How my journey began
Pradeep Gowriraju - Founder & Chief Experience Officer of Happy Retreats
Extremely introvert kid from childhood and was the first one to run away from the room, if I had to answer “ Tell me about yourself “
Like many other successful people, I can confidently say that I wouldn’t be where I am today without the direct and indirect support from my mentors throughout my journey so far.
First Mentor
It all started in Hyderabad with my eldest brother and my first mentor, Prashanth Gowriraju - Founder & CEO Timla Foods Pvt Ltd. He was the first one to identify my potential in sales and marketing and set me on the right path and opened up a whole new range of career opportunities for me.
Second Mentor
Like every other entrepreneur even I have gone through this phase of life, where i was super frustrated with my corporate job and seeking for something which I was clue less about. It was my wife Shruthi, who identified my potential to make some one happy with my custom curated surprises. She motivated me to start a surprise planning company - Happy Planner. I have started this with zero investment and generated Rs.25 Lakhs revenue in the first year. It was her inspiration that motivated me to quit the corporate job and do what ever I have achieved so far.
Happy Retreats
It was in 2016 December, my co-founder Nag joined me and we observed a gap in the supply and demand for personalized experiences, at exclusive venues. There were customers who were looking to add a personal touch to their celebrations, and there were owners, with exquisite villas, looking to make money of their holiday homes. We stepped in, and began conversations with such owners, and slowly realized the merits of our dream. To our delight, we found that our management of such sites, yielded positive results, and Happy Retreats, as we know it, was born.
Started with Rs. 1.4 Million turnover per annum , today we are doing Rs. 30 Million turnover per annum. Together we have gone through lot of hardships but we are fortunate to have the right mentors on board with us in taking the right decision in the right time.
Time Management
Like any first time entrepreneur, I was super unorganized and was always excited about all the ideas which come across as an opportunity and started working on every opportunity without the right focus and objective, due to which we have gone through the most difficult time of our startup life.
It was then, I was introduced to the concept of time management techniques and the importance of establishing a process and breaking it down into small, atomic operations that are easy to grasp and don’t require intensive resource consumption.
Mentor for Time Management
It was during this process, I have realized the importance of having a mentor who can keep a track of your time management. Though I was good at planning and execution, my mentor helped me a lot by ensuring that, I stick to the timelines without any distractions.
I have seen most of my fellow entrepreneurs failing miserably at prioritizing the tasks and sticking to the timelines due to which they are stuck at various levels in their journey.
I strongly feel, it’s the right time for me to give back to the community by sharing the techniques which I have learned from all my mentors.
I might not be an expert with the relevant expertise in your industry but the frameworks of time management are universal and can be replicated successfully in any industry.