South Delhi-resident Komal Khosla left a thriving career with a global firm, in pursuit of following her desire to create something of her own. “I wanted to take a plunge and figure out if I can create my own brand,” says the 32-year-old who set up Carra, a craft chocolate brand in 2016. The decision to become a chocolatier was largely unplanned. “Making chocolate is complex and a detailed process, and I really liked experimenting with it,” Khosla explains, adding that she attempts to “create novel variants of chocolates” through Carra. In this interview, Khosla gets candid about her entrepreneurship journey and how she manages to improve a work-life balance amid her busy schedule. Excerpts…
How do you strike a balance between work and life?
This is a very tricky question for a person running a start-up because entrepreneurs do not get a lot of time off. It is one thing to imagine creating a brand and it is a completely different thing when you are running it. You are completely in it—all days, nights, and weekends. But now, gradually I have understood and realised that you cannot just be at work all the time; you have to take time off. Having said that, it takes a while for you to reach a point where you can afford to take time off. And I try my best to manage some time that way, and treat a weekend like a weekend. Yet, work travels with you. But it is important to have that demarcation of time, otherwise your mind just switches off.
Tell us about your hobbies.
I train in mixed martial arts in the evenings, after work hours. I try my best to commit at least three days in the week to it. The team follows a 10am to 7pm shift. If not 7pm, I try to at least leave by 8pm. In fact, I am trying to make timelines and follow them. I try to have my own fitness routine during the week and if I get a Sunday off, I mostly lazing around at home and I am trying to spend time with family since otherwise I do not get a lot of time with them. . So yes, there’s family time, there’s fitness time, and I also travel on and off.
What interests you about mixed martial arts?
I do not have a very deep answer to this except that I wanted fitness to be a part of my routine. And I realised that a lot of my everyday time was going into work. Year in and year out I see my energy really dipping. Earlier, if I used to work the entire day, I would be standing and I would not be as tired as I am now… and I am able to see that change. I realised fitness has to be a part of my life. That’s when I decided ‘Okay, let us focus and start this’.
Can you share a few lessons from your entrepreneurial journey?
I have learnt that it is very important for everybody to, at one point in time, either create something of their own or work in a start-up. When you do your own thing, you end up talking to people from different stratas of society… I talk to the guard, vendors, my staff, CEOs, corporates, etc. And it completely changes your point of view; it teaches you a lot. Managing every aspect of work brings in you a lot of maturity and helps you build confidence in yourself.