We invited Shravan Shetty, a Career Coach for an interview with Most Popular Stories to know more about his entrepreneurial journey.
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey as an entrepreneur
The earliest entrepreneur I was influenced by was my Father, Late Dr B Sureschandra. He had a successful dental practice apart from being a full time academician. Most Weekday evenings during my college days were spent post 6PM assisting my father as a receptionist.
In early 2000s when in my college, I started an entity, WISDOM Associates (WISDOM was workshops, Ideas, Strategies and Dossiers on Management). After a few gigs, I wound it up and I found my way to working with an education startup working out of Bangalore. Post a satisfying corporate career between 2003 and 2010, I started my journey as an entrepreneur.
I have always taken up projects/ gigs related to content development, mentoring, training on weekends as a side hustle in my spare time.
2010 to date has been a experimentation journey with solo entrepreneurship, collaborative project ventures, retainer assignments, Pro Bono work with startups and NGOS as well. I was co – founder at a training organization for a brief period that I exited after a period of 3 months.
Since 2021 December, I have been co-founder at “The Bodhi Tree“, www.thebodhitree.world partnering with Deepti Natarajan, a long term collaborator and social sector veteran.
My work as a management consultant, corporate trainer and career coach has been the key focus of my journey as an entrepreneur over the past decade. As is the practice with coaching firms, its centered around the use of “Shravan Shetty” / Consult Shravan as the brand.
Google Shravan Shetty , Career Coach to find me 😉
2. Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a job?
I turned solo entrepreneur in 2010. I was quite the “Accidental entrepreneur”. Adversity in the form of a parent being diagnosed with cancer and me requiring flexibility to focus on being a caregiver led to this decision.
The independence and autonomy led me to take up diversity of projects across sectors collaborating with other entrepreneurs between 2010 and 2022.
The risks I took led me to build a strong visibility for my expertise in Consulting, Training and Coaching in the “for Profit sectors” as well as the non-profit sector.
Working in a job would have led me to work more on the company’s vision as against my “purpose” for my life.
3. What was the vision behind it?
My vision behind my work has always been to “ Help Individuals/organizations help themselves”.
I do this by working on Soch ( Thinking), Gyan ( knowledge for evolution) , Karma ( Applying thought and knowledge building Skills , enabling people to uncover their Tejas (potential) thereby aligning / reforging their Astitva ( identity Brand values).
4. Describe the services that you offer to your customers and in what
way they are unique?
As “ The Bodhi Tree “ we work in bridging CSR / philanthropic/ Volunteer resources for the underprivileged community in India . Check out our website for more details
As Shravan Shetty , Career Coach , I work with individuals and organizations on curating workshops , Ideas , , Events , processes Strategies as well as one on one sessions for individual and group career progression and holistic career development.
5. What difficulties which you have faced or you are facing?
Every entrepreneur has Challenges and Hurdles from seasonality of business , recession to resources constraints . I have faced the usual and some different challenges over the years. They are the reality of a entrepreneurs life.
6. How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
Every time I am in a pressure situation. I tell myself to sit and breathe I always look into the mirror and tell myself “You are the Key“. I focus on what I can “control” and “influence”.
Draw inspiration from the Latin Phrase “Vires Acquirit Eundo” = We gather strength as we move on in life.
7. How do you market your business?
We are in the age of social / digital media. I do work with Digital Marketing consultants to leverage it well. A google page also drives leads apart from word of mouth marketing. I do accept and address audiences in educational institutions and corporate and startup communities as well as conferences through high impact “ Speaker Gigs” Am open to suggestions and ideas from your platform / other entrepreneurs as well.
8. How many hours a day do you work on average & can you describe/outline your typical day?
I work 60 hours to 70 hours a week and that’s around 12 hours a day and sometime when I do vacations on weekends , that leads to 14 Hours a day on day working weeks 😉
A possible day /week in the life of Shravan Shetty –
My day-to-day schedule varies during the week, which I happen to like!
For example, if I am at my home office ….
I wake up at 6.30 A.M on Most days and sleep by 11.30 PM. 8:00am onwards I work in 90 minute focused work bursts followed by 30 Minute breaks: I sit down with my coffee and breakfast at around 7:45am or 8:00am to get started with client work and begin answering emails.
My coaching sessions in zoom – google meet or outside are all scheduled in 90minute sessions and priced on that algorithm.
My project sessions with collaborators are scheduled usually to close before 6 PM each day. I set an hour everyday in a week for new business development and upskilling myself on career coaching best practices as well as on community development. My work in the social sector also needs constant networking and collaboration.
I usually wrap up work by 7.30 PM and chill with a book or listen to a podcast.
There are stretch days where I work late into the night and that results in a late start depending on the Speaker invites I get as well as collaborative projects.
9. In your opinion what are the keys to success?
My keys to success lies hidden in the word “ ACT”
Success demands Accountability
The first key is accountability. If you think you need to rework yourself , you need to step away and ensure you do what is required to get back to contributing your peak performance.
The second key is consistency. Its important to focus on the 1s and 2s in the game of cricket and not just 4 s and sixers .
And just like cricket , Entrepreneurial success requires us to focus on multiple streams of revenue and not just big ticket projects or revenues.
The third Key is Training Oneself constantly through attending programs , talking to experts in domains as well as having the curiosity to identify the “ Next Level “.
10. What advice would you give to someone starting out as an aspiring
entrepreneur?
Business Analysis on the Go
‘If something isn’t working , don’t be afraid to stop or change it.’
Values
“When you use your values as your guiding light, you can see more clearly “
Address Problems Positively
“Try to see an opportunity in every difficulty – There is always one there”
LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/consultshravan/
Email Id : [email protected]
We also had an Interview with Anu Sehgal founder at Digital Mill, learn more about her remarkable journey, vision, and plans for the future here.
Follow us on Instagram for More Popular and Inspiring Stories.