Tanmay Vora is a skilled business leader, consultant, and visual storyteller with over 20 years of diverse experience. He founded QAspire Consulting in 2021, offering leadership development, organizational consulting, and visual storytelling services to global organizations. Tanmay's blog, three books, and sketchnotes have gained recognition, and he's a sought-after speaker on leadership, learning, and change.
Here’s his interview with us, where he shares his creative inspiration and insights.
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Tell us a little bit about yourself and your business. How did you get started, and what inspired you to use visuals to help grow your business?
I am a senior business leader, change facilitator and visual thinker. After 22+ years in corporate leadership roles, I started my own consulting company QAspire.com where I help enterprise customers with change facilitation, leadership development, organization development consulting and visual facilitation.
I started creating sketchnotes in 2015 with focus on leadership, learning and change.
I found my "Why" at a small intersection where clear visual notes met complex business topics.
I felt that clear and simple visual notes can illuminate the signals amidst noise of information that has just kept growing.
Since then, I have
created 1,000+ sketchnotes on various topics
illustrated several best selling books
worked with best management thinkers, and
contributed to some of the largest organizations across the globe.
Thinking in pictures makes me a better facilitator, a better professional and I'd assume, a better human being as well.
How do you use visuals to communicate your ideas or products to your audience?
My mission is to illustrate "Ideas Worth Sharing" in form of simple visual notes. I share in the spirit of generosity and all my sketchnotes are available on my blog at QAspire.com.
Visual synthesis is co-creating meaning of ideas that we consume. Visuals give an interpretation to ideas and that resonates with people.
I also write a lot of my own experiences and ideas along with my visual notes at my blog. When this resonates with others on social media, it creates a pull for my services and offerings.
So, in a way, I create what I believe in, share what I feel will help others and when it does, the universe reciprocates with opportunities that come my way.
Social media platforms where you share your content.
Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram
Can you share some specific examples of how using visuals has helped you attract new customers or clients, or helped you stand out from competitors?
Consistent sharing in the spirit of generosity is very powerful.
Sharing on my blog have led to connections, relationships and opportunities through the years. There are several examples where my post on blog or social media (accompanied with my sketchnotes) would have led stakeholders from some of the biggest global organizations to reach out to me with opportunities to collaborate.
As a solopreneur, I don't have any sales function except consistent sharing of ideas and visuals with my own thoughts.
For me, meaningful "contribution" > "competition".
Also, it is not about simply creating sketchnotes, but expressing yourself authentically through the work so that your work speaks to the audience about what you truly stand for. That makes it all the more powerful.
What tools or software do you use to create and edit your visuals?
Procreate
Are there any tips you have for someone who is just starting out and doesn't have a lot of design experience?
Start and keep at it. Being consistent trumps talent 10/10 times.
Share it out there. Generosity is the currency of social leverage.
Improve your practice and be deliberate about it.
Find new ways to represent ideas. Find new ideas to represent. Learn new techniques each time you practice.
Network with people. Attend workshops. Study the work of those you admire. Start with imitating their work. Blend it with your own experience. Eventually your unique style will evolve.
Visuals have to serve a purpose and make a difference. Being purposeful fuels the pursuit.
How do you measure the success of your visual content? Do you track metrics like engagement, clicks, or conversions, and how do you use that data to inform future visual content?
I measure success of my visual content with difference it makes to others. That feedback from my audience fuels my pursuit.
Beyond that, I only create sketchnotes for ideas I truly believe in. When I create with my sensibility, it creates resonance with my audience.
Do you have any advice for other creators/ solopreneurs who are just starting out and want to use visuals to help grow their business?
In a noisy world, a well articulated visual is a powerful way to transport ideas in an illuminated form.
Embrace visuals.
If you can't create, have someone create it for you. Use tools that enable you to create visual content easily.
What are some common mistakes to avoid, or tips for creating visually engaging content on a budget?
If you are using visuals to attract customers, don't settle for anything less than the best. Fortunately, we have many tools and AI now available for us to leverage while creating visual content.
Finally, where can we go to learn more about you and your business, and see some examples of your visual content in action?
I share all my work at QAspire.com
Great interview! Very inspiring as always!