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This Entrepreneurial Story is about Sreeraman M.G who Founded ‘Electroskan Designs’ located in Trivandrum & Mumbai, India.
About
- A B.Tech in Civil Engineering and currently pursuing masters in Interaction Design from IIT Bombay.
- Working in freelance design circuit since he was 17, under different names like Canvart Studio, The Great Indian Design etc and finally settling with Logoraman as my specialization was in branding and logo design.
- Has worked in Infosys and at PaGaLGuY.com as a designer for 2.5 years.
- Founded parent company Electroskan Designs in June 2011 and a brand ‘MGEEZ’ [tee shirt label for urban, smart and witty crowd] in May this year
- Website | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn
What Motivated you to start your Business?
I have been trying to start something or the other ever since I discovered the world of internet when I was in school. I have tried my hands at running a cricket forum and several other things while I was in school itself. Infact I designed a website when I was in 9th standard which mimicked what Yahoo and MSN was to the internet at that time, a complete web portal. Unfortunately none of those worked out but in the course of that journey I realised that I was good at one thing and that was design. In fact the act of designing something and spending all my time and energy on it was more interesting to me than everything else. So naturally the next step for me was to transition into some sort of a designer. I started out with designing websites for my relatives and friends but soon started specialising in developing logos and brand identities after I got my first major client when I was 17. So, I think I always wanted to start something on my own and the various things I have done during all these years were simply leading up to it.
Tell us about your Business
I have been designing tee shirts for sometime now. I never got any of those printed but when more and more people said they liked my designs and would consider buying if I were to print them, the idea of starting a tee shirt label of my own started floating around in my mind. Since I already had a good collection to begin with I only had to worry about sourcing the tee shirts and finding a good printer.
Essentially MGEEZ is a tee shirt label for the smart and witty. Our designs are neither too loud nor too subtle. One factor that sets us apart is the witty graphics we have on each tees. We don’t print slogans and all our tees have an interesting story attached to them.
What is a Day in a life of you like?
These days I wake up at around 6:30 and try to get in an hour of work before I leave home. The first hour is spent exclusively for reading and catching up with what is happening around the world. During weekdays I usually have lectures in the morning and the rest of the day is spent working on my business which includes being in constant touch with the printer, checking out what is happening with the other major tee shirt labels, sketching out new designs and reading.Evenings are Usually Spent Promoting my business. I maintain the facebook page and twitter accounts of MGEEZ during this times partly because this one time most of our followers will be online.
One particular skill you got right and gave you best results.
PATIENCE – lots of it. When you are dealing with printers, textile vendors and a bunch of people who are not exactly as professional as you want them to be, patience is a good skill to have.
What have been your biggest challenges in running your Business so far and How did you overcome these challenges?
Everything about starting a new business is challenging. Right from finding a printer to choosing a payment gateway, everything has been challenging so far but perhaps the biggest of all the challenges you have to face are your own weaknesses. I am not the typical entrepreneur type who networks naturally. I am more of the stereotype designer who is lost in his own world. After the first few months itself I realised that if I want to go anywhere with this business I have to come out of the shell and start talking to people even if it is just a hi-hello. People need to know that you exist and sometimes knowing the right people can make all the difference to your business.
What have you found the most effective way to get new clients?
For MGEEZ, facebook promotion has proved to be the most effective way to find new customers simply because anyone who will buy a tee shirt online is already on facebook.
What advice to you give to other business owners?
Frankly, I don’t think I have yet reached a stage where I can give other people advice but from my experience I have realised that your company sort of reflects you. Your weaknesses become your company’s weaknesses and your strengths become the company’s strength and the chain is only as strong as its weakest link. So, if you feel that some of your weaknesses are hampering the growth of your business, start working on them now. Some of these might be as trivial as controlling your spending, opening up to people and a myriads of other tiny issues but these problems will also scale as your company scales.
How did you keep motivated through difficult times?
I have a very simple philosophy in life and it goes like this. No matter how hard your situation is, the best thing you can do is to keep doing the thing you do best. Any person in the world can be distilled down to one core/essential thing they do or quality they have. For eg: I am a designer and designing is one thing I should keep doing even if everything else is going wrong in my life. You keep at it long enough and results will start showing up automatically.
What’s your Your Marketing, Funding and Team Building Strategy
As far as funding is concerned, we are completely bootstrapped. Most of our promotion and marketing happens online through facebook. Right now we are in talks with a few boutiques in Mumbai to showcase our tees. Although our hands are now full with work we are not looking to build a team yet, but definitely in the next few months we will have to start thinking about it.
Your Achievements
Still waiting for it 🙂
Whats your favorite quote?
“All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.” -T.E. Lawrence
Who inspires you?
The Australian Cricket team of the noughties for their “You are never out of the game” attitude. Leonardo Da Vinci for his sheer genius, Stanley Kubrick for the perfection and meticulousness in his work.
Do you have a Business Philosophy?
Well, I have something of a business philosophy that I developed from my own experience. It totally goes against the collaborative nature of working in the 21st century. So please take it with a pinch of salt. I have tried starting businesses previously and failed miserably because it involved a lot of stuff that was outside my domain of expertise and I had to depend on other people to pull it off. Dealing with people can be a tricky thing. You need to keep talking to them and motivating them as well as do your own part. These were not my strong points and naturally it did not work out. It was then that I came to the conclusion that whatever I wanted to start on my own in the future, 90% of the work should be doable by me so that even if someone else loses interest and leaves I can still continue the work.
Contact links
Website | Facebook | Twitter |
More Info
http://www.
Startup Freak wishes Best of Luck to Sreeraman M.G and Team!
