Hemalatha Chandrasekaran — Full Interview Transcript
Episode 112 | Air Date: June 4 | Thriving Through Podcast
Welcome and Introduction
AJ: Welcome to the Thriving Through Podcast. Today, my guest is Hema. Hema, I'm so delighted to have you on the show.
Hema: Thank you so much. It means a lot to me, and thank you for inviting me to the show.
AJ: Glad to have you here. I've got a bunch of good questions for you.
An Accidental Consulting Career: From Corporate India to the U.S.
AJ: First question — what was your path to becoming a self-employed consultant?
Hema: It was an accident, to be very frank with you. I didn't choose it consciously — I didn't have any other option. To explain, I have to take you through my professional journey. I started my career around 2008 and worked for companies like TCS and Zoho. I spent almost a decade at Zoho — that was the major chunk of my experience. I worked in multiple areas: development, customer support, building teams from the ground up, and then product management. I participated in every activity — I never restricted myself to any one domain.
Hema: Around that time, my husband had to relocate to the U.S., so we joined as a family. I chose to take a break to care for my young family and learn about the culture. It was my choice. We then planned for a second child, and it became a very long break. When I approached my previous employer to rejoin the workforce, there was a hiring freeze in the location where we live.
Seeing the Digital Gap: How Small Business Conversations Sparked a Consulting Practice
Hema: I was left with a couple of options — do some certifications, or start something on my own. At the same time, I got the chance to talk with small business owners — AC technicians, window blind installers, pest control owners. They were so busy. I was curious to understand how they were managing their processes, because I could see that mostly they had manual processes. I'd ask them: how does your day look, and what tools do you use? Most had business cards, a couple had websites, but they didn't have digital tools like CRM that could benefit them a lot. Something sparked in my mind — I had to step in and work with them. That's how I started consulting as an implementation specialist, helping micro to small businesses move from manual processes to the digital world.
First Big Challenge: The Long Wait for Visibility and Validation
AJ: Tell me a story or two about the biggest challenges you faced in building your consulting practice, and how you've overcome them.
Hema: There are definitely a couple of challenges, but when you're traveling through a challenge, it's more interesting than you expect. The first one I would say is visibility. Every kind of work — whether you're working for someone else or running your own business — takes a good amount of time to produce visible results. But our curious brain is always asking: when am I going to see the result? Am I productive enough? Am I being validated by the outside world? That validation takes time. You have to give yourself enough time to settle in, and then just do the best work.
The Island Metaphor: Why Self-Employed Consultants Struggle to Ask for Help
Hema: Being in the consulting journey is like being on an island. No one is going to disturb you, because they think you've started something on your own. Unless you flag for help, people don't know you need it. You can't easily ask for help, because you hesitate — you think that if you ask, you'll seem small. So you don't ask. And even your friends and family are ready to help, but they're waiting for you to flag it. Unless you call for help, you don't get it — because they think you can manage, or that you're busy. I've been through that.
AJ: Give me an example of a time when you were building your practice when you needed help and reached out. Who did you reach out to, and what kind of help did you need?
The First Project: Reaching Outside Your Domain and What You Learn
Hema: There was a project that was outside my domain, but I knew I could learn it and deliver. I completed it to the best of my ability. Afterward, I checked with my cousin, and he said that if he were me, he wouldn't have taken that project. That was my first project. But people don't share feedback or criticism immediately — they don't want to disappoint you or put you down. They give you time. So it's a learning process — you have to stick with it. That's when I understood you have to own everything with full responsibility. That was the situation where I needed help to validate my ideas.
No Regrets: Why Difficult Projects Shape Who You Become
AJ: When your cousin said he wouldn't have taken that project — and that was your very first consulting project — looking back, do you feel like it was a project you shouldn't have taken?
Hema: No, I don't regret it. I feel that today, Hema is the product of the choices I made in the past. It was meant to be on my path — to learn the art of doing a project that wasn't in my domain. Maybe it's a dual mind — you want to listen to feedback, but you take your own decision. I don't regret it. I'm happy with who I am today.
