VYAS-On-Keys

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Stree Shakthi focuses on a woman who is a professional photographer and a co-owns a budding instrumentation company

Sometimes, the most profound and enduring friendships are born from chance encounters, like two ships meeting in the vast sea of life. I had the privilege of meeting Priyanka and Anand quite unexpectedly, and what started as a brief, accidental encounter soon blossomed into a beautiful friendship. Priyanka is more than a remarkable friend; she’s a gifted photographer, capturing the world’s beauty through her lens.

Can you share the story of how you started your business and what inspired you to become an entrepreneur?

Freedom and passion is the main motivation because you are your own boss. My husband and I share the same vision and that what inspires us the most are our customers. Being owners of two businesses (My Photographer and Current Instrumentation & Automation Inc) which are completely different industries to each other, we use the same approach which is transparency, customer expectations and building a long term relationship. This is an era where customers like to work with you because of your behaviour, and How you make them feel.

What is the mission and vision of your company, and how does it reflect your personal values?

Mission is becoming customers centric company, making sure each employee is heard and feels valued in the company. Vision is becoming number one choice of our customers what we do.

You are a mom, a wife and an entrepreneur. How do you manage these different roles and what has been key to your success?

Believe me it’s not easy, but it’s not impossible either when you have a wonderful partner. Being a wife I am my husband’s first cheerleader, motivator and his strength. I am always there for him in his good decisions ( to cheer him) or bad decision ( to show him the right path). When he told me he wants to re resign and wants to start his own venture, i said go for it without giving a single thought in a second because I believe in him. Being entrepreneurs and parents we make sure that we divide our responsibilities equally. Dev is growing and he needs our time and attention all the times. We are trying to involve Dev in everything whatever we do whether it’s Photography business or Instrumentation business and he has already started showing the interest. He was with us during one of our Biogas conferences in Calgary for 5 hours and he knows what type of business his parents are involved in. My mother and my husband are my two mentors who helped me to reach where I am today, my mother has taught me never be afraid of hard work, never compromise with your honesty. Whereas, Anand has helped me to come out from my comfort zone and take challenges to do some things great in life. Key to success is learn from your failures, be vulnerable, be bold to enough to talk about your failures in front of others and never forget your roots where you come from. Always be grateful what you have today.

Are there any specific challenges or opportunities that you’ve encountered as a female entrepreneur, and how have you navigated them?

I can’t change others, the only thing I can do is work on myself. People who ajudge you are going to judge no matter what. I was the only technical sales female in my office. I still remember during my interviews I was asked what if you need to travel overnight for to different city for a clients meeting? Are you ok to travel often and I was like do you ask these questions from Male counterpart as well? Once my client asked being a woman how do you travel so much and I appreciate that. Anyway, that never discouraged me to do what I wanted to do. In fact, I feel proud of what I do and how I am different from others. Every single day I only think of how I can improve myself and how I can be a better person.

What advice do you have for other women interested in starting their own businesses or pursuing entrepreneurship?

My only advice is don’t let others decide what is good for you This is what my mom taught me and that’s what I follow. There is only one person who can give you the best advice and that’s you. It’s good to take opinions but decision should be yours. You become, what you think. I still remember, Once I was asked what you wanna become. Without any hesitation, I said I will be an entrepreneur (“I want to be my own boss”) and that came true. But, there are many people who helped me to reach where I want to be.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ANAND SHEORAN (@anand_my_photographer)

How do you approach decision-making in your business, and what’s your philosophy when it comes to taking risks?

Think about your customers what they are looking for, not what you want. Anand and I share same philosophy and we always mention this thing again and again. When it’s come to risk, we are risk takers because if it’s easy then everyone could have done it. Also, before taking risks you should do enough calculations about prone and cons and different strategies. We always do brainstorming, share our ideas (that what we do most of the time while travelling). And the most important thing to mention, you don’t learn without failing. So try to learn from your failures. Learn from other entrepreneurs, listen to them. If possible learn from their experience and ask them for their thoughts. Let’s not forget that we can learn by watching others too.

As we bid farewell to this blog, may we carry with us the awareness your inspiration could just be besides you. Also, the next good friendship may be just around the corner, waiting to unfold in the most unexpected way. Embrace the possibility, and allow the magic of accidental friendships to enrich your life.