0:00 – Ali Khawaja

Foreign. Guys, welcome back. Yeah, I know, I know. I’m, I’m really bad with this, you know, I’m good. I’m great with structure. I’m not so great with time. Time sometimes seems to be an abstract contrast construct for me. Nonetheless, we are here. I’ve got a very interesting guest I want to talk to today. He started off his journey, or rather, let me rephrase when I met him, he was a young, young student university where I ran into him. And I keep joking about it all the time. I still remember him exactly like a headless chicken with a lot of energy, going everywhere, doing everything. And I think at that age that is most appropriate because that’s the age of discovery. That’s when you want to kind of experiment and try things to see, is this me? Is this what I like? Is this what I want to get into? At the same time, you’re really kind of expanding your reach and trying to understand who are the sort of people that I want to work with, what sort of work style or ethic do I want to have and the people I work with, what do they want to have? So I’ve always found it fascinating. And you know, he’s definitely not the only one. I have a lot of great examples. I’ll get them on more episodes about, you know, young, brilliant minds that you see in this exploratory phase and then you see them finding their path and forging their path. So first of all, thank you very much for making the time to come talk to me. I’ll let you introduce yourself. 

1:31 – Ibrahim Asif

Jazakallah, thank you so much for having me here. It’s an honor. After all this time, obviously having interacted with you in university and you were teaching business and then we have these concepts in our mind, we have these dreams that we’re, we’re going to do and then you set out and you accomplish some of them and, and the rest of them get lost over time. But then every now and then something like this happens where, you know, someone in the past would reach out to you, which is you. And they’re like, listen man, why don’t you come down and have a talk? And then makes you stop and take a hard look like, you know what, maybe everything I’ve been working on is actually working out. People want to talk to me. So this is, this is definitely a moment like that for me. Alhamdulillah. So thank you so much for having me. So, Ibrahim, I’ve been an entrepreneur for the past ten odd years. Right after I graduated Actually, even before I graduated, I was part of a few ventures and then right after I graduated, I started my entrepreneurship journey. I’ve been in quite a few different industries. The latest one and the one that I’ve stuck to the longest now is in the perfume sector. We create. We help people create and recall memories, right? That’s our brand promise. And we do that by harnessing the power of sense, because they’re so strong when it comes to helping you create and recall memories. It’s subconscious. So that’s what we’re harnessing for individuals and for companies alike. 

3:32 – Ali Khawaja

Nice, Nice. Talk to me a little bit. I’ll break the conversation on as we go, but talk to me a little bit about early days. Tell me, tell me about, you know, that transition just now that you’re wrapping up with college. You’re getting ready to step into the world. This is where we get a lot of the, you know, the uncles and start popping up. Bita, what are you going to do with your life now? Like, have you got your shit together? Type of questions? Tell me how that piece was for you. 

4:00 – Ibrahim Asif

So I was very. As you said, you know, I was a. So there was a nickname for me back in university. It was the Hyper Pakistani. I’m not even kidding. And I was hyper. I was cocky and I was, I would even say borderline arrogant. I was like, you know what? I’ve got it. If anyone can do it in life, it’s you, Ibrahim. And I think that sort of naivety was important in the beginning to help get me started. Because with everything that I know now, I would probably rethink it going back. But when, when I graduated, I was so sure. I’m like, this is the path for me. I’m going to be building a legacy. I’m going to be building hopefully an empire one day. And this is the start. I did not know how to start. I did not know what industry to get into. I did not know. I had no clue. But I knew this is what I need doing, I need to be doing. And through the network I had built in university, I got in touch with a few business owners and I just reached out to one of them. I’m like, listen, I’ve graduated and can I come down and just see how you do business? That’s all I asked him. And he opened his doors to us. And he was in the construction sector. That’s how I started off, in the construction sector. He was focused on glass. And when I joined him from the marketing, you know, courses that, that we took So I graduated with, with a major like in marketing. There was always a talk about focus on niche, focus on niche. So we, we took that business and we were like, listen, how can we focus on a niche in this? And we focused on, on the design aspect of it, and that’s all we focus on. So that’s how I started. Like, there was a, there was no plan to it. There was no, you know, business plan around it even. We’re like, listen, I need to start, I need to know what business is at the end of the day. And that’s what I learned over there. 

