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Jul 30, 2017 Company culture refers to the combination of a company’s beliefs, ethics, goals and how a company's employees and management interact and handle outside business transactions. It is not something explicitly mentioned or laid down, it is just something that is developed over time. It is important for a company culture to develop because it develops solidarity among the organization. Big names such as Google, twitter and Facebook are well known for their company culture. Their offices, no matter in which part of the world they are, are famous for their various perks such as Free meals, employee trips and parties, financial bonuses, open presentations by high-level executives, gyms, a dog-friendly environment at Google, yoga classes and free meals at twitter and lots of food, stock options, open office space, on-site laundry at Facebook. In the workplace if the employees feel ‘out of place’ then this would degrade their working efficiency, on the other hand if they feel comfortable with their work culture they would enjoy their work, and would work with greater efficiency, employee satisfaction oils the machinery of a successful organization. Positive and unique company culture that is developed within an organization attracts workers towards it. People choose where to work not only on the basis of the job profile and salary offered. They also consider the kind of work environment a company offer, its reputation, basically the culture that dwells within the office of that company.it also helps as a factor of employee retention. Harnessing a positive and healthy company culture is advantageous especially to big multinational companies. Because of development of a culture there is uniformityamong all its units. This makes administration easier and also prevents workers from developing a feeling of unequal treatment as everyone in every office, irrespective of the place or level in the hierarchy works in the same work environment.

Jul 29, 2017 Twitter is not just about hash tags, trending stories and celebrity profiles, if you are a small business owner then you need to know about it, here’s why: 1.Twitter for business: twitter gives business owners the opportunity to make use of their immensely popular public platform to advertise their business. This extends your businesses reach and helps you connect with relevant followers, based on other user’s preferences. It has a separate platform for assisting business profiles: https://business.twitter.com/ 2.Ask questions and run polls: Asking questions is an effective way to interact with your audience, bring readers into the conversation, and understand people’s opinions. Ask relevant questions in an entertaining manner to get maximum responses. 3.Re-tweet: re-tweet positive feedback given by customers, ask them to share pictures with your product or more reviews and offer them some perks or reward in return. All small businesses need a happy consumer base to expand and twitter lets you publicize your happy customers. 4.Hash tag: use fun and attractive hash tags with your posts. Do not spam your post with as many tags as you can find, be selective and smart about it. The right tags can land your post in the trending stories, which will fetch you some good publicity. 5.Competitor research: you can look at the kind of users that interact with the profile of your competitors and then formulate you marketing strategies accordingly. You can also get to know the enemy’s weaknesses and strengths and can develop yourself knowing what you are up against.

Just as treasures are uncovered from the earth, so virtue appears from good deeds, and wisdom appears from a pure and peaceful mind. To walk safely through the maze of human life, one needs the light of wisdom and the guidance of virtue. Understanding the importance of guidance, Mr. Vilas Mungekar is contributing his share in the society by training people and helping them develop personally as well as at their business fronts. Interviewer: What is the core activity of your company? Mr. Vilas: My Company is guiding people and training them in terms of self development and business development. Interviewer: How did you come up with the idea of your business? Mr. Vilas: Since the last thirty years, I have engaged myself in providing training to different companies. And, there was a brand required which needed to be very organized for contributing their share in helping various companies and enterprises. In, 2008 I presented my noble idea in the form of the company in the name of ‘Wealth Magic Training Pvt. Ltd.’ Interviewer: What are the three things important for a successful business? Mr. Vilas: The first thing is the burning desire. The second, being the need of having a long term vision. The third most important thing for a successful business is consistency with delegation. Interviewer: Did you face any challenges during your growing years? What tips would you give to face such challenges? Mr. Vilas: There are many challenges that affect the various aspects in the journey through the business of an entrepreneur. And one should always have the dedication and strength to face these challenges and overcome them and do something about it. Failures are not set up, they come to business without any warnings and one should be ready to rule them out of the business. Interviewer: What would you like to advice budding entrepreneurs? Mr. Vilas: Entrepreneurship is a process of drawing the courage from within and it is necessary for an individual to possess a risk taking attitude to build an empire. Having an edge at creation and innovation is one important factor for a businessman or an entrepreneur. To go ahead and be prepared to widen their horizons, be it within the country or outside. Also, being self independent, and be capable of standing on their own feet. Interviewer: What are some of your habits which contributed in your making of a successful entrepreneur? Mr. Vilas: My first habit is discipline. I am also a visionary; I always see the end result of the activity performed today in my mind. That way I am able to devise out all the drawbacks and benefits of the plan being carried out to perform the task. Teamwork is also an important attribute. Building up a good and motivated team contributes to great success. Teamwork with appropriate dedication helps in focusing on the core aspects or the fields which require attention. Persistence and right guidance has also helped me throughout my journey and been a big support during my bad times. Interviewer: What has been your biggest entrepreneurial achievement? Mr. Vilas: Although, every step forward has been an achievement in my business for me as well as my team. But when we achieved the opportunity to interview and connect to about more than thousand celebrities, it was a moment of sheer happiness. And we still look back to it for motivation and encouragement. Interviewer: How has adopting the entrepreneurial culture made you a better person? Mr. Vilas: Entrepreneurship is a very energetic occupation. So, it itself contributes to personality development. As an entrepreneur, one can lead their life to the fullest and become punctual. Entrepreneurship has made me learn the value of time. One who values time always has an opportunity to gain more in life. Also, an entrepreneur personally enjoys the experience and the journey of their enterprise. And I must add, it is a completely rejuvenating and a developing experience.

