We are what we think, our thoughts make our life!

I think I should share my story, my thought provoked me to do so and here I am presenting it to the world.

This is ACCA Amit Kumar (Amit Dharnia) born on auspicious occasion of Basant Panchmi, according to popular belief, goddess Saraswati, the deity of knowledge was born on this day and people worship her to achieve wisdom.

This popular belief made me think and believe all my life as a person of knowledge & wisdom, which helped me to create my life today.

I was born at Raisinghnagar in Rajasthan in an agriculture family belonging to Bishnoi community with an ideological belief that “A tree is more precious than your head” a thought for the benefit of society to save trees, turning me into an Earth Saver.

Thoughts make your life!

I will begin the journey from the day I started thinking and the first thought was to resist going to school at Raisinghnagar, this thought was altered with a slap on my face from my maternal grandfather, resulting to build another thought that I will never miss school.

That day onwards I never missed school in spite of having cold or fever till the time I was at Guru Harkrishan Public School, Raisinghnagar.

In 4th standard, I along with my brother were admitted in a boarding school at Hisar, known as St. Kabir’s School. Before the admission, the Principal believed, we both need to repeat the class we passed.

I was hearing the conversation and thought, I will prove myself if I get admission in the same class.After some discussion and conviction, we were given admission in the class we were seeking.

By that time, the thought was built to prove and to my Principal’s surprise I stood second in class.I learnt, how to learn from respected teacher Ms. Poonam Saini and the importance of practice and the joy of taking small steps, building up, to have extensive knowledge.Also learnt another important lesson of life from my class teacher Ms Anila Bishnoi

“ Completing the task was important than how beautiful it looked” & “It is good to be confident, overconfidence may prove fatal”

Our Principal Mr U Singh invested a lot of time in us, helping us to be better human beings, taught us to win, with his inspiring speeches and till date, one of the best speaker’s I have known so far.

I always stood second in class, resulting in another belief to remain at second position in class with the person holding 3rd position moving to 1st and the one holding 1st moving to 3rd.

The sense of competition was so high that even loss of one or two marks felt like, all hell broke loose.

The hell did break loose in my life when I lost my father at the age of 10, feeling blank for the first time in life with no thoughts and not in a position to understand the harsh reality.

Life is meant to be lived, me and my brother soon accepted the reality.Life passed by, moving between boarding house and home till the time I reached 10th standard under the guidance and supervision of my grandfather.

Just before my board exams, my grandfather passed away and I felt helpless and devastated with the responsibility of taking care of my brother & mother.We were a joint family and my uncle supported me for further studies and sent me to Yadavindra Public School, Chandigarh, also known as YPS Mohali.

I opted for commerce since everyone was opting for science.

I always thought differently and believed on my instincts, based on liking for the chapter on Banking in Mathematics in 10th standard, which made me believe that Commerce is a good option for me.

YPS, Mohali was a big change in comparison to the boarding school life at Hisar.The school helped me to evolve as a human being and learnt a lot from the open challenging environment.

I learnt building relationships and investing time in people, helping people unconditionally from my mentor and guide Dr. Harish Dhillon, the Principal of YPS, Mohali, also the Headmaster of The Lawrence School, Sanawer.

In 11th standard, I stood first in class and was given the title of “Brain of class” with a remark on my report card “Keeps a low profile, but manages to do a lot”.

My thought process seemed to have ingrained these lines and have created the path for me maintaining the validity of the thought till date.

In 12th standard, my thought was introduced to the idea of going to Australia for undergraduate studies. I was always fascinated to go abroad since my grandfather was in US for a decade and came back to India, earning handsome amount for the family.

I also thought to pursue the dream of going to Australia and got to know that I only need 60% to get admission in Australian universities.

I thought, I can get 60% even if I don’t study, so my thought resulted in scoring a little higher than 60%.

This resulted in my family to think that I am not fit for staying in Chandigarh and should come back home cancelling the idea of Australia.

The idea of Australia was also cancelled, as someone made my uncle think that I may not return, if I leave the country.My dream of going to Australia came down crashing because of many thoughts of different people in my family.

I was given a consolation that I will be sent after my graduation which I should pursue in the district town, Sri Ganganagar.I was angry and purposely took admission in the least popular college.I cried that day, asking myself, why I am doing this to my life.

I believed that my family expects me to manage farms and I should leave the idea of going abroad.I thought the bachelor’s degree is also meant to pass time and will not give me returns since I am going to go back home driving tractor.I was confident of passing the degree and achieving the qualification, even if I study in the last minute.

