Creating A Content Creation Business, In The Words Of Srilekha Kaluvakunta
Opportunity India Desk
Apr 27, 2022 -
12 min read
Content—any text, audio, video, graphic or image—made to convey thoughts and information to the audience. It is delivered to users with different methods like websites, podcasts, social media television, radio, audio CDs, books and magazines, physical art, and live events. Growing technology invasion and fast internet connectivity has made the content an easy method of delivering the information to a large number of people at once. This also made people come up with their content and help people by solving their problems. No matter which platform you are talking about, thousands of aspiring stars are trying to serve quality content to their audiences.
As per a report released by Ernest and Young, the Indian content creation industry stood at USD 19 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 30.6 billion by 2023.
A report by 360 Research Reports, mentioned that the Digital Content Creation market size, globally, is projected to grow with a CAGR of 9.1 percent in the forecast period of 2020 to 2025, and is expected to reach USD 16.9 Billion by 2025 from USD 11.92 Billion in 2019.
Content creation is itself a hard task, especially if you are a new player. People seek originality in the content which involves a lot of research and planning. Along with that, you need to think unique to deliver the unique. Srilekha Kaluvakunta, in her book ‘Unique Thinking’ conveyed the importance of unique thought processes. She also mentioned how helpful unique thinking capabilities are in personal development. Srilekha has learnt a lot about the start-up ecosystem with her numerous ventures in several Industries. Some of her unique endeavours include ‘‘Pinkchocolate’’ (Fast foods, restaurants and corporate gifting), “Scegliere'' (hotels and restaurants reviews in the country) and “Thought Dimensions'' (a knowledge based Platform). She was nominated in the Small Business Awards Hyderabad 2022 organised by Franchise India. Below is the exclusive interview Franchise India had with her.
Q. How does it feel to be nominated for the small business award?
A. I feel happy and good for being nominated and recognized for “Social Entrepreneur of the Year”, one of the most premiere and prestigious awards by Franchise India group. I consider it as the starting point of the accomplishments and ladder of success in my career.
Q. When did your business begin?
A. I started Thought Dimensions, Pinkchocolate and Scegliere during the years 2017-2019. Not all start-ups execute and operate as expected in the very beginning of the business career, and during the unusual times where we are much standing on the basis of virtual data driven reality, Pinkchocolate ( Fast foods, restaurants and corporate gifting) and Scegliere (hotels and restaurants reviews in the country) were on pause looking forward to regain the momentum.
Q. Why did you decide to start your own business?
A. I decided to start my business with the idea of bringing out education transformation in the areas of management and leadership based on my concepts of unique thought process.
Q. What was your first objective when you founded your business?
A. Our business objective is to bring up Education and Social transformation. Our business Mission: To embrace excellence and induce the art of thinking unique from others that creates your own recognition and unique identity.
Vision: Our vision is to become the global education firm on Management and Leadership consulting establishing, showcasing and envisioning its uniqueness among the global leaders.
Values: Our values are concerned with establishing the culture of in depth analysis and understanding, conflict resolution, strategizing thinking patterns, organizing things around us in a way that we fetch the desired results based on the activities we perform.
Q. How many people work for your company?
A. As of now, Thought Dimensions is functioning as an online/offline based non-profit educational firm mostly driven by either me as an initiative towards Management and Leadership coaching mentoring and my inclination towards bringing out transformation in the field of Education.
I work for Social, Economic and Educational transformation on the Social Media and some NGOs and business networks support me as Partners, Business Advisors, Co-founders and a few of my known people as we are in the starting phase of taking it to the higher levels of having the Economic and Political impact in a positive manner to bring out the Social transformation.
Q. What products or services do you offer?
A. My Concept of Thought Process is recognized within India and across the world; it makes me feel good to hear people talking about thought processes in the IT industry and in almost every sector of business and political landscape. As of now, we are only working towards having Mentorship and Social Impact in the Society not oriented towards generating any considerable profits or revenues from it.
Q. What methods do you use to promote your business?
A. I must say we don’t have any Unique Selling Proposition (USP) for Thought Dimensions. We have a unique brand, Philosophy and Strategy for creating Positive Economic and Social Transformation helping the society at all levels and segments of people getting benefitted by thinking different from others.
Unique Thought Process is the rationale by which we operate and Social and Education Transformation in the Field of Management and Leadership eliminating the belief that Leadership is needed only for those who have reached to the higher ladder of success.
