, one of the most famous chefs, Gordon Ramsay, what does he say? He starts in his kitchen from the dustbin. How much food are you throwing in the dustbin? So, if you understand this thoroughly and then get into running a restaurant, I've seen a lot of successful entrepreneurs, restaurant entrepreneurs, that have you know, a stronghold in the kitchen, in the heart of the business. Those who understand the inner workings. But if you're a good investor, you shouldn't open one. Because you are an expert in something, you should do that. Right? Now, if you think you are going to be very good at running a restaurant, you're going to not build your house and not allow me to build the house also. So, it's like the monkey doesn't build its own and doesn't let others build theirs. Anup Ghimire: Don't be a monkey. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Don't be a monkey. And go scratch in, you know, if you're serious about it, right? If you say, "I'm going to be a restaurateur," then you come into this restaurant industry, understand this restaurant business. AASHISH ADHIKARI: So, if you understand this thoroughly and then get into running a restaurant, I've seen a lot of successful entrepreneurs, restaurant entrepreneurs, that have you know, a stronghold in the kitchen, in the heart of the business. Those who understand the inner workings. But if you're a good investor, you shouldn't open one. Because you are an expert in something, you should do that. Right? Now, if you think you are going to be very good at running a restaurant, you're going to not build your house and not allow me to build the house also. So, it's like the monkey doesn't build its own and doesn't let others build theirs. Anup Ghimire: Don't be a monkey. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Don't be a monkey. And go scratch in, you know, if you're serious about it, right? If you say, "I'm going to be a restaurateur," then you come into this restaurant industry, understand this restaurant business. Anup Ghimire: Bring something good. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Do well, build a brand, then come. Healthy competition is always good. But now, just because the other guy did it and you think it's a nice way to spend an evening with friends. Anup Ghimire: You go and spend. AASHISH ADHIKARI: I invited the founder of Taza to a podcast. Bas. Anup Ghimire: No, I heard it. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Why would someone who just comes to eat say that? Anup Ghimire: He said it, people are tempted too. AASHISH ADHIKARI: I'm spending 10,000 to 15,000 a month on a restaurant. Why don't I open my own restaurant? If you think about that, I might as well open my own grocery store. Produce my own vegetables. Anup Ghimire: Might as well open a farm. Anything. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Don't do that. You know, if you are passionate, if you want to understand that business, then go work in a restaurant for a while. Help them. Understand that industry, and then invest. Anup Ghimire: In my context, I feel like I understand the marketing for restaurants. Of course, how you can... I learned this from Gary, and I've been implementing a few things, I'll share them. I've shared this on other podcasts. So, to cut it short, for example, for a restaurant, the most important thing is having recurring clients, right? So, if someone comes to a restaurant for the first time, the branch manager knows, right? So what do they do? They approach first, right? And after eating, "Sir, how did you like the food?" "Did you like it?" "What did you eat?" "Okay, you ate our chicken wrap." "So, our pasta here is very famous, right?" Now, you've already eaten. Maybe you don't have enough space in your stomach. So, what I'll do is, I'll write on a card, "20% off," right? So they'll take it, right? Next time they come, they'll do the same thing, and the third time they'll bring it. One resource says that to make someone a full-time recurring client at any restaurant, it takes three visits. So that's how you bring down three visits. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Exactly. We've also used this. I still have old coupons in my office. This tool is absolutely a must in the early stages for a restaurant. If somebody is coming to your place, get them to come and revisit. These are small ideas that help you with client retention. Once you scale, they might be doing things in a little bit different way, a more subtle way. Anup Ghimire: Premium membership, or thousands of ways. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Things like that. For example, we currently have thousands of coffee club cardholders. At least they will make a choice when they are in need for coffee. At least here I get a discount, or, you know, I am a premium cardholder here, they might choose us compared to another competitor. So, in the early stage of the restaurant business, the ideas you mentioned, these things are absolutely a must. It's absolutely a must. And service also makes a difference in a restaurant, a lot. Communication. Anup Ghimire: Exactly. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Communicating with your kin, well, it's not always good, you know, restaurant experience. When it's bad, how does the staff handle it? Or I myself have been there for two, two and a half years. I've received compliments. I've also been subjected to all sorts of insults, and I've faced various situations. So, if you can't make the right call at that point, or not make the wrong decision, or I've visited some places where I've heard the wrong thing. As a staff member, that person shouldn't have said that. I'm not bulletproof either. But at least we incorporate that into the team. If a situation like this arises, this is the best way to handle it, or in a worst-case scenario, you have those tools where you can refund, you can apologize, and accept to come again. I serve. I've gone to the extent that there was a bad review, and when that came up, I felt so strongly that we still have that practice where I would call the team leader and make them apologize personally. Because it was their mistake. It was my staff's mistake. It's not, you know, the client's mistake, or because they didn't follow the procedure we laid out, and you know, holding the restaurant accountable. In many places, I've seen restaurants open. The food is great, amazing. But your staff might say something stupid, and you know, people get pissed off. It's so sensitive, this service industry. Anup Ghimire: Last challenge. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Extremely, extremely, extremely. And then people have opinions too. If I eat here, I might like it. Someone else might not. And in today's highly competitive and connected world. In that. Anup Ghimire: After that, then we have like this food reviewers. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Exactly. Just opening an Instagram account is enough now. It's just, no, it's good, it's probably having a positive impact on the industry, but it's just, it's so easy right now for somebody to bring down that house of cards. And I've seen many restaurants, without naming competitors, disable their reviews. Anup Ghimire: True, true, true. We have that in our business too, brother. AASHISH ADHIKARI: We get it too. We get bad ones. We get good ones. But I look at the ratio. Like, you know, if four people say something good, and two people say something bad. So, you have to be able to manage that. What is your clientele like? You have to give them an experience according to their expectations, and the product also needs to be good. Overall, that's it. From the moment they enter the restaurant, I tell my staff during training that the entry must be very bright. The exit must also be bright. Anup Ghimire: Trust me on this. I've extracted this rule of thumb from so many of your restaurants. Wherever I am as a consultant, right? As soon as they enter, a simple "hello sir," "hi sir." Right? And when they leave, "thank you sir." It makes such a difference, right? Maybe now you expect it. When I go to any restaurant, I expect someone to be there, right? Someone should be there. I always go to the back of yours, you know, at the end. So I have to go through that bar. Because of that, maybe they think I'm like that. But I tell this to every restaurant that I consult: Go and every time people come inside, greet them. It's not going to cost you a penny. AASHISH ADHIKARI: And it has to be authentic. Anup Ghimire: Of course. