top of page

By:

Divyaa Advaani 

2 November 2024 at 3:28:38 am

The Sugar Rush Founder

There is a particular intensity that defines the new wave of young entrepreneurs. They move fast, earn fast, and scale fast — and often believe that momentum itself is the marker of success. Money becomes more than income. It becomes reassurance. Proof. Power. A scoreboard. Recently, I met a founder in his early thirties who is doing exceptionally well financially. His ambition was undeniable. He spoke about growth the way athletes speak about winning — with hunger, focus, and a constant need...

The Sugar Rush Founder

There is a particular intensity that defines the new wave of young entrepreneurs. They move fast, earn fast, and scale fast — and often believe that momentum itself is the marker of success. Money becomes more than income. It becomes reassurance. Proof. Power. A scoreboard. Recently, I met a founder in his early thirties who is doing exceptionally well financially. His ambition was undeniable. He spoke about growth the way athletes speak about winning — with hunger, focus, and a constant need to push further. I admired it. That drive is what builds companies. But what stayed with me was something quieter. He mentioned that in a year when he earned less, he wasn’t in the best place mentally. The dip was not dramatic, but the emotional impact was. It made him feel as though he had slipped backwards — not just in revenue, but in identity. And that is the hidden pressure many founders carry today. For ambitious entrepreneurs, money can begin to feel like a sugar rush: a powerful high that fuels confidence and urgency. When numbers rise, everything feels possible. When they fall, even slightly, it creates unease. The chase becomes endless — not because wanting more is wrong, but because money alone is an unstable anchor. This is where personal branding becomes not a luxury, but a necessity. Many founders assume personal branding is about visibility—posting more, being active online, and becoming “known”. But at serious levels of business, personal branding is far more strategic. It is the reputation that holds when numbers fluctuate. It is the trust that remains even when the market shifts. It is the identity people associate with you beyond a financial year. Because here is what founders eventually learn: revenue is not the only currency in the room. Influence is. In boardrooms, partnerships, investor conversations, and premium client decisions, people don’t only buy the company. They buy the founder’s clarity, credibility, and presence. They buy what your name signals before you even speak. A founder with a strong personal brand does not become fragile when income dips. Their positioning remains steady. Their value is not reduced to quarterly performance. They are trusted for how they think, how they lead, and what they consistently represent. This is what separates short-term success from long-term authority. Without personal branding, founders often fall into an exhausting pattern: constantly proving, constantly chasing, constantly needing the next win to feel secure. With it, something shifts. Opportunities begin to come through reputation, not pursuit. Clients stay for trust, not just delivery. Partnerships form because of alignment, not convenience. Most importantly, personal branding gives founders emotional stability alongside ambition. It reminds them that their worth is not transactional. It is reputational. Money can rise and fall. Markets change. Industries evolve. But a personal brand — built with intention — creates continuity. It allows you to grow without feeling that every slower year is a personal failure. The founders who build lasting legacies are not always the ones who earn the fastest. They are the ones who become unforgettable for the right reasons. Not because they are loud, but because they are anchored. Not because they show everything, but because they signal something consistent: trust, excellence, leadership. In the years ahead, the market will reward founders who are not only wealthy but also respected. Not only successful, but credible. Not only ambitious but also deeply positioned. Because money can be made again. But reputation takes time. If you resonate with this — if you feel the pressure of constantly needing the next financial high. — It may be time to build something deeper: a personal brand that stabilises your success and scales your influence. You can book a free consultation call with me here: https://sprect.com/pro/divyaaadvaani. Not as a pitch, but as a conversation about building a brand that holds – even when the numbers fluctuate. (The author is a personal branding expert. She has clients from 14+ countries. Views personal.)

Uncut Anthem

A country unsure of itself trims its symbols whereas a confident one restores them. By mandating the full six-stanza rendition of ‘Vande Mataram’ at official functions, the Modi government has chosen confidence and in doing so has exposed the Opposition’s chronic unease with India’s civilisational inheritance.


The original composition by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee which runs to three minutes and ten seconds will now be sung before the national anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’ with attendees standing to attention. The Centre’s decision replaces an abbreviated version of ‘Vande Mataram’ that had, for decades, passed for prudence. A republic that reclaimed sovereignty in 1947 need not forever behave like a nervous caretaker of inherited anxieties.


The most vociferous objections have predictably emanated from the Trinamool Congress and the Congress, who have countered the move by stating that the BJP’s stance on Vande Mataram was clearly politically motivated, aimed at consolidating support ahead of the key Assembly election in West Bengal.


TMC leaders have accused the BJP of ‘rewriting history.’ But history is being restored in this instance. The six stanzas are not an afterthought foisted on the nation by a latter-day government. They were part of the song’s canonical life, sung and revered long before the Constituent Assembly opted for truncation in 1950. That decision, taken amid the raw politics of Partition, reflected a moment of fragility. It should not be fossilised as a permanent standard.


The Opposition’s argument collapses under its own weight. If the abridgement of ‘Vande Mataram’ was a pragmatic move to assuage minority sentiments, why treat its reversal as sacrilege? If the Bankim Chandra’s original song was genuinely offensive, then why did it animate generations of freedom fighters across Bengal and beyond, revolutionaries and moderates alike, who found in ‘Vande Mataram’ a shared obeisance to the motherland? The unflattering truth is that cultural compromise after Independence became a habit that masqueraded as principle. By mandating the complete song at constitutional occasions, the current government has signalled that national identity is not a negotiable add-on.


The political row also reveals a deeper problem with the Opposition which is an inability to distinguish pluralism from self-erasure. India’s nationalism has never been monochrome. It has absorbed languages, regions and traditions without dissolving its civilisational core. To sing all six stanzas of ‘Vande Mataram’ is not to exclude but acknowledge the sources from which the freedom movement drew its moral force. The goddess imagery that so agitates critics was never a demand for worship. It was a metaphor for belonging. The charge that the move is election-timed is thin. Cultural decisions, if they are to be taken at all, will always occur in political time.


Nations grow up when they stop apologising for their inheritance and start stewarding it. For too long, ‘Vande Mataram’ was reduced to an annual hashtag or a ceremonial chorus. Restoring it in full is a reminder that unity does not require amnesia. It requires honesty.

Comments

bottom of page