Jan 2020, I call it quits- my 16 years corporate career & an absolutely comfortable job in a Japanese Executive Search company, where I spent 9 years of my entire experience. A few were amused, a few were envious and majority were lauding the courage. Not to miss, a handful of sarcastic ones thought I was going to add to the ‘already growing’ unemployment numbers of India.

Discovering how to translate passion into work It had been playing on my mind for long, I knew sooner the better. I only did not know how to translate passion into work. Good food, coffee & fitness describe majority of my happiness quotient. Thus, an idea of owning a café was a dream & I guess will remain so. Couple of friends who had burnt their hand (or money) in the food business advised against. They said, be happy being a Home Chef, atleast no one rates you on Zomato Or worst case post a pic of your food on social media, when you make an error. So it was fitness, which even though has not reached it’s peak, but is still a crowded space.

2019, for various reasons, I did not have regular access to Gyms or my group trainings and thus I ended up training by myself in my residential tower. A couple of kids who would play down at that hour joined me at times and I realized I enjoyed that. I love the energy and curiosity kids possess. So that was it KIDS Fitness! I started researching & realized how evolved this space already was outside India- US , UK, Australia and it got me really interested.

Could not have asked for a better start to the Second Innings Whether it was Executive Search or Fitness, I always prefer to get the content right & thus identified a couple of certifications for myself in Fundamental Movement Skills, Motor Skills & Mindfulness. I traveled to Singapore for two of them and was back in early March. All set to launch in April, with plans ready on content, format, venue, collaborations, program design and everything. And then BOOM!! World got hit by Covid-19 and India went under lockdown. Not just throwing my April launch plan, but also making me rethink on the business model. Phew!

I was back to the drawing board again. All my content revolved in engaging with kids personally , making it a fun activity, involved lot of props, partner games, group activities. Well all these are luxuries now. We are social distancing for some time, definitely beyond May 3 (my personal opinion). And thus I say- Could not have asked for a better start- Baptism by fire! If you start your entrepreneurial journey with a setback, things could only look up from here (fingers crossed)

I am currently pursuing add on certification & working on a conceptual design to be able to move my format to online classes.

So, I learnt

(i) It is your journey, so the onus is on you if you fall down on the way- Get up & Keep Moving

(ii) Be ready to throw away original plans & reinvent yourself to work on Plan B

(iii) Always Be Positive

(iv) Be patient. The more you work on something, the more it works out

(v) Always, always have enough funds to back you for atleast 12 months, if not 24 

& finally pat yourself for having taken a courageous call. It is just a matter of starting!!

Priyanka Chaturvedi, Founder- Wonder Yearz

(Wonder Yearz is an initiative to promote fitness amongst children so they can reap the benefits of a lifestyle that is active, healthy & fun. We are focussed on children from the age of 3 to 12 years.

At Wonder Yearz, we design work out for children based on motor skills, fundamental movement, calisthenics & mindfulness)