In this episode, Namita talks to Dr. Natalia Weichoski on how she helps individuals stand out from the grey crowd – online and offline. The award-winning speaker shares her journey on how she found her true calling as a LinkedIn Marketing guru, a Forbes Coaches Council Member, a Top 100 Leader in Education, Bestselling Author and the Middle East's leading Edutainer. 

Things we discuss:

Notable Moments:

56:00 - We are so much more powerful than we think we are. Our power as a human being, the mind, our visualization, our feelings, our heart. We are supernatural when we know how to tap into that. But in order to go there you really need in order to do the self work. And I believe that life turns us into an onion so you need to peel. And the closer you peel an onion, what will happen, you’ll start crying. 

01:02:35 - If everyone was to work a little bit more on him or herself and reconnect to the sole source or the divine, how do you call it, it would be so much easier and so much more fun and so much more creation and less of the struggle and pain

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If you enjoyed this episode of Successful Marketing for Small Businesses in Dubai, check out the show notes on: https://www.abovedigital.com/podcast/

Follow Namita Ramani:

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https://www.youtube.com/c/namitaramani

Above Digital: https://www.abovedigital.com/

In this episode, Namita interviews her sales guru, Ramez Helou, Founder and CEO of "The Academy for Sales Excellence". After reaching the position of Business Head at Unilever in 2009, Ramez stepped away to pursue his passion for keynote speaking and sales training. Today Ramez has trained over 100,000 sales professionals in 5 continents by teaching them about authenticity and relationship-building instead of conventional sales techniques.

Things we discuss:

His journey of leaving a high-paying job as Business Head at Unilever to start his own sales training center 

How he built a thriving business after starting as a one-man show

Defining his own niche when the Dubai market was going through a recession

Understanding objection is not rejection and dealing with points of objection before the client points it out

Why it’s important to come across as a helper rather than a seller and living up to the promise

Why time management is the most important resource for an entrepreneur

Why relationship building is so important in finding your target audience

How to differentiate your business from the competition & utilizing the latest tools to build authority

Namita’s own personal experience and transformation after taking coaching from Ramez 

His signature 10-week journey for business entrepreneurs that combines learning and a coaching session

Notable moments:

(18:30) - Are you a giver of values or a taker? 

(32:35) - Many people started asking me how do you do it… Packaging yourself and developing a product which allows them to free up their time so they can scale and they have a peace of mind that, God forbid, if anything happens it can provide for them later on

(35:05) - You may be an expert in online marketing, but you might not be an expert in converting one to one conversation. You still have to sit down with the marketing directors of your clients and you need to be able to understand how a competitive pitch happens.  Maybe you’ve had them happen to you but now, to be on the launching side of that. Oh my God! It’s a completely different skill.

(44:15) - To sell is to serve! It’s a philosophy.

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If you enjoyed this episode of Successful Marketing for Small Businesses in Dubai, check out the show notes on: https://www.abovedigital.com/podcast/

Follow Namita Ramani:

https://www.instagram.com/namitaramani/

https://www.facebook.com/ramani.namita/

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https://www.youtube.com/c/namitaramani

Above Digital: https://www.abovedigital.com/

Manish talks about how he stumbled upon yoga when he was struggling to meet deadlines during his job as copywriter in an ad agency. Today, Manish runs Total Yoga in Pune, California, Dubai, Derby, and Auckland. Together with his partner, they’ve also launched the Yomaste Yoga retreats where they take yogis on a yoga-inspired adventure. Manish’s aim is to strive and create a yoga style that caters to mindfulness training.

Things we discuss:

How yoga called him on this path at a very young age

The difference in teaching yoga VS yoga as a business

His experience with Bharat Thakur Artistic Yoga in Dubai and working as a Yoga teacher and CEO for him

Deciding to move to Bangalore India with his ex-wife and co-founding Total Yoga in Pune

Discussing the initial challenges with launching Total Yoga and avoiding competition with his Guru

Struggling to keep up with the pace of expansion in Total Yoga. They now have centers in India, Singapore, USA, UK, UAE, and New Zealand

Introducing Yomaste Yoga Retreats to Himalayan Destinations like Rishikesh, Ladakh, Nepal, Varanasi and more

Staying authentic to your own beliefs and treating profitability as a secondary notion

Discussing the unique business model they use to expand worldwide

Notable Moments:

(01:02) - You have to find out what you’re comfortable with and then your own business based on those principles.

(01:07) - Essentially, your work speaks for itself. It doesn’t matter. Nothing else matters apart from conviction.

