Entrepreneur
If I were to define myself as an entrepreneur, it would definitely be like this- a hotelier by profession and an activist by passion. Managing a business is not as effortless as it looks. Au Contraire is made to look effortless through years and years of dedication and hard work. I have been able to pin down that to manage an enterprise successfully, and one must constantly use one’s inputs and turn their visions into reality. Often, one ought to have that emotional sensitivity and understanding of what people need and providing them with precisely that.
With the grace of Almighty, I have been an entrepreneur for years and have been at the helm of the following businesses.
– Khimsar Group of Hotels the recipient of the ‘National Grand Heritage Award For Excellence’ (the highest recognition conferred upon any heritage property by the Department of Tourism, Government of India). This is an ITC affiliated chain of hotel properties. It is a privately owned hotel franchise, boasts of Rajashtjan’s royal heritage and beautiful architecture. It offers luxurious grand luxury suites and rooms that celebrate every bit of yesteryears’ elegance reinstated with modern luxuries.
– Khimsar Fort & Khimsar Dunes Village have managed to put Khimsar as one of the most sought tourist destinations on the international tourism map. It has carved its niche and gained a strong foothold and a powerful contender as a heritage and desert tourist destination. With sand beneath your feet and royal grandeur as a backdrop, it makes for a dream vacation. The fort dates back to 1523 AD, and the dunes resort is the only one of its kind in India, with over 200 acres of private dunes and luxury huts etc
– Urvashi’s Retreat – one of the most luxurious boutique homestays in Manali Himachal Pradesh. This rejuvenating haven provides respite from the city chaos and bustles of mundane daily life. Situated in the laps of the Himalayas, it offers health and joy in plenitude. Lush greenery, sprawling rocks, and whistling winds make for a great summer camp setting and serves as a great energiser.Personally run and managed by my sister Urvashi, this little retreat leaves no stone unturned to provide unparalleled Khimsar hospitality.
Tirupati Mines is one of the most organised and ethical mining operations in the Khimsar region. Khimsar region is enriched with chemical grade limestone. Tirupati Mines was incorporated on to develop major Mineral Resources in the State and started with a Limestone quarrying Plant at Khimsar. Another aim was to provide locals, with sustained and constant income flow. It today boasts of a vast array of Mineral Portfolio. This family-managed enterprise has gained a reputation of supplying the best employing the best practices and processes.
Khimsar Minecorp with Tirupati Mines as its feeder, is an upcoming state of the art facility to produce high-grade Quick lime and hydrated lime.It< will use state-of-the-art Italian technology, one of the first in Rajasthan, with pan-India and world wide distribution network.
Khimsar Energy– is an upcoming 15 mega watt solar plant as our effort to promote green energy. Khimsar Energy will feed the power hungry industrial plant at Khimsar Minecorp. We aim to follow sustainable practices and are sensitive towards the environment.
Karamsi Estates focussed on developing apartment communities, workforce housing, senior residences, and schools. The company will be instrumental in developing projects in Rajasthan with the sole aim to provide a roof for all. The inclusive revolution will be the game changer for Rural Rajasthan.
Many people ask me the most important things that one must focus on while carrying out a business. Being an entrepreneur for the last ten years, I can safely say that I have concluded three essentialities of a successful business.
Namely, these are Passion, People, and Process. I have experienced these three qualities in my multiple businesses, and I believe this is the sole reason they are thriving and growing prosperously. I’m beyond grateful that all of our businesses have only seen newer avenues and development over the years. I would like to thank my family, who have been one hundred per cent pivotal in my professional life.
Let’s dive into why these three aspects are essential to any business that aims to thrive.
First on the list is Passion. Passion is an essential factor to keep you going forward wherever you want to reach in life. One must be passionate about what they have to offer to their customers. Lots of hearing, a dollop of understanding customer’s needs with a liberal dressing of Passion, combined is the recipe for a successful business. We all have things in our life that often present themselves as barriers to achieving our goals, but it is the Passion that never lets us stop and give up. Success comes easy to those who are driven by Passion.
A couple of years ago, I happened to meet somebody whose job was to train people in a company. Despite being an ace at his work, he grew bored after some years, as the work involved doing the same thing repeatedly. He seemed to like his job, but it never filled him with fire; the fire to outperform himself too, that power to deliver value to the end-receivers. So, after I asked him a couple of questions, I shared my two cents with him to get motivated to enhance his craft.
