P.K Khurana, Founder, Quicksel Media Services, Chandigarh

I was director-marketing with Divya Himachal, reporting only to the chairman of the company and could not have been promoted further (Ha-Ha!). I didn't have money to launch a big company, so I thought of starting small... taking baby steps to grow.

Thus, I founded Quiksel Media Services, the first and the only media marketing company in Chandigarh. My biggest challenge was lack of manpower; hence, all the members of my family, including kids, had to work. An indomitable will to perform better and grow bigger saw me through the initial years of struggle.

Later we diversified into PR and Quik Relations was born. Quik Relations had presence only in the northern region. We wanted to become a national agency, but didn't have resources, so we thought of an alternate route. Large PR agencies retain "affiliates" or "stringers" where they have no presence. We didn't want to have affiliates. We wanted to provide seamless experience to our clients, even without having our own offices everywhere. Hence we identified small but capable and effective PR agencies at various places and offered them to become "partner companies to a larger network" without losing their individual identities. We created a platform called "Communicators Network" and offered free training and free promotion to our partner companies. We started to attract national clients and grew at a healthier pace. Now, we have set up India Total Infoline for our national clients and created a network of partner companies. Today, it is the flagship company in our portfolio, and has a large number of partner companies in the network. All of them have advantage of offering national services to their clients.

We see things, not the way they are, but the way they can be. Not what exists, but what can be created. A better way of doing things, a better way of life. Creativity, experimentation and innovation are not just encouraged at QuikRelations; they are a way of life in all our companies. We are looking at new talent and aggressive promotional activities to expand further.

My suggestion to budding entrepreneurs is that when you undertake an initiative, define the objectives first and then plan the whole initiative so that it achieves the desired objective. Focus on results - not activity. Never go half-hearted into anything. Only take a step if you are totally convinced and once you decide something put your heart and soul into it.