Jul 27, 2017 Most small business owners don’t utilize their financial statements to manage their business. As a result, they are usually unable to read or understand their financial statements. With solid understanding of the financial statements, a small business owner will know, and more importantly, understand on how to take action. Knowing what the numbers represent and what they are telling you, allows you, as a business owner, to succeed on purpose. The definition of business success means to achieve growing and sustainable profits. Without sustained profits, you’ll eventually run out of cash and be out of business. Why is it important to Understand Financial Statements? 1.It allows the owner to do one of the most important things for the business, which is to create a profit plan for the business. It can also be called a budget, but budgets often miss a key component, which is the sales forecast and not just expenses. The profit plan is impossible to pull together if you don’t understand financial statements. 2.Generally, businessmen are aware about the amount of money they are willing to make in a particular period of time, but at the same time they are unaware of how to reach their desired goal. So, it is important for them to understand the nature of the transactions taking place in the business and all possess all other financial knowledge like debts, stocking up inventory, tax payment, and so on. If you put a good plan together, it is surprising and exciting to achieve the plan and be focused. By understanding the financial statements, as a small business owner, you will begin to take management action to make things happen. 3.Acquisition of Funds, financial management involves the acquisition of required finance to the business concerned .Acquiring needed funds play a major part of the financial management, which involve possible source of finance at minimum cost. 4.Financial Decision, financial management helps to take sound financial decision in the business concern. Financial decision will affect the entire business operation of the concern. Because there is a direct relationship with various department functions such as marketing, production personnel, etc. 5.Improve Profitability; profitability purely depends on the effectiveness and proper utilization of funds by the business concern. Financial management helps to improve the profitability position of the concern with the help of strong financial control devices such as budgetary control, ratio analysis and cost volume profit analysis. 6.Increase the Value of the Firm, financial management is very important in the field of increasing the wealth of the investors and the business concern. Ultimate aim of any business concern will achieve the maximum profit and higher profitability leads to maximize the wealth of the investors as well as the nation. 7.Promoting Savings, savings are possible only when the business concern earns higher profitability and maximizing wealth. Effective financial management helps to promoting and mobilizing individual and corporate savings. Nowadays financial management is also popularly known as business finance or corporate finances. The business concern or corporate sectors cannot function without the importance of the financial management. Running a company successfully is not nearly as hard as some people make it out to be. Understanding your numbers is a key first step to simplifying that process. You don’t need to become an accountant or CPA to read a financial statement, but you need to know and keep tabs on the numbers to run your company and achieve your profit plan. At the point of knowing that they fully understand their business, the realization surfaces that business owners can steer their business in the direction for sustainability, success and profits. That is powerful!

अपने व्यवसाय का वित्तीय-नियंत्रण को समझना Have full details of your business accounts. Make sure you learn the basics of your accounts and a bit of bookkeeping the needs to be updated with the changing economy of your businesses.

यह सब सम्मान के बारे में है - अगर आप अपने ग्राहकों का सम्मान नहीं करते हैं तो उन्हें वापस आने की उम्मीद नहीं है Learn to value and respect your customers. They are the most important part of your business.

