Madhu Dasa is the Founder of Madhu Life, a predominantly online business that provides comprehensive and holistic resources, education, and lifestyle coaching for individuals and groups. For many years, Madhu Life’s offerings have guided hundreds of students to optimize and transform their physical, mental, and spiritual health through systematic training in Ayurveda, Bhakti, Kirtan, and other ancient Vedic arts, as well as help individuals, build and sustain 6+ figure conscious businesses.
For more details, visit their website here.
Here we sit down with Madhu, to know a bit more about his journey as an entrepreneur.
Q. Tell us a little more about your journey as an entrepreneur – how did you get started? What inspired you?
Madhu:
I was born into a family of avid spiritualists, who followed principles and practices from the Vedic tradition (the oldest spiritual culture in the world). For most of my childhood though, I took spirituality for granted. Everything changed when I was sixteen. My father offered to pay me $100 to read the ancient wisdom text Bhagavad Gita As It Is. Eager to become a rich teenager, I accepted his offer. However, it completely changed my life and perspective, and touched my heart so deeply that I refused to accept the money!
With a burning desire to dedicate my life to living and sharing spiritual wisdom, I became a monk on my eighteenth birthday. For five years, I lived in various monasteries across the United States and India, studying under world-renowned teachers and intermittently traveling the world.
When I graduated from the monastery, I was eager to bring my passion out into the world. Not knowing how to build a sustainable career out of my offerings, I traveled profusely for years, working tirelessly to network and arrange workshops where I could share the knowledge and tools I had learned as a monk. But I was struggling to make ends meet, barely covering my travel expenses.
I was overworking my body and mind. Scattered and constantly on the go, I felt enriched by my teaching work, but at the same time my personal and spiritual lives were suffering, and I wasn’t able to spend the quality time with my wife that I wanted. I had settled for this life, accepting that maybe I just didn’t deserve more. I was afraid of what it might take to truly build the life I wanted.
Thankfully, under the guidance of expert teachers and coaches, I learned how to integrate my purpose and offerings into a sustainable business model. I launched Madhu Life and it immediately grew into a 6+ figure business.
Q. What are your long-term goals in business? Paint a vision for the future
Madhu: My mission is to help my clients thrive in all aspects of their lives, and become empowered leaders with practical tools to make a huge impact in the world. I am particularly inspired to guide others in their own conscious entrepreneurial endeavors because this is something I struggled with for so long.
I love teaching more than anything. I’m passionate about making ancient, transformative Vedic arts and sciences relevant and accessible for everyone, while still preserving their authenticity and purity. First and foremost though, I remain an avid student. This, I strongly believe, is the qualification of a teacher.
In the near future, I will be launching a podcast, a membership platform, a few guidebooks, and other free resources. My long-term goals include having and running a retreat center in Southern California, having a dozen+ other coaches working under the Madhu Life brand, several online courses, and an ever-increasing dynamic repertoire of the group and 1:1 offerings to help thousands of clients actualize their ideal lives and be empowered to help others to do the same.
Q. What motivates you?
Madhu: The intense gratitude I feel towards my various teachers and guides who have given me the gifts which have empowered me to get to where I am today. I couldn’t possibly pay them back, so I’ll live the rest of my life doing my best to pay it forward, by sharing the gifts I’ve received with as many others as possible. The vision I have for a more conscious world where people have the knowledge and tools for more optimal physical, mental, relational, financial, and spiritual health lights me up with inspiration every day.
Q. What business-related book has inspired you the most, or, what is your favourite book?
Madhu: My all-time favorite book is the Bhagavad Gita As It Is. Its perennial wisdom is the basis for all of the work I do and the mood with which I do it. In terms of business development and mindset, The Science of Getting Rich has also been a huge inspiration for me.
Q. What is the most memorable thing you’ve done since you started your business?
Madhu: For over 10 years I have been meditating daily for at least 2 hours. This intentional time to go within, pray, and connect with Divinity keeps me grounded, focused, and aligned with a mindset of gratitude, service, and eternality. I also continue to invest in my own education, training, and coaching. I am always involved in some sort of program or working with a coach to make sure I hold myself accountable to optimizing my performance and potential.
Q. If you were to write a book about yourself, what would you name it?
Madhu: Living Dharma Abundantly – how I’ve crafted life of ever-expansive purpose, impact, and spiritual connection
Q. What is one of the best or most worthwhile investments you’ve ever made?
Madhu: The years I spent training as a monk, living in monasteries, and traveling the world learning from expert teachers in a variety of disciplines. My other answer would be the investments in myself to DECIDE to claim my ideal life and make it a reality.
Q. Where do you see the future in your niche/industry 3-5 years from now?
Madhu: The coaching industry will certainly continue to expand as more and more people learn about the endless possibilities of growth that are available in their life. My personal hope is that authentic, integral, and honest coaches create proper training for those aspiring to work in this industry so that there is expansive success in empowering the millions of potential clients who are eager to have more clarity, direction, and guidance in different aspects of their lives.
Q. What is your ‘one-sentence’ piece of advice you’d like to give to someone who wants to become an entrepreneur, coach, or business owner?
Madhu: The most important factor to having the life you want is to make the decision to have it! It sounds too simple, but this is how it works. If you truly claim what you want and believe that you can have it, then the resources from within and without that you need to make it happen will manifest. Resources follow the decision, it’s never the other way around.
To keep up to date with Madhu and his journey, connect with him on Instagram, and youtube.