Kavit Haria Joins Us On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Podcast
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Introducing Kavit Haria
Kavit Hara is todays guest on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots free podcast interview.
He is an entrepreneur grounded in the age-old marketing principles.
But using the latest technology advances to help small businesses thrive online.
I know that this sounds very impressive, but in a nutshell today’s guest is a master at helping people finding their passions and creating thriving businesses based on those passions.
That’s the dream really isn’t it.
But the fascinating thing about this guy is this.
Although Kavit Haria now provides the fast-track to business success, he has been on an amazing journey to find those skills himself.
Over a decade ago, he was determined to become the worlds best tabla player.
Now if you don’t know what this is, imagine an Indian musician kneeling before two, what I would call bongos, then that gives you an understanding of what he played.
And he played them very well, even performing with legends such Sir Paul McCartney, Jimmy Page, and Donovan to name just three.
But this is a very niche instrument to play, and as a tabla player, he went through the ups and downs of the typical struggling musicians life.
How The Dots Joined Up For Kavit Haria
For years Kavit Haria faced struggles to find opportunities to perform, create a band, record, gig and tour.
And as he says “Not only was this an outer battle, it was an inner battle too.
Struggling with self-confidence and a lack of marketing know-how, things never looked up.”
And this is the key thing to everything.
You can have the greatest product in the world, but if nobody finds out about it then you are dead in the water.
So how did he decide that there was a gap in his knowledge, that probably wasn’t the most obvious gap for a table player to realise he needed to fill?
And is there a common problem that he now sees time and time again with wannabe entrepreneurs?
Well lets find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Kavit Hara
Show Highlights
During the show we discussed such weighty topics with Kavit Haria such as:
How as long as you are willing to get up and keep on going then there isn’t failure in life, everything is just learning.
Why most people managing a virtual team should fix clear goals and deadlines, but remain focused on the personal side of the team.
Why none of us should wait until its time for retirement before looking for the dream-life, instead let’s focus on a whole life of amazing experiences.
Why you shouldn’t subscribe to every newsletter you can at the beginning of your business , instead stay focused on just one or two high profile experts.
And lastly….
Why he feels that entrepreneurs are the true change creators in the world, not the politicians, and how he wants to make big change himself.
Kavit Haria Books
How To Connect With Kavit Hara
Return To the Top Of Kavit Haria
If you enjoyed this episode with Kavit Haria why not check out other inspirational chat with Melanie Proctor, Shawn Stevenson, Jessica Pettit and the amazing Jane Evans
You can also check our extensive podcast archive by clicking here – enjoy
Audio Transcription Of Kavit Haria Interview
David Ralph [0:00]
Do you have a business account get going or would love to create your own one that works whilst you sleep and is built around the things you love? Well podcasters mastery is the place to go to learn the six simple steps to create a business that flourishes connecting with thousands of customers that tell you what products they want. podcasters mastery is the online route to business success. Check us out now.
Intro [0:23]
When we’re young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be but somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling in join up dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here’s your host live from the back of his garden in the UK David Ralph
David Ralph [0:49]
Yes Hello there everybody. Of course it’s David Ralph you wouldn’t expect anyone else would you It’s my show. I’m not gonna let anybody get hold of this. This is what join up dots is all about. today. We had gone guest on the show who is an English guy. Yes, we’ve got another guy from England just up the road from me. And it’s funny when he started doing join up dots I couldn’t get an English person on this show for love nor money. But they’re all coming out of the woodwork now. And it makes it an interesting conversation because I have a different way of thinking. And I’m sure this guy is going to have a very cosmopolitan way of thinking, because he’s been on a bit of a journey. He is an entrepreneur, and as he says grounded in the age old marketing principles, but using the latest technology advances to help small businesses thrive online. Now I know that sounds very impressive. But in a nutshell, today’s guest is a master at helping people find where passions and Ben create thriving businesses based on those passions. That’s the dream really, isn’t it? the fascinating thing about this guy is, although he now provides the fast track to business success, he’s been on an amazing journey to find those skills himself. Over a decade ago, he was determined to become the world’s best tabla player. Now, if you don’t know what that is, imagine an Indian musicians are near before to what I would call bongos, then that gives you an understanding of what he played. And he played them very well. Even performing with legends such as a Paul McCartney, Jimmy Page, and Donovan to name just free. Now, this is a very niche instrument to play. And as a tabla player, you went through the ups and downs of the typical struggling musicians live, as you can imagine, for years, he faced struggles to find opportunities to perform, create a band, record gigs and tour. And as he says, Not only was this an outer battle, it wasn’t an inner battle to struggling with self confidence and a lack of marketing know how things never looked up. And this is the key thing to everything, you can have the greatest product in the world. But if nobody finds out about it, then get dead in the water. So how did he decide that there was a gap in his knowledge that probably wasn’t the most obvious gap for a tabla player to realize he needed to fill? And is there a common problem that he now sees time and time again with the wannabe entrepreneurs of the world? Well, let’s find out as we bring on to the show, to start join up dots with the one and only Mr. Kevin Avia. How are you, Kevin?
Kavit Haria [3:04]
Very well, thanks. That’s an extremely colorful introduction. So I appreciate it. Thank you very much.
David Ralph [3:11]
Well, you, I must admit, over the last sort of few weeks, I’ve been sort of light, because we were supposed to record about a week ago, and it didn’t happen. And so I’ve been sort of clicking around on your website, because it’s been in front of me a lot. And you’ve got one of those lives, but you don’t know whether to talk about your business success, or your sort of musical success. It’s a bit of a journey you’ve been on, isn’t it?