6:15 – Ali Khawaja

That’s great. And you know, one of the things that you mentioned, I always value people who, who are receptant of people wanting to just gain experience. And you’ll be surprised that a lot of people are like that. But, you know, young people who are graduating or still in college are very shy to ask. And this is one of the things I try to push on students now. I’m like, don’t be shy to ask. If you don’t ask, it’s already a no. If you ask, it could be a yes. That in itself, statistically is a win. So give it a go. And you know, I can seldomly think of any situation where I’ve reached out, either for myself or on behalf of a friend or a student to someone in an organization to say, hey, man, would you want to talk to this kid for like a half an hour? Would you mind meeting them for coffee? Can they come and just kind of hang out your office? Can they spend a day walking around shadowing with you? I’ve, I’m honestly like, while I was saying that, I was trying to remember the last time I got a no and I can’t. Which says a lot about how open the community and the people are because they themselves were at that point. So it’s good to hear that you were able to get access to industry, to see how things were done and, you know, to be able to try and try and experiment and do things in it. We always talk about pivot. Pivot is as important to a business as failure. You know, if you are an entrepreneur or you are anything who wants to do anything to do with innovation, you know, everyone who knows me knows that I always scream failure first when it comes to innovation. If you, if you’re not failing, you’re not innovating hard enough, you’re faking your innovation. So if we look at it from the perspective of failure, we look at it from perspective taking risk, we look at it from the perspective of all of those things, leading a person to understand the importance of a pivot, sometimes small, sometimes significant. What. What were the hop, skip and jumps that got you into your business that you have today? 

8:14 – Ibrahim Asif

I think that forces me to think about it. But obviously there’s a right way to pivot and there’s a wrong way to pivot. So again, that also plays into the failure part. And I’ve done the wrong pivot a lot of times. After the glass business. So that business didn’t work out as, as well as I’d hoped. I, I, it was a very, very hard lesson. So no one in my, it’s almost like I was almost dumb at that point where I got into a business agreement without ratifying it. Like, there was no sign, there was no paper, there was no writing. And we got into an, Obviously, when it came time to pay, we didn’t have anything to fall back on. So I learned that the hard way, documented. Even in Sharia, you’re supposed to get an agreement down and sign on it. So for that reason, that business didn’t work out. And again, you know, at the back of my mind, it was still, listen, fine, no problem, hiccup. We knew this was going to happen, Ibrahim. We got to stick to it. So again, there was no plan. There was like, okay, let’s find what’s next. Let’s find out something. So my thinking was, let’s again look into the network that I have and see where I can get support from. There was no support from the family because no one in my family was in business. My father was an engineer, a very respectable engineer in Emirates Airlines. He had been for the past, I don’t know, he retired after working for like 38 years. So it was just looking in, in the, in the network within university. So this is actually, if anyone is still in university and, and listening to this, I would say one of the most important aspects, along with your grades and everything else, is the networking. So it’s very, very important to network with everyone. Just, just, just keep that in mind, you know, whenever you’re interacting with your colleagues. So I found an old colleague who’s, he’s one of my best friends right now, and they used to have a textile business and they were launching a brand in Pakistan, and I managed to get distribution for their brand in Dubai first. And then the idea was to scale it to Middle east later. So that’s how I sort of pivoted. So my pivots are all very traditional. There’s a whole, there are Two sides of a startup ecosystem or the startup world. One is the traditional side of business, and one is the raise funding, hyper growth side of it. I’ve been part of the whole traditional side. All the businesses that I’ve done have been traditional. It’s not the smartest way to go about it, but it has its own, you know, pros, it has its own cons. So my pivots were all based on what network do I have? What can I sort of capitalize on? Where can I get an unfair advantage? So that’s what I always used to think about. After having been through multiple industries, I would not do the same thing the way I would go about it. And this is what I said in the beginning. You know, there’s a right way to pivot and there’s a wrong way to pivot. You should always pivot based on the most important aspect of your business, the customer. 

12:15 – Ali Khawaja

Yeah. 

