The Art of Winning: An interview on how to be a Successful Entrepreneur

Becoming an entrepreneur can be quite a challenge. Even with capital investment and a plan in hand, there are things that need to be constantly monitored and weighed. So what exactly does it take to start and run a company successfully?

Alok Kejriwal, CEO of Games2win.com, speaks exclusively to Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar on how a successful entrepreneur can overcome failures to achieve success.

From invaluable tips like improving communication skills to developing entrepreneurial intuition-Gurudev’s management mantras for budding entrepreneurs are worth learning and implementing. Here’s your guide to becoming a successful entrepreneur.

Q: Sri Sri, everyone knows you as the CEO of AOL, spiritual master, global leader. But I would like to interview you on your incredible journey as an entrepreneur- Guru.

Gurudev: It was a very eventful and interesting journey. I started by taking responsibility for a sick school which had no funds. Promises made had not been fulfilled. Therefore, the children were left without a teacher or a place to stay. Neither had we ever asked anyone for money nor did we have any experience of running a school. But I knew I had to do this. Soon, things fell into place, and people came forward to help the school grow. Then I started teaching programmes. The first programme I taught in Shimoga was attended by eight doctors and engineers. I never intended to start programmes. My intention was just to share what I could.

Q: That’s what all entrepreneurs say, but then it becomes so big…

Gurudev: My passion was to do something for villages. I used to travel in villages, sleeping on the floor at peoples’ homes, talking, being with them, teaching them meditation.

Q: You are a science graduate. Why do entrepreneurs do the unusual? When you entered the realm of spirituality, why did you do the unusual? You could have been a tech guy, earning a lot of money, travelling everywhere.

Gurudev: It was simply not my cup of tea. There was a calling, a feeling that there was something I needed to do. I had seen wealth and fame when I was with Maharishi.

I spent most of my youth with seniors, great poets, great entrepreneurs and people dedicated to a social cause. Their wisdom, simplicity, and broad vision were so beautiful. We started very small, going from village to village. Then I started training people to be teachers.

Q: In startups that have succeeded, the first 5 or 10 team members make or break a company. What did you do to form a team?

Gurudev: I did not base this on anyone or volunteers. I based it on knowledge and wisdom. There is one power that is going to take you through and that is moving with passion and dispassion, all together. Praise, talent, and adulation are things people aspire to see in their twenties, thirties and forties. I had seen all this in my teens. Time is only for caring and contributing. And then the path opens up.

Q: On Mondays, people in organisations are crying, and frowning on Tuesdays. How do so many of the people in the ashram (retreat centre) keep smiling?

Gurudev: Moving with passion and dispassion, together. That is the power of spiritual knowledge. It gives you centredness which recuperates your energy, keeps you enthusiastic, and brings the much-needed passion for work. You want nothing for yourself. That brings passion in work and dispassion in meditation.

Q: In entrepreneurship and spirituality, we have a common problem. Half of IIMIIT graduates want to begin a startup, and family members are reluctant.

Gurudev: They should do start-ups. Thirty years ago there was so much prejudice against India. When we started the Prison Program in Boston, they just gave us a small 10’ x 15’ cell to do our Sudarshan Kriya. It was a dusty place with a small window.

But when we started the programme, it created a significant breakthrough in the prisoners’ lives. The prison authorities said what they were seeing was a miracle. They then gave us the grant to do the program for 3000 people in another place. So, wherever there is sincerity and talent, there will be people who recognise it. It may take some time. You simply have to have patience and hold on.

Q: Sri Sri, we’re talking about patience and time, but everyone wants to grow a rose garden in a day. You took 30 years to build Art of Living. A lot of young people think that startups mean instant money. Nobody realizes the value of time and patience. What is your advice to young people?

Gurudev: You should not be feverish about it. When you’re feverish about success, you take wrong decisions. It isn’t difficult to climb up that ladder by hook or by crook, but then you fall down the ladder faster than when you climbed it. Realise that you have sown a seed and you have to let it grow. You have to have inner strength.

At every step, you have to ask yourself, “Am I doing the right thing or not?” If you sit and worry, “What about me?” all the time, you miss out on ideas because you are self-centred. If your goal is clear, your aim is clear, and you have the patience to move in that direction, nature is with you.

Competition in business will help you to be more innovative and alert. Every competitor can inspire you to do more, and if you look at it that way you’ll be more at ease, and it won’t dampen your enthusiasm. Otherwise, you will burn with jealousy and depression and do unethical things

Q: On the power of intuition, a lot of us who are trying a new business haven’t used that before. How do we cultivate intuition? How do we draw on it?

Gurudev: That is what spirituality is all about -taking that inner rest. That restful alertness of mind, meditation and seeing life from a broader context. Then you won’t be so feverish. You will let things unfold. You can’t force a flower to grow. You simply let it be there. Now, “let it be there” does not mean inaction. People take it to the other extreme. Either they are complacent, or they are too feverish.

Q: Sri Sri, a lot of us find it hard to get success. Ninety nine per cent of the time it isn’t easy to do a startup. Then we start comparing ourselves with others, wishing we could be like them or saying, “I wish I could get that funding.” A bit of jealousy creeps in, and then it starts dominating our mind.

Gurudev: That’s because you don’t recognise your uniqueness. In this creation, everyone is unique. Nature has made us unique. If we recognise and honour our uniqueness, there’s no jealousy or competition. Jealousy is there when we want to possess things.

When you know you’re here only to contribute, how can there be jealousy? Here, spiritual knowledge becomes so relevant. Firstly, it helps you to overcome all these negative tendencies, and secondly, it improves your intuitive, innovative abilities and communication.

Q: You have made a product that is popular in India and abroad. How did you globalise your product so fast and make it so popular?

Gurudev: (laughs) Everyone is breathing! Everyone wants to be in love, happy and at peace. We just guide people on what they already have in them. And I still feel it hasn’t become as popular as a cellphone. Cellphones are useful, as they help you communicate. In the same way, meditation is even more useful because it helps you communicate with yourself and with the universe.

Q: This whole problem of competition becomes so serious that sometimes you feel like giving up. How do you keep yourself sane in this competitive field?

Gurudev: You should see the positive aspects of competition. Competition in business will help you to be more innovative and alert. Every competitor can inspire you to do more, and if you look at it that way you’ll be more at ease, and it won’t dampen your enthusiasm. Otherwise, you will burn with jealousy and depression and do unethical things.

If you go with this one principle that no one can take away my enthusiasm, my happiness, or disturb my state of peace, then you will see the difference.

Q: Seva, Satsang, and Sadhana are the formulae for spiritual success in Art of Living. Any formula for successful entrepreneurs?

Gurudev: They should keep their mind open and not be too anxious about success. Put in your 100 per cent effort and be open to new ideas instead of being stuck in old ones. You never know what will work on this planet. People should meditate at least twice a day, especially in a group. Then you’ll find the atmosphere is more humane. If there’s a humane atmosphere, there’s nothing you cannot do.