Saaish’s professional experience makes him a highly credible expert.I had a lot of fun interviewing Saaish. I learned a lot from him. He challenged my thinking, and he boosted my confidence in a business way of thinking, committed to just doing the right things right.

What is your background and how you describe yourself?

Home is where your heart is!  My heart lies in the work that I do, and I work in London, UK.  

I come from a tiny town in southern Maharashtra (India) called Kolhapur.  I grew up in Kolhapur with my parents, did my schooling and got my bachelors in Computer Science and Engineering.  Thanks to my parents that as a young boy I was always very anxious, eager to learn new things, obedient, ambitious, aware and excellent in academics.  However, I still had a strong inclination towards cultural and social activities right from school days.  I think it is essential in today’s world that - this aesthetic side in children and young-ones, is cultivated.

I moved to Mumbai in 2002, when it was a peak period in recession in the job market.  I was lucky to secure a job in IT after rigorous job interviews. To me, Mumbai was, is and will always be the city of dreams.  I guess it is so, for most aspiring talent.  

However, my passion for excelling in singing, acting and in general – for working in the entertainment industry had to take a back seat.  Just like all the middle-class families, it was mandatory to excel in your career. Hence, I pursued & completed my MBA in Marketing from Mumbai University and worked with many big conglomerates and firms in various leadership positions in branding and business development for many years.  

In 2007, I established my own production house called MotionMinds Entertainment in Mumbai and took the first step in fulfilling my dream to be in the entertainment industry - as a box office firm offering one-stop solution in an array of fields like casting, acting, coaching, choreography, fashion consulting, event curation, film production, and marketing consulting.  Even during my corporate job life, I was always involved in extracurricular activities like performing programs and events on radio, TV and acting in theatre.  This helped me develop an exemplary circuit and network amongst the best photographers, actors, models, editors, fabricators, casting agents, TV channels and the film fraternity.

I have always been a very detail oriented person.  My father imbibed this quality in me.  I am fully confident that if I take up any job, it will be completed perfectly superseding the client’s expectation.

Exceptional networking skills and presence of mind have now endeavoured me to work not only in the corporate world but also Film & TV fraternity in UK & India, with a natural panache of business acumen and creativity.  

I am now ahead mentor and coach with coachsaaish.com, and I believe that with just a little push and finesse, anyone’s dream goal can be achieved. I strive continuously to focus on every individual’s requirements and help identify and develop his/her unique signature style which is necessary to differentiate oneself from everyone, to deliver extraordinary performance.

I believe in smart, innovative work and you will find me always willing to cross an extra mile to achieve results.  I am also a firm believer, that variety is the right spice of life and change is the only changeless law.

What helped you get where you are today as head mentor of CoachSaaish.com?

I sincerely believe that success is never absolute; it is always a relative measure or associated with something else.  I still don’t think that I have achieved something and I know that I probably will never feel like it.  But, I do feel very strongly that I like and enjoy what I do.  

There is a thin difference between coaching, training and mentoring. At coachsaaish.com, we are involved in many training faculties for the overall development of an individual. I am personally

involved in coaching for pageants or specialised competitions, acting, modelling, catwalk and runway, choreographing, voice modulation, overall personality development, building confidence and overcoming nerves, image and style consulting and mindfulness.

I am grateful to all the beautiful people I have met in various disciplines of my career.  I have learned something from all of them.  Thanks to all my mentors, who have taught me to develop the right attitude and openness in learning.  

With MotionMinds Entertainment in Mumbai, I learned everything on job first-hand from various mentors, actors, fashion designers etc.  I also got a lot of opportunities to be a fashion choreographer and an event curator.  I functioned as a celebrity acting coach and conducted workshops in the film fraternity.  I trained a lot of aspiring and established models individually and on the job in fashion events too.

I worked very closely as a pageant coach with some pageants in India and here in London now.  The best part of my job is that you meet such wonderful people and get to work with incredible teams and talent in your pageant journey. I would like to thank the founders and organisers of all the pageant teams I have worked with so far, that they found my talent worthwhile.

