"The executive communication classes at the Institute were a game changer. My aim was always to make sure I was number one when it came to grades in ex-com."
Q. What ignited the spark in you to start the business? How did the idea for your business come about ?
A. My younger brother and I both were in our family business of pre-owned cars along with our father. However we soon realised that the entire income of the family was from one source and to grow in life we needed to diversify and explore other options. Since my brother and I both were shisha enthusiasts when my brother came up with the idea of Mykos (My Kind of Shisha) it was an instant yes.
The idea worked and within one year Mykos became the most outsourced shisha brand in delhi. From then to now we have spread the business all over the country to cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Goa, Raipur, Agra and soon plan to take it other cities too.
Q. What is the best advice you ever got ? From whom?
A. The best advice I would say was my brothers advice to me when he once told me that no business is big or small. It’s the ideology that takes you to places and makes a small looking business into a great business idea.
Q. "Great leaders are also great speakers” Do you agree? How did your personality development classes help you in your business ?
A. In my opinion the early years of an individual’s life play a major role in the second half of one’s journey in life. I did my schooling from st. columbas where public speaking was always given great importance and what helped thereafter was iipm and the executive communication classes which I feel were a game changer. I was always a competitive kid and debating and public speaking was something I always excelled in.
My aim was always to make sure I was number one when it came to grades in ex-com as I always believed that when people ignore distractions and listen to someone while he is making a point that’s where the first war is won. so yes I do believe that to be a great leader one has to be a great speaker.
Q. What are the key elements to starting and running a successful business ?
A. I personally believe that it’s a world of smart workers. The key to any successful business in today’s competitive world is the team you work with. One needs to believe in his own ability backed by his belief on the people he chooses to work with as part of the organising structure of the core team. Always identify your strengths and weaknesses and make sure the people you are working with are assets and they fill in the spaces where you lack.
The biggest challenge any business faces is competition so while working in present day one should also keep changing and planning on what value additions need to be done keeping the change factor in mind. Let your company be the example for others and while they aim to reach where you are just raise the bar higher.
Q. Marketing is the most important aspect of a business. how do you market your business ?
A. In my opinion to set an example in your trade what you need to do first is create a brand identity. Since the first day at mykos our primary focus was that people should know the brand mykos and not the individual owners of the brand.
Marketing is most definitely the key to the success of any business but I feel that where people often go wrong is when they over market themselves. Understanding your product is what you need to do first and rather than focusing on what the other players are doing what one needs to focus on most is how to perfectly fit in.
Every business needs a different kind of marketing and what we always paid most importance to was the name Mykos (My Kind of Shisha). Our business was always dependent on how people spoke about our brand so we made sure we chose our options well. We always believed that serving at the best places in the city was the key to our marketing strategy so we took work accordingly.
As the entire business was dependent on word of mouth we chose quality over quantity which proved to be the defining factor in our growth. Service and quality was what we always gave importance to which helped us reach out to people easily and made us the biggest shisha catering company within no time.
We opted for social media after creating a visibility for the brand as people knew who we were which later proved to be the perfect strategy for the brand and helped us in spreading business all over the country.
Q. If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out what would it be ?
A. Never be a part of the rat race. Identify your field of interest and believe in yourself. Your dream is your own and only you know what you can do with it.
Q. What motivates you ?
A. I wake up every morning with the want of going to work and not the fact that I have to go work. If you do what you love you will always succeed even though you might face obstacles. Always remember “No race was won without participation” so your dream surely deserves a start.