How did you start your entrepreneurship journey?
I started my business journey on 1st Jan 2011 wherein I left my Sales Job at Ranbaxy Laboratories ( now Sun Pharma ) and started with the idea of launching an Ayurvedic portal just like Flipkart. Hence, being a newbie in the business and with only 2 years of sales experience, I jumped into Business without any preparation, and hence within 1 year I failed and lost all my job money in my 1st venture.
Then, I rejoin my services in sales marketing and in 2015 restart with a new venture named Priscus Healthcare which is into Herbal Ayurvedic Products which is still in working mode and catering to healthcare professionals viz Medical Medica’s, Paramedical Staff, Retailers.
But Since something else has been destined in my fortune, I moved on to Occult Science and started following my passion and again started a new venture, this time not Healthcare but Mystic Science with a personal brand name – “NIRAV HIINGU”.
May I ask about your family background?
I am residing in Mumbai, in a joint family with my parents and Bhai-bhabhi. My Father is Senior Lawyer practicing at Mumbai High Court and Mother is also practicing Naturopath.
My Brother is also assisting my father in his business as he is a lawyer at Mumbai High Court.
What is Your Formal Education?
I am an Art Graduate, with my master’s in Management ( Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing Marketing from Welingkar Institute in Mumbai ).
What were the initial challenges you have had to face when you started your journey in business/entrepreneurship?
There were many challenges like working capital, taking proper knowledge of the market, how to launch the products in the pharma ayurvedic market and many problems arrived. But there is a famous saying – Where there is WILL there is the WAY. Hence, I failed multiple times but every time I learned something and moved forward.
In the Healthcare industry, the biggest challenge is to take quality products from good genuine manufacturers which were the big challenge for me, next to get approval from the State Government License of Drug and Medicines and many other legal formalities and documentation.
In Entrepreneurship, you can’t predict what would be the weather of business, you have to stand on your toes 24X7.
Whereas, in the service industry ( my business and service venture – Nirav Hiingu ) I have to promote myself as Business Consultant and cater the services scientifically because in Astro-Numerologist there are thousand of Consultant who offers services but it is based on Religion or Spiritual but I started my services based on scientific validation.
Also, I want to gain the maximum market hence, I started learning digital marketing in 2017 to know how this industry works and what are the hidden secrets of online marketing
What is your greatest fear, and how do you manage to combat fear?
My greatest fear was my hesitation to move forward in business because I have seen many statements that BUsiness is done based on Luck, Business is an ability for limited people and many such false myths were incubated in my mind hence I was hesitating to come out of my comfort zone.
Hence,I started taking training from different 1st and 2nd generation business people and took a step to start with my dream business of pharma business.
6) How is your most satisfying movement in business?
As of now, there is no satisfying movement in my business hence I am waiting for the WOW movement.
7) Some of the biggest mistakes you’ve made?
I have made multiple mistakes in my 2 ventures. First, the working capital, second the complete knowledge of the market. When I started my 1st company I was having limited capital and lack of knowledge drained me into loss in a limited time. Hence, I have learned to have good capital with complete knowledge of the market you want to enter.
8) What you would say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur?
My small entrepreneur experience says you need sound technical knowledge of your product/industry, innovative products which can help your customer to their problems, better not to enter in the me-too market, start looking for those areas where the customer is getting pain and create a solution to this point.
Third skills I believe to have sales and marketing skill because whether you are in services industry or selling a tangible product you need to have those selling skills because initially, you as a Founder Member has to start selling your products, the recruited team if does not match to your company vision then they will waste your hard earn money by taking a salary for the task which will be not quantity not in quality.
9) What sacrifice have you made to become an Entrepreneur?
Well, as I mentioned above business does not get a boost overnight, you as a business person have to give your 101 percent to the startup before it establishes. Nowadays, startup companies start looking for seed funding or investment even before it gets completely stabilize in their business.
I believe no company can grow before 999 days, hence you have to sacrifice your daily 16-18 hours to become a successful entrepreneur.
10) Describe your day layout?
I start my day with 7 am in the morning – after yoga I perform my meditation till 9 am and start my work with the pre-schedule work which I write on my whiteboard which is lying on my desk wall.
Post lunch, I look for social media marketing, look after the students’ queries ( I impart training in Numerology- Face Reading and graphology ), and work on the content creation at 9 am.