अपने ग्राहकों के साथ कभी भी संपर्क न खोएं

Jul 26, 2017 Marketing calendars are created to address the specific needs of business functions. A successful marketing calendar incorporates all the marketing activities along with details broken out week by week for each quarter. Some features of an efficient calendar are: Specific Listing out specific promotions or events Including the marketing cost for each event Results derived from such events One can also list out the following to have a clearer vision of their company: Advertising Campaigns Events Content Pieces Public Relations / Media Relations Social Media Campaigns Email Marketing Point of Purchase Displays or Signage Efforts This provides an easy view, if the events and strategies were productive and on target. Also, it contributes to the planning the marketing of the firm in the future. Some ways for helping individuals to take charge of the sales and marketing by creating a calendar are: 1.Start with a blank 12-month calendar and chart the selling cycle and seasonality of the products and or services that you offer. Doing this will help to build the foundation to create messaging that centers around your target market and ensure that you are promoting during the keys times that prospective customers are looking for what you offer. 2.Finding the right tool is one essentiality which contributes to effective organization. A complex marketing needs appropriate marketing calendar software. 3.Breaking down the marketing calendar by the month, week or day can also prove helpful. It also ensures if marketing is taking place on a regular basis or not. 4.Further fragmenting the activities in more details depending on the need of the firm provides a quick and easy vision of the activities to be performed. One can understand the same in just a glace, and need not read a detailed document for the task. 5.Also taking the reference and planning promotions around major holidays and national observances or according to the requirement of the season is a pretty obvious, yet a clever technique to have a strong sales and marketing department. These transition stages can be a great opportunity to help boost slower business periods or maximize exposure to new content and products etc for the season. 6.Consolidating all separate calendars into one, instead of maintain more than one calendar for similar events saves time as well as efforts. This can be managed by the following ways- Help everyone use and access the calendar at any given time Give them the right permissions to view or add things. Set up filters to see what you need to see. 7.One needs to follow certain tricks to maintain a calendar which can be put to good use. Consolidate every calendar you have into one tool.organising: tasks, workflow, blogging, social media, events, and comments. Delete every other calendar you have so you and your team literally cannot keep on with the status quo. Remind yourself and your team Make it a daily routine to use your editorial calendar to build a new habit. Give yourself—and your team—a reward for building the new habit. Remember, change is hard, so celebrate even your smallest victories. 8.Having a good content also motivates individuals to build a calendar and to use it in times of need. For a good content of a calendar, certain tips are as follows: Topics. This one is the easiest trend to notice. Value propositions. Look for trends in the angles you take in your content. Headline types. How-to, numbered list posts and questions typically get the most traction for us. Authors. Some authors are just rock stars. If that’s the case, have them write more posts. If they were a guest author, ask them to write for you again. Date published. If you optimized your content for search engines, it’s possible that your audience is finding your old posts and sharing them again. So… that’s also something you should do. But it could be that in specific months, certain content will perform better. Visuals. Content that is highly visual is typically shared way more than content without visuals. That could be something to consider in your upcoming content. Post length. Long-form content on a highly-targeted topic and angle generally performs the best By doing this, you are able to build consistency in your planning. This helps in preventing marketing lapses that causes the "feast and famine" effect that many businesses experience. They key to you a marketing calendar is to create one that works for you and your team. Be flexible with it and don't be afraid to customize it to your needs. Your marketing calendar should enable you to coordinate all your marketing efforts and done correctly it will assist you in budgeting your strategy and tactics. It should serve as a helpful tool and not a tedious burden to complete.

