Laying the Foundation

[00:00:00] An entrepreneurial journey begins not with a flashy launch or a million dollar pitch, but with a deep inward journey. In this part, we set sail on a wedge of self-discovery, peeling back the layers to uncover the strengths, passion and driving forces that will fuel your venture.

[00:00:39] We'll equip you with a framework for validating your business ideas, ensuring they are rooted in market needs and prime for success. And finally, we'll craft a starting business plan, your roadmap to navigating the entrepreneurial seas with a passion and purpose. So let's set the sail.

[00:00:57] Hi, welcome to episode number one. So Mr. Rajesh, how can aspiring entrepreneurs overcome their self-doubt and identify their true entrepreneurial calling? Well, self-doubt is always there. It's not only for an aspiring entrepreneur, but self-doubt is also there for entrepreneurs in their routine and regular modes of business.

[00:01:18] So not only for them, self-doubt should be clear for every single entrepreneur. Always having a mentor helps an aspiring entrepreneur or an ongoing entrepreneurship project with an entrepreneur. You need to have mentors.

[00:01:33] I love to say this that even the day Sachin Tendulkar retired, he had a batting coach. So you can never think that you know it all. Every single day, you will need a coach who can guide you, who can look above you on what

[00:01:48] you're doing and what is the best way forward for you. So that helps having a mentor helps. Also you need to have conversations with people whom you admire, whom you trust and whom you follow.

[00:02:00] So if you do that, a lot of your questions get answered even in a very casual setup or an environment. You get answered and you become confident about what you want to do or what you want to achieve. Self-talk is a very interesting aspect of human life.

[00:02:15] There are a lot of people who do a lot of self-talk and that self-talk gives them a confidence. They keep validating what they want to do and they keep thinking about what needs to be done.

[00:02:26] I always believe in a fact that every reality begins with a thought and that thought is it can be your self-talk. So there are various methods on how you can take control of your self-doubt.

[00:02:40] But for sure, when you begin something or you want to do something, your confidence needs to be in place. So mentor talking to people, researching on your own and validating on what you intend to be doing on the thought that you have is critically important. Conversations help.

[00:02:59] We are a person who will always look out for answers in every conversation that you intend to do the moment you want to become an entrepreneur. And this goes even for entrepreneurs. As an entrepreneur, when I have a doubt, a self-doubt, I like to clarify it from the

[00:03:15] people who are good in the area that I have a doubt in. So I keep attending a lot of gatherings, networking sessions, interacting with people, making calls to the people that I follow and admire. That's how I clear my self-doubts. Till today.

[00:03:31] Till today and it will be so forever. So it's like, like I said, you never know it all. You'll always have a shortfall of information which can help you to take the right decisions and business, entrepreneurship is all about looking at the right directions, taking

[00:03:47] the right decisions and putting speed to that and always validating what you are doing. Never be overconfident, but always be absolutely confident of every decision that you have taken. You need to have a bouncing board kind of a concept in your life.

[00:04:05] Like for example, in my life, eight and a half years back, almost eight and a half years back, I co-founded a platform called Business Opportunities Club. And what do we do in Business Opportunities Club?

[00:04:16] We come together once in a month on the fourth Wednesday from morning eight o'clock to afternoon 12 o'clock and we do brainstorming. Now in that brainstorming process or session, we kill our self-doubt and we become confident of what needs to be done next. True.

[00:04:34] I've been to that club once. I was lucky to be there. And interestingly about that club, I want to say, I remember we talked before that you say, Sajjad, it's a business club. I say, Oh God, it's a boring thing I'm going to be. And you knew it.

[00:04:47] You said, Sajjad is not a boring thing. So you read what is in my mind. And we went there and it was so fun. Like everyone has one minute. And I couldn't miss anything in that one or one and a half hour. I remember it was amazing.

[00:05:01] So from your answer, what they got is person shouldn't have ego. First thing, second, my question about self-talk, it's a very tricky thing. Because if I do that, half of the people will say, Oh, that's he's a mad person. How can person do that self-talk?

