Exactly 4 years ago, a Delhiite by the name of Adi Arya entered my life.
I was knocking down doors for Xfinity killing it in the Manassas- Ashburn Virginia market winning all kinds of promotions and commission checks before COVID hit. Then I just moved down South and hit pay dirt knocking down doors for AT&T and that’s what led to Hood is Good Cigars. Every door you knock has a story to sell if you can just make it past the entryway and into the kitchen where all important decisions are made and where all opened or unopened bills are kept in full public view! Sorry I digress.

My first insurance agent in America 35 years ago was a guy named Vivek Kundra. In those days the only thing that worked was a solid land line, an ever reliable fax machine and the pigeon-holed Word of Mouth – and of course face-to-face networking 7 nights a week. That’s how I built PartyDigest. The foundation was strong. No MLM required!

Well, Vivek Kundra was a mystery. He seldom courted his clients leave alone send an annual Christmas card or anything. That’s because he had cornered the “Indian Immigrant” or “Desi” market relying on every new Indian arriving in the US reaching out to another Indian through the temple or grocery store or college campus to get car insurance. Vivek Kundra was an enigma. But I’m sure he sat back and counted his checks everyday. Nobody I know seems to know where that chap is today. Retired on an island somewhere reading this even as we speak…

Back to Adi. After a few back and forth messages in March of 2020, Adi (being the consummate Indian businessman – every Indian is by the way!) that he is, he finally bought from me – a package for Xfinity internet etc which he kept renewing for years after I left and kept “liking” my posts on Facebook. Light touch.
I forgot about Adi. Like a true door knocker who goes from one door to another and moves on if there is nobody home or no sale, But as I found Adi’s approach to business was and is different.
We caught up on Vaisakhi (Sikh New Year) this past week and he credited his late Father who he said “essentially engraved my DNA” and that “I’m a guy that builds relationships”. His Dad was a Contractor and Suppler of Indian Defense Air Force, Armed Forces, UN Peace keeping forces and more.. that’s how he went to the prestigious Air Force School in Delhi that a few of my family members (even me briefly) attended. My other cousin Robin Wohra was a legend there. He used to paint and the notice board would carry his miniature paintings (#VohraVeterans).

Adi is a relative newcomer to the US – you could say he bridges the generation between me and my son who turns 22 next week – but like me he too is a first generation Indian. He’s been here 20 years. I’ve been here 33 plus years. Like he said, both of us have literally spent more time in America than India at this point. Truly Desi vantage point. He speaks fluent English and Punjabi and his mind runs like a cool Racehorse named Cool Cucumber. I’m the Toofan Mail. He has a very solid FinTech background and his entrepreneur zeal knows no bound. He worked in corporate America for many years with FannieMae and started a few companies.
Today, Adi is the Number 1 “Farmers Insurance” Agent for the DC Metropolitan area 3 years in a row. Won all the Presidents Club regalia there is to win. But he’s not content with just those laurels. He also runs Venus Business Consulting Setvices, a boutique IT staffing company with a partner and he is also an Angel Investor who specializes in Pre-IPO investments as “play money” and is a mentor to other insurance agents.
He is happily married to a JATNI (watch out #BollywoodCigar JATNI) a gorgeous lady by the name of Vandana Grewal and they have a 9 year old son (so far) so if Musk is listening….
Sometime back Adi got introduced to a company called POWUR through his BNI networking. The Black gentleman who was doing it as a side gig just mentioned it and when Adi puts his mind to something, sparks fly. He launched this third company, Sulis Homes (Sulis stands for friends of God of Sun) and basically took over the San Diego company’s franchise opportunity (akin to Farmers) and went to market and captured it.
What does POWUR do? In a nutshell, the San Diego-based company provides home energy solutions focused on solar power and battery storage. The company connects homeowners and businesses with solar installation providers, offering customized quotes and information to help customers transition to clean energy and reduce their carbon footprint. They are like the UBER for solar roof and battery back up storage for homes and businesses.
“Utilities are going up every year due to ever reliance on the grid” he said to me in a business meeting through Fireflies. “Reduce your dependency on the grid” was his message to all homeowners in America.
Adi likes to focus on home based content creators, and home based entrepreneurial types that run businesses from their home, as a key to the market expansion for POWUR. The company makes it very easy to onboard and run your own business as an independent operator. Adi helps you guide you through your first few deals so you can run a lean and mean machine and sign up others. There are no upfront costs to join under him as an agent (he has a reseller license) or to qualify for a solar roof as long as you qualify. He can sell and onboard agents in 26 states. The solar market he feels is still largely untapped as less than 20 million homes currently have solar roof panels which is only 5% of the market so the potential is huge. His message to everyone reading this is that get in now. There are 30% Federal Tax Credits and some state governments still offer rebates for a solar roof. His company does all the work. Fight the HOA, the County, everything. You only end up reducing your monthly utility bill. This is also a great opportunity for those seeking a “full-time seasoned income” and a great gig for Professionals such as Realtors, Insurance Agents, Roofing Contractors, Landscaping companies. Hey, even that gardening lady that stood by and sells you spring flowers! Anybody in the D2C – direct to consumer market. Sign up with Adi!
The commissions obviously are very lucrative. Thats why when I reconnected with an old customer like Adi I too decided to be a part of this venture as an independent contractor a glorified door knocker with an intent to be an owner of a franchise like Adi.
I joined because of 3 reasons:
I liked his story. I liked that he is a #DelhiBoy and because #DelhiBoysRule.
I also liked the fact that he placed a very large order of HamptonsCigars.co that he paid OTS! (On the spot). He knows to make money you gotta spend money. Now I think his wife will own the #JATNI BollywoodCigar. She doesn’t smoke. But all my cigar clients are hot beautiful women – that don’t smoke! Go figure!
Contact Adi at +1 (202) 378-4311 or email him at solar@homesulis.com.

Ps: one last thing, the man keeps receipts. Adi showed me all the receipts of the sales I’ve made to him over the years or renewals (for which so did not get paid BTW from Xfinity) so go #CALLADI today! 202 378 4311