YogaGypsys – Nurturing Self-Belief

Story #6/13 – Entrepreneurs in Goa – A series by Puneet Srivastava.

Goa is not just any more sun, sand, beer, sea-food and bliss. In times the place has added several new shades to its terrain. Tattoos, Zen healing, fashion, real-estate, mining, fine-dining, casinos, art, lifestyle and many such blends have got added to the place. One flavour that now gets seen quite universally is Yoga.

Top-hotels, expensive resorts, private tutors and any other possible version, everything is available in Goa. There are large advertisements, big hoardings and attractive promos visible at several places. 

Travelling north of Chapora river along the narrow coast-road and towards the beach called Ashwem, one gets welcomed by large boards that make you understand that Yoga and holistic-healing are certainly now a brand, business and industry in themselves.

However, if you wish to find YogaGypsys, then you better drive real carefully. I recommend this for a few reasons. Firstly, they don’t have any big boards or indicators along the road. Secondly, they don’t possess a towering structure that would come visible from a distance. And thirdly, the photo of the cashew tree at their entrance gate that I provide in my slide below wouldn’t be of much help either. 

Once you find them, you realize that they haven’t been gifted with an ideal topography either. The plot of land, though next to the beach, is unexpectedly undulating and challenging to landscape for comfort of general tourists.

Once you have realized that you discover that it is these same challenges that they have utilized to create their own environ and carve their unique identity. Once that bit of discovery is done, one realizes that they are not people funded by investors; also not someone who has loads of money to burn. And then, having come this far, you are interfaced with the energy of the people who run the place, its overall ambiance and the pleasant breeze that flows from the sea.

They must be one-fourth the size of their neighbours and competition, yet they have been there for ten years now and even when the founder of the enterprise isn’t around, they not just remain booked throughout the season, but command a premium positioning as well. 

What could have made that happen? I thought. What makes such entrepreneurs survive and create their distinctive place in the world?

Self-belief! If not that, then what else! 

And well, if you don’t believe these words, then visit Catherine Richardson’s YogaGypsys at Ashwem and discover the answer for self. Adversities, limitations and tests, winning them out - that’s what is the name of the game and YogaGypsys serves as a live example of someone who seem to have done it successfully.

Puneet Srivastava has been author of 'Accidental Entrepreneur - towards self-employment', which was published by one of India's top publisher in 2003. 10 years later the book still continues to be on the shelf.

Puneet is also founder of 'Desire to fly...', a content, training and consultancy firm for entrepreneurs, start-ups and enterprising individuals, founded in 2011 and located in Mumbai, INDIA. Website: www.desiretofly.in 

Celebrity Chef – Adding Unique Character

Story #5/13 – Entrepreneurs in Goa – A series by Puneet Srivastava.

Celebrities – this is one category of people who now flock Goa in plenty. So starting movie stars and biz-tycoons with properties, hotels, beach houses and holiday homes to fashion designers with exclusive showrooms to well-known painters and artists with professional studios and finally chefs with signature restaurants, Goa has them all.

Ok fine, you too are a celebrity, accepted! Still, how do you stand out in this crowd of celebrities and have a viable venture that gets you the desired ROI (Return on Investment) on a year-on-year basis? Remember, the initial excitement of the celebrity launch is over, the branding is done and now it has boiled down to hardcore sales and selling skills, essentially when you could be in competition with yourself.

Among the many Celebrity Chefs who decorate Goa food-scape, Chef Soumyen, would be one of them. After travelling the whole world and working with the finest chains of hotels, he had come to Goa over 17 years ago.

His current enterprise stands a bit inside the main road from Calangute to Candolim and interestingly, his previous venture stands almost a similar distance and on other side of the road and in one of the by-lanes heading towards the beach.

The one he created previously is a celebrated place, which has been written about in leading publications across the world. So automatically, the one he runs now bears the challenge of growing out of the shadow of the creator’s past success. How does Chef Soumyen handle the test?

He put in a lot of character into everything associated with his new kitchen. He makes it his personal signature statement. 

First-thing-first, he personally welcomes every guest into his place. He put his story in his menu-book and states his objective of running the place. His menu is not a Goan menu, its continental. His cooking, he makes it unique and distinct. Every food we ordered had a distinct character to it. Whether the fish or the sizzler.

It was a wonderful evening and we enjoyed it to the best, more so for that crucial reminder that came through the Chef’s work – when working against the impossible, add a tinge of Unique Character in all what you offer and the most powerful Unique Charter that you draw for your enterprise comes from nowhere but straight from your heart.

That’s perhaps is your best chance of success as a small entrepreneur.

