My passion was always to be a filmmaker but sadly back then film industry was not doing so good and the next best option was to go into advertising of TV commercials which I grabbed with both hands considering I wanted to be near anything that gets me close to production. Unfortunately, I constantly came across clients who just didn’t ‘get it’ and I compromised on projects where I felt like I was selling out and so a time came when I bid farewell to advertising. I went through several more jobs, trying to find my niche while at the same time learning something from every stint, and eventually found my calling with CoPakistan, a coworking space that provides startups and freelancers an inspiring and fun space to work out of.
Quite honestly, my biggest struggle was that I just didn’t know what all I could do. Also, when I graduated there wasn’t much someone with my degree could do beyond getting into advertising.
I realized it’s true when they say that sometimes your biggest obstacle is your own self-doubt. Thankfully with the help of the right boss and mentor I understood this early on and decided that I, at home, could be the reserved and laid back introvert that I wanted to be, but I, professionally, was going to be an assertive go-getter who really wouldn’t give up. I once quit a job that was really making me unhappy and worked for friends for free just so I wouldn’t have to sit at home and wallow in self-pity. That free work turned into one of the most important projects of my life and ever since then it has become a viral sensation; Sattarbuksh the brand.
It was a case of being in the company of the right people at the right time. The partners are all gentlemen I’d been working with for a while on Sattarbuksh; a cafe we’re all involved with. The cafe had an empty space above it and I was told that any approved idea from me would be ‘my baby’. Challenge was accepted and here I am today bringing you CoPakistan.
There’s only one advice I would like to give to budding entrepreneurs: keep evolving! I’ve come to the conclusion that no one is an expert anymore because industries, technologies and mediums are evolving and changing so fast that even the ‘experts’ are scrambling to keep up and stay relevant. I repeat, keep evolving! -Khizra Munir, CEO at CoPakistan