12:16 – Ibrahim Asif

Listen to what they have to say and pivot accordingly and stick to one industry. Like when you start out, it’s come rain or shine, stick it out. That’s how you make it. Especially if you’re like, on a more traditional path. Even if you’re not on a traditional path, even if you’re trying to fundraise, sticking it out is one of the most important things. And then you can pivot from there. Just listen, keep your ears open, keep your eyes open, look at what your customers want, listen to what they’re saying, and then pivot accordingly. 

12:52 – Ali Khawaja

I think that’s 100%. It makes sense, it’s very logical. And I think it’s very important to understand that there is value in listening to the customer, but there is an importance of balance. You know, I hear a lot of people say customer is king. I’m like, yes. But the customer also wants everything free. So within the scope and the boundaries of what sensible business is, you need to listen to your customer for I think not just the direction of the pivot, but the intensity of the pivot and of course, adjust. But I think another thing that you mentioned I really liked, and I think this is very important to touch on, is understanding that there is no easy business. And a lot of people start, and as soon as something gets a little difficult, they exit. They start. It feels a little tricky. They exit. Oh, okay, this is not working. Let me try something else. It’s not working. You got to stick it out 100%. If you haven’t hit a couple of serious rough patches, you haven’t stuck it out enough. And I think this also is very important for this generation to take away is they’re looking for the quick fix. They’re looking for, I’m going to be the next instant Instagram star. You know, even if you look at people on social media who are making good money, they all had long periods of initial struggle and they stuck it out and they created a niche for themselves. Good. I like what I’m hearing. I like what I’m hearing. Talk to me a little bit more now about the business model of the perfumery. 

14:29 – Ibrahim Asif

So a lot of the pivot is also going to come into this. Right when we started out, it was, it’s. I think it’s important to have some context of, of where I was in my life then and what was I. What was happening and how was I thinking? So I was. I had recently left a job. That’s the only job I’ve done in my life. So it was about two and a half, three years. It was in the plastics industry and it got to me. So I had a couple of failures, different industries, and then I had to sort of reset, get myself back on my feet. So I took up that job and it was very non glamorous and I was feeling unfulfilled. And at the back of my mind there was always that like, hey, Ibrahim, what happened to the legacy? Yeah, what happened, bro? 

15:24 – Ali Khawaja

Like, where’s the hustler? 

15:26 – Ibrahim Asif

So finally was able to get out of it. A lot of people aren’t because once you get, once you’re in the, in the corporate slave life, then, then you’re in it, you know, it’s very hard to get out. But I was a bit dumb when it came to. I was emotional, I was, you know, the hyper Pakistani came back and I was like, you can do it. Yeah, yeah. So I had left that job and I was looking. I didn’t have the idea ready, by the way. It was like, listen, no safety nets, let’s jump into it. And the idea that we started this with was, listen, let’s just get a webpage up. Yeah, let’s get a form. So the first version of our website was just a type form where people could make selections. Like, this is one the bottle to look. I still have that, by the way, on my Typeform account. Like sometimes I go back and I look at it like, man, that’s amazing. So we started with a Typeform. People could just select what they want. And the first few orders that we got were actually cash on delivery. And then we found someone who let us send payment links and we could Take payments. So people were able to customize perfume. So it was E Commerce. But there was a manufacturing aspect to it. Initially, all the manufacturing was outsourced. I was just there in the middle doing the runs, like picking it up, delivering it, picking up. From a marketing point of view, the, the most important thing I think we did was so we didn’t have a budget. Right. There was no budget. When it goes like, this is how much I’m going to spend on marketing now it’s like, listen, hustle, let’s see what we can sell in our network. And I knew a few people who were influencers, you know, on, on social media. Just reached out to them like, listen, can you just do a shout out? And the idea was nice. So it picked up like it was individually customized, perfect for gifting. And we started from there. So E Commerce was the first sort of revenue model that we developed. And this is where the pivot comes in. Listening to customers. And so we’ve got four or five different revenue streams now, and all of them have been developed by listening to customers. 

17:44 – Ali Khawaja

Very nice. 