Our vision is to bring out Managers and Leaders starting from their career and to teach them execute Personal Management and Leadership along with their profession irrespective which field of study or career they want to excel about. It’s about bringing transformation and change in the way people think in a unique way.
Q. How difficult was the start, what was the motivation and what was the reason for starting the business?
A. Like any other entrepreneur, I had gone through lots of lessons, experiences, failures and success stories. As I mentioned earlier, Pinkchocolate and Scegliere are on pause waiting to gain momentum. But the lessons learnt are being analysed and discussed in the premiere Indian business schools, colleges and during business meet ups which is the kind of feel good factor to share your experiences. We all know that Failures are the stepping stones for anyone’s Success. One of the main reasons to come up with my start-ups is my interest and inclination towards having my own business and also I must say I have got required mentorship from my good friends within and outside India who are the very well established Stalwarts in the field of business.
Q. Please tell us what is the current industry trend of your sector?
A. Education industry is evergreen sector of business with the evolving technologies and knowledge to educate and share with the students and spread across the subject you’ve achieved with the world.
Q. If you were not a businessman. What else would you have been?
A. I've been working in the Information and Technology industry for the last 15 years and Management and Leadership are my areas of expertise. While I was a child I wanted to become a Doctor but I happened to pursue my bachelors and graduate courses in Computers and IT. Business is my area of hobby, interest, inclination and passion.
Q. Do and don'ts for aspiring entrepreneurs?
A. For those aspiring to become entrepreneurs and founding start-ups after graduating from business schools, my advice is business is not as easy and flashy as it seems, you need to put in required time and effort towards reaching your business objectives. It should be more of a passion towards what you want to achieve in your business which involves a lot of ground level work. I’ll say you have to do something to make your dreams a reality! Learning is a journey and not a Destination! You have to make your own choice of things in your life.
I’m sure if you follow these principles, you must be able to achieve and accomplish what you desire and dream in your life.
Q. What motivates you the most?
A. Motivation and Inspiration are the key traits upon which you get the strength to work towards what you want to achieve. When people read your books or listen to your experiences and stories you feel good about it that you could influence someone’s life and career in a positive way.
Below are some of the achievements that personally motivate me
Q. How do you handle your competitors in the market?
A. We are working as a Non- Profit Organisation to create a positive social impact in the economic and educational standards of people. So, we are not focused on sales, profits and revenues with it at this point of time. We have a huge digital and social media online and offline presence as a brand to create a unique positive impact on the people and society.
Q. Is Businessis another name for taking risks, before starting any new things, how do you overcome your fear?
A. Fear is the common trait that every individual will have as a kind of psychological anxiety that we should try to overcome. We should practise mindfulness and meditation and try to analyse further what is causing anxiety in us and develop your mind and thoughts to boost up your self-confidence.
Q. Who were your Business gurus?
A. Well, I don’t have any specific business guru to name; but I admire and learn from many people which I consider as my role models. Jeff Weiner, Ryan Roslansky, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Donald Trump, Narendra Modi and many other most inspirational leaders in business and politics from whom I think we can learn a lot.
Q. Where do you see your company after five years?
A. Our vision is to become the global education firm on Management and Leadership consulting establishing, showcasing and envisioning its uniqueness among the global leaders.
Q. What has been the role of stakeholders in your business in terms of support from the government?
A. We are still a start-up and not reached to the extent of having any political influence on this business. But as part of Social transformation initiatives, I am privileged to have enough political support from my close family and friends in politics and business sectors.
Q. How was the initial seed fund taken care of
A. Initial funding was through seed capital, business loan and personal savings and investments. We haven’t approached for Series Funding from Venture Capitals and Angel Investors.
Q. Which is the area of opportunity for small businesses today?
A. Whichever area you choose you must be able to bring out some change transformation then only people will recognize your business idea and concept and support further is what I believe. I personally feel Education, Consulting, Hotels and Restaurants business are evergreen and have a good future growth.
What Teaching Does her Story Delivers to Small Businesses?
Srilekha’s story is a perfect example of how important it is to think unique when you talk about business. Every industry, including content creation, needs people who have a distinguished way of thinking. ‘Unique Thinking’ can help entrepreneurs to decide which idea is important and what decisions will help them in their business journey.
If you also want to pursue the type of business format like Srilekha, you must first know about what content creation is, and then only you would be able to open a venture. You also would need to be industry specific, by learning about any industry you like, so that the targeted readers from that specific industry can come and read your creation. This will help you have a precise overview of what your readers want and how you can give that to them by thinking unique.
