Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Vinayak Mahajan, Founder, and CEO of GiftAFeeling, located in Toronto, ON, Canada.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
We help individuals and organizations build strong relationships! This is done by providing research-based gifts & giveaways.
Who We Are: GiftAFeeling is a globally recognized thought leader and the #1 leading R&D company in the gifting and giveaway domain around the world. GiftAFeeling's Shared Secrets Lab is the only research lab in the world that educates people, both individuals, and organizations, on gift-giving based on research done on human psychology.
For Organizations: GiftAFeeling is your one-stop print shop specializing in research-based giveaways, promotional products & personalized gifts to provide you with the best cost efficiency and the highest ROI. We can place your logo, text, or design on almost anything from branded apparel like custom t-shirts to mugs to any product you can name.
For Individuals: Our products are extensively researched to fulfill the major psychological attributes of a perfect gift or giveaway by providing personalized uniqueness, practical usefulness, unforgettable experience, and unmatched quality for long-term satisfaction, so you will never have to worry about finding the perfect gifts or a promotional product.
Our Mission: To help you give something the receiver can never forget
a product that will make them feel ecstatic, improve their lifestyle, and thus, make a real difference in their DAILY lives. Whether the receiver is an individual or a group of people, we've got your back!
Our Vision: Our vision is to leave zero questions in the mind of people when they are finding a gift or a giveaway product. Based on research done on human psychology, we can help you find products that are guaranteed to be loved. Our goal is to make finding a product as easy as grabbing coffee no over-thinking or questioning!
Tell us about yourself
I am Vinayak Mahajan, Founder & CEO of GiftAFeeling Inc. - the only gifting company in the world that educates people on how to find a gift based on research done on human psychology by the top universities in the world like Harvard, UBC, Berkeley, top streaming platforms like BBC, as well as clinical psychologists around the world.
I'm also a thought leader who has introduced to the world terms like Giftophobia, which, if you didn't know, essentially is a fear of gift-giving, gifts - the whole process in general. Moreover, I run a team of psychologists and researchers based at the University of Toronto, McMaster University, University of Western Ontario, Kwantlen University in Canada, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherland, and some universities in India, Pakistan, and the USA under GiftAFeeling Research & Development.
Furthermore, I'm a #1 Global Best Selling author for the book - Unearthing the "Gift," a one-of-a-kind book available today, online or offline, that explains how focusing on human psychology can help you answer this very question of "What to gift," and help you find a proven-to-be-loved gift for your mom, dad, soulmate or anyone!
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
GiftAFeeling today, as mentioned by CNBC, Ticker News, Wall Street Select, TedX, USA Today, Exceptional People Magazine, Business Digest Magazine, and LA Business Podcast, is globally recognized along with being one of Canada's Top 5 E-commerce businesses and the only brand in the world that educates people on gift-giving based on research done on human psychology. With a #1 Global Bestselling book - "Unearthing the Gift," and platforms like "Shared Secrets," it is considered a thought leader in the gifting domain.
Leading R&D in the gift-giving domain around the world: GiftAFeeling is a highly recognized thought leader and also a leading R&D company in the gifting arena around the globe. It has invented the world "Giftophobia" in the modern era. Its leadership and innovation have led them to give a TEDx Talk, make appearances on TV and many new outlets, and get published in magazines like Exceptional People Magazine, Business Digest Magazine, etc. Some other R&D outside of the gifting domain is the revolutionary 3D personalization technology - introducing revolutionary 3-d personalization. All this has made not only GiftAFeeling a leader in the gifting domain but also Canada, as it's the only company in the world with such a mission, vision, and goal. It's the only company in the world that has solved the problem of confusion and overthinking when finding gifts.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
While there were many challenges as an immigrant, such as communication barriers, fitting into the Canadian culture, and motivating employees, the major one was "How to share knowledge with the right audience." Educating people by means of digital platforms (as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic) is difficult in today's noisy world. With the average attention span as low as 5 seconds, it's difficult to create "edutainment" (education + entertainment). Especially when competing against big giants like Amazon, Etsy, PMall, etc., who are promoting their products as "Best gifts," "Perfect gifts," and "Top 10 gifts". Moreover, since our message was based on human psychology, it was difficult to garner interest as psychology isn't everyone's area of interest.
