Show notes
Robert Rajeswaran (@robertrajeswaran) is a serial entrepreneur who was born in Sri Lanka, raised in London and now based out of Singapore where he co-founded Boxaroo (@boxaroo.co). He joins Ara on this week’s episode of The Tamil Creator to discuss his intricate journey which included fleeing the civil war in Sri Lanka with his pregnant mother to get to the UK, dealing with culture shock & needing to learn English to assimilate into Wembley, moving to Singapore which lead to him co-founding Boxaroo, shedding commonly adopted Sri Lankan norms to improve his life and a lot more before jumping into another round of Creator Confessions. Follow Robert:- Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/robertrajeswaran/)Timestamps00:19 - Ara introduces this week’s guest, Robert Rajeswaran01:40 - Fleeing the civil war with his pregnant mother to get to the UK09:40 - Dealing with culture shock, developing confidence, and needing to learn English to assimilate into Wembley13:02 - Baby hustles; burning CDs, setting up computers / dial-up connections, doing translation work, Airbnb, and more17:57 - Shifting from London to Singapore for work purposes and to be closer to home22:30 - Winning a start-up competition, co-founding Boxaroo (selling swag as a service) - the podcast gets interrupted by a bird26:00 - The bird departs28:12 - Boxaroo’s products and business model32:50 - How Robert goes about closing big deals; breaking down target audiences, sorting them in ‘buckets’ and more37:01 - Bootstrapping Boxaroo with plans to raise funding in the future40:18 - Robert’s vision for Boxaroo in the next 2-3 years41:38 - What Robert’s day-to-day schedule looks like42:43 - Having a good work-life balance, 43:44 - How Singapore handled COVID; it’s impact on Robert from a personal and professional standpoint46:57 - The future of office work; Robert forces a hybrid model48:10 - How Robert continues lifelong learning; books and podcasts51:18 - Shifting away from the Sri Lankan mindset of being “tough and hard” and learning to develop communication skills to improve his life53:16 - The impact of the Tamil community in London / Singapore on Robert55:42 - The personal legacy Robert wants to leave behind; how he wants to be remembered by friends / family56:36 - Who Robert admires in the global Tamil community and non-Tamil community58:27 - Advice Robert has for fellow aspiring Tamil creators1:00:16 - Creator Confessions1:03:09 - The Wrap UpIntro MusicProduced And Mixed By:- The Tamil Creator- YanchanWritten By:- Aravinthan Ehamparam- Yanchan Rajmohan Support the Show.