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Sometimes it can feel manufactured. Anup Ghimire: But it's like this. AASHISH ADHIKARI: We encourage builders to find your customers. We encourage our staff. So, one day when I went to Dhamsikel, a senior person came, a journalist. When he complimented my staff, Ashish is his name. He complimented him right in front of me. For me, that's bigger than any money. "Ashish is giving me such great service. He's a great guy." When he told me that, it's proof to me that what I'm teaching my staff, they are doing it authentically. Mistakes happen from us too. So, you have to be able to say sorry for that. You have to be able to apologize. Don't work for a two-rupee smile now. You want that customer to come to you for a long period of time. So, admit your mistakes. And you'll get compliments too. So, the service industry, specifically restaurants, is highly sensitive. So, when we train our people, I think it's very important to instill that authenticity. Anup Ghimire: When it comes to instilling that authenticity, first, it has to be made compulsory, right? Then it comes gradually. AASHISH ADHIKARI: It's ingrained. Anup Ghimire: It's ingrained. AASHISH ADHIKARI: You might feel, there's a brother in my neighborhood. He says, "Don't come, father." Because he knows, "I am the boss." He'll come to me three times. "How's the espresso? How's the water?" Anup Ghimire: Not necessary. AASHISH ADHIKARI: He'll make it authentic. Anup Ghimire: Last time, when I was in Thapathali, he used to come. AASHISH ADHIKARI: They're young. They're learning. Anup Ghimire: And I also teach. Ashish dai is there, right? Why did you come? Ashish dai asks, "Brother, how are the momos?" Right? And I'm like, okay, the culture is like this. It's great. AASHISH ADHIKARI: No, the staff who are training, who are in the early stages, they still need that ingrained in their heads, you know, from the CEO. But my old, long-term colleagues, especially if you go and meet the team leaders, like Mona, Bina, Manil, Abhinay, theirs is not manufactured. Anup Ghimire: There is this one guy, Manil, I think. I was like, this was Dhamsikel, and he shifted to Baneshwor. AASHISH ADHIKARI: He's management right now. Anup Ghimire: Baneshwor's? AASHISH ADHIKARI: The whole management. Manil is in our team, probably a non-dropout, he even graduated in sociology. Manil came to our company through a youth empowerment program, which was my first experience hiring that way. Anup Ghimire: I met this guy in Dhamsikel. And I liked him. AASHISH ADHIKARI: He's grown. He's grown in the company. Started from a basic barista and now he's helping us with management training. Manil trains now. Anup Ghimire: Barista? AASHISH ADHIKARI: Barista, staff, service, HR, he's looking after it now. Anup Ghimire: Great, great, great. AASHISH ADHIKARI: So, it's like that. Not everyone makes it. Not everybody, but there are stories like Manil, Abhinay, Mona, Bina, other brothers and sisters who got married. Some are buying scooters. So, when I see that, then I feel good that I'm not the only one moving forward. They have also taken one or two steps forward in life. They will also be on that journey with me for the next five to ten years. Anup Ghimire: And I think as a leader, that's also your responsibility, right? So, what I tell myself, something that motivates me, something that I use for myself, it shouldn't make sense to everyone. What I mean is, if someone has left me, then, I tell myself that whoever is staying with me in the next 10 years, these people have to be more successful than the people who have left me. And that's my challenge. And if a leader, if I can take that as a challenge and if I can perform on it, that's where I win. AASHISH ADHIKARI: You take that responsibility also. Anup Ghimire: I have to, right? Because many, at times, it's like, even I have seen that some of my team leads didn't understand the decisions I made. They were like, "What is this guy doing?" But then they have stayed. Now it makes sense. Then. Anup Ghimire: That's also your responsibility, isn't it? So, the way I motivate myself, something that I'm extremely obsessed with, it shouldn't make sense to everyone. What I mean to say is, if someone has left me, I don't think about that. What I tell myself is that everyone who is with me now, in the next 10 years, these people have to be more successful than the people who left me. And that's my challenge. And if I can take that as a challenge as a leader and perform on it, that's where I win. AASHISH ADHIKARI: You take that responsibility also. Anup Ghimire: I have to, because at times, I've seen that some of my decision-making didn't make sense to my team leads. They were like, "What is this guy doing?" But then they stayed. Now it makes sense. So, even if it was blind faith back then, they still trusted me. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Because that's what makes a leader, because you're the spearhead of the company. You see around the block, as they say. What others can't see. Anup Ghimire: Now I owe them something back. I owe them something, right? These people have to be more successful than the people who have left me. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Transparency, too. So if they know that you know, you took that risk, you had that assurance that "I'm going to reach here." They didn't know; they jumped in with you in that pond. So, for them, that's authenticity and transparency. They'll see that, "Okay, he also took two steps forward, and I also took a leap in my life." You should, I think that's very important, very important. The automation and scaling that we did. They should also feel that. Anup Ghimire: We have formed a small group, about 20 people. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Nice, nice. Anup Ghimire: And moving on, I want to ask you something else because we've talked about generations. You are a father. How old is your daughter or son? Five years old? AASHISH ADHIKARI: Uh, almost five. Anup Ghimire: Almost five. So, as a new father, what new practices are you adopting, or are you creating a new generation? AASHISH ADHIKARI: I'm turning him into a badass, that's what I'm doing. I'm exposing him. I'm not telling him, like my wife thinks he should go to a great school. Of course, he probably will because his mother wants him to. But as a father, my job is to teach him how to take risks in life, which is, I think my parents allowed me to, which is they gave me freedom. The other day, Sunil dai asked, "How did your parents let you become such a death metalist?" I said the same thing: I didn't fail exams. I studied and took responsibility for my studies. So, holding him accountable, exposing him, allowing him to jump and let him maybe hurt himself a little bit so that he understands that next time I need to be careful. This actually hurts. Not being overprotective. That's how a child gets good grooming, I think. My parents also allowed me to take chances. Be different. In 1999, I used to walk around Kathmandu with nail polish on my hair, wearing goth clothes. At that time, everyone called me crazy. They thought their son had gone into drugs or turned into some junkie or whatever. But they didn't question me. They said, "Son, don't do wrong things, don't do bad things." Anup Ghimire: Because you had something to hold them accountable, perhaps. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Yeah. My mom always used to tell me, not disappointing her was a big thing for me. Then my father never put pressure on me like, "You must do this, specifically do this." And that liberty and that freedom allowed me to try so many different things. I think that's why I have this entrepreneurial mind. So, I've just bred that in my young boy also. He's traveled so many places with me. Anup Ghimire: You mentioned that the other day, when we were talking, you told him, "Son, if you want a tattoo, wait until you're 16." Then get it. AASHISH ADHIKARI: You're free to do it. I did it, so why should I stop him? You know, if he says tomorrow, "Baba, I want to have a drink," then I'd rather have him do it in front of me. Anup Ghimire: What if he starts smoking? AASHISH ADHIKARI: It's okay. I'll teach him that, you know what my experience was of smoking, how long it took me to quit, how difficult and addictive it is. And if he makes a choice, then it's his choice. But until 16, he's mine. Anup Ghimire: He's mine. Under me. AASHISH ADHIKARI: After that, you have your freedom. You'll have your freedom. But till then, I'm teaching him that risk-taking behavior or non-conventional learning. Like one day I brought a bundle of 50,000 rupees, and I made him count it. Anup Ghimire: Like he's going to do what his father does. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Okay, just do it so that he understands that it doesn't come free. And then this money, we have to... I made him contextually understand that this is all the money we have for the next one month, and this is what we need to survive on. So, you can't just... when he comes from school every day, he asks me to buy him some tractor. So, he stops demanding. He understood that it's difficult, this is all Baba makes, and you know. Anup Ghimire: For the son. AASHISH ADHIKARI: I'm doing things like that. Experimental stuff. And I keep hearing that the first child is always an experiment. I was my parents' experiment. For me, it is him, so I'm experimenting a lot on him. The other day, I took him to a death metal concert. Anup Ghimire: I was watching an Osho video. I'm a big follower of Osho, not in a crazy way, but I find him very logical. Some things he says are great. He said something. AASHISH ADHIKARI: He definitely is. Anup Ghimire: He said something great, which is that in the world, parents want to create a replica of themselves in their children. So, in that process, you put in good things, of course, but you also dump all your negative baggage onto your child. So, how do you expect the world to be new when all you are creating is a replica of yourself? What do you have to say about that? AASHISH ADHIKARI: I believe that I also read a lot of Osho. I've probably listened to all his discourses, most of what's available online. And I believe that in childhood, in the young period, they should discover their own talent, or what they are good at. Everyone has something good in them. They should get the opportunity to expose themselves to that. Now, we burden them with so much homework. That mentality won't help them survive in the future. That's my belief. So, we have to teach them to be able to survive in a different, very competitive, highly energetic, hyper-connected world. The way we were taught won't work anymore. So, if I think parents of my generation are becoming parents now, my advice to them is to expose them to non-conventional things, which is, you know, take them traveling, allow them to do certain things. Anup Ghimire: Let them make mistakes. AASHISH ADHIKARI: I'll allow him to use the tap too. I'll allow him to use it. But then I'm watching what he's watching, what kind of content he's consuming. And I'll tell him the advantages and disadvantages, that this is not going to teach you anything. For example, he's watching a cartoon, a Hindi channel one. Anup Ghimire: Motu Patlu. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Motu Patlu, he's grown out. There's another one called Bhuta Badri. All of a sudden he's teasing me saying "lallan top." Where did he learn "lallan top" from? He's learning all that from that. So I stopped. I told him, "This is more better for you, beta. If you watch this, you'll learn something. At least if he watches Peppa Pig, he'll learn English, one language." You know, I started showing him Doraemon in Spanish. Maybe he'll pick up the Spanish language. So just exposing your kids, it shows you, or it shows, they're like an unmolded statue, you know? What shape they take, it's a very unique experience. Your parents probably felt the same about you guys and us. I'm experiencing that right now. And it's a joy. I think the best thing that can happen to you is being a parent. And it also makes you understand, like, you know, how much my parents went through to raise me. And you become humble, and you know, like, wow, you know, it just opened my eyes the day I became. Anup Ghimire: This became like a lesson for him. AASHISH ADHIKARI: The day I became a father, you can go check my status. The status I wrote is "the shit just got real." I said, "Up until now, I was chilled out and everything was fine. Now I have a child to take care of, you know." I think. Anup Ghimire: Now, whatever you do, the child will come to mind first. AASHISH ADHIKARI: They are the center of your decision-making. Anup Ghimire: Wife or son? AASHISH ADHIKARI: Definitely child. Anup Ghimire: Okay. Because the wife can take care of herself. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Yeah, yeah, yeah. But like your antics, you know, when I was young, I was overly risk-taking. That mellows out, some maturity comes. I think being a parent, and if you enjoy it, it's very grounding also. It's like a really nice lesson from life, like how you yourself reached this point. Anup Ghimire: It's the kids, right? AASHISH ADHIKARI: Exactly. Your dad is going like, "Now you'll understand. How much effort I put in to raise you." Anup Ghimire: Right. Now I still have one more piece of advice for you, sir. Today, I'm taking advice upon advice from you, sir. This is going to be a million-dollar podcast. So, I don't have children, right? But I teach bachelor students. Around 70-80 of them, I teach. And I feel I have some big responsibilities. How I present myself to them, what experience I give them. Do you have any suggestion for me? Because I teach bachelor level, fifth semester, third semester, around 70-80 students. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Just give them 100%, Anup. Who you are, what your personality is. Don't put a filter like we do on Instagram. It's okay, it might be fun there, but in real life, let them see the real you. Right? Who you are, your vision, your mission, show your vulnerability too. Right? Show your weakness also. It's okay, you know. Not everybody is, you know, there's also that pressure of leadership. So, it's very lonely at the top. So, you know, sharing your problems and talking. So, with my young ones like Chhitis and Bidhan, I sit with them and if I'm stressed, they listen to my whole rant. I'll share it with them, you know. What state of mind I'm in. And it's the same with my Redmud team. If something is troubling me, they know Ashish Dai is going to have a one-and-a-half-hour rant coming up. But that's a part of what I am and who I am. And also, they'll see me in a jovial mood, then at that time, I also show them affection, I care about them. They've seen all sides of me. So, as a leader, that's what it is: be authentic and share your stuff, you know, be an open leader. And empower others, then they will definitely push you, they'll empower you, they'll make you a leader yourself. Anup Ghimire: That's right. I'll take that. My experience is, you know, the way we dress, it's very similar to these bachelor students, right? And one time, what happened was, every morning at college, tea would come, right? I was teaching. Takka Didi came, right? She asked, "Where is sir?" I said, "I'm right here." Didi said, "No, not sir." She went looking for sir. She didn't bring me tea. AASHISH ADHIKARI: They didn't consider you sir. Anup Ghimire: They didn't consider me sir. AASHISH ADHIKARI: You should have worn a white shirt. Anup Ghimire: But it's not like that anymore, right? It's changing. AASHISH ADHIKARI: It's changing slowly. Like, I mentioned Umesh. Umesh is a teacher. He teaches in the classroom wearing a Sepultura t-shirt, with meat. This is changing. I am here doing a podcast. We are in the first wave of that, I feel. Like Pratik, the guitarist of Ugrakarma, is a psychology teacher at Kings. How will his students turn out? That's what I'm interested in. More real-life people going into academics as well. Anup Ghimire: You don't want to teach? AASHISH ADHIKARI: I don't have an academic background. First thing, I'm not very structured. I come from experience. I don't have a technical background. But entrepreneurship, yes, I've given guest lectures at Kings. I've talked about startup financing. Anup Ghimire: If you get an opportunity like this sometime, where you can teach, would you teach? AASHISH ADHIKARI: When I was young in the US, I was studying at a community college. At that time, I actually had an option. I wanted to at that time. But it was training to be a primary school teacher. There were posts like that back then, now it's online. Back then, there was a bulletin board. A notice came on the bulletin board that said, "If you want to train to be a kindergarten teacher, do training that allows you to teach up to fourth grade." I thought, "Should I study more, or should I get a job?" At that time, I definitely had a desire to become a teacher. I wanted to work with young people. But now, my fraternity is business. So, if you want to learn about business and business development, I am always open. Knowledge is free. Anup Ghimire: So, if anyone listening to our podcast wants to ask Ashish Dai something or learn something, what should they do? AASHISH ADHIKARI: My two cents. The reason I created that platform was also to give structure to that avenue. Anup Ghimire: Okay. I'll make it more formal. I'll make it more formal. Dai, let's talk about "my two cents." AASHISH ADHIKARI: Yeah, actually, like, I grew up in a generation where I used the internet from dial-up. I see this technology as a great tool. Anup Ghimire: Technology, the internet. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Internet, yeah. I know people for marketing too. So I see this correlation. It's a great tool if you can use it in the right way. But now, people ask me random questions on Instagram. I don't have the time to write answers, plus I don't feel like it. So, you know, it kept coming, right? But then, if I don't say something, that person will be disappointed. I also feel bad when someone ignores me. So, how can this be structured? I've now set up an office. I do podcasts in one room. In another room, if someone wants to spend time, there's a sofa. We drink coffee, we talk. Anup Ghimire: This thing you called "my two cents," right? Do you know what that relates to for me? It's not like a child's mom has a shortage of two cents. AASHISH ADHIKARI: There's a lot of that. Anup Ghimire: No. And the name is quite clever, man, seriously. "My Two Cents." AASHISH ADHIKARI: It's sort of like my feeling, you know. Like teaching, as you mentioned. I have a non-conventional way of teaching, which is you might hear me cough while I'm talking. That might not be okay in a classroom setting. But I just made my own classroom there, right? So it's sort of like saying, if you feel it's worth it to spend some time with me, learn something from me, that's my two cents in your investment. Now, just like those two cents of yours, someone might learn something from you. Someone might learn something from others. By accumulating those two cents, a person can move forward in their career. I also learned from, I named a few people, business-wise, my brothers, my seniors, my bosses. I worked a job for eight years too. Anup Ghimire: Exactly. AASHISH ADHIKARI: I started my career at 31. So, you know, they gave me their two cents. That's why I am here. So I should also give back something. Anup Ghimire: So it's, it's more or less like giving back to the community. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Yeah, yeah, yeah. The reason I registered this is because, technically, the rules are also coming. It's about maintaining compliance. But the objective is not to, like, you know, make money, or eventually, maybe we will sustain. It definitely has to be sustainable. But through that, maybe I can do more than just be the CEO of Redmud, that's my thought. And it's also an outlet for a creative person. For me to express myself. You'll see some, like, I like experimenting. I used to do demo music, I used to do recordings for others. On a Pentium 1 computer, I'd have to tell today's generation. I'd borrow a sound card with difficulty and record albums. So I always enjoyed doing such work. Doing projects. And I need a creative outlet. Even if I couldn't sing well, I would still record. So, whatever it is, if I need to do something creative, that desire, I thought I would put it into this podcast. Sharing my experience, sharing my knowledge. And it also connects me with a community. A lot of my friends are into entrepreneurship. People I know. Bringing them along too. Anup Ghimire: That's also in the investment community. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Yes, yes. I can connect those two, definitely. And the current environment is not very conducive for that. Anup Ghimire: FDI. AASHISH ADHIKARI: We have to fight, we have to speak. We have to say that this does not make sense. Especially Anup Ghimire: Do you think we saying something will change anything? AASHISH ADHIKARI: Is there any option other than speaking, Anup? We don't have any other. We are taxpayers in this country. Anup Ghimire: Exactly. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Those fancy cars outside, the roads, who built all of that? We are the owners of this country. So if you own this country, then you gotta speak up, right? I told Sunil dai the same thing yesterday. And by speaking, it's not just for that moment, but to explain the issue, what the matter is, how it's affecting things. Like how many young people watch what's going on in the parliament? We need to focus. Our issues are being raised there. Tomorrow, if this government, which is trying to bring some strictness now, or whatever it is, then our democratic rights, you know, in this volatile environment, how will investment, business, economy thrive? So we have to speak. We don't have any other option right now. So I encourage that through your podcast, to your team, of your work. I think you should also encourage that message. Not just what you do, but showing other people the way, which is why you started this podcast. Absolutely great. That's why I am here. This is also a platform for that. Anup Ghimire: And I tell you, dai, "My Two Cents" was something that I was really inspired from to start "Doers Ke." And I, I, I have to give this full credit to Ashish dai. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Thank you, thank you. I think then I think my reward has started coming. Anup Ghimire: It has. It has arrived. AASHISH ADHIKARI: That's beautiful. To build a community, maybe through podcasts someday. Anup Ghimire: Definitely, definitely. AASHISH ADHIKARI: At some point, when I was talking about this in 2011, people laughed at me. Anup Ghimire: And plus, just AASHISH ADHIKARI: I said I'll show you something. Anup Ghimire: Exactly. Just not a community of podcasters, right? But also a community where these people are actually talking about building the next Nepal, right? New Nepal, right? Entrepreneurship, isn't it? And that, I think "My Two Cents" has been a great archive of some amazing content, right? And another thing that I find amazing about you is that there are a lot of people doing amazing things, business-wise, finance-wise, number-wise, right? Eight figures, nine figures, ten figures. Me too, how many figures, figures, right? But then nobody is coming back to the basics and talking about it. And you are someone who is doing amazingly well, right? Business-wise, Redmud is like, say, there are few people living in Kathmandu who haven't heard of Redmud. Our demographic. AASHISH ADHIKARI: We've definitely earned a name. Anup Ghimire: Right. This demographic, right, who, for example, maybe a 65-year-old person won't listen, a 10-year-old won't listen, but from 14, 15, 16 up to the range of 40, 45, 50, for aware people, you have already built the brand, right? And then now you are coming back to the basics. You didn't need to come back to the basics, right? Right? You could have simply done CSR, written an article in one or two newspapers. Made a video or two and posted it. That's it, right? But then you are coming to the basics and answering some really, really basic questions. And I wish more people could do that. Right? And that's it, right? For example, this Ashish dai is a normal person like me, man. Just because he's doing something amazing, it doesn't mean he's someone very, very different. He's a person like me, he laughs like me, he talks like me. Right? In those things, and then you make AASHISH ADHIKARI: yourself so common, you know. And that actually inspires the other guy to start something. And I think in Nepal, it matters, right? If someone is ethical, not in the future, if there are others like Redmud, I think there's a market to play ethically, you know. And it's actually building the company itself. And that is definitely. It's not just us, there are others too. And those need to become role models, I believe. I stayed in the United States for eight years. It's not easy for Nepali students out there. Not everybody is going to be successful. There are very few. I'll give you an example: from my group of friends, one became a scientist. So it's not like nothing happens by going abroad. He's definitely considered one of the renowned scientists in America now. He's working in research. Plus Suman Satyall. Plus some of my friends have lost everything they had, their lives. My brother just got shot in Kentucky some weeks ago, months ago. They're losing their lives for this basic thing called a job, for a better life. So, role models need to be created here. I think Nepali youth can also do something, or are doing something, but it's not like the Prime Minister or any government official goes abroad and says, "Come back to the country campaign." How many role models are there here, who have come back and done something? No one gives us that much priority. So, I'm dedicated to the program "Let your own flag fly." I'm going to tell my story. I'm going to tell my story. If it touches someone, I don't want to go to my deathbed regretting that I never did it. At least if I tried, I don't have that fear, that fear that I'll fail or I won't be popular. So basically, I'm being authentic. I think Anup Ghimire: Right. Right, right. No. Now that AASHISH ADHIKARI: Your own, that. I could, I never wear like, unless it's necessary. If I have to go, so ask somebody for money, I'll wear a suit. In a casual setting, then you'll always see me like this. I walk around in jeans and a shirt. People think, what will people say, it's about perception. They think you should be driving a car, you should be like this. No, no, no. I've just grown my business, man. I've grown a little personally too. But that doesn't change my mindset. I'm still that metalhead from Ward Number 29 in Anamnagar. Anup Ghimire: You're saying this to yourself. AASHISH ADHIKARI: I am very grounded to my roots, you know. Anup Ghimire: Anamnagar. AASHISH ADHIKARI: I feel that a lot of talent comes from there, you know. In my ward, in my ward, national-level cricketers have emerged. So I'm very proud of my ward. Maitidevi, Anamnagar, Ghattakulo, this area. Anup Ghimire: I am also proud of Bhairawa, man. So many amazing. AASHISH ADHIKARI: You should be. Your place. You must have a connection with your place. Anup Ghimire: Exactly, exactly. Yes, right? Anup Ghimire: And so that's my two cents. So guys, if you're watching this and if you have not known "Mero Dui Paisa," go and Google it, look for it on YouTube. It's an amazing place. Where there's amazing content, right? And it has its own unique style. And I watch it. I watch "Mero Dui Paisa" regularly. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Thank you, man. Anup Ghimire: No, it's really, man, you have to thank him. AASHISH ADHIKARI: You didn't start. Thank you, man. Anup Ghimire: Thank you, man. AASHISH ADHIKARI: We both thank each other. Anup Ghimire: No. And in that context, so do you want to say anything else about "Mero Dui Paisa"? AASHISH ADHIKARI: I want to give some structure to the youth engagement that I already have. So I'm coming up with some, like I recently took some leadership training programs as well. So if I become a certified trainer myself, then I plan to run training programs on a regular basis. And there are mentees who can pay, and I want to give it for free to those who cannot pay. So that only those who pay don't get the opportunity. Those who cannot pay, those who can, should support those who cannot. Anup Ghimire: And how does it work? If someone cannot pay but is obsessed, they will find a way, right? AASHISH ADHIKARI: They'll either find a way to get in. They'll get a discount. Anup Ghimire: Exactly. AASHISH ADHIKARI: But I've seen other things too. Anup Ghimire: Or it's persistence. They'll message you 10 times. What you say AASHISH ADHIKARI: Yes, they'll convince me. Anup Ghimire: They'll convince you. You'll probably give them a free scholarship, right? AASHISH ADHIKARI: I've always done things like I'll tell people random times to call me, or the reason I chose Chhitis, I'll reveal it today. Chhitis, I posted this message online and I'm watching how those people are responding to me. And I said, from this time to this time, my phone line will be open. Anyone interested, call me. Only one person called me, and that was Chhitis. The sole reason I chose you is because he listened to the message. He followed. I gave him time. I understood he would be a good operational guy. Anup Ghimire: I messaged you, but you didn't call me back, man, man. AASHISH ADHIKARI: No, I responded to you differently. Send me your CV. But you found me at the wrong time. That's the bad part about being overly communicated, connected. That particular point, I remember. I also remember when I asked Bidhan later, Bidhan told me he works with you. But you just found me at a very wrong time, a pissed-off time. Anup Ghimire: I was like, should I respond or not? Then I had to say something. So I'm like, sometimes I'm an asshole. Like, I shared a story last time. Ashish Syangden, you know Ashish Syangden. AASHISH ADHIKARI: No, I know. Anup Ghimire: I also wanted to do something in the radio field, here and there, right? Ashish dai told me the same exact thing. Okay, go to our website, apply. Oh man, talk to me for two minutes. I just want to say I can do this, dai. Give me a chance, dai. He was busy doing something. He gave me that standard answer. I applied the same thing. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Your work seems pretty impressive. Send me a CV with the things that you have done, and I'll look around it. Anup Ghimire: Oh man, dai. Being diplomatic, that's not something I can write. AASHISH ADHIKARI: To give structure to that same thing. Anup Ghimire: No, but it feels like this. How I feel is that when someone has reached a certain point, they do that. And if there's real obsession, you follow the system, you know. You follow the system, and then you crack it, and then you go, dai. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Whoever is persistent will get an opportunity. Anup Ghimire: They will get it. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Like, I recently opened "Makai Ghar." A promo for my brother too. Anup Ghimire: There. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Our Gandeyal brother. Anup Ghimire: Where? AASHISH ADHIKARI: Baneshwor. Anup Ghimire: In Baneshwor. Everything, corn. AASHISH ADHIKARI: He came. Yeah, yeah, he came to talk to me, and I gave him some time. Like, so a lot of people, what they do is, I want to meet you and do this, and I tell them, okay, come to my studio tomorrow at 2 PM. But they won't show up. You're there. Only talking there. Anup Ghimire: Or maybe. Or maybe. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Only talking there. They don't even have the courage to come forward and sit. Anup Ghimire: Exactly. AASHISH ADHIKARI: The ones that actually come, they will. They come, they sit. I talked to him a bit about business. He needed some advice. I supported him. Even you know, Bilal, after two years, I knew Bilal a long time ago. Anup Ghimire: Our Lattiro. AASHISH ADHIKARI: And I met him at Rockstar in 2014 or 2015. And at an event, after 2-3 years, he needed some advice. He searched and came. It's a rainy day, you know, where would you be, office. So those that want, they will find. They'll be persistent, right? I give time to such people too. I sit and talk. Anup Ghimire: Maybe they give it out of guilt too. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Exactly. He made an effort, so I have to make an effort. Anup Ghimire: And what I'll say is, don't be passive. You can't just sit around and say, "I'm passive." Go and look for it, don't just wait. You can't just wait for things to happen. And the problem here is that you expect things to come to you. AASHISH ADHIKARI: And what they'll get is bluntness, initially. And they can't handle it. I call that shock therapy. Initially, I'll curse them, I'll yell at them. Like you don't know anything. Whoever still sticks around, then that person gets an opportunity. Anup Ghimire: Exactly, exactly. AASHISH ADHIKARI: They don't break easily. I'll explain to them a bit about what persistence is, and then, okay, now let's sit down, like I'm doing with Chhitis and Bidhan now. It's the same with my Redmud team. They get to come and talk to me at any given point. But instantaneously, you cannot expect an answer from me. For example, one day a vague question came. They kept persistently sending it to me, but like, how do I explain this in an Instagram chat? Make an effort to ask me. Better to write an email. Write a good email, and I'll reply via email. If I give out 10 emails, two people will write an email. I tell my brothers too, if they can't write an email, then I don't want to talk to them. It's just that small things like that, make an effort. Anup Ghimire: And it's also like this. At the level you are, a lot of people are already public figures in their particular domain. And it makes sense to maintain that barrier. Because what we give you, what we're trying to give you, is really valuable. Now, if we start giving it to everyone, they would take it for granted. So if you fix a small parameter, then you know that whoever is coming forward is actually someone who deserves it. AASHISH ADHIKARI: And it's also about one's own mental health in this. Anup Ghimire: Of course. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Because for how many days I turn my phone off. Because I didn't grow up with phones. So I understand I can live without phones. I know it's important and it's a good tool to have in your pocket. It's great for communication and all that. But people think everything happens on that phone. It doesn't for me. For me, things should happen in real life, face to face, like this. Yeah, we can connect online, but that should be a complementary element. Two expectations are wrong. Anup Ghimire: It should be a complementary element, not the primary element. AASHISH ADHIKARI: That's why now I thought, why not just create content? Like I am, in that studio, that's it. Here too, it's the same. If you can learn from that, then like, some people say it's long. But then there are also some two people that have emailed me personal emails that tell me I should continue to do this. Because that person listened to the entire 50 minutes. They understood the message. It impacted them. They thanked me, so I just take that one feedback, and that's my fuel. I'm still doing it. Even if nothing happens, my ambition is to reach 1 lakh youth. Anup Ghimire: Exactly. And plus, it's like this, brother. This is something that I have learned from doing stand-up comedy. The kind of content that we are building is very niche. Right? And it's very for small people. Right? And I think long-form content is best for us. Because again, you don't want your videos to go viral and not impact anyone. In fact, let it have 500 views, but let it impact 50 people. Let 10 people execute it. Let 5 people say, brother, thank you so much. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Exactly. I keep reminding Birandra of this every day. It's about relationships, guys. Relationships. Because what are the parameters of business? One is you have to make money, that's one gauge. Now, in this online business, it's that viral thing. Anup Ghimire: Viral. AASHISH ADHIKARI: But then, do you want to do this only for six months, or do you want to do this for six years, ten years? That should be clear. Anup Ghimire: At that time, they'll look at your face, right? Because saying it is one thing. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Gary Vee's and his example, and Rogan's, is like, you know why Rogan is the best podcast in the world right now, most downloaded? Because he's doing episode number 11, 1300, 13 yesterday or something. And I've been listening to him since 300 or something. Anup Ghimire: Okay, so you are very regular. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Persistent, you have to be. No, I don't listen to all because it's American culture. I watch the ones of people I know, or I watch ones on certain subjects that I like. Anup Ghimire: There is this one guy I'd like to recommend, Tim Ferriss. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Yeah, I know Tim Ferriss. Anup Ghimire: Ah, okay. I am very regular with that. AASHISH ADHIKARI: There's so much, but I'm currently starting to create rather than consume. So I do skim through things. Anup Ghimire: I was looking at Google Trends the other day, brother. Google blog is going this way. Google podcast is podcasting this way. And there are millions of blogs. There are only 500,000 podcasts. And I think this is the future, because it's giving you multitasking. For example, if I extract only this audio and keep it somewhere, then someone can actually drive and listen to this. Multitasking. AASHISH ADHIKARI: This is true democracy. Anup Ghimire: This is true democracy. AASHISH ADHIKARI: That's it. That's why I love it. Because if you want to tell someone something, do something, in your own way, let the market decide, right? Anup Ghimire: Exactly. AASHISH ADHIKARI: If there was a case. Which is, you know, if that is wrong and it was abusive, then as a user, I should be aware to report Pranesh's video to YouTube saying this is vulgar and offensive. Right? That button is there, isn't it? You can go there and use that. But somebody else to come and use his power. That's not right. I also spoke up about that, raised issues in certain places. Anup Ghimire: We made a video. In the video, 8 seconds before, it said "Free Pranesh Gautam." That video got trending. Trending number one for five days. It reached 2.6 million views. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Right. Whatever people feel is right, they share it. They get support for it. It goes viral organically. Anup Ghimire: Exactly. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Now, calling that an opportunistic thing, in business too, there's a hustle, there's opportunistic. Right? You might make quick money by, like I used to do. One day I bought 20 refurbished iPads, iPods from a guy. That's not a long-term business plan. Did I make money? Yes, I sold each one for $75. I made money on eBay. Anup Ghimire: But where did they get it from? AASHISH ADHIKARI: I don't know. I didn't think about it. That's not a long-term business. Yeah, that's hustling, you might flip a few. But that's it, do it thinking long-term. Whatever you do, do it with a vision. Opportunistic, those momentary things, their life is also short-lived. For a moment, it will be a complete hit. Then it will fade away very quickly. So slowly, understand your audience, understand your market, what they are looking for. For me, I feel I came to interact with you because, like, what are others doing in their environment, their surroundings, looking at themselves, how to take feedback. In that way, plus, you know, where has the conversation reached now. Anup Ghimire: So, what's next, right? We're almost at the very, very end. I really wanted to ask you a very specific question. You've seen so many other businesses while doing Redmud, haven't you? Businesses that you found interesting but couldn't tap into because you'd already done something bigger. Now, it doesn't make sense to go back. But then there are a lot of new ideas that, you know, recent graduates, the fifth-generation recent graduates, they can apply, right? Apply, right? So, let's talk about a few, maybe four or five of those ideas. What have you observed? AASHISH ADHIKARI: In some industry or outside? Anup Ghimire: Anything, anything. AASHISH ADHIKARI: If I had a chance, or still, I am interested. I love the tourism industry. Anup Ghimire: Which ones, which ones, which ones? AASHISH ADHIKARI: The travel sector. We have, we are a great destination. If you, if you're from where? Bhairahawa. Sell Bhairahawa. Wherever you are from, be it Solu, sell Solu. Or, you know, you can start that anywhere. In your local district, near your home, today there's technology. Again, we talked about that brother's YouTube channel from Mugu. That empowerment, that tool has given it to you, right? That mobile has given it to you. Use those tools and start somewhere. That might not be very successful. It might not be your great business. But it will teach you something. Anup Ghimire: Okay. AASHISH ADHIKARI: I like the tourism sector. I am interested also. Anup Ghimire: What about food? AASHISH ADHIKARI: Small, small stalls, carts in food. How feasible is it? Because the problem we have right now is that the supply chain is difficult. So, food is also okay. Like, if you're passionate about it, again, like we talked about the corn from that brother. I don't know if his idea will work or not. But I told him to start small. Pilot it first. Test it in one location, a good location. And then if that works, then scale it up. So, similarly, if you are passionate about food. Like, if you enjoy cooking food, don't commit for the wrong reasons. Right? Now, I also see in supplies. Right? In supplies, a lot of production doesn't happen here. So, you know, if you can manufacture something here, or you can provide better service, better rates. I see supply chain management as a good industry too. It's disorganized right now. We have some big players, but a lot of the kirana shops and those supplying proper restaurants, a few are starting now. But there's an opportunity there too, I feel. There are so many restaurants now, like 100. So, it's a good market too. Tourism is done. Do something different in health and education. Bring some. Anup Ghimire: Whatever you do, it's fine, right? AASHISH ADHIKARI: Where there's a problem and a shortage, there's an opportunity. Right? Now, I get a lot of ideas too, but if I enter any other industry, I would like to somehow correlate it with my coffee industry, with tourism. That's something that I like. Also, media. Anup Ghimire: Coffee tourism, coffee tourism is also something, right? AASHISH ADHIKARI: Yeah, yeah, it does exist, but in Nepal, it's on a small scale. I've seen interns come from college, you know, to do projects. So, there are such opportunities. And maybe if you have a big enough farm, in the future, if you scale it up to a large farm, then there could be a small agriculture university there. So, there's a possibility. There's massive scope in agriculture too. Anup Ghimire: It's amazing. I had a podcast with a brother recently, Smart Krishi, right? What did he say? AASHISH ADHIKARI: Yeah, I know Smart Krishi. Anup Ghimire: What did he say? He said the meat industry in Nepal is 17 billion. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Like, fuck. I know how much I buy monthly, you know, I know that so I can make a calculation. It's huge. Not just meat. Vegetables, fruits. I'll give you an example. I'll make a video. I went for a walk near Panauti recently. I walked from Panauti to Namobuddha. I saw oranges, oranges, on the ground. Oranges. Anup Ghimire: Thrown away? AASHISH ADHIKARI: There's a road, there's a road there too. The road has reached there. I asked there. I was with Chhitis Bidhan, three of them. We asked, like, why is this, like, for someone to eat? It's waste. Even when we offered money, they didn't want any money. Right? Anup Ghimire: Just take one and go. AASHISH ADHIKARI: If someone there had a juice factory in Banepa, what would happen? Anup Ghimire: It would be amazing. AASHISH ADHIKARI: The road is already there. Why was that road built? So that such products connect with the market. So, we are not even using our infrastructure. Anup Ghimire: You should do a proper case study podcast about this, showing everything. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Everything. Now, I definitely captured footage at that time. I talked about it. There will be footage. That's my nature. I go and I question. I talk. Why is this done? Why is this like this? Now, you know, before, people used to come to buy cars. Nowadays, they don't come to buy cars, my friend. Meaning, if I had the investment, or someone local had to solve it. A local entrepreneur from there had to come. I would also go and work on the business in Banepa again. AASHISH ADHIKARI: To buy, like, for someone to eat, it's waste. Even when we offered money, they didn't want any money. Anup Ghimire: Just take one and go. AASHISH ADHIKARI: If someone there had a juice factory in Banepa, what would happen? Anup Ghimire: It would be amazing. AASHISH ADHIKARI: The road is already there. Why was that road built? So that such products connect with the market. So, we are not even using our infrastructure. Anup Ghimire: You should do a proper case study podcast about this, showing everything. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Everything. Now, I definitely captured footage at that time. I talked about it. There will be footage. That's my nature. I go and I question. I talk. Why is this done? Why is this like this? Now, you know, before, people used to come to buy cars. Nowadays, they don't come to buy cars, my friend. Meaning, if I had the investment, or someone local had to solve it. A local entrepreneur from there had to come. I would also go and work on the business in Banepa again. Anup Ghimire: You have to provide a solution. AASHISH ADHIKARI: I'll eat Panauti too. It's not possible to do everything. A local entrepreneur from there has to buy a vehicle. A mechanism has to be created to take the local goods to the market. So, I'll give you a small example, just look around yourself. What's the opportunity? Where is the problem, and what can you solve? And build a business around that. Anup Ghimire: The reason I asked you is because, you know, as someone who is, like, I'm 28 years old, right? I've been in Kathmandu for the last 11-12 years. I finished SLC in Bhairahawa and then came to Kathmandu, and now I'm working in social media. Anything that I'm doing, comedy, weddings, trainings, you know, consulting businesses, everything revolves around social media. Because right now, I feel like, if you can build a product or service targeting this urban crowd, right? Targeting the crowd from 18 to 40 years old, and something more affordable. Because on social media, it's easy to sell something more affordable. It's easier to sell affordable things than premium things. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Do anything. Anup Ghimire: Bring something new, a new concept, use some good social media strategy. Right now, social media is bursting in Nepal, you know, brother. I'm telling you, it's bursting. You can rebrand, brand, start something new. There's nothing that social media can't do. AASHISH ADHIKARI: You can learn, experience, do small pilots. Anup Ghimire: It's amazing, and it can. AASHISH ADHIKARI: I also ran an eBay store. Anup Ghimire: Exactly, right? And I tell you, Wedding Dreams Nepal, the company that exists now, has like eight full-time team members, full-time, right? And over 30 freelancers working for us. We are one of the very good wedding companies in Nepal. AASHISH ADHIKARI: You don't work for yourself, I know. I feel like you've mastered the part of building a business. Anup Ghimire: And that, it started from a Facebook page. What did I just do? I had two brothers, his girlfriend. I took her to Godavari. Bought four or five outfits, right? Did a photoshoot. Boosted it on Facebook. AASHISH ADHIKARI: It started like that. Anup Ghimire: Right, and then it started. Like, I was like, bro, in Nepal right now, you can do anything. AASHISH ADHIKARI: That's why you named it Doers. Anup Ghimire: The Doers. AASHISH ADHIKARI: The difference is just go out and do. Anup Ghimire: Go out and do it. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Don't fear failing. You will fail. I'll guarantee you, you'll have to fail two or three times. Maybe in some cases, there are people who are successful from the first try. But that statistic is small. Anup Ghimire: No, even if you fail early on, you fail in very small, micro steps in that first project. And then you evolve. AASHISH ADHIKARI: There's something called "fail fast." Anup Ghimire: Fail fast. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Fail quick, learn quick. Anup Ghimire: Learn quick. AASHISH ADHIKARI: That's, that's absolutely true. Anup Ghimire: Lean startup. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Change, pivot quickly, improvise. How did I pivot from t-shirts to coffee quickly? If I had thought, "I don't know anything about coffee," and just sat there, no, there was an opportunity in front of me. I grabbed it. I had 50,000 rupees when I started my company. Anup Ghimire: Red mud. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Red mud. That's it. Where did the rest of the fundraising come from? You will have to figure that out. You will have to, I cannot give you a formula, or Anup can't give you a formula that, oh, go and do ABC. Anup Ghimire: Do C. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Money. No. You have to knock on a lot of doors. Anup Ghimire: And how it is, time changes. For example, the way to build a business in 2014 will be different in 2019. Right? And another thing I always tell myself is that if you are building something in 2019, have enough patience for at least three or four years for yourself and build something for 2021. Build something for 2022. Don't build something for 2019 because it's already gone, it's going. Just six months and. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Look at the future. What's ahead? What's the trend? Anup Ghimire: Build something for 2021. And if you are doing that, you practice presence, and you are building something futuristic. AASHISH ADHIKARI: You are always looking ahead. Anup Ghimire: Exactly. As soon as that nature is there, in 2021, you will build something for 2022. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Those trends and fads can slip away today, right now. A fad can turn into a long-term trend. Anup Ghimire: Exactly. AASHISH ADHIKARI: But it could just be a fad also. So don't bank on that. Like you said, like, does it motivate you and what do you see yourself, how do you, if you start selling something, selling a product from a Facebook page, your dream should be to be the Alibaba of Nepal. Anup Ghimire: Exactly. AASHISH ADHIKARI: I will be an online retail giant tomorrow. I'll get into coffee. I still always say, I want to be number one. Whether I become it or not, I don't know, I keep saying it. Anup Ghimire: Exactly. AASHISH ADHIKARI: You have to see the future. Anup Ghimire: So, this is my second-to-last question. Since you are from an agriculture background, what do you think about weed? AASHISH ADHIKARI: I think it is, the way I see it is that, you know, it's, it's misunderstood. I've seen other things in the market that are prevalently sold that are more harmful to youth and families than that particular product. And you have to understand, you know, like something for its merit and demerit. Not, don't judge it without understanding it. So what I feel is like, you know, I, I can actually say that, you know, weed is, I don't mind, you know, I think it's better than alcohol. It's better than a lot of things that I've personally experienced myself with. If you're addictive, you're addicted, you know. If I'm addicted to coffee, then I'll have three espressos every day. If I'm addicted to sugar, then I'm addicted to sugar. People are addicted to shopping. You know, it's, if you're addicted, you're addicted, you know. If you know how to use a certain product and it's got merits more than demerits, then I think we should be wise enough to look at it from that lens. And I also see a massive economic impact of this plant. I have visited Amsterdam twice. Anup Ghimire: So if it's getting legal in Nepal, are you investing in it? AASHISH ADHIKARI: I would love to. I would love to. I lost people with cancer. By, I saw chemo kill people, you know. It maybe saves people also, but it also destroys people, you know. I may be saying this because I'm naive in medical terms, but I saw that at that point of pain in somebody's life, why would you make that person go through something like chemo, which is radiation? And if there's a safe alternative to that which is non-even psychoactive, you can use a CBD version of which has no psychoactive substance. It's been proven, I'm not saying it. Anup Ghimire: So, coming, adding on to that. AASHISH ADHIKARI: I see that if we, and I've traveled Nepal by. I've seen some of the best strains in the world in Nepal. I've seen Nepali branding being used by foreign entities. Like when I entered a coffee shop in Amsterdam and I said, okay, you know, today, this is an example for us of what we could be in the future. Let's see what's there. There is a Nepali product in the market. Anup Ghimire: Amsterdam. AASHISH ADHIKARI: In Amsterdam. Or either they're just using it. They're growing it there and giving it like, "Himalaya." Anup Ghimire: Exactly. AASHISH ADHIKARI: That's ours, isn't it? Anup Ghimire: It's ours, man. We have the money. AASHISH ADHIKARI: I've gone to, just if you want to see what, how this product can change people's lives, just go to Gorkha. Travel upper Gorkha. It's fucking everywhere. Anup Ghimire: And I can, I can. AASHISH ADHIKARI: You don't even need to grow it. God already put it there for you. Anup Ghimire: I read some news recently, about thousands of tons of marijuana found at the international airport. You don't even need to grow it. AASHISH ADHIKARI: And like the interview that I talked about, Tikaram, and you know, somebody. Anup Ghimire: In China. AASHISH ADHIKARI: This is coming up in parliament. So, it doesn't make any difference if we talk about it. And I'll make one last point on this subject: like in my own family, I've lost family members. I've seen families be destroyed with alcohol. Alcohol is not good. I myself was caught in that cycle. Somehow, I got out. And that thing destroys families, destroys health. And if that person cannot quit alcohol, he's gonna find some kind of alternative. Why not give him this in many different forms? In edibles, you can eat it. It's medicinal, it's, you know, I also have back issues, and it does really alleviate my back pain. So, you know, that's my opinion on it. You know, I'm starting to talk about it because, you know, that's also a part of me, and I shouldn't hide it. So, there it is. Anup Ghimire: And how I feel is, if weed becomes legal in Nepal, and if we could somehow establish Nepal as a wholesaler of. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Dude, I have four coffee shops. I don't like that law. I wouldn't like that law. I would love to. Imagine we are having this conversation in Jomsom. You know, shipping on the best Nepali coffee and also some of the best strains. Why not? You know, when you see that in, I saw it in Amsterdam, and that impact. They've tolerated it in a certain way. There are rules there. And there are entrepreneurs that have come out of there, you know. Just, we need to be exposed to that. We need to see it. And it's already started in the US also, in so many other countries. If you just give it to tourists, imagine we have a target of bringing in 2 million tourists in 2020. Last year was 750,000. Anup Ghimire: Not even a million. AASHISH ADHIKARI: It's a quantum leap. We need to do something drastic to bring that kind of tourists to Nepal, you know. Infrastructure also needs to grow gradually. And people already come here for that. In some ways, we are a spiritual hub of the globe, you know, like people see us that way. So why not market it well and, you know, make it a nice, comfortable, safe place for people? Anup Ghimire: Do you know what needs to happen for that, dai? People like us need to get into politics. There should be people in politics who are marketers, who can brand a country, right? AASHISH ADHIKARI: Like Modi is doing right now. Anup Ghimire: Like Modi is doing right now. AASHISH ADHIKARI: I don't know about his policies, but about branding and marketing. Anup Ghimire: He's an amazing marketer. True, true, true, true, true. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Or his PR team is great, or, you know, he's surrounded himself with the right people. Anup Ghimire: Exactly. The reason I asked you this is because, in the context of weed, why I asked is because it's very emotional to me. Because I lost my mom to dementia, Alzheimer's, right? And I have made weed and treated with butter, made cookies, right? AASHISH ADHIKARI: H? Anup Ghimire: That's what I mean. There you go. You are a living proof right now. Anup Ghimire: And how they make ganja at home, and that ganja mixer, in the grinding, making those pastes, using hemp oil, how much has been done, right? AASHISH ADHIKARI: You read about it. Anup Ghimire: I have done so much research, dai, right? When I was young, there was a website from the US that used to ship things. What was it? What dot com, right? I ordered hemp oil from there, hemp seeds, right? Then that didn't work either. Then I started growing weed at home, or from Kathmandu, I used to fly, or take a bike, go to Galchi and hunt. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Still Galchi, right? Anup Ghimire: Then I went to Bhairawa and made a paste, right? And that's how much has been done, right? I think if it was easily available, a lot could have been done, right? And another thing is, there are quite a few Alzheimer's societies, dementia societies. A lot could be done if we bring weed into a proper form. AASHISH ADHIKARI: I mean, look at depression now. People are depressed, and like, you know, people have anxiety, post-trauma. We all have post-earthquake, post-trauma, trauma stress. Whether we feel it or not, we do meditation little by little. I see it coming, you know, I'm afraid of it, that in the area I am in, it still comes to me. So, you know, there are so many benefits of it. I myself am someone involved in the coffee industry, I can't fathom how something that grows in the soil, coffee, is legal. And right there, another plant, that other one, how is it illegal? It doesn't make sense, and I think the youth needs to talk about it. Anup Ghimire: True, true. I'm not saying give it to everyone, give it to children. AASHISH ADHIKARI: No, no, no, no. There is a certain way, you know, people can make good use of it. There should be a certain age, a minimum age, a distribution channel. And I've traveled so much in Nepal, I've seen so many farms, and who are the people farming those lands? It's us, children and old people are the only ones. Their hands will reach income, right? Even if it's a little bit of income. Now, there's an impact on coffee because there are no laborers. The fields are empty, there's no one to plant potatoes in Sindhupalchowk. I go, I see, I understand. I know that. If you sow that seed in that field, they will at least earn X amount yearly, right? They sell it to the government, the government earns tax from it. So we really need to be pragmatic about this, right? We need to think about why it was legal until '73. Who came and made it illegal for us? Big people have already said this. Anup Ghimire: Exactly. AASHISH ADHIKARI: And now, in this new constitution, this issue has been raised. Let it not just fade away. Anup Ghimire: I think we should talk about it. AASHISH ADHIKARI: It will change, it will be a game-changer for Nepal. Anup Ghimire: Nepal. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Medicine, like in California, they light up and are getting warm, right? Anup Ghimire: We don't need to light up. AASHISH ADHIKARI: We don't. Anup Ghimire: We don't need to do anything. AASHISH ADHIKARI: And don't give it to everyone, give it in a controlled way, give it in certain districts. It seems the Nepal government needs to do a small experiment. Anup Ghimire: So my last question for you, dai, today we spoke dangerously. Today we spoke wildly. This is the first time in such a long podcast. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Even so. Anup Ghimire: I let it flow. It happens. And my one question is, for example, if you were given a billboard, right? If you were given a billboard where millions of people look at it every day, watch it, right? So what would you write? Something that should inspire them, motivate them, right? Or I don't know what impact you want to make on the minds of those millions? You have to think about it and you've got to write one thing. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Okay. Anup Ghimire: Here you go. That's blank. You have to come here, dai. First, tell me into the mic? AASHISH ADHIKARI: Okay, sure. I think the only thing coming to my mind is be happy. Because no matter how much success, how much, you know, material wealth we accumulate, at the end of the day, that's all that matters. Are you happy or not? Anup Ghimire: Are you happy or not? AASHISH ADHIKARI: Where you are, what position you are. You can be happy sweeping the floor, you can be happy cleaning the toilet, you can be happy delivering pizza or being a CEO of a company or doing a podcast. Do what makes you happy and be happy. I think the message is that. Anup Ghimire: Perfect, perfect. You have to write something here, dai. Anup Ghimire: This one? AASHISH ADHIKARI: Yes. Anup Ghimire: A signature. Okay, perfect. AASHISH ADHIKARI: Awesome. That's a great idea, haii. Anup Ghimire: Thank you so much, dai. AASHISH ADHIKARI: We should finish? Anup Ghimire: Ah yeah, I'm ending it. So thank you so much, dai, for coming, right? You have been an online mentor for me for so long. Now you are finally offline too. I've got to learn so much from you. I hopefully, everyone who is watching this podcast today, you guys have learned a lot, so many great things were said, right? I hope. I hope after listening to this podcast, there will be a few doers, right? Definitely. And again, thank you so much for coming. And this is definitely not the last time. I'm going to invite you again, and maybe next time we can talk about a few specific topics. AASHISH ADHIKARI: And I'll also invite you to my podcast. Anup Ghimire: Definitely, definitely, definitely. AASHISH ADHIKARI: That's a new journey we should start. Anup Ghimire: Definitely. And do follow Mero Dui Paisa on Instagram, Facebook, on YouTube, meroduipaisa.com, right? A lot of things, a lot of good, great knowledge. And for you guys, I hope, like always, this episode was also very inspiring and entertaining. And I've received so much feedback asking to make it short, make it short, make it short. But no, I'm not making it any shorter. Because I know, if, because the niche is not for everyone, right? And if you, if you, if you seriously want to get into entrepreneurship, you seriously want to be a doer, um, if you are watching this episode from outside Nepal, then please see, observe, and realize that there are amazing young people just like you, just like, right? We are no different, right? Just like you, we are doing some amazing stuff. Come back if you can, otherwise, right, do whatever you can to make a difference in Nepal. And Nepal is changing amazingly, and we're going to come back with amazing new content for you guys. Till then, you guys take care. Bye bye.