The Write Inheritance: How Words Build Legacies

Hello everyone, welcome to our podcast on industrial marketing. This is our first video podcast and we are very happy to have Mr. Ramesh Natarajan with us. Mr. Ramesh Natarajan has traveled an entrepreneurial journey of about 40 years in the industry of manufacturing batteries and battery machinery. 3 years back, Mr. Ramesh decided to take a break from the entrepreneurial journey and he decided to cater to the society and community by contributing valuable knowledge assets to battery manufacturers and students aspiring to do well in the battery industry. As a part of that, Mr. Ramesh has worked on a lot of books, on podcasts, on his LinkedIn profile. He's available online and offline for people who look for confidence in the battery manufacturing industry. Today we are pleased to have Mr. Ramesh Natarajan with us on our show. Welcome, Mr. Ramesh. Thank you so much. It's always a pleasure interacting with you. And I think this is the third podcast we are doing. Yes. And probably the first video podcast. And on the first video podcast, I've come with a mole on my nose, which will eventually disappear in the upcoming podcast. Entrepreneurship in itself, sir, is quite an uphill journey. And how did you think about consolidating your entire experience into a book? Because while I know that a lot of people want to write a book, it's easier said than done. So at what point do you think that you are going to write a book? And today I must say that, how do you think that you're going to write a series of books? See, after I retired, naturally, with 42 years of experience and working, you know, morning to evening, it was not possible to sit at home doing nothing. So I started doing some podcasts and videos to help the battery community, right? Once I did those, I also started getting a lot of responses and, you know, cues from them. They started asking, okay, you've talked of sulfation, can you tell me why self-discharge happens? Okay, after I did the self-discharge, they said, can you say why the batteries are bursting? So all these led me to more and more podcasts, right? After a certain period of time, I thought, why not make these podcasts into articles? Right. And converted, converted in the sense I went through the podcast and then started making articles out of it. When I had quite a lot of these articles, then I got an idea, why not make it a book? And of course, articles cannot be just directly put into the book. So I had to make some changes.. But that was not much of an effort, and that's how the first book came about. That's wonderful. So when you normally kind of, you know, 30-40 years for any business owner, there's a lot of traction they have wherein they can mentor the society or the community or people who are looking at joining the industry. Therefore, you need a tangible legacy print, you know, somewhere which is tangible yet marks the legacy of your journey. So do you think that writing a book is a great way to do it? When it comes to legacy, right, a book is a very good legacy, I would say. Why I say so? Because people establish industries Right. So the first generation then passes it on to the next generation. Correct. And then probably the third generation takes over. Right. And then the industry goes on. That is also a legacy, but it's a legacy of a kind where only the family or, you know, the society related to that organization or, you know, that community, they benefit. But if you want to benefit a larger community, and go global or worldwide. Yes. I think a book leaves a greater legacy. Correct. So even as an industrialist, I feel that setting up a factory, employing a lot of people, doing a lot of social service is good. But if you can benefit the larger community as such, right, by writing a book and, you know, sharing your thoughts, your experiences, and also motivating the youngsters, that is a better legacy. Correct. Mr. Ramesh, writing a book, while it is, I think, an ambition for a lot of people, it is easier said than done. I mean, it's far more even difficult than even consuming the idea of writing a book. And beyond that, a lot of people are not sure whether they can write something. Per se. You know, a lot of people also have an inhibition to even probably write a comment on a post, let alone writing a book. So I mean, how would you mentor or give those people a direction or keep their motivation on about writing a book? It is true that many people are not comfortable with writing. Yes. Fortunately for me, I'm more comfortable writing rather than speaking. Yes. So I did not face this challenge, but I do know that, you know, over the last 3 years, I have been successful in motivating people who are not comfortable with writing to start writing. Okay. What I did is first I told them, okay, write a comment on a post. Yeah. You need not even publish it. Right. You start writing comments on post and just keeping it and scrapping it, what you would have written. And then on that post, you see what are the comments coming. Okay. So if you see that the comments are very similar to yours or something in line with that, it's an aligned comment. It's an aligned comment. Yes. Then next, you start putting those comments. Okay. For some posts. Okay. Okay. Yeah. You know that you're in alignment with the majority of the people. Yes. So start putting those comments and then you start getting responses to your comments. Yes. Yes. The post will get responses. That's a different thing. You start getting responses to your comments. Later on, you start going and writing posts. Okay, okay. So comments to posts, you take it gradually up like that, right? The people who are not comfortable with writing. Yeah, I think majority of them are not comfortable. They may be comfortable writing, but writing for a public domain is something which kind of is an inhibition. Yeah, that is why I said you write a comment and keep it, don't post it. Then you write a comment, get responses, you know that you're in alignment. Then you start writing posts. Correct. And after that, you get into articles. Okay, this whole process may take anywhere between 3 to 6 months. It doesn't