Starting a Small Business: The Right Time, Tips and Essential Resources-Sonali Rathi Pramanik- Serial Small Business Owner

Host, Dr. Sirisha Kuchimanchi, invites a special guest, Sonali Rathi Pramanik, to discuss the ins and outs of starting a small business. Sonali, a serial small business entrepreneur, shares her experiences and expertise in various industries, including garment retail and the spa industry. Together, they dive into the resources available for aspiring entrepreneurs, such as the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the Small Business Development Corporation (SBDC), who provide valuable mentorship and guidance. From conducting market research to setting up the right legal structure, Sonali provides insightful tips and highlights the importance of partnership agreements for long-term success. If you've been contemplating starting your own business, this episode is a must-listen!

Sonali Rathi Pramanik has had an incredible journey as an entrepreneur. After completing her business degree, she gained valuable experience working with ICI Paints in India for five years. Seeking new opportunities, she then transitioned into the garments manufacturing and retail industry in Mumbai. However, Sonali's career took an exciting turn when she relocated to the United States. There, she co-founded an Ayurveda-based spa and yoga studio in Plano, Texas. For 11 successful years, Sonali and her team ran this business, offering holistic wellness services to the community. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic brought unexpected challenges, leading to a temporary break in Sonali's entrepreneurial endeavors. Undeterred, she used this time to reflect and strategize for her next venture. Now, Sonali is enthusiastically preparing to launch her latest business project, an Ayurvedic skincare line. With her deep understanding of Ayurveda's principles and her passion for natural skincare, Sonali aims to provide people with effective and holistic products that promote overall well-being. Sonali Rathi Pramanik's entrepreneurial journey is characterized by adaptability and a genuine commitment to holistic wellness. Her diverse experience, from paints to garments to wellness, showcases her ability to navigate different industries successfully. With her upcoming skincare venture, Sonali is ready to make her mark once again.

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Transcript

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

Are you wondering what is the right time to start a small business? Are you looking for resources, maybe legal or financial, on starting a new business? Welcome to Life Beats with Sirisha on Radio Caravan On one zero four point one FM in 700 AM. It is actually cooling off outside, and it's beautiful. If you haven't got a chance to step out this Thursday. This is your host, doctor Sirisha Kuchimanchi. I'm a former semiconductor tech executive, a podcast host, and an entrepreneur.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

I work with organizations and universities on building leadership pipelines, elevating leaders, and getting students ready for the workforce. If If you're interested in learning more about me or what I work on, you can check out my website, sirishakuchumanji.com. It's spelled s I r I s h a k u c h I m a n c h I. And you can also Listen to the podcast, Women Career and Life on any of your favorite podcast platforms. It is a top 30% 45 podcast as well. I'm so excited to have Sonali today with us. She is a Serial small business entrepreneur. That's how I would call her.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

She's done so many things, including working in garment, retail, running her own spa. And today, after a brief introduction from Sonali, we are going to unwrap, if you're a small business owner, the steps to walk through this from and the resources that are available. As always, the phone lines are open. You can call the number at 214 817-3333 and ask us questions. You go live on air. The number again is 214817333 three. So, Nali, thank you for being here today. It's wonderful to get and learn from someone who's done this a few times and knows sort of the pathway to fall.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

So why don't you give us

Sonali Rathi Pramanik:

a brief about yourself. Hi, Sirisha, and hi, everyone there. Thanks, Sarisha, for having me over for this show. And as you mentioned, yes, I I don't wanna call it a serial small business owner, but, yes, I have been in small business for a while now. After my business degree, I worked with ICI Paints in India for 5 years and then moved into garments manufacturing and retail link in Mumbai. And then when I moved to the US, I cofounded an Ayurveda based spa and yoga studio, and this was in Plano. We, ran that business for 11 years. And after that, after a brief break due to COVID, and then Now I'm on to my next business, which is in Ayurvedic skincare, which is gonna be launched in a couple of months.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

Wonderful. And You've always had partners in your business, and you've always worked it, very diligently. So let's let's start with this. I think People wonder. So let's start with what are the resources available when someone is starting a business, and what are, like, the first 2 steps you have

Sonali Rathi Pramanik:

to take? Okay. So 1st of all, let me tell you. If you if you thinking of a small business, I think the good time to start a business is now. If you have a passion, if you have an idea, don't keep putting it off because there's no better time than to start as right now. And there are a lot of resources available. So things like over here in DFW area, we have, SBA and we have SBDC, small business administration and small business development corporation. And you can set up a time with them. They have several mentors available to mentor you in different areas of the business.

