For our wedding anniversary my husband and I went to Noon Wines, a Bangalore institution that is older than our relationship. Its charm is that nothing ever changes – you can get homemade wine served with a side of cheese and pineapple sticks topped with a pink cherry. We are faithful to other unchanging places like Pecos too.
What does the escalator of success look like?
Most of us are put on an escalator early in our lives. There are pre-defined steps – school, college, job, promotions that keep us rising. Each step is celebrated as a success.
We rarely get off this escalator – exceptions are those who miss a step and are either unable or unwilling to get back on. And those who choose to jump off and try either another escalator or a walkalator.
The Walkalator Life
For a restaurant, the escalator life would be opening newer branches, increasing prices, setting up a franchise, earning Michelin stars. A walkalator would be maintaining profits and enjoying life while providing people a joyful experience. It may also result in expansion and wealth, but that would be a by-product not the motivation.
For people, a walkalator is one where you do what you love, taking the time to enjoy the view as you move forward in life. There may be no pre-defined steps of success in this model – you make your own!
It requires a strong internal locus of control coupled with self-validation to keep on the walkalator.
Escalator vs Walkalator
I have lived both lives – my schooling and career till I became an entrepreneur was clearly defined by a societal roadmap. I’ll be honest – I enjoyed each step upwards!
Over the past decade I have embraced the walkalator avatar – I get to do what I love, help other entrepreneurs and try new things. It is also a lot of fun!
In this edition of my life I am an entrepreneur, investor, independent director, published author, publisher of India’s oldest marketing newsletter, marketing expert, program manager, podcaster, community builder, parent, pawrent, spouse, and er, Boomer Aunty.
B2B Industry Contributor of the Year – 2025
I am not a saint totally removed from external validation – it is awesome when it comes! I am grateful to RP Singh and the jury for recognizing me at the recent summit in Bangalore. Doubly happy that our client was recognized too. My organization, Paul Writer, program manages marketing activities as a partner to select B2B organizations.
Jessie Paul, Podcaster
I am back to living full time in India after six years of shuttling between Amsterdam, Singapore and Bangalore. And I thought what better way to plunge back into the marketing ecosystem than by launching a podcast on my favourite topic – No Money Marketing 🙂 I’ve been meeting a bunch of exciting people – Radhika Mahadevan of Birdsong, Payal Nath of Kadam Haat, Poornima Couto of SLK Software, Smita Murarka, Marketing Expert, Monisha Devaiah of Avixa and we’ve covered a lot of ground. Stay tuned to find out who blew up an R&D Lab, got kidnapped, hates corporate gifts, or includes “other people’s people”.
In honour of International Women’s Day I am interviewing only women guests this month.
Here’s a short from a recent one I did with Cathy Chandhok of QualityKiosk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
There is a longer 15 minute podcast that follows. When I was discussing the length of the ideal podcast with my daughter and her friends, and I suggested an hour or even 30 minutes one comment was “swalpa boomer Aunty”. I am so tempted to own that as my identity – Boomer Aunty podcasts 🙂
The teen team crews for me on weekends and holidays and have an impressive grasp of how to tell a story. And set up the lights, of course. I am teaching myself editing through this exercise and whoah! have we come a long way from those Avid machines we used to use! I love AI – now that I don’t need to learn the mechanics of editing, it frees me up to focus on the narrative.
The view from the walkalator is great
I like to connect people. And connect with people. This perspective allows me to enjoy the scenery and get to know the folks along the way. I am grateful to you for reading this longest-running-newsletter-in-
Do write back!
Jessie Paul, Podcaster
