Business Growth Methods

4 agency owners. 3 hours of raw conversation. Every secret about scaling from freelancing to 7-figures (from beginner to advanced level) Beginner Stage: -Don't wait to be 100% ready. Start with broken skills but improve FAST -Work for free initially, but be strategic - ask for referrals in return -Create a strong portfolio by doing real projects (even if unpaid) -Take every opportunity to learn and upskill -Money shouldn't be your only motivator - focus on skill development Intermediate Stage: -Start taking your finances seriously - get a CA, track cash flow -Invest money back into the business (I waited 3.5 years for an office - big mistake) -Build systems before you need them -Get comfortable with delegation -Hire people better than you at specific skills Advanced Stage: -Over-hire slightly - it's better than being understaffed -Focus on building a strong team culture -Make your team feel valued beyond just salary -Invest in proper infrastructure (legal, accounting, tools) -Remember: Take care of your team, and they'll take care of your clients To sum it up: In the beginning, you focus on yourself. In the intermediate stage, you focus on the business. But in the advanced stage - you learn that true growth comes from focusing on your team's growth. The moment I switched from "How do I grow?" to "How do I help my team grow?" - everything changed. We shared all this in more detail in the podcast, link in the comments.

Yesterday, a young CA from Bangalore, who had recently started his practice, approached me for guidance on building a career in Direct and Indirect Tax Litigation. Here’s what I advised him: 1. Starting a practice, especially as a first-generation professional, is financially challenging. Keep your expenses under strict control. When I began my practice in 1998 after leaving my job with the Aditya Birla Group, even affording travel to my rented office was difficult. I had to seek help from my mother before a guiding angel, CA R.K. Duggar, supported me financially, personally, and professionally. 2. The initial phase of practice often brings fewer assignments, but this is a blessing in disguise. Use this time to enhance your knowledge. Invest in good books, watch YouTube webinars on important topics, and listen to experts like Senior Advocate Arvind Datar. Subscribe to Taxmann, Taxguru, and TMI. 3. Idleness allows you to reflect and think critically. Read beyond tax laws—explore jurisprudence and judgments from other legal fields via platforms like LiveLaw and Bar & Bench. Follow interviews and articles of legal stalwarts to understand their approach to the profession. 4. Participate in physical seminars and become part of a study circle. This will not only expand your professional network but may also help you find a mentor who can guide you in work and even provide opportunities. 5. Visit tribunals and courts to observe how counsels argue and how the bench responds. Understanding courtroom dynamics will significantly enhance your litigation skills. 6. Writing articles forces you to conduct thorough research, thereby deepening your understanding of the subject. It also establishes you as a knowledgeable professional in your field. 7. Never judge a case by the quantum of demand or fee involved. A seemingly small case with intricate legal questions can provide more recognition than a high-profile matter. 8. Master the Facts of a Case from the Beginning such as during audits, search and seizure, or SCNs. 9. Always be honest and straightforward with your clients. Offer impartial advice but let them decide on their course of action when multiple strategies exist. Never step into your client’s shoes—your role is to guide, not to decide for them. 11. Avoid working for unreasonably low fees just because you have no other work. If you don’t respect your worth, no one else will. Set fees that reflect the value you bring to your clients. 12. Avoid Becoming a ‘Wheeler-Dealer’. Your role is to provide legal expertise, not to maneuver deals. 13. Growth in litigation practice is gradual. Do not lose hope. The learning process involves trial and error, and experience will teach you how to proceed. Remember, when you switch off the lights, the room initially turns dark, but over time, your eyes adjust, and you start seeing even in the darkness. Similarly, with persistence, clarity and opportunities will emerge.

Nestlé rejected him, but Verghese Kurien took that rejection and led the White Revolution, changing India’s dairy industry forever. This is the story of Verghese Kurien. In 1956, Kurien stood in Switzerland, face-to-face with Nestlé executives, determined to bring their condensed milk production to India. But instead of support, he was met with arrogance. Nestlé's co-MD, Kreeber, declared, “The process is too delicate for natives.” Kurien didn’t just walk away—he walked away furious. And that anger sparked a revolution. Two years later, Kurien and his colleague H.M. Dalaya achieved what everyone said was impossible—they figured out how to convert buffalo milk into milk powder. With this breakthrough, India no longer had to depend on imported milk. The milk from India’s small farmers began to fuel the country’s growing dairy industry. But Kurien’s story is more than a tale of innovation—it’s a story of empowerment. When he arrived in Anand, Gujarat, in 1949, he didn’t know much about dairy farming. He had been sent to manage a small cooperative of farmers in a town that felt unfamiliar and uncomfortable to him. Yet, he stayed—and what he built changed the lives of millions. Kurien transformed that small cooperative, the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union, into Amul (GCMMF), a brand that would become the foundation of India’s White Revolution. Under his leadership, Kurien made sure that farmers weren’t just suppliers, but partners. He created a system where farmers controlled their own profits, eliminating the need for middlemen. Through Operation Flood, Kurien led India from being a milk-deficient country to becoming the world’s largest milk producer. Millions of small and marginal farmers, many of them women, gained income and dignity through the cooperative model Kurien pioneered. Even today, Amul stands as a symbol of Kurien’s legacy. It transformed the lives of rural communities across India. During the pandemic, while many industries were struggling, Amul launched 33 new products, generating ₹800 crores in revenue for farmers. Kurien’s belief that competition only made cooperatives stronger has proven true and brands like Nandini owe their success to the model he built. Kurien was known as the Milkman of India. A revolutionary and a visionary who used milk as a tool to uplift millions of people. His life teaches us that true success isn’t just about building a business—it’s about building communities, empowering them, and leaving behind a legacy that continues to change lives long after you're gone. #VergheseKurien #BoundlessWithRamG