Sonali Rathi Pramanik:

There are attorneys. There are CPAs. There are marketing, Advisors business advisers who will give their time to you pro bono, and you can take your idea to them. You can take your business plan, marketing plan to them, and they will help review those and give you suggestions, give you ideas, and give you directions how to go forward.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

That's actually important to know because as I'm going through my own journey, I don't believe I've actually leveraged all those resources as well. And how so are SPS and SBDCs by counties, by cities, or Yes. They are by counties. Okay. And then they would reach out to them and set up time to review all of this?

Sonali Rathi Pramanik:

Yes. And they will refer you to other people within their organization who could be of use to you. So, you could get a half an hour free consultation with an attorney who'll help tell you that what all do you need, when you're starting a new business or with a CPA who'll guide you further so you can make use of those resources.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

Okay. And what are the steps? Obviously, you're staying with s SBA and SBDC. In your case or, and, you know, probably talking to other small business I think the challenge is taking a few steps back in this journey. Right? How do you kind of even back your idea or think of ideas and say, okay. These are things that I want to. And Do you go to SBA and SBDC before you back and look at market analysis, or is it something that you'd what is the way to affect that before you jump in here. Yeah. So, normally, you would do

Sonali Rathi Pramanik:

once you have an idea, you would do your research first. You would see whether this idea is viable, see who are the competitors in this space, see whether there's really a demand for your idea. Is that what people are looking for? And even if there are a lot of times where some ideas are very path breaking ideas where people know that's what they're looking for. And that's Fine. If you have the conviction, you can go ahead. Do your research, I would say, and then take it to, The to SBA to SBDC, and ask them for their help, and they will guide you. They'll with their experience. They're very experienced people there, And they will guide you and tell you what have you missed out.

Sonali Rathi Pramanik:

Maybe you should look at some other resources, look at some other areas, and do your research thoroughly, and then, go ahead with the next step in developing a in in your business plan.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

Okay. And once you've got, obviously, From a business standpoint, setting up the right legal structure for it, you know, whether you decide on an LLC, a partnership, escore. I'm sure that's part of the guidance of what it needs to. It depends whether you have a partner or how you're planning to structure it.

Sonali Rathi Pramanik:

Yes. That's right. And, typically, you would go to an attorney. The next step would be that. If you are a solo partner, you don't have any other partners in the business, if you're going solo, then you could even Set it up yourself. It's not very difficult to set up a business on your own. But if you have, partners, then you would definitely want to Have proper agreements in place, so you would go through an attorney for that.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

Okay. Because the attorney is not only about the legal structure, but about all the and other like, if you have IP and trademark and other compliance too that they need to come in and step in. And, of course, there are different attorneys doing different things.

Sonali Rathi Pramanik:

Yeah. Absolutely right. And one of the things people normally overlook is the importance of partnership agreements because when you're getting in business with Friends, you tend to say, oh, everything's fine. I trust this person completely. And, sure, I'm not saying that the trust is gonna get lost, but You want to be prepared for the worst. So it it really makes sense to have your partnership agreements in place for simple things like what happens if kind of situations. And so that everything is laid out, everyone is on the same page, and there are no, surprises later on. Yeah.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

When you think about it, someone might wanna exit the business sooner or later or you wanna take it public. There are so many different decisions to make from a business standpoint. Also, when I think about it, it's I think the protection for both people. It's not only, like, for you. Right? It's for them as well. And working with a lawyer like this, I it opens up ideas that you haven't thought about. You don't know where all the different segues are, especially if it's your 1st business. Westpac can do.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

Yes. Their expertise and sort of their standard agreements gives you an insight of, okay. Here are ways I can tackle this and