matter. But after these 6 months, you'll be so confident, you'll want to write a book. Right. And I'm not just telling you, I've got 2 people who have written books and we've followed this. Okay, okay. Oh, that's really nice. Yeah. And they also had asked me, how did you write a book and why did you do it and all these things, what you have asked me now. Right. And they were having this inhibition of writing or problem. And this is what I advise them, and they have been successful and they have turned authors. And, um, do you think for people who want to give it a quick start, you know, like you rightly said, creating a habit of writing could take about 6 months. Yes. But for somebody who wants a far more quick start and wants to, you know, cover a large scope of topics scope of topics. Do you think, how good do you think is an idea of hiring a ghostwriter? Not a bad idea. I would say it's a good idea too. Why, why should I say not a bad idea? I'll say it's a good idea, but then I wouldn't be comfortable personally with a ghostwriter. And if at all somebody is having a ghostwriter, I think what they should do is first they have to see whether the wavelength matches. Yes. Secondly, whether that person is in alignment with their thoughts and vision of why they want to write a book. And I'm sorry to interrupt you, but in this case you will need somebody who understands technicality also, assuming somebody is from the manufacturing domain. Yeah, that— you mean the person who is going to be the ghostwriter? Some kind of like somebody who can read a feature as a benefit, you know, somebody who can write from that perspective. Yeah, it will be required, but it's all the more what happens is because if you're— it all depends on what is your subject. Correct. If it is something to do with sales or marketing, it's easier for that person to understand, right? Because sales and marketing is that way quite a generic topic. So it's easier for that ghostwriter to understand and do. But if it's a topic like mine, which is, you know, highly technical, then the content has to be not from the ghostwriter. Yeah, the content has to be totally yours. And when the content is totally yours, you only have to see whether the person who is writing this topic is understanding you well and then able to frame the whole article or the entire thing. The benefit of a ghostwriter who's already done something like this or who is already an author or who has gone through this process of ghostwriting for others, The benefit of having such a ghostwriter is you don't have much problems. But if your ghostwriter is also the first-time ghostwriter and you are a first-time author, then you are in trouble. Then you are in trouble. But if you are a first-time author and your ghostwriter is experienced, it's easier. It's easier, yeah, right. So that's a general way of deciding how do you have a ghostwriter in a case you do not want to write it yourself. Yeah. So now that we have come to the stage where How do you start writing? What is the option to write? The next obvious question is, what do I write on? Selecting the content or the index. So how do you think somebody should go about selecting the topic itself? Depends on— now we're talking of manufacturing industry and owners or entrepreneurs or, you know, people from the industry. Yes. This is generally for people, I mean, for people who actually have these decades of experience and want to translate it into something tangible. Tangible. So we are talking about people of the industry, right? Right. In such cases, there'll be somebody from the pneumatic industry, right? There'll be somebody from the hydraulic industry, somebody from the paint industry, or somebody from, you know, mold making, or from the plastic industry, or something like that, right? Naturally, their expertise will be in that particular industry, right? First and foremost, they have to start thinking what is the subject on which I have to write. Yes. Then the next thing is they can lay out the contents chapter-wise, just the broad headings. I'm going to talk of this, this, this, right? Probably I will have to give you an example from my first book to make it more clearer. Correct. If that's okay with you. Absolutely, because there's something, some reference to it. Yes, right. I am from the battery industry. I couldn't have written anything about the plastic or hydraulic or pneumatic industry. Naturally, I said, okay, I have to write about batteries. Correct. Now, if I'm going to write about batteries, what am I going to write? I have to explain the various terms like what is voltage, what is capacity, what is ampere, what is internal resistance. I said, let me first put these definitions or the glossary of terms, what, what you mean by capacity and all. I made it one chapter. The second thing is I said, let me explain how a battery works. So I compared it to a water tank filled with water and, you know, made some analogy of that sort and made that as a chapter. Yes. Now this is not required for a manufacturer, but somebody coming into the industry or a student who is just coming in, for them it's required. Right. So that was one. Then people always say battery and charging. So I said, let's write something about chargers, constant voltage, constant current, right? And all those, you know, chargers. So you picked up the pain points. Pain points. And then what is UPS? You have a UPS at home, you have a battery, you don't know how the UPS is related to the battery. I said, let's write about UPS, right? Inverters. What are the various types of inverters? Online UPS, offline UPS, and all these. That became a chapter. And then I said, let me put the project flowchart, process flowchart. So process flowchart of how the lead gets converted into a battery, what are the various stages which go through. I made a process flowchart and made that. And then what are the machines required to make the battery? Correct. So like a forward and backward integration of the entire thing and then you can break it down into chapters. What are the materials required? So all these became different chapters and then that was my first move. Book. Okay, okay. So something