My 15 Years Of Entrepreneurial Journey As One Of India's Most Followed Bloggers On LinkedIn

My journey Of Being A Self-Made Digital Entrepreneur

To reach where I am, it takes a lot more than what meets the eye. It took me a considerable amount of courage and persistence to get where I am today. I have learnt that entrepreneurs are a very different species altogether. One must be audacious enough to have belief in your ideas. The road's neither easy nor is there a short-cut to success, and every entrepreneur's journey is full of ups and downs.

As for me, I wasn't born with a silver-spoon. I lost my dad at the age of 19, and while discovering various ways to make money, I was introduced to blogging and AdSense in my second year college. I worked at a call center, took tuitions for my juniors, did data entry jobs, freelance writing, sold Amway products, and promoted MLM down to door-to-door sales to make money.

It's been quite a ride ever since I started, but probably what makes me different from tons of others is my zeal to help aspiring entrepreneurs along the way, and that's why I became quite popular in the blogosphere as well as Bangalore startup, and global ecommerce space.

Everything Comes at a Price

There have been many turns, roadblocks, dead-ends, T-points, streets with no lights, crossings without signals, and sudden steep turns with no warning signs. And yet, I managed to get where I am today! Reason being, I stood stern, in the face of adversity, to deal with the ever-evolving digital landscape, and I am now training bloggers selflessly through my Bloggers World initiative, where hundreds of aspiring bloggers are learning how to start a blog for free. For those who want to learn it step-by-step with hand-holding, I also run private consulting, and a premium batch for those who need an exclusive time slot of 1 hour/day group learning. However, everything else that he does, is selfless help for the blogging fraternity.

Practical Learning is the Best Learning

Everything that I know today, I have learned from hit and trial, and practical experiences along the way since 2006. Sometimes, it was either the curiosity to learn or the need of the clients, while the rest of the time, I was forced to adapt to the changing landscapes of the digital world.

Also, no entrepreneurial journey is complete until you hit rock bottom a couple of times, and my journey is no exception. There was a time when I had lost 93% of his empire in a single night, which was my first major roadblock. At the time, I had 50 employees working for me. So, instead of getting bogged down, I took it as my responsibility to look out for all my employees, and so I chose to persevere. I understood how dependent many of my employees were, on their monthly paychecks. Therefore, I decided to look past my then current limitations, and learned new skills, taught them to my team, and fought back with my head held high. No one knew the intensity of the tornado that I was dealing with on the inside; it was me against the world.

The Ups and Downs are Part of the Game

At every roadblock, I have always found a way out; not just for my sake, but also for my employees. Nobody wakes up one morning with a multi-million dollar business; only the audacious entrepreneurs who have a sense of responsibility for their employees, and with the ability to look beyond to see that what doesn't yet exist probably can. I never let the prevailing circumstances define me or my course; sailing against these rough tides was what made me one of the most skilled sailors of the digital arena.

Awards and Accolades

Considering that no good deeds go unnoticed, I did win various awards along the way. I have also spoken at tons of Indian & International events. I recently spoke at the Asia's Largest Affiliate Marketing Conference - AWA, held at Bangkok. I often get invited as a speaker at events like IAC, WebCloudExpo, and various prestigious Digital Meetups all over the country. I am impaneled at Sai Ram & Symbiosis Bangalore as an honorary faculty member to deliver guest lectures, and was also invited by IIM Visakhapatnam and BML Munjal University for delivering guest lectures and recruiting interns. I was the speaker again at the first-ever Virtual Ecom Summit 2020, and now I am humbled to be one of India's most-followed bloggers on LinkedIn with over 1M monthly readership. My most popular post on LinkedIn received over quarter million views, 4000 likes, and 300 comments, and my popular Quora answer guiding newcomers to make Rs 500/day as a freelance writer has also got close to 200,000 views (and counting).

In addition, because of my experience, I am on the Board of several Indian and a couple of International start-up companies, and I currently advise over a dozen startups, some of which also have my investment, like Verd Media, and Global Child Prodigy Awards. I have also served a Web Hosting Guide for About.com (earlier, part of New York Times, and now part of Ask.com now), Global Dot Desi Ambassador, and Director of Marketing for APAC for Ascendant Media, one of the leading PR firms in the USA.

I have consulted many big brands for digital marketing including Audi Bangalore, Audi Pune, Sarovar Group of Hotels, Country Inn & Suites Manipal, mSupply, BankBazaar, just to name a few.

My Digital Communities

I have built many social and digital communities such as Bloggers World for helping aspiring bloggers, along with Desi Bloggers World Facebook group via Telegram, and Whatsapp groups. I built Dropshippers World to help ecom/dropshipping enthusiasts, and Bootstrappers World for aspiring entrepreneurs looking to bootstrap a business. I have also mentored and inspired a lot of people to keep pursuing their dreams and not give up when things get hard, to keep persisting until they reach the pinnacle of success.

I believe the world will never be the same post the COVID destruction, and the only way to survive is to adapt to the changing landscapes - everyone is going digital, and now is the time for starting a blog, or a digital business, and utilising the opportunities at hand, rather than fretting over what has happened. Not only does every problem come with a solution, but also a hidden opportunity attached to it - and those who leverage these opportunities manage to rise.