In 2013, after an unsuccessful year to find a permanent job, I went back to old ways, i.e., freelancing.

In the times we live, I was mildly surprised by the preference given to ‘experts,’ ‘specific skillsets’ than looking at a profile in its entirety. Nevertheless, it was a lesson, and I understood, “if I must get a job for my skill sets and experience, I won’t find it looking at a job description. I had to create one.”

Freelancing = travelling in my line of work. Working on different projects as a freelancer accelerated my ‘learning curve’ and became my definition of ‘growth.’

However, in mid-2014, I was in a fix.

Should I travel?

“Oh, wait, I will miss the journey of the birth of our child.”

I went with my gut feeling and remained in Zurich. That happens to be one of the best decisions I made, in hindsight.

In Zurich, I started taking up few freelance roles and, at the same time, decided to pursue my lifelong hobby of fact collection. I felt it was time to make that ‘past-time’ into something meaningful. There were no ‘plans’; it was purely ‘on-the-go.’

What resulted –  ‘Qwizzeria.’

I was fascinated by the quote – “Facts are to the mind, what food is to the body.”

Inspired by the above Edmund Burke’s saying, I came up with the term #FactFood for the daily nuggets of information.

Through Qwizzeria, I found an avenue to channel my interest in collecting information and presenting it one at a time, every day. This allowed me to get into a learning process through ‘researching’ and ‘fact-finding.’ By giving a fact, I learned more.

Qwizzeria turned two last week and, so far, has produced over 736 fact foods.

What am I gaining? –

The daily routine continues to enrich my experience about many aspects of the world – it is making me understand different cultures, have meaningful conversations with people, and mostly, it has been a humbling exercise.

The more I dwell on random topics, the more I realise how little I know.

Qwizzeria is an integral part of who I am. However, I am interested in other fields of work. Early this year, I started a consulting firm that focuses on sports consulting, event project management, content writing, and Qwizzeria completes it with knowledge consulting.

I love reading, and for a while, I had lost the zeal because I felt it was a waste of time assimilating all the information. In short, I was getting drowned with information, and with Qwizzeria, I have allowed myself to water my brains with knowledge.

Now, think about getting paid for what you love to do?

There are no big paychecks yet. However, the start has been promising. Now, it is up to me how I take it forward.

Being a parent for more than a year has given me unexplainable confidence. And, I have an understanding partner who is an excellent devil’s advocate and at the same time knows when not to be an advocate at all.

This journey is a realisation in progress – it is ok to be demotivated, confused, and distracted.  I am a human, and things aren’t rosy at times, even when I am doing what I love. It is like losing my way in the right direction.

In such moments of uncertainty, the core of Qwizzeria came to my rescue. One day at a time, one fact a day, that’s all.

Two years of Qwizzeria, and there is plenty more to explore and lots more to be done. For now, it is time to celebrate and at the same time acknowledge those feelings of uneasiness – they shall pass 🙂

Next time, when you are asked to believe in the power of one thing at a time, or one day at a time; Trust me, it is for real.

My advice is, embrace those feelings and make that journey irrespective of the nature of the task.

Because you learn, therefore you are!

Qwizzeria is a knowledge consulting project based out of Zurich, Switzerland.

Write to me – rajan@qwizzeria.com to know how Qwizzeria can engage with your stakeholders, be it with learning modules, Knowledge transfer exercises, or hosting quizzes.