The first step in making our knowledge simple and easy to consume was by converting the psychological attributes of gift-giving into actionable steps. Therefore, we laid down a last-minute gifting checklist that people can follow to brainstorm a perfect gift for each and every receiver. And although these four steps were research-driven, they were converted into thought-provoking questions and examples that helped people find gifts in less than 5 minutes. And the best part was - it worked for all age groups, demographics, ethnicities, etc.
Soon, we started receiving requests for product recommendations as there wasn't a website or shop which offered products that fit these attributes. This was when we launched the e-commerce side of GiftAFeeling, where all the gifts were proven to be loved as they fulfilled these psychological attributes. Over the span of 1 year, we have created over 50 jobs in Canada covering the domains of psychology, research, design, IT, content writing, blogging, sales, marketing, HR, recruitment, and many more. The biggest success was hiring interns and co-ops, especially in the psychology and research area, where students have the most difficulty in finding jobs or even entering the industry. GiftAFeeling has solved this problem by providing a platform to psychology students by offering them training and internships as they are pursuing their studies. Along with this, we have increased sales not only in Canada but globally - contributing to the Canadian economy. Furthermore, GiftAFeeling has partnered with local Canadian firms, shops, and organizations to fulfill the orders. This has not only helped the Canadian customers to get their orders from local vendors but also helped the hard-hit vendors who lost a huge chunk of their business due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moreover, although the last-minute gift-giving checklist solved the problem of finding gifts, there was now much more that people wanted to learn about experiments, research, ideas, stories, and proof behind the research. Thus, we launched our blog platform - "Shared Secrets," where our researchers and psychologists published their experiments, knowledge, and work. While there is still a lot to share on gift-giving, I am proud of the entire GiftAFeeling family that has formed and what we have achieved together in just a span of 1 year.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
I'd like this opportunity to talk about what's usually missed - the hidden side of running a business. Entrepreneurs and business owners are also humans; they also face the emotional toll that many of us do, along with times of being burned out. So, my three suggestions are for them:
- Call your friends and family - while it is very easy for one to busy themselves with computers and phones - watching Netflix or scrolling through social media, I believe conversations with old friends and family members are still irreplaceable. This is one of the greatest life lessons that the pandemic has taught me personally. It is certainly very easy to fall prey to the dopamine hits that social media feeds everyone with today, but I highly recommend everyone to Google - "How is social media making people lonelier than ever before?".
- Have empathy - if you see a kid crying on the streetside, go help them, don't just call 911 and wait. Emotional Intelligence surely is highly regarded in today's world, but I believe it is mostly rooted in actions through experiences. If you don't believe me, try helping someone out today - anyone with anything, and see how it urges you to help more people; it's a positive spiral!
- Don't fall prey to marketers - Mostly the ones that are new to the business. Giving an example about gifting specifically, since this is my topic of expertise, I understand that most people procrastinate their gift search to the last minute, which perhaps, I did too until I found the false perception that is created in the gifting industry. You see, most of the gifting blogs and ideas that show up on Google search that say "Top 10 Best Gifts for Mom" are unverified - there is no research, study, or evidence performed on them that gives a trust badge that these ten gifts are unquestionably the best. Thus, as a result, it is very rare that even though the receiver might jump off their feet at the moment of receiving the gift, the gift will not end up sitting on the shelf, eating dust! Psychologically speaking, a perfect gift is something that becomes indispensable, both in the memories and in daily life usage - not only because it is useful or practical, but because it provides a feeling, an experience, some personalized uniqueness, and long-term satisfaction.
Is there anything else you'd like to share?
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.giftafeeling.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vinayak__mahajan/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vinayak-mahajan/
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