17:45 – Ibrahim Asif

So when we started, you know, posting about it, different influencers started posting about it. That’s when obviously the people who work in companies are also people. At the end of the day, they’re on social media. They’re also. So they’re getting ideas. They’re like, why don’t we do this for our company? You know, so we started getting one or two inquiries from our, from companies like, hey, can you do corporate gifting for us? And I remember a couple of like one or two times I was, I was even afraid. I’m like, I don’t. How are they going to pay on time? How am I going to end up getting the payments from them? 

18:24 – Ali Khawaja

Large quantities now. 

18:25 – Ibrahim Asif

Yeah. So, and then when I think back, it’s. It wasn’t even that large, you know, but because of where we were coming from and we were trying to bootstrap and we had to be very careful with money. And I think that was very important because that customers, as you say, either they want something for free or they will take you for a ride. 

18:45 – Ali Khawaja

Oh, yes. 

18:46 – Ibrahim Asif

So yes, listen to them, but don’t hand them the reins. 

18:50 – Ali Khawaja

Agreed, Agreed. Exactly. 

18:53 – Ibrahim Asif

So because I was coming from a place of, of conserving cash flow, if we’re dealing with a corporate customer, we’re like, listen, we’ll do this. You got to pay up front. 

19:05 – Ali Khawaja

Yeah. 

19:06 – Ibrahim Asif

And you did. 

19:09 – Ali Khawaja

I was gonna say that’s probably where you lost a lot of them and a handful might have paid yeah, but they did. 

19:14 – Ibrahim Asif

And those that paid were the right customers. 

19:16 – Ali Khawaja

Right, There you go. I like that. 

19:18 – Ibrahim Asif

So it was tough, but we had no choice. We couldn’t just be like, okay, fine, we’ll put money from our pocket. We didn’t have that money to put in, but it got us the right customers. So that’s the second sort of revenue stream that opened up for us. The corporate event, like gifting. And then again, listening to what people are asking for, they’re like, listen, can you do a live component of it? And I remember that’s the time when we were talking and you know, like, I want to scale this. How do. And I remember very clearly, you’re like, listen, it’s an experience economy. It’s an experience world. 

19:53 – Ali Khawaja

The experiential element people pay so much for. 

19:56 – Ibrahim Asif

Yeah. So that sort of came together and we’re like, okay, let’s take that step. Let’s get. I remember the first inquiry I got was from Yas Marina Circuit. And we couldn’t. We weren’t capable of doing it at the time. So we told them, listen, we’re too busy. Even though in the back it was just me, like, I’m sorry, we’re too busy. We can’t take this on right now. But that, you know, that meant we had to plan for it. 

20:20 – Ali Khawaja

Validation. 

20:21 – Ibrahim Asif

Yeah. So we planned for it and we started doing events. Slowly. We had to build up a lot of different aspects to it. Now it’s at a point where I don’t even go to events. 

20:31 – Ali Khawaja

Right. 

20:31 – Ibrahim Asif

The events that are done, like the team handles it. But initially it was just me turning up, take a bag, turn up. And that’s what we did for a while. So that was experiences. And then again, listening to customers, what they’re asking for. A lot of them asked like, hey, listen, can you do a scent for our space? 

20:53 – Ali Khawaja

Very cool. 

20:54 – Ibrahim Asif

And can you do a scent for our brand? And again, initially we were like, yeah, we’ll look into it. But then we developed it and now we’re at a point where we’re scenting quite a few places and a few massive companies. Like TCOM is one of our clients, you know, very cool. We’re doing a lot of their corporate buildings. Kitopi of like a couple of restaurants that they have. We’re sending those. So these are the revenue streams we’ve developed and each one is still live. So I think it’s very important. So that’s the kind of a person I am. And I know myself. If I do something once, I don’t Want to do it twice, and I get very bored. So. And this has also been a challenge because I. I didn’t always have the resources to be able to, you know, develop one, put someone on it, and then go to the next revenue stream. So it’s been very, very, very difficult to try and get to a point where we can finally be like, okay, fine, I have a revenue stream developed and I can work on something else. I develop that, I put a person on top of it, and then I go to the next one. So initially it was just me juggling between all of them. And that also creates its own set of problems. But stick to it, keep going, and you’ll get to a point where you, you know, you’ll be able to break through. 