Interviewer : How did you come up with the idea of your company? Ms. Khyati Bhatt : From my heart, I was always an entrepreneur. I remember talking to my dad when I was as young as 12 that someday I wanted to run my own company. I tried working in multiple roles in the corporate world after completing my management degree including that of business analyst, currency trader, portfolio manager but the hard truth hit me that I was not meant for the corporate world – I just could not work for a boss! Pretty soon I took my first plunge into the entrepreneurial domain whenI saw an opportunity to take our family business of handcrafted items headed by my mom-in-law from wholesale to the retail market. We did pretty well, my mom-in-law and I, and I owe her for having readied me to start my own venture when I wanted to. She still runs the retail venture pretty well, but I realized that craft was a passion close to her heart; I needed to find my own. Being ambitious, I wanted something bigger, something bolder, something unheard of before, because “the path less travelled by” has always had a special attraction me from ever since I can remember. After my maternity break, I wanted to foray into a field I was madly in love with,for which I could wake up in the middle of the night and work for, and not get tired. Body language was the first and only thing which came to my mind since this was a subject that fascinated me since my college days back in 2000. I had practiced it first hand during my stint in the retail space and I knew I was ready for a full time career in a field which would not limit me to any particular market or geography.With a child too young to part with during her waking hours, I started off in 2013 by waking up at 4:30am in the morning just so that I could analyse interviews and debates and write on the same before my daughter was awake. I got good response from respectable online channels and published magazines towards my articles which made me all the more certain that this field was going to be the rest of my career. I needed the right guidance because what I had learnt was from books and research papers written by anthropologists, zoologists, social scientists, interrogators and psychologists. Thus I hunted for the right teacher to authenticate my knowledge on the subject. I was very choosy in this regard, because there are so many certified “experts” who I knew had gotten the subject all wrong. In the meantime I continued with personal coaching assignments. I read book after book, seeking that one person who had understood my field well enough to be my guide. I was delighted when finally I found the teacher who I knew would be the perfect person for what I sought only to discover he was just as choosy in selecting the students he mentored! After one long year of wait, he got ready to train me where I needed polishing. Company wise, I grew from a team of myself to a team of two and we slowly started venturing into workshops and open format events, taking up consultancy assignments for corporates, ad agencies, photographers, doctors and so on. I also started participating in actual deals to guide investors and interviewers on the right fit for their requirements. After operating out of a rented spaced, recently we shifted into a permanent office dedicated to Simply Body Talk. We run three verticals where we undertake coaching, consulting and learning assignments for individuals and corporates in the field of nonverbal communication. Our ecommerce classes are brewing as we speak, and so are our first set of merchandise. We intend to get into nonverbal research tools focused in the retail space as well, a year or two into the future. Though there are tons of avenues into which I intend to take nonverbal communication, avenues unheard of for India, but I need to wait for the market to become mature enough to accept the ideas we have in mind. It is a test of patience, but I am willing to take this test. Interviewer : How do you prevent mistakes or cure them? Ms. Khyati Bhatt : Every entrepreneur’s journey is her own to experience. Of course there are multiple fall backs and mistakes. One needs to constantly introspect, learn from the discussions with peers and colleagues, and then get better with time. For me, evolving every day is like fresh breath. I need it to survive! I try to prevent mistakes by thinking at least three times before taking a step in new direction. Having read enough on psychology, I have the luxuryof being able to analyse how I am thinking, and why so. This helps me take an objective view of my decisions. Initially, I had decided to start working on a research project dedicated to exploring the eye tracker back in 2016 and invest into that technology. What I realized is that there are very few companies offering that kind of service to retailers currently, and the technology is fast changing. It would be a large investment if I am to make it, in which case I should be patient and wait a year or two longer and think of all such psychophysiological tools which can help me set up a full-fledged lab. My introspection helped me to stop myself from going all out too soon, with the thought that I might make an investment on which I don’t get the expected result. Also, when major decisions are to be taken, I take advice of people who know me in and out and thus would not hesitate in giving me a very frank opinion. These people are my closest circle, those whom I trust to not answer instinctively or emotionally just because I am asking something of them. I am almost on the verge of launching our first game. But talks with family and friends is making me rethink which would be the best medium to launch in. When something does not go as expected, there can be two reasons for it – one being, we could not anticipate it the right way, in which case we brainstorm first as a team and then I think through it myself and take the final call. Another reason something might have gone wrong could be just pure luck. We would have had all our tracks covered but even then things sometimes