[00:05:19] Can explain more about self-talk? You need to become your best friend. Only when you're friendly towards yourself, can you be good friends with somebody else? You should not have shyness of asking anything to anybody.

[00:05:33] Of course, I also believe in one aspect that you need to ask the right question to the right person because the wrong question to the right person is the wrong answer and the wrong question to the right person is also a wrong answer.

[00:05:43] You need to understand and analyze who can help you in the process of clearing the self-doubt that you have about some subject or some activity. You should never be ashamed of being bold.

[00:05:56] So in school, I had a very dear friend and his father used to say this dialogue jisneki sharam uske futte karam aur jisneki besharmai usko mere dood malai. So you need to be absolutely bold and free flowing. Do not reserve yourself by off getting into a valid conversation

[00:06:16] and do not be afraid about the reaction that the other person will give to you. I also believe very strongly of having a mentor. Even I have multiple mentors in my life. A mentor will show you the way, guide the way and walk the way with you

[00:06:33] and everybody needs to have that. Historically in India, people have believed in the concept of the ek lavvi and dronacharya story. So dronacharya was a great master of warfare and ek lavya was just watching him and becoming a warrior.

[00:06:52] Similarly, today in life for people like us, especially entrepreneurs, we are ek lavya to multiple dronacharyas. The dronacharya doesn't even know like how the real dronacharya was not aware that somebody is just observing him and learning from him. Subconsciously, the people that we follow on social media handles

[00:07:12] or on television or in newspapers, they are actually dronacharyas. We like to read or hear or see the content that these people have created. So in a way you are training yourself under that dronacharya. So you need to consciously and mindfully make a list of the people

[00:07:28] that you admire and you follow and automatically knowingly and unknowingly they will be answering a lot of your unanswered questions. This will definitely help you for clearing your self doubt and it will bring you, it will instill in you a sense of extraordinary confidence

[00:07:46] to move forward in the direction that you want to move. Well kind of I don't agree in some part. The reason I tell you why, because some people even we don't want to see and watch but they are there.

[00:08:02] And I know how I seen especially in I'm an artist. So I know how they've been influenced some artists to do something apart from what they should do. I believe percent is my opinion of course, which we try not to follow

[00:08:20] but yet they are there everywhere and they influence us for me as I say it's even a wrong way. So I would like to say something about that. People management is a skill which needs to be learned.

[00:08:31] You need to be conscious and you need to be mindful about learning that particular skill. It is not that every day you're going to be coming across people that you like.

[00:08:38] You'll also come across people who are not very interesting to you but they are still in front of you. So let me interrupt you. I didn't mean what I don't like. I don't like to see what they're doing. Right.

[00:08:47] It's like drinking water, making chai, spoiling the food and that's really I'm not interested but yet you know somehow. That appears. Yeah it appears and somehow they influence others also who's kind of nothing to these things

[00:09:03] but yet they feel by doing the same things they can get where they want to get. Absolutely, but I will still like to continue my answer by saying that people management is a skill.

[00:09:15] You like some people you might not like some people but even then as an entrepreneur you cannot be expressive about your feelings. You really need to be pleasant with people. How much time do you spend with each person is a choice that you make whose activities

[00:09:30] you want to participate and be there is a choice that you make but at many places you will come across people that you are not very comfortable with but still you have to be in the part of that particular ecosystem.

[00:09:43] So managing those situations is an art which you should learn and that's what very successful people do. You will never be able to figure out whom they like and whom they don't like because they don't express it on their face. They live along with them.

[00:09:57] So it's like you need to be available around people a pool of people some of your choice and some of somebody else's choice and still you need to be flowing forward in those kind of situations also.

[00:10:13] So be pleasant an entrepreneur cannot be unpleasant be pleasant you cannot afford to have somebody not liking you because you don't like them. So you have to be pleasant and life is all about surprise management.

[00:10:25] You will be surprised that someday the person that you are not very comfortable with comes across to you and gives you an opportunity which the best man that you like has not given to you.

[00:10:34] So you cannot know who will get you the next level of growth or the next window of opportunity. So be hopeful and be pleasant to everybody around you. What are the some effective tools and exercises for validating a business idea beyond traditional market research?