Sonali Rathi Pramanik:

Yes. Very true. Because, also, you need to think of it whether depending on what kind of business you are in, you need to look at liability issues also. So so there are a lot of areas that you need to consider. You want to see, if 1 person wants to exit, if you want to bring additional partners, if some if you need Additional funds and if the existing partners don't want to put in, whether you need to go for outside investments. There are a lot of things. If you lay those out beforehand, As much as possible, then that really, ensures a smooth sailing on the agreement front at least later on.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

Yeah. It takes away a lot of the pressure. Right? It's Absolutely. Because friends and family are are certain relationships you would like to retain and not We derailed by sort of business concerns, so you have to be intentionally careful. So if you're tuned in, you're listening to live beats with on Radio Caravan. We have Sonali here. We are discussing how to set up a small business, the legal and financial resources available. Many of you may be sort of on this path or even thinking about it or maybe contemplating it in the future.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

You can definitely call us. The studio number is to 14817-3333. Maybe you wanna even pick up a pen and paper or an electronic device and sort of take Notes of this. We were just talking about using the small business association and the small business development corporation, the SBA and the SBDC for a lot of these resources. And if 1 of you is kind of walking through this, you know, if it'd be if you want us to walk through this with you yeah. Okay. We have someone calling, so I'm just gonna Pick up the phone. Just give me a second.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

Hello? You're live on air? Hello? Hi. Can you hear us? You're live on air. Hello. Welcome to Radio Caravan. You're live on air. If you can hear us, maybe you can or maybe call back if if the line isn't going through. Yes. Thank you.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

So as we look at, please, thank you for calling back. So yes. Please go on. Okay. So, Nina, thanks for joining. I'm gonna let Sonali answer this, and then I'll take some of it as well, please.

Sonali Rathi Pramanik:

Yes. Hi, Nina. And, yeah. So one of the things you may want to do is contact SBA, set up a marketing, advisory kind of a call with them, and See if they are able to give you any additional inputs on which are the other avenues you could consider. And this will be it's a complimentary service, so you definitely would want to make use of this. And other avenues, if you're Looking at local avenues, maybe if you want to consider, approaching some affiliated businesses, like If you, approach somebody who's selling maybe garments and then your, candles jewelry kind of would be an add on service Or if you approach some spas or some other places where they would be willing lifestyle stores or something like that, where they would be willing to keep your products over there for a small fee, and that could give you a broader reach of audience.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

Yeah. That's actually really good because I know, you know, Carlos was talking about, setting up on Etsy and other play absolutely, like, sort of a Dichotomous relationship or partnership that you're talking about. People might suggest, you know, setting up in in like, when they have exhibitions and stuff. So there is A lot of this is around I think a good idea is, like, is the marketing because there's a lot of ROI around this discussion. It's how much time, effort, and sometimes the money you wanna spend around this. So I would suggest as you're putting a marketing plan with someone, I kind of use this tool. I sort of mind mapping up through all the ideas by just researching And then putting, like, a star saying which one makes sense and what's the dollar comment next to it because I think that will help narrow down the focus because You can completely go scattershot and spend a lot of time doing things. And you have to try some of these, of course, and see which one sticks.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

But I like the idea of partnering with organizations that already are catering to a certain audience that you wanna speak to. And when you go to the store, you obviously candles and others. So maybe between common stores, going to the mall, maybe finding some niche places, to take your product would be a good way to do it. And I would say the timing of it is is now as as Anali was saying, but I think the timing of it is now also more patently because it's October and Thanksgiving and Christmas are around the corner, and people are going to be shopping for gifts and for the holidays. So I wish you the best. And, hopefully, some of these suggestions and maybe working towards the small business organizations will get you on a much better footing and wishing you the best. So thanks for calling in.

