Q/A With Harminder Swaley
No stranger to resilience and persistence, Harminder Swaley talks about the ups and downs of his entrepreneurial journey.
Q: What was going on in your mind when you lost your job during the pandemic?
A: To be honest, I had mentally prepared myself for this outcome as I knew the business was struggling and redundancies would be on the agenda sooner or later, however, I won’t lie it was a bitter pill to swallow.
The way I prepared myself for this situation was to hope for the best but prepare for the worst! I had an honest conversation with myself and knew that I would be lucky to have six months of employment. I prepared myself mentally by making a plan of action on how to tackle redundancy and implementing it to give myself the best chance to come back bigger and stronger.
Q: What made you take the leap of faith into entrepreneurship as opposed to going back to finding a job?
A: There are a few factors that made me decide to become an entrepreneur. I had been in sales most of my adult life but I had grown tired of the industry as it did not feed my soul. I decided back in 2018 that I wanted to be my own boss and do something which I was passionate about; From there, I founded Infinity Massage Therapy.
I built the brand part time whilst working full time. The goal was to eventually, become entirely self-employed, but going from a monthly paycheck to generating your own income was daunting, so for a while, I had held myself back from fully committing to the dream.
Sadly, one of my uncles passed away last year and during this time I had also lost my job; it made me truly reflect on my own life, what I wanted to achieve with it and the legacy that I wanted to leave behind. This gave me the push I needed to put my dreams into action.
Q: Given the nature of your business and the need to be hands on, how have you managed to stay afloat during this pandemic?
A: Thankfully, I had savings that were intended for marketing and growing my business, but due to multiple lockdowns and months of not earning I had used these savings to keep the business afloat and for my own personal expenses. I’ve nearly used all the funds now, so I’m hoping there will be no further lockdowns so people can feel confident and safe to have treatments once more.
Q: For those that don’t get massages, explain the benefits in doing so?
A: Massage has many physical and mental benefits such as the feeling of deep relaxation and calm. This happens as massage promotes the release of endorphins that produce feelings of wellbeing.
Levels of stress hormones, such as cortisol and adrenalin, are also reduced. Some of the physical benefits of massage include:
Increased joint mobility and flexibility
Reduced muscle tension
Improved circulation
Stimulation of the lymphatic system
Reduction of stress hormones
Relaxation
Improved skin tone
Improved recovery of soft tissue injuries
Heightened mental alertness
Reduced anxiety and depression
Q: What are some of the biggest lessons you’ve learned so far in your entrepreneurship journey?
A: I’d say the biggest lessons I’ve learned are:
1) Time is your biggest commodity. Becoming organized and focused will benefit your business and personal life greatly.
2) You can be the best in your industry but if people don’t know about your business, you are more likely to fail. Make sure to consistently let the world know who you are and what you have to offer.
3) You need to have an unwavering belief in yourself and your business as you will be tested in many ways!
Q: Finding that business to create is not something that comes to mind right away. For those that are interested in pursuing entrepreneurship can you walk us down your thought process when thinking and pursuing a business idea?
A: Before committing to being a massage therapist, I was playing with a few ideas such as becoming a personal trainer, starting a juice/smoothie bar or food/alcohol delivery service. I also dabbled in the idea of starting a recruitment company.
There were a list of questions I had asked myself to help me make a decision on whether or not to pursue the venture.
Am I motivated and passionate?
Can this business idea make money?
Who is my target audience for my business?
Who are my competitors?
What is your USP?
How will I market my business?
How will I price my products?
Do I have the funds to start this business?
What are my goals for the business?
Will this help people?
Q: Do you think there’s a certain trait and mindset that is needed in order to go down entrepreneurship? If so, what are these traits?
A: There definitely are traits that entrepreneurs share and I find that the most common ones include: passion, motivation, confidence, planning, vision, creativity, risk-taking and resilience.
Q: Is the entrepreneurship spirit something that you are born with it, or is something that you learn?
A: This is a hard question to answer, I think that everyone has their own journey some people may be born with an entrepreneurship personality while others will develop this through experiences in their life’s journey.
Personally I always had a different kind of mindset to most people around me. However, I wasn’t business minded until I hit my early thirties and the more time went on the more this mindset continued to develop.
Q: You mentioned that you were caught up with living life for a while and that you lost a bit of your creativity. Can you explain what that means?
A: I’ve always been a dreamer and had an abundance of creativity. I studied media and communication at college and went onto university to study digital arts and video production with the goal to eventually become a film director.
However, life isn’t always straightforward; I ended up dropping out of University in my second year due to family matters. Unfortunately, my family life was very dysfunctional and a big part of this was due to my brother being a drug addict and alcoholic. My parents were unable to handle the situation and unwilling to take control of it.
I could have chosen to walk away from the issues but family means everything to me. Over the next ten years, I ended up consistently dealing with this situation and tried to do the best for my parents and other siblings. In the process, my life was threatened (by my brother) on a regular basis and it got to the point where I almost became desensitized to these situations. This was a dark and prolonged period in my life which didn’t leave room for much growth, creativity.
Q: What is the most important takeaway that you learned during this dark period of your life?
