Sometimes a new idea begins when things don't go the way you expected.

In this part of my life story, I talk about another difficult period inside our family business, when a new digital marketing agency was brought in and I found myself questioning where I fitted into the process.

That experience planted a new idea in my mind: why not build something of my own?

That idea became Neovura.

Around the same time, I helped my mother build the identity for her new shop—from the name and logo to signage and promotional materials. I also tried to handle the digital marketing, believing I could turn my ideas into results.

It didn't work the way I hoped.

But that failure taught me an important lesson: having an idea, building something, and making it commercially successful are three very different things.

This episode is about trying, failing, learning, and discovering that sometimes an idea doesn't disappear just because it didn't work the first time.

Neovura wasn't finished.

Neither was I.

After years of going to the family business firm without feeling like I had a meaningful role, I knew I needed to find a new direction.

In this episode of Beyond the Space — My Life Story, I talk about changing my approach to work, finding BoxxBurn as a place to work out and clear my mind, and discovering an opportunity to improve the firm's digital presence.

That journey led me to Webandcrafts, a Kerala-based digital agency. I reached out to them, brought their proposal to the family business, and became the main point of contact. What started with a recruitment poster soon grew into website improvements, brand guidelines, and a more professional digital identity.

But as more people became involved, things started to change. About a year later, the relationship with the agency came to an end.

It was disappointing, but the experience reminded me of something important: I could still spot opportunities, bring ideas to life, and create something meaningful.

And it left me with one important question:

What if, instead of trying to build everything inside someone else's system, I built something of my own?

There was a time when I believed that years of hard work, experience and commitment would be enough to earn trust.

After my brother became the Managing Director of our family business, a senior person was brought in to mentor me in managing the IT department. But what began as mentorship soon became something very different.

In this part of my life story, I talk about how my role changed, how the systems and policies I had spent years building were questioned, and how I eventually found myself removed from the very department I had helped develop.

It was a difficult period, but it also taught me an important lesson: you can build something, understand it and give years of your life to it, but that doesn't always mean you'll have the final say.

Looking back, losing my place in IT wasn't just an ending.

It was slowly pushing me towards a much bigger question:

What am I going to build for myself?

In Part Five of my life story, I look back at a period when my professional achievements and personal struggles happened almost at the same time.

As the family business prepared to celebrate its 25th anniversary, I became deeply involved in the creative work behind the celebration, including graphics and videos. But while I was proud of what we achieved, my personal life was going through one of its most difficult chapters.

Then COVID arrived and completely changed the way we worked. When I saw the challenges of communicating while working from home, I helped expand Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams across the firm so employees could stay connected and continue working together.

But another change was coming.

My father retired, my elder brother became Managing Director, and slowly my own role in the IT department began to change.

This is the story of achievement, personal struggle, adapting during a crisis, and the beginning of a completely different chapter in my career.

After closing the computer shop, I returned to the firm with a new focus: managing the IT department and proving what I could do.

In this part of my life story, I talk about some of the projects that helped shape my journey in technology—from moving the firm's email system from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365, to working with someone in Germany to set up an in-house FTP server that made exchanging large client files easier and faster.

But life wasn't changing only at work.

During this chapter, I also got married and became a father. I choose to keep much of my personal life private, but becoming a father gave me something I will always treasure—my son.

This is a story about responsibility, technology, family, and slowly finding my place.

Part 4 of my life story on Beyond the Space.

Sometimes, a major change in life begins with a simple conversation.

After spending nearly two years building and running a computer shop, I suddenly found myself being called back to the firm. The person managing the IT department was going on leave, and before leaving, he told my dad something that would change my direction: “Aashish can handle it.”

For a short time, I lived between two worlds — managing IT at the firm in the morning and running the shop in the afternoon.

Then my dad made the decision to close the shop and asked me to focus completely on IT.

Closing something I had spent years building was painful. At the time, it felt like an ending. Looking back, I can see that those years had actually been preparing me for what came next.

In Part 3 of my life story, I talk about letting go of the computer shop, taking responsibility for the IT department, and stepping into a chapter that would shape the next several years of my life.

After finishing my studies, I joined my dad’s company and began working in the GIS department. In 2001, our family and the company moved to Kochi, opening a new chapter in my life.

But my career wasn't following a straight path.

I stepped away to study Visual Arts, returned to the company as an assistant in the IT department, and eventually took responsibility for a new venture—a computer store.

That little store became an important part of my journey. It taught me how to deal with customers, work with vendors, take responsibility, and most importantly, sparked a deeper curiosity about technology.

I didn't know it then, but those experiences were preparing me for a much bigger role ahead.

This is Part 2 of my life story on Beyond the Space—the chapter where technology started becoming more than just work.

My story didn't begin in one place.

I was born in Jordan, spent an important part of my childhood in Japan, and eventually returned to India. Growing up across different countries and cultures shaped the way I saw the world from a very young age.

My childhood was different in another way too — I started talking only when I was around seven years old.

In Part 1 of my life story, I talk about those early years, studying in an international school in Japan, my family's journey back to India, and my father's dream of starting his own civil engineering company.

At the time, I had no idea that the company he was building would eventually become such a major part of my own journey.

This is where it all began.

From Jordan to Japan to India — this is the beginning of my story.

🎙️ Beyond the Space — My Life Story
Hosted by Aashish George