Keshav Gaur started Voyager Consulting Community to help youngsters realise the importance of branding themselves.
At a glance
Startup: Voyager Consulting Community
Founder: Keshav Gaur
The year it was founded: 2017
Funding: Bootstrapped
Image consulting has gained popularity in India in the past 8 years. Image consultants help individuals cultivate a better or professional appearance. They work with clients/businesses to make necessary changes to their behaviour, communication skills and behaviour. Some consultants specialize in certain areas such as public speaking, social etiquette or clothing among others.
Keshav Gaur is no different. He graduated from Rajiv Academy for Technology and Management (RATM) in 2019. He started as a career counsellor who counselled students of eleventh and twelfth standard in 2017 and helped them understand which career choice was right for them. Then, he started helping them with soft skills like developing their communication skills to ace their interviews.
Gaur started counselling children in terms of their career as well as their personality and soon found himself in the field of image consulting. Today, he has been invited to numerous colleges to help students understand the importance of public speaking.
“If you’re pursuing B.Tech, it’s understood that you need to have a good command over languages such as Java, Python, etc. But what happens when you’re promoted to the post of a team leader? Or a manager? You need to have technical as well as soft-skills. You can’t understand your subordinates if you lack empathy, good leadership skills, etc. To train yourself to cultivate these habits early on is a sure-shot way to land up your dream job.”
Service’s USP
However, other image consulting services do not provide customised training and rather focus on overall personality development. That’s not the case with Voyager Consulting Community. They provide overall training as well as training in specific areas such as leadership training, field training, public leadership training, public speaking training, influencer training, time management, and psychometric assignments.
Apart from this, his methodology is different. He prefers working on what he likes to call it as his ‘networking model.’ He has created an ecosystem of freelancers; a large group of people who lack in the same skill. He trains these people and encourages them to train the new joiners, creating a hierarchy. This helps both the members and they can easily update their skills according to the job they’re looking for.
The Inspiration
With the graduation ceremony only a few months away, Gaur was lost in his universe. Not because of the thrill to graduate but because he failed to figure out what he wanted to do after college life came to an end.
“My friends and I visited a lot of counsellors during those days. Some of them found the answers they were looking for but not me. I was never satisfied with the career choices they suggested because I felt they were too generic. I wanted to do something different—something I was naturally good at.”
He knew there were many like him who were struggling to find the right career choices so he decided to go to his mentor. His mentor suggested that he take up physiological courses and a year later, he had managed to get several certifications.
“I started approaching financiers but all of them showed me the door because I lacked experience and I was young.”
He decided to form a non-profit service community and started training individuals. He even went to Amity University and IIM Jamshedpur to talk to his friends and discuss his choice of career and they warned him to think things through before taking permanent decisions.
Overcoming Challenges
“Everyone’s discouragement became a source of motivation for me. I officially launched my community in 2018 and started with my college itself. I got a fantastic response from the students and then there was no turning back.”
He visited every school and college in Mathura to take guest lectures, seminars and sessions to help students realise their true potential. His popularity grew and he started receiving invitations from neighbouring schools and colleges. In 2019, he started getting a good response from his community that he had created.
“I handle everything on my own and I don’t believe you need to have a strong online presence in order to succeed. All you need to succeed is strong willpower.”
Voyager Consulting Community is solely dedicated to helping individuals find out the best versions of themselves so that they can feel good about themselves.
“You’re bound to perform better if you feel good about yourself. I want to help you boost your morale so that you can always be at your best.”
This is why he never compromises with the quality fo his training. Whether his session involves a single person or a room full of 100 people, he invests the same kind of hard work. Additionally, he treats you like a friend rather than a client and is also available for you at all times.
Advice for young students and entrepreneurs
“If you wish to achieve something in life, you must be hardworking, dedicated and determined. You can achieve these by being consistent, pushing your limits and by taking chances.”
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