do go wrong. Like if there is an activity which we make participants do. And the activity does not have the effect it was supposed to. Or we plan an event and we cannot get enough registrations for something as simple as the fact that the title of the event was rather too esoteric. These mistakes happen, and we keep evolving with each experience. Introspection is the key here. After every major day in our company, I sit and introspect. For our workshops, we keep a feedback form where each individual is asked to give us atleast one way in which we can get better. Even when there are hundreds of forms, I personally go through each of these forms, because these feedbacks are like golden eggs for me. If I ignore what the end users are telling me, then I could end up floating on clouds and perhaps be on a second footing as far as matching up with other trainers goes. Being a perfectionist at heart, there are times when I feel restless when work has been delegated to my staff and they don’t end up doing as well as I could do it myself. It could be something as simple as offering a cup of tea to a guest who comes to meet me in office. We are trying to streamline all processes, no matter how small, and I know we will keep improving with time. Interviewer : What three things are most important to become a successful entrepreneur? Ms. Khyati Bhatt : An eye for details: As an entrepreneur, one needs to constantly evolve not just one’s technical knowledge but also soft skills. Both these variations come by having an eye for details. Like when my staff makes a new social media post and they forget to take a picture from a free content space, there might be issues of copyright. I need to be on the lookout. When I am planning to do something new, my receptive antennas are up all the time to absorb details from every relevant thing I see. Like when we were planning our office interiors, I would keep noticing each sofa, layout, mirror, light no matter where I went so that I could understand the impact of each detail I added to my own space. When I want to design our marketing material, again taking inspiration from others helps. Your eyes and ears need to be open – there is tons out there in the world around you, you just need to be dedicated enough to grasp how each detail can help you in your own venture. A flexible mind set: One cannot be too rigid in one’s thinking. Sometimes brainwaves have been generated by my team, which are in totally opposite view from what I have in mind. However, that does not stop me from exploring them. The one thing I keep thinking of all the time is, what if I am wrong in my assumptions. Another way to develop a flexible mind set is to pick up random books and read. I learnt this strategy from a book called More than You Know which teaches one how financial advisors can learn about the markets from fields which are not even related to finance. In fact, the idea of this entire venture started because I used to read random books from the management library of our college. So one book after another is my strategy to learn to think outside the box. A flexible mind set also helps when one idea you work on does not give you the anticipated response. You would need to know when to take a stop loss on your idea, because not everything works all the time. Anything which weighs an entrepreneur down might need to be weeded away, and here being flexible helps. Ability to sleep on your risk: it goes without saying that one needs to take a certain amount of risk if one is an entrepreneur. When I was first contemplating what career to restart, most obvious choices suggested by my family included those related to my past work experience – financial advisor, branding consultant etc. When I first mentioned what I had in mind, I could sense the doubts all around. But that did not stop me from being convinced of what I knew I wanted. Of course, putting down figures on an excel sheet would help you give numbers to your ideas and see how deep are the waters in which you tread. I would say, if you can sleep peacefully knowing how big a risk you are about to take, then the risk is worth taking. That also makes me a good entrepreneur, because if I thought like every other person around me, then I could not have the opportunity to create history some day. Interviewer : How do you deal with face failures and challenges in your business? Ms. Khyati Bhatt : Our biggest challenge is that we are the first entrants in this field in India in terms of the detail into which we are going. It brings with it the standard issues of hurdles to acceptance. While body language is a well established field in developed countries, there are times when we find it difficult to convince people that this is the need of the hour. Therein lies my challenge. The first hurdle was getting onboard a good team. For an entrepreneur, every member she adds to her team would literally mean a new investment. So enough thought and effort would need to go into the selection process. Not all times do you get the right resource, and not all times can the resource perform as per your plan. There are times when I am finishing mundane tasks because of shortage of manpower. However, that comes with any business. If I invest more than my requirement, I would immediately start feeling the pressure of revenue. As a generic rule, there is always one person less than my requirement at the time. Thankfully, I have a great team currently, all flexible when it comes to tasks assigned to them and helping me exponentially in the vision I have for the next six months. Interviewer : What are the main principles you follow to build a successful employee and customer relationship? Ms. Khyati Bhatt : Don’t think of getting the best out of your client all the time. My line of business has no scope for hard selling. There are levels of engagements for us, at which different people commit to take our services. For example, one of the first ways is when people start subscribing to our free tips which we send out every Friday. Then some of these convert into workshop