Guruji Shrii Arnav, considered the Father of Astro Gemology and a mentor to Statesmen and Millionaires, is an internationally acclaimed spiritual Guru who uses techniques based on spirituality, Astro Gemology, and modern management methods.
The author of the Magnum Opus” Secrets of Jyotish Gems”( translated in 6 languages), he is the mentor of the world’s largest E-commerce portal to buy natural Gemstones online (Gemstoneuniverse.com) that has a mind-boggling reach of 4 million monthly users and has been around since the early days of the internet since 1996.
We are quite certain our readers would love a no holds barred conversation with a major thought leader so they can benefit from Guruji Shrii Arnav’s insights about entrepreneurship and business in general. Global Millionaire magazine recently had the good fortune of meeting and interviewing Revered Guruji Shrii Arnav during the Gemstoneuniverse Founder’s Day and here’s what went down:
What are your standards for success? Is it a certain dollar figure?
For me personally, I was never into numbers. My singular philosophy since I believe in the theory of Karma is that every single person engaging with me should benefit from me or by my enterprise.
And that happens when customers vouch for you by word of mouth, give you referrals, and sometimes raise concerns as if they were family and they own the enterprise as their own.
And at Gemstoneuniverse we see that happening all the time. Since 1996 we have had such a loyal base of patrons (I do not like to call them customers) that till today we have not had the need for any kind of advertising of any sort.
Also to have industry leaders from Google, HP speaking about you on video is a huge takeaway and speaks of standards. Those are feedback and testimonials that money cannot buy.
What do you think made you successful in business?
Even though I am a spiritual person I like the word business which means transacting and all of us are business people since the world moves by give and take and by a transaction.
I think having clear-cut goals, delighting our patrons, and being attached to the greater cause of serving people and solving their problems by spirituality, gem therapy helped me in achieving a reasonable degree of success and recognition.
My life philosophy revolves around the Gemstoneuniverse Motto of – Deo Amabiles Et Hominibus which means Pleasing to God and To Men- and it’s in that order that has helped me.
What inspired you to develop your idea?
More than inspiration it was a necessity. In 1996 we reached around 11,000 people in a year and by 1997 it was 40,000.
I will be upfront and honest with you – no single patron ever asked me the price of any Gem. They would say you know better- please do what is best for me.
So five things here: Firstly, I was not in a humanly position to speak with every single person. Secondly, when customers were buying Gemstones without taking a look at the product just based on trust – that was creating a huge pressure on me. Thirdly, I wanted the patron to choose a Gemstone in the privacy of their own environment without any kind of pressure. Fourthly, the intention was to serve the people with the powerful science of gem therapy that delivers phenomenal results and fifthly, bring some kind of organization in a vastly unregulated market.
Real Natural Gemstones form only 2% of all world stock so you can understand the rarity and importance.
With Gemstoneuniverse the patron is assured that the best in the Gem world work assiduously to make them win and that we are on their side.
What were the main challenges you faced at the early stages of your business? And do you still encounter them to this day?
People, Problems, Possibilities, Potential, Product, Price are all words that start with P ( Smiles). There are three more P words that will solve the entire jigsaw but I would not like to mention them here.
Since the start of mankind, these 9P’s are responsible for all complications and solutions. If whatever information listed on the search engine is true then there should be no problems on the planet (Hey, another P word!).
If whatever has been written in the religious scriptures is interpreted correctly then any problem will cease to exist.
So as we continue to grow and evolve, problems will remain due to lack of quality information, incapacity for correct decision making, and resistance to change.
You can motivate and change these 3 core issues within yourself but you cannot do that for the people who work for you neither can you do it for the people interested in you with 100% quantitative compliance.
That is why I love to be in the Japanese philosophy of Kaizen and also motivate my team to be in the state of Kaizen at all possible times.
My own interpretation of Kaizen is that that there is nothing at any point in time that cannot be improved. So we are always striving to improve and be in the perfect state.
What keeps you going even in hard times?
The opportunity given by the almighty to serve and the appreciation we get for it. You will be amazed that during this COVID era both I and the organization attained personal bests.
There is an interesting parable from the life of Lord Shri Krishna. Once the great warrior Arjun asked the Lord- Krishna, write something on the wall that after reading will make a happy person – sad and a sad person -happy at the same time.
Krishna took a piece of chalk and wrote – “This Too Shall Pass”. I believe in this philosophy. What is in my hand is the right action, why worry about things that you cannot control.
What are your thoughts on entrepreneurship for young people especially in an economy where jobs are harder to find?
COVID and the currently prevailing circumstances have proven that what was conventional is not essentially the right path and in fact, some people shone brightly by using innovative ideas and proved that humans have a wonderful ability to adapt and improvise – these are the two qualities in humans that have made us the alpha species.
I think it will be wonderful to have young energetic people join the entrepreneurship bandwagon and they in turn will create new and fresh jobs.
However, I can suggest some things – always put a priority on niche specializing, always keep learning, don’t put yourself under pressure to be the next Elon Musk, work harder than anybody else and as you grow stay humble and have fun. No work is good enough if it does not give you joy!
What strategies did you first use to market your business?
To be honest with you I do not believe much in traditional marketing or advertising.
Your biggest marketing assets are your people and your product and nothing beats word of mouth.
To cut a long story short, I wrote articles about spirituality, gem therapy, astrology, and gemstones because I was appalled at the pedestrian impotent fare that was pedalled in names of these subjects which was causing more harm to people than benefiting them.
I think what has benefited us since the inception is sharing of good quality cutting edge information in form of quality articles, media resources in form of high-quality gem pictures and videos. Over a period of 26 years, there are 3500 articles on Gemstoneuniverse which are highly informative and give something to a user or solve a pain point. I think you can call it our marketing strategy if you will. Creating and sharing good quality content has been our only strategy.
I did my first Facebook live on the Gemstoneuniverse Facebook Page on 29th August 2021 and now it’s nearing 300K views already.
How have your priorities changed from when you first started?
More success comes with more responsibilities and there are other ramifications and responsibilities when you are touching lives on an epic scale. You need to be future-ready and beware of copycats that may be out to dupe people riding on the coattails of a successful enterprise.
Another thing to mull upon and work on is supply change management. The demands and numbers at Gemstoneuniverse are huge but the earth’s natural resources and the human resources we have in for of trained consultants and practitioners is limited and we have to do all this while ensuring that the Gemstones we use and supply are ethically mined, responsibly sourced, conflict-free and traceable.
Knowing what you know now, is there anything you would have done differently when you were first starting out?
Not a thing and I am just starting!
What two pieces of advice can you give to someone who wants to become an expert in their chosen field?
Another of my favourite P Word – Practice and Fail early and Fail Fast.
Failing gets you a PhD. in experience in record time provided that you learn from failure. If you are afraid of failure, to be honest, the chances of doing something noteworthy are very minuscule and at best, life would be normal, predictable, boring, and ordinary. That does sound SCARY to me at least.
What is the last ‘one word’ advice you will give to our readers when it comes to succeeding as an entrepreneur?
Niche, Niche, Niche – Do what you love and be the best at it. I wish all the readers health, happiness, and abundance.
You can follow Guruji Shrii Arnav and Gemstoneuniverse via their official social media pages:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/gemstoneuniverse
Instagram: @gemstoneuniverse
Website: www.gemstoneuniverse.com