Bass, Treble, Mids & Me: Four Quarters’ Experience at Headphone Zone

The First Quarter - Fun beginnings!

It was a hot summer day. The rate of mangoes in the market was already slashing down. And my journey commenced at a startup with unique name, Headphone Zone. I met some really cool young people (it was the breeze from their air conditioner actually) who helped making me feel at ease.

The first month went like a passing day wherein the mornings were full of challenges & evenings consisting of a fun discussion on which ads got more clicks and how we can structure the campaigns at its best.

I had some motivating on-job training sessions spearheaded by Raghav where I got to know about the history of the company, how e-commerce works, where headphone brands originated from, their background story and many more that I don’t want to reveal about (you have to earn it like Bournville). This was almost how my first quarter became a memory.

The Second Quarter: I get a Team!

These months were all about role-changing for me, as I got an opportunity to work with a team. My team! Though it was small, yet it was dear to me. It was an absolute (not Vodka) privilege to work with my friends-in-crime, Aliza & Aurelia. We went through many thick & thins while publishing ads on Google & Facebook every now & then. But what was fascinating to me was our common cribbing of how slow the Facebook interface was (still is!) and multiple gossip too hot to share. Another spy we hired for Facebook ads was Edwina (Powers: Best knowledge about Comply foam tips than anyone else around in the office).

Our team bonded well in alignment with the objectives presented to us & that’s when I invested my thoughts in growing the business.

The third quarter - Hardcore!

Work started to seem more interesting with brands wanting to host a flash sale with Headphone Zone, their products getting launched exclusively with us & their visits to our Mumbai office (though that was little annoying sometimes). My role suddenly transformed to planning & executing it till the results showcased in front of our eyes. I enjoyed with the whole digital marketing team working on a very focussed project and knocking the ball out of the park. But this weren’t executed without any hurdles. But what we had were our trumpcards with veto power: Marketing ninja, Kamna & Master of Operations, Bhavika. Their experience on the table about this business is unmatched & enlightening. Without any doubts, December was a perfect end to 2017.

The fourth quarter - Growth Hacking!

Now as the company was changing, so were my role & responsibilities. I always have had an inner interest of building relationships with brands we used to work with & helping the ecosystem grow. That was the key to this business in my opinion. But there was a reality check happening side-by-side about Headphone Zone as a brand, which is different from other online marketplaces, in India. So, we had massive changes in how we approached things as a team & nailing projects with different business goals. This became my learning phase.

It was so important for me to get used to this shuffle & manage my working style accordingly. And guess what. I did it unknowingly well & all credits to Raghav for that. He makes tough tasks look so easy that you don’t need a Google reference. Oops, I have spilled beans on so much stuff unnecessarily.

Takeaway thoughts

Ask my advice on an annual job experience at Headphone Zone: If you work hard & have passion that builds over time (don’t take too long), you will be there playing Poker with me for sure.