"One Should Have the Clarity and Determination to Pursue Their Passion."

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1. Tell us more about your company and your journey.

Customise Studio is an e-commerce-based startup that provides customization of 275+ products according to the needs of the consumers. It was commenced on 4th June 2019, by me and my brother Vrutik Rajani.

Before that, I was a part of a similar business dealing with customized stuff, but to bring in more diversity by increasing the range of gifting products, we started with Customise Studio. It was a tough time to start, as the market was already filled up with a lot of competitors.

The goals were clear in our minds, we wanted to provide a one shop stop for all the customized products. In the beginning, as it was a zero investment startup we just started with mere trading of phone covers. With all those profits earned, we reinvested them and started to get more in-house production of products, and today we deal in more than 275 customized products.

At Customise Studio, we believe gifting is an emotion and we deliver emotions and not products. It has just been a year and we have about 15 odd celebrities using and endorsing our brand and more than 30 corporates using our merchandise. The best part about Customise Studio is it's small but a growing one.

2. How did you come up with this idea and go about executing it?

The idea about this developed when we saw the need for customization in the market. How the people were ready to pay when the product provided was apt to their needs.

The existing firms in the industry were more about dealing in narrow product lines, but we looked to provide a wide range, where a customer does not find the need to go to another page.

Also, the services in the gifting industry seemed vague to me, so this thought made us enter the industry and bring in some new concepts. To deal in this particular industry requires good management, so we made our back-hand operations simple and efficient which added to consumers' comfort and convenience.

3. What has been your biggest challenge that you faced and how did you overcome that?

The biggest challenge that we faced was the competition in the market, Instagram and WhatsApp selling is filled up with thousands of such sellers, so, there is not a proper pricing system for this industry.

The market competition is very unhealthy, customers used to give priority to prices and not the quality services. So, the challenge for us to provide quality services at a reasonable price where we stay in the contention of the customers.

We tried to eliminate the roles of the middlemen and get more in-house production for our products which helped us maintain the quality as well as the prices.

4. What do you think are the most important qualities of a successful entrepreneur?

According to me, a successful entrepreneur should have these qualities -

Self-Disciplined
Risk-taking attitude
Optimistic
Persistent
Innovative

5. What are some of the most important factors for running a successful business?

According to me, some of the factors to make a successful business are -

The entrepreneur should be clear about what he/she is going to do without clear and detailed planning there will not be a clear path for success. Also, the products/services should stand apart from the others. They have to bring in some innovation to gain a competitive advantage over the others.
According to me, profit should be the motive but in the long term. In the short term, the aim should be how we will expand the business.
For a retail business like ours, the key to getting successful is to have an efficient sales and marketing strategy which also has a strong emphasis on the after-sales services.

6. What are your tips for the first time and aspiring entrepreneurs?

My tips for first-timers would be to have a clear idea about what they want to do. The business concept can be anything, its just that they should have the clarity and determination to pursue their passion.

Whatever the concept is they should have a detailed plan for what they are going to do. They should have effectual thinking, they will have to start with whatever resources they have and having a flexible way of work, the other things they will learn on their own when they get the experience of doing business.

I would suggest the first-timers that in the initial stages don't run after profits, look after building a strong brand image and expansion.

7. How can one overcome a hurdle of lack of funds when starting up?

Customize Studio was a Zero investment startup, we just started with mere trading then re-invested the profits and arranged an investment like that.

Also, for any retail sector start-up, there are various platforms like Instagram and WhatsApp, where you can start it free. They would provide you a reach worldwide, which would not have been possible the traditional way.

Also, if any start-up requires funds there are a lot of investors, incubation centers, government programs like Startup India which fund those ideas which can do well. So, if you have a concrete plan and you can present it well, funds will never be a problem.

- Meet Rajani

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- Interviewed By: Soumya Jain