In our latest interview, we spoke to Saloni Kaul to understand more about her journey as a women entrepreneur. She is the Founder And Chief Executive at It’s People. She worked with top corporate companies at senior leadership positions before founding her own venture to leverage her skills and to add value to the lives of others. She has been able to carve her niche as one of the prominent names in personal development & leadership domain. Let’s learn more about her journey and her advice for those aspiring!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Saloni Kaul:
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your journey, please;
A positive, friendly, warm person who has always dreamt about making it big and worked hard and with passion in whatever I chose to focus on.
Though my entrepreneurial journey in the truest sense started in 2012, the spirit always ran in my blood.
I watched my dad run several businesses, worked with him in the early part of my career, moved up the corporate ladder; worked with large Indian biz houses like the TATA Group and global brands in leadership capacities and lastly as Head HR for India and SAARC at EMC Sales & Services, now DELL EMC.
In 2012, I formed India Talent Services (it’s People) and have not looked back since.
Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a job?
To answer this question, I would like to share that I started my career working with my dad. However, I wanted to build my expertise in HR and eventually do something of my own.
A corporate career gave me the platform to learn from HR leaders and industry mentors and eventually provided the combination of reliability credibility and confidence to start my venture.
What gets you out of bed in the morning i.e. what’s your source of motivation?
Let’s get going! aaj kuch acha aur behter karengein. I wake up every day to this thought
My purpose in life is to touch, move and inspire as many people as possible and in being a personal development and entrepreneurship coach I’m blessed to be able to contribute to the lives of people around me.
What challenges/obstacles did you face in your journey so far?
I’m a Solopreneur and as is the case with Solopreneurs we end up doing mostly everything ourselves. And for quite some time it has worked for me. Going forward, however, I’m looking at specialists so I can focus on what I do best.
Also, there have been many learnings/challenges that I encountered
1 – Biz Strategy
2 – Biz Plan
3 – Business continuity
4 – Risk mitigation due to factors beyond your control
Which to an extent I have been able to address by taking on biz coaching and mentoring from experts and experienced people in my network.
What comes first for you – money or emotions?
Firstly, a business enterprise exists for creating economic energy. Having said that, your WHY determines your decision-making process largely. So its a combination of both.
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
I believe that “worrying” or being stressed is like sitting on a rocking chair. it gives you something to do but takes you nowhere.
If I have reason to be worried, I would rather take action, than keep worrying about it.
Other ways for relaxation – through meditation, hanging out with friends. Solitary reflections are also very helpful as are conversations with my loved ones.
What is one strategy that you believe has helped you grow as a person?
Becoming an entrepreneur has helped me grow as a person.
I read a lot and that has helped me grow as a person.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
The right mindset is crucial. Being open to learning, doing, growing, being who you are. Leveraging your strengths to build it up.
Also, it’s important to know what success really means to you. Visualising it and building a system where you have the support and everything else you require to make it happen. The definition of success also changes as we age.
For business success, your customers should succeed and those who work with you should too. Plus it’s important to innovate so you can continue to add value in ways not thought of before. Or in a way that solves a customer problem not done before. We live in a VUCA world, so being agile and flexible with clarity of thought and action is most needed.
What advice would you give to someone starting out particularly women entrepreneurs?
First work on the following questions –
What problem are you trying to solve?
How will your product or service solve this problem?
How do people solve it these days? And what makes your solution unique for solving the problem (compared to the competition)
Is your solution feasible?
What are the key issues you need to investigate to prove the feasibility of your idea?
What is your market size? Ideal customer? Value Proposition?
Once you are able to find answers to these questions, you should not wait at all.
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.