Sonali Rathi Pramanik:

Thanks for calling.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

Yes. And, if anyone else has questions, please definitely do call in. So what I'll be So what is the next step? I know you we talked about partnership and stuff. I can tell you from my own experience, the the reason I bring up ROI is sometimes we have a lot of ideas, so sometimes you're struggling with especially marketing. Right? I I listened to 2 things, yesterday that happened to be following on YouTube, and one of them was a CEO who makes these custom in the UK. And they're each one singly eyes. And she she said something that was so important. She said, everything starts that I do is do marketing first Because most of us and I and I know I'm just as guilty.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

We think of product. We think of all the logistics and marketing is the add on. In in some sense, you have to think of marketing way. If if you've started on your business, great. But this is if you have not even started, think of marketing as sort of the precursor and a very integral huge pillar of everything else because the product will only sell if you're marketing know it exists.

Sonali Rathi Pramanik:

Made true, Sarisha, because you can have a good product, a very good product. And, yes, all of us fall in the trap of Designing the best possible product we can or the best possible service we can. But we shy away from Hand in hand working on how are we gonna market this product. Because if people don't know, then, it it's it's only gonna get you so so much so far. And so while you make your business plan, I think one of the critical things is to start thinking of, Yes. I have this product. I this is how my finances will work, but where is how am I gonna market this, and how much money do I need to market this? And, yes, marketing can turn out to be a bottomless pit if you are not careful. So you kind of have to prioritize, but as a small business owner, especially, where you don't have, like, deep corporate pockets to dig into.

Sonali Rathi Pramanik:

So you really need to be very watchful where you're spending Your money. I would say focus on, make a list of all the marketing ideas that you have, and then focus on the ones which will which cost low are low in cost but will give you returns much faster. So there are activities which may cost low but which are long term, which also you need to invest in. But to just keep you Getting started, if you start thinking investing right from day 1 into long term, then you won't see any result of your marketing dollars within the short term. So I would say keep a balance of some investments which are for long term, but some investments which you do, which where you start seeing results short term So that you own the revenues to then fuel your marketing costs so that you're not constantly Funding all your marketing expenses from your own pocket. Your revenues are then, working towards, funding your marketing costs as well. So that would be something to, focus on when you make your marketing plan and prioritize your activities and marketing expenses accordingly.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

Yeah. I that's that's so spot on. It's almost like you create a budget out of your revenue saying some percentage allocation like people do for research and development for a marketing budget. It it brings up a very valid point because I went to the startup week a few weeks ago. And, you know, obviously, people are of different mindsets. People are looking For venture capital investors. And there was this 1 gentleman who's done you know, this is his 2nd company. And both of them in a in a way, you you think of it like bootstrapping, but he's done it Quite, intelligent, very smartly in that sense.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

He's all about focusing on generating revenue because he takes that revenue to grow, whereas Not that and it's not always the option for everyone to have that opportunity, but I thought it was a very good way to solidly build a financial base because otherwise, oftentimes, we all think of investing or putting money into it. And, you know, like you said, it's a bottomless bit, and then we kind of struggle to grab. So this is all about generating the revenue, and that's where he kind growth. And I thought yes. But it's also very specific viewpoint that may not be everyone's cup of tea.

Sonali Rathi Pramanik:

Yes. You're right. And so you have to find your right balance. Some businesses may need very long term growth kind of focus, but if you can balance it out with a little bit of, Let me see some immediate returns. And then when you keep seeing that revenue, you can keep reinvesting into the activities. And one of

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

the key things about any business, right, and if you read no matter you look at, like, Jeff Bezos or, you know, the person who's running the small business, No matter which business you're in, you're going to end up pivoting at some point. You have to be, like, adapt and agile and willing to shift based on customer feedback, what the market conditions are. Because the idea that we've come up with, I think, is rarely the idea that ends up actually Finally executing and depending depending on which situation they are in. And being able to do that is critical because I think of this, like, this this concept of the sunk cost. You can keep throwing more and more at it, more money, more time, more resources, and just a ton And not realizing a a lot of it back. And you have to be careful that all of us don't get into that when we're doing something. You're right. Very true, Sesha.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

I think at the

Sonali Rathi Pramanik:

end of it, the focus has to be that you need to generate revenue. You have to be in love with that rather than in love with The idea itself so that you're not too engrossed and okay or too attached to the idea. If you need to Change it, to alter it, to modify it. You should be willing to do that and see because what you started out with may not be what the market really is looking for. And you might find other opportunities there. And if you're not willing to adapt, then you're losing it all, or using all the opportunities that are available out there.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

