This story is part of our 1,000+ Stories campaign. What’s your story?

Name: Sarla Sharma

Business: Pioneer Management Consultant Pvt Ltd

Location: Navi Mumbai, India

Industry: Professional Services — Recruitment Consultant

Reason for starting? I belong to a North Indian community where education for girls is either not an option or not encouraged. A girl’s parents are only concerned with her getting married, and my parents were the same. I didn’t want to be a victim of this orthodox thinking, and the only way to change the situation was to pursue an education. I rebelled and completed my education and graduated. I was then able to step out of the home and get a job. Eventually I pursued my dream to set up my own recruitment consultant business, the ultimate goal on the professional front.

I truly believe in the adage “success breeds success.” Finally when one succeeds, it gives a ray of hope and strength to others to try and pursue their dream.

Related: Literacy as a Solution to Educational Inequality

How do you define success? Success means the ability to do something new, to take on challenges and move away from your comfort zone by taking consistent and persistent action every day to accomplish your goals. Success means following your dream, your passion and enjoying the things which you love to do. Act as a torch bearer, inspiring, creating and leaving a positive impact on the social and professional front. Yes, success is also about financial figures, but it’s not the only meaning of success for me.

Biggest success: Probably the most notable accomplishment is being associated with our key accounts for more then a decade. Ten years which reflect sustainability as a preferred service partner. A partner of choice. Partnering with our clients on a recruitment project that focuses on gender diversity means identifying more female credentials for their organization. Thus supporting a successful social cause too.

We often suggest that various organizations hire females who can work and operate from home in order to support women’s ability to come back into the workforce after having taken time off to care for family and children at home.

Supporting women in their careers makes me feel more happy, content and satisfied, as my measure for success is just not just a bank balance, it’s about the human value towards the society also.

What is your top challenge and how you have addressed it? Balancing work and life. A universal truth is that the biggest challenge for every women today is to find balance between family and the professional front, so that nothing gets neglected. I am no exception to it. It was very difficult to manage one or the other without things falling apart. But slowly and gradually as each day passed by, it added to my learning experience, which equipped me to prepare for a new path. I also developed a plan to delegate tasks to the team and supervise their work, putting people in the right place and making the team accountable. After finding a way to balance work and life, everything else fell into place.

Related: Get a Life: Expert Tips for Work and Life 

Who is your most important role model? Since childhood my mother has been a pillar of support and strength for me. She has been the wind beneath my wings, which has motivated me to soar high in my entrepreneurial journey.

[box_light]Website   www.pmcpl-india.com
Twitter   www.twitter.com/pmcpl
Facebook   www.facebook.com/pmcplindia
Other   https://in.linkedin.com/in/sharmasarla[/box_light]

Tell us your story!
Read about another entrepreneur here!

Edited by The Story Exchange