like this is what anybody from the industry, they have to sit and think, what am I going to write, right? And they have to write about the topic in which they are experts. So once you— I mean, once the first book is done, then you are more confident about the second and the third, and the fourth becomes like a very seamless effort. The second book was— so many books, I think you should be able to answer that question also. Yeah, yeah. See, the second book was meant for service engineers. Yes. After the first book went out, again, you know, like the podcast, I was getting responses. I started getting responses. People started telling, oh, but I am facing this problem. Is it due to the charger or is it due to the inverter? I said, oh, that means I have to address the service aspect. Yeah. So the second book was Batteries Demystified for Service Engineers. Okay, okay. So that's how you kind of came up with the entire content model. Yeah. Then the third book came out because FAQs. People, you know, people who know me and even from our own, you know, society, neighbors and all, they started— even the neighbors and all that, they started asking, tell me one thing, why, what is difference between the batteries which you've been using in the car for starting and what's the electric vehicle battery? Okay. So I had to talk about the difference between lead acid and lithium-ion. Okay. Then they started saying, why are these EVs catching fire? Yeah. So I had to write something about lithium-ion and safety. Perfect. So the third book came with, you know, FAQs for battery users and manufacturers. Right. So the, I think the question to answer to a lot of questions are probably start with your neighborhood itself than looking out very far. Yeah, neighborhood and the community with whom I am, the immediate community and the community with whom, you know, the podcast now, it's gone global. I've got 107 countries where they are downloading. So now all these, from all these countries also, people ask something and that becomes the topic for the next podcast, the next article, and then all these together then become a next book. Perfect, perfect. So taking this forward, like, you You well narrated the entire process of writing a book, why to write a book, how to write a book, how to get started. For a lot of engineers like you, people who are into engineering, they would also want to discover tools aspect. Are there tools good? Would you recommend some good tools that can be used, some nice processes that can be adapted? Because I think the manufacturing fraternity would love to also know, can this exercise also be done using tools and processes? See, this is where I think, you know, if you have a ghostwriter and they are well-versed with tools, right, it helps. Correct. So you have the content, the ghostwriter is well-versed with tools, things become easy. Yes, I think for a ghostwriter, since he's a professional, he will have his— all these tools, all his tools and Okay, so that advantage, when you asked about ghostwriter, the ghostwriter has, and you as a team have this advantage. For a person like me, the first book which I wrote, I actually penned down everything. Oh, because I am very comfortable, you know, the thoughts flow and I keep writing. I am not so easy typing on the laptop, so I went on writing, and after having written You won't believe, I used to type it on the laptop, just, you know, seeing what I've penned down and then putting it onto the laptop. And then taking the paragraphs up and down and then creating a flow, then correcting the, you know, the sentences, breaking down the sentences to smaller sentences and all that. Because you would have realized, as I'm talking also, there's no comma and there's no full stop. I'm going on talking. So I write also in a similar manner and I did that. But when it came to the second book, by then I had, you know, started using Grammarly. Okay. So I didn't have to break the sentences. I used to just type it and then put it through Grammarly and things were better. Even the grammar used to be corrected and everything was done. So I paid for Grammarly, the annual subscription, and used Grammarly. By the time I came to the third book, I came to know that there's something which is very easy, which is speech-to-text. Okay. So instead of writing and then typing, I could directly talk and make it speech to text. That's a good idea. I think that will help a lot of people who want to narrate. Yes. Then it becomes text. Then you break down the text. You could use a lot of AI tools which are available today. And then it can eventually take form and structure. At the end of the day, what matters is the content and the mentorship that you're giving to the upcoming generation. Yes. So when the third book I started, I just used the speech to text. Then the Grammarly, and then also I did use ChatGPT, but not ChatGPT directly get the content because then it becomes difficult. You have a lot of issues even for publishing on Amazon and all that, right? So I use the ChatGPT only to rearrange or something. Again, I did not use the ChatGPT matter as it is. I had the Grammarly matter and the ChatGPT matter. I used to see whether this paragraph is good or the ChatGPT is good, and then I merged it and then gave it to my publisher. Okay, okay. So using Grammarly, transcription, and AI as a combination, my third book, fourth book, and now I'm on my fifth book which I've given to the publisher. The fifth book also I've done in the similar manner. So things have become easier using these tools. Yeah, so you get rid of the unnecessary operational aspects and you can focus on the creativity and the innovation and the content. The content becomes the main thing when it comes to technical subjects. Content is king. And I mean, yeah, content is king. I would say the king is content. Yeah, but that is more so when it is technical. Correct, correct. Because in technical, you also have to be absolutely right. Yeah, in the sense there should not be somebody challenging what you've written. So it has to be your content based on your experience, based on what you know. Correct. Final question, Mr. Ramesh. Yeah, this