Kavit Haria [3:32]
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I’ve tried to weave them all together, you know, I’ve tried to take the best of everything that I’ve done and experienced. And it’s all it’s not all being plain sailing and easy. And it never really is, is it. So music has been an interesting journey and extremely difficult journey, but an inspiring one. But also one, which I really believe that the most successful people in the world of those that unleashed their left brain creativity if you like, and, you know, there’s a lot of people in the world who work in really good jobs, they make a lot of great money, but sometimes they don’t live internally fulfilling and happy lives. And I think a big part of that is because they don’t allow themselves to flourish, that creative mind. And music is a really big way to do that. So is writing, painting, doing podcasting, all sorts of things that allow you to grow in ways that are illogical if you like, and, and you really just follow the the the natural beat of the heart to be able to take your journey in a way that you really want to take it. And so, for me, music has been a great, great instrument in my life, forgive the palm. And also, also, I think the lessons that have come out of there have been the biggest blessing for me simply because I was very lucky to pick them up very quickly. And early on, even though it felt like a long time before I learned that the critical skills that I needed in music, were not actually music, but it was those skills themselves that then took me to get into business and do the things that I’m doing right now.
David Ralph [4:59]
He’s interested listening to you, because you’re not a kind of business guy. You’re a storyteller. You love to weave facts and figures into an interesting way. But your presentations go down and stone.
Kavit Haria [5:12]
The story is the important thing, those stories, I didn’t learn story for writing it writing a book or reading a book, I love story from playing music. And and that’s the whole point of a concert you go to, you know, I’ve played at the Royal Albert Hall in London. And, you know, you get thousands of people come there for a show and they sit there to pay, they pay a lot of money to sit there and listen to something for two hours, you have to grip their attention for two hours, you have to be able to make music that holds their attention for two hours. Because this isn’t just something like, you know, the kind of music I play is a drum that accompanies somebody else playing some other music. In most cases, it can be singing. In other cases, it’s just instrumental music. If somebody goes to concert for two hours, and it’s just instrumental music, you have to be able to play really good music that weaves and tells a story. Without any vocals or anyone say anything. It’s not like you know, you’re going to a concert with Beyonce who’s singing the whole time so you can sing along.
David Ralph [6:11]
And I can’t imagine Beyonce having a tabla player see him by the side? He is it one of those kind of instruments that are actually more world views used when I would imagine,
Kavit Haria [6:21]
I would say 10 years ago, the answer to that was yes. But right now today, if I listen to pop, or hip hop, or jazz, and plus I played in these styles, there’s a lot of tablet coming through. So you can i don’t i don’t know if top of my head names of songs, but you can definitely listen to songs these days, or at least I can pick up the drum that I play coming through in those. So I think a lot of people are becoming more aware of it. I mean, my whole goal when I started to play was that when I wanted to become professional as a musician, wasn’t that I didn’t want to play an Indian instrument with Indian music, I wanted to take this Indian instrument born and brought up in London, and play with pop hip hop, jazz, be reggae, blues, Latin music, I wanted to do those kind of things and
David Ralph [7:05]
make it harder for you to do that, to take it from its environment where it’s kind of known into that, that that’s always gonna be a struggle, wasn’t it?
Kavit Haria [7:15]
That was the hardest thing ever. Because, first of all, musicians and this is what I’ve learned really early on, musicians don’t get paid unless they’re actually doing work. So if they’re not performing, or if they’re not recording, generally, out of these two things, if they’re not doing these two things, they’re not getting paid. So when you call musicians over to your home or to studio to practice and to rehearse them to create music, if there’s no recording opportunity, or gigs at the end of that series of rehearsals, why would they want to do it, because it’s not leading to any big project at which they’re going to get paid. And I didn’t have any project that I wanted to, to that I could pay for, I really didn’t have a recording opportunity or any gigs that I just wanted to find people that wanted to play this instrument, or play their music with my instrument and fused together to create create something. And that was really a critical point of struggle right at the beginning, before I even had any success or moved myself forward in any way, shape or form.
David Ralph [8:07]
I was talking to a guy the other day down a pub, and he’s died. He’s a musician, and he’s a retired musician. And I said to him, You know what, what does he do now? He says he doesn’t have to, he just thrives on the royalty checks. Now, what I know about musicians is it’s quite hard to get a lot of royalty checks. And he said, No, he had this one gig back in the day that has been paying out big time. I said, What is it? He said, Well, what do you think is the big musical film that just keeps on going, going going? And I was thinking, I don’t know, I just couldn’t cross my mind. And apparently back in 77, he was in the orchestra with with Star Wars. And at the end of it, I said to them, Do you want to be paid the going rate, which was I don’t know, five grand or something? Or do you want to pay, I’m getting royalties. And he, of course, at the beginning, when you’re doing the music, you don’t know it’s going to be Star Wars, you’re just going in there and getting your money finding out and doing what you need to do. So he said, I will go for the world. He’s and he’s worst year has been about 19,000. And he’s best year has been about 56,000. And he just basically retired on this one performance. Now that’s that’s what you need, isn’t it?
Kavit Haria [9:16]
Yeah, doesn’t come back doesn’t come by very easily for most people. And also most people. I mean, he’s smart enough to see that you see. And I think that that’s also an opportunity that I think can actually potentially fall for a lot of musicians, they just don’t see it and grasp it. And then the second major learning I had in my music career was that, or at least the second major learning that I’ve that I that I saw in the in the other musicians that I was around was that nobody ever wanted to learn about the business side of the music. Nobody ever wanted to get involved in the marketing side of music. They just wanted to make music sit back and hope the world listens to it. And that’s all great. And and imagine if this guy that you met was one of the guy, the guy who told me about if he was in this position, and Nick didn’t care about the business, didn’t care about the marketing and just went out there and perform, he would not have been open enough to be able to grasp a deal like that, which is obviously set him free. So when I started to search online for ways that I could find musicians to work with, and why I wasn’t getting anybody to work with me. After about a few months of doing that, and struggling around that idea, I found somebody online who was coaching musicians specifically on the idea of figuring out how they could get themselves out of their music, if you like out of their day jobs and into ultimately making money for music. And he told me at that point, when we spoke, he told me that the one critical thing that you have to devote yourself to learning now for the rest of you know, the year at that point, there was about six months left in the year is marketing. And if you learn and most musicians say no to this, and that’s why it never works. But if you actually commit yourself to learning, marketing, how to position yourself what to say about yourself, how to get people to really understand their opportunities and work with you, even if there are no opportunities to that you can build that trust and relationship, etc. and then get out to get gigs and get out to get recording opportunities. If you learn how to do this by positioning and getting yourself in the best position, about your career, so that you can speak about it properly, then all the deals that you need will come to you. And I took that on board I studied for the next six months. And I think that I mean, I went down to my local library, I borrowed every single book I could about marketing week after week, and I read them and I studied them and I took notes. And I was building my own little MBA of music marketing knowledge, it was General marketing, but I was applying it to my music career. And after that, I built up my my social profiles, especially on Myspace at the time, which was huge. And I started getting a couple of recording opportunities where I would go and play with people. But also I was bringing people together to rehearse to then put together shows and we’d get gigs, three times a week for eight months on a truck. Until slowly things started to get recognized. And they were you know, we reached this point where the tipping point if you like, and then I started to be invited to play with some of the bigger musicians, as you said earlier on.