The two points of advice that I shared with him were:
1. Never to see his job as “something that is being done for the nth time”. On the contrary, urged him to see it from perspective shows that his trainees are getting trained for the first time. I told him to look at his content through the first-time receivers’ mind and recall the first time he was introduced to this content and how he loved receiving his training. I told him to share his knowledge with them with all his energy and enthusiasm.
2. The second thing that I told him was that he should practise and embrace the art of storytelling. Instead of re-telling, focus on re-living. As more he gets to experience the content (his), it would be better for his trainees to enhance their experience with him in a newer and fresher way.
I met him nearly after a year after we had this conversation, and he shared how it changed his life for the good. He felt like his work seems more lucrative, and the satisfaction from his life is enthralling.
Passion is critical to turn a dream into reality. It is, indeed, the fuel that keeps you going. Passion comes only when there is a built-in enthusiasm and a natural flair towards a particular activity. One can only work when he or she is passionate enough. Karamsi Estate, a real estate venture, has always been my dream. I have always been extremely passionate about building affordable and yet wondrous housing for people. Today, I stand proud to announce that I have been successful in accomplishing that. It was nothing less than pure, passion-driven hard work that successfully solidified my vision into a real business.
People are the second part of my entrepreneurial formula. They are an essential part of our ecosystem- Personal and Professional. One cannot ignore them and operate. We have to form valuable and meaningful relationships to foster our lives – both personally and professionally. However, we are talking about the latter part here.
The two things to be substantially focused on while you are working with other individuals are –
1. Engaging with people. As much as working is vital for your employees, conversations regarding their work are of the essence. Giving them yourself is crucial when you have people working with you. Mutual development only comes when you participate in your employees’ growth and development. They have been instrumental in putting your brand on its trajectory, and you must give them back what they deserve as a reward except for mere remuneration.
2. Give them an environment to be happy and content. Employees love working where they are respected, valued, and have the freedom to work the way they want, and employers should respect it. Developing great organizational values and ethics, you treat your employees right, which plays a substantial role in keeping your employees satisfied with your company. They should be treated like they deserve to be and belong in the workspace, not because they need to work on their paychecks.
Another essential aspect of a business is that the entrepreneur must know how to serve people. With our hospitality businesses (Namely Urvashi Retreat and Khimsar Group of Hotels), something that has been prime to our work is to treat our customers with nothing but the best. Since businesses have to engage with people, a certain sense of harmony becomes the essence of this association.
Any individual will only interact or engage with you if you have what makes them feel elated and valued. Businesses work on a fundamental rule; if you give people what they need, you make a bond that lasts forever, and your business will only grow in the Process. As a result of perseverance and routine hard work, we have been able to craft an infrastructure to deliver to people state-of-the-art services to enhance their experiences with us.
Annadata Charitable Trust was founded solely because of empathy and the awareness of the suffering of underprivileged people. After returning from Switzerland after my education, I noticed how people in Khimsar have to struggle to have access to the bare minimum and the simplest of amenities. This ignited a fire in me, and ever since, I never looked back and started developing Annadata Charitable Trust to help under-privileged masses live a better life.
Fortunately, by the grace of God, we have been able to support thousands of families across the region. We have encouraged more and more people to come forward and contribute their bit through their generous donations.
The next imperative point in the entrepreneurial formula is the Process. The Process is an essential factor in deciding the fate of the company or any business whatsoever. Systemized processes help the employees and employers to work coherently and more efficiently. The importance of the Process is explained in the below points.
1. Processes are essential. But the implementation of those is just as equally important. How you strategize the laying out of your company’s new ideas and processes is necessary to maintain high productivity and efficiency. Do not become an autocrat and focus on collaborating, not manipulating. Look through these processes and see how you could make them work most optimally to contribute to your business or growth.
2. Post the implementation, it is essential to introspect and look deeper into the processes to gauge if it is working. Analyze in-depth and ask your team how you could improve on these processes. If it lacks in some way, educate yourself about how it could be brought back to its most profitable state. Also, listen to your employees when they report that the Process is not working correctly. Look through and improvise!
Summing up, these are the factors necessary for every entrepreneur to focus on. These develop one’s work and provide utter satisfaction and joy in doing what you do.
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