"I try to make myself happy because I know that if I'm not happy, my colleagues are not happy and my shareholders are not happy and my customers are not happy."
Jack Ma
From the humble backgrounds of Delhi's middle-class family to facing the realities of life during her days at the engineering college to meeting Tarang, her business as well as a life partner and the Co-Founder of their venture, vCommission, the journey of Parul Tarang Bhargava, is indeed an inspiration-steering one.
Transitioning her career from a content writer to a young leader disrupting the entire Indian affiliate marketing scenario, Parul Tarang Bhargava, in 2006, discovered the sad reality of the drastic gaps which existed in the global affiliate marketing industry and envisioned putting India on the global map.
"Affiliates are the salesperson on the internet", the person behind this powerful statement, Parul, in her journey since the establishment of vCommission in 2008, sailed through unchartered waters and succeeded. Today, more than a decade later, as vCommission bags millions in revenue, interestingly, Parul never sourced her inspiration from numbers but from a constant vision of 'taking businesses to new heights' over numbers.
Today, her brainchild is renowned as a front-runner which persistently enlightens brands about the value of affiliate marketing & its importance in the digital marketing landscape. Leading such an important aspect of digital marketing today, the visionary navigated through a journey herself.
Parul Tarang Bhargava is a charismatic young leader with a never say die attitude, an action-oriented businesswoman, an avid public speaker, and an inspirational female entrepreneur who initiated a journey to reach her mission of introducing Affiliate Marketing in India in 2008 with her brand vCommission.
Today, more than a decade later, she leads a name renowned as a front-runner who persistently enlightens brands about the value of affiliate marketing & its importance in the digital marketing landscape. Leading such an important aspect of digital marketing today, the visionary navigated through a journey herself.
The CEO Magazine found the opportunity to have one of the unfiltered interviews with Parul as she imparted some of the most unspoken parts of a young female entrepreneurs' journey to the status of a woman entrepreneur who inspires us. Excerpts from the interview:
Parul: Being a young woman entrepreneur can be challenging especially when you're trying to introduce a new concept. Both the elements "young" and "woman" makes the pre-judgments flow without restrictions and people often doubt your knowledge & conviction. This was one of the biggest challenges while introducing affiliates in the Indian industry.
Parul: A big mistake I was making was that I was living as two different personalities – one was a fierce businesswoman & the other was a conventional wife/daughter-in-law trying to exist in a patriarchal society. I believe, as women leaders, we are expected to allow only one personality to take over.
I realized much later in my career that I cannot live two different personalities and I had to bring out all traits of my personality. Like, being empathetic at work is as important as being empathetic with someone in the community.
Parul: If I were to quote two words that define how we become unparallel to any other player in the industry, it has to be commitment and values. Commitment allows us to ensure we promise only what we can deliver to clients as well as colleagues.
Values act as a manual to understand how to treat people right with an intention to win-win. While my team and I imbibe these two crucial elements to grasp success, I would like to give you an insight into the vCommission team. To build the team, I choose to hire fresher (graduates/postgraduates) from campus and train each of them to turn in the leaders of tomorrow.
Parul: The vCommission team engages in regular team meetings to ensure everyone understands where we're at currently & where we're going (in times good & bad, both). We ensure well-defined processes that empower the team to take shots.
Consistency, I believe, is a keyword, in leadership, it allows the team to keep up with industry knowledge as much as the rest of the team. While in adversity and doubt, consistency, perseverance, with an everlasting smile allows one to look beyond the challenge.
Parul: At this point, vCommission is the only home-grown affiliate company on its path to go global. The vision is to continue exploring new markets globally while keeping the home (India) business steady.
A global crisis took over the world recently and disrupted the ecosystem global economy, industries and companies. I believe, in these times, I would define our biggest achievement to be the zero number of lay-offs, no salary cuts, minimal monitoring we maintained while still being profitable.
Parul: "Why did we not think of this earlier?" Apart from this obvious reaction and on a serious note, I believe, this question emerges post most of the breakthroughs, "How to make the maximum output of our recent discovery/breakthrough?"
For all the young leaders in making, I robustly believe, you must focus on some of the core values that stitch the success of any leader or his team. Persevere and keep working without uncountable attempts. Do not let anyone convince you that you cannot.
Keep learning and never be outdated in your own game. Ensure that you are humble & polite as simple acts of kindness go a very long way. Work with Integrity and celebrate small accomplishments as much as the big ones
Parul: Giving back to the industry, for me, is a vision I achieve by sharing unfiltered knowledge to help others grow. I have often used public forums to share my knowledge & experience in digital media like ASSOCHAM, AIMA, IAMAI, AIMA, Army Institute, Gr. Noida, TFM&A, India Affiliate Summit, India Digital Summit, Ad: tech India.
I am also grateful to be a jury for India Digital Awards 2019, jury for India Affiliate Awards 2019, and jury for India Digital Awards 2020. While I envisage grabbing more such opportunities to interact, I aim to achieve goals bigger than myself as an individual.
Parul wrapped up the interview on the note of this quote by Steve Jobs, "I'm convinced that about half of what separates successful entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance."
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