22:20 – Ali Khawaja

Nice, Nice. I like what I’m hearing. I’m gonna pivot our conversation a little bit also. I’m gonna bring it, you know, we’ve been talking about the past. I’m gonna bring it to the present. And, like, in order to understand the present, we need to jump a bit to the future. So this AI thing is just going apeshit crazy everywhere, and not for the wrong reasons. It’s actually delivering. And, you know, AI is well beyond the average person popping open chat GPT and asking a question. I literally just this morning posted on my LinkedIn how I vibe coded my first app from Concept Build out loading on App Store, and it is now live on app store in two and a half days. And my entire expense was 20 or 30. I forgot what it is. 20 or $30 for the monthly subscription to Claude. And I told Claude, I’m not a coder. I don’t know anything. You will have to tell me everything step by step. Claude said, no problem. So I am beside myself thinking at the possibilities. And I have. And of course, I’ve researched other stuff, right? I can see other people doing stuff, but I don’t, you know, I’m one of those that I’ll believe it when I see it. Like, by and by see it, I mean, I got to try stuff out myself. Where do you think things are happening with this whole AI business now? What. What do you see impact in the industry? What do you see impact in your industry? 

23:41 – Ibrahim Asif

The early bird catches the worm, comes to my mind, right? And that’s exactly what is going. So it’s a tool. AI is a tool. It’s. It’s not good on its own. It’s not bad on its own. It’s how you use it and what you make of it. The people who are Obviously, the Sam Altmans of the world, they’re at the forefront of it. But what’s amazing about it is they’re enabling the whole ecosystem. Right. You can also take advantage of that in your industry, in your business. The most important thing I think you did by you stuck to it and you launched it and you saw it through to the end. People don’t have that patience. That’s what they need to have to be able to really utilize it. Sit down, see what it’s capable of. Learn, execute, take it to the goal that. So if your goal was having an app that is supposed to be on the app Store, get it to that point. No matter if let it be bad, let it suck. 

24:52 – Ali Khawaja

Agreed. 

24:54 – Ibrahim Asif

Get it there. 

24:56 – Ali Khawaja

It was pretty bad. Yeah. 

24:57 – Ibrahim Asif

It doesn’t have to be perfect. 

24:58 – Ali Khawaja

It took me another two days to get it decent. But again, four days, that’s nothing. 

25:03 – Ibrahim Asif

Yep. So the same thing also applies to businesses, right? Yeah. So a problem that I’m facing in my business right now, for instance, it doesn’t even have to be customer facing. 

25:13 – Ali Khawaja

Yeah. 

25:14 – Ibrahim Asif

You know, people look at AI and they’re like, how am I going to generate revenue from this? Or listen, it’s a tool. So we’re facing an inventory problem. So every time it’s a complex product, different raw materials come in. Short of having to spend, you know, 100,000 plus dollars to set up SAP or Oracle in my business, which we’re not at the level of off yet, how do I do it? So I just sat down one day and I started, you know, just talking to ChatGPT and I. So my, my thing is having 10 tools. 

25:54 – Ali Khawaja

Yeah. 

25:55 – Ibrahim Asif

Asking them all the same question and then seeing the difference comes up with what? Yeah. And I discovered that we could build our own system. We’re at the prototype stage, so for us it’s going to take a lot longer because our business is already functioning. We have the SOPs now. 

26:14 – Ali Khawaja

Excellent. 

26:15 – Ibrahim Asif

And all of those SOPs need to be built into the software. So it’s taking time. For me, at the end of the day, business is the most important, but we’re utilizing it to develop the whole system. You don’t need off the shelf softwares anymore. And, and this is something that you said in the like, ask. 

26:37 – Ali Khawaja

Yes, ask. 

26:38 – Ibrahim Asif

Right. If you have the capability of asking the right people the right questions, you’ll be amazed at what you can achieve. Same thing with AI, just ask. It’s like, hey, what can I do? What should I do? And you’ll discover a wealth of solutions. 

