THE ENTREPRENEUR’S SURVIVAL GUIDE TO BEING A BETTER LEADER

In this episode, I am very excited to have my amazing business coach, Warsha Joshi, who is also a mastermind facilitator and a serial entrepreneur. She has built many successful businesses and has been featured on the likes of entrepreneur.com. I’ve been working with her for the past 3 years and have learned so much.

Born into a business family, Warsha started learning the ropes of entrepreneurship ever since she was a kid. Growing up in that environment, she was taught how to seek an opportunity and turn it into a successful business. Warsha has run and sold two businesses to date and is reaping the rewards of her third one in Dubai.

Despite being an expert in the field and having a solid grasp of the industry, Warsha has also sought the help of a business coach herself and believes that learning should be a continuous process. Warsha talks about the entrepreneurial mindset, the top 3 golden rules in growing and scaling a business, the qualities of being a great leader, some book recommendations and a lot of great advice on how to cope with the current pandemic.

This episode is meant to inspire entrepreneurs, and help people change their mindset to become more successful in their chosen business fields, especially in these trying times.

Connect with Warsha:

  • LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/warshajoshi/
  • Company website – warshajoshi.com

Connect with Dhiren:

Warsha Joshi 0:01
Wake up, stand up, shake yourself up, dust yourself off and know that today it’s this pandemics Today’s the virus stopping 10 years later will be something else. This is a phase of this will pass. What are you doing to survive this space not just survive the space but come out a winner. Keep your finger on the pulse of the market. What is it that the market is asking for today in this situation that you can provide?

Dhiren Bhatia 0:34
Wow, wow. Wow, is that hasn’t woken you up and shaking you then you have to listen to this episode with worship from worship joshi.com. I am absolutely excited to have worship on this show. Worship is a coach, a mastermind facilitator and author and a serial entrepreneur. She’s built many successful businesses and has been featured on The likes of entrepreneur.com. Warsha is an amazing coach who I have been working with for the past three years. I’m so glad and I’m so excited that she’s on the episode today, because there is so much to learn from her, especially if you’re looking to grow and scale your business. So grab a book and a pen and start making notes, because Walsh’s mind is just a powerhouse of information. I hope you enjoyed this episode. please do leave me some feedback and tell me how this episode helped you. Let’s get ready and let’s Cue the music. You’re listening to the elevated entrepreneur podcast, a podcast designed to help retailers, restauranteurs and entrepreneurs simplify business operations and to use modern technology to elevate their business is your host Dhiren Bhatia

Warsha, welcome to the elevated entrepreneur podcast. So nice to have you on the show,

Warsha Joshi 2:03
Dhiren, thank you very much for having me. It’s such a pleasure.

Dhiren Bhatia 2:06
It’s an absolute treat. And it is so lovely to see you and hear you and really get you to speak about the stuff that you and I have been talking for the last three years as your mentee. So thank you again for doing this. So, I’d love for you to tell us about your background and introduce you to the audience a bit more. So maybe you could get started and tell us what is it that you do and what got you into this field.

Warsha Joshi 2:31
So, my certification if you will started at the day I was born, I was born into a business family, both sides of my family, Mom and Dad side are all business owners. That’s all we know, as a family. We don’t know how to hold a corporate job, but we absolutely know how to seek an opportunity, turn it into a business and turn that into a success. So that’s what the first interest and that’s where this whole journey in business stopped it. This is my third business, I have run and sold two businesses already. And several years ago, when I started my third business, this time in Dubai, I realized that there’s been a little bit of a gap since my last business and this one and I know things have changed a little bit. The world had moved on. And I decided to actually hire a coach for myself. And I said, Look, while I know what I’m doing, I also want somebody here to hold me accountable to gently shine the light on the path that I’m walking on and guide me to keeping in the center of that path. That relationship, which still continues, by the way, has been one of the biggest takeaways for me and I decided, look, I have benefited so much. I have actively sought help and are benefited from this. And now it’s my turn to give this back to the SME world at large and that’s when I picked up Coaching as one of my lines. So then one of the other things is, while I was born in a full on business family, the family business was given Silverado, my father was taken in as the heir to the business when he had absolutely no interest and no joy in running that business, as a lot of Indian families did in those days, he didn’t have a choice. So he took it on. As a result, what happened was not so long into that journey, he realized that he really isn’t the business owner. But one of the things that he did not do is seek help. And as a result of that, there was very little left of that business very soon. He wasn’t the greatest businessman in the world, and it showed in the business. So by the time I was 16 years old, there was nothing left. And my mom is one of the most entrepreneurial women than I have ever come across and she still is my inspiration. She took me under her wing and we started the first business. And when I took up that coach for my own business, actually good 10 years ago, I decided that while this has helped me, this is my way now to actually help somebody and save them from that failure that I had actually seen with my own eyes. So that’s actually inspires me every day when I sit with a coachee when I sit with a mentee, to say, just hold my hand, and we’ll walk this path together. And that’s the way to success.

