Friends are the family we choose and no one knows this better than the two lovely ladies who took their friendship one step forward, exactly five years ago. Wings was an ambitious project for two army wives with plenty of enthusiasm, a high roster of qualifications and lots of keen insight. Today, the duo have completed five years as Wings! The vision of the both the ladies in question and the way they execute their plans, sets them apart from most startup owners.

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What started out as a training outfit has quickly snowballed into an online branding unit that churns out high end and classy campaigns for a series of well known brands. In the midst of all this, Priyanka Renjen Kumar (NLP Master Practitioner and IFC Certified Professional with over 10,000 hours of training under her belt) and Payal Mittal Talwar (an IFC Certified Trainer and NLP Master Practitioner with a practice spanning many industries), have not forgotten their vision behind Wings and its simple beginnings.

Wings was named aptly because its main aim was to empower women so as to reach out for opportunities and make the most of their skills and qualifications. The two live wire ladies take enthusiastic women under their wing and become the sky for their soaring ambitions. I should know – because I am one of the lucky few to have been nurtured by them.

Which brings us directly to their brand value: their friendship. Chalk and cheese as they are, one might wonder how effective their working style and fit may have been. But here is where the two have found a way to fit in with each other even as they stay true to their individual identity. This has led to a team building exercise that reflects just what they propagate in their many training and content creation programs: finding your aura and shine within it. In this sense, the two have not only created a good working environment, but they have also created a rare brand of friendship that has translated into stellar business performance! Here are the four things we can learn from them in order to successfully start and sustain a business venture with a friend:

– Know: Know each other’s strengths and weaknesses well before you start out. That’s right – even friendship needs a good old SWOT analysis in such cases! Decide whether or not you will be able to fill in where your friend may not be able to do too well!

– Understand: Knowing and having empathy are two different things. Understanding is what usually helps you chart the course from knowing to doing. Understand each other fully. If required, question and engage for hours in order to fully understand roles and implications so that the projects you take on can be seamlessly rendered.

– Articulate: Be positive with each other, especially when conveying a need or a gap to the other. This is one of the most crucial things to do when you are building a new relationship as business partners.

– Black and White: While bonhomie is a great concept, verbal agreements are not. So get everything down in black and white and know exactly what you are getting into rather than feeling short changed later!

Here’s wishing Wings many many more years of success and a story that will inspire generations of friends turned business partners! And if this got you curious, don’t forget to visit their very creative, very whacky website: www.wingsteam.in

 

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