At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring to our community some of the finest stories from India and around the World. As part of this endeavour, we invited yet another passionate entrepreneur – Jaya Bhateja for an exclusive interview with us. Jaya is an accomplished Leader, Entrepreneur, Executive & Leadership Coach, Mentor, Speaker and Change Enabler. She is the Founder of Abhyudaya Consulting Services. Let’s learn more about her truly inspiring journey, her background and her advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with her:
We are aware of your contribution to the ecosystem, talk us through your background and your journey as a women entrepreneur/coach, please;
I am from Dehradun, India and I did most of my schooling there. I then moved out to Yamuna Nagar to pursue my graduation in Computer Science as maths and statistics being my main subjects.
But during my graduation I realized that I’m not very interested in technology. I rather had an inclination towards People Development and Coaching. Hence I chose MBA in HR as my subjects.”
I have done my MBA from Kumaun University, Nainital, Uttarakhand. It was an immense learning experience.
Post my MBA I shifted to Bangalore to start my career. Bangalore offers a lot of opportunities for learning. My first organization was AK placement, it was a recruitment firm. After taking some experience from there, I joined Siemens as an HR representative which was my first corporate job.
Around 2007, I joined Accenture in Bangalore. Throughout my corporate career I was trying to discover, what I really like doing and am passionate towards.
All of my journey has taught me that People Development and Transformation was one area that I am always extremely passionate about. It comes naturally to me. I have been searching for work that can bring transformation to people and add value to their lives. I always wanted to do more transformational work than transactional work.”
I did several roles like HR representative, internal supply and demand, training and development before I got introduced to coaching.
After gaining formal education in coaching, I started practicing internally. I coached a lot of people internally in Accenture and the clients who are associated with Accenture. That gave me confidence that this is a field for me.
In 2015, I took a deep dive because I wanted to make coaching a major part of my work. It became my purpose. Simply because it was giving me that satisfaction and I was able to create that impact and also I was good at it. So I said ‘hey’ it looks like this is the place I would like to go deeper into. That’s how I started my entrepreneurial and coaching journey in 2015.”
Well, as a women entrepreneur coach, it has been challenging – very very challenging for lots of reasons.
a) I quit my corporate career at the mid-level. I was not at the senior level.
b) I have lacked a lot of experience that was required to become an entrepreneur. No woman in my family was an entrepreneur at that time.
It is completely an unknown space which is why it was extremely challenging. Not just that it was also really full of learning. It is also made me better in terms of my work, my confidence. But one thing is certain – I love what I do now and life is much more meaningful and exciting. Helping people grow makes my life meaningful. “
What attracts you towards entrepreneurship instead of a corporate career?
That’s an interesting question. When I left my corporate career I just knew HR and now after 6 years, I know marketing, sales, how to work on technologies. Now I have so much exposure that I could not have in my corporate career.
Because in the corporate they have different people to do a different kind of work. When you’re an entrepreneur you are doing everything thing on your own. It’s supported me to boost my career, confidence and help me gain so much assurance, strength and validation about who am I. It is also made me a better person.”
In fact, to the extend I feel that every professional should go for an entrepreneurial experience for at least 3 years in their life and it just redefines you, changes you completely, and you unleashes your true potential.
You don’t feel insecure about carrying your brand. Your identity is not dependent upon a brand. You are your own identity.”
It is a different level of confidence. It kind of gets you to a level where you can do anything and you learn it. Making your career is not about only working in the corporate. So I think entrepreneurship puts you into the experimental mode. It gets you to take the risk. It also tests your courage and resilience. Test a lot of stuff about you. That’s why I always prefer entrepreneurship.
‘Abhyudaya Consulting Services’is such a unique name; talk us through more about it, please. Our audience would also love to know what kind of problem you are solving with the help of your startup?
Abhyudaya is a Sanskrit word. If you break the word it’s ‘Abhy’ and ‘Daya’ which means ‘Abhy’ is Sun and ‘Daya’ is rise.
When I was looking for names I wanted to keep a Hindi or a Sanskrit name then I started doing my research on the internet. I found Abhyudaya which is a unique name not easily available. So that’s the reason why I kept it.
Through Abhyudaya, we want to create a positive society by coaching leaders. The people who are running the organizations are the fathers and mothers. They are the people whatever they learn or however they are they actually run their families like that.
So, how do we create a combination between corporate leaders and society and the people, because we really want the society to be more positive, more forward-looking, more solution-oriented and coaching as a method help us to do that.
How do we change the mindset? How do we get more people in the growth mindset? How do we get more leaders to be optimistic so that they can create more hope in this world. How can the leaders basically become attention managers? How can they really unleash the potential of their teams and families?
And create an eco-system that creates growth for everybody so that everybody thrives. How do we create organisations which thrive with positivity vs toxicity? How do we create organisations where leaders are expert in unleashing potential? How do we create leaders who know what conversation has what consequence And become masters of conversations? How to use the right language at the workplace, in their families, with friends. So that your relationship can thrive. That’s where coaching helps.