This ₹90,000 crore dairy giant will never go public 😲 In 1946, Gujarat’s farmers didn’t raise capital when they were underpaid by a British-backed monopoly. They raised a cooperative, which got named “Amul India”. That one decision created a ₹90,000 crore dairy system: → No private equity → No promoter holding → No IPO plans → 3.6 million farmer-owners A model where profits move bottom-up. Where scale isn’t VC-funded, it’s village-fed. Where margins don’t get distributed to shareholders but they get reinvested in cattle feed, storage, and local jobs. And somehow, it works better than most funded brands. → Beats top FMCGs on topline → Spends <1% of revenue on marketing  → Exports fresh milk to Spain through a local EU co-op → Converts whey waste into ₹700 crore worth of bioethanol This isn’t anti-capitalism. This is rural-first capitalism done right. Where listing isn’t the endgame. Where growth isn’t VC-led but community-held. Where valuation isn’t diluted, it’s redistributed. And maybe the future of Indian business doesn’t look like Amazon. Maybe it looks like Amul.

Toxic work culture is akin to a slow-acting poison, corroding creativity, and stifling innovation within an organization. When employees are constantly berated, micromanaged, or belittled, the natural flow of creative energy is disrupted. The fear of failure in such an environment leads individuals to retreat into their shells, hindering the very essence of creativity—taking risks and exploring new ideas. In toxic work environments, employees often feel apprehensive about sharing their thoughts and ideas, fearing ridicule or retribution. As a result, the vibrant exchange of diverse perspectives—a catalyst for creativity—diminishes. Instead of fostering an atmosphere of exploration and experimentation, toxic cultures breed conformity and stale repetition. In such settings, creativity is not nurtured; it withers under the weight of negativity and distrust. Moreover, toxic work cultures breed stress and burnout, further depleting the mental resources needed for creative thinking. When employees are constantly on edge, their cognitive bandwidth becomes consumed by stress, leaving little room for imaginative thinking and problem-solving. The impact of toxic work culture extends beyond the individual level. As a collective, a toxic environment can significantly impede a company's ability to innovate and adapt to change. In an era where adaptability and innovation are crucial for success, a toxic work culture becomes a liability, stifling a company's potential for growth and relevance. Ultimately, a toxic work culture erodes the very foundation of creativity by inhibiting the free flow of ideas, suffocating individual expression, and fostering an environment of fear and stagnation. Recognizing and addressing toxic elements in the workplace is essential for unlocking the full creative potential of individuals and organizations, fostering an environment where innovation can thrive.

