Deep Marwaha is active in the wellness/fitness tourism industry.

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Tag: business

A Healthy Mind Makes a Healthy Business

A Healthy Mind Makes a Healthy Business

Without a healthy mind and well being, one simply cannot be as productive as they need to be to excel in both their life and business. Many aspects of day-to-day life add copious amounts of stress. This stress in turn degrades one’s well being and mental health, ultimately compromising their business’s growth. However, there are many things one can do to reduce their stress levels, which will improve their overall well being.

Workload

According to one in-depth survey, both unpredictability and deadlines were the number one and three biggest causes of work-related stress. Generally speaking, workload falls into two categories: physical and mental. Although it’s extremely important to get sufficient periods of rest, aside from sleep, mental workload has shown to strengthen one’s psychological workload and capacity. Distractions, such as emails and phone calls, can make work particularly stressful as well. It’s those really inefficient, painful workdays that build the discipline and mental capacity to get things done. Normal days will just seem that much easier after pushing through a hectic day or week. Again, remember to allow for mental and physical rest.

Forget About Comparisons

Comparison only opens the door for negativity, such as envy or self-doubt. There will always be someone out there who makes more money, just like there’s always someone out there who makes less money. Each individual should focus on themselves, not others. Comparison can be extremely counterproductive to one’s business. Social media sites, such as Facebook, tend to make people compare themselves to others. Don’t fall into the comparison trap. It does absolutely nothing but impede one’s way to success by attacking their mental health.

Manage Time Wisely

One of the best ways to beat stress related to deadlines and unpredictability, the number one and three biggest causes of work-related stress, is to manage time wisely. Ideally, there should be zero tolerance for procrastination, a time management disorder that only leads to a stressed and self-loathing mentality. Managing time wisely will give one the level of confidence and fulfillment they need. There’s nothing as rewarding as knowing everything got done at the end of the day.

There are hundreds of more ways to reduce work-related stress. However, these three are the biggest aspects to having a healthy mind, therefore healthy business. In a nutshell, a strong mindset and business requires both discipline and recovery to grow and excel.

business skills

Business Skills Entrepreneurs Should Have

The idea of owning your own business, or being an entrepreneur is one that everyone fantasizes about; however, the duties it entails aren’t for everyone. Becoming a successful entrepreneur requires an understanding of several skills. Whether you just started out or have been in the entrepreneurial game for some time, these are the skills most needed for success.

 

COMMUNICATION    

 

There is not one job you can find that doesn’t require some sort of communication. Even in a job that requires no human interaction, the employee will still have to communicate with their employer for directions, time off, etc. As an entrepreneur, this skill is the number one way to keeping a business successful. You need clear communication between you and your employees. It is impossible to get tasks done if there is no understanding of the task. The best way for your team to be productive is for you to communicate clear rules and guidelines from them to follow. Let’s say you are a solopreneur, you still need to maintain communication with current and potential clients through email or phone, as well as communicate who you are and why people need your business on social media platforms.

 

PLANNING AND STRATEGY

 

Who doesn’t know the saying “when you fail to plan, you plan to fail?” As an entrepreneur, one of the most important steps of starting a business is creating a business plan. In the early stages of development, one decision can make or break your success. When you create a plan beforehand, you are forced to look at potential issues down the road and how to avoid or work around them. Creating a plan early on also encourages you to think about the bigger picture and the end result. Make time every year to edit the business plan, and you will be more capable of adapting to changing market conditions, as well as assessing your strategy in comparison with the industry and your competition.

 

SALES AND FINANCE

 

If you didn’t already know, entrepreneurs are responsible for creating their sales and profits. So obviously having skills in sales and finance are huge. If you aren’t very experienced with sales, good communication skills can go a long way. Basically you need customers to purchase your product. You use communication (and branding and marketing) to persuade customers to make purchases. With a little bit of practice, you’ll be making sales in no time. Finance, on the other hand, is not such an easy skill to just come by. Before venturing into starting a business, every entrepreneur needs to at least understand profit margins, cash flow, and funding. The more comfortable you are with these terms and numbers, the better you’ll be at understanding where your money is going, optimizing efficiency, and finding ways to grow revenue.

 

Becoming an entrepreneur can be very rewarding, but first you have to learn the required skills and master them. Starting with communication, planning and strategy, and sales and finance is a great step in the right direction.

Deep Marwaha: 4 steps to startup success

Four Steps to Startup Success

All great businesses begin as ideas. It sounds incredibly simple, but it’s true. The complicated part is understanding the bridge all entrepreneurs must cross to get from the idea stage to an established business. When only 12% of all first-time entrepreneurs succeed with their startups, it raises the question of what one must do. Unfortunately, there is no magic combination of steps to take to bring your idea into the startup stage and secure success. It comes down to having the drive and motivation to see your idea through. However, you can better your chances of success by following this four-step process.

1. Identify and research your market

If you want to ensure that your product or services will be successful, then you will have to identify a need in the market. Start by asking yourself why: Why do you need to introduce your startup to the market? What is the key purpose? Once you identify why your business is needed and who will benefit from it, you will need to research your target market, as well as your competitors.

2. Bring a prototype before an audience

It’s not enough to bring your idea before investors or your potential market; no one is going to buy into an idea if you don’t have the stats and a product to demonstrate its success. Establish an MVP (minimum viable product) in order to get the feedback you need to perfect your idea into a successful business model. Every startup ever, even Facebook, had to go through a test phase where customers determined its value.