(01:10) - Business cannot be differentiated from life. If you’re a weirdo in life, you’re going to run a weird business. You cannot change a person’s business principles without talking about life principles. The way you run your business will reflect how you are. If you’re a messed up business it simply means you’re a messed up person.

(35:45) - I realized very early that my work, as an entrepreneur, is not dependent on anybody else’s work or time. That’s the beauty of yoga. That I can go and teach by myself anywhere in the world. And I’m not dependent on anybody else. So that’s the way I run my business.

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If you enjoyed this episode of Successful Marketing for Small Businesses in Dubai, check out the show notes on: https://www.abovedigital.com/podcast/

Follow Namita Ramani:

https://www.instagram.com/namitaramani/

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https://www.youtube.com/c/namitaramani

Above Digital: https://www.abovedigital.com/

In this episode, Deepak Lalwani talks about how he challenged a fitness giant like Fitness First by offering a one-on-one fitness experience in his 1500 square foot boutique group exercise studio. He also talks about how he took a major risk when building the TRIP studio, a virtual reality immersive spinning class in Dubai. Deepak further discusses how GFX stands out from its competitors, by offering affordable and bespoke fitness classes to its customers.

Things we discuss:

Notable Moments

(25:58) - No app no business! We want to make it completely seamless for the user experience

(27: 59) - Word of mouth. Honestly! The best marketing for us has been word of mouth. We have an Instagram presence. We have a great website presence. We are completely e-commerce driven. We have a Facebook presence. But at the end of it. It’s the people. Our members, they really really love what we’re doing. They love the instructors. They love the space. Ans they love the warmth They love the results. We have people change their lives.

(58:09) - Talk is cheap! And a lot of people basically very easily said that you know, you can expand this right? I’m like, yes it can be. But it requires the same amount of energy as the first one. I’d rather do one well than ten poorly.

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If you enjoyed this episode of Successful Marketing for Small Businesses in Dubai, check out the show notes on: https://www.abovedigital.com/podcast/

Follow Namita Ramani:

https://www.instagram.com/namitaramani/

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https://www.youtube.com/c/namitaramani

Above Digital: https://www.abovedigital.com/

Matt Farr talks to us on how he left a high-paying banking job to follow his real passions of mountaineering and exploration that finally led him to establish his own adventure travel company, Mountain Quests. He shares how being open to ideas and being a risk-taker helped him convert his true passion for adventure travel into a profitable business.

Things we discuss

Notable Moments

(13:40) - In a small business, you wear so many hats. And you have to explain that to people you hire.

(17:02) - I love it! Students are different prospects to adults. So as an adult, we have been molded a certain way, either by ourselves or by society, and it’s much harder for us to break that mold. Whereas a child or a young adult, they are still open. They are still learning. They are still trying to find in the world and see things. So to watch a student have this transformation with their teachers and friends on this journey is very rewarding.

(27: 14) - Gone are the days when people wanted to be sold to. Nowadays it’s all about sharing value. And that’s how we try to approach things.

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If you enjoyed this episode of Successful Marketing for Small Businesses in Dubai, check out the show notes on: https://www.abovedigital.com/podcast/

Follow Namita Ramani:

https://www.instagram.com/namitaramani/

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https://www.youtube.com/c/namitaramani

Above Digital: https://www.abovedigital.com/

Kate Kikano, mother of two beautiful children and an expat from Nottingham, now living in Dubai, talks to us about how she started TKD Lingerie out of her own need during the pregnancy of her 2nd child, where she was told that they didn’t have her bra size. That’s when she decided that she would convert this pain into a business, as she knew there would be many other women like her in the same shoes. In this podcast, she shares her story on how she made this niche business thrive in the Dubai market with bare minimum marketing.

Things we discuss:

Notable moments:

(24:26) We don’t have a massive budget - we’re a small team, we have 2 stores, but we still have the same responsibilities, and we still have to do the same marketing as some of our bigger competitors.  

(46:36) It was really tough and I look back now and I just want to give myself a bit of a hug, because I don't think I realized at the time what I was getting into.  

(53:00) It has to be authentic, it has to be you. if your values are totally different to your business values, it's not going to work.

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If you enjoyed this episode of Successful Marketing for Small Businesses in Dubai, check out the show notes on: https://www.abovedigital.com/podcast/

Follow Namita Ramani:

https://www.instagram.com/namitaramani/

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https://www.youtube.com/c/namitaramani

Above Digital: https://www.abovedigital.com/

Meenaxy Vashishtha, mother of two wonderful children and the founder of GoOrganic Juices, talks to us about her incredible journey of growing GoOrganic from a self-managed start-up - where she both made the juices and delivered them herself - to a funded business that has grown to incorporate a secondary brand, Pure Press. She shares her struggles with managing time, prioritizing the kids while also managing the business, and how she planned growth and went from delivering her own juices to having them stocked in Carrefour.