During this COVID-19 crisis, what are the measures you have undertaken to continue your business without disruption?
Well, we pivoted ourselves quite a bit. As we were dependent on 1-to-1 work coaching work we have realized that if we want to scale and impact more people it has to be one-to-many. That’s the reason we started offerings like Coach Training program, Team coaching certification programs.
What it does is that it educates professionals to learn coaching skills. Now, these can be corporate leaders, professionals looking at starting a coaching journey for a new career. The idea is to educate people about the power of conversation, the power of language and how it can transform relationships, productivity, mindset, career and cultures for good.
So basically we changed our model and also we are very proud to say that in November’19 we launched our “Coach Training Program”. Today we are sitting in June’21 and we have already run 5 cohorts so around 30 people we have trained in this covid times. So these people have become coaches and currently, 2 cohorts are going on where again 10 more people are getting ready with coaching skills. For this kind of time, it is an overachievement.
In Covid times, we launched it, we basically created an online model, we trained coaches and we are superb proud for the impact we have created in their own lives. That’s how we pivoted and we learned how much is a need for coaching in this environment.
How do you manage yourself and keep on going despite the challenges? What drives you?
I think challenges are like fuel. If the fuel is not there I lack energy. What I like doing is new things, I like looking at new problems and solving them. I thrive when I really have to stretch myself on my courage, risk-taking, implementation, creativity.
What drives me is a constant need to make a difference, a constant need to create a better conversation and better relationships through conversations. Thats what I am working for every day and that gives me energy. Almost like fuel in a car, if there is no fuel car feels dull can’t move around, that’s exactly how I feel.
What are the three most important lessons you have learned building your startup?
I have learned a lot of lessons and if I have to sum up in three:
1) Entrepreneurship is the only opportunity in your life that will make you meet your real self. So don’t hesitate. Believe in your ideas, don’t worry about the outcome. Just keep going on.
2) There is no substitute for hard work. So work hard to get what you want. Improvise, don’t worry if you don’t have everything right now, just improvise-improvise-improvise.
3) Believe in yourself
What are the business mantras you have embraced as you sought to establish your success story?
My business mantra is – ‘Experiment’ & ‘Take Risk’.
Try, if your heart is saying it’s a good idea do not give up till the time you’re convinced you wanna give up.
Try, work hard and put your heart and soul into what you’re doing. That’s what makes a success a success.
Given the rapid pace at which the world is changing, what are the leadership traits that are necessary for success?
The world is becoming unpredictable. More and more unpredictable and doesn’t offer any patterns or fixed solutions nothing is promised for tomorrow.
So the leadership traits that are required are:
a) Acting in the moment
b) Living in the moment
c) Trying in the moment
So how do you really take chances, how do you really not worry about the outcome?
Just do whatever best you can do today and leave the outcome because today’s environment is teaching us to rely on our intuition and giving knowledge and experience. Live by the day.
So leadership traits are:
1 – Agility
2 – Flexibility
3 – Humility
4 – Authenticity
In your opinion, what is more necessary: An idea or a good team for a successful startup?
Actually, you need both. You can’t go with one. You have an idea you start working on it alone and after some time you need good people who take the idea forward.
Only an idea doesn’t help, you need both. Any organization, any startup needs a combination of both.
You are always positive and motivated, what keeps you going?
What keeps me going is looking back and see how much impact I have created. I looked at people what they say about my work and that really really energizes me.
Not because it is an appreciation for me but it is an indication of the work that I have done and that really motivates me. I see that my gifts are useful and I would not like to hesitate to give my gifts to the world. I’m making a difference if it’s making a difference.
We would love to know your advice for all those starting out as an aspiring women entrepreneur?
Well, if you’re an aspiring women entrepreneur, just go all out there. Don’t stop yourself.
Being a woman, we are all conditioned to be mild and we are told not to do few things, we have so many beliefs that stop us. I would say challenge each and every belief that comes on your way.”
Just go on, just land yourself like a lioness, like a wolf and do everything that you have power for. You may not believe in it but just listen to your heart, listen to your intuition, listen to what your gut is telling you because that the guiding force, that’s the wisdom.
We don’t have to believe in any thought, any belief or any perception that people have created for us or for society because at the end of the day anything that’s man-made can be challenged. Go by what nature has provided you. Nature has provided you with intuition, strength, resilience and the courage to conquer your ideas.”
Just like you have done in your personal life, Just like you have already gone through so many issues in your own life. I can say that because we all go through something or the other which is hard for us and just look at that strength, you just have to leverage that strength in your business. Have a vision, know how you can create a difference, believe in your abilities and just go on and don’t believe in people what they tell you which puts you down.
Definitely, do not focus on feedbacks that’s not helpful, just ignore not everybody knows you and a lot of time feedbacks are perceptions that are not true. So sit with yourself, talk to yourself, speculate and see what you really need to believe in.
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.
