At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring some of the unique and powerful stories from India and around the world to empower and motivate our growing community of entrepreneurs, coaches, investors, management students and aspiring entrepreneurs. This week we invited Dr Sheetal Nair for an interview with us to know more about his inspiring journey. He is a seasoned business leader and entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience both in a corporate setup and as an Entrepreneur. He is a passionate coach, author, change enabler, storyteller, growth strategist and the Co-Founder of DSSG Bespoke Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Let’s learn more about his entrepreneurial journey, way forward and his advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with him:
Talk us through your background and your journey as an entrepreneur/coach, please;
I hail from a small town of Vadodara in Gujrat where career counselling wasn’t heeded with prominence. Being a bright student, choosing science was inevitable. But I couldn’t score for medical entrance, which left me a bit shattered.
Following the craze of IT, I took on computer science, only to learn that computer coding was Greek to me. Blind to what I’ll do in life, my father made me consult a renowned career counsellor in Vadodara. Who made me realize that I was good at managing people. That spun me positively and I cleared the entrance for Symbiosis. Fast forward a few years, I have an HR degree and have worked with Toyota & United Nations. To earn that ‘Dr’ before my name, I decided to do a PhD. Which made me realize that a huge chunk of my time will be invested in researching, so I joined my Dad’s business, which was engaged in Security services. Everything has potential, for a trained eye and with due diligence to push it.
So from 850+ employees, we shot to employing 6,500 people across the country. We then evolved into five companies, so business flew off the charts. We also dabbled in the cafe business, which multiplied to four joints across Vadodara. After which I pursued corporate law from IIM Calcutta. With which I helped startups transform from nothing to something. My quench for knowledge makes me complete one degree or course every year, anything that spikes me.”
Next stop was completing Comprehensive Learning and Teaching from Harvard University. To ultimately also became a trained Psychotherapist from John Hopkins University. Hitting all these milestones were great, but the ambition to give something back to the society was also raging.
So I wrote a book “The Midas Touch – 99 Pages to Acquire the Art of Alchemy & Forge Champions” which clambered up to be Amazon’s bestseller and caught the eye of many universities who reached out to include it in their syllabus for leadership programs.
I believe that how we are and how we feel now is not fixed and set. It can be worked upon, improved and it always has hoped of changing. You’re much more than the mask of the bone of flesh you choose to wear. You may be vulnerable to the bullets of cruel fate. But you have a mind which conjures ideas and ideas are bulletproof.”
Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a corporate career?
So, I dabbled in a corporate career first & then I chose entrepreneurship because even though initially I felt that I was more suited to being given directions, I later realised that I yearned to explore a path for myself.
I had always seen my father struggle to create an empire from scratch & I saw the amount of courage, planning, perseverance, hard work, teamwork, combined with good strategy & execution skills that were required of him. He is & will always remain my biggest role model, someone I shall always strive to emulate.”
Please share with us some of the challenges you faced in your journey;
I was an HR professional with a penchant for Training, while the business I had joined was that of Security Services (www.dssgroup.co.in). Security more than a decade ago was an unorganized sector & I was constantly plagued with questions on being a misfit in this industry. I had to showcase the importance of Human Resources in managing manpower may it be highly skilled or unskilled. In a way, this friction helped me to shape up a company which not only dabbles in security services but also manpower requirements of any kind of organizations. Establishing a brand which could reach out to all the clients & their requirements was the next challenge, which I was able to bridge with the help of my education & networking created due to me being a part of bodies like CAPSI, IIM Ahmedabad Alumni Association, ISTD, ICF, QCFI, WAD etc.
What is your Business Mantra: Money or Emotions?
Something that has stuck with me & is a part of my work ethos is “Don’t worry about failures, worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try. Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.”
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
Everyone is different, and so are the ways they choose to manage their stress. For me I divide my day into different parts which allows me to take a break & focus better, I have seen a lot of people prefer pursuing hobbies such as gardening, playing music and creating art, while others find relief in more solitary activities: meditation, yoga and walking. For me, I try to bring creativity into the fray of whatever I do, helps me think about the problems or issues at hand under a different light. Hence, the problem ceases to remain a problem & things which usually would’ve given stress end up making you smile.
What has worked well for you so far?
Well, I guess I have been at the right place at the right time, never said no to any opportunity, however absurd it may sound at that time. And usually, it has turned up trumps for me, or if I have fallen flat, it has just added up my experience & widened my horizons.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
One important key to success is self-confidence & the key to self-confidence is preparation. To focus our conscious mind on things we desire & not fear. And no journey can be travelled alone, so it is important to find good partners to achieve success in anything, in business, in relationships & life in general.
We would love to know your advice for all those starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?
Akin to a hand having five fingers, I have 5 tips which will help budding entrepreneurs
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
