A few months ago I attended a fancy dress party and met a lovely friendly girl called Darshana. Days later I went to a networking event called The Digital Entrepeneur’s Dinner and met her there again. It was obviously fate! Soon it transpired we had much in common – both women with businesses which would be quite different if it weren’t for the wonderful thing we call the Internet. Both women who LOVE people and business and connecting and making magic happen through all those things.

Darshana runs a called LyncMeUp. It’s a great little business, completely self funded and managed and run with a high level of service and dedication.

You can sign up to receive their offers here on the Lync Me Up website

She is ambitious, smart and open minded, and from having so much exposure to business owners in the past few years through her work with Roger Hamilton, she has absorbed and learned more than most – which I can see helps her in her business. She has since then joined the extra special group of lucky people known as “my friends” and since we both have similar sized businesses, run teams of dedicated and talented people and work slightly longer hours than average, I thought it would only be right for me to interview this girl – so here goes!

What were you doing before you started Lync Me Up?

Darshana has spent years supporting businesses and entrepreneurs internationally. As a General Manager of an events company which focused on promotions online, Darshana grew the business in several countries (UK, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Singapore, Japan and the US) through various online marketing strategies, collaboration and a dedicated team.

Prior to that, Darshana had a rich experience in Media Sales for Media Corp TV in Singapore (the equivalent to the BBC), and managed advertising and promotion projects for more than 33 key clients such as McDonalds, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros, UIP, SingTel, etc. As one of the top performers Darshana gained an in depth understanding of the advertising world and promotions from the client, agency and media platform perspective which has helped her in starting her Daily Deal website in the UK and is committed on making it as a part of the marketing mix used by companies to promote in today’s digital age.

What made you decide to start your own business?

“While I managed advertising and promotions for TV ads, I had the opportunity to work with 33 small and large companies and manage their adverting and promotional budgets where I noticed that although the large companies with a big marketing spent got branding and ROI through their campaigns on TV and print a lot of small business owners spent upto six digit figures for their promotion on TV and found it hard to get the return of Investment. Some struggled with low ROI whereas others had to go bust. So when I came across the new Daily Deal model in 2010 which was based only on performance of the campaign, it got me very juiced and I was inspired on starting my own venture.”

LyncMeUp’s vision is two fold –

1.  To bring quality products and service to its Customers at an
   affordable price.
2.  To promote quality small and medium businesses and their product or service to a larger audience without any upfront fee or charges.

What has surprised you about running a business?

“The surprise was the amount of time a business requires from you in the first year. It’s like an infant that needs to be looked after -day, night and on weekends! Yes, internet businesses are 24 /7 no matter how much pre-planning you’d do.”

What lessons have you learned that you wish someone told you at the beginning?

“I learn new lessons every week and they contribute to the Entrepreneurial journey. I’m not sure of what someone could have told me as the words of
Lao Tsu come to mind ” To know but not yet to do, is not yet to know ”

What do you love most about having this business?

“I love being able to make a difference. Whether it is by supporting merchants and aiding them in the distribution of their product/service or being able to support charities or upgrading the skill of our staff or making a customer smile because they’ve got a great deal (quite literally). Our business is growing fast through referrals and we’ve had more than 22% of our customers buy with us for more than once. I love the fact that we’ve created a brand that our customers love and trust.”

What’s next for Lyncmeup?

“LyncMeUp is a fast growing business and we have exciting projects and plug in’s designed around the customer experience coming up. We’ll be getting more and more in tune with what our customers really want and provide them which fun and exciting deals. We are constantly looking a new partnerships and collaborations to keep things fresh and exciting.”

Hopefully this interview has inspired you and you have found something that would be useful in your business- please comment below with any insights and revelations you might have!