Meet Ajith Dharma | Empower and igniter of Fire Within in entrepreneurs.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ajith Dharma and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ajith, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I come from a business family. I was the first family member to attend university and work for a Fortune 100 company. During my career in corporate environment I witnessed may lay offs, corporate mergers and acquisitions where it affected employees in many negative ways. I was also able to witness corporate politics where some of hard working team members not rewarded or recognized where as inferential parties unreasonably get rewarded.

It was apparent to me that there are limits to one’s creativity and risk taking in a corporate environment.

I was yearning for freedom to make decisions and take a risk in order to chart my own course. I’ll admit that it was uncertain and scary as I will be leaving a good salary and comfort of skills I have acquired over many years. However, my calling was too strong to take the plunge to take a risk and try the entrepreneurial journey.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I am the owner of FireWithin Wood Fired Mobile Concession Ovens company. FireWithin is founded in 2006. We are the leader in the world in Wood Fired Mobile Concession manufacturers. We also are educators. We have the longest running Wood Fired University where we teach entrepreneurs how to build and run a successful Wood Fired Catering business.

We have a partnership with Metro State University Hospitality Leadership School where we conduct these 3 day sessions.

I am very happy that we have oven owners (we call them Fire Starters!) in all 50 states and overseas. We also publish “Rolling In the Dough – 6th Edition”, the only complete business plan available in our industry on A-Z on step-by-step how to build a successful Wood Fired Catering enterprise.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
This is easy as I am a foodie and huge fan of Denver. I personal experience over the last 30 years – Denver strikes a good balance in many aspects and strives to be very progressive city.

1. Dinner at the Fort Restaurant.
2. Spend the morning visiting Denver Science and Nature Museum (IMAX, Planetarium, Dinosaur and rest of the museum) then spend the afternoon at Tattered Cover on Colfax.
3. Dim Sum at Star Kitchen on Federal
4. White Pie on Humboldt St for some great wood-fired New England style pizza
5. John Elway Cherry Creek for a lunch for their lobster roll and brag about John Elway.
6. Visit to the Air Plane Museum at Lowry.
7. Denver Botanics Garden is fun.
8. Certainly get away to Boulder Dushanbe Tea house and take a Celestial Seasoning Tea factory tour.
9. Perhaps, New England Brewery tour at Ft Collins.
10. Blue Pan Pizza on 12th Ave to brag on Jeff Smokevitch our local Detroit Style Pizza world champ and of course taste his superb Detroit Style Pizza

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My life is rich with considerate and trusted friends who provided guidance and counsel. Ira Nottenson, Robert Drucker, Jimmy Burds and Christine Dharma are to name a few.

Ira was instrumental in my acquiring FireWithin. Ira Nottenson had published many business books for Entrepreneur publishing house and mentorship was very helpful.

Another one of my most influential mentor was late Sam Arnold, who was the founder of the notable Fort restaurant. Sam was a very kind and dear friend to me. He had shared with me many of his trails and tribulations in his personal and business life. As I was new business owner his caring counsel was tremendously comforting and gave me assurance.

E Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber did change the way I think about how to build and run a business.

Website: https://firewithin.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/firewithinpizza/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/1804330

Twitter: https://twitter.com/woodpizzaoven

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FireWithinMobileOvens

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/fire-within-denver

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGXMKf3fYjQlNucQJJMfz6w

Other: https://firewithin.com/about-us/press/ Here you’ll find some articles written about Within over the years. Here’s superb video done by North Bend High School regarding how it was able to help students with Fire Within Oven: https://youtu.be/MZt9Ayqte1g

Image Credits
Soleil Wood Fired Pizza – Ron Argeullo Rest are Firewithin own