In our latest interview, we spoke to Ritika Singh to understand more about her journey as a women entrepreneur. She is the Founder And CEO At Kontent Factory & Co-Founder At Applyifi. Ritika is a Passionate Entrepreneur, Content & Brand Strategist, Mentor, Advisor and Active Member of the startup ecosystem.
Let’s learn more about her interesting journey and her advice for aspiring entrepreneurs!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Ritika;
Tell us a little bit about yourself, please;
I am a content writer, digital marketing specialist and a brand manager. I am the Founder of KontentFactory and the CoFounder of Applyifi. I set up my company in 2015 and I often look back with awe and gratitude for everything.
Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a job?
Well, I did start with a job years ago… But I was never very ambitious and decided to stop working after a year with the perfect excuse for a pregnancy.
Life went on – with all its ups and downs and in 2012, I hit rock bottom. A painful and unexpected separation followed by a messy divorce, change of cities, zero finances and two young school-going children. I worked in a PR agency for a while, but could not sustain it as it was financially not viable. It just barely covered my fuel costs! I needed money and lots of it and fast.
A perfect recipe for disaster? Nah !! It worked for me 🙂
My mentor Prajakt Raut found me, adopted me professionally and decided to give me a shot. We both had nothing to lose as both of us were at our lowest best. Highly respected in his community for integrity and talent, he took me under his wings and I was able to achieve in 5 years what other companies took 15 years to be at.
I was hardworking and committed, he was a hard taskmaster and knew his craft very well. He was and still is, very passionate about entrepreneurship and that rubbed off on me as well. And here I am today – an entrepreneurship evangelist!
What gets you out of bed in the morning i.e. what’s your source of motivation?
My children. There are days when you just want to give up, roll back into bed and not want to deal with the world. And then you see who is watching you, and you know what to do. Children don’t learn by what you tell them, but what they see and perceive. Parenting is damn easy, good parenting is where the difficult part starts…
What challenges/obstacles did you face in your journey so far?
The toughest part of my journey was to convince a client to give us an opportunity to work for them without meeting them. I hated travelling for two reasons – it costed money to travel and the kids were too young. My business model was a strict work-from-home online agency and neither I nor my teammates would travel/meet for business. It’s not that difficult now as we have proved that our model works, but we still find it amusing when a client insists on meeting us.
What comes first for you – money or emotions?
Today, neither. I have trained myself to take the middle path. And it hasn’t been easy.
Being a housewife most of my life, my internal wiring was all about emotions. And that’s a great thing when you are ‘being’ a daughter, sister, mother, wife and daughter-in-law. But professionally, it can be disastrous!
I remember when I had just started, sometime in 2014 – a client was getting all upset and shouting and I was crying buckets while being on mute. Even the notes I made for corrections got washed out !!! It’s funny now… not then.
When you are responsible for someone’s business, and you know you can’t pay your children’s fee with emotions – you start to understand how money works.
Thankfully for me, my mentor was a score 100 on integrity and he made sure that I inculcated the same values for my business. So my journey has been pretty much smooth.
Businesses are about money and people are about emotions. Read that again 🙂
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
Oh, I don’t !! Being a single mother and the daughter of a single mother, life is a roller coaster ride – every day! It’s fun most of the days, but there are days you wish you might as well open the safety belt 🙂
On a serious note, I cook and clean to destress. It’s therapeutic for me. I have a great support system and I am blessed with amazing friends that pitch in on bad days. Coffees and conversations keep me going.
What is the one fundamental thing that you believe has helped you grow as a person?
Integrity is everything. Your professional ethics are a reflection of your personal value systems. People will always remember you and circle back to you when you have been good. Also, I am blessed with a good bounce-back mechanism, which means I don’t stay down for too long.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
You must become a better version of yourself with every passing phase of life. The shorter your phases, the faster your growth.
What advice would you give to someone starting out particularly aspiring women entrepreneurs?
Don’t be afraid to reach out and look honestly vulnerable, create a great support system and be open to criticism. Take frequent deep breaths and take one step at a time. Remember, entrepreneurship is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. And you want to be in it for the long haul for best results !!!
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.