David Ralph [12:04]
So I’m going to ask these question, and I’m going to move on from the music because that was the beginning of your career. But I’m a big Paul McCartney fan. So what song or what did you do for Paul?
Kavit Haria [12:16]
The song from The Lion King.
David Ralph [12:20]
Boubacar he wasn’t in the Lion King.
Kavit Haria [12:23]
The Lion King, I can remember the song is a long time ago, it was actually a concert with Paul McCartney. And then there was another concert with Donovan, and what’s his name, Jimmy Page. And that was at the role of the whole, I’ll find you the name of the party. So I have it on my phone, actually, with the recording app, maybe I could play it as well. But um, I will with the tablet bit in there. It was fantastic. It was really, really amazing.
David Ralph [12:47]
Life both seems amazing Kavit Haria. And and the one I love about your story was and you’ve been talking about the marketing, there was one line on your website. And I don’t know if everybody else or picks up on this is in italics. And it just simply says sometimes it’s just one piece of advice that usually turns the light on, isn’t it? Now, when you look back on that, that ebook that you bought for $9, and you read everything about getting gigs, was it as simple as that just one piece of advice can turn the light on? Or is it it turns on something else that leads on to something else before the real advice hits?
Kavit Haria [13:25]
I think it depends on the context that it’s taken in, you know, and also I think it depends on where you are in your mind. It’s a really good question that you brought up because I got to the point about, you know, where I was really willing to try anything anybody told me simply because I felt like I tried so much. And it wasn’t working for me to get musicians together to work to, together with and also to get gigs at that time, I just really didn’t know how to how to put myself in position myself. So when you get your mind to the point that okay, I’ve tried every single thing that I think that possibly works, and whatever somebody tells me, I’m going to try if it works, it works. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t. And then when I read that that article from that book, it sort of just turned on this light bulb switch, if you like, that made sense for me at that time, and it just all seem to logically fit together that this is what I have to do versus what I have to do. Second, that’s what I have to do third, and if I do that, in that order, it should work. So I think it depends on where you are like if you’re, if somebody is at that point in their life, where they’re in the early stages of trying something out, they’re not entirely committed to it, they’re willing to just try if it works, it works, it doesn’t, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t work, etc, then sometimes one piece of advice isn’t as powerful as is when you’re at the point where you’re down and ready to just do anything. So I think it really depends.
David Ralph [14:39]
So can you see that there is no failure in life, as long as people keep on trying and keep on moving? And I’m going to play a speech in a moment that emphasize it. No, actually, I’m gonna play it now I can do these things. I’m gonna play this now. And then we’re going to talk about it afterwards. This is Oprah
Oprah Winfrey [14:54]
the way through the challenge is to get still and ask yourself, what is the next right move? not think about, Oh, I got all of this stuff. What is the next right move? And then from that space, make the next right move, and the next right move, and not to be overwhelmed by it. Because you know, your life is bigger than that one moment, you know, you’re not defined by what somebody says, is a failure for you. Because failure is just there to point you in a different direction.
David Ralph [15:26]
So do you buy into those words?
Kavit Haria [15:28]
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. As a musician, I think that I see, I’m also not only my musician, I feel like I was born in a family where my dad was an entrepreneur, and he has built his own business. And I’ve seen him fail many times. And I’ve seen musicians fail on many times in different ways. And I think that when you pick when you’re able to pick yourself up and retry something, or take a learning and try it again, that failure is no longer a failure, it’s become a very positive reinforcement to help you move forward and do something powerful. So I definitely agree.
David Ralph [16:00]
So when you look at your wannabe entrepreneurs that come through to your business, and as we said at the beginning, you you tell stories, you tell very powerful stories, and one of the freebies that you send down is a kind of portfolio of your successes with people. And all of them start from a point of not failure, but they just they’re just totally lost, and you direct them to having a focus and then moving through with the help of your team. Is there a common kind of point when they come to you? Is it desperation? Is it that I can’t think of anything else to do? What was the kind of starting point that somebody gets on the line and starts talking to you,
Kavit Haria [16:42]
they definitely have ideas already in mind of what they want to achieve with a business. So they know they want a business, they know they want to build something online, some of them may have started something and are just, you know, struggling and not knowing which direction to go, they’ve tried different things, and it hasn’t worked. But generally all of these people, their backgrounds, they have some level of success in their career in their life, it could be that they’ve worked a really good job, or they have generally built a business for themselves already that successful. So they have sometimes finance isn’t the driving point. And what’s really interesting for me, because I always used to think people would do it because of money, but it wasn’t. And they always did it. And generally now they only do it because they want more freedom of time, and they want to do something that’s more meaningful. So when people have something an idea, that is something that they’re passionate about something that has meaning to them, and is relevant to them, and they can see how that’s going to help somebody else. And then they ultimately for themselves want more time and money than they come together to do it. But generally, the biggest problem is I’m I’m extremely stuck. And I don’t know what direction to go. Well, now that I’ve got my idea, I don’t really know what I need to put together on the web to make it work seamlessly.