participants. Here we were not trying to pitch to you to come to us for attending our workshop. The tip recipients like what they receive on a free basis, and want to explore more which is why they come to us. Also, we don’t need to prove to them that they should shell out money to attend our workshop, since our services are slightly premium. But we deliver quality and keep varying the content to make it highly customized to the client. Post session feedback is something we take very seriously, be it for workshops or even personal coaching or learning sessions. Another example is when people come to sit for our free demo sessions. Since the quality of our content never goes down, no matter when you engage with us, be it a free service or a paid one, the clients trust us to deliver quality. This way, since we currently conduct our workshops in Mumbai only, demand from other cities has ensured that we have built a decent base for the online classes that we plan to launch soon. Interviewer : What is your inspiration to generate new ideas? Ms. Khyati Bhatt : Sometimes we are boxed in if we continue doing the same work day in and day out. Keep reading random books by respectable authors and meeting people from totally unrelated domains. This helps in maximum brainstorming since you stumble upon ideas which you might not even have otherwise thought of. Walking really helps me when I need time out, be it from writing some article, preparing material for the next workshop, or thinking of how to help a client on a specific topic. It is amazing how our brain can work in a background mode when we assign it some task and instruct it to think up a solution. So much of my work gets completed in this way, especially brainstorming activities. While I might be completing mundane work offline like babysitting my child, or clearing up the table, my brain is whirling in full mode, finishing all pending points, sorting out operational efficiency issues, and getting me ready to work full swing the minute I enter office. Interviewer : What would you advise budding entrepreneurs or the students who want to become an entrepreneur? Ms. Khyati Bhatt : The journey of an entrepreneur is one you can truly experience only if you get into the shoes of one, and if that is not a choice for you right away, work closely with you. Identify some entrepreneur who shares the same passion, or ethics or values you want to invest into your business, and mentor under the same person. And when I mean mentor, it means working day in and day out with the person. I did this with two separate entrepreneurs, both having vastly different styles of working. And this has hugely determined the choices I have made for my venture thus far. Not that I copied any of them – far from it. I could see their strengths and how they derived them, I could see their weaknesses and their challenges. It is always easier in terms of time, money and emotional investment to learn from someone in his journey than spend time doing it for yourself. Objectivity is also greater when you are observing someone else rather than yourself. Sometimes the journey can get rather lonely. There are times when there are issues riveting in my head, but I have no one to talk to, because I am not sure who can help me out. For these times, you need to learn to take help from your own sources who might not be able to contribute directly and yet can make a significant contribution to your problem. To take a simple example, I might ask my daughter about what she does when she is unable to complete her classwork when the teachers asks for it. Her answer will be simple, and up to the level at which she can think but it will be different from how I would probably approach, therein could lie a Eureka moment for me! You will see many paths in front of you, even in the line of business you want to join. Sometimes you might feel confused or rushed because you want things to move forward rather quickly. It happens to me on and off. But when you are putting actual money at stake, it matters how much feasible any idea actually is. And the best way to judge it is to put numbers on an excel sheet. Suddenly what seems like a far-fetched idea might look more reachable, and what appears like a cakewalk might give you second thoughts. Interviewer : Define your life as an entrepreneur in one word. Ms. Khyati Bhatt : Bhelpuri (sorry, no English word could match up to what this particular word connotes!)

Without change there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for improvement. Those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to manage the change that is inevitable. Mr. Pratik Vaidya tells us how his experience with bringing a change in his company helped him achieve great success. Interviewer: Tell us something about yourself and the company. Mr. Pratik: I have an education in commerce and law. Following a stint with corporates, I joined the family business which was then ‘Kishor Vaidya & Co.’, a sole proprietary concern engaged primarily in ESI and Provident Fund related tasks. I had several new ideas and plans for expansion, which soon gave birth to Karma Management in 2004. We have, since, grown to become a complete HR solution, and have updated processes and services to be modern and relevant. Interviewer: What motivated you to start your own company? Mr. Pratik: Having had the exposure of being on the corporate side, and garnering experience being with companies like Arthur Andersen and P&G, I realized that there is a very distinct need that companies have, and that there really wasn’t anyone who was specifically targeted at providing them at the time. The growing challenges of globalization and increasing complexity of business demanded suitable solutions. My background in technology led me to leverage the platform to expand and explore new horizons. This is how Karma began its foray into outsourcing and staffing, payroll management, and personnel law consultancy. Interviewer: What are the two things important for a successful business? Mr. Pratik: Businesses today are governed