The result for B.Com Ist year arrived, I was bombarded with opinions and doubts about my ability scoring 58%, compared with the ones who achieved first division (marks 60% and above).

By evening I learnt the biggest lesson of my life.

 Live your life as you wish, do not live as per the opinion of others, opinions keep on changing.

 I decided to take control of my life and rekindled the dream of going abroad and decided to improve the percentage in B.Com II year and III year.

The idea of going abroad, kept me away from Indian CA, as I thought I don’t need it, since I was going to go abroad.

I worked hard to enjoy the rise and believed that I can easily score good marks to alter the overall score of graduation.Finally, I succeeded to reach an average score of 65% in graduation, scoring above 90% in Taxation & Accounting.This triumph gave me a lot of confidence and taught me another important lesson which serves me every day.

“Winning begins with the beginning”

After graduation, I started preparing for going abroad, appearing for IELTS scoring 7 bands.

In the same year, there were news of unfriendly situation for Indians going to Australia, a chance to bury down the idea of going to Australia.I thought to accept the reality and drop the idea of going abroad.

When I look back today to understand the reasons for resistance for going abroad.

It was me.

My thought always believed that I must fight for going to Australia.

No one is supporting me to realize the dream.

 Today, I very well understand that no one was responsible for my situation, other than me.

My negative thinking was creating obstacles for me, then solving the puzzles of life.

 A lesson learnt through experiences of life “Thoughts play a very important role in creation of our life.”

 When I was down and looking for a career, one thing which kept my spirit alive was the hard work and sense of achievement, I learnt in school.Even till date, I draw inspiration from the energy and enthusiasm I had, to excel in whatever I do.

I decided to look at life positively and believed that I am meant for admission into IIM’s and decided to be part of Bull’s Eye, Chandigarh to prepare for CAT examinations.Within 3 months, I realized that CAT is not for commerce graduates, it is designed for engineers, as I was always scoring good in English and nowhere closer to engineer’s in Mathematics.

Another big lesson which I learnt, but useful for commerce students willing to appear for CAT, that they should continue practicing Math’s after 10th.

I somehow gave the CAT exam, knowing the result in advance.

At the same time, I was informed by British Council that I should collect my IELTS certificate from British Library, Chandigarh, since my village was not on their delivery list.I was in Chandigarh, so reached British Library to collect the certificate.

This day is the turning point of my life!

I picked up a book known as A-Z careers in UK.When I shuffled first few pages, it read about Account Manager, Auditor, Accountant explaining the salaries, degrees, and bodies related to the profession.

I could read the word “ACCA” in almost all the jobs in first few pages.

The very next morning, I opened the newspaper to see the advertisement “Do British Accountancy in India” I thought I should know about it more.

LESSON : The dominating thought which I allowed my mind to process one day before, resulted in highlighting the advertisement immediately to me, which I may have been overlooking from days.

The first thing the I did, searched on google about ACCA and salaries of ACCA member’s which helped me to make up my mind to pursue the qualification.

The moment I got to know that there is an institute in Cochin I decided to research and know about it. When I enquired at VIBIMAT, they were of the opinion that I may struggle with adapting to environment and new culture. I had no choice and decided to leave for Kerala.I thought, I have lived in Chandigarh for many years, and it is a chance to explore South India and learn about a new culture.

Prompt decision, I reached railway station to book the ticket for Cochin and reached home in Rajasthan and declared the decision to go to Kerala for pursuing ACCA.

Before I was leaving, I decided to live a new life.

A life without complains

A life of faith & beliefs.

A life of trusting people.

A life of doing things which I always wanted to, but could not do for some reason or fear.

 I made a promise to myself

 I will accept any challenge without worrying about people, what they think, after giving other’s a chance.

If no one does it, I am going to do it.

I reached Delhi, platform no 6, waiting for Kerala Express. I looked back and saw a man standing. I offered him the seat and sat on the chair beside him. He enquired the reason for going to Kerala. I shared about the course and was given advice to be careful before I give away the money.

The next morning, he came to my berth with an opinion received from his subordinates about the institute. According to him, it was a charitable institution and holds good feedback.

I had no idea where to drop, as I was confused between Kochi/Cochin carrying a ticket of Ernakulam and the institute was in Kalmassery.

This man offered me a lift in his car and helped me to check in a hotel and stamping his card on the Hotel’s register as a guardian, which read HR & Legal Head, Pavizam Rice Mills.

The next morning, I decided to visit the institute. I wanted to pray and had no idea of a temple at the place I stayed.