Things we discuss: 

Notable moments:

(14:03) It was too much for me to handle, there were 2 small children, handling a business especially when you’re doing it all by yourself can be extremely stressful (and there were times when I used to do delivery myself)

(16:50) Something which I have realized - don’t do things yourself, because you’ll get yourself frustrated - hire people!

(19:38) The growth happened happened so fast in 2015 that I wasn’t ready for it

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If you enjoyed this episode of Successful Marketing for Small Businesses in Dubai, check out the show notes on: https://www.abovedigital.com/podcast/

Follow Namita Ramani:

https://www.instagram.com/namitaramani/

https://www.facebook.com/ramani.namita/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/namitaramani/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UConc_r4xXBwflx4XN9b5zNg/

Above Digital: https://www.abovedigital.com/

Eda Gungor, also known as Seva Bhagti Kaur, is a spiritual entreprenuer from Turkey and the founder of Life'n One Wellbeing center in Jumeirah 1 in Dubai. From having no money to pay rent to opening up this magical center, Eda tells us about how she manifested her vision to life, how she attracts staff with the same values, and how she keeps her business authentic.

Things we discuss: 

Notable moments:

(3:06): We feel like we’re caught in something, and not all of us find the courage to break the shell - somehow I’m one of those who broke the shell and trying to help people to break the shells

(3:55): I was a little bit surprised by work life - I was like oh, okay, no one likes each other, everyone hates each other, no one says good morning and I have to do this everyday 9-5, like every day till we die.. so I think I started to go crazy there a little bit

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If you enjoyed this episode of Successful Marketing for Small Businesses in Dubai, check out the show notes on: https://www.abovedigital.com/podcast/

Follow Namita Ramani:

https://www.instagram.com/namitaramani/

https://www.facebook.com/ramani.namita/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/namitaramani/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UConc_r4xXBwflx4XN9b5zNg/

Above Digital: https://www.abovedigital.com/

Akshay Dosaj, managing director of Purple Honey Group talks to us about how he manages 7 restaurants in Dubai, the challenges and benefits of working with his spouse, and how the group keeps innovation on the forefront - so much so that they received the Indian Innovator Award in 2016 by Entrepreneur Magazine for the fastest growth in the region. In this podcast, he reveals their vision & journey to achieving their goal of opening 30 restaurants in 2020.

Things we discuss:

Notable moments:

(16:51): The mindset shift isn’t easy to do and its much much harder having multiple brands

(23:34): It took 6 months and 700 food trials to get it right

(51:00): Be ready to know that if you forecasting to do a 100,000 you are going to do 20,000, build your whole model on that basis

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If you enjoyed this episode of Successful Marketing for Small Businesses in Dubai, check out the show notes on: https://www.abovedigital.com/podcast/

Follow Namita Ramani:

https://www.instagram.com/namitaramani/

https://www.facebook.com/ramani.namita/

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UConc_r4xXBwflx4XN9b5zNg/

Above Digital: https://www.abovedigital.com/

Nea Ferrier, a former PR professional and now the owner of Nilaya House Yoga, talks about her incredible journey moving across Australia, Singapore, Japan, India and finally Dubai, to open her Yogashala. In this conversation, find out how she left fear behind, followed her gut instincts and the risks she struggled with in her pursuit of living and building a self-invested business founded on authentic experiences and service to others.

Notable moments:

(5:44): I had a great job, I was traveling... But there was a feeling I had inside that was growing, the feeling of "is this all there is"? 

(39:11): Many of my decisions are just based on, I can't explain it to somebody, but I FEEL like this is right - which is also why I didn't want investors, because I really didn’t want to have to answer to somebody. 

(43:42): People were saying to me, when you do your cash flow and business plan, you need to plan for 6 months of working capital - and I was like, that's great but i don’t have that, I have to hit the ground running right from the start.

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If you enjoyed this episode of Successful Marketing for Small Businesses in Dubai, check out the show notes on: https://www.abovedigital.com/podcast/

Follow Namita Ramani:

https://www.instagram.com/namitaramani/

https://www.facebook.com/ramani.namita/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/namitaramani/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UConc_r4xXBwflx4XN9b5zNg/

Above Digital: https://www.abovedigital.com/