3. Craft a financial plan

Your startup will never take off if you don’t have the funds necessary to support it. Start by figuring out exactly how much money you have at your disposal to start and determining if it is enough to launch your business. Develop a detailed financial model to give yourself an idea of how your business will operate and the goals you will need to accomplish to make a profit. Eighty percent of all startups are self-funded, but if you don’t have the funds you need right away, you may need to consider other sources of capital such as a loan, friends and family, angel investors, and venture capitalists. Research the rewards and risks associated with each to find your best option.

4. Market your brand

The final step to securing startup success is utilizing all of the tools at your disposal to market your brand to the world. Testing your product or service in front of a small audience is crucial in the earlier stages, but ultimately you will need to test your business out on a much larger scale in order to take it to the next level. You will need to craft a detailed PR strategy that encompasses both offline and online tactics.

If you follow these steps, you are likely to find success with your startup. However, don’t think that the hard work ends once you make it to this pivotal point. You will have to consistently put in the effort; according to Entrepreneur, “…running a successful company is about continually innovating and adapting to new market demands.”

 

Deep Marwaha: Wellness in the Workplace

Wellness in the Workplace

As an entrepreneur in the wellness tourism industry, I am a firm believer in implementing wellness into one’s everyday life. Ever since visiting a Thai wellness facility in 2015, I have been an advocate for embracing a healthy, balanced lifestyle. I am committed to establishing my own wellness facility in Dubai; however, wellness is more than just something one can practice temporarily. It is a way of life and, as such, should encompass every aspect of life.

The average person working a traditional 9-5 job will spend 10.3 years working, or approximately 21% of their total waking hours over a 76-year lifespan. If you’re not careful, you can quickly become a slave to your job, whether you enjoy it or not. Therefore, I believe every company should have an employee wellness program in place. This can look different depending on the company, but every business owner should have their employees’ health and wellness in mind. Workplace wellness programs have been shown to improve employee satisfaction, reduce stress, decrease absences, and increase productivity. To learn about some ways employers can prioritize and implement wellness in the workplace, please head to my WordPress site for the full blog. 

 

Deep Marwaha- Work Stress Feeds Into Wellness Tourism Industry

Work Stress Feeds Into Wellness Tourism Industry

Have you ever wondered why so many offices offer their employees cool perks like fitness centers, snacks, meditation spaces, even nap pods? It isn’t hard to put two and two together. These benefits are all nice, but they’re in place to accommodate work stress. According to Corporate Wellness Magazine, work stress, defined as “The adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demands placed on them at work,” costs U.S. companies an estimated $300 billion each each and sleep deprivation as a result of excessive work costs another $63 billion.

Work stress is a big problem, especially in America where employees are often overworked and underpaid; however, it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. According to the Health and Safety Executive, it affects nearly every individual at some point in his or her life. A survey from Harris Interactive found that 80 percent of American workers could identify at least one stressor in the workplace, the most common culprits being excessive workloads, low pay, and long commutes.

The only upside of all this work stress is that a desire for healthier lifestyles is a byproduct of it, feeding indirectly into the wellness tourism industry. Businesses spend 200-300 percent more on indirect healthcare costs (sick days and decreased productivity) than they do on direct costs in the form of medical, pharmacy, and disability claims, but it seems at least that, with wellness tourism, employees are responding to their stressful environments in the best way they can by making their health a priority.

The phrase “wellness tourism” did not even exist seven years ago, and the industry has already seen amazing growth and changes since it first came into being, eclipsing the growth of tourism overall by a margin of 7%. The global wellness tourism industry is valued at over $500 billion and is expected to expand to $808 billion (nearly a trillion!) in the next few years, considering it grew at a rate of 14% over the past two years compared with 6.9% for overall tourism.

Wellness travelers represent “a new generation of travel enthusiasts,” according to Fast Company. When the industry was just taking off, it catered to the more affluent traveler. Now, realizing the need and desire for wellness travel in the workforce, the industry has adapted to “become more democratized with affordable retreats increasing across the globe.”

Interestingly, in addition to generalized work stress, corporate travel is another driver for wellness tourism, as workers seek a different kind of experience outside of anything associated with work. The Global Business travel Association reported in 2014 that it expected spending on global business travel to increase at a rate of seven percent each year, due primarily to growth in Asian markets. As corporate travel increases, so too should wellness tourism. “In a world where business trips are becoming increasingly common, wellness tourism provides an ideal counterpoint to the stresses associated with corporate travel,” says Matt Timms for BusinessDestinations.com.

Both the demographics and the destinations associated with wellness tourism have changed over the years, with the industry opening up to appeal to a wider socioeconomic audience with more affordable options. Additionally, more destinations are becoming available as countries around the world catch onto the trend and open more wellness tourism businesses. Americans represent the largest share of the industry, due primarily to their overworked lifestyles according to research from Beth McGroarty of the Global Wellness Institute. As a result, America is also the number one destination for wellness tourism- but this type of travel is expanding across the globe, with today’s wellness traveler favoring exotic locales like Thailand, Vietnam, Bali, Nicaragua, and Morocco.

As long as job-related stress continues to haunt workers around the world (and it will), wellness tourism will continue to appeal to the frazzled, overworked employee, from bottom-of-the-totem-pole assistants to executive-level bosses, and the industry will continue to grow. “It seems unstoppable,” says McGroarty.

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