What's the story, morning glory.

Starting an ad agency, and a few small quips to read through the journey, Penning down a Founders Note.

One of the biggest challenges I faced when I started an ad agency at 23, was that I had no background in advertising. I didn't even honestly know the holistic nature of an ad agency. All I knew was, if a task was given, I'll write good copy and get good visualisation made/design it. That's about it. I didn't know what a CD, AD, CCO, or any of these designations meant. What is capex, ROI, nothing. But I knew focus. Focus on the process. Focus on delivering good work. Capex, ROI, all will follow. It was all a white board and I had to learn and pick up traits and learnings along the way. Probably why in the first few years, I was the only employee and whenever we got work or projects for those years, i turned to friends doing paid gigs or finding freelancers and hiring them on contract. The freelance community is an absolute blessing btw.

1) Imagine walking into another country with no idea of what language to speak, the culture of that country or how to navigate it's roads and ways. This was me walking into the world of advertising with no real dream, vision or idea of this wonderful space. All I had was a fascination to do something and trying to figure out how to make that happen. I had no idea what a pitch was, what to pitch, what were the core services to offer, how to make things happen. How do I meet marketers or brand heads? Who do I talk to and engage in a conversation with? This learning happened through 100's of calls to receptions, consistent rejections on calls, marketers avoiding or hanging up, some who told me that speak to us when you have x and y as an offering, and picking up all of this is what shaped the way. I took up all kinds of gigs that came our way. From PR to design to Facebook management to everything and that learning taught me what had to be done. It taught me every process, and I did most of it myself. Being hands on is the biggest learning curve one can have.

2) Making your own path. In my desire to accelerate my meetings with potential clients, after having thousands of calls and mails ignored by now, and even acquaintances knowing I'll probably seek a lead (or give one and add value), I thought to myself, I need to create propositions that can excite brands to listen to a kid (then 23-27 like me). I decided to host cyrus broacha live, did few events, and that got me more attention on my calls to marketers. The hook for them to speak to me was not me, but the names I was doing an event with. How did we fund this? Loans. Not at all recommended though. We took massive hits and 2 years to pay back what should have been an easy post gig ROI to the loanees. But alas, not all events work out specially again when you're a new starter. While financially that was a big learning, it did get me inroads that I needed. I had by then touched base with Kingfisher, Olacabs, Karbonn and from there on, they loved the work, and started giving us proper ads to ideate upon (I had by then let them know we're looking at ads and events is a way to get to them). Thereon, it was hustle, more calls and much more.

3) Never say die but treat each chance as your final chance to impress. Once we got the opportunity from these brands to create ads, i started getting freelancers on board and friends took various roles to help out (while I bartered by helping them in their business if any). The attitude of wanting to excel in the smallest of projects or biggest of retainers, and treating each chance as the chance of a lifetime, gave us the impetus to excel. This is also what is essential to stir emotion within you.

4) Learning to scale, learning to sustain. I was absolutely and still am, highly conservative in growth, while still being ambitious. We are positive, realistically, optimistically. We hire, we sustain, we grow and we build consistently.

5) Your associates are your fuel, your shoulder, your support system and your boss as well. Treat them well. Make them part of your firm as much as you can. Ease up on the rules. Make their lives easier and better. However, I do realise this is easier to do in a boutique team, as opposed to larger behemoths.

6) You'll have ton of tough, lonely days. Specially being a solo founder, the kind of stress to manage with no one else who has anything at stake to talk to or truly understand what you're going through, is tough. But every challenge teaches you something, and is fuel for success. Every cloud doesn't just have a silver lining but an entire bright sunlight waiting to shine through. Every learning is precious. Remember as much of it as you can and make it a habit to not repeat them, while excelling at charting new ways to react in the future.

7) Lead with Empathy. Like the cover image says, throw kindness around like confetti. A lot of time though, that won't always be the right path. There will be those who will take you for a ride, so watch out for the thorns, but never ever let that change you. There could be phases you find yourself wearing down with the pressure, but never let that hamper your empathy. Have the self realisation to find your way back to being the leader you want to be. No one is perfect and you will all make mistakes. You will all make great decisions. It's all fine. Don't be too harsh on yourself. It's human to err. It's human to be an empath.

8) Inculcate the mind of a monk. Practice remaining still in challenges and triumphs. It took me a long time to get there, and you honestly never get there, at least for me. It is a continuous consistent rigour to stay still while feeling all those emotions within yourself. Distance yourself from taking decisions at the time of turbulence in your mind and heart.

9) Remember the good days. Celebrate them, with humility and gratitude. Today, we write and create some of the biggest brands in the country, and we're super proud of what we do. We must take pride in our work and ensure that whatever goes out of our desks, has a stamp of quality on it. Ace every brief, as much as your creative energies permit.

10) Learn everyday, specially from your team. I learn the most from the team around me. Some of our associates are excellent advertisers, and they punch far above what the world credits them for. They're absolute amazing advertisers and I am always in awe of how much I could learn from them everyday. Build a team of personnel who teach you the good things, not the lessons. Again. hiring is always a challenge, and building a strong team is a blessing you'll have to work towards but it will get easier and you will get better. Focus on giving to your team, and learning from them everyday while leading the way. Ensure you lead with example.

Many more stories and learnings I'll continue to pen down. For now, this should do.

To more stories,

Krafting Happiness