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/

Justine Corrado, owner of Basiligo, a gourmet meal delivery company based out of Abu Dhabi takes us through her entrepreneurial journey, starting right from the tender age of 8. She shares her struggles with wanting to achieve the perfect customer experience, while also struggling with entrepreneurial burnout and learning the value of delegation to really take Basiligo to the next level.

Things we discuss:

Notable moments:

(13:31): When I first started the company my idea was I am going to change the menu every 2 weeks and it will be an evolving menu… and that went out of the window very fast 

(28:35): As an entrepreneur it is important to understand where other people can fill the gaps and to recruit people to come on board and look at things with their own set of eyes 

(31:24): We did fall victim of putting print ads in magazines and newspapers like you said, but then there was no return on it so we quickly learnt that print media is out and digital media is the way to go

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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/

Saad Umerani, venture capitalist and the co-founder of Protein Bakeshop talks to us today about how he got Protein Bakeshop into Starbucks, what it takes to attract and motivate people who really believe in your brand, and the right way to make investments in businesses.

Things we discuss:

Notable moments:

(8:55): When I first started investing, I used to look for product, and i think that was the biggest mistake. You should look for people. 

(16: 43): Not all money is the same. If you are a food business, Saad's money is more valuable than Namita's money. if you’re a digital business, your $1000 is more valuable than my money. 

(44:29): If you as an owner are coming from a Honda to a Ferrari, let the guy next to you also come into a Mercedes. We have this habit... I want the plane, but this guy should stay in a Honda - nobody will want to work for you, everybody wants to grow themselves as well.

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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/