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 – Sukhchain Singh for an exclusive interview with us. Sukhchain is a Creative Leader, Entrepreneur, Designer, Consultant and Mentor. He is the Founder of Zebrians. Let’s learn more about his inspiring journey, his background and his advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Sukhchain:
Talk us through your background and your journey as an entrepreneur, please:
With millions, if not billions, of branding agencies trying to make a name for Zebrians as a distinguished branding agency and differentiating ourselves from competitors has been quite an enriching journey.
I have not attained any professional training as a designer in my career of 27 years frame so far. I have always been someone who has been creative and has evolved to encompass much more than just a name or a symbol through structuring brands and adding value to products and services by focusing on creatively building brands’ personalities.
Since the early phase of my college days, my interest lay with jewellery designing, following which I opted for a course in Delhi where I grasped the concept of design for the first time for a month alone. The institute recognized my calibre and offered me a job in the very first month of joining as a student. In a month’s time, my role was of a creative faculty and also, I was looking into the administration and operations of the institute. I later served as Center Head of one of their Institutes in Dehradun.
Over a period of time, my creative fancy soon caught the eyes of my friends and acquaintances. They started seeking my services related to branding and designing. Soon I started with an Institute of Communication and Designing that successfully trained many young minds in embracing their love for creative delivery to build a brand. I successfully ran this institute for 7 years.”
I have always felt the urge to start early, and it supports my philosophy that starting early and learning early helps you grow early as well. Keeping it as a constant motivation in my mind, I went ahead to establish my venture of establishing my Advertising Agency named SABAE in partnership with my cousin. The tagline was “Inspiring Success”.
Now with the birth of Zebrians and my strong creative tribe, I feel that this project has indeed met a successful execution.
What attracts you to entrepreneurship instead of a corporate career?
I have always had profound leadership qualities and have closely observed entrepreneurs. The mere idea of inaugurating something from scratch and establishing an empire out of it is an extraordinary journey I am super fascinated with.”
While creativity never fails to astonish me, entrepreneurship is challenging and I feel it is the best aspect of being an Entrepreneur. I feel completely blessed to have my partner Harpreet Singh (Director: Design) as a shadow for the last 16 years now. He has helped build Zebrians strong assisting in every crux of work delivery for each brand.
The day-to-day problems and vicious cycle of finding solutions is a growing journey and powers us as Zebrians to have a growth mindset and face each day with a new approach, after all, Creativity is the way we breathe and we love what we do. So we even find creative solutions to beat our challenges gracefully. There is this saying, “Love what you do but also do what you love so that you continue doing what you love”.
My tribe at Zebrians is my strength. There is no hierarchy game. Ideas from everyone despite the differences in opinions are acknowledged and rewarded for a better outcome. This is how we all grow together and churn out the best ideas to execute.”
How did the name Zebrians stem? What does it denote?
We are a part of this creative brand-building maze. We work on every project from start to finish without stopping. We brainstorm; critically analyze our creative mix of ideas to figure out the best path to take. We come out with the most unique adaptation to shine out distinctly amidst many more creative habitats.
Speaking true to our name, our creative jinx speaks volumes like zebras’ eye and our creative branding ideas voice out strongly right in front of the head of the potential audience and create a thumb impression unlike none in this paradigm of brand building.”
We are at large identified like zebras by our distinct pattern. Our discrete creative content delivery in visuals and words make us distinguished by our continued pattern of keeping our communication creative in every way.
Alike Zebras we are keen observers and good listeners and make sure to convert our coffee meets with our clients to dinner meets for life!
What does your company specialize in?
Many clients have expressed gratitude to us as a company dedicated to brand promotion and advertising.
On the national front, we served with the Uttarakhand police for our branding support for the prestigious “National Conference for Women in Police”, and received a lot of respect from Sarvodaya Ashram, KVIC.
We’ve worked with significant organizations, colleges, schools, companies, and government initiatives over the years, and we’ve made a nationwide impact with our creative and design ideas.
What are the measures you have undertaken to continue your business without disruption?
Technology helped the organization stay connected and proceed with everyday operations.
Also, we raised awareness as an advertising agency and rendered physical as well as moral support to any employees facing extreme hardships. But at the end of the day, I was glad that everyone in my team and their loved ones were safe and sound at home.
What are some of the strategies that you believe have helped you grow as a person?
Well, rather than strategies, I would term it mental evolution.”
I believe when you have a positive mindset to work on an attitude change as and when needed you are willing to be more mentally present and examine everything.
