Go Light Your Bulb !!
(please ignore if you see any crude statements or nonsensical statements. Consider it as a mistake for a debut post)
Almost everyone who has seen Swades, remembers the scene where Shahrukh Khan tries to explain why he wants to quit NASA to do something for his village in India. The unhappy boss tells him in the end “Go light your bulb”. This is pretty much the same feeling an entrepreneur has when he has this feeling to do something on his own challenging normal convention and beliefs that we carry to hold on to our high paying jobs.
Starting a business is very challenging, with most of the times our friends and family suggesting us to stay away from putting ourselves at risk. They feel they are trying to warn us of the challenges and impossibilities ahead, but a true entrepreneur disregards all such warning and does what he wants to. I did that too. Today my startup has completed 1 year and I have never felt so good about anything I did. Nothing has given me such a great sense of satisfaction knowing that I did it, overcame it, and made it successful.
Knowing that there is lot of potential amongst the young crowd today, I want to share some advices/tips that has helped me stay afloat.
a) The Right Time.
Often I have heard people saying that he/she has a business idea and is waiting for the right time to launch it. Upon further probing I came to know that their idea of a right time is waiting for the next appraisal / bonus, waiting to pay off a loan, waiting to see if anyone else is doing the same business and to see whether he/she succeeds, and mostly simply waiting to muster enough courage to take the first step.
Let me tell you something, there is never a RIGHT Time. NOW is the right time. I started my venture when the firm I was working for decided to call it a day and focus on other line of business. Typical Indian mentality would have suggested that I take the first job that comes my way to support my household. In my case it did, a very lucrative offer came up which was very hard to say no to. But I did, and boy am I glad I did that. If I had taken that offer I would be sitting in a cabin giving directives (given to me by someone else). Whatever Idea you have today do not wait upon it, implement it, take the first step. Only then you will know how good or bad the idea is.
b) Funding
Since startups are growing at an unprecedented rate, there are willing investors and PE firms that are ready to fund your vision provided your business model makes sense. A lot of wannabe entrepreneurs wait to launch their idea till they secure funding for their business. I am not saying that it’s wrong to do so, however it’s not wrong as well to start your firm without securing a funding. It would require the most meticulous planning but if you can pull it off I believe even the investors will prefer a firm that has managed to put their idea to reality and show a working business model.
If you ask me, I started my venture with my rock solid friend/brother who inspired me to kick this off without securing any funding and today after 1 year of operations we haven’t looked back. Today if I require any funding it is only to expand my current capability and not to run day to day operations.
c) People
The success of any business depends on two types of people – The Leadership and the Fellowship. Ideally team of people who are going to be at the helm providing strategies, creating opportunities have to as good as the people who are going to work for you. I personally believe that people/employees are the biggest asset a company has. With the right set of people who can be committed to your passion, your business will take the shape in the way you have presented in the business plan. If you don’t manage to get the right people you are always going to face challenges to execute the vision you have. So when you want to start up, plan the kind of people you need, hire strong individuals who are willing to give you their arm to make the business the way it supposed to run. I was blessed enough to have such a group of people who not only worked for me for the initial months without salary but continued to stick with me sacrificing better job opportunities. Today as I look back I am happy to say that I have a strong team that understands my vision, my plan and are willing to work for that. Infact couple of them keep giving me subtle hints that they are going to make me give them a stake in the firm J
I hope that this write up manages to help atleast one person to give wings to their dream
Sony Joseph
Alchemist Digital Media
www.alchemistdigitalmedia.com
Darshan Bhambiru
Just Lighted a Bulb!!!
With reference to Alchemist Digital Media (as the startup you mentioned in Your Story in your signature sans the Pvt Ltd.)
Today my startup has completed 1 year – As per your Post above (Happy Anniversary and Happy Birthday to your Team and your Concern)
A small, hard-working consulting firm established in 2009 – On the Site [2009 -2013 (1 year ? ) ]
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Contact us on the Site says : United States: ????
Alchemist Digital Media Solutions, Inc. (INC registered in the USA on the Site)
253-15, 80th Ave, 2nd Floor,
Floral Park, Queens, NY 11004
info@alchemistdigitalmedia.com
Along with USA and Australia Contact numbers but nothing from the Mumbai, Maharashtra, India there to begin with.
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About Alchemist Digital Media Solutions Private Limited (Company Information for registered Concerns)
Alchemist Digital Media Solutions Private Limited was registered on 01 January, 1970.
Alchemist Digital Media Solutions Private Limited’s Corporate Identification Number (CIN) is U72300MH2012PTC231774, Registration Number is 231774.
Their registered address on file is Crystal Plaza, Second Floor,office No-30 Hiranandan, Navi Mumbai – 410210, Maharashtra, India.