Dhiren Bhatia 5:40
That is amazing. Thank you so much for sharing that you’re right. I’ve never heard this in our relationship. And you’re right. I think, as business owners, you know, we will never talks to be business owners. I always say to my wife Shweta, that if it was great if we would learn in school, how we could be business owners because we make entrepreneurship to be really easy, or let’s have a start up to be fun. You know, it’s glorified in the media as having pool tables and having a party. But it’s so much more than that. And what you just said that was really, really key that almost every entrepreneur should have someone showing them the way. And that makes a big difference in how that business is going to turn out. And on that note, I always say my best decision I’ve ever made was coaching with you. It has changed me it has changed my business for the better. And it is always a key bit of advice that almost all entrepreneurs should ask for help. And there’s no shame in it. So on that note, when you talk about entrepreneurship, the entrepreneurial mindset, is there something that people should be aware of?

Warsha Joshi 6:46
Entrepreneurial mindset to me is not just related to business. You may not be running a business and you can be entrepreneurial to me, an entrepreneur, somebody who sees an opportunity who grabs them. Opportunity works towards knowing everything that there is in that opportunity and make the best of it. Right now, I think in the world over half the world who is saying these are actually great times is an entrepreneur to me, because they’re seeing something in these adverse times as well. I’m just making the most of the situation, seeing an opportunity make the best of it. That to me is the core of an entrepreneurial mindset.

Dhiren Bhatia 7:28
And when you talk about mindset, as an entrepreneur is there are times where I personally have started to doubt myself and I started to get into the stream of or maybe I’m not very good at it. Is that also a part of that mindset, in addition to what you just said about finding an opportunity?

Warsha Joshi 7:46
That’s particular incident that you talk about, is, I think, just a human thing that is not so much an entrepreneurial thing. We are all entrepreneurs and at the same time, we are all here. So some days, we actually begin to doubt ourselves when things are not going hundred percent according to plan. The first thought in our head is, well, maybe I’m not cut out for this. And that’s probably the time that you need a good shake up. And so you have chosen this for a reason. Think of why you started this in the first place. There is no such thing as free lunch. It takes hard work, it takes persistence, it takes resilience. And in that journey, it’s okay to sometimes feel oh my goodness, what have I started? And it’s perfectly okay that to say, right, I’m done with that little cry. I’m not gonna stand up and carry on. So those are two very different things. Bear that in mind. Always.

Dhiren Bhatia 8:49
Yeah. And, you know, one thing I’ve heard you say is there is no angel coming to save you. It’s really you that needs to work for yourself. And like you said, pick yourself up. Things happen. Failures happen. And it’s okay to cry about it, but not for long and not let it fester.

Warsha Joshi 9:04
Something that I learned from my mom and she always says that she still says, never, ever be afraid to start from scratch. If you’re not afraid of failure, that you’re not afraid of anything really.

Dhiren Bhatia 9:13
On that note, I want to ask you, what are the other factors for success in business? The top three golden rules that an entrepreneur should always keep in his mind, apart from the ones that we just talked about.

