Taking off the beaten path to success

Rachna Ghiya, Founder – CrispTalks

Rachna believes in the theory of living life rather than merely surviving. She chose to swim against the tide inspite of receiving advice from her family and friends to take the well-trodden and safe path of a secure corporate job.

While Rachna was amongst the last few to grab a job inspite of getting a good GPA at her MBA, she was the first to opt out due to some unmet promises. She worked for 3 years at a Jaipur based company as a Brand & Marketing Manager but was very firm not go back to the monotony of a 10-to-10 job. While she was clueless which direction to take, in the journey of self-exploration and deep introspection, Rachna ended up creating CrispTalks.com (www.crisptalks.com). CrispTalks aims at offering awesome affordable animated videos to startups, entrepreneurs & trainers.

She is also happily engrossed in meeting & understanding exciting ideas from talented Entrepreneurs at Jaipur. She leads the Jaipur chapter of EntrepreneurCafe.org that organizes free meet-ups for entrepreneurs.

High point in career

“I am still working to attain one. But yes, till now the highest point is when I saw my name & startup featured on the front page of regional newspaper – Dainik Bhaskar in Nov 2015.”

Most challenging assignment so far

“The most challenging thing is to start-up & believe in yourself when nobody else does. I think I have challenged myself by leaving a comfortable job & travelling on the entrepreneurial path.

For an entrepreneur, every day is a challenging one. You have to work around multiple things & wear multiple hats to take your business ahead. You never know how much you will earn on monthly basis, whether your idea will work or not, whether you will get clients or not, which employee will bid goodbye to join a lucrative job in an MNC, and many such unforeseen challenges. But that’s what makes an entrepreneur. I have started enjoying these challenges.”

Greatest inspiration

“I believe every person has something unique & you can get the inspiration from everyone around. I don’t have any role model but I do meet lots of people who inspire me in their unique ways.”

Most important milestone in life

“My start-up is the milestone that has made me happy as of now. In the years to come, I would like to travel as many countries as possible while taking my baby (CrispTalks.com) to the next level.”

Women are the better halves. Have we moved beoynd this?

“I think we have but there is still lot that needs to be done. With the inspiring stories of women entrepreneurs, I believe we have already started giving hints to the world that we are capable to make great products & deliver awesome services while managing our personal space.”

What are your experiences on being a woman entrepreneur?

“Many people ask me this question — What are the difficulties you face as a women entrepreneur. Well, I must admit I am fortunate that I haven’t face any gender specific challenges. But when I meet other married women entrepreneurs, I see that they have too much to cope up with. They always feel guilty when they are not cooking for their family or not managing their children’s daily activities. It is truly commendable the way they wish to strike a balance between their personal and professional life, but I feel disappointed to see that some of them give up on their dreams midway.”

How do you / did you believe in making dreams come true?

“You don’t dream anything that you are not capable of manifesting. But yes we must not forget that dreams demand actions to make them come true.”

What were the Challenges that you had to overcome?

“I think the biggest challenge is to find the right set of people who can match your wavelength and will be the positive force in making your efforts successful.”

Did you face any setbacks? What were the lessons learnt?

“The kind of cutthroat competitions that exists today, there is definitely a need to be on your toes to make your venture successful. You have to see how to price your services, market them, understand the competition, think about USP, execution plan and the list is a long one. There were times when I felt a bit lost when I was not sure on how to proceed but somehow I sailed through it. Also there were times when I had to single-handedly work on multiple projects and ensure that the clients were delighted about the services offered. Those were real tough times but I enjoyed it because I am passionate about what I do.

From the many things that I learnt, here are few that I can quickly recall are

Making commercial sense is very critical, especially with the rise in the costs with growing projects

Your team are not just employees, they are part of your family; surprise them, love them, help them, make them feel at home

Trust is the grease that keeps personal and professional relationships rocking. Ask for help when needed and help when asked.”