Days like these

Some days, it feels tiring to be an entrepreneur. Juggling too many balls at one time takes a toll. You want to simply quit and walk back to the employment circles, safe, secure and comfortable.

Some days, it doesn't feel worth it. So much effort, but meagre returns. Feels so unfair.

Days like these, you just want to walk away from the canvas and start all over again, with a new set of paints and a different brush, hoping to get new strokes - richer and happier.

Days like these make me wonder if I could fly instead of swim....

Hmmmm.....

No money, will spend

When you've put every last penny into your enterprise, surprisingly, it feels great. You don't feel poor or broke in the usual sense (after blowing everything in a shopping spree). There's this feeling in your bones that something better is coming, just as if I'd sown beans the night before and the beanstalk is set to spring up from the earth with a flourish and change life forever.

This kind of broke I have never been. And it's a happy broke.

Being Underpaid

This is probably a phenomenon that most people are familiar with. You go to work every day, you put in hard work, dedication and time and at the end of the month, what pops into your bank account is a measly (and depressing) reminder of your worth in cash.

It is even harder when you're on your own, running a set up that's still a baby. As if you didn't have enough struggles already, the burden of being underpaid is a winner.

Now you're a creative person. What goes into your work is a lot more than technical skills and clever thinking. There are emotions invested, hopes and aspirations, a burning desire to create something that has never been created before. This is one job where you put in a tablespoon of yourself, every time. What you present to the client is a part of you.

Which is why a creative person can suck at marketing - at selling herself, because to her, she is not for sale. The philosophical conflict starts there and if it is not controlled, it can make any enterprise a haphazard place of work.

And when in spite of this conflict, you sell a little bit of yourself to somebody and that person offers you a fifty rupee note, it is like being slapped and stabbed at the same time. They don't know what we're even putting up on offer! I guess they will never understand. For them, it is a cold, calculating business and the only thing that drives them is - how can we cringe and save money for ourselves? How can we devise new ways to fool creative people into serving us for less than what they deserve?

These experiences teach you to be a better entrepreneur, to look out for deception, quote higher, negotiate less, and perhaps someday be so darn good that whatever you quote, nobody can refuse!

But these experiences, they also leave you broken in places.

Downhill Drive

Being a young entrepreneur calls for a roller coaster ride. And from what I've heard from the more experienced, the ride is pretty much downhill for the first two to three years. It's not that there are no high moments. Of course there are those short, gleaming moments of creative joy, a sense of achievement and some money in the bank. And then it plunges downwards again.

Just when you think you have gotten accustomed to it, bang! You hit the lowest low and think you're dead. I'm there right now. This very moment. Some inertia mixed with a teaspoon of gloom and a cupful of hopelessness. A deadly combination, believe me. It is here that time has stopped, as if the engine malfunctioned at the wrong time, keeping me stuck down there.

As the engineer runs awry, looking for the right tools, it seems that I'm going to be stuck here for a while. Waiting, to rise again.   

The Journey of a Creative Entrepreneur - Part 2

It's hard to come by business sometimes, especially when people either don't know about you or trust how you can benefit them. Suspicion rules. I'm still to meet that one person/organisation which is willing to invest faith. Everybody is so scared to take a chance, especially with a newcomer. And I'm not sure how to receive that - with disappointment or sympathy. 

Investors are hard to come by too. And so is attention. If you can't zap them in a second, people are likely to shake their heads regretfully, reminding you of the way out. 

But there is one thing you are likely to get in abundance! Free advice. Everybody has something to say. Whether it's about how it should be run or what products ought to be sold, if a strong opinion exists, it has to be expressed. Most times I scan this advice for anything useful (like a sieve), since most of my ideas occur to me through conversations with people. I try not to miss an opportunity. However, most of it is simply gas. Uninformed, impractical and unreasonable. I don't let them know. Just nod my head pleasantly. 

If you follow it, you're screwed! Tried and tested. 

The Journey of a Creative Entrepreneur...and it begins!

Well, now that I have an up and running website, I wondered what to do with this space.
A friend came to my rescue. "Why don't you write about your experiences as a struggling entrepreneur? It could be like a diary, to which you can come back anytime for references."

And so here I am.

My name is Ragini Letitia Singh and I am the woman behind Rangini. Creativity came to me very young. I wrote my first novel at 12, had a large collection of pretty water colour paintings by 16 and presented a handmade greeting card to every family member, which was a masterpiece in itself. It came easily. When the sky was overcast and spelled rain, out came my paints, brushes and drawing book, and I was only to be found either on the terrace or in my garden, lost to everyone else. That ability to get engrossed in my work still lives. Sometimes I don't even know what day it is!

Rangini happened suddenly. It was probably my answer to a call that was bothering me within for years. As a communications professional, my job had some degree of creativity, but it was unsatisfactory for the moody artist within. I ignored myself for years, doing what everyone else does - have a job. Then followed misery, discontent and an inherent unhappiness that only festers when you deny yourself something that you badly want.

I knew what I had to do then. Armed with a capital of Rs. 0, I marched towards entrepreneurship, filled with positivity, pride and unfortunately, naivety.

Soon I realised that I don't know how to run a business. Business plans, marketing strategies, production capacity, taxes, blah blah blah.....A series of revelations followed, for example, my business sense is poor, I'm too emotional and kind to be a business woman, I take risks without thinking, etc. Everything took a plunge.

The creativity was roaring to go, but the business sense needed work. And the work has begun. The key word is 'smartness'. That's what the woman behind Rangini needs to be.
But smartness, with a heart and soul  :) 

Stained glass candle holders - this is the latest!

Visual Merchandising for the new Buzzaria store at Faridabad!

Buzzaria has something for everybody, be it a funky bag or an ethnic skirt. The new store at Faridabad (inaugurated on January 24, 2014) is beautiful and it was a pleasure do do some VM for it :)

The facade of the store

The ethnic look for the front window....

....with some interesting products on display

Bags, bags and more bags

Chumbak brightens up your day

Shelves laden with pretty things

The casual look for the side window

For more information on Buzzaria, please visit - https://www.facebook.com/Buzzaria

Bottle lamps

Visual Merchandising going places with RANGINI

Client: Kalpana sarees and shawls
Duration: 2 weeks!
Occasion: Celebrating the Innoweaves Festival and Diwali
Number of stores: 6 across Delhi-NCR

A celebration of beautiful weaves, keeping alive the element of fire!

Store at South Extension - II market

Store at GK 1 M block market

Store at DLF City Centre Mall, Gurgaon

Store at GIP Mall, Noida

Store at Connaught Place

Store at Select City Walk Mall, Saket

 And there are many more windows to pretty up!