[00:10:52] Well, whatever business decision that you take or business idea that you want to get associated with you need to have absolutely proper research done as a serial entrepreneur. I'm into multiple businesses. What I basically do is my learning curve should be achieved in 30 to 90 days max.

[00:11:11] I need to dig so deep into that particular domain knowledge or that particular subject that at the end of the 90th day that's the last patch of time not beyond 90 days. You need to be as knowledgeable as anybody in that particular industry.

[00:11:27] Like for example, two and a half, three years back, almost two and a half years back, I ventured into the restaurant space, Santes Pa Cuisine. It's a vegetarian vegan food restaurant of global cuisine made in one restaurant in a single location, every location of Santé.

[00:11:41] Now, I didn't know anything about restaurants before I ventured into it. But today I have studied so much about the restaurant as a sector, as a business industry that I can talk on this subject anywhere, anytime without any preparation.

[00:11:55] So you need to be knowledgeable because you need to be taking the right decisions. You need to be moving in the right direction. You need to get associated with the right sets of people, teams of people.

[00:12:05] You need to be in the right ecosystem of that particular business sector. Now, all of this can happen only when you know that sector well. Thanks to technology, the whole world has become a small village. Thanks to technology, every information is available.

[00:12:20] And the people that you can't meet in person, they are available online. And the people you want to meet in person, you need to meet with them and have dialogues, have conversations. I always love to tell people that as entrepreneurs, we need to have a very fertile

[00:12:34] and a very fluid ecosystem, people from all walks of life, where you can validate the moves that you're making in your personal professional as well as business life. You get fantastic insights from other people. At least you will get warned of what not to do.

[00:12:52] And business is a very expensive process if you take wrong decisions. You not only lose money, but you also lose something that you can't earn back and that's your time. So you really need to be well informed.

[00:13:05] You really need to be well qualified in the business sector that you are getting into. So conversations with people from the same sector, conversations from people who are into multiple sectors and also that sector, conversations with customers from that sector. You get me?

[00:13:19] And before you get into any sector, the best way of learning is by becoming a customer in that particular sector. So if I want to invest into restaurants, I will visit 20 restaurants and try to understand on how does this sector operate?

[00:13:34] How do I get treated as a customer? What are my expectations vis-a-vis the reality so that when I start that particular business, I should not have those loopholes or those gaps which I can witness as a customer by being in a particular restaurant.

[00:13:47] So this is just one example, but you really need to validate every decision that you take. So it will be friends, relatives, people from that particular sector, people that you can research on in the online space and also by being a customer

[00:14:02] in the sector that you want to be a part of. So these are the policies that I use like I mean to real estate development. I really have taken a lot of efforts and learned the nuances of real estate on how an architect thinks, how a contractor thinks,

[00:14:19] how to define the size of the land, the technicalities of that project, the valuations of that project, how to do fund management for that project. So I've really studied and mastered to a great extent. Now your peers in the industry are your best teachers.

[00:14:35] The customer of that industry is your good teacher. The vendors in that sector are your good teachers. So you really need to identify these people and start getting into a absolutely interactive conversation. And for a couple of days, when you get into that particular sector,

[00:14:50] every day the information that you process needs to be of that particular sector so that you are imbibing the best functionalities of that sector before you venture into it or before you step into it, before you invest and get into action in that particular direction

[00:15:05] or for that particular business. So that's the policy that I follow. A lot of people might be following a similar policy or might be having some difference in what they do, vis-a-vis what I do in getting into a new direction

[00:15:16] or a new sector or a new segment or a new business. But it is interesting to get into new sectors all the time for serial entrepreneurs like me. But for an entrepreneur who wants to start a new business,

[00:15:28] I think these kind of steps will be definitely extremely helpful. Are you interested in film business as well? Well, as I'm doing this show with you, you're a film star. Definitely film industry is one sector that I'm going to be interested in, content creation, filmmaking.

[00:15:45] So if you want to live multiple lives, you make one movie because what you must have missed as a gap in your personal life, you can actually see it happening in the movie that you produce. So it's a beautiful way of storytelling.