A: It is important to help others especially the ones you love but make sure to protect yourself in the process as you are also important. Ultimately you cannot help someone who doesn’t want to help themselves and if you aren’t careful you will end up losing part if not all of yourself in your quest.
Q: What are some ways that you’ve worked on yourself during the pandemic?
A: I’ve used the pandemic/lockdowns to start creating the best version of myself, with the goal to be in the best shape of my life in all aspects by the time I’m 40, wish me luck!
Turning my part time business into a full time venture.
I’ve lost 14 kg while putting on a good amount of muscle in the process and creating a sustainable lifestyle to achieve my future goals.
Completing an advanced diploma in digital marketing.
Creating a digital marketing agency with one of my best friends called Found on Search.
Learning how to cook, I know this sounds silly but I could barely cook a year ago and now I’m creating dishes from scratch.
Rediscovering my creativity and sharing it via Instagram to over 8000 followers.
Self-publishing a guide/mini e-book on how to grow your IG on amazon.
Q: The pandemic has taken a serious toll on people’s health. Are there any helpful tips you could give to those that are struggling with maintaining their health?
A: There is a saying that “health is wealth” and I can’t agree with this more. Many of my friends and family have put on weight due to the pandemic through stress, comfort eating and lack of exercise. There has also been increased mental health issues due to the pandemic.
Physical Health:
The way I lost weight in the first UK lockdown was by reducing my calorie intake, becoming aware of the food I was consuming and replacing most of my high calorie food with nutrient rich food. For example, a chocolate bar can have 250 calories, which tastes great but is ultimately a waste of calories if you compare it to a can of tuna. One can is 130 calories and is packed full of protein. I recommend eating 35% of your daily intake as protein, 30% healthy fats and 35% carbohydrates. For a man, I would say aim for 2000 calories and a for a woman 1600 calories per day. Exercise is also important but currently tough with gyms constantly being closed, so I would recommend doing a daily walk of a minimum of 10,000 steps; this should help create a calorie deficit needed to shed the extra pounds.
Mental Health:
Life has been stressful for many people over the past 12 months and the way I dealt with my own mental health was by creating a productive routine which helped to give me structure, occupy my mind and give me a sense of achievement upon completion.
I also did things which made me feel happy such as listening to feel good music, walks (exercise creates endorphins useful for reducing stress) and eating healthy food which affects your mindset/mood as “you are what you eat”.
I didn’t do this much but human contact such as hugging is a powerful process as it creates oxytocin. This stimulates the release of other feel-good hormones, such as dopamine and serotonin, while reducing stress hormones, such as cortisol and norepinephrine. These changes make you feel happier, lessens depression, anxiety and boosts your immune system.
Q: Being self-employed can be a roller coaster of emotions, especially during the pandemic. When things are dark, what keeps you going?
A: I would say my life experiences have made me a very resilient individual and my nature naturally is happy, optimistic and focused therefore I don’t tend to have many dark moments!
However I am only human and when faced with trials and tribulations, I embrace those moments as it’s important to be present, experience and express those feelings. With that being said, I do not allow myself to dwell in these emotions for long and instead focus on what I can do to overcome the challenges by speaking with my peers, making an action plan on how to tackle the situation and most importantly focusing on what I’m thankful for in my life.
Q: How has creativity provided you with a new outlet in life?
A: Rediscovering my creativity has helped me to find part of myself which had been dormant for a long time. I’m truly grateful for this as I feel whole again with a renewed desire to connect, express myself through my work/ideas and I can say wholeheartedly that I feel there are no limitations to what is possible!
Q: What are some of your favorite meals that you’ve cooked over the pandemic?
A: I’m a massive foodie so this is a challenging question for me; it’s like asking a movie buff “what is your favorite movie.” I’m going to pick three dishes which are the most memorable for myself.
(1) Turkish eggs- It’s a simple dish but packed full of flavour!
(2) Carbonara- I love pasta and have always had this dish in restaurants. Little did I know how much better it tastes homemade.
(3) Lamb curry with pesto rice- It’s a marriage of flavours. The heat from the curry and freshness of the pesto makes for a winning combination.
Q: What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned during this pandemic?
A: The biggest lesson I’ve learned from the pandemic is that you are in control of your own destiny. The world may be full of chaos, fear and uncertainty and you may feel helpless, however you are not! You choose how you react to situations and your reactions either empower or de-power you.
Q: What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned during your journey as a person?
A: There are two lessons I would like to pass on. The first is that life is a gift and our time is precious so make every moment count and surround yourself with people who support you and your dreams!
The second is do not exist but live. What I mean by this is to challenge yourself constantly; by pushing ourselves outside of our comfort zone, we can truly develop and grow.
Q: What does happiness mean to you?
A: Happiness to me is living life on my terms, enjoying the little things and making a difference to the people in my life and beyond.
Q: Three words that describe who you are?
A: Compassionate, ambitious and positive.
Q: The best piece of advice given to you?
A: Don’t have expectations of anyone and you will never be disappointed.
Q: How can we make this world a better place for future generations?
A: I feel we can make the world better by educating the next generation on how our actions effect each other and the planet. As well as promoting self-love/acceptance and the importance of creating meaningful relationships; be that family, friends and daily interactions with people.