I came out and decided to pray at any of the holy place, which I see first.Just before the institute, I saw mosque and entered to pray.I was not familiar with the method of praying but the person in charge allowed me to sit and pray.

I had no idea, what is an ACCA, as the name Vidya Bharti Institute of Management & Technology made me believe that it is an MBA type of course.

I entered the institute, followed with an interview scheduled with Mr. Thomas for admission.

After few weeks, I got to know the importance of ACCA, after the result was declared for students who appeared in exam.

The emotions of success and sense of achievement made me realise that it is something big.I decided to complete the degree as soon as possible and declared in excitement that I will go back to Delhi in one and a half year.

A statement which was laughed at by many.

Your thoughts create your life, since I thought I can do so, I was in Delhi exactly after one and a half year.After admission, I was taught by the most respected teacher in the universe of ACCA, Ms Asha Iyer.

Today, she is Dean of ISC, Commerce, earlier known as Shadwell’s.She taught me ACCA F7 & ACCA F6.She was teaching ACCA F6 Taxation to us for one week and after a week, some more students entered the class.

Asha Ma’am enquired “Who among you can teach, what I have taught in last one week” I was looking at the class, waiting for someone to raise hand, but no one came out.

As promised to myself, I had to do things which no one did, and raised my hand to teach.The class thought I am different.

I thought I can do it.

I was given 2 days’ time to prepare and coming Monday, I was supposed to deliver the lecture, with Asha Ma’am sitting beside me.

The lecture went well with all the girl’s giving thumbs up and receiving appreciation from boy’s making me believe that I can teach.

Today, the life I am living is indebted to this day.I am indebted to my teacher Ms. Asha Iyer for changing my life and thank her on each accomplishment of my career.

Very recently on 23rd Feb 2017, I was looking for her at ACCA recognition ceremony, but when I got to know that she is not attending, I called her to say thank you for giving me the chance of challenging me to teach. I thank her almost every day in my thoughts.

This day prepared me for an interview scheduled in Delhi, one and a half years later with the same question “Can you teach or train people”

I said “Yes” since I had one day experience of teaching in class.

During the same period, another event organized by VIBIMAT, every morning to debate also helped a lot to come to podium very often.

I became habitual to podium and loved being on stage whenever I got chance.I stayed in Kerala for one and a half year doing things which I could not have done in North.I enjoyed the food, the culture, the dress and participated in Onam celebrations addressing the audience in Malayalam.

I enjoyed my exams, the only person sitting in the middle of the hall with confidence, feeling like a king, present to achieve the extraordinary.

The people around me always believed that I know everything.The power of thought of others also energized me, as they believed in my abilities.

I am still in touch with my friends from Kerala and my classmates who studied with me enriching my network with talented people.

I reached Delhi after exams in June, 2009 and came at my hometown in Rajasthan.The result got declared on 18th August, 2009 helping me to become Part qualified ACCA.

I thought to pursue a job and came to Delhi.

With the help of my cousin, I applied for a job on 24th Aug, 2009, I got a call on 28th August 2009 and I started working on 7th Sep 2009 at Piron Corporation also known as Piron Education for preparing material and delivering lectures on IFRS.

My first lecture was at Ashok Leyland in Chennai facing 52 chartered accountants, addressing freshers to CFO.

This day gave a lot of confidence, a superiority feeling inside, being an ACCA, having knowledge of IFRS.My belief to become a corporate trainer got strengthened when a person with two decades of experience, came up to me and said that “ I have reminded him his school days”.

I decided to continue with the profile as corporate trainer.

I got 50% salary hike immediately after returning from Chennai within three months, followed with 50% hike every six months.

Along with the job, I completed the remaining 4 papers by Dec 2010 and achieved the status of ACCA affiliate.

During this period, I thought to get married on 10/10/10 and married Isha on the same date as decided the date well in advance in my thoughts, which became a reality later.

In year 2011, our team at Piron Corporation joined KPMG and there was offer for almost everyone to join.I decided to support the existing company since there were 4 IFRS batches running simultaneously attended by chartered accountants from India & Gulf Live Online as well as face to face along with corporate trainings.

I decided to stay back and support the ongoing assignments and complete it with satisfaction of clients.

As I thought, if KPMG needs me today, they will need me tomorrow

A seed of thought becoming a reality later in life.

 I completed the work at all locations which gave me a lot of confidence and again thought

 “If I can work tirelessly for them, I can easily work for myself” and decided to establish my own institute someday.

I resigned from Piron Corporation in Feb 2012 and joined Axis Risk Consulting in March 2012.At Axis Risk Consulting we worked for a government company in Abu Dhabi and stayed there for 3 months.