I believe there should be strong organizational skills as to how and what to do for a complete month/week. If you don’t have a goal then you won’t be able to grow in your field.
11) How do you generate new ideas?
I keep reading books on different subjects, generally, we keep reading books only on those topics in which we are working. I prefer to open my mind to new ideas and suggestions and also meditation is the best source to take inspiration and business ideas. Many big business ideas pop up in those creative minds either during sleep or post-meditation.
12) Do you believe that there is some sort of formula or pattern to become a successful entrepreneur?
Yes, there is a specific pattern you need to install in your working structure to get successful. Like Thought, 1st thought should be of the open-minded wherein you do not give any entrance to the negative thought because we Indians are wired to think and act as per the thought given to us. Also, the association you are aligned with, You need to have the correct people (a group of people ) who are full of positivity and match your vision, theft, and lose vision will make you weak. You need to work with those leaders who are successful. I believe one should always opt initially for a job before starting any business because a job will get you exposure to the real world. I have seen many young entrepreneurs who jump immediately to business with limited knowledge and call themselves entrepreneurs.
You get good learning at a job such as team management, coordination, product creation to launching, sales and marketing, operation, and what not but need to take care you work in good company and leaders wherein you get proper knowledge of business not just perform the job for sake of salary. Hence, choose your job and leader to create a path of success.
The most important pattern or habit is proactiveness, how you handle failure in your life, decide your success path.
Third and a must habit in every business person is s/he should take quick action once he/she makes proper planning for the same. I have seen many people who keep overthinking over the business plan and keep daydreaming – if such things happen, I will do this, I will do that?
I have read one book written by Jeff Keller, a good quote from this amazing book – “The only way to escape from the fear of prison is action”.
I think there are so many qualities of an entrepreneur that do not have any end.
13) How do you define success?
I think there is no fixed definition of success. What different people have a different type of definition for success, such maybe one person would be looking to get the name and fame that it a success for him and another person would like to become the valley and generate the revenue that its success the conditions for that individual so there is no Thumb Rule for cheque definition for success if you ask me about my definition for success for me that success is overall getting financially stable a good name and fame and contribute my experience and knowledge to the society before taking the last breath.
14) Who has been your greatest inspiration?
Swami Vivekananda is my mentor and inspires those positive talks on Vedanta and life keeps motivating me to work towards my goal.
15) Which book inspired you lots Or Which is your favorite book?
There are many books ranging from Finance to Philosophical but I loved a few books like
- Autobiography of A Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda
- Gyan Yog by Swami Vivekananda
- Attitude is Everything by Jeff Keller
- The Seven spiritual law of success by Deepak Chopra.
16) How many hours do you work on an average?
There are no fixed hours for my work but on average I work for 10-12 hours.
17) Do you feel formal education plays a vital role in business?
Yes, you need proper education but not necessarily it should be based on those parameters which help youngsters to solve the issue of the current scenario. The actual education in current times is not at all beneficial for anyone especially if we talk about the business part but still, we need proper structural education in our system.
18) Does a Master’s Degree help in Business?
To some extent, it helps in structuring the mind of a business person but real training starts in the field of the business world because I believe experience is the best teacher.
19) Do you feel there is a major difference between Entrepreneurs and those who work in jobs?
Yes, definitely, both have a different mindset. One ( entrepreneur ) works not only for growth but work for the better future of the society whereas the other person ( job seeker ) works only for salary and does not have that vision and understanding for business, s/he creates business but only for securing his/her own job.
Read More: Interview with Lovkesh Mahato – A 16 Years Old Young Entrepreneur
20) How to build a strong customer base?
I feel to offer those products/services which your customer actually needs. You need to be very honest when you are in business and work on a strong ethos- the base will be built slowly and steadily.
21) Do you remember any movement where you were broken and thought of shutting down the business but later you motivated yourself and bounced back from the situation?
Well, I felt demotivated many times, but I remember I was badly get devastated when my pharma company was not picking up even after 1 year and I thought to come back to a sales job, I enquire about the job for the managerial level but after 2 days, I thought, I will never move again to the corporate job just because I failed twice, let me put one more try and I restart with new energy and effort.
22) In one word, characterize your life as an entrepreneur?
Jugadu