[00:16:00] Also when you make a film, you're actually learning discipline and you also learn man management and talent management. In a film what I've seen very closely, I've been a part of a Marathi film in the past almost 10 to 12 years back.

[00:16:14] But when you make a film, you actually learn man management and beyond learning man management, you also learn how to manage multiple egos at the same time because the actors, the directors, the writer, all of them have egos and you really need to manage those egos

[00:16:31] as you go along producing that film or making that film. This is good news for some directors who they are looking for fun. So Mr Rajesh is here, you can approach him anytime. You said interesting point about the research.

[00:16:46] You said it's need to be for you at least between 30 to 90 days. Any reason for that? You should not outlive the period of the business they are intending to do. So you need to put up a stop gap.

[00:16:59] So I generally try to do it within the first 30 days itself but in the worst scenario it should not be beyond 90 days. So all the people listening to our conversation need to be aware that you have to dig deep into the business segment that you are into

[00:17:15] or you are planning to get into. Without knowledge, you will not be able to control the resources that you have integrated for the sustainance, survival and growth of the business that you're getting into. So you need to be extremely knowledgeable in the segment

[00:17:28] and the sector that you are. Also this kind of learning helps. So you might learn most of it in the first 90 days but constantly also you need to be learning because business is all about newness and how can you bring new elements

[00:17:43] into a existing business and an old business that you're already running currently. So it's all about newness. What is the new angle that you'll bring into the business which will give you the next level of growth? Otherwise when you do X amount of efforts,

[00:17:57] you get X amount of results. If you want to go X plus Y, you really need to get newness bringing into your business. A very simple way that I follow is, suppose if I'm getting into a restaurant business,

[00:18:09] I will not only see the trends that's happening in Mumbai but I will also get into understanding the trends which is happening across the multiple cities of India and across the multiple cities of the world. So my eyes are always teaching me. So if I'm in Dubai,

[00:18:24] I will go to the restaurants in Dubai and try to see what they are doing different which can be implemented in the business that I do which can be added to Santesh Par Kuzin back home in India. So I always become a good learner.

[00:18:37] And when you're an entrepreneur, actually you need to be a continuous student. You need to be learning all the time. Everybody around you is teaching you something or the other. Atticates, customer management, vendor management, your infrastructure management, your maintenance management.

[00:18:52] So all the time you are in the learning mode. As I'm talking to you as we are conducting this podcast, here I'm learning that how much planning goes into getting something done as simple as a podcast. So imagine how much planning should be there

[00:19:07] for a construction of a building or for operating of a restaurant or for making a film and movie. So it's all about preparation. But preparation can happen in the right direction if your research has really served you with the right information. I have a question.

[00:19:24] The best hummus I tried was in Santia. Is it influenced from Dubai? Well, it is not influenced from Dubai, but definitely Dubai is a benchmark. It's a Middle Eastern dish. So definitely you get great hummus in the Middle Eastern part of the world.

[00:19:41] But it is improvised a lot. Like Santesh Par Kuzin was born in Pune, in Korega Park, a common wall away from Osho Ashram. So when the people from Osho Ashram started coming to Santesh Par Kuzin, the chef started curating the taste as per the needs of these foreigners.

[00:20:00] And automatically we could design something which is very different from the regular hummus or the other dishes that's available elsewhere. To an extent that 70% of the food that you might experience in Santia is invented by Santia. And it's a combination of ingredients.

[00:20:17] We don't use any colors, flavors, additives. Or preservatives into the food that we prepare at Santesh Par Kuzin. Now, when you do research, I researched all of this before I ventured as a partner into Santesh Par Kuzin. You get me? I went there as a customer.

[00:20:35] I saw with my eyes how the customers are being handled. What is the food being served? How it is being served? The taste of the food, the price of the food, the quantity of the food. How are the expressions of the other people eating in that restaurant?

[00:20:48] So that was my homework for a venture that I'm getting into. And only once I was convinced that, yes, this is the best restaurant that I should be associated with. That is the time I took the plunge. And it was not easy, but I took it.