I believe that success should not be measured with how much wealth an individual makes, but with how many hearts, an individual wins in this lifetime.   

How is CoachSaaish.com different than other coaching companies?                                         

I believe that an individual’s attitude toward looking at anything makes a big difference.  We aim not to be a sales organisation. We at CoachSaaish.com, follow a need-based approach.  We want the individual to identify the need, about why he/she should work on her skills or understand the importance of training in their lives. This is one of the main reasons why we do not offer any bundled package to our Clients. We want each of our clients to feel resourceful and sure about getting what he or she needs or deserves.  Many coaching companies offer a common bundle without knowing if one needs it.  As a consequence, the individual seeking advice ends up feeling unsatisfied or unfair on the part of the resources spent.

In fact, at CoachSaaish.com, we insist on booking a taster session with me or any other coach before booking a training module.  This taster session is a very frank, straightforward and personal session, which allows both the parties to discuss the objectives of that individual openly. We have an internal evaluation criterion to determine, test and highlight the strengths and shortcomings of an individual. This allows us to identify and focus only on those areas where the individual needs polishing or training so that we can develop a bespoke and customised personal program aimed for that individual.  

This is the only reason why we have got so many success stories with CoachSaaish. Our goal is to make you aware and realise how wonderful and talented individual you are!

Tell me about your initiative at CoachSaaish.com? 

I feel strongly, to be a leader, you have to enable your team and all others, to embrace and imbibe the same vision, values, goals, objectives or results; and with the same feeling of purpose or cause and engagement.  The initiative is also very voluntary.

The best thing that happened at CoachSaaish.com was an initiative; we started at a corporate level some time back. We now have many corporate clients, especially sales organisations who want to train their sales teams in voice modulation, to enable them to reach almost 400 to 500 delegates at a seminar, with ease and to use comfortable pitching technique.  We have bespoke and unique Coach Saaish-tailored relaxation and breathing techniques, combined with belting and pitching techniques to achieve these results.

HR in many big and small organisations has realised the importance of Mindfulness and its benefits in reducing the stress and overcoming problems for a balanced and present-minded life.  We at CoachSaaish.com take pride in being one of the pioneers in this area, in the corporate world. For more information, please find us at www.coachsaaish.com

Tell me how you handled a difficult situation and pressure?

‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going’! Jokes apart, I believe that in life none of the situations is difficult or easy.  It’s just your attitude of looking at it, makes it difficult or easy.

Life is continuously changing, and it is incredibly crucial for everyone to follow the change and move on to what is necessary.  Similarly, I believe that you will never know what courage is if you want to be happy all the time, without knowing where your happiness lies.  It’s just the state of mind.  We at CoachSaaish.com practice and preach this same fundamental through our mindfulness coaching program.

I also believe that when you are capable of handling pressure, then you must know that you are skilled enough and you have brighter chances of performing and handling the situation in the best possible way.

I have also had my share of situations, wherein I was expected to give my best shot.  Practising and being confident about the application of my skills have always sailed me safe to the shores. 

What are your strengths and weaknesses?

(Laughs)  Some of my strengths are - I am a very positive-minded and highly patient individual.  I am also a problem solver – I enjoy my work most when it challenges me and pushes me to think out of the box looking at it from different angles.

I am a people’s person.  Dealing with many varied personalities across the world for so many years and training them seldom makes me stressed anymore.  It has made me more equipped to handle life’s situations with greater understanding.

My weakness is good home-cooked food and especially sweets but jokes apart; nowadays I tend to get a bit compulsive with ‘me’ about achieving the results and getting too detail-oriented, even when the results have been achieved.                                                                 

Tell me about an accomplishment you are most proud of and a time you made a mistake?

