At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring some of the meaningful and powerful stories from around the world to empower and motivate our growing community of entrepreneurs, coaches, investors, management students and aspiring entrepreneurs. This week we invited Regina Vincent for an interview with us to know more about her inspiring journey. She is a seasoned corporate trainer, image consultant, business coach, virtual training facilitator and founder of Prism Coaching. Let’s learn more about her entrepreneurial journey, way forward and her advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Regina:
Talk us through your background and your journey as a women entrepreneur/coach, please;
Personally, I was blessed to be born in a joint family which helped me draw from the experiences across age groups. Since childhood, I was an extrovert and never backed out from voicing my opinion. Academically, I had the advantage to be convent educated. I did my schooling from St. Pius X Girls High School and did my Intermediate / plus 2 from Guruswamy Women’s Christian Junior College. As it was a diploma course, I started my career at the age of 17. But that didn’t put an end to my academics. I continued to pursue my Graduation and MBA through distance education. I have several certifications in my kitty including those from ISB and IIM. I was an active participant in extra-curricular activities during my school and college days with oration competitions being my favourites. This passion continues till date and I miss no opportunity to be on the stage.
As a kid, I aspired to be an IAS. Life had other plans for me and I landed in Corporate World. This not being my passion, I quit my job and started a recruitment firm independently in 2005.”
Due to personal constraints, I had to call it quits from stabilizing business after 2 years and resumed my corporate stint. Ever since then I always wanted to be on my own. After almost 2 decades, I could finally bid adieu to my 9-6 job. The big question was what should be the path for my entrepreneurial venture. My childhood passion for giving back to society and enabling people around me could be gratified as a Coach.
Why entrepreneurship over a corporate career?
Being independent and standing up for my decisions are intricate parts of my persona. Coming from a family which encouraged corporate jobs and stable living, I always aspired to do something different and more. As I grew, news about women entrepreneurs who carved a niche for themselves, fuelled my aspiration to stand out and channelized it into being a Coach. My life has been a roller coaster ride and I call myself a “Miracle Child”. I wanted to impact and enable people sharing my experience and empower people to overcome their challenges.
We are aware of all the good work you are doing in your space; what keeps you going?
Empowering my participants and coaching them to be their desired best motivates me. Enabling individuals to achieve their goals and revive themselves, energies I do more.
How different is your coaching methodology and your services. Tell us more about your product and your startup’s journey this far?
My sessions, workshops and consulting sessions are always focused on the takeaways for my participants. Having vast corporate experience and being a certified Soft Skills Trainer and an Image Consultant, my coaching involves a 360° approach focusing on inside-out enablement. My sessions are customised based on the training needs analysis of individual/Organization. It gives me immense pleasure and happiness to witness how my programs impact the participants for the good. I have conducted 75+ sessions and workshops over the last two years.
Please share with us some of the challenges you faced in your journey;
Image management is a concept that’s still new in the Hyderabad market. This caused a hitch in people being receptive and signing up for consulting sessions/ programs.
Gestation period before any start-up holds foot is inevitable. Especially in an industry which is already flooded with trainers and coaches.”
Luckily, during my journey of corporate jobs, I was privileged to work with C level executives and clearly understood the challenges I would face on my own.
What is your Business Mantra: Money or Emotions?
I would like to quote one of my ex-bosses here who said, adding value to whatever you do is the key to success. This hit me so hard, that its imbibed in everything I do and is the basis for my business too. The question which I ask before every training program is – What is the value addition I want to give to me participants? My content collation and delivery are woven around an answer to this question.
This means happy me and satisfied customers – more business – more money!
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
I’m thankfully in a profession where I’m not working but doing what I love. It’s more like fulfilling my passion.
Being on your own is about balancing the pros and cons. If you want to have a coin in your pocket, you accept both the heads and tails sides of the coin. Same applies to entrepreneurship.”
Having said that, on-one is free from the clutches of stress. Gardening and reading a book rejuvenates me. Taking breaks at regular intervals help one curb getting stressed. I follow a schedule each day, which ensures that I’m not going overboard on one aspect.
What has worked well for you so far? How has Covid’19 impacted your model?
Training and coaching industry is all about word of mouth references. I’m part of networking groups and peer groups that believe in helping each other grow. We exchange and discuss business opportunities. Being aware of the market segment, helps me revisit my business goals and stay abreast. All my training programs were conducted in-person/onsite. Since the onset of a pandemic, I have moved all my sessions to virtual mode. Adaptability has helped me change my business model to meet the need of the hour.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
There are no cookie-cutter tips for success. As an ardent believer of lifelong learning, I leave no opportunity to learn from every encounter. Being resilient is one of the key factors that would help any entrepreneur to be successful, irrespective of whatever their definition of success is.
We would love to know your advice for all those starting out as an aspiring women entrepreneur?
Gender, age, geographical location etc are self-limiting beliefs that have been practised across generations. If one wants to be an Entrepreneur, they have to evolve over these limitations.
Have a mindset of a winner and be open to learning/adapt from trendsetters.
As the saying goes,
“Why waste time on identifying how to do something, when there’s a proven method readily available.”
Most importantly, have that never-give-up attitude and persistence. Its never enough to take that one extra step.
Have the attitude of giving back to society. In whatever way possible, take up small projects or activities towards a social cause. It will give you a feeling of accomplishment and keep you going. I, as co-chair of Project Masoom under the banner of Young Indians which is a brainchild of CII, work towards sensitization of CSA.
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.