Yes. And, just I'm gonna have Sonali, you You know, share her information, and then we're gonna continue for the we have about a few more minutes going. So you'll listen to live beats with Trisha. If you have questions or suggestions for this show. You can email me at womencareer and life. It's spelled w o m e n c a r e e r n life. And if you are interested in Connecting with me, you can check out my website, salishakuchimanchi.com, you know, to partner on any any of the things that I would work with. So, Nani, how would people contact if they wanted to reach out.

Sonali Rathi Pramanik:

Is Asia they can contact you, and you can share, their contact with me, and I can get in touch with you.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

That that works really well. And you were talking about pivoting and not being tied to the idea because I think that's exactly it. Right? We are so vested in it. And the other thing that we touched on briefly is Your idea may be ahead of the time. So sometimes the market conditions have to be kind of ideal. So this is Ted Talk about where this gentleman looks at Timing, resources, idea, you know, funding, and, like, 5, 6 factors. And he says, what made the most successful company successful? An interesting one of the big parameters was timing of it. Because if you wanted YouTube to be successful, you needed To be able to download that much of data, the net capabilities and the mobile capabilities to be there.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

If it came, like and I think there were other companies that tried this you're using it, but it just couldn't do it. So that is not to take away from the idea and, obviously, the phenomenal execution that goes around it, but sometimes it just needs to be that space ready and for people to be ready to hear it. Because when you're swinging a new idea from the fences and no one knows about it and no one has an idea, it's it's sometimes an upswing because you can convince someone away about it as well.

Sonali Rathi Pramanik:

That's true. Yes. And Though having said that, there could be some ideas that really click and like Walkman when Sony introduced the Walkman. Who thought that, okay. When I'm walking, I would want to listen to music. Yeah. Nobody thought of that. But, yes, it is an uphill task then in those cases to convince the market that that's something that they really need or to figure out that the timing is right for that product.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

So it's it's a bit of the marketing and the audience understanding and all of this. I mean, think of Airbnb. I mean, like, all of these products that we use so seamlessly without thought nowadays, you know, 10 years, 20 years ago didn't exist. And All the companies that are in the trillion dollar didn't exist 10, 20 years ago. Yes. So true. I mean, all tech companies, whatever which form, which function they may take. So we have about 2 minutes.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

Anything that we think we haven't touched on that we should be talking about? What mistakes do we tend to make that we can try and avoid by doing certain things? So, oh my god. That what mistakes we can make is so business specific.

Sonali Rathi Pramanik:

One of the things I would want to as you grow large bigger I mean, in a small business owner As a small business owner too. You will have employees. And one of the things I would really like to mention is about employee relations and how to, keep those employees with you, how to take care of them. And that's a very important aspect because as a small business owner, you can't really Do it all. Even if you are in a partnership, it gets hard to get to be everywhere all at once. And so it you will need to, rely on someone else, and it it does make sense. Don't don't put everything on yourself. Find some trusted people you could rely on.

Sonali Rathi Pramanik:

Treat them well. Get maybe, you know, make them vested in your growth so that they grow as you grow. And the 2 things that happen with that, you have somebody with an outside view, coming and telling you In your operations, what could work better, how to do something better, that could be a big plus for you because sometimes we Kind of is so engrossed in it that we don't look outside of it and are not able to find solutions for our common day to day problems. And secondly, it also gives you a breather, gives you a little bit of space to focus on, okay, what next? How do I go beyond the day to day running of the business and look at what the next steps should be.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

Very, very important because it's about, you You know, making your employee feel valued, retaining them, and also having training and processes as much as possible. We are almost A few seconds out. I do wanna thank Sonali for sharing this because I think that's been so much. I wish you the best if you're starting, small business or you're in that journey. Thanks, Anali.

Sonali Rathi Pramanik:

Thank you so much, Sarisha, for having me. I really enjoyed being here.

Sirisha Kuchimanchi:

Thanks, everyone, for listening.