[00:21:06] There were other challenges also, but I overcame those challenges. Life is all about obstacles to opportunities. The founder of that particular business didn't want to share the equity. So I had to convince her to accept me as a partner in the business. Many times, the entrepreneurs want me

[00:21:25] to become a partner with them and they convince me. But sometimes when the business is robust, well-established and growing, it is difficult to get into those companies. So you need to have a combination of both. Well, I doubt if someone can convince you

[00:21:39] because I tried about some businesses for past two, three years, but it didn't work. But talking about Sante, I still go back. I'm a foodie and I have to say, I feel hungry now. And I hope that for lunch break, we're going to have Sante. 100%. Yeah.

[00:21:56] So there is this pomegranate pizza. I remember after having it, I went and I talked to my friend. That's the main topic I talked to my friends about. And I said, there is pomegranate pizza. They say, how is possible? I seen like, okay, two, three pieces,

[00:22:14] but pizza full of pomegranate, that's not possible. And that's a very interesting place. I mean, always whenever I go to Sante, I come outside surprised. Okay. If I tell someone I had this kind of food and it was good and yummy,

[00:22:30] it's kind of funny for anyone to believe it. But that's when you said that because you were in Pune and there's so many foreigners they were coming there and of course the chef had to study their taste, their palate. Then all this creativity came out.

[00:22:46] That interesting because when we talk about the research, so that's all is connected to that. When creating a business plan, how can entrepreneurs strike a balance between detailed projection and adaptability to unforeseen circumstances? Well, I would love to say that every entrepreneur should have a definitely strong plan

[00:23:05] before he ventures into a business venture. When I say entrepreneurship does not necessarily mean only startups or new entrepreneurs. It also applies to existing entrepreneurs who are kind of diversifying or starting an additional activity in their existing business. It is just like an architect making a proper plan

[00:23:23] before the building gets constructed. It comes into his mind, he transferred it to the mind of the customer. Then he connects it with all the other elements of the project design team which has to construct the particular structure and then the construction begins. Similarly for business,

[00:23:39] before you construct your business, you really need to be well planned. It should be like a Google location, Google map. Whenever you're going towards a particular destination, Google will give you two to three options which can take you fastest and the most comfortable possible way

[00:23:55] to that particular destination. Similarly, an entrepreneur needs to have solutions in case of an unforeseen situation. You cannot get stuck or you cannot get blocked at a particular situation and say, I never anticipated this. Again, what you lose is time and money. You should not do both.

[00:24:14] But if you're well planned in advance, well in advance, then you will not be exposed to such kind of sudden surprises. I love to call a terminology called surprise management. So what is surprise management? In the course of you doing a particular business activity,

[00:24:29] if a particular plan fails, then what is the plan that you will immediately execute to achieve the same outcome or to reach the same destination? Your journey might get a little longer, but ultimately you will achieve your goal. You will achieve that particular destination.

[00:24:46] So you need to be flexible in mind. For an entrepreneur, being confident of every situation is the key because only with a confident mind, you'll be able to take the right decisions. And your set of decisions around a particular project is critically important. So when you're well prepared,

[00:25:03] nothing will surprise you. How can someone who has multiple passions and interests identify the one they should pursue as an entrepreneur? I love to say that entrepreneurs should become passion pruners. And what is a passion pruner? A passion pruner is somebody who is actually converted his passion

[00:25:21] into a business enterprise. But what happens to people with multiple passions? Simple. You need to, suppose if I've got three passions or four passions, I do a research on all the four segments, whichever becomes the most promising passion to be pursued is what you need to be doing.

[00:25:38] Now there are a lot of people who connect and correlate to multiple passions and then try to achieve all of them through a particular business activity. For example, I'm a photographer, assuming. And I love photography. So I also love to travel. I can blend both the activities

[00:25:55] and convert it into a business model. A business model where travel and tourism happens along with great photography or content creation along the way. So there are two passions converted into one business enterprise or one business opportunity. So you need to analyze the passions that you're passionate about

[00:26:13] and then choose the best option to be successful in the current particular environment. So like for example, during the pandemic, travel and tourism was not a passion to be pursued. But post pandemic that become a big hit today. All the flights are overloaded.