Warsha Joshi 9:28
No, that’s when you begin to grow. There is only so much you will grow if you keep the business to yourself. What I mean by that is, there’s something that I usually talk to my coaches about is when entrepreneurs start their business, it usually is all about them, that business becomes their baby. And the more that situation continues, the more you are prohibiting or inhibiting that business from growing, so remember that, to really turn this into a business, know that it’s going to only grow as much as you allow it to grow. So when you bring people in, bring them in, delegate properly and allow them to grow your business with you holding back and thinking, Well, I’m the only one who would take a decision. I’m the only one who knows how to do this, right, is you’re actually writing the end date of that business. So remember that when you bring in people, allow them to grow the business with you.

Dhiren Bhatia 10:39
So important, having the right people on the journey with you. So very important

Warsha Joshi 10:44
Very much so

Dhiren Bhatia 10:45
And I think also without the right people, business owner is really going to be stuck doing everything that he can and not think about the bigger part of that business, which is strategizing, the big picture view, because it keeps you away from that and there’s a really good book that you had recommended that I read when we started our engagement three years ago is the E myth, the entrepreneurial myth. It is such a good book. And I wanted to draw your attention there because I think that book talks about just what you just said, Have the positive mindset, stop trying and hire the right people.

Warsha Joshi 11:18
hire the right people very much. So thank you for talking about that book. I love that book. And what I love about that book, and what I realized one thing from there, as that book talks about Sara being the greatest pie maker, you may be the greatest architect in the world, for example, you may create the greatest buildings in the world and at some point, you think, Well, why am I working for someone else? Let me go and start my own business. Not really realizing that. Doing what you do best as a profession is very, very different from running a business. Knowing that when you start a business you have literally created an entire industry. And the entities requirements are very different from your personal requirements, recognize that bring that separation and allow that to grow by giving it what it needs. And many times that architect goes and starts a business. No offense to any architects out there in the world, this is just an example. You go out and start a business and then realizes that there is very little time to actually tell the other buildings because the business is taking away a lot of time.

Dhiren Bhatia 12:28
I’ll refer to the book in the show notes as well as somebody wants to read it. But it talks about these three ideas that there is the technician, then there is the entrepreneur. And these two roles are very different, which is what you were just alluding to, that’s a phenomenal book. And then initially, maybe they entrepreneurs, all three of them, but over time, as you said, as you bring on the right people, you become an entrepreneur.

Warsha Joshi 12:50
And also remember that when you even begin to talk about bringing in the right people also remember to make a plan and see who do you actually need So what are the different roles that your business needs to fulfill, start from there would be my advice as well.

Dhiren Bhatia 13:06
I want to hear from you about maybe some of the failures that you’ve had and how you’ve overcome them in the three businesses that you’ve run. What did you do in terms of adversity?

Warsha Joshi 13:16
So one of the first things that comes to mind in the most recent business, which is the outsourcing business, so this was started 10 years ago, during the previous downturn, when the world was crashing all about us. And I’ve saw an opportunity and I thought, Well, okay, this is fantastic. There are small businesses coming up, and they should surely need administrative assistance. So I started the business for them. And in about a year or so maybe, actually stretched it to about two years. We got a lot of clients, we got a lot of exposure, and we were doing well. And there’s the key. The doing well was deceptive thing. We had a lot of clients. But my biggest mistake at that time, was not realizing that the house service, the whole business model is aimed at small businesses who actually don’t have money to pay me to pay my business for the services. So why don’t have lots of clients. I wasn’t actually making money to the point where I thought, well, if I continue like this, I’m going to have to close. So pretty much times like these that they were and I thought this is not right, because I know there’s an opportunity. I know there is something more to this bar, am I doing wrong? So it took a good month or so to literally just sit down, take a break from the business and say, now what am I doing wrong? If those people don’t have money to pay for the service, which is obviously doing them good in their businesses, helping them in their business. So who else has that money? And where else can this serve as be applicable. That’s when we turned, we basically switched our target market. And we haven’t looked back since then. So if I hadn’t sat back and really given it a thought to say, Well, yes, I’ve now started this business, but it’s going nowhere. It’s actually doesn’t look like it’s gonna last very long. If I don’t make a shift over here, we won’t be here talking about this. And also all that came through conversations with a coach as well, even that,

Dhiren Bhatia 15:30
right. And I think what you just said so much to it, and I want to break it up a little bit. So the first thing that you said was, you started a business with an idea. It was in the midst of a downturn and you had an idea for customer. But then you realize that this was not your ideal customer. This is not the customer that has the money for it. And that itself is so important. knowing who your ideal customer is. There is no business where the entire market is going to be your customer base. There’s a slice of that market. And so when you said that, that’s what I thought about right away that every business should know who his ideal customer is. And then the second thing you also said was finding the right product market fit. So you had the product, you had to find the market. Now you have to make the product work for that market. And in your case, it had to work for bigger SMEs and bigger enterprises than for the small business. So two really key things that you talked about. That’s phenomenal.

