A LOOK BACK: “THINK AHEAD”

HE LOST IT ALL AND BUILT A NEW LIFE. A WILLS AND LEGAL SERVICES BUSINESS OWNER TELLS HIS STORY AND GIVES HIS ADVICE ON MOVING FORWARD AFTER A SERIES OF SETBACKS

hat I do in these ten minutes will determine what I do in the next ten minutes.” Those are the words that Bhavin Gandhi, 38, lives by. It’s the mantra that has led him through a successful career and guided him into a life of entrepreneurship. But this motto was put to the ultimate test when Bhavin found himself in his mid-20s moving back into his parents’ home in Evington, still reeling from the loss of his beloved grandfather and in the process of finalising a divorce.

Looking back at his marital split he recalls that “it was a stressful time. I was okay… but I hid myself because it’s one of the things you never want to go through in life.” The divorce ‘left him with nothing’ and limited his opportunities to spend time with his son to just the weekends. As his relationship with his partner unravelled, he found that it was other relationships that became his bedrock. Bhavin remembers: “I had family and very close friends who put their arms around me and made it less painful.”

Living with his parents again brought back memories of his childhood and the challenges his parents faced when they first moved to the UK in 1971 with just £2. He recalls the kindness shown to his parents by friends who housed them and helped the young family. Even after finding work and moving into their own home, Bhavin watched his father work tirelessly in Scotland five days of the week barely seeing his children. Bhavin said: “He did what he had to do because he came here with nothing. That’s where my work ethic comes from. If you don’t like your work, do something about it or appreciate what you’ve got.”

No stranger to hardships, in his early twenties, Bhavin juggled two jobs before leaving one only to be made redundant from the other a week later, a job he had hoped to fully commit to. After working his way up in other firms, he went on to become a national sales manager overseeing 400 people in his department.

It was his work that helped him through the difficult personal challenges he was facing. Now, happily married, the proud father of a baby girl and director of his own company, Paradigm Wills and Legal Services, Bhavin is still looking ahead and believes every budding entrepreneur should not stop at hurdles. He advised: “Look forward and think forward because, for every second that you dwell on what’s gone wrong, you’ve lost time in moving forward. Every ten minutes you spend thinking about what’s gone wrong, you don’t get back. Put that energy into something else.

“Life is full of hurdles. If you stop at the first one, you’ve given up too quickly. If you have a dream or ambition, start doing something about it. No time is better than the present. And if you’re stuck, there’s always someone who can help.

“We’ve been helped over the years by other business people. Equally, if anyone comes to us for time, help, or advice we will never say no, even if it’s someone in the same industry. Because we always remember where we came from and our roots. The moment we forget that we have lost our identity.”