“Bounce Back And Grow In Tough Times”

Author Ravi Kikan who has launched his non-fiction novel ‘Bounce Back Now: and its awesome self-help tips for aspiring entrepreneurs, startups and small business owners to bounce back and grow in tough times’ tells Corporate Citizen that the foremost quality of a winner is the willingness to unlearn and relearn

"Building a positive mindset is all you need to get someone out of the pessimism. You have to be real because the fears are almost real"

Ravi Kikan has been a CXO, Growth Specialist and author of the book ‘How To Validate Your Startup Business Idea’. He is now out with his very timely second book, ‘Bounce Back Now’. It promises to be the ideal read for someone thinking about starting up a new venture, whether professionals, homemakers or even students. Irrespective of tough times like the ongoing pandemic Covid-19, which has been testing everyone’s patience, business acumen and the economy, winners will always find a way to emerge from the chaos and make way for greener pastures. “You could be one of them,” Kikan believes.

Corporate Citizen: What compelled you to write this book at this point in time?

Ravi Kikan : There are two sets of people who see tough times like this pandemic in different ways. One set of people look at growth and moving to the next level. They are the ones who are optimistic. The other set of people have a fear of failure and do not want to experiment too much. They have their previous failures or hiccups that come forward as hindrances. This is applicable to life and business. This is the first biggest reason to help people bounce back in life and business. The second reason is to support students, homemakers, professionals and aspiring entrepreneurs to launch their business despite tough times. The third reason is to share useful tips for startups and small business owners to grow and sustain their current businesses.

CC: You mentioned that irrespective of tough times like the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, winners will always find a way out to come out of this chaos. What is the rationale?

Whom would you classify as a winner? Anyone who has sustained, experienced the hard falls and then tried managing with minimum damage to his/her thinking and business. A winner needs to have these qualities whether a professional, startup, or an aspiring entrepreneur: positive mindset, patience, growth perspective, willingness to take calculated risks. The best and the foremost quality of a winner is the willingness to unlearn and relearn.

CC: What are some of the key areas in which people are experiencing challenges, both personally and professionally?

People generally do not share when they are depressed or going through a tough time. They keep a different face to the outside world. On the personal front, there is the fear of the unknown, claustrophobia, repulsive behaviour, healthcare scare, aggression, and frustration to break free is seeping through. On the business front, there is dipping sales, intention to pay is changing from customers, erratic work timings, and stress that might lead to burn out.

CC: Any “practical actionable tips” to help people bounce back?

These two key tips are supercritical for aspiring entrepreneurs, students, startups and small business owners:

• Success is a very relative term, get your way of thinking.
• You are building a business and not just a product, keep that in mind.

CC: For whom precisely would ‘Bounce Back Now’ come in handy and why?

I think it would benefit two sets of people:

• Anyone who is planning to start his or her own business or someone who has already started their business and now wants to grow despite tough times.
• Anyone who has had a past in terms of failure or bad episodes in the life and needs some positive motivation to bounce back either in life or business.

CC: Your book also addresses another pertinent cause the desire to help those struggling with pessimism and failure.

Yes, it does. Building a positive mindset is all you need to get someone out of the pessimism. You have to be real because the fears are almost real. Whether in life or business you can always bounce back now if you have that right bent of mind to look into a little bit of positivity, motivate and hope infused in the person in the right proportions.

CC: What were some of the challenges that you personally experienced and what were your learnings from the same?

I have failed more than I have succeeded in life. I have had massive failures and breakdowns. I think the only thing that kept me going was my positive mindset and growth bound approach. I saw these traits in common in between everyone had failed previously and had bounced back in life.

‘Bounce Back Now’ is not just a tribute to everyone who has a fear of failure or the unknown but it is an honest ‘Note To Self ’ for people to realise that nothing is difficult if you set things right in your mind and plan it systematically. Anyone can bounce back now.

“Great tips, a timely read”

Ravi Kikan dedicates this book to “all the hustlers in the world… and to those awesome rockstars who had tried doing something interesting in their lives but fell short of the destination and now are dealing with the fear of failure or depression.” He encourages, “This is your roller coaster, get on this ride.”

The book is a quick and pacey yet insightful read divided into snappy, easy to assimilate sections. It asks readers to first ponder their own definition of success. “Everything is relative, keep that in mind,” Kikan writes, adding, “Small wins in your life are also your success pit stops. Honestly, it finally boils down to what brings you happiness in the end. Be it anything, ONLY you choose that. For me, it has been my small wins, you can choose yours.”

He reaches out exhorting readers, “Don’t give up. Anyone, anywhere, anytime. Sometimes it just might take some time to bounce back or it might hit your self-realisation peak but in the whole blind race of your life don’t forget to get a little easy on yourself. That’s easy rule no 1, we continue from here. People don’t realise that in the rat race, don’t they? Good days are numbered so are the bad days. Tough times don’t last, tough people always do. These are not sayings but valid assumptions to get you going and sail through tough and unforeseen times.”

The book seeks to make the reader more process-oriented, more positive and more charged up to take on this world, to bounce back one step at a time. In the chapter Focus on Your Business Idea, he details The 6 Buckets That You Should Know, Basic Level Definitions, Basic Business Validation Process, The Final Revision, followed by a real-time assignment to test your market or business.

Kikan shares startup tips on topics such as, You Are Building A Business. Remember That, Identifying The Right Target Audience (TA), Be Awesome At Least One Thing, Building The Right POV (Point of View), Strong User Experience & Design Thinking, Focus On The HIGH Customer Experience (CX) & Quality Delivery, Growth Marketing Basics You Should Understand, You Build The Business For Yourself & Growth, A Smart Entrepreneur Always Pivots Fast & Smart, Small Team, Smarter Team, Flexible Team, When You Don’t Ask Most Likely The Answer Is Always A BIG NO, Biggest Time Wasters For Anyone, Anytime, and The Real Growth Mindset.

In an added bonus, the book has serial entrepreneurs, experts, and founders from across the globe contributing their point of view. From Dr Ramchander Chepyala Co-Founder and Scientist writing on AI & Healthcare: Post Covid-19 Challenges & Opportunities, to entrepreneur Shalin Jain sharing highlights of his journey over seven years as they went from 100k to $10M, these real-life stories are a trove of learning. The summary of these Global POV condenses the learnings in a concise manner.

While maintaining that the book lays the foundation of a bounce back and growth mindset, Kikan rightfully points out that no one can guarantee you success in your personal or professional life. “It is only you as a person who has to always choose what’s good for you and what is excellent. You have to finally decide, what’s your definition of success? Everyone might give you their POV (point of view), finally choose the POV that suits you and comes handy. Pick and choose, do that freely, do that often. Finally, it is not about the destination, it is all about that journey that you travel for the destination.”