Puneet Srivastava is founder of 'Desire to fly...' which is a content, training & consultancy support entity for start-ups, new businesses and entrepreneurs in Mumbai.

'Desire to fly...' was founded in 2011 and through it, Puneet has been supporting leading start-ups, entrepreneurs and individuals in realizing their dreams. The success stories may be read on the website: www.desiretofly.in

Puneet has over 18 years of experience in building businesses and enterprises in India.

Small ideas – Chasing Quality

Story #4/13 – Entrepreneurs in Goa – A series by Puneet Srivastava.

I met Dipik in the bus. He was traveling with a guitar and was quick to insist, ‘I am a vocalist’. It was good he told that bit of detail and it was a further a delight to learn that devotional singing was his preferred genre. We talked about his emerging career as a singer and he told me about the offers he was getting from bands across Goa and outside, plus his own interest in social work and his desire to participate in the popular TV show. So many dreams, I wondered and wished him all the luck.

Our discussion slipped from music to street food in Goa and he immediately suggested Santa Cruz as the place to be headed to if looking for the best and yummiest Goan street-food.

What makes such small outlets a rage? I have often wondered. For that matter how any small idea starts its journey to popularity? They have no money to advertise and often no acumen for branding.

Interestingly, it was only a few days ago before this conversation, one evening, while driving north from Calangute, I had come across a junction in middle of an uninhabited area. Two deserted buildings on one side and barren vegetation on the other two. There was a solitary pale board marked on one of the roads and that said it was leading towards Anjuna. At this location I witnessed something amazing happening.

The time was around 7.00 PM and there were almost 60 to 70 youngsters at this roadside stall in the middle of nowhere enjoying the local fare and doing what people their age love doing all the time – just hanging around. They weren't tourists, but the locals guys, visibly upmarket and from wealthy families.

I wondered instantly, what must be making all these people come all the way from everywhere and be there at that spot? This place wasn’t Santa Cruz or anything close to it? No coffee bars near about, no movie theaters, no malls, no other joints. It was just a lonely road with little traffic and still a corner packed with customers. Was it actually what was meeting the eyes? I wondered.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get my chance to have that side of the story. Next morning when I returned with my camera, the stall was closed. The guy who sells sugarcane juice on the other side told me that the stall opened every evening around 6.00 PM and ran until midnight and does roaring business every day, benefits of which spill over to him as well. 
The sugarcane guy, aged 14 had come to Goa seven years ago with a relative from Rajasthan. That juice counter was his first independent venture opened a year ago. Bravo, I said to myself and recognized that that’s a separate category of entrepreneurs we have been having in this country since ages. In fact this time I noticed similar sugarcane guys at several nomadic corners all across Bradez. May be together trying to create a new customer category! Who knows?

Anyways, for each of these ideas and similar others anywhere else, sustainable future lies in chasing just one thing – Quality. Possibly if you keep doing the good work, the market discovers you, sooner or later no matter where you may be standing now. Perhaps that’s the only way as well.

Dipik, this story is for you and your dreams, my friend. Keep moving on and the world shall be yours.

Puneet Srivastava is a Writer, Trainer & Consultants for entrepreneurs, enterprising individuals and start-ups. he is based in Mumbai, INDIA.

Check his success stories on his website: www.desiretofly.in

   

Casa Miranda – Spotting Opportunity

Story #3/13 – Entrepreneurs in Goa – A series by Puneet Srivastava.

Ms. Miranda was a teacher for 32-years in Mumbai. A perfect Bandra girl from Mumbai, her husband worked all his life for a well-known pharmaceutical company. When both retired from their respective jobs, she got offers from schools in Mumbai to come and teach and her husband received offers from his employers to continue as consultant.

‘Let’s go and develop our property in Goa,’ she told her partner and both were soon in Goa.

With a house that was only a few minutes walking distance from the beach and having space more than required for the two and their elderly mother, they did what many in Goa have done.

Yes! Casa Miranda is a Guest House for tourists.

They have no website, no facebook page, no linkedin connect and no registry anywhere. In nearly ten years that they have existed, they have survived only through one tool – word-of-mouth publicity.

Casa Miranda is a simple place, clean and hassle free. No extra amenities, except for a friendly dog in the garden and a naughty kitten on the terrace and still they are booked all through the year, except of course for the few months during monsoon when owners are either visiting Mumbai or their children abroad.

‘Every house in the neighborhood is a Guest House now,’ so I was informed.  

Emergence of Goa as a tourist destination has created several such entrepreneurs, who would have never dremt being one, and yet have simply latched on to the opportunity. This is what a favourable eco-system does to individual ideas. 