AJ: What's a lesson you learned from that project?
Hema: It was my first project, and I set aside the payment question — I just wanted to prove my ability to complete the work. It ran almost five to six months, because the customer was also very new to the digital world. We spoke like friends every day — email conversations and phone calls. I learned to do work that was completely outside my domain. Sticking to the timeline, enjoying each phase of the customer's requirements — all of that gave me a tremendous amount of learning.
The Business Name Upachara: Treating Every Client Like a Deity
AJ: Your business name — Upachara. I hadn't heard that word before we spoke. Tell me what it means and why you named your business that.
Hema: Thank you for asking, because I love my business name. Upachara is a Sanskrit word. It's part of the Hindu tradition, where we offer courteous services to God during prayer time. There are different types — Pancha Upachara, a 5-step process; Dashopachara, 10-step; Shodashopachara, 16 steps; and even a 64-step process. All of these express one idea: offering services to God as if you're inviting the divine as a guest into your home — offering water to drink, sandalwood paste, flowers, fragrance. It's about how you care for that guest with mindfulness at every step.
Hema: The reason I chose this name is that we've all heard the phrase 'the customer is king.' I wanted to place my customer at an even higher level — as a deity, a higher power. When you treat someone as the highest possible being, you naturally offer only your best. Each step should be mindful, courteous, and respectful. That's the whole concept.
AJ: I love that mindset. You're literally treating every customer the way you'd treat God.
Hema: Of course. Yes.
Upachara in Daily Practice: Patience, Presence, and Mindful Service
AJ: What does that actually look like in your business day-to-day? Give me a specific example.
Hema: In plain business language, it means putting yourself in their place. We don't rush. Because whoever is in front of you is literally the higher power — the person who is giving you business, who provides the income that feeds your family. Everything should be courteous, and you can't take it lightly by saying 'I'll do it tomorrow.' If something needs immediate attention, you do it.
Hema: It's an art where you place yourself in their position and ask: what if I were stuck at this point? Would I expect immediate help? You do a kind of role-play — dual acting. That's the whole concept of Upachara even as practiced in Hindu tradition. You treat the other person as a soul, and you don't want to cause pain to that soul. It could be your kid, your teacher — that respectful trait is genuinely powerful.
Handling Client Conflict: Transparency Over Perfection
AJ: How do you handle conflict with a client — misunderstandings about direction, or deliverables that didn't go as expected?
Hema: With transparency. We cannot provide the best possible result every time. Sometimes a product has bugs — that's out of our control. But instead of giving up, you hear their feelings. You understand their emotions. You say: 'I understand this is so frustrating right now, but I will be with you. I will travel with you. You don't need to worry.' That transparency is what every customer needs. They don't want a perfect solution or a guaranteed bug-free product — we can't promise that. What they really want is for someone to be with them in their journey. When there's an escalation, how quickly you get back to them matters. The precision of your explanation matters. Think of them as a close friend you're mentoring — same energy, same care.
The Biggest Current Challenge: Inconsistent Lead Generation
AJ: What's the biggest challenge you're wrestling with in your consulting practice right now?
Hema: Generating leads. It's not continuous. Because of the segment I serve — micro to small businesses — it takes time for them to validate budget and readiness to move to a digital environment. Lead generation is something I need help with, even now.
AJ: How do you find your leads currently?
Hema: Some come through referrals, and some through local business meetings where I connect with other business owners and we share what each of us does. I haven't invested in Google Ads yet — I'm taking these paths for now.
The Limits of Referrals and Networking as Your Only Lead Sources
AJ: Referrals and networking are great tools, but they're passive — you don't control when someone gives you a referral. And at a networking event, you might meet your next client, or you might go to five events in a row without meeting a single prospect. Do you find your income is inconsistent because your lead generation is unpredictable?
Hema: Of course. Since we don't have active leads consistently, revenue won't be at the higher end of the spectrum. I see it as a process — step by step, we'll get there. Maybe after a couple of months, I'll be in a position to hire a team. But you need the bandwidth and the financial support. It's going to be a slow process unless you invest more vigorously — in a team, in marketing — and for that, you need the budget. So I'm taking it slowly.
