The choices we made

The choices that we make at every stage of life write our story. For an entrepreneur, choices are even more crucial because they affect not  just their own lives but the lives of a whole range of people associated with the enterprise. Now, when it comes to choices, the most often faced choice, or probably the one after the ‘heart vs mind’ choice, is the ‘passion vs paisa’ choice. Yes, it is a tough choice to make. We are not saying that passion and money are meant to be mutually exclusive, but there is definitely a price to pay when you choose to do what you are passionate about over working at a regular job. Atleast, this was the case for us.

When we decided to quit our jobs and set up our own enterprise and work with weavers, our income did take a hit. Even today, we make less money than what we would have made if we had continued on our corporate careers. But, it doesn’t matter to us because it was a conscious choice that we made.  

It certainly is no easy choice to leave a cushy job and dive into the unpredictability that entrepreneurship is. But, from our personal journey, here are a few points that constantly remind us how our choices have been totally worth all the sweat and the hard work.

Contagious smile on people’s face is uplifting:
We strongly feel that empowering others and spreading positivity is the biggest measure of success. A typical Suta saree sees the smiles of a lot of people. From the weavers who give birth to the sarees to the Suta Queens who make Suta sarees a part of the most important as well as the most causal moments of their lives, so much of joy surrounds Suta Sarees and we feel blessed each day to be a part of this.

Customers are like family:

Customers buying from Suta becoming a wonderful community of people was not a planned thing. Driven by passion and committed to our principles of always ensuring the best, we came out with products and people loved them. Whether it is our made-in-heaven mul sarees, the Jamdani sarees, the cotton sarees or Khesh sarees, they have found their true love in our Suta Queens who are our tribe today. And, this is something that cannot be bought with money.

Each day feels like a wonderful adventure

Entrepreneurs have schedules that are unlike anybody else’s schedule. Giving our 100% at all times becomes imperative and we enjoy the adventures that this journey is bringing us. From unexpected delays in production to dealing with problematic people in the digital world, each day presents an opportunity for us to face new challenges. We see these challenges as chances for us to grow further and we love this.

     

On the whole, the feeling of working on something that matters so much to us is just incomparable to anything else. There are times when we have wondered if the money we are making is enough to keep Suta going but we persisted and stuck to our vision and we made it out of those situations. We still might encounter such tight situations in the future as well. But, we know that we will have the strength to always keep doing what matters the most to us and keep enabling our weavers to live their dreams. Because, that’s the thing with passion, it always keeps you going no matter what.