It is a matter of fact that alertness is required and an optimistic attitude works. Taking ownership of actions allows harnessing the power in self.
What are the business mantras you have embraced as you sought to establish your success story?
My business mantra is that I am a brand, and whenever an opportunity strikes, I stand there to put up my best show.
Getting the right opportunity is one thing, but acting to the highest capabilities when you get it is another.”
So any opportunity that comes my way, I make sure as a Zebrian tribe we deliver the best performance in terms of creativity and integrity.
What are the three most important lessons you have learned building your startup?
One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learnt is the importance of appreciation. It inspires me to give even more to the cause and awakens the creative side in me every time.
I’ve also learned that trying things differently will eventually yield results.
How do you manage to keep going despite the challenges? What drives you?
My love for finding creative solutions and designing is absolute and it has never failed to attract me.
Working with every day goals and solving the day-to-day challenges drives me to keep up the marks. As mentioned before, I believe in humanity, and serving them one way or other is truly bliss for me.
I do my best to offer the most splendid creation. I am capable of doing my bit of contribution in the world and I never fail to realize that there is such a vast universe that is the epitome of art.
There is so much yet to learn, and I have learned so little that I don’t even need an alarm clock to wake me up for my venture.”
I believe in sharing joy and that there is hardly any pilot without people to share a happy journey.
In your opinion, what are the keys to success?
Everyone has a different notion of success. Furthermore, the elements that contribute to it can vary from person to person.
I have a formula in my life 5D i.e. Dedication, Direction, Discipline, Determination and Divine. These elements along with the know-how make the path very easy to achieve. Discipline and time management are unavoidable for everyone who wants to succeed, and those who want to succeed must respect them nonetheless.”
I’ll go over the major things that I believe have aided me in the long run. First and foremost, I recognized and believed in myself that I am more than capable of achieving whatever goal I set for myself. I made it a point to accept responsibility for my behaviours and to recognize that they have an impact on my work, both directly and indirectly. In addition, I remained determined and dedicated when necessary and kept things open and transparent always.
All of the aforementioned, however, is influenced in some way by maintaining the attitude at all times. My family values my culture and divine teachings from Shri Guru Nanak Dev and holy Guru Granth Sahib has kept me grounded and humble. All thanks to the Universe, in complete gratitude to family and life!
Who do you believe has been the biggest source of motivation in your daily life?
I derive my motivation from everyone and everything that surrounds me. It sounds a bit flimsy, but if you give it a thought, the environment and things around you are greatly capable of influencing your thoughts. I have always been someone who feels a specific closeness to nature, and when I sit in the calm of it to observe the beautiful trees, the sky, and the running water, it all comes back to me that it is the highest sense of creativity.
But I would certainly not give all the credit to nature as many times I have derived my creative eureka moments from machines, objects and human creations as well. I believe in the relevance of One God for all mankind and a lot of my ideas sprout from my learnings and experiences since childhood at Gurudwara. I also find that kids are a torch of ideas, always burning with distinctive thoughts that put a lot of questions in the mind.
So everything I see and contemplate in the back of my mind, I feel the universe is vast and beyond and its every feature is just as much a teacher as another.
Given the rapid pace at which the world is changing, what are the leadership traits that are necessary for success?
A successful leader possesses a variety of characteristics. However, on a personal level, I’ve realized that when it comes to achievement, teamwork is paramount, and walking together is crucial. Second, we should adhere to the broad principle of humanity for all, even in the professional domains.
A leader must face his or her issues head-on and figure out where he or she went wrong. Great factors include accountability and critical thinking. Another key aspect is maintaining transparency and a white-collar attitude.”
Please share with us – what has worked well for you so far?
Understanding and valuing diverse ideas while still wanting to accomplish things uniquely were two things that took a positive turn for me. Listening to everyone adds a lot of creative depth to the designs, and we use the best aspects to transform the project into something unique and out of the box.
What advice would you give students and young professionals who want to have a successful career?
It is critical to comprehend all aspects of a successful career when considering it. Focus on factors that collectively comprise a range of diverse roles one can play rather than just the job execution.
You should be able to assess the important variables and effects that will contribute to the brand’s success when seeking for a client. Make diverse professional choices and recognize your finest abilities.
Look around you, there is much to keep learning from nature, people, objects, and abstracts and every creature living or non-living. I personally seek motivation from each of them. It is highly important to direct your professional choices in a way that empowers the best in you.
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.