26:58 – Ali Khawaja

And what you said this is exactly what I tell my students. Oh, my guys, the AI tool isn’t the problem. You are. And they’re like, what do you mean? I’m like, you’re not asking the right question. You give up too quickly. And I think you know what I was mentioning earlier about my little experiment with Claude. For me, I want to see tangible proof of any hype that’s popped up when blockchain got like, oh, blockchain, bitcoin, blockchain, bitcoin. I’m like, okay, whatever, let me try it. So I’m like, let me try it. And with me, I know what I do. I go off the deep end. I gotta. I gotta research the crap out of it. I mean, when you walked in the office, you saw one little tiny hydroponic plant thingy going on. Operation, right? That’s my little mvp. So I have a project in the works where I’m running the feasibility, I’m running the modeling, but it’s all on my whiteboard, right? Or my glass wall. It’s all sketched out and some were numbers, some flowcharts, some whatever. And it’s amazing. But one major component of it is to grow a plant. And last time I grew anything, I was a kid helping my mom in her garden. So I was like, okay, you know what? How about while I work on this feasibility, let me get one of these little hydroponic tower thingies? And what you saw, I didn’t grow, by the way. I told him, bring me everything ready. My first objective is to keep it alive, if I could keep it alive. Then we moved to stage two, where I plant something and make sure I can grow it, but I have to always try everything hands on. And I think what you said is very, very right. You gotta sit with it and whatever approach, you know, when you. If you’re gonna ask 10 different platforms, 10 different questions and just try to figure out what’s the best way forward, and then building it out slowly, whatever the case is. But you know that that’s definitely there. But another thing that you said, and this is what I always keep pushing with a lot of startups that I advise, is this concept of rapid prototyping. Like you said, launch your first version of the app. Don’t wait for it to be perfect, even if it’s busted. And it was. And I actually looked at it, I’m like, well, this part works. This is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong. And then I was like, I could spend another week fixing it, only to find out that there’s no way I can upload it to the App Store because something is outside my scope. So I said, you know what, let’s pause the development because now I’m a software developer. Everybody, let’s pause the development, figure out how to upload. So I had Claude running the code. I opened Chat gbt. See, I’ve got cloud running the code. I built it on Xcode. It runs like a demo thingy that pops up on my phone. How do I get it from here so my buddies can get it on App Store. And then I used Chad GBT to give me the step by step, go here, click here, get. Get the developer account, pay the $99, you know, and then click here and then upload and then something uploaded. Error came, screenshot error. Oh, this means this change this. I don’t know how to change that. No problem. Step by step on how to change whatever thing it asked to change because I didn’t understand it. And, you know, X number of iterations later, the app is life. So I think there is a lot to be said, and you mentioned this earlier also about seeing things through. To have a discipline as an entrepreneur, to be able to, you know, spend the time in the research, to be able to spend the time going through the steps and processes, going through those hurdles, going through those difficult times. Only, you know, at the end of all of that hard work, you get to a point where you can, you know, now I don’t need to go to the product launches. Before it was me and a duffel bag. Now Alhamdulillah, I’ve got a team that goes and takes care of stuff. Before it was, you know, one contract came in and like Alhamdulillah, you know, now Alhamdulillah, you know, multiple revenue channels. I like what I’m hearing and I like that you’re already kind of looking at AI as a resource and tool builder. A lot of people, again, echoing off what you said. A lot of people are now just like, oh, I want to learn the AI so I can be a millionaire. I’m like, not how that works. But sure, there’s a big gap between what you said and what you just understood. We’re a little bit on the clock. So last thing I’m going to ask you, right? So my podcast is about innovation, entrepreneurship, startups, that ecosystem of, you know, people. Not necessarily. I always say young minds because, you know, to me, everyone’s a young mind. But for people who want to just change, you know, the guy who’s been in corporate for 20 years says, you know what? I’m done. I want to try something on my own. The mom who’s been a mom for 15 years says, okay, now that the kids are in high school, I don’t need to be there for them all the time. I want to do something. The young person who just got out of college and says, you know, I worked for six months, I hated it. That’s not my vibe. I want something. What’s your advice to all these people given where everything is today and the world we are in today? 

31:56 – Ibrahim Asif

Extending on that, let’s also talk about the region that we’re in. 

32:02 – Ali Khawaja

Yes. 

