Small Business Interview with Simply Astro Founder Shiv Verma
December 28th, 2009 | Interviews,Online & Small Business Resources,Small Business,Small Business Tips | 3 Comments »Today’s KikScore Small Business interview is with Shiv Verma, the founder of SimplyAstro.com. Shiv is a serious entrepreneur and runs multiple websites including the SimplayAstro.com website. He is also a nights and weekend entpreneur so KikScore has a special bond with Shiv because we know the long hours that he pulls on a regular basis. Shiv has just recently launched a very cool iPhone app and has received a lot of media coverage about that.
Tell us about “SimplyAstro.com – Your AstroSwami” and who you focuses on serving?
AstroSwami is the Brand Identity of SimplyAstro.com. AstroSwami Pro & AstroSwami Lite are the first every iPhone App bringing your personalized horoscope predictions AND remedies at just a click away! Merging today’s most popular technology and the ancient, scientific knowledge of Vedic Astrology, a pioneering concept “ASTROSWAMI PRO” offers solutions to your life’s problems on your iPhone. SimplyAstro.com is an online portal for astrological services providing the widest range of astrological and divination services in India and in western countries. SimplyAstro.com provides services to the people who believe in astrology as the science that may guide their path in life. All products and services offered by SimplyAstro.com reflect the philosophy that the purpose of Astrology is to stimulate the personal growth of individuals and create inter-personal harmony. Our services include online consultations and counseling built around Western Astrology, Vedic Astrology, Tarot, Numerology, Chinese Astrology, Vastu, Feng Shui, etc. backed by an internationally renowned panel of astrologers from across the world. SimplyAstro.com is a full fledged online astrology service provider and a platform for astrologers to export their services to Indians as well as Western people and all other people worldwide who believe in astrology as the science that may guide their path in life.
How did you get your started selling online?
The objective of the flagship company Vital Acts Inc., is to provide an easy, simple and user-centric online service that touches people’s Vital Acts of life! Keeping that in mind, SimplyAstro.com was started with our valuable and vital set of online services that is driving to create a community in itself. Vital Acts Inc. is growing to become the leader in service oriented online services catering to the needs of people through Internet and mobile. Our Series of website services ensures that an average individual is able to use the internet in the most effective, affordable and easy way! What we mean by that is well demonstrated by our website product services, product quality, customer service and one of the key items that are most affordable and beating the competition in regards to pricing that we have to offer or the amount of FREE services we have to offer!
Where will “SimplyAstro.com – Your AstroSwami” focus most of its energy in 2010?
SimplyAstro.com is growing to become the leader in service oriented online products & consulting catering to the needs of people through Internet and mobile.
If you had 2 lessons learned from your business that you could pass on to others about selling online, what are those?
- Get clear understanding of what market segment you want to focus on and determine if you want to start by having a local or global focus.
- Have a marketing game plan lined-up to test the market via at-least five different marketing strategies. Don’t spend put all your resources in 1 marketing strategy. Instead divide your resources between the 5 strategies and have a way to track the effectiveness of each.
As 2009 closes, what do you see as 2 new trends in your business this year?
- Like any other business, more players are entering the market although they may not be mature businesses and also do not deliver the same value!
- People have become more and more price sensitive due to the economy and needless to say no other site providing similar values can beat our pricing!
If your business/store could be any movie or movie character, what movie/movie character would it be and why?
Can I pick 2 here? Star Wars & Star Track (Trek), well for one simple reason, SimplyAstro.com – Your AstroSwami, guides your path in life towards success by means of predictions and remedial suggestions using the ancient science of Vedic Astrology, Western Astrology, Numerology & lot more! As you can see Astrology is all about Tracking the Stars (Star Track!) and giving solutions to the problems of your life by means of remedial measures which is like fighting the Star Wars! And yes, both these movies have been very popular and highly successful, so you can see where I am going with this!
If “SimplyAstro.com – Your AstroSwami” could have a dream spokesperson for your company who would it be and why?
Our own customers & community, because their word of mouth is what creates the difference!
Do you have any parting thoughts for our readers and the small business community?
Absolutely, pursuing your hobby or passion in the form of a business is the best thing one can do in life and make a difference, so go for it! But always keep a good check on your budget and always apply a formula of multiply by 4 for any initially estimates when it comes to budgeting and time required for an activity/initiative. And yes, hurdles are part of the game, learn and adopt to get passed them and even if you hit couple of them, it’s ok, don’t stop or give up! Believing is achieving half the goal!
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Pursuing ones interest in the form of business can also be a great job, as we tend to enjoy our work more when it is of interest to ourselfs. Good Luck, may 2010 bring much success for your business.
David
Being a blog writer myself, I really appreciate the time you took in wriitng this article. I am currently reading it on my Blackberry and will scan it once I get home.