AJ: Slow, organic growth.
Hema: Yes, you're right.
Karma Yoga: Do the Work, Let Go of the Result
AJ: You believe in a philosophy called Karma Yoga. Tell us what that means.
Hema: Yoga is the unification of souls — the union of the individual soul with the higher soul, according to the philosophy. We've descended from a higher power to do some work, based on what I call our 'baggage' — our likes, dislikes, and how we've treated people in past lives. After we clear that baggage, or clear our karma, we return to the higher soul. To facilitate that journey, we have four paths. Bhakti Yoga is through devotion. Jnana Yoga is understanding who you are and your purpose — once you understand that, you detach from materialism and give back. Raja Yoga is through meditation and mental discipline. And Karma Yoga is simple: do your own work. Don't attach yourself too much to the result. Give your best in all your actions, and the result that is supposed to come to you will come. Don't get emotionally attached to the outcome.
AJ: It's a beautiful philosophy. The detachment.
Karma Yoga in Action: Giving Freely and Landing a Full-Time Contract
AJ: When we talked earlier, you mentioned that Karma Yoga sometimes means helping someone with no expectation of anything in return. In business, has there ever been a time when you gave that way and it didn't come back to you?
Hema: No — in fact, it has always worked the other way for me. Here's a very recent example. Someone approached me for a scripting project — work I had done early in my career. If I'm comfortable with the work and I'm the subject matter expert, I'll do it and I won't worry about the charge, because trust has been created. So I told them: you don't need to allocate a budget, I'll take this as exploratory work and we'll figure everything out later. I delivered my findings to the team, they were happy, and a couple of days later I got an email from the team manager and then the CEO, asking if I could work for them — while continuing to run my own business.
Hema: That's the pure essence of Karma Yoga. I can continue my business, and also work for them as a contract that could eventually lead to a full-time position.
Balancing a Full-Time Contract with Running Your Own Consulting Practice
AJ: You're about to do something that some listeners may be navigating — working full-time while building their own consulting practice. What made you decide to take this?
Hema: For me, work is work and customer is customer. I'm not giving up my business — I still have that flexibility. And I get to be part of a team's operations, learn how a company works from the inside, and apply that to my own business. I'm not thinking of this as transitioning away from consulting. Being there, learning things, and implementing them elsewhere is going to be more supportive for my business, not less.
Using Stable Income as a Financial Launchpad for the Business
AJ: This may also give you income to invest in your consulting practice — you mentioned that people have asked to join your team, but you couldn't hire them because the revenue wasn't there. With the full-time contract plus the consulting practice, there are things you can do that you weren't able to do before.
Hema: Absolutely. This gives me a financial cushion to expand the business — that's one part of my agenda. The other is that I have family members and friends who've been asking for a job because they're talented and skillful, but they haven't had a stage to showcase what they can do. My aunt has been saying for years that she has talent but no stage for it. This is the right time for me to empower the women who raised me. The best gift I can give them is this kind of opportunity.
Writing a Book on Customer Experience: Lessons from a Father's Quiet Wisdom
AJ: Tell me about the book. What made you decide to write it?
Hema: It was totally unplanned. In January 2026, I had a chance to go back to India for a month — just me, without my kids and husband, to rest and be with my parents. Those quiet days took me back to my college days. And in those moments, I started noticing how my father organized everything. He has a checklist — for coffee time, for cleaning the house — and he always precisely positions the next person to see what step comes next. I began to realize I could completely connect his approach to customer experience. If someone in customer support used my father's lens, the result would be exceptional customer experience. I started taking notes — one or two situations at first, then eight — and I thought: this needs to be a book.
AJ: And how are you going to publish it and use it in your business?
Hema: I'm planning to self-publish on Amazon KDP — paperback and Kindle versions. My main motive isn't lead generation. There was a period when I didn't have active leads, and I chose to write — to capture my thoughts about customer experience and employee experience. We use LinkedIn and social media for that, but it's volatile — it disappears. A book keeps ideas alive and lets them transcend into lasting business insights. That said, if people relate to the concepts in the book, leads will follow. But sharing the concepts is my main goal.