Nevertheless, one thing that was most commendable about Casa Miranda was that the founding team has stuck to their fundamentals. Though otherwise unaware of flashy-fundas of entrepreneurship and dictum of growing one’s business, the team has used the general principles of goodness in life and developed their venture. Interestingly in doing so they have created a few jobs and partnership opportunities with other entrepreneurs, meaning more business and a little eco-system of their own.

And yes, be aware, that you may be refused accommodation in Casa Miranda, even if they have rooms available. So large groups, rowdy gangs and unsolicited holidayers, stay warned before stepping in. Viva Casa Miranda! That was what I had to say and when right set of values drive your intentions, things fall in line by themselves, was what I would always recall.

Puneet Srivastava is founder of Desire to fly..., a content, training & consultancy firm for start-ups, new businesses and entrepreneurs based in Mumbai, INDIA.

His clients include Goli Vadapav Private Limited, Aaji Care-at-Home Services LLP, Aradhya, Think Beyond Solutions, MyGadgetsSecondLife and more.

Puneet is also creator of 'Reflection - The Self-help Game of Tarot', for which Sterling Holiday Resorts are his delivery partners.

Naveen, the fleet owner – knowing your SWOT

Story #2/13 – Entrepreneurs in Goa – A series by Puneet Srivastava.

A conversation with Naveen was almost akin to experiencing the relaxed Goa life. He comes as a typical smiling, easy-going and cool-headed Goan. His body language would be always relaxed and mannerism polite. It’s a different matter that he owns a fleet of a few things and yet don’t take much credit of it all.

‘Earlier our business would depend mostly on tourist from abroad, but now I get more business from Indian tourists,’ he told me.

‘Government grants free visa to people from a few countries and that’s why you see so many of them here,’ he added, ‘still the local tourist outnumber them easily.’

‘Have you been to the Mapusa market?’ He asked me. From the first day itself he was somehow keen on me visiting the place. ‘It is a market for local Goans,’ he informed. ‘It’s not a tourist market as you see at Baga or Calangute,’ he added, ‘but don’t go there now on a Friday,’ he almost warned, ‘it would be too crowded. Local people have started shopping for the monsoons.’

What was so special about Goan monsoon? My curiosity quotient was suddenly peeved up and thankfully I didn’t have to wait for long.

‘Goans can’t live without three things, fish, dried red-chilies and coconut,’ Naveen extended his narration. ‘In monsoon you get no fish, so we have to buy now. We stock dried fish. I keep around 200 pieces, which last me and my family the entire monsoon.’ 
So now I knew, who Alex, my fisherman friend was sailing for all these days. (Story 1/13)
With 25 coconut trees in his compound, Naveen, informed that sometime he still felt short of them for his needs. ‘So I don’t sell my coconuts. Otherwise, I have a guy, a whole-seller, who takes it away from us.’

‘There is lot of work that needs to be done at home before the monsoon,’ Naveen told, ‘the house must be repaired and thus I stop taking bigger assignments April onwards. Though now tourists come here all through the year, yet I rarely go for my hotel duties that follow a roaster.’

‘Otherwise, two-wheeler renting has become such a good business in Goa that people have sold their cars and got into it,’ he explained, ‘my friends have more than 80 vehicles with them. Now there are so many vehicles in Goa that the Government has stopped giving fresh permits. People would park them anywhere,’ he provided the bits of local intelligence. ‘I have only 4 scooters and this car. I don’t add more numbers as then managing it all becomes a big problem.’

‘My source of customers are fixed and they call me because they know, Naveen would never give them a false deal,’ he said, ‘what else does one need in life,’ he commented smiling towards me and I nodded in affirmation, as we lost ourselves driving through the lavish Goan countryside.

Puneet Srivastava is a Mumbai based Writer, Trainer & Consultant for Start-ups & Entrepreneurs. (www.desiretofly.in)

Puneet's published works include - Accidental Entrepreneur (2003), Open Management Series (2004), The Path-Breakers (2006) & Desire to fly (e-book, 2012).

'Entrepreneurs in Goa' is the latest set of case-stories by Puneet Srivastava, which shall be utilized as learning tools for aspiring and existing entrepreneurs and would also serve as a prelude to one of the upcoming offerings by the author.

Alex, the fisherman – facing competition

Story #1/13 – Entrepreneurs in Goa – A series by Puneet Srivastava.

I met Alex at the beach. Can’t recall how our conversation got going, but soon we were talking thick. He was a fisherman by profession.