David Ralph [17:50]
And ease is a sequence to it, because you’re what you’ve done very well. And if anybody’s in the online environment, one of the things that is quite hard is to build it came up around the world, with virtual employees. And you have got a team of people from the Philippines to America, all the way through focusing in on their own super talent, but you’ve been pulled together. So is it a case of there is a system that is a step by step process, but as long as somebody follows it by can ultimately get the success at the end?
Kavit Haria [18:23]
Yeah, I mean, the service that we provide automated business system is essentially all about helping somebody figure out what their idea and strategy and then there are strategies. And that’s something that I feel like I excel at helping people to identify an outline of what their strategy is. But once we figure out what their business strategy and model is going to be online, their pricing, positioning sales and marketing strategies, once we do all of that, we then I’ve realized that a lot of people struggle with actually building their own business up online, the technical stuff there, what do I do? How do I write the emails? What you know, how do I put the sales copy together? How do I integrate the pricing and the payment in the email and newest responders, etc. And it takes too much time, energy and time out of people that don’t know how to do that. And although I know how to do that, I don’t want to sit there and spend hours and hours building it because it does take a lot of time. But there are actually people that are better than me at doing very specific areas of that whole puzzle. So there will be copywriters, they will be better website writers, they will be a designer that’s better than me, a developer that’s better than me, an email guy that’s better than me, somebody to take care of, you know, auto responders in automation and payments and stuff like that better than me, what if I bring all of them together, wherever they are in the world, let them work from home, work with them to get the result. And then have somebody manage it as a project manager and take care of all of those tasks. So that I can focus with the client or really just outlining the strategy and moving the business forward, and then have our team manage everything else. And that’s how I’ve done it. And that’s I’ve tried to find people that are better than me and what they do, so that ultimately, everybody wins even more.
David Ralph [19:52]
So how did you do that? Because I’ve had virtual assistants, I’ve now got a lady who’s brilliant, and she’s like gold, and I’m going to protect her for all I’ve got. But I’ve gone through quite a few people that just weren’t up to scratch, I couldn’t get the performance out of them. Now, obviously, you are building a team of super talents, how do you find those and you don’t go through that sifting through the gold?
Kavit Haria [20:15]
Yeah, there’s about 10 or 12 of us right now in the team. But it’s never always been like that this is probably the best team that we’ve ever had. But there are I probably had at least 40 other people in the last three, four years. And then, you know, got rid of the ones that let them go basically the ones that haven’t really performed to the best of their ability, or that haven’t been consistent enough. Now I have my expectations. And I laid them out very clearly when I find somebody, I generally use a job platform like Ilan, I also go to my own database to ask if anybody knows anybody else or may be interested. And then the other third thing that I do is ask the people that are currently working for me if they know anyone else within their circles that might be looking for work that might, you know, fit the job descriptions. And then I have very clear at requirements from the beginning in terms of people turning up on time online to get their work done. People meeting deadlines, so long as they work from wherever they want to work. That’s absolutely fine for me as long as they do the deadlines by the time and we collaborate all inside a project management tool called Asana. But the bottom line I think, is that people’s most people in the world, I think would if you were to categorize whether they fall into an exciting and happy job or a miserable job, most people have miserable jobs. And I think most people have miserable jobs. And I read this in a book by Patrick Lind Sione a great book, I don’t remember the name, but he talks about something to do with miserable job. And he talks about three reasons why people have a miserable job. Number one, they haven’t identified the things that they really need to measure on a daily basis that are absolutely connected to them. So the person who’s working at a McDonald’s doing a drive thru should be measuring the number of people that he can make some he she can make smile, and how quickly they can get the food out to them. For example, those are the immediate measurable. So because when you don’t measure anything, you don’t make any progress. So that’s the first thing measure. The second thing is relevance. How can somebody real so you have to realize as an employee, how relevant your work is to the direct person that you’re working with the person you impact. So as a manager, as a as a manager, for example, Mike, my customers are my stuff. And my stuff, depending on what they do, and what roles they have have their own customers, whether it is the clients, or whether it’s another member of his stuff. And when you know how what you’re doing and how relevant it is to what that person is doing and how it all fits into the ultimate vision, you realize that there’s a huge value to what you do. Most people I feel go to go to go to work and have no recognition or understanding of why they’re doing what they’re doing is relevant. And then the third thing is getting to know your people like outside of work. So you can be online on Skype, and we can meet virtually on GoToMeeting and and have conversation or even meet in person when we do. But we should know about the other things that people are doing in their life apart from the work that they’re doing in this company. You know, what are they doing the weekends today a family? How many kids do they have? What are their kids do? Where do they go last evening, etc. As you get to know these people, they have a sense of belonging and family in the team that is being built. And so I think these three things together are things that I try to do. And spend a lot of time of my time interacting with the team, more than I interact with clients probably because the team is the driving force of the entire company. And so wherever they are in the world, they will want to come they will wake up, nobody wakes up to go to work and write email, you wake up to go to live your life. And so living your life is part of a part of living your life is getting to know other people because obviously when you make somebody else happy, you become happy yourself. And I think that’s that’s part of the bottom line of how I’ve I’ve kept it going and made it work really well.
David Ralph [23:54]
Well, it has worked fantastically well. And it just sounds like you are on fire every day. And and the fact that you know you’re doing these podcasts, and you’ve been doing a lot of them, I’ve been sort of going around, I’ve been seeing your name pop up all over the place. Is that something that you just like to bring your passion to a wider audience? Or is that something that is part of your own personal marketing strategy to get your business out there?
