Page 46 - FunAsiA DesiPages Digital June 2020

communities, and most importantly the disruption
of moving out of stable jobs into an unpredictable
business environment were a few roadblocks we
faced. Then there were already established business
who knew their trade well. We had to go through a
lot of learning. We also had to change our mindset
of corporate working hours to 24/7 working hours,
sacrificing our weekends and family time.

How do you manage your corporate careers, business
and family obligations?

We have worked in the corporate world for the past 20
years which has taught us great business and people
management skills. It helped us to bring organization
& structure to small businesses, establish processes
and organize those businesses into profitable
ventures. Building a team that shares your vision
Varun & Navjyot about the business is the key. If they believe in you and
trust you, they will always go the extra mile. Having
a supportive family unit is yet another very important
arun and his wife Navjyot moved to the US in aspect. We keep reminding each other of our dreams
2009 and began their journey in the corporate
Vworld but always dreamt of being entrepreneurs. for our future which drives us to multitask between
career, business and family.
They believed in their passion and always looked for
opportunities. They researched many franchise-based What advice would you share with aspiring
businesses and finally invested in a Salon concept. In entrepreneurs?
under 3 years, they expanded that business through BE PERSISTENT : In your pursuit for accomplishing
partnerships and acquisitions to 11 units. Parallelly, your dreams - the key is to keep going and not giving
they invested in Child Care industry and built a new up when challenges are presented. The easiest thing
Pre-school in the Greater DFW area. They identified is to say, “why am I taking on the entrepreneurial
that Jamba Juice had started moving towards a niche pursuit when I have a stable high paying job” and
health-food concept and they found their passion for that’s a very valid question to ask upfront.
health & lifestyle in it. They now own 4 Jamba Juice BE PREPARED TO WORK HARD: There is no
stores in Dallas. easy way out. Take time and put in the effort to learn
They have 4 different businesses which employs more about the industry you wish to open/acquire a
100+ people, that has helped several fellow friends business in. As they say knowledge never goes waste,
join them in their journey through partnerships and we believe in it.
investments. We had a chance to interview these LINK YOUR PASSION TO THE BUSINESS YOU
young entrepreneurs for our ‘Person in Focus from the WANT TO PURSUE: After the birth of our first child
community’ column of FunAsia DesiPages.
as full-time working parents we realized there was not
a single daycare/preschool that was able to meet all
What motivated you to jump into the business the criteria we wanted. We saw an opportunity for a
bandwagon despite successful corporate careers?
preschool that would cater to all-round development
of a child and started doing our research about the
We have always wanted to give back to the community childcare industry.
in a meaningful way. We were helped by some great REMEMBER TO BE PATIENT: It takes time to
mentors in our initial years to grow and realize our get started in a business. Nurture it before it starts
dreams. We strive to extend the same support and producing results. We have learnt there are no
give back. Along with accumulating assets for our shortcuts and it is easy to get frustrated and give-up.
own retirement, we feel a social responsibility to give We started looking into the childcare industry in 2016
back to the community. We could achieve that only by and finally opened our preschool only in 2019.
being in our own business.
We saw a similar zing and passion in this couple. Both
What are some roadblocks you faced when you complement each other in their vision and drive for
started your journey?
success. They are two people with identical goals and
hence their strength doubles. We wish Navjyot and
The constantly changing business environment, Varun huge success in their future endeavors.
a very competitive landscape in the fast-growing

DesiPages DFW | JUNE 2020 VOL 16 | 46