In Abu Dhabi, being away from training, I was constantly thinking to begin something of my own and discussed getting into a partnership with a chartered accountant, establishing AVC Learning Solutions.

We were supposed to complete the legal formalities and form a partnership.To give strength to the company, included one of my former colleague at Piron Corporation, Sudha as partner in AVC Learning Solutions. She joined us with a new name Crest Eduscore.

We were three partners, two of them were owning AVC Learning Solutions and Crest Eduscore with the thought of merging all and forming one.

I was feeling a sense of insecurity with no proof or acknowledgement demonstrating the work I was doing; we were doing well and would have progressed with ease.

During this period, I was getting constant calls from KPMG to join them, which I finally decided to join after saying “No” many times.

Lesson: We need to be very careful with our thoughts, our thoughts decide our next course of action, I always thought that if KPMG needs me today, they will need me tomorrow. This thought resulted in creating a situation which I had to succumb to, later in my life. Though it is for the better.

 I joined KPMG on 10th March 2014, but before joining them, I got an assignment to do revision sessions for Kappan’s school of management, Cochin around 4th to 6th March, 2014 for financial reporting ACCA F7 & Audit papers ACCA F8 & ACCA P7.

The revision session was motivational and inspiring for students as it helped in success of 2 national toppers, one for ACCA F7 Financial Reporting-Mishhal Hamza PK and ACCA P7 Advanced Audit & Assurance-Reez Puthumana with almost all the students passing in ACCA F8.

I was a proof of success and rewards of ACCA, teaching them employee benefits and received the offer letter from KPMG in the middle of the session we were discussing.

I shared with the students the news of joining KPMG which acted as a source of motivation providing clarity to vision of becoming ACCA.

During the period at KPMG, I got a chance to teach ACCA F8 Audit & Assurance at KPMG, Delhi achieving 100% result for Audit paper.

I was leading the IFRS trainings at Gurgaon including DipIFR sessions at Mumbai.Also, delivered lectures on Ind AS at almost all the locations travelling length and breadth of the country.

I also got a chance to inspire and instil the belief in the qualification for students of Stella Maris College, Chennai, pursuing ACCA qualification, almost all the girls are in touch with me, with many of them having cleared ACCA within a span of 2 years, giving credit to my motivational & inspirational speeches preparing them for life.

I have been guiding and mentoring students whosoever is pursuing ACCA and believes that I can be of help, I have tried to help beyond expectations.There are many names I am proud of getting associated with ACCA achievers like Janvi Tayal, Nitesh Bishnoi, Vijender Bansal, Akshay Gupta, Rhythm Rana,Muhammad Naseef, Banumathy, Anusha Gopinath,Deivanai Muthiah, Sakshi Mehta, who became affiliates being in constant touch with me along with my younger brother Gaurav Bishnoi, with many more to achieve the ACCA membership status in the time to come.

During the period at KPMG, got a chance to interact with thousands of students at various universities in Delhi NCR like GD Goenka University, Sharda University, Galgotias University, Manav Rachna University, BML Munjal University along with BBD University, Lucknow, Jagran Lake University, Bhopal, & Stella Maris College, Chennai, guiding them and creating awareness for ACCA program.

The passion and enthusiasm for ACCA always made me believe that I should learn from my mistakes and should give a new beginning to life.

I was at a good position in KPMG, to further advance my career, accepted the offer of an interesting job at TMF Group on 5 Dec 2016, a role created for me looking at my career and capabilities.

I got a chance to write position paper on Financial services for European Business Group, positioning TMF Group as Knowledge partners along with KPMG, PWC, Grant Thornton & BMR Advisors.

I was at the peak of my career, earning 10 times to what I began my journey with.

Life seemed to be set and settled with respect, experience, reputation & rewards.

The thought of establishing an organization of my own had to become a reality.The power of thought results in establishing

VIVIANA BUSINESS SCHOOL

Believe me

I have not taken any risk.

I have not made a right/wrong decision.

I have simply chosen a way of life.

What the world doesn’t do, I love doing it.

The position I left on 5 May 2017 is a dream for many.

I had to choose between realizing the dream of a high quality affordable ACCA tuition provider and the corporate job.

I have chosen to create stars of tomorrow.

I have decided to establish an organization in the name of my daughter VIVIANA, which means full of life & happiness.I always thought of an organization, which creates human beings full of life & happiness, learning to excel and daring to dream.

I announced the journey of a new life to the world!