Telecoms and Banks Connect - Tapping into Transactions and Tech to Grow Revenue 💡 This surge of digital financial services presents an urgently needed opportunity for the telecommunications industry to extend into new markets and generate new additional revenue streams. Some communications service providers (CSPs) have transformed landscapes with mobile money in emerging markets, including countries across Africa. Others are exploring an Economy of Things, where IoT devices complete transactions. But CSPs cannot deliver these solutions alone. They must partner with banks, which can help ensure mobile transactions are seamless, secure, and successful. The growth of technologies such as cloud and open APIs clears the way for banks and CSPs to collaborate and create real-time financial solutions. 4 pillars of Embedded Finance to build new revenue-generating solutions: 👨💻 Embedded Payments - Embedded payments allows customers to complete transactions seamlessly without leaving a platform's website or mobile application. CSPs can partner with consumer electronics retailers to offer rebates to their customers. 📱 Embedded Banking - Embedded banking solutions are integrated into non financial applications and platforms and enable businesses to provide slimmed down banking services to customers in a single client experience. A popular example is Lyft Direct, which offers a checking account and linked debit card exclusively to Lyft drivers. 💰 Embedded Lending - Embedded lending solutions are designed to offer consumers more seamless access to financial products and services that enable a purchase through apps, website, or in store. One example: BNPL options from providers such as Klarna or Clearpay (Afterpay). 💳 Hosted payment solutions - The services permit a company to have a fully integrated card-acquiring solution. Payment solutions in this space offer business management tools to help small businesses get up and running as well as take payments for their services. An example is Toast, which provides a single platform combining many of the systems needed to run a restaurant, including point-of-sale, payment processing, and online ordering. With jointly delivered financial services, CSPs and banks can place themselves at the core of revolutionary cross-industry solutions, leveraging their strengths to extend their reach to more customers. Combining data insights is one nexus. CSPs have network and call-detail information, customer service usage and payment histories, plus detail from billions of IoT devices. Banks have information on consumers' buying behaviors, spending patterns, credit scores, loan details, and more. Robust analyses of these unique types of data can uncover customer struggles, needs, and opportunities to spark imaginative service ideas. Source: IBM x GSMA x J.P. Morgan - https://bit.ly/49HCq2A #Innovation #Fintech #Banking #Telecoms #OpenBanking #EmbeddedFinance #API #FinancialServices #Payments #Lending #Data 

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗶𝘀. 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗕𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗵 𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 Start with the Patient, Not the Plant Medical cannabis is medicine, not wellness or lifestyle. Your product must serve a real need consistently & safely, backed by data. Understand patient journeys, work with clinics & doctors, & embed yourself in the healthcare system, not outside it. Build GACP First, Then EU GMP or Equivalent Too many try to chase EU GMP without mastering GACP. Good Agricultural & Collection Practices are about how you grow. EU GMP is for post-harvest processing & pharma-grade quality control. Get the basics right, document everything, & then scale. Make Regulation One of Your Strengths If you don’t understand the regulatory landscape, you don’t have a business. Know your country’s cannabis laws, narcotics classifications, export rules, & patient access pathways. Compliance is not a department, it’s part of your product. Never Outsource Your Integrity There will be pressure to cut corners, overpromise, or take shortcuts. Don’t. One contamination, one false claim, one deal with a bad distributor and your business collapses. In cannabis, reputation takes years to build and seconds to lose. Trust the Local Team If you operate in another country, listen to the people on the ground. Local growers, engineers, regulators, and logistics teams know more than a remote HQ ever will. Many failed projects stem from ignoring local intelligence. Control the Supply Chain Medical cannabis isn’t just about growing. It’s about controlling drying, processing, lab testing, packaging, export clearance, & more. Own your chain or verify every part of it. You cannot afford surprises with patient-use products. Avoid Chasing the “Next Big Thing” There’s always a new hype, CBD for pets, infused snacks, luxury creams. These trends rarely survive strict medical regulation. Stick to your core business. Deliver clean, consistent, compliant flower or extract. Then grow. Document Everything This industry runs on traceability. You need clean SOPs, batch logs, validated results, cultivation records, & patient outcomes. If it’s not documented, it didn’t happen. If it’s not auditable, it’s not exportable. Raise the Right Money Work with investors who understand the timelines and risks. You need partners who can handle a 3 to 5-year return horizon and still back compliance over short-term revenue. Misaligned finance will kill your project faster than pests. Know When to Say No Sometimes the smartest move is to walk away. If the laws are too grey, your partners untrustworthy, or the facility isn’t ready, pause. Medical cannabis must be built with discipline and maturity. Forced projects fail. Focused ones succeed. Please ask me how to build or fix your cannabis business if you are unsure, stuck, or scaling. I’ve worked in this space for 9+ years, and I have seen what works and what wrecks good ideas.

In 2007, when India had no serious solar manufacturing ecosystem and Chinese players dominated globally, one founder decided to build a solar company anyway. Today, Waaree Energies supplies to 25+ countries and operates at 22.3+ GW capacity. Hithesh Doshi borrowed ₹5000 to start selling industrial instruments to engineering companies across India. In 2007, he visited Germany and noticed something India hadn't yet considered. Europe was building solar as core energy infrastructure. India had abundant sunlight, growing power demand, and almost nobody was manufacturing seriously for it. So in 2007, he entered the solar business by setting up a solar manufacturing facility in Surat . When Waaree Energies moved into module production, Chinese players were producing at a scale India couldn't match. Policy kept shifting. Demand was low. Most players either stayed cautious or exited. Waaree kept expanding capacity. When India's solar push finally came, they were already positioned to lead it. Here's what this journey holds for every founder- 1.  Look at what is becoming inevitable, not just what is working today. The biggest opportunities reveal themselves in the direction of change, not the current state of the market. 2.  In industries where scale determines survival, building capacity before demand peaks is the only way to lead the category. 3.  Enter a new space by understanding it before committing to it. Depth at the entry point determines the quality of every decision that follows. 4. The difficult phase doesn't give you growth. It gives you positioning that growth eventually rewards. From a trading business in industrial instruments to India's largest solar module manufacturer. That's what staying committed through the years, nobody is watching, actually produces. PS: Do you think building before the market is ready is a strategic advantage?