Warsha Joshi 16:22
Yeah, and something else that I realized at that stage. So outsourcing secretarial services, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? virtual assistants, and the virtual assistant industry globally is directed towards the very small business owner towards the solopreneur. So that’s the other myth, if you will, was shattered in my head that day. The minute we start thinking, well, this is what my industry does. This is what I should be doing as well actually led me to near failure at that time. So there is no such thing as I should do as my industry dictates.

Dhiren Bhatia 16:59
Yeah. And that is so key as well, right? You want to be able to explore boundaries, push your own boundaries, your own mind boundaries, like you said that it shattered your mind. And I think in our mind, we have these things that I learned from you called self limiting beliefs. And again, what you just said, there is part of that it’s an example of a self limiting belief. Why should I do What my peers are doing?

Warsha Joshi 17:19
Yeah. So At which point, do we actually sit back and say, Well, actually, I don’t care what my industry is doing. I want to be the leader of the industry. I actually want to set the path for them. I want to set the precedent for my industry. And really go ahead and do it. So what if you fail? What if you find success? How wonderful that is?

Dhiren Bhatia 17:40
Exactly. And so one of the things that is coming out of this discussion is this idea of an entrepreneur, being a leader, and everything that we’ve talked about so far is pushing us in this idea that it’s the leader that makes the right decisions, and it’s the leader that has to think about all of these things. So in your mind, or in your experience, what is a good leader

Warsha Joshi 18:00
My favorite subject. So what is a good leader who is a good leader? And I want to softly challenge what you said just now that what’s the accepted norm is the leader makes all the decisions. And I want to challenge that to say when you hire great people, allow them to show their greatness in your company. If you’re the one who’s making all the decisions, you’re leading no one, because they’re not following you. You’re a leader only when you have a follower of someone will follow you only when you inspire them, only when you let them be who they are only when you respect them for what they bring to the table. So a good leader is a good leader only when the team is happy. That team is inspired. A good leader and their role as a good leader is only to keep the team happy and inspired. That’s it. Let your team Everything because that’s what they’re there for.

Dhiren Bhatia 19:03
When you say that I think a lot of business owners are thinking, well, I can’t let my team make the big financial decisions, and I can’t let them make the big strategy decisions. Anything that you’d like to share on that?

Warsha Joshi 19:13
Absolutely. So, fair enough. You can’t let your team take financial decisions or your strategy decisions, or they can do or what you can do as a leader is actually involve them in that decision. Eventually, you definitely can be the voice of vote. At the same time. At least you’re hearing what someone else is saying. You’re getting a multi dimensional view, you’re getting a different perspective, because you are as a founder, usually too close to the situation. And there is every person in this company in your company, individual companies, who has a different view of the company has a different view of the leadership has a different view on the market, the same market that you think is one thing, ask your frontline people, they may actually come back with a whole another perspective. So the point is not so much give away the decision power. The point is, they are involved in the decision making, because only when they are involved in something, they’re engaged in something, will they happily roll up their sleeves and say, You know what, yeah, let’s do this. And that’s when they will support you. That’s when they will look at you as a good leader. Because you make them feel important.

Dhiren Bhatia 20:33
One of the things that comes to my mind, I heard this just recently, it’s a phrase that says saying no, is lazy. And why I want to bring that up in this conversation is because if as a leader, I don’t listen to my people, or I keep saying no, like you said, There is never this extra work that we’re doing to figure out a solution. Or it’s not a good idea. That’s not something that I want to do because I’m the leader, saying no can be very powerful, but it’s also very lazy at the same time because we’re not working to figure out a solution. When the team as you mentioned,

Warsha Joshi 21:02
yeah, team engagement before client engagement.