‘We don’t get much fish in the waters now,’ he told me, ‘the big trawlers catch them all in the high sea. They do not allow fishes to come in,’ he explained. ‘Do you understand my problem?’ he asked, pain clearly showing in his eyes.

He showed me his boat and I watched the men haul the little sleek out of the water to rest after possibly a long shift at work.

Next few days I couldn’t go to the beach but when I returned, I found, Alex’s boat wasn’t there. The day after, it wasn’t there either! When I didn’t find him the subsequent day as well, I asked one of the fellow fishermen.

‘He is out there somewhere,’ the person informed, pointing his hand in the general direction of the sea, ‘may return tonight or tomorrow,’ he added.

I looked out, scanning my sight deep into the waters and traced my vision until the horizon. I could see a few little boats. May be one of them was Alex’s or maybe he had gone further ahead, I couldn’t have guessed, but sure there he was, busy doing what perhaps he knew best.

Yet, a few questions stormed my head. What must he be doing in the sea, if there weren’t enough fishes? Was he testing his fate in the high-seas? How would he craft his little share of catch from the big trawlers? What could be his motivation to be in the sea? Was he in there because he had nowhere else to go, nothing else to do? Most importantly, as a small business owner, does he have a captive customer base that would keep him going even when the big trawlers were taking away the cream of the catch?

Though I couldn’t meet Alex thereafter, but luckily I got some of my answers on Alex’s possible motivations, when I had a conversation, the subsequent day, with Naveen – the fleet owner and perhaps that’s how small businesses continue to survive. (Story 2/13 – Entrepreneurs in Goa – A Series by Puneet Srivastava)(Publishing 14th May 2013)

The only challenge for Alex was to keep going back and finding some fish in the sea and that somehow is the story for every small entrepreneur in any business and in any market.

Puneet Srivastava is Start-up Soldier and founder of Desire to fly... (www.desiretofly.in)

Based out of Mumbai, he helps entrepreneurs grow offering Content, Training & Consultancy Services.

Start-ups, Entrepreneurs and Institutions may contact him for Course Development, SOP writing, Storytelling, Entrepreneurship Training, SOP Training for teams, Motivational Training, De-stress Sessions, Ideation support, Vision-Mission-Values development, SWOT analysis, Strategic Planning and one-to-one counseling & mentoring. 

The Mountain of Munnar

Three hundred feet of bare igneous rocky outcrop; a structural-frame with well-formed firm shoulders; a tiny, yet sound and stable head, as if dropped deep in meditation; this is how I received it when I first saw it the day I reached Munnar. My host Shankar Menon called it ‘The Mountain of Munnar’ and I instantly liked the name. 

The sun was bright and I only wished that I had a stronger camera. ‘This is not the Munnar weather,’ Ajay Thakur explained to me in-between attending to the customers. ‘People come here for something else,’ he had barely begun to explain when had to rush away on a call.

Now as if the nature was waiting for him to say those words, the magic happened the next day. When I walked out and looked up, the mountain was gone. 

No! Not a trace of it in visibility! As if there was nothing out there! As if the view I had seen a day before was an illusion.

‘This is the Munnar weather,’ a beaming Ajay welcomed me for the morning. ‘People come here to experience this.’

The weather was indeed brilliant, yet I waited next four days for the mountain to return. Incidentally it didn’t. The fifth day, it appeared in small glimpses. It was not until the seventh day, when it was visible in full view again, that too only for a few hours, before, once again, covering itself under the layers of anonymity.

Sitting there under the shade of the invisible mountain, interacting with people and working through my days, five interesting messages came to me:

1. Never lose faith; never lose your dream. It’s always there to be fulfilled, even if the cloud cover (thoughts, fears, apprehensions) is not letting you see your destiny.

2. Have belief; the God’s always there and constantly watching down on you, even when all we can see, looking up, is a thick layer of clouds. (Confusion)

3. The Sun (Circumstances of life) comes out occasionally to help us see the magnanimity of the mountain (God). So when the mountain is visible, bow down and thank the almighty.

4. Be like the mountain, big and majestic, yet grounded and humble. Let the clouds play around you. Enjoy them coming and going, without bending down or bowing away.

5. Finally, enjoy profoundly! Enjoy the view. Enjoy your being. Enjoy the life for the sheer joy of enjoying. Do this because you are as majestic as your mountain. May others look upon you and redeem their divinity.

That was ‘The Mountain of Munnar’ to me and I hope now will be for some of you as well.  

In dedication to the ever-smiling Sterling Team at Terrace Greens Resort, Munnar.

Puneet Srivastava is a Mumbai based writer, trainer and consultant for start-ups and new businesses. Website: www.desiretofly.in