primarily by relationships. A bond of mutual trust and respect is integral to sustenance and growth. That being said, what needs to back a thriving relationship is the ability to cater to their needs. We notice how partnerships are short-lived and loyalties are fickle. It is no wonder that service standards and customer delight cannot be undermined. The standards one sets in being able to forge strong relationships and back them with superlative service is what enables a company to survive and grow. Interviewer: Did you face any challenges in your entrepreneurial journey and what did you learn from it? Mr. Pratik: No business is without challenges and hurdles. Any business that is only smooth sailing is either short-sighted, or simply ignorant of what is to come. We have had our fair share of setbacks, but they have only taught us how to bounce back, and showed us how nothing can be taken for granted. For us, challenges have been great teachings. They have helped in shaping our values and vision – and shown us ways to ideate and explore possibilities we wouldn’t have known existed. Challenges prove hard only when you view them as impediments. Take them in your stride and you will find that they have opened up a new avenue for you. Interviewer: What would you like to advice budding entrepreneurs? Mr. Pratik: The most important piece of advice for any entrepreneur is to never lose sight of why you started. Success and profits are only by-products of any venture, but can never be the reason why you began.They may at first elude you, but if you have a clear purpose and defined vision, it will chase you eventually. Enjoy the journey, don’t fear taking the risks, allow yourself time, and most importantly, never accept mediocrity. There can never be a short-cut to success. Just watch yourself and people you choose, the way you deliver for first 100 days. 100 days incubation is a real mantra. It can be new client acquisition or new employee or new decision to make. Ensure you give your best to any of them for first 100 days and then leverage on alternatives if something is not working out. Interviewer: What mindset one should have to take the company to huge heights? Mr. Pratik: Patience and perseverance are the watchwords to success. Look at the bamboo tree. It takes eighteen months to see the first signs of any life or growth. After that, however, it shoots up and reaches phenomenal heights in the shortest time. However, you need to care and nurture it through the eighteen months in order for it to grow. Similarly, you need to exercise patience and work hard consistently even when you don’t see immediate results. Things will happen at their time, but you cannot lose sight of your goal, or give up on your beliefs. Interviewer: How has becoming an entrepreneur made you a better person? Mr. Pratik: Entrepreneurship is not just about growing a business – it is about grooming a person. It teaches you to push yourself, to look for things in yourself you never knew existed. It teaches you hardwork and commitment. It helps you learn to balance relationships and tasks, manage yourself and time optimally. It teaches you failure and how to be resilient. It teaches you to never give up. Most importantly it teaches you integrity and accountability. All of this have changed me, and made me what I stand for today.

The way to bring about change is to be proactive and active. Mr. Neeraj Shah sets a perfect example on how to achieve your desired goals by having a proactive approach and a systematic lifestyle. Interviewer: Please brief us a little about yourself and your company. Mr. Neeraj:I am a business mentor. I help overwhelmed business owners and entrepreneurs to get clarity, the confidence and tools to help them grow their business on autopilot. The company through which we develop entrepreneurs is called Titan Masterminds LLP. Interviewer: What ignited the spark in you to come up with such a venture? Mr. Neeraj:I have been working along with thousands of entrepreneurs for the last 12 years and I have seen the kind of struggles they need to face as a businessman. I built a business network called BNI India. When I moved to India in 2004, I grew it from zero to 10,000 entrepreneurs across 21 cities in India. So I have been working with entrepreneurs for a very long time. One of the things that I noticed is that they have to struggle a number of adversities, one of them being not getting enough qualified leads. They don’t really understand marketing and they have a lot of problems in getting the right kind of customers. The second challenge was time management. As a business owner,they were always short of time when they were working in the business. And they didn’t actually have time to work on the business. In the last 2 years I was managing BNI India, I was working on a 3 day work week, while we have added almost seven and a half thousand customers, which is about 384% growth in around 2 years. I realized I used a seven-step Business Success Blueprint to grow and manage the business. When I helped other entrepreneurs implement thisBusiness Success Blueprint, they started achieving similar results. I have been working over the last year with many entrepreneurs from different fields. And they have grown to around 250%-300% in terms of revenue and they have lot more time now for themselves, and their family. They have been able to get out of the reactive mode and daily firefighting. Interviewer: What are the three most important things for a successful business? Mr. Neeraj: There are a couple of key things. Number one is, I believe, is that we need to have a powerful mindset. The initiation of a business is really difficult so there are going to many difficulties along the way. There may be family matters or challenges and many others which can obstruct the growth and the success of the business.Having a strong and positive mindset along with the ability to learn is vital in in this era. With lots of disruption happening, and people who learn the fastest are able to operate in this ever-changing world. Second