I think I am yet to achieve my ultimate accomplishment -  I would like to become the best and biggest platform for coaching in the world.  However, I would say that I have achieved many milestones in my life as planned.  In the corporate world, I was a star performer, and even in my business I achieved planned goals and profits.  

The best medals that I receive are the smiles of achievements from my clients and students.  Some of them have been kind enough to give me their testimonials that can be found on my website www.coachsaaish.com

I also think that it is essential to make mistakes and it is okay to fail.  I make it a point to imbibe this same understanding in all my students.  I remember about a bad situation I had while executing one of the events in my earlier years in Mumbai. But I took learning from it, for my life - that better and detailed planning with multiple options is crucial for the smooth execution of any event at work or life.

How were you inclined to be a part of the fashion industry and what is your contribution?

I always aspired to learn fashion designing even as a child, almost from late 1980’s but during those times in southern Maharashtra (especially Kolhapur) there was very little awareness or medium to get enrolled for it.  Even the StarWorld TV channel was broadcasted only for an hour on local TV Network.  I kept following available fashion magazines persistently until I grew up and assisted someone in their final fashion assignments during her graduation.  Surprisingly my designs got an A+ grade, and that was an incentive enough for me to keep my passion alive for years until I completed my Bachelors in computers and a Masters in Business Administration. With my own production house in Mumbai, I had a lot of fantastic opportunities to learn and execute multiple fashion events.  I worked with many fabulous fashion designers very closely, and some of them even hired me as a choreographer for their shows.   I was fortunate to work with international designers too and rendered them my consulting and choreography services.  I, now design, consult, style, organise and choreograph fashion events, pageants and shows internationally through coachsaaish.com services.

I saw you and Amitabh Bachchan in a picture, did you work with him? When did you meet him?

(Laughs) I have never seen a more humble, disciplined, down to earth and such a legend of an actor than Mr Amitabh Bachchan.  I was fortunate twice to work with him on set as a supporting actor and production teams of Bhootnath returns and Shamitabh.  It was such a great ensemble of cast.  I did some scenes with him, but only a few cuts.  

I would like to mention a fascinating incident.  On sets of Shamitabh in London, I assisted the production team of famous and another talented director R. Balki, along with my colleague in London for casting, location scouting and production.  I worked with Mr Bachchan for four days in a row; however, this incident is of the final day of filming, when I was the only other person with him on the set.  The scene was a long one and one with a three-page script.  I was extremely fortunate to see him rehearse and prepare and memorise a three-page script.  That is huge learning for me.  He delivered the entire scene in one take.  That’s a mark of a legendary actor.  I have learned so much more from him just by being in the same frame with him for some days.  If I am allowed to say this – there are very few individuals like him who are an institution in themselves.  In my opinion, the only other living person who is an institution like him is Lata Mangeshkar.

What advice would you give the younger version of you?
As I said earlier, every individual is capable of doing each and every thing and has all the necessary skillset for it. Everything is achievable with proper coaching and practice. I would really like to tell each and every individual and not only to the young people - to be honest to yourself, know your skills, live life to the fullest but be present in the moment and always follow your passion! Why should someone recommend or visit www.CoachSaaish.com? CoachSaaish.com is not just a coaching institute but it is more of a box-office like platform which not only recognizes
your need to excel publicly but also enriches, refines and polishes your life at a very personal level. All of our students are like a close-knit family who keep helping our every protégé to become a success story at various levels. We feel immensely proud, when our clients talk about us not being bookish in our coaching style, but more like a personal well-wisher companion who would ensure focussed effort on your every area of development, whether it is singing, performing, acting, public speaking, modelling, or working on leadership and management etc. in corporate, private or public set-up. I would really like to quote one of my client’s testimonials here – ‘If you really want to know how wonderful you
are – you must meet coach Saaish Shhetey at least once in your lifetime.’ I would personally like to thank lovely Stella Maris Hafele, who is also super-talented fashion designer for covering my story.

Fashion Journalist: Stella Maris Haefele

Photography ownby Mr Saaid Shhetey