“Thanks to the dawn of a new day, thanks for an opportunity to fulfill the dream of a goal willing to serve the society.

The goal isn’t to live forever, the goal is to create something that will!

With this thought in mind, I am beginning to write another successful story of a life enriched with experiences of overcoming challenges and enjoying the journey of winning every moment!

Life is meant to win, as nature supports life which is lively in all its forms, strengthening my belief in my favorite quote, giving me strength on all occasions to enter into a new arena of life.

“Winning begins with the beginning”

The goal is to create VIVIANA life for future generations, human beings full of life & happiness raring to go out to serve the world and daring to dream to create value in society.

The goal is to enjoy the success, to enjoy the transformation of ordinary to extraordinary, to see smiles on the faces of mentors, to see hope with blessings of parent’s, to see confidence in the eyes of achievers, to feel moments of pride, create moments of joy, happiness.

I decide to begin the journey as Founder & CEO of Viviana Business School.

A decision, to be successful for the success of society as I truly believe.

“Your success is not only yours, you never know who you are inspiring”

Life goes on and the story I published in 2017, needed an update in 2019 as a lot has in the last two years.

The beginning of Viviana Business School began with the idea of writing a book on Ind AS for chartered accountants, finance & accounting professionals and CA Final students to help them understand Ind AS in an easy manner. I believed the knowledge which I have been sharing since 2009, can be shared in a crisp and concise manner for the benefit of the people who wish to overcome the challenging task of learning Ind AS (converged form of IFRS).

This led to launch of "Ind AS Concepts in One Day" on 17th July 2017 and all the copies printed were sold in a matter of time.

I was progressing slowly by offering ACCA qualification and Diploma in IFRS through reference of people who had studied from me.

In September 2017, I got an offer to join BDO India as Director, Accounting Advisory Services, which I was hesitant to take up initially since it requires a lot of courage to leave job and begin on an entrepreneurial journey. If I accept this offer, I will lose sight of the dream of setting up a quality education provider for offering ACCA.

But the offer was such that it could inspire ACCA aspirants pursuing the course in India that the degree is well regarded and holds respect in the eye of the people who are the leaders in the industry. The leader who believed in me was none other than Mr Keyur Dave , one of the best in IFRS & Ind AS consulting industry with the backing of a great career. I thought I can be better under his leadership and guidance and decided to join his team. Another reason was to motivate ACCA aspirants, that if I can be in this position, you can definitely do so in the time to come.

A new journey began with the task of establishing Accounting Advisory services in Gurgaon which gave me an opportunity to learn the depth of pool of talent in country and also guide the service teams across India training on IFRS & Ind AS.

We expanded in a short duration of time and the team size also doubled by the time we reached 2018 and had tie ups with some of the leaders in education industry like VG Learning & Career Launcher.

Another task on the job was to fill the talent pool requirement from BDO network firms from Australia. Canada, Bahrain, Mauritius, Seychelles to name a few and being an ACCA member, I was in a position to invite applications from ACCA students and affiliates to apply for the short term contract jobs. I was surprised to see the lack of clarity and ignorance about the skills needed in the industry to build a successful career.

The interview process and dearth of talent pool led me to think again about bridging the gap between, what students know and what is actually required by the industry.

I decided to bridge this gap and develop people who are prepared in such a manner, that the industry welcomes them with both the hands.

Based on new learning & insights on the demands of industry globally, decided to move on from the position of Director, Accounting Advisory Services and set up Pramisha Business School at Dehradun and declared again to disrupt a well settled life & job.

The motto & the vision did not change, it was same as it was in 2017.

I announced the journey of a new life in a new town with a new name to the world!

“Thanks to the dawn of a new day, thanks for an opportunity to fulfill the dream of a goal willing to serve the society.

The goal isn’t to live forever, the goal is to create something that will!

Winning begins with the beginning as Founder & CEO of Pramisha Business School to write another successful story of a life enriched with experiences of overcoming challenges and enjoying the journey of winning every moment!

Pramisha means "Goddess of Knowledge" which blesses me with an opportunity to be a medium to share knowledge and experience to help future generations to learn know, excel & rise in life.

The goal is to create VIVIANA life for future generations, human beings full of life & happiness raring to go out to serve the world and daring to dream to create value in society.

The goal is to enjoy the success, to enjoy the transformation of ordinary to extraordinary, to see smiles on the faces of mentors, to see hope with blessings of parent’s, to see confidence in the eyes of achievers, to feel moments of pride, create moments of joy, happiness."

“WE ARE WHAT WE THINK, OUR THOUGHTS MAKE OUR LIFE”