Kavit Haria [24:18]
Yeah, absolutely. There’s the absolute honest truth is both absolutely, for me to share my story and learnings and the things that I’ve taken away. And the successes that we built for myself and the clients I think is a fantastic thing to inspire other people. Because there are a lot of people that want to get their own freedom. There’s a lot of people at a huge number of people, for some reason are in these miserable jobs or careers. And they want to have something that gives them the same amount of money or more and just have more time to do the things that are more valuable. And I think the more threats that we see in the world, so that could be terrorism, it could be the refugee crisis, etc. More and more people are realizing that life is really quite fragile. And why wait another 3040 years before I become free, when I could become free right now doing something I absolutely, truly love. And there’s a lot of people that I think that are sitting on the fence of that belief and part of this podcast, Dr if you like is to get them to go over to the other side of fence and try something for themselves. Because really there Is it is it is difficult, but it is extremely rewarding as anybody will ever tell you that is that is doing something valuable for themselves online. So part of it is that and part of that, of course is that I definitely do want people to know about our service, because it works very well it works extremely, extremely well. We get some great results. We have a great community we help people would essentially in a year get to six figures in their very first business online. And I think that it’s attractive for people and I want more people to know about it.
David Ralph [25:53]
So So what does your mom and dad thing because obviously the previous generation come from that mentality, you’re, you go and you work and that’s it, you do your hours and you come home, they look at you and think I don’t actually understand what he’s doing. He seems to be enjoying himself. He’s flying off to Australia he’s playing but how What’s he actually doing? Could I answer that question?
Kavit Haria [26:17]
Yes, and no.
Unknown Speaker [26:20]
I think that
Kavit Haria [26:22]
you know, I was definitely a from the general. But you know, I’m Indian First of all, so that you say you’re Indian, you know, the Indian parents are, like most parents, of course, but probably a little bit more stricter in that you have to finish your education as best as you can. And then you have to get a job and you have to work at that job. And I didn’t end up being a doctor or an accountant, as most Indians or a dentist or an optician etc. I studied genetics at university, it was my degree. So I completed that while i was growing my music career at the same time, simply because just to say that I had a music career and then and, and without any security with that whatsoever made no comfort provided no comfort for my parents. Absolutely. So I went to this degree at the same time I was doing my music. But then I launched launched into this idea of you know, giving presentations and helping other businesses. And is it that point, I think they started to really understand what I was doing because they didn’t understand my music business where I was helping other musicians to, to make more to make more sales of their music to get more exposure to get more gigs, that was a little bit tricky for them to understand, you know, why would I build a business doing info products online. And it’s really interesting throughout this whole time that I was doing that I would see on the doorstep, this regular newsletter full out. And my dad was subscribing to some investment newsletter, obviously an info product in names in that that he was a very popular one in the UK. And he was getting that regularly. And only when I correlated what that was and how that business was run because I knew how that business was run to what I was doing. Did it start to make sense that I’m building basically an online company that was helping others build businesses? So I think they would answer it in interesting ways. It would be great to get them on a podcast on publicly on Mike and just see what they say. I think that would be hilarious. But um, yeah, at least at least they’re happy knowing that I’m doing okay.
David Ralph [28:11]
Yeah, I’ll tell you what, I could do join up dots and I could get all the dates on there, to just sort of, um, just talk about how their kids are grown up and how they thought they were going to be a waste of space. And banana is equally proud. Because your parents don’t really share the pride delay, which is weird. I’ve got moms and dads, and they never really say anything about what I do for a living at all. It’s just like, it’s just best somehow, did I ever so often say commit, we’re proud of you, you’re doing well, my son.
Kavit Haria [28:42]
Indian families are different. I don’t think they they show their their pride by saying it directly like that, but they have their ways of doing it, I feel it too. So I’m completely happy with as long as you know, my parents are, I guess, because they grew up in the UK also themselves, they are a little bit more more liberal to others that I do know. But they have always been do what makes you happy. And so that’s, that’s a very fortunate place to be in as much as as much as it has been okay, you need to have a great career and be secure and earn a good living so that you can then enjoy your life. I think they’re starting to realize that you can enjoy your life at the same time, as long as you’re doing something that makes you happy. So yeah, that’s a good thing.
David Ralph [29:25]
What was your real life? If you put it into 250, 50 pounds? Do you musician or this? Was the musicians chip just leading you to this? Do you feel this is your real thing? Or is this your thing, but really the tablet playing is the you know, the real passion we where does it sit?
Kavit Haria [29:43]
I think there’s a third thing as well, which I haven’t yet stepped on. But I think that’s really the bigger calling if you like, and so music is a big passion, I still play I still get to perform. I don’t do it as much as I do it, did it back then. But now I’m very selective about the opportunities that come along. And the ones that I take a simply because of time and simply because of Well, I’m doing it for fun. So I want to take the opportunities that really do excite me more than just turning up every day in a pub and playing. So there’s definitely that coming up and helping people figure out what business strategies they’re going to follow in business models they have in place, and really helping them accelerate and grow that and then getting them into the marketing coaching that they need. That’s exciting to that really makes me come alive. But what I think is really exciting, and I’m moving towards is figuring out how to and this is my vision ultimately. And my vision is that the real people that make the change in the world are the entrepreneurs, not politicians or anybody else, simply because every entrepreneur has within them this burning fire and desire of an idea that they want to bring to the world. And when they do that with meaning and with value, that idea has the power to really change a huge number of people because it impacts the customers that they sell to. It impacts their for customers, families, ultimately, because if the customer is happy, the family is going to slowly become happy. It impacts the business owners, families and staff and the stars families, that’s potentially a whole little society. And the more of those new societies that we have, the world I believe will be in a better place because people will be a lot more happier, they’ll make more money, and they’ll be able to contribute more money to places that really need it. And so that’s really a big part of my vision. And part of that vision is not just helping entrepreneurs in the Western world, but is really going down to grassroots figuring out which villages have people that really could start their own small little businesses, whether it’s water businesses are getting, you know, sewing machine businesses, whatever it is that people need to do men and women in their little local villages to start bringing out their families from to a place where they can feel a little bit more happier, but also fulfilled and doing things for themselves as opposed to constantly having to just either steal or, or get pay off sort donations, etc. And I think when we start to build small mini entrepreneurs, societies like this, I think the world gets to a better place. And that’s where that’s where I feel like I want to spend most of my time. I don’t know if that answered your question. He does. And it leads to so many other questions, because I just find it fascinating. But, you know, knowing years ago, you were very open. But you had a struggle of self confidence. There was an outer battle and an inner battle, as it said on your website. And now you’re looking at being able to change the world and dream big and Ben dream bigger again,
David Ralph [32:34]
does it kind of blow your mind how you personally changed over that decade?
