We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful AVNI GANDHI. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with AVNI below.
AVNI, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
As a part of the Indian diaspora and now a mother of two, I’m constantly trying my best to keep our family connected with our Indian cultural roots. I truly believe that knowing who you are and being able to proudly express who you are is important to building a child’s sense of self-worth and that’s what fuels Bhaasha Basics. Our mission is to help both Indian and non-Indian families celebrate, experience and connect with the beautiful ancient culture of India in a modern way.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My journey sort of started from my teaching roots. When I began thinking about having kids, I realized that there was a lack of resources available for my own kids to learn about our native language (Gujarati) and our cultural heritage. The few that did exist were poorly made and not appealing to the modern eye. I initially started by authoring a book that introduces kids to the Gujarati alphabet in a poetic way. Getting that first book published became an “aha” moment that motivated me to do more. Being creative, I started making things at home for my own kids – things they could interact with and touch and feel on a daily basis. We came up with fun ways to celebrate our festivals, personalizations that allowed them to see their names on household items and exciting décor that we would be proud to show to those who visited our home. As I kept improving my handmade products, a number of friends and family started telling me that the stuff I was making was amazing and could be helpful to others so I decided to start selling it. I thought to myself that if I could use my passion for being creative and crafty to help other families in their cultural journey, why not?
I am proud of the fact that through Bhaasha Basics I have created a little something that I hope will help other families in this journey. We offer the widest range of South Asian language-learning materials today with offerings in nine different languages! Creating so much material has not been easy (or cheap), but if it helps even a few kids develop a connection with their culture, I’ll feel like it was all worth it! Business-wise, one thing that I learned quickly was that it takes a LOT of money upfront to start a business. This is especially true when you are selling physical products. You can’t sell something until you have enough products to actually sell, and that requires you to have the products manufactured. Manufacturing is cheap when you order a million pieces, but when you’re starting up, you are praying that you find even a handful of people who want to buy your product. This means that you have to pay a high price to secure a small quantity of inventory that you then hope to sell. Point is that there is a HUGE upfront expense to starting a business. I was able to find a very creative way around this problem – manufacture the products myself! I taught myself how to design and manufacture my own products so that the only expense is my time. I cannot express how important this was in helping me launch my business successfully and I am very proud of the fact that I get to hand-make each product that is ordered on my website.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Unlike many other founders and entrepreneurs, I am not very comfortable being in front of the camera. Talking about myself and sharing about my life has never been a strength of mine. But this is exactly what makes social media engaging. People want to see you, see your life and see your process as it unfolds. That is how you increase engagement and that is how you build an audience. But I wanted to be true to myself and not give up who I am so I’ve had to be very thoughtful about how I use social media and how I build my audience.
My focus has always been on my creations and my artistic process so I have used that to build my audience. My posts are mostly focused on my products, and if I’m sharing something about myself, it’s usually centered around how we keep our culture alive at home. This has become my brand and while I fully acknowledge that it may not lead to the type of active audience many brands strive for, I’m comfortable and happy with it.
I also have been blessed to have the incredible support of various women influencers, who have kindly shared my products with their followers. This has been a HUGE help for Bhaasha Basics. Without their support, I would not be where I am today. So for those who are like me, I would highly recommend finding influencers that are willing to support you. It means you have to give them something they can trust and confidently attach their name to.
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
Bhaasha Basics is my full-time business. I had no clue how far it would go when I started but with each new product launch, I began to realize that there is a void in the marketplace for the types of products I create and that people are genuinely looking for personalized and customized cultural products. I don’t measure the success of my business by the number of sales or the amount of revenue though. I know Bhaasha Basics has resonated because total strangers will often approach me and say, “Are you Avni? I’ve used (or seen) one of your products and our family loves it.” That to me tells me that Bhaasha Basics has made it. With that being said, I’m also blessed to be able to run Bhaasha Basics with no pressure to generate a certain amount of revenue. I don’t have profitability goals or sales metrics that I need to hit. I do this because it’s something I truly enjoy. It’s my passion and I actually think that passion is what resonates with the people who support Bhaasha Basics.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bhaashabasics.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/bhaashabasics
- Facebook: facebook.com/bhaashabasics
Image Credits
Portrait: Hina Surani