At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring to our community some of the finest stories from the entrepreneurship world. As part of this endeavour, we invited a passionate entrepreneur – Murugan for an exclusive interview with us. Murugan is a Leader, Entrepreneur, Video Production Head, Social Media Strategist, Coach and Mentor. He is the Founder of MGA STudio. Let’s learn more about his inspiring journey, his background and his advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Murugan:
Talk us through your background and your journey, please;
My personal growth was based on my professional career. It started with my interest in the field of media and entertainment, marketing and advertising, travel and tourism, food and beverages, real estate, computer software, health and wellness etc.
After my B.com, I got indulged in dance and choreography, I actively started participating in various dance shows in India and got appointed as a choreographer in various schools and colleges. By the passage of time, I realized that dancing & choreography won’t fetch me a good meal of bread & butter. I had to push aside my passion & joined a BPO process at FirstSource.”
Thereby I went ahead into business development, generating sales for B2B Industry for over 5 years. With my hard work & dedication, I became a SME (subject matter expert) in terms of generating leads from various industries and converting the same for closure.
Currently, I am the Head of Video Production for Champions Group handling 10+ brands from various industries from conceptualizing to post-production. I also take care of marketing and sales for the start-up project Champions Ranch. I have now evolved a lot & tried my hands in marketing domains from strategy to operations.
Now that I earn a sufficient salary & I have stepped into my world of passion, I am the founder of MGA Studio. I conduct offline and online classes for various dance forms such as Zumba, Western, Freestyle, Salsa, Bollywood, Hip-Hop, Semi-Classical, Contemporary etc.”
How did you discover your passion?
I am a learner and adjust to the situation and I love to showcase my talent irrespective of day and time. My inclination towards dancing was so high that I used to conduct the dance classes during the daytime and went for a night shift job.
My hard work did pay off, I got a chance in a marketing and advertising firm to showcase and enhance my skill set to the fullest by great sales and at the same time work in the field of choreography, video shoots, editing etc.
I never stopped learning, my curiosity always led me to Google and online platforms to keep moving forward & explore more of my potential. I always believe that if you have pure dedication and the right mental attitude to grow in your career nothing can stop you back.”
In due course of time, these initiatives helped me identify the interest area of my core passion – marketing. It was essentially about exploring, and that is what really resonates with my personality and life choices.
How do you manage to keep going despite the challenges? What drives you?
I always believed in myself no matter how many failures and speed-breakers came in my career growth. I came across many people who weren’t of great help, but those incidents never affected my personal and professional growth.
I have always put emphasis on giving 200% effort in enhancing my skill set and keep moving forward no matter how hard it will be. My will to achieve what I desire has brought me to a position where I work and still pursue my dream in the field of dance and choreography.
My creation, MGA Studio is my inspiration, it is a loving example that sometimes things can co-exist harmoniously. We believe everyone can learn to dance and at the same time, they can be fit as well. Also, we also focus on people who look for career growth and are willing to explore themselves but can’t due to various financial and personal problems.
At Champions Group, I undertake complete video production service for internal and external clients from various verticals such as food and beverage, health and wellness, marketing and advertising, travel and tourism, real estate etc.
Who do you believe has been the biggest source of motivation in your daily life?
My biggest motivation is myself and I always strive to move forward and keep learning from everybody irrespective of their job role. I never miss a chance to learn from others. This is the only thing that keeps me moving forward. And I am a big believer of teamwork and respect my teammates and colleagues who always guide me and help me in improving in every aspect.
Accepting the situations that life has put me into has been my motivation. Now that when I connect dots, it takes me to the time when my parents were against my decision of making dance my career.”
I would have not gotten a chance to explore the corporate world. I would have not got a chance to excel in my career and learn sales, marketing, business development, dance, lead generation, growth hacking, videography etc.
What are some of the strategies that you believe have helped you grow as a person?
There are a few which I strongly believe
(1) Being mindful
(2) Always being resourceful
(3) Taking extreme ownership and responsibility for my actions
(4) Ability to take risks & venture into uncharted territories.
(5) Believing in my team
(6) Being supportive
You are always positive and motivated, what keeps you going?
My motivation comes from my past experience, my dance and my teammates’ success and also when I dance I try to find a new form of energy to strive harder, my number one stress buster is dance. The motivation to work hard and stay disciplined comes from my desire to master my skill to keep learning something new. It is something I enjoy the most.
I schedule my entire day in such a manner that I spend time reading self-help books or motivational books that help in empowering me, listening to music, spending time with myself, analyzing my life & where I need to concentrate more on. I go for a cycle ride, listen to podcasts, and have a planned to-do list for every day. I also write my journal whenever I feel grateful for things that have happened in my life.
In your opinion, what are the keys to success?
There are many factors but if you ask me about the must-haves then to me these are the ones:
> Being truthful to yourself and to others
> Stick to your promise what you make
> Accepting & loving myself.
> Responsibility for my actions
> Resourcefulness
> Helping others the same way you help yourself
> Positive Attitude
> Taking massive action (execution) with consistency and belief
What advice would you give students and young professionals who want to have a successful career?
My advice is very simple, be very clear in what you want to do in your career, don’t be dependent on others, work for yourself, spend time enhancing your skillset and keep moving forward no matter how hard the situations are.
Nothing is permanent in life, let bygones be bygones. Time is limited, make better use of it. I am still learning and enhancing my skill set to move up my chart. Keep learning and keep moving forward.
There is so much to be shared, but this conversation limits how much I can communicate on this platform. Students and young professionals regularly reach out to me on LinkedIn, and Instagram with their specific queries.
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.