is the most important question. Okay. In this 3 years, after you've written so many books, you've done so many wonderful podcasts, you've created a great community. How does it feel to be a brand, an influencer, an author? What is the feeling? See, when I did the first book and it came in my hand, that was an experience I am not able to describe. It's a feeling of joy of a different kind. Correct. The second, third, fourth book doesn't give that sort of a joy. Right. So the first book, when it came and I saw my name, it is something I'm not able to explain. I think every person who is, you know, knowledgeable in a particular subject should, even if he's a big industrialist or an entrepreneur, I think they should experience it. It's something worth experiencing. That is as far as the book is concerned. Now, the joy you get when people respond and start telling you so many things, you know, like, okay, I've heard this podcast, this particular thing, you know, I was making this mistake, it was a case study about which you mentioned, and now, you know, 3 years I didn't know why I'm getting this problem, but now I know, now I'm off, and I'm saying saving lakhs of rupees or crores of rupees or whatever it is, that gives you a different joy. True, true. And then I also talk about service. You know, my experiences over the 42 years, you won't believe, I've got 4 notebooks in which, you know, every experience of a different kind I have noted down. You've noted it, okay. And I go through this, and some of these experiences I say, okay, today let's take a case study., and then I talk about it. Yes, yes. So now I feel that all the 42 years of my being in the industry, which I've noted down at that point of time, right from 1980 to 2022, all that, if it's being useful for the people, that does give a joy of a different kind. Yes. So when you ask me what is the experience, then it is a mixed thing, you know, the first book in hand, the response of the people, yes, my sharing whatever I have learned, everything gives me different joy. And the brand, when you say, it's something which gets built eventually, eventually, and it's not something for which you make an effort. You're making an effort to help the people, to help the community, yeah, and you are doing the best that you can do, yeah. That is something which happens. Like people say, oh, you are a brand, or you can influence. That happens. But that's exactly how a brand should be. People should say that, you know, we love what you do. And it's more like a gut feeling than what you feel on your head. Yeah, a brand is just a feeling from your heart. Yes, from your stomach. Yeah, like a butterfly in your stomach. Yeah, yeah. And when people come and appreciate, I think that's— yeah, that's a different type of feeling, like I said. And you won't believe, after my second book was released I had two people approach me. Okay. One is a person who is based in UK and one is a person in US. Okay. And both these people said, when are you writing the next book? I said, I have already started. They said, you've already started? I said, yes, by the time I give the second book for publishing, I've started my third book and this is my topic and this is what I'm going to do. So they said, no, we are interested in being— both of them, of course, they don't know each other, but both of them know me and both of them said, Oh, I want to be a co-author. Oh, okay. I said, you are most welcome. I will send you some topics on which you are experts and you write, you can share it with me and I will share whatever I have written on some other topics and we will work on this together like changing, deleting certain things, adding or whatever to the best of our knowledge and we will co-author a book. Perfect. Unfortunately, what happened, whenever I used to, I sent them the topics, both of them. And they said, okay, this month I'm busy, I'll start next month. Next month I asked them, they said, oh, I've been a bit tied up, but I'm working on it. Yeah. Then after about 15-20 days, oh, have you started work and where are you? They said, oh, I'm so sorry, I've not done. So maybe they are the type of people who always are also like, right in the beginning I said, a bit wary about writing or thinking, oh, will it be accepted? Some sort of feeling. There's a book for such people, it's called Do the Work by Steve Pressfield. Okay, I don't know that. Now you give me the details, I'll send it to them. It's a beautiful book. Anyway, so second, third book I wrote, they said, you finished? I said, yeah, I couldn't wait for you, I finished it. The fourth I finished, they said, you finished? I said, yeah, I've been reminding you, you're not giving me anything. And now when the fifth comes, they'll again tell me, oh, I want to co-author. This is what— resistance that, you know, comes in and get rid of it is the human challenge. Yeah. All right, so, uh, thank you, Mr. Ramesh, for your time. And we do a lot of, uh, podcasts and episodes, but this particular podcast has a special value because this is priceless. It's not confined to a topic, it's confined— it's not confined to a certain, uh, process, but this is more about being larger than life, how the legacy can be created. And how do you build an upcoming generation. So thank you so much, Mr. Ramesh, for your time. Thank you so much, Vijay, and I hope, you know, people who see this podcast or watch this episode, they, at least a few are motivated. Yes. Then it would have served the purpose. Absolutely. And I'm sure that there will be a few people who will be motivated with this podcast. And if anybody needs help, of course you are there. You have been an author yourself, so you are always there. Thank you. Thank you so much, sir. Thank you. Thank you everyone for giving your time to watch this episode. This episode is also available in the audio format on Spotify and Apple Podcast. If you need to know more about Mr. Ramesh Natarajan's work and how he helps people in the manufacturing industry, especially people who are into the battery industry, please do scan the QR code at the end slide. And we look forward to seeing you again for the next episode. Thank you so much.