Kavit Haria [32:39]
Absolutely. 100%, I still have no idea. I’m going to do this segment this this last point that I just made. So it definitely from where I was sitting in a in a little square room at university, planning out my little business to where I am right now many, many years on I have no idea how I’ve turned out like this. But I’m very grateful. And I think that hopefully it’s going to benefit a lot people as well.
David Ralph [33:01]
Well, I’m going to play some words now that really I normally pay at the beginning of the show. But I have been so influenced by what you’ve been talking about. I’ve left it to a little bit later. This is Jim Carrey,
Jim Carrey [33:12]
my father could have been a great comedian, but he didn’t believe that that was possible for him. And so he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant. And when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job. And our family had to do whatever we could to survive. I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want. So you might as well take a chance on doing what you love.
David Ralph [33:38]
Now, if you take those words, and you are obviously doing what you love, the thing that I’m interested in with you is the fact that you could never go back to becoming working for somebody now it’s quite obvious. You’ve got to go through your own journey and move forward. Do you find nowadays that people can start to grass but but less risky route is actually working for yourself, actually trying to create your own economy, build your own business and move forward. And we kind of blown away totally that mentality that hung around for years and years and years, get a job, a job for life, and you’re going to be all right.
Kavit Haria [34:18]
I don’t know if we blown it away completely. Because I mean, I I guess the circles that I hang around with are the clients that I need are the people that I potentially speak to all already believe in this fact that they can, they can and will and want to start their own business. But I equally meet a lot of people that still talk to me for hours upon hours, because I’m willing to do that. But they don’t, they still don’t take that step. And it’s really interesting 202 when I had my talk to them, because I’m fascinated by the psychology of somebody who really knows the power of having their own business, their own economy, but they get to the point where they still something’s holding them back from making that decision to go forward. And I do agree that the risk is a lot less today than it ever was before, simply because anybody with any skill, using the power of the internet can turn that skill into a money making skill. And it’s a lot more easier today than anytime before for people to actually do that. Now, it’s easy for me to say I think that it’s easier today than anytime before. But I don’t think that people really get that I think people understand it from a very superficial point. But actually, it’s easier today than ever before to make money or build your own business using the internet. But the actual how simple that is because of the tools we have. And really the simplicity of a business model and how a business model needs to operate at its most basic level and can still work to the highest amount of profitability. I don’t think people still get that. And so I think that although it’s it makes sense that people can definitely in summary, I think people people can definitely start their own business on I just don’t think people are aware that the risk is as less as as little as actually is because of the internet.
David Ralph [36:00]
But But the problem is, is guys like yourself, and guys like me in a smaller way and all the people out there that are doing their own thing. We don’t seem to evidence, it would be great. If right, nine years ago, you started filming all your actions. So people could see it like a time sequence running through how they change. Because more often than not people will look at you and just being it’s easy. It’s thrown a website up. He’s done he stuff and he’s just doing it. But of course, there’s so much more to it. Do you find that is something that holds people back as well, but they see the show highlights, but they don’t drill down enough to actually see the struggle that you’ve got to go through, at least at the beginning?
Kavit Haria [36:39]
Yes, I think so. But I also am very open with the people that talk with me about the kind of struggles that they will face or at least the things that they should watch out for. And I think it’s always difficult that because you know when you tell somebody that Okay, one thing that you should never do as you get into business is subscribe to hundreds of newsletters, because you’re just going to spend all your time following the shiny object and never give your time to the things that really matter. That piece of advice is an example could be something that you tell somebody who’s brand new to starting their own business or to group to doing something online. But they’re not going to receive the value of it, or the importance of it until they actually get to the point where they were completely bombarded with those newsletters and they don’t know which direction to go. And they’ve put themselves in a hole. And they’ll be like, Oh, you can go back to them say, Oh, I told you so but then it does. So doesn’t have that, that that impacted at that moment until after they’ve struggled. And then you give them this a moment where, okay, this light bulb comes on, like we talked about earlier. Now in that really basic example, I think there’s a couple of things. First of all, people have to go on their own journey to be able to realize, and to see the value that they’ve they’ve put together to build a business, not everybody has to do that. But some people do. And I would say 50% of the people that I end up helping through the automated business system are people that have tried so many different things, and then come to this process because they can see that, okay, brings everything together and does it well for them. Or there are people that I spoken to that I say, Okay, I’m gonna go try it on my own. So, you know, here we have a complete system, they can follow that they won’t, that they’ll have to shorten their curve, if you like, and speed up their success. And they’re like, okay, now I’m gonna go try it on my own. And if it doesn’t work, I’ll come back. So I think there’s only to some extent, some amount of documentation you can do. But the other side of that documentation thing is that every single thing online that I did nine years ago is no longer available online, simply because the tools have changed. You know, the way I built websites, I had to learn HTML, CSS, you don’t have to do that anymore. Today, I had to learn and find the right ways to create video and spend hours uploading video, you don’t have to do that today. There’s so many things that are possible today that were never possible before. And that’s why I think it’s easier now than it ever has. But the beauty ultimately, and the way that I’ve tried to structure my business is that the instead of showcasing me and my success story, as much as possible, let me showcase and celebrate my clients, people who in those last one year, six months, last three months, last two years, they’ve actually decided they want to start a business and let them tell you exactly how they’re doing it because they’re completely fresh right now. So you can see that it’s not somebody up on stage or somebody you’re putting up on a pedestal to to give you the give you the insights. But here’s people just like me and you who have actually making some progress.