Dhiren Bhatia 21:06
Yeah. The other thing you say right, treat your employees just the way you like to treat your clients because they will treat your clients the same way.

Warsha Joshi 21:13
Absolutely keep your team happy, and your clients will never ever have a reason to complain.

Dhiren Bhatia 21:19
I think it takes time to get there. But if you have this in your mind that your team is as important as your customer. One of the things I also learned in the last few months is customer experience is equal to employee experience. If the employee is happy, as you were saying, then the customer is also happy.

Warsha Joshi 21:38
On that note that I want to talk about another book that I had referred and we work on actively is the scaling up. So based on the four decisions as scaling a book by Vern harnish is is it must always be every entrepreneurs bedside reading and active action taking reading and one of the exercises in That is ensuring that you get your clients NPS score and even more. So there is something called an NPS score, which is your employees, NPS. So how does your employee write to you and your business as a place to work? So it is very, very key component of that entire team and your people side of the business.

Dhiren Bhatia 22:23
I’m so glad that you brought that book up. It was a book that you and I had discussed when I started being your mentee. Do you think that these surveys or this NPS has to be very technical and complex survey? What would it look like for an entrepreneur who wanted to do something others?

Warsha Joshi 22:37
Again, like one size, three questions this ask them three questions. What should we stop doing? What should we start doing and what should we continue doing? That’s it. It doesn’t need to be a 360 project driven survey. Nothing so big keep it simple. The most simple it is the better answers you will get the quicker answers you will get

Dhiren Bhatia 22:58
and you feel involved. If you were to ask an employee, all these questions, I think they will feel a lot more involved in that whole discussion

Warsha Joshi 23:06
that they will. And they do. Because how many times do you go out in the big corporate world, our employees or the team actually asked these questions very rarely

Dhiren Bhatia 23:17
So I want to ask you on the topic of books, and I know that you read a lot of books. So we’ve talked about two books. And I think we should give one more book that every entrepreneur should read, what is that one book that you would recommend?

Warsha Joshi 23:31
Mandatory reading? There are two actually, one is self help. And the second one is very much a business book. The Self Help is Think & Grow Rich. That is your original secret book. That’s your original mindset book. That’s the original everything book. It talks a great deal about self belief. It talks a great deal about belief in yourself. It talks a great deal about having the belief and the Dream and also importantly talks about having a plan. And that’s, I think needs to be the starting point of all the books that you might read later. In terms of business. That would be my starting book. And the other book is Good to Great. I think it is one of the greatest success books that I have read and whether you are starting off, or whether you’re an established entrepreneur, whether you are an established SME, who is now breaking through into the mid size or the large industry market. That is one book that will give you insights like you’ve never had before, and great plans with people management as well. So I will highly recommend these books to be on your reading list. Always. Even if you read the book, reread it. It’s like peeling onion layers. You can continue reading different books. Keep coming back to these books. Because every time you open a page, you will take something away. Action wording.

Dhiren Bhatia 25:05
Actually, it’s funny you mention the book, I’m actually reading the book as we speak. In that book, there’s this conversation about five stages of leader. And I think what we have just talked about in the last 30 minutes really alludes to all of that. And I’m so glad that you brought that book up.

Warsha Joshi 25:20
Yeah. What is your takeaway from that book so far?

Dhiren Bhatia 25:24
For me, it’s this conversation that we’re having what is a leader and what makes you a good leader? There was this phrase in the book, which is the mirror and the window. A good leader always looks out of the window when he is happy about something and because he’s praising the team, and he’s looking in the mirror when he is introspecting, and probably wants to do something better. And there are examples of leaders who do the opposite. They look in the mirror when they’re happy, and they’re proud because they take all the credit. And they look out the mirror when they’re not happy because they blame the team. So I think that for me was the biggest takeaway, the mirror and the window.

Warsha Joshi 25:57
I’m glad you mentioned that. It’s pick up Such a big takeaway in the entrepreneurial world. It is so beautifully articulated. So thanks for reminding me about that. Yeah, good one.