success factor is energy. You cannot achieve anything unless you have the energy at multiple levels. It is important to have physical energy, which keeps you in a good shape that also impacts the mental and emotional energy. Lastly, tap into your spirit energy by doing things that you are passionate and proficient at makes you feel more fulfilled. Cultivating energy at all these levels are crucial part of success. The last thing is focus. It is very easy to get distracted. An entrepreneur has many things going on. The ones that I found to be successful have the ability to remain focused. Social media, or emails, or firefighting doesn’t distract them. They are able to stay focused on whatever key fundamentals that are important. I think these are the three things, which help you to achieve maximum amount of success, build value through products and services you deliver, and to be able to grow and lead a team. Interviewer: Did you face any challenges throughout your entrepreneurial journey? What did you learn from it? Mr. Neeraj: Yes, I’ve had my own share of failures. As an entrepreneur, you know that you are going to face them and there will be many times when you have to overcome these challenges. One of the biggest facts of success is when you think that things are going well, that’s the time, when you are most likely to fail. Nothing fails like success. It makes you complacent. Hence, I think it is always important to stay humble, grounded and willing to learn and accept the fact that it is going to require more hard work and focus. When we do fail, it is up to you to pickup and learn a lesson from it. I think if we learn something and don’t repeat the same mistakes, and then it is moving forward. There is always a lesson to be learned when things don’t work out as planned. It is important to choose your partners and your key people carefully. There needs to be an alignment in terms of values. You have to discover and really spend time and find out. It is also important to not be surrounded by “yes” men all the time because those people have an ulterior motive. One should be willing to learn, and not be scared of making mistakes. Follow your heart, and when you face a failure, don’t forget to learn from it! These are some things I believe are important. Interviewer: What are your habits which contributed in your making of a successful entrepreneur? Mr. Neeraj: There are some key habits that I follow. I call it the “Titan Protocol”, so there are five very powerful things that I do during the day. First, I have a morning ritual and I get up early by 6 and for an hour, I have an hour of power. I divide that into three lots of twenty minutes. For first twenty minutes, I meditate, second twenty minutes, I work out and third twenty minutes I learn from things like journals, podcasts and videos. Second, after that I have a healthy breakfast to keep me powered up throughout the day. Thirdly, after reaching my office, for the first ninety minutes, I don’t check my mails instead I work on the most important task that I got to do. In that way, I am able to achieve many important things. I am not reactive, I am proactive. Fourthly, I have an evening planning ritual, where I look at what happened during the day. I end the day uplifted followed by a plan of my next day. One of the key things that have helped me become super productive is the evening planning ritual. So instead of planning my day in the morning, I always plan it a day before. And I identify the three most important things that I can accomplish the next day. Lastly, I review my day and give thanks to 5 key wins I have had. It helps me cultivate an attitude of gratitude. I do these five things every day. Interviewer: What would you like to advice budding entrepreneurs or students who want to start a business? Mr. Neeraj: It is important to be really passionate about things and find ways to monetize their ideas. In the earlier times, there was a very limited and restricted access to the Internet and the social media. But now, in this modern age, the Internet and social media has democratized the ability to reach people. So it is so much easier to follow a passion and monetize it. Be really good at it. One of the key things is that you are getting paidto serve others. The better you serve and the larger number you serve, you are proportionatelycompensated at a higher level. So if you are able to find ways to be able to achieve and deploy your passion and proficiency, into ways in which you can serve your target market better, then that really creates a solid business model. Then you will always be excited about doing that work and no one would have to force you to do anything. Even if you’ll have to stay up late at night and it’s fulfilling. It creates an enormous amount of energy, you’ll be willing to get up and give it all that it needs. And also if you are able to leverage technology to run your business, you’ll be able to provide value to your customers. Interviewer: What is your inspiration to generate new ideas? Mr. Neeraj: I think its constant reflection and constant learning. So I am always taking new courses and reading new books, and watching videos. I find people to mentor me who have achieved results that I would like to achieve. One of those people end up being my inspiration and that always gives me new ideas, which I could relate to things I am currently doing and to things that I have learned. Interviewer: How has becoming an entrepreneur made you a better person? Mr. Neeraj: This huge urge of serving others has first helped me to focus on myself to become a better person, to become a better leader, a better learner, and a better teacher. It has also developed the need to take care of my health and fitness, because if I need to serve others, I need to have that much more energy. It has helped me to improve my relationship with others. So for all of that, I had to work on myself. That has had a great positive impact on my business and life allowing me to succeed. To know more about Mr. Neeraj Shah, visit his website www.neerajshah.me