David Ralph [39:22]
Well, I’ve read those stories. And they’re very eclectic. There’s a lady who is a painter, and she was working in the City of London, and she wanted to be a painter, there’s another lady who makes the leather handbags, or out of jeans or denim or something. It’s very different. Do you now see most things as being doable? Can you make a business under most terms?
Kavit Haria [39:48]
As long as somebody has a problem and you’re solving it, I’m willing to say yes, you know, as long as you identify that there is somebody with a problem, a passion, a yearning for something, or something to have, or something to want or something to learn, and you have something that can truly fulfill that gap or that hole and you have your spin on it allows you to do it well, then yes, you can. All it then requires is that you create something that’s at the highest quality, because there’s no point putting your product or service out. That’s crap. And then number two, you learn how to position it in the right way so that people can actually see the value they’re going to get
David Ralph [40:25]
when you get somebody Cabot come to you, because I would imagine your big stumbling block is but they have tried everything. And they’re reluctant to invest anything, even though they’ve tried everything by paying around buying things, shortcuts, and all that kind of stuff. And now they’ve got the option of getting a professional team to sort of do it the right way. Is that the scary part for most of them thinking, right? Do Can I actually afford this, even though it looks very good, the documentation is brilliant stories are great Cabot seems wonderful is that your big sort of stuff, block to some of them, get customers on board?
Kavit Haria [41:03]
Well, in many ways, you’re investing a specific amount of money to build a business that allows you to get $100,000 in your very first year, at least that’s what we’re working towards. For many people, they see that, that isn’t an issue, that it makes complete sense for me to trade, you know, five figures for six figures. But there are people that have just can’t afford it. And those for those people, you know, we offer regular workshops, or, or even courses online. But when people come to the point of that they have the money, but they just don’t know whether they pay for it. For those people, it’s just probably they don’t want it enough. And it’s really what it comes down to. I mean, if you if you have the money for an amazing curved TV that’s out these days, and, and but you just meet Oh, by it’s usually because you just don’t have a big enough one for it, the moment you have a big enough one for it, and you want it in your house, you want it on the wall, you’ll do anything to get it you’ll spend that money and buy it. And so I think it comes down to how much people actually realize and truly want their own business. So many people, this is really interesting as well. So many people say that they want to have a business online, but they’re not willing to do anything for it. So how much do they really want that business online? Or is it just something on their bucket list for later time in life. And if that’s the case, it’s okay. But admit it, admit it to yourself. So you can park it. And you can focus on what really matters right now and come back to your idea of a business in the future, when it really matters. Don’t have it lingering in your mind. So that you start to feel incredibly guilty that oh, I shouldn’t have this business. But really, if you’re going to have it later on, just tell yourself, you’re gonna have it later on. Don’t worry about it right now. And I think there’s so many people like that as well. Because if you have the money and you’re not spending it, and you’re exactly what you need is because you don’t want it.
David Ralph [42:51]
Now I think time and time again, one of the big problems is is the utopia of passive income where people think they’re looking for a few links up and they can get some income from for me, it is doable, once again, it’s doable. But you’ve got to put quite a bit of work in at the beginning. And I speak to people down the pub and I say to them, you know what I’m doing and the income that’s coming in and different being. And they think that you press about six buttons and get it going. But the beauty of it is, is when you get going, you realize that those struggles were the true learnings. They were the ones that really were the gifts, but you’re never going to give back because you’ve learned so much in your own journey, where you ever sort of seduced by those get rich quick schemes where people say, Oh, you click this and you click that and you’re making six figures a month? Or did you really sort of logically know now there’s a process, you’ve got to really work because musicians do struggle don’t base they struggle to learn, they struggle to read music. So there’s a process that they have to go through, which is interesting that you’ve been taken into business. So did you have the foresight that it was going to take time?
Kavit Haria [43:54]
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, like I said, my, my father was an entrepreneur, he’s built multiple different businesses and failed probably more times than he succeeded. And he’ll probably tell you that himself. And so I’ve realized that it takes a huge amount of time for you to actually make something work. I think that I’ve always believed that the internet shortens that time simply because of the tools and abilities to reach a lot more people quicker, whether it’s advertising or anything else. I’ve never fallen for, you know, click a few buttons and make make a million dollars overnight kind of shiny object, $37 $50 products that people sell you and they tell you, this is the software to use. And I’ve never really found that I’ve always believed that. It takes time it is hard work, I still tell people it is hard work. But if you’re willing to put in the work, then you’ll be able to build something that you love, something that has meaning and something that has value for you as well. So I’m definitely the same myself.
David Ralph [44:44]
But let’s play the words. This is our last page. And this is a guy who created the whole show of join up dots and he said these words back in 2005. And he was somebody that was on his own journey. And he struggled and he persevered until he finally became the person that we know of today. This is Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs [45:02]
Of course, it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later. Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leaves you off the well worn path. And that will make all the difference.
David Ralph [45:37]
So do you buy into those words? Kavit Haria?
Kavit Haria [45:39]
Yeah, yeah, I think so. I think I think he says it really well. And of course, it matches up beautifully with join up dots I think it’s, I think he says it really well.
David Ralph [45:47]
What’s your big dot, then when you look back over your life, what was the moment when things all started to really kick in?
Kavit Haria [45:56]
I would say that I discovered that.
If you were to if you want to make progress in your life, and this is a learning, I think that was the big.if you want to make progress in your life, you have to communicate with people in a way that they truly will understand you in a way that makes references to their frame of life and not your frame of life. And if you’re able to connect with people, whether you want something or you’re giving something in a way that they’ll truly Connect personally enters understand the impact that will have is way more than if you just tell them something face value. And that’s it. And I think the moment I learned that little communication Jim or communication secret is when I began began to write better emails, speak to people better network with people better, find the opportunities that I want to better write on social media better, and speak better in in when I was giving presentations. And so ultimately, if somebody doesn’t understand me, it’s not their fault. It’s mine. It’s my communication issues. And I think those learnings I give so much thanks to them simply because they’re the they’re the moments when things started to switch when I started to write better and speak better and connect better with people. And obviously connecting with people is a key part of business success today.