Dhiren Bhatia 26:09
Since we’re talking about reading, I want to ask you what is the biggest investment you’ve made with your time and money,

Warsha Joshi 26:15
Having a coach, having a peer support network and training my team. While they may or may not be expensive, because I think expensive is a relative term, Dhiren there are certain business expenses that need to happen. And to me, it’s more an investment. And when it’s an investment, when you know there’s a return coming from it, then it’s not about it being expensive. It’s about something that you’re putting in to reap the harvest when it starts showing the results. So I wouldn’t call them expensive, I would call them fertilizing the soil that are planted See that?

Dhiren Bhatia 26:56
Because these will pay you back many fold.

Warsha Joshi 26:58
You bet

There are some skills that you always take away with you. The minute you have a coach, you’re not just going through the business, you are changing yourself as a leader. And today you’re running cloudscape. Tomorrow, you may be running a business to sell this pen. It doesn’t matter. You have gained transferable skills as a leader, as an entrepreneur, as a business owner, somebody who has made a success once knows how to replicate it. so expensive, doesn’t even feature and that sentence.

Dhiren Bhatia 27:32
It’s an investment. And I’m so glad that you brought those three things up. I think those are very key fundamentals that business owner should be looking into training your team is a big one. One of the things I remember that you talked about is about being a capitalist. So as an entrepreneur, we have to be this idea of looking for opportunity, like you just said and doing cloudscape today could be some bench tomorrow. And it’s not because I like something better. It’s just that I’m a capitalist, I see an opportunity. So something you said at the beginning of the conversation, find the opportunity and get into it.

Warsha Joshi 28:03
While we’re talking about this, I also want to touch on something else that aren’t as much used word in that startup world. When you start your business, my advice would be to bring the passion into running the business. So let me go back to that architect. That architect whose passion in life is to build buildings, keeps the passion for building buildings, even when he is now or she is now building a business. Unless there is passion for running the business itself, not about the product, unless the passion is transferred to actually running the business knowing the intricacies of running a business, knowing what makes a business tick. Knowing your own limitations, and knowing when is the right time to expand bringing the passion into running a business. key to that entrepreneur success

Dhiren Bhatia 29:03
is right. And I think it’s not about being an architect is about running that business.

Warsha Joshi 29:10
Yes, it’s about running a business. Again, that’s why I said once you know how to run a business, and once you have turned something into a success, and again, I don’t mean, your typical tech startup who is in to bringing up the product and exiting it. That’s not what I mean. I mean, actually building a business, building an organization with people, a process driven organization, something that whether you sell or whether you run it, whether you pass it down to the next generation, whichever, you are actually leaving a very strong legacy. So when you know you’re building something like that, then that’s when I feel you would have grasped the true meaning of running a business. So again, today’s cloudscape Tomorrow, you could be selling this pen, you will excel because you now know what to do, how to build that machine and the background to sell this pen,

Dhiren Bhatia 30:10
actually, so always be a capitalist and always learn to construct this idea of a business, not just be the architect and construct buildings but construct a successful business. That becomes a legacy. Very powerful. Thank you for sharing that. We’ve gone over time a little bit, but I want to ask you a few more questions. So we’re gonna start moving towards wrap up. Obviously, this particular pandemic, it is what it is, and it is changed a lot of things, a lot of businesses. What is something that an entrepreneur should be thinking during these times?

Warsha Joshi 30:41
be agile, wake up, stand up, shake yourself up, dust yourself off. And know that today it’s this pandemic Today’s the virus talking 10 years later will be something else. The world coming crashing down about us is a story. It’s happened before it’s gonna happen again. So, the key to remember is that this is a phase and this will pass. What are you doing to survive this face not just survive this phase but come out a winner. Keep your eye open, keep your finger on the pulse of the market. What is it that the market is asking for today in this situation that you can provide. Only when the market is willing to dip its hand in its pocket and pay you will you make money. So if you are not moving, if you’re not being agile, to meet the market today, you’re going to be standing on the tarmac when the flight takes off, eventually, rise up, look up, the sun is still shining. And even during the Great Depression, we hear horror stories about 25% of the world’s population lost their jobs. Because again, we like to hear shock and horror stories and the flip side If that is 75% was to work 75% was still earning, whatever it is the lifestyle continued. And it’s the same even today. There are tons of businesses which are actually looking up. And how are they doing it? grabbing an opportunity. Keep your eyes open, grabbing opportunity and something that I saw in one of the interviews that was played back by the head of who, during the Ebola virus is that speed over perfection? It is always speed over perfection when things are moving so fast around you. The world is changing by the hour. If you’re not changing with it, you are already left behind.

