Meet Puru Patel, an architect and a 1% Club member since 2023. Growing up, he never worried about money since his family was financially stable. So investing and saving weren’t something he thought about.

But things changed when his family faced a medical emergency, and the family’s finances took a hit. Even after becoming an architect, financial stability was a bit far off.

However, life gave him a new opportunity, perhaps because of his compassionate nature. This time, he made sure financial stability was no longer a distant dream.

Read on to discover his journey and how he’s now working towards a financially free life. Edited Excerpts

Please tell us about your career journey.

I graduated in 2019 and I studied architecture. I worked for a year and a half but I left my job before COVID. As I worked in a design-oriented firm rather than a commercial one, my salary was around 2.5K and then went up to 10K. I wanted to do something different after that job.

Post-COVID, I think I realized that a break from my job to try out something on my own was a tough call. 

To start my career on my own as an architect was slightly farfetched.

How did things work out for you?

I was a stray cat and dog feeder. I realized that arranging for pet food was very difficult during COVID. Either it was not easily available due to restrictions or the prices were high. 

And there were times when supply was an issue as half of the products were imported.

I knew a few suppliers who gave a decent price so I thought of exploring this small avenue. Initially, I started helping people out with free delivery and good discounts to feed stray cats & dogs. I realized many needed this as a service.

So, I started buying myself on credit. I requested them to help me with a few months of supply and I’ll pay them the money at the end of the month. This is how I started.

I also made a simple post on the phone and put it across. On the first day itself, I had 2K queries on my new company SIM card. Almost a few tonnes of food was exhausted in a day. The next day I had to order double. In a week, I had to register a company. 

I started a retail pet supply brand, THE BIG DEAL, in Sept 2020. 

How did you manage all this?

For the first three months, I used to deliver food myself. I started early in the morning until 3 am at night, delivering food, due to a lockdown across the city, delivering food to feeders. While I was doing it, I used to interact with these people on a daily basis to understand what they required.

These are the certain points which I had noted down, which helped me understand the entire customer base even further. Since many were older people, we went for a Whatsapp business model rather than an app. Also, we offered one-day delivery and had 5 to 7 products to select. 

Soon I realized I needed help so I started hiring people. Within 6 months, I arranged for a vehicle and set up a logistics team. Growing month on month, at the end of the first year, we expanded from a 300 square feet area of warehouse to 1,500 square feet. 

Today, we occupy 3,000 square feet of warehouse in Mumbai.

Was it smooth for you always?

There was a point in 2021 when it rained heavily and our warehouse got flooded. We had to bear massive losses. The business went into negative figures. My business partner also dropped out as he couldn’t bear more losses. I had to lay down a few people and I decided to do most of the work by myself. 

I was in this state for almost 6 months. The growth only started happening in 2022. We grew by almost 5% every month. Now we have 500 SKUs and almost 40 tons of food that goes out monthly.

Today we are running a 7 figure business and I am grateful that my small act of compassion paved the way for me. 

Are you still managing it alone?

No. Today I have a team and my brother has taken over the entire operation. 

I help him with marketing, networking, and connecting with companies. 

We are soon starting a new brand of our own.

When did you start investing?

I couldn’t actually have any sort of investment of my own as my initial salary was very low. But as the business started, I started earning a decent amount so I made small investments. My brother studied finance. With his guidance, I began investing in stocks and mutual funds.

I invested a certain amount of money in stocks. Eventually, I thought this was too difficult for me. Now I have a financial advisor. She helps me with SIP.

Also, when I was exploring investments, I came across ads of financial courses by Sharan on Instagram, where he talked about financial freedom & FIRE numbers. 

It actually motivated me to think about it. I joined the masterclass in 2023 & immediately took the membership. 

As I didn’t want to depend on anyone else for my financial decisions.

Please share your portfolio details after joining the club.

I have a slightly diverse portfolio where 80% is in mutual funds/SIP. 

While 15% in real estate 

And 5% in equity that I manage by myself.

What are the things you learned after joining the club?

One of the most important things I learned about is how much you should invest. Also to diversify and never put all your eggs in one basket. I used to think that whatever money I had left should go into investing. 

But through the club, I learned the importance of emergency funds. 

Also Read: How This Delhi Man Got Out of Rs 20 Lakh Credit Card Debt Trap

What do you like the most about the club?

The best part is I can learn the courses according to my time as I’m always occupied with one work or the other.

Then I think we have a lot of questions and ideas in our heads. I feel really good that the community members are always answering each others’ questions. This makes 1% Club a very interesting platform.  

Thirdly, networking is the most important thing for me. I am able to connect with  really knowledgeable people and people who have good insights.

Currently, I’m thinking about getting a credit card. I never had it as I didn’t believe in it. I am slowly learning how to utilize the benefits it has and  today I think I am more confident about using such provisions to my benefit.

And as a legitimate platform, I can depend on 1% Club’s information. Because there is a lot of marketing that goes around every financial product it is difficult to decide whom to trust. 

How did your perspective towards financial planning change?

As a young kid, my family was always in a good financial condition so we didn’t have to worry about saving or investing.

When I was in 12th grade, my family faced tough times with finances. I had to change my career decisions and re-plan it. After facing such times now I feel it’s my responsibility to understand the role that financial planning plays in a particular person’s life. 

I have always dreamt of having a financially free life. And I feel everyone should learn about personal finance. So, it’s a very important subject in my company as well. I make sure that everyone understands personal finance and has started planning their finances.

I feel that it is my responsibility to help people working for me.

Disclaimer: The above content is based on the information provided by Puru Patel. The 1% News doesn’t independently verify non-public data reported by interviewees.