David Ralph [47:14]
Oh, absolutely. So are you to truly authentic? have you thrown away this all the cloak that we all wear on our journey where we think we’ve got to be like it, but other people? Are you totally who you are?
Kavit Haria [47:27]
It’s a great question. And I think that I would say that I used to wear a cloak before I don’t really wear that cloak anymore. I feel like I I’ve decided this is a few years ago. Now I decided that to some extent, I am. Or not to some extent, but I completely am following a journey to learning myself. And so long as people see that and see and people can know that. And I have nothing to hide with regards to that, then why should I wear a cloak and say that I’ve been there done that and I’ve completely achieved my goals. And you know, I’m not I, I feel I’ve achieved some great stuff in my life. But I have a huge amount of more work to do until I’m until I’m grounded and humbled. It’s never going to happen. And I think that is a key key big part of my my journey.
David Ralph [48:10]
But just before we send you back in time on the Sermon on the mic to have a one on one with your younger self. Do you think everybody out there sitting in their cubicles on the train on the bus running down to get whatever they need to do? Because it’s it’s the time where they have to get there? Do you think that they can have the kick ass life that they truly want in their hearts?
Kavit Haria [48:30]
Yeah, absolutely. Why not? Let nothing stop nothing is making them any different from from me or from you or anybody else. We’re all we’re all we’re all the same world cup from the same cloth, I believe. You know, I think every single one one of us has within us complete genius and power. And to achieve ever subsequently, every single thing that we want, we’re just not tapping into it enough. And we’re all tapping into it differently. And if we all really, truly tapped into it properly, we all have the same abilities to be able to do whatever we want it to do.
David Ralph [48:57]
Just got to be willing to fail anyway.
Kavit Haria [48:59]
think that’s a great message. Yes.
David Ralph [49:02]
Well, this is the part of the show that we draw it to an end, but we send you back in time to have a one on one with your younger self. And if you could go back in time and speak to the young Kevin, what age would you choose? And what advice would you give? Well, we’re going to find out, because I’m going to play the theme tune. And when it fades you out, this is the Sermon on the mic.
Music [49:25]
Here we go. With the best of the show,
Kavit Haria [49:42]
I think I would probably go back to when I was 1614 1516, I would tell myself a couple of things, I would tell myself that within myself or within me is really truly every single virtue and greatness that ever existed in this world. And if I really found a way to connect with that, if I really believed in the fact that I have this entire piece of greatness within me equal to the Lord equal to any of the heroes that I looked up to whether it was in sports, or in business, or in the movies, or at college or school, whatever it was anybody that I looked up to, I have exactly the same potential that they have. I’m just not tapping into it. And I’m giving only 3040 50% of myself. And if I gave 100% of myself in every single opportunity, I don’t really care about the success that I would then get. But I would live a life that was more fuller, more richer, more happier, more fulfilled. And I think those are critical things I would definitely tell myself about time, I also told myself that that the light is shining, the light is always shining on me, there’s no reason for it to be dark, there’s no reason for it to be a depressing time, there’s no reason for times to be negative, because the moment the light is shining, it’s that opportunity for you to turn up and be your very best and play your biggest game. And there’s no need to have fear. Because fear is a lack of certainty. And certainty exceeds doubt. And these are critical things that I’ve learned in years gone that I would love to have told myself back at that point, because the more certainty you have in anything that you’re doing, there is absolutely no doubt that you will succeed in the moment you have more certainty than anybody else. You’ll win any conversation, you’ll win any negotiation, you’ll will you’ll win any confrontation simply because certainty always exceeds doubt. I think those are a few critical lessons that I would definitely tell myself,
David Ralph [51:54]
Mr Kavit Haria, what’s the number one best way that our audience can connect with you, sir?
Kavit Haria [51:59]
Thanks, David. If you check out my website, it’s www dot Insider. That’s i n si D, our insider internet success. com. And as David mentioned earlier on, there are there is a downloadable PDF there, which is a book of case studies of people in their own worlds words telling you how they built six figure businesses in that very first year online. And also we do offer a 30 minute Business Startup consultation for free. It’s it’s an opportunity for you to chat with a business coach about your ideas and to see how they could turn into online businesses and whether we can help with that. And it’s there’s no obligation to purchase anything. There’s no charge for the call because of the podcast here. But you’ll get the opportunity to talk and discuss your ideas and see if there’s something that you can work out for you and to get you moving in the direction of your dreams. And so you can find all those details at insider internet success. com.
David Ralph [52:53]
And we will have over links on the show notes and listeners. I don’t say this very often, as you will be aware, but download that PDF because it really is a professional piece of literature. And it’s fascinating stories, it will get the cogs in your mind, starting worrying thinking about the possibilities. Well Kevin, thank you so much for spending time with us today and joining up those dots Please come back again when you have more dots to join up because I do believe that by joining up the dots and connecting our past is the best way to build our futures. Kevin How are you? Thank you so much.
Kavit Haria [53:24]
Thanks for having me David
David Ralph [53:27]
and then we have a another episode of join up dots bites that if you enjoyed listening to today’s show, please share with people just send a Facebook link, tweet or wherever you want to do or just shout at somebody on the bus. Listen to join up dots then that would be great. Until then this is David Ralph saying farewell and I’m going to turn the mic off and might go and ever sleep or something. That’s the beauty of being an entrepreneur. Thank you so much for listening. speak to you again. Cheers. Bye bye
outro [53:59]
David doesn’t want you to become a faded version of the brilliant self you are wants to become so he’s put together an amazing guide for you called the eight pieces of advice that every successful entrepreneur practices, including the two that changed his life. Head over to join up dots.com. to download this amazing guide for free and we’ll see you tomorrow on join up dots.