Alchemist Digital Media Solutions Private Limited currently have 2 Directors / Partners:
Jijoy Joseph Kozhikadan (Should be the rock solid friend/brother who inspired…) ,
Sony Samuel Joseph, and there are no other director / partners in the company except these 2 officials.
Alchemist Digital Media Solutions Private Limited is currently in Active Status.
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So now how are all these Three Different Companies interrelated ??? (Alchemist Digital Media, Alchemist Digital Media Solutions, INC, Alchemist Digital Media Solutions Private Limited) or are they are all owned and managed by yourself and your brother/friend as partner (Or if they even related to start with) Just curious what seems to be a mismatch somehow, somewhere either in my understanding or your portraying them differently for a reason please correct me if I am wrong.
Looks like you are into the Online Marketing domain with ref to the Services mentioned on the Site, though there is no Logo yet Designed for the Branding of being a Company which does Branding and the likes to start with for services as Required. (You need to look into this immediately and get a Logo designed, we have quite a few Good Artists and Logo designers saravana kumar which you can Search for to connect with)
Also we have the Online Marketing — Pay as you feel Ishtyle! Offers by Kunal Shah also available if you want to offer to your clients as well as use yourself. So do you offer anything different or USP for your services differs from the mentioned posts ?
What is the Size of your Concern in terms of the current Employee base, or do you manage an inhouse team for the various services provided or get them outsourced ? Since you were also looking for Business Development requirement was this for Mumbai, USA or Australia ? Business Development online or Field work Locally? We also have Rodin Star Aman Jha from Startup4Startups who can also help you get these done as per requirement. To Name a few with the matchmaking within TRHS as possible apart from the various others in the network for the purpose as well.
This would also help the other Entrepreneurs trying to take Wings for their Dreams once they also understand the strategies you applied and went about it, with 3 separate concerns in 3 different countries being managed solely by the both of you as partners, so you can also guide the ones who approach you for assistance in the related domains of your specialization. Awesome Job!!!
Do get in touch if you need any other networking requirements, can get you things organized on my end with the best of my capacity if you so wish to take things further as per requirements, am a TURNKEY Business Consultant and do this almost on a daily basis for various Business needs and customised solutions provided as per individual or business requirements, details on my profile with links provided 🙂
Please do not mind my Straight querying style you may chose not to respond if you feel so, Cheers!!!
PS: Do confirm if the numbers are still reachable for you 099 20 791223, (022) 61620846
Sony Joseph
Hi Darshan,
Thank you for your reply. I will try and answer most of the concerns that you have raised below. I will keep in mind to submit a verification report the next time I submit an article 🙂
a) The website (http://www.alchemistdigitalmedia.com) is targeted only for my customers based out of US,UK and AU.Hence if you would see the contact nos mentioned are of those countries only. I prospect all of my customers through cold calling only for the above mentioned countries hence its a business requirement to assure the customer that we are not new to the domain though the firm might be new. Closing big ticket sales over the phone is a challenge we have mastered however sometimes we need give some kind of assurity, hence during the initial phases the year 2009 was written in about us. This is the honest reason why we chose to enter that date in our website.
Alchemist Digital Media Solutions is a registered firm in USA and is a legal US incorporation. The address given is my actual office address where i have 1 dedicated employee overlooking my US front end operations. Alchemist is also registered in UAE and we have a representative office in Sydney, AU. All the companies are owned by me and by my friend.
I have an alternate domain http://www.alchemistdigitalmedia.in which is currently under the process of being developed.
The website you have used to verify my company credential is not showing the accurate data. Please visit the MCA website for accurate company incorporation date and details. There are no other partners/directors other than what you have already listed.
b) I do have a company logo, though its not on the website and its my call. So far, my business has never been hampered. I do not intend to change the logo as well. I am tied up with some brilliant designers who provide me any logo I require for my clients, however this is very rate as I do not pick up any work in this domain. I primarily stick to web dev, online marketing and mob app dev.
c) Being an online marketing firm, It would be quite funny to approach someone else for any online presence I want to create. But we have no scope or requirement to market ourselves online. Like I said before I get my business over the phone hence in my line of work spending money digitally wont yield any returns for me.
And Yes, I am pretty sure that our way of offering digital marketing strategies is different. To give you an example, I do not charge customers a management fee for PPC campaigns, I give them a fixed price that does not increase irrespective of the varying ppc cost. How ? We have perfected an algorithm inhouse that allows us to predict campaign results to near accuracy and hence we are very clear of the costs involved.
d) For all the services mentioned in the website, I have an inhouse team that gets it done for me hence I have no requirement it to outsource it to anyone. Yes, I am currently in a need to hire permanent staff to my team for BD. Aman Jha had approached me and we have spoken quite clearly of the requirement I have.
I hope I was able to answer most of your questions. Should you feel the need to know more just pick up the phone and call me at 9820 24 8272 or 9920 791 223
Cheers !!