32:04 – Ibrahim Asif

So the region on large, and then Dubai specifically is very, very conducive to helping you launch an idea. Go to market. Yesterday I was in the courtyard next to Al Sarkaal and there was a ripe market over there. And these are just like 450 dharam tables that you can come and put whatever you want on. Remember, the most important aspect is listening to the customer. So just. Just get something. Don’t even think about the business side of it yet. Just get that table, put your stuff over there. If you don’t have stuff, put a card over there, go out, talk to people. 

32:56 – Ali Khawaja

Very nice. 

32:59 – Ibrahim Asif

The most important thing. So I call it on my part, I think it’s. It’s about being the right balance between a little dumb and courageous that makes you take the leap. For me, I think every leap that I’ve taken has been from an an. Like, I’ve been naive, I’ve been almost dumb. Like, you know, I don’t think about the consequences. I’m going to do it anyways. But there’s also a courageous aspect to it. Right. It takes a lot of courage to. No matter how much you try to ignore the realities of life, they’re there. They’re still there. 

33:36 – Ali Khawaja

True. 

33:37 – Ibrahim Asif

So you need to be a little courageous. You need to take the leap and you don’t have to find you’ve got a lot, you know, depending on you. You’ve got a family, you’ve got responsibilities. Okay, so don’t go all the way. Do take the first step though. You know, get that table put the first. I saw a guy yesterday who has a daytime job and who was like, I love hot sauces. So he mixed a few hot sauces. You know, he found a kitchen that was willing to lend him a professional kitchen that was willing to lend him the space, that was willing to lend him their licensing and put the label on and put it on the desk. 

34:17 – Ali Khawaja

I know who you’re talking about. He has a box set also. Yeah, I bought the box set. Yes. You know, it was amazing. 

34:24 – Ibrahim Asif

It was really good. 

34:24 – Ali Khawaja

I’m gonna see if I can get him on the show. 

34:26 – Ibrahim Asif

Yeah. 

34:26 – Ali Khawaja

So, yeah, I love talking to him. I loved his hustle. His energy was so nice. 

34:31 – Ibrahim Asif

So he. 

34:31 – Ali Khawaja

He’s. 

34:32 – Ibrahim Asif

He’s got a daytime job. He’s there on the weekend, and he’s like, this is the first time I’m on Ripe. 

34:36 – Ali Khawaja

Yeah. 

34:37 – Ibrahim Asif

You know, so just take the first step. You don’t have to quit your job. 

34:40 – Ali Khawaja

Yeah. 

34:42 – Ibrahim Asif

The most important thing is. Is courage. Doing it, going for it. 

34:47 – Ali Khawaja

I think that’s. That’s the perfect way to end today’s episode. Courage, I think, is key. Taking that leap requires faith. I have been. You know, all my kids make fun of me on this all the time. That Baba, you. You are like the worst example. You jump without looking. I’m like, yeah. And I remember the one time my son asked me, now he’s. Now he’s in high school. So one time I said, like, baba, you always like. To the random stuff, and you’re like, whatever. And you run with this why not? Kind of attitude, like when you. When you just take that proverbial leap, are, you know, that you’re gonna land on your feet or there’s, like, gonna be a parachute or something. I’m like, no, son, I don’t jump thinking there’s a parachute. I don’t jump thinking somebody’s gonna catch me. I jump thinking I’m gonna crash and burn, but what an amazing jump. And he’s just looking at me like. I’m like, yeah, that’s what happens when you’ve been riding motorcycles for 40 years. You ready for the crash and burn? Because the joy got you there. 

35:46 – Ibrahim Asif

Enjoy the ride. 

35:47 – Ali Khawaja

Oh, yes. You know, have the courage and enjoy the ride. I think that’s perfect way to end the podcast. Ibrahim, thank you so much for coming today, man. I really appreciate you taking the time to come out and hopefully anybody listening, anything you got a value, put it to good use. Reach out to me. Reach out to Ibrahim over here. I’ll. Wherever. Depending on which channel you’re watching, I’ll put the links and whatnot. And at the end of the day, I think the one thing that I always talk about is the importance of community, and that’s the other side of the networking coin. So with that, thank you very much, everybody, for listening. See you on the next one. 

36:24 – Ibrahim Asif

See you guys. Thank you.