Welcome to The Marketer Who Went Off Consumption! Subscribe to my RSS feed in a feed reader or by e-mail and you'll never miss any chapters from my year-long blog-as-a-book experiment on why we choose to consume, or not.
People are known to go off consumption, when they max out on their credit cards, or are laid off. When you have no money, or no money to spare, it is easy, and often necessary, to stop buying, go off consumption.
So, in case you are wondering if I have gone off consumption because I’m broke, I’m not; just the opposite, in fact.
I have a great job, and I love ninety percent of what I do on ninety percent of the days. I work for a large patriarchal Indian conglomerate, who are not really known for laying off employees. In any case, they love me as much as I love them.
Not only do I have a great job, I have a great resume too. I was in the top quartile of my MBA batch at IIM Bangalore and I have been in a fast-track mode ever since. Six years after finishing my MBA, at twenty eight, I’m doing a role which is typically done by someone with twelve years of experience after an MBA from a top twenty business school in India. You have probably read my blog, so you know how smart I am. Others think so too and I’m frequently quoted in press as an authority on the social media scene in India.
Thanks to the generosity of my employers, I live in a beautiful house overlooking the sea, a two minute walk away from office, in the costliest residential address in India (I’m told that a house similar to mine would cost Rs. 200,000 or $5,000 per month in rent).
I have no debt, credit card or otherwise, and no liabilities. My investments are doing well, in spite of the stock market situation, my portfolio manager tells me.
I work hard and play hard, buy the highest end gadgets, eat out at five star restaurants, throw parties for my friends every Saturday, and still save enough money for my systematic investment plan.
So, in case you are wondering if I have gone off consumption because I need to save money, no, that’s not the case. I’m not broke; just the opposite, in fact.
Then, why have I gone off consumption, really?
Comments (7)
The point, Gaurav, is …that you haven’t “buy the highest end gadgets, eat out at five star restaurants, throw parties for my friends every Saturday, and still save enough money for my systematic investment plan.”
Keep having fun.
Cheers.
Rajesh
I wonder why anyone would think that ur broke, I dont know u but still got to know about your “biggie” status in the e-world.
Your off consumption thing is unique and its like the dalai lama protesting and people following that news with great interest, one (with nornal intelligence levels) does realize that only a man with some standing and status will do this.
in your case, one knows you earn enough and that you travel business class (as I observed myself, yeah yeah women observe everything :P), so your opulent living was never in doubt, but the $$$ that will follow must be betted upon.
wonder what the odds are for you getting a 200KUSD Book deal for this “effort”? kindly advise and help me make atleast 20 USD:)
@Rajesh: Didn’t quite get the comment, but part of the idea is to continue to “have fun” without “buying fun”.
@Monica: Ah! I’m hardly a biggie in either the real or the virtual world. I’m just someone trying to leave something behind (a legacy is almost too big a word).
BTW, I’m actually looking at a 10X plus multiple of $200,000 for the book deal. You know any publishers who’ll be interested?
Dude, Its a great idea. Shall follow your blog. The coffee yesterday was great, hope that continues in your post offf-consumption days too
@Ashish: Thanks. By the way, I was already off consumption when we met, which is why we met in my house and not at Barista.
i have better things to do than watch the deprivation of a well endowed person…i don’t even know your penis size, by the way, i’m just commenting on your choice and status of sacrifice. what do you think you’ll find? some freakanomical enlightenment into world consumption in general?? and why the multi-million dollar book deal you aspire to attain? surely nirvana means never having to say “i’m on contract.”…?? haven’t you read that short story by anton chekov —the bet—??
@Mark: Actually, I do intend to find “some freakonomical enlightenment into world consumption in general”.
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