He is in the business of helping business people mind their minds.

You might lose a few battles before you win the war.
While this saying pretty much sums up the thought behind battles, wars and politics, it doesn’t have much to speak for the battles and wars that small business people face practically every day to keep their selves and their enterprises going. Given their situation, small business people are known not only to lose a few battles but sometimes the very war, with one of the reasons being stress arising due to multiple reasons, from having to fend for themselves in every direction and department to having very little control over circumstances.

With over two decades of experience in fields ranging from fabrication and to software to working in the merchant navy to supplying specialized gases to industry, Vinu Prakash of Nagpur, otherwise a Malayalee by origin, has seen it all- including the soft underbelly of a single-man enterprise, and the constant struggle of its owners to make ends meet, grow, get people on board, perform and generally stay afloat and relevant. And like every system with a solitary engine with hardly any time for the self or the family, stress is what they encounter all the time. Stress also arises from uncertainty in everything from growth, finance, people on board and the constant thought of somehow stemming the slide backwards.

A man with multiple qualifications, interests and experiences that gave him the much-needed ring-side view of life as an entrepreneur with its ups, downs and movements in every direction, it was his sophisticated and mature handling of the lives and problems of half-a-dozen close friends and entrepreneurs on the verge of a breakdown (and worse) that brought Vinu to the understanding that he has what it takes to be a profound coach in life and mental wellness.

With a formal qualification in NLP a few years back, coupled with decades of personal experience, Vinu Prakash has all that it takes to understand, empathize and advise small entrepreneurs on ways and means to address and arrest stress the right way, be it with exercises, change in thoughts and the use of systems to lessen uncertainties. And while he has been at coaching and mental health with the zeal of a seasoned entrepreneur, he has also penned his experiences, views and ideas on the subject in the form of a book titled “Stress: the silent killer. Identify Early & You Are Not LONELY”, a must-read for everyone in all walks of life. In fact, so good has been the contents of this book that even seasoned medical practitioners and those in the mental health field acknowledge its worth.

One area in particular that Vinu attaches immense importance to is “me-time”. Given the kind of emphasis we place on success at all costs and the extent to which we are ready to go to attain it, the first casualty is free time left for ourselves. Compromising the same, says Vinu, is like wearing the same old shirt when others wear tuxedos because we never found the time to do better. This attitude invariably brings regret and anger later in life. He says this is one of the most common things overlooked in all his coaching.

India is growing. And with it increases the number of small entrepreneurs and start-up owners who invariably face pitfalls. For them, Vinu Prakash stands like the formidable Rock of Gibraltar, ever-present and unshakable. As for entrepreneurs and their growth path, Vinu Prakash says out of experience that, one should never be satisfied because satisfaction brings complacency, itself bringing stagnation. Death of the enterprise then is not far. The only way to keep one’s enterprise alive and kicking thus is never to be satisfied.

Gmail: coach.vinu@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vinuprakasha