What Upachara Does: Helping Small Businesses Go Digital Step by Step
AJ: If you were meeting a small business owner and they asked what you do, how would you describe it?
Hema: I'd first ask how they're managing their everyday tasks. If I see they're doing things manually, I'd tell them: you can go digital, and here's what that looks like. You have contacts in your phone — if you move those into a CRM tool, you get efficiency, accuracy, and a wide range of capabilities: campaigns, scheduled follow-ups, lead tracking, data analytics. I'd tell them: I'll transform your business step by step into the digital world so you don't miss things. In the AI era, if your business isn't using digital tools, you're not going to access the benefits of AI either. This is the right moment for any micro to small business to take that step.
AJ: And your Go Digital offering is the one that currently brings in the most revenue?
Hema: Yes, for now.
Expanding Clients from the Go Digital Entry Point to Broader Services
AJ: Do you find that clients who come in through the Go Digital service eventually become clients for your other services?
Hema: Yes, definitely, but it's a slow process. These owners are so busy — small teams, not much time for product selection or implementation. Each tool has a place in their journey, but not everything at once. If you put everything in a proposal and show it all at once, they get overwhelmed. That's where Upachara pitches in — to travel with them and say: here's the first step. You have a business card. Let's add a QR code and link it to a website. If you don't have a website, let's create one. Let's move your visitor contacts into a CRM. From there, you can run email campaigns, add invoicing tools. Based on incoming support requests, you can activate a help desk module. Slowly, we expand to more tools over time.
Future Vision: Employee and Customer Experience as the Core Offering
AJ: Where do you want to be working? Which service is the big revenue goal for the future?
Hema: I'm an EX and CX enthusiast — employee experience and customer experience. Even during my long break, I stayed connected to those concepts. I want to provide customized frameworks to businesses to help them enhance both. These are invisible layers — easy to overlook — but if you get them right, you build a better experience across the entire business. Loyal customers, loyal employees — and that means more revenue.
AJ: Two core entities — employees and customers — tied to the business. The more you take care of your employees, the more customers you get.
Hema: Exactly. It's like a beautiful invisible thread that keeps everything in tandem.
Resources That Have Shaped the Practice
AJ: What's one book, podcast, or resource that has been invaluable to your consulting practice?
Hema: I don't limit myself to one. I watch multiple podcasts and read multiple books. Any YouTube podcast I come across, I take time to learn from it — each one has a unique experience. When you reached out to me on LinkedIn, I went and watched your videos. You put great effort into bringing consultants onto the show, drawing out their expertise, and sharing it with others. I've bookmarked a couple of your videos to watch later. I take it as a global resource — I pick up points everywhere, make notes, and try to implement them.
How to Connect with Hema
AJ: Final question — how can listeners connect with you if they want to learn more about you and your work?
Hema: I'm on LinkedIn and my website is Upachara.com [VERIFY URL]. They can also reach me by phone or email — both are listed on the website. I'm open and easy to connect with. I don't filter messages or connections — I want to take that step to understand others. Please feel free to reach out.
AJ: For those listening or watching, the links to Hema's LinkedIn and website will be in the show notes. It has been wonderful talking to you today. I learned some new things — about Upachara and Karma Yoga. What I especially love is how you've integrated your spiritual beliefs and philosophies into who you are as a business owner. That's a powerful way to find the people who can relate to you and appreciate your approach — and it also filters out those who aren't meant to work with you. You've taken who you are and what you believe and woven it into your business as a true differentiator.
Hema: Thank you so much. It means a lot. I wanted to integrate the spiritual, the personal, and the professional — that's actually the concept I'm exploring in the other book I'm working on. If you show up the same way in both your personal and professional life, you don't need extra effort to take care of your customers or employees. The behavior and habits that are already within you make everything easier. Thank you for those kind words.
AJ: You're welcome. Thank you so much for being on the podcast today. And for those of you listening or watching — until next time, keep thriving through.
Hema: Thank you.