Dhiren Bhatia 32:40
Absolutely. And you wanted my next question I was gonna ask you when you feel overwhelmed, you feel unfocused, because it’s common to see that sort of reaction. You’ve talked about what can happen. What should an entrepreneur do

Warsha Joshi 32:53
in these current times it’s it’s a challenge to see how big is that staircase or how big is that ladder that you’re looking for? So, focus just on the next five steps. As long as you can see the next five steps, keep climbing. Don’t worry about what the next two years is gonna bring. Just think about what the next few steps are, and how you can keep moving inch by inch inch by Amgen very soon, you know you’re moving several feet at a time, set short, achievable goals. Very soon, you know, you are actually moving very quickly down that path.

Dhiren Bhatia 33:30
So to me, it’s very easy to get inundated and overwhelmed by the magnitude of something. But like you said, if you can see the next five steps, keep at it. We’ll get to the bigger picture. One more last question about advice. And I think this is a very interesting way to put it. What is that one advice that you would write on a billboard for entrepreneurs to read constantly?

Warsha Joshi 33:52
Can I make it two ?

Dhiren Bhatia 33:53
absolutely you can.

Warsha Joshi 33:57
The first one is to Give yourself some CEO thinking time, whether it is every other day, every day, or at least once a week, set aside an hour to sit down and work on your business. There is no operational issues that you will take on. So one hour of CEOs thinking time every week, and the second, something that burn again and I differ a lot to learn. As a result, certified coach, I have learned a lot. And one of the things that he always always say is that routine sets you free. Have a routine. Because when you have a routine, you know you don’t have to worry about anything else. When you know your routine, your follow routine things get done. The less routine you have, the less haphazard your day looks. You get to the end of the day, knowing that you were busy but you didn’t actually achieve anything. So remember co thinking dying And remember that routine sets you free?

Dhiren Bhatia 35:04
Absolutely. It brings me back to one of the first exercises that you and I had done is had open my calendar. And we put in time, once a week, called the CEO and founder time, and it has changed the way I run my business. I look forward to the time every week where I get to think about what’s new, what’s next, keeping our finger on the pulse, all of those things that CEO and founder should be thinking about, but he can’t because he or she can’t because he or she is busy doing other things in that business, including selling.

Warsha Joshi 35:34
Yeah, because we get so inundated by the operational issues in our business, that we rarely actually sit down and say, right, you know what, hold on. I am the founder or I’m the CEO. I need to be looking over the next 12 to 24 months. Am I doing that successfully right now? And if you’re not, it’s time for CEO thinking time

Dhiren Bhatia 35:57
Absolutely. Hundred percent. I want to ask you to wrap up, where can people find you? What’s the best way for them to reach you?

Warsha Joshi 36:05
Find me on LinkedIn for sure Joshi and find me on Instagram as well connect, ask any question that you might have, and I’ll be very happy to answer.

Dhiren Bhatia 36:16
Awesome, Warsha, thank you so much for being on the show and for sharing such amazing things that I feel I’ve taken a lot out of, and I know the listeners, which was awesome. Thank you so much.

Warsha Joshi 36:26
Thank you again for having me. This was a wonderful conversation.

Dhiren Bhatia 36:30
Hi, everyone. I want to thank you so much for listening to the episode and staying with me till the end. I hope that you enjoyed this episode. I also want you to know that we have some amazing guests and content lined up for the future episodes of the elevated entrepreneur podcast, so if you haven’t already, please consider subscribing by going on to elevated entrepreneur.fm or subscribing to wherever you listening to this episode. And finally, please consider leaving the elevated entrepreneur podcast a fire star review if you’ve enjoyed the episode so that you can make it easier for other entrepreneurs and business owners to find this podcast

Transcribed by https://otter.ai