Hi there. This is Santhosh Shetty, I am an Ex-Corporate Employee, Hospitality Business Owner turned Solo Design Entrepreneur. Also the Founder of Design Clans where I help people become Design Entrepeneurs like me.
Why I started this journey of being an Entrepreneur :
One of the biggest problem I was facing when I was working as an Employee was not having any Time or Money Freedom. Was thanklessly working in a loop every single day without any real direction in life until an incident where life slapped me.
Lost a lot of money in 2012 due to a very bad decision I took. I was someone who always looked for good in people. You can call me being Naive at that point of time. Put in money thining it will help someone but it backfired. Learnt a tough life lesson. Got into debts, took loans to clear money taken from people who were close to me. I dod not have the money to pay month on month to the people/Banks i took money from.Banks started harassing me and my family for payments. Felt like an idiot and a failure. Thinking back it was probably the stupidest thing i have ever done.
Money was important to clear everyone.Was living a stressful life but still working a fancy corporate Job in a loop. Even though there was some income coming in every month. It always felt like I am on a Leash. Being an employee is a thankless job. Working in a loop day after day without any direction in life. And over that the feeling that you would be asked to leave anytime considering lay offs.
So I decided thats not what I would want to do. Thats not the life to be a part of. There is no fun in it. Its like that sitting on a throne with a sword hanging on top of your head ( Some story i remembered from school).
So i decided to become an Entrepreneur.I wanted to create something around what i love doing. Designing was something i always loved. However was not sure where to start.
Becoming a Seeker of opportunities :
Became a Seeker and started Exploring opportunities. Started researching, checked multiple courses online, invested in Network marketing companies, MLM opportunities. Nothing happened other than loosing more money.
And the debt was piling up. Life was getting very difficult and extremely stressful. It was affecting relationships as well with my loved ones. So in 2013 started taking up small time design jobs to make some extra money while working. Started with designing logos, then wordpress websites and so on..
Was surprised to see the kind of requirement the world had for designers. So was considering going full time. Only trouble was my monthly salary or income would stop. Had to make a decision on where my life had to go.
So took a bold and a risky decision to go full time entrepreneur in 2014. Quit my paying Tech Job. Cleared some of my debts with the money i had collected over the years. And just like that i jumped into Entrepreneurship!
WAR IS OVER!!Thats what my shirt reads.
Picture above is My last day in Office!! Probably the one of the greatest milestones of my life. I just stopped being a corporate slave, I stopped being at their mercy, Cut off the sword hanging over my head.
One phase of my life was done.
Started design and marketing agency.And started taking up designing and digital marketing projects. Did help multiple businesses with Branding, designing and marketing solutions. Then along with one of my Friend decided to build our own business around hospitality.
The GRIND is REAL!!
The grind here in hospitaity was insane. Worse than my corporate job. There was money to be made. Money to show as a Business. But personally making nothing.Everything going back into business. Absolutely no money and time. I started wondering how did this happen. Like the saying”from the frying pan into the fire”. That was my case.
Seriously NOTHING most of the times!!
Sometimes 5K per month and sometimes nothing. Can you imagine??
But the work had gone from 9 hours a day to almost 24 hours. I could get a Sales call anytime. I may had to visit my properties and stay there almost once in a week. No Freedom at all!
At home people started getting annoyed because of me being on the phone all the time. But there was a Dream and a goal. True Freedom. Never gave up. Went through the grind hoping things will change..
Hospitality was going ok and we were on a decent trajectory as a business till 2019 Covid happened. Our entire business went into a huge loss because of the lockdowns and it never recovered. AGAIN lost money, Not as much as 2012 but quite an amount.
“That feeling of defeat again”. Self doubts and feeling that i will not succeed.
But here is the thing my friend. We can loose money but we can NEVER EVER loose knowledge and skills. I could have easily restarted my hospitality business or the Digital marketing agency. Did not want to because of the experience i have had. I was always after Time and Money freedom. I was not happy working with partners or managing employees anymore.
So i decided to become a Solo Entrepreneur. Without an office, employee or business partners.
So this phase of my life was getting back to my roots, getting back to what i really love doing.And that was designing. So here is what i started.
I truly appreciate you taking the time to read more about me. And hoping i would be able to help you in someway as well. Have a great day!!
LAST UPDATE : 2024