When a retailer loses its narrative, it risks losing its customers. And Target is learning that the hard way. This week, it reported a 3.8% drop in same-store sales—more than double what Wall Street expected. But the real story? It’s not just inflation or tariffs. It's the cost of misreading culture, consumer trust, and leadership clarity. As someone who partners with executive teams across global consumer brands, I’m watching this moment closely—not just for what it says about Target, but what it signals for the future of leadership in FMCG and retail. Here’s what stands out: → The DEI backlash is real After rolling back diversity and inclusion commitments earlier this year, Target saw visible consumer blowback. Their once-loyal base didn’t stay quiet. And while many companies quietly stepped back from DEI language, the retail giant’s past boldness made their silence even louder. → Competitors are thriving While Target's sales dipped, Walmart grew U.S. sales by 4.5%. TJX saw a 3% increase. These aren’t niche players—they’re direct competitors proving that affordability and agility can still win. → Leadership turbulence is costly Two senior execs exited after just a year. When strategy shifts collide with inconsistent leadership, the talent pipeline fractures. And that inconsistency reverberates across teams, morale, and customer confidence. → Tariffs, costs, and uncertainty add pressure With 30% of Target’s in-house brands relying on China, geopolitical tension is more than a boardroom concern—it’s a shelf-space problem. Yet as Cornell said, raising prices is the last resort. How long can that hold? So what does this mean for executive hiring? - Leaders must be culturally fluent, not just cost-conscious. - They need to navigate both backlash and loyalty with empathy and clarity. - DEI can’t be a checkbox—it’s now a reputational asset or liability. And above all, companies need alignment between values, leadership, and customer expectations. This moment at Target is a case study in what happens when leadership, communication, and cultural intelligence aren’t in sync. For many retail and FMCG brands, it’s a timely reminder: - Your employer brand is your consumer brand. - Your DEI stance is your leadership signal. - And your ability to hold trust—not just prices—might define your next quarter. #RetailLeadership #FMCG #ExecutiveSearch #Target #ConsumerTrends #DEI #LeadershipHiring #CXStrategy #CulturalFluency

CFO: "You delivered £10M savings. Next year we'll make your target £12M." Procurement: "Okay, we'll do our best" 🤷♂️ That trap that turns smart procurement leaders into basic purchasers. That isn't strategy. It's wishful thinking. Here is the problem: When Procurement exists only to deliver a number, everything else collapses. → Savings without context are risky. → Savings without TCO or risk weighting are misleading. → Savings without value creation, capability building, supplier performance or ROI are pointless. And when teams deliver against unrealistic targets, those targets only get bigger. The credibility trap tightens. I've seen this too often. Savings get harder year on year. → Short term cuts appear. → Bad decisions sneak in. → Category maturity is ignored. → Supplier performance is sacrificed. → The business pays more in the long run. There is a better way. A more grown up way. — Try this instead in your objectives setting: 1. Define your vision and strategy ➟ Why does Procurement exist for this business? ➟ Where do you want the function to be in two to five years? ➟ What is your unique value? 2. How do you create value beyond cost? A clear strategy stops the team drifting into reactive purchasing. ➟ Align your objectives with the business ➟ Interview stakeholders. ➟ Map problems and aspirations. ➟ Understand commercial priorities. When your objectives reflect the real needs of the business, you stop chasing artificial targets and start unlocking real value. 3. Deliver a multi tiered value matrix Any function measured on a single metric will eventually fail. Track the value that actually matters: ➟ Cost. ➟ Value and ROI. ➟ Risk mitigation. ➟ ESG impact. ➟ User feedback. ➟ Supplier performance. If the business only sees savings, that's because Procurement only talks about savings. 4. Push back on poor behaviour Respect your stakeholders but don't be ruled by them. ➟ Challenge bad assumptions. ➟ Call out unrealistic expectations. ➟ Have the uncomfortable conversations. ➟ This is what separates a strategic function from an order taker. Here's the truth most teams avoid: Procurement doesn't fall into the savings trap because the answer is complicated. It falls in because the trap is comfortable. It's easy to chase a number. It's harder to define value. It's harder to change expectations. It's harder to lead. But the teams that escape the trap become the teams that transform their organisations. Any ideas why so many still stay stuck? —— P.S. want to join 22,000+ procurement pros getting FREE insights from me every week? Join here https://procurebites.com/