[00:26:26] Every destination is overpopulated with tourists and tourism is on a upswing. So the timing of the passion needs to be understood. The flavor of the passion in the current business environment needs to be understood. And then you need to decide what you should be doing.

[00:26:40] Like a content creation was always a passion. I've created a lot of content all my life. But now I want to pursue this passion. The timing for me is this particular time of my life where I want to create professional content which can benefit thousands and

[00:26:55] lakhs and millions of people across the world. So timing is important. Reason is important. What your other activities are being conducted and how you can correlate this new passion to your past passions is also very important. Like I was passionate about education.

[00:27:10] So we started the business of education. I was passionate about good homes. So I became a real estate developer. I love good food. I'm a foodie. So I'm into the business of restaurants. Now I want to do content creation. The advantage of content creation is

[00:27:23] when you build an audience, you can definitely display all the businesses that you are involved with and create an ecosystem where you bring the world together with the journey that you're traveling on your own. And when more people accompany you on this particular journey,

[00:27:38] the journey of life becomes extremely interesting, exciting and motivating. So that's what I mean by identify your passions but choose them as per the timing of that passion on what can be the most productive in your current moment of life and where you are situated

[00:27:53] and the type of resources, quality of resources which are available for you to utilize to implement and convert your passion into a business enterprise and become an entrepreneur who has been a passion printer for that particular passion. So I have to say after the

[00:28:11] I agree with what you said about after the pandemic, I mean we have lot of travelers but we have more of solo travelers unfortunately after the pandemic. How can someone who doesn't have lot of business experiences build the confidence to launch their own venture?

[00:28:27] So you don't need to have business experience to become a businessman or to become an entrepreneur. You just need to be passionate about of what you want to achieve. You will be surprised that lot of people become entrepreneurs after being customers like for example,

[00:28:41] if I go to a particular restaurant and if I love that particular food I would love to get associated with that owner of that business and start another restaurant with that owner of the business. There are people who go to gyms as customers and they love the gym

[00:28:54] the way it's operated the way it's managed and they go and speak to the business owner and try to become partners with them in the new gym. What I can definitely recommend people is collective efforts are today more productive than singular efforts.

[00:29:07] All the successful ventures in the world today if you go to see are collaborative efforts of more than one person. There might be one person leading one person in front of that business but many businesses are today successful because of collaborative efforts.

[00:29:21] Efforts of more than one person in the business with different strengths which come together for a common goal and a common purpose. So try to be as safe as possible. So there are a lot of communities in India and I know multiple communities

[00:29:37] which will have 2020 partners in one business. In Hindi they say that I am a partner of 5 paisa. 5 paisa means you are 1 20th of that 1 rupee as a partner. Now why do they do that? It's not because of lack of financial resources. It's because of collective strength

[00:29:55] when you are together in a collaborative effort the chances of you becoming successful is more better, more positive. So collaborative working is one good thing. Know how I mean starting a business enterprise on your own. You don't need business experience. I'm a first generation entrepreneur. Forget first generation.

[00:30:12] In my entire khanda and in my entire family other than me hardly anybody is there doing business. So you don't have to have a background of being an entrepreneur. You just need to have the will to do it. You just need to have the confidence

[00:30:26] that you will be able to achieve it. And I always love to tell people that when you are an employee you're either an entrepreneur or you're an employee. There is nothing different. There is nothing else than this. A professional according to me is also an entrepreneur.

[00:30:39] So if you're not an entrepreneur which means you're an employee and if you're an employee you need to translate the speed of your growth by becoming a entrepreneur. Some of them do and that's how they became good entrepreneurs. So primarily good employees also become good entrepreneurs.

[00:30:56] What they expect from their employer is now what they will give to their employees. So you don't need to have pre-experience but definitely you need to have the will never giving up attitude, focus, consistency, persistent efforts and the confidence that you will make it through.

[00:31:16] Thank you. That's the end of the first episode.