Young Entrepreneur Blog

Rachna Vohra is a writer, poet, and editor living in Montreal, Canada. She works as a technical writer and trainer by day, and runs her own business, S’Apostrophe, offering writing, editing and translation services by night. She has published two books, The Distance Within and The Acorn and the Caterpillar, and has had her work featured in a poetry anthology, Beyond Memories.

1. Rachna, I recently read the following: “By day Rachna is a Technical Writer. By evening she is a published Author. By night she is an Entrepreneur and Visionary constantly thinking of her next business idea or book series.” This leaves me with only one logical question… How do you find enough time to focus on all of these projects?

It’s not easy, but I do get my 8-9 hours of sleep! It all comes down to time management. I like to assign everything a time slot and focus on only one thing at a time. That means that when I think it’s time to work on a piece of my writing – a short story, a poem, or a part of my novel – I’m a writer for that period of time. I’m not an entrepreneur, I’m not a technical writer, I’m not an editor. When I am editing content or a book, during those hours, I am only an editor and nothing else. That’s the editing time slot. That way, when I get into that mindset, I have only one task and one goal.

I also do everything in moderation. I’m the kind of person who likes to take things slow and move to the next level when it’s the right time for me. That way, I don’t get overwhelmed. I don’t try to do everything all at once – and I think that tends to be the downfall for many people. When I was younger, I wanted to be everything all the time. I wanted to be the writer, the editor, and the entrepreneur at all hours of the day, but that’s simply not possible. Yes, all those personalities are in me, but they’re different facets of me, so I put on my writer’s cap when I am writing, and my business cap when I’m entrepreneuring!

2. What inspired you to dive into the industries that you are currently working in?

Well, the main industries I’m involved in are all writing-related. In my full-time day job, I’m a technical writer and trainer, which involves writing manuals and documentation and training people how to use different softwares. My business, S’Apostrophe offers writing, editing and translation services, which are all in the editorial field. And as a writer, well, I write!

The reason I got into writing was because it’s my utter and unfailing passion. I’ve been writing poetry and prose since I was a child in elementary school. Throughout my teenage years, I became a closet poet, writing hundreds of poems secretly, so no one would ever know. When I got older, I realized I have a talent and it’s nothing to be scared of, so I started writing openly and publishing my work to get it out there!

3. What were the biggest obstacles you faced in getting started?

The biggest obstacle for me was getting my name out there, getting exposure – it still is probably one of the hardest parts of doing what I do. As with anyone starting up in any industry, you have to create a place for yourself and really push your name into the mainstream to make sure people anywhere and everywhere will hear or read about you. Being an ace at your talent is really important, but getting press is right up there, side by side with it. But once you get the ball rolling, it’s amazing how much easier it becomes. You become credible because you have a slew of projects or accomplishments to your name.

4. What did you want to do as a child?

Hahaha – umm, I wanted to be an accountant. Yup, for 7 years of my life, my dream was to be an accountant. Woohoo. I’m so glad I relinquished that dream for this one!

5. If you could go back in a time machine and give yourself one piece of advice, what would you tell yourself?

I would tell myself, “Don’t be scared.” There is absolutely nothing to be scared of. Some people are scared of failure, some of success. I was scared of both. Success is such uncharted territory - sometimes it’s an uncomfortable feeling to even think of becoming successful because you don’t know what will happen while you’re there. And failure makes you feel, well, like a failure. But I learned there is no such thing as failure. I had the privilege of attending an evening with Maya Angelou, and when she quoted Thomas Edison’s famous answer to failure, it just stuck in my mind. “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

6. Who inspires you the most? / Who do you admire?

I am continuously inspired by young people I meet who are following their dreams and succeeding beyond their imaginations. It’s so nice to see people happy in what they’re doing.

I admire my parents. I mean, how could I not be in awe of two people who were able to build a whole life from nothing? I just can’t imagine where I would be had they not sacrificed and suffered so much for us. I certainly wouldn’t be even a quarter as successful as I am without the way they brought me up and encouraged me in everything I did.

7. I would imagine that publishing your first book “The Distance Within” must have made you very proud, especially considering it was self published. Is that your proudest moment to date?

Self-publishing The Distance Within was the first of many, many proud moments. I accomplished that feat two years ago, and I have hit so many other milestones since then.

My poetry was featured in a fundraiser book (Beyond Memories) for the Outreach for Breast Health Foundation in New York City.

I registered S’Apostrophe as an official company. In that vein, getting my first “official” client and my first “official” project was so satisfying!

I self-published a second book, The Acorn and the Caterpillar, in memory of a dear friend who passed away and donated all proceeds of the first edition to the Sam Zachariah Scholarship Fund at Pennsylvania State University.

The most recent “proud moment” was participating as a panelist in the 2007 Kriti Festival, a literary event for South Asian Writers in Chicago, and sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with other amazing established and emerging writers.

8. Personally I have been described as writer, marketing consultant, SEO expert, viral marketing consultant, internet entrepreneur, teacher… but I am pretty poor at time management. What one piece of advice could you give to someone like myself?

Slot your time. Fit each role into a timing on your schedule and play only that role during that time slot. That way, you stay focused on one task at a time and can get so much more accomplished. Also, don’t slot all your timings to your various business roles – make sure you fit some time in there to be “off-hours you” and make time for a social life with your friends and family. It’s all about finding a balance and only doing what you’re capable of doing at all times. This stops you from being overwhelmed and makes you more efficient in everything you do.

9. What does the future hold for you from here on in?

My future comes at me day by day, so I’m not sure where I’ll be tomorrow! But I am definitely working my way towards having my books and stories represented by an agent and published (vs being self-published). And slowly but surely, I’m building and maintaining a solid client base so I can make S’Apostrophe my full-time venture.

10. Where can our readers learn more about you and your projects?

You can learn more about me and my various creative projects from www.rachnavohra.com and about my main venture, S’Apostrophe from www.sapostrophe.org. I regularly update my personal website with my latest projects or accomplishments, and if I find time (rare, but it happens), I occasionally post something to my blog at www.rachnavohra.blogspot.com.