Blog

“Who is going to give me a job at 56 years of age?”

When your father asks you this, you feel nothing but helpless. 

For the past decade, he had a string of professional failures.
He had attempted to start his own business 7 years back.
Piled up massive losses and debt.

2010.

I quit my consulting job the previous year to become a startup founder.
So I decided to help him with the little I knew.
Search Engine Optimization!

I asked Papa if he was ready to do work that looked like physical labour, with no intellectual effort required.
I don’t think he felt he had a choice.
“Let’s try”, he said.

So I set up a website – Top Jobs in India.
The job market was one of the biggest advertising segments for newspapers.
It was a matter of time for online to follow.

I told Papa my plan:

We would start a job site.
As a blog.
Make the blog rank high on Google search results.
And if it did, the ads displayed on the blog would fetch us clicks.
And hopefully money.

“Where will these jobs come from?” he asked.
“The newspaper.”
“We will copy?”
“Yes – we will copy the exact job posting in a newspaper onto a blog.”
“Nandu, you have lost your mind. How can this possibly work?”
“Only one way to find out, Papa.”

I gave him a target.
10 job posts a day.
For a 56-year old typing with one finger, it took him 3-4 hours.
But to his credit, he did that.
EVERYDAY.

Without asking me once if it was working.

The blog was optimised well, and started to rank for long-tail keywords.

After a month, I started the ad spots using Google Adsense.

Every week, Papa and I would sit down and I would show him the Google Analytics dashboard.

I think he believed every number, except the revenue.
Because all he could see was some USD number – nothing had translated into actual money.

Until April 2011.
We received a letter from Google (there were no bank transfers back then).
A cheque of USD 101.27.

After 5 months of copy pasting 10+ jobs everyday, he had earned Rs. 5,000!

The amount did not matter.
The fact that he could do this mattered!
He was hopeful again.

Over the course of the next 1.5 years, we went on to start 2 more websites:
– Top Study Options
– Best Job Options

The monthly payout kept rising, peaking to $1,200 in Jan 2012.

The party ended in April 2012 when Google released the Penguin update to its algorithm, bringing down all 3 sites to 10% of their traffic.

In the 2 years that Papa worked on these sites, he made $17,000+ = Rs. 9L+
More than he had ever earned!

More importantly, what he gained was his confidence.

“I want to work for some more time before I retire,” he said.

Coming full circle, he applied to a job that he had copied and posted on the blog.
He got the job!

At the age of 58, he changed industries – from Pharma sales to Office administration.
Worked for 4 years, before formally retiring in 2016.

Every time you find a door closing, remind yourself that the door will open again.

Last week, we hit 10M cumulative followers across social media platforms!

What’s fascinating is that exactly 3 years back, in Oct 2020, we hit 1M cumulative followers; a bulk of which (800K) came from LinkedIn itself. 

5 highlights that I’m proudest of, during this journey:

1. Financial outcome

We launched this business in Feb 2020.
In just 3.5 years, we’ve achieved consistent growth and profitability since Day 1.

2. Making an impact

Over the past 3.5 years, our content has reached 93M+ people.
The majority (80%+) is between the ages of 18-30 and located in India. 

Our courses have over 372,000 paid students, with our enrollment growing by 8-10K students each month.

3. Brand collaborations

We’ve partnered with 147 brands, including Google, Adobe, Amazon, and Microsoft for talks, endorsements, events, and advertising. 

A list that makes me pinch myself everyday!

4. Team

We’ve distributed 1.75Cr ($219K) in profit sharing over the years. 

Zero voluntary attrition. 

Together, we’ve explored Rishikesh, Pondicherry, Kerala, Kashmir, Udaipur, Mumbai, Goa, and Uttarakhand (with Thailand up next).
Love is in the air :))

5. Contribution

We’ve supported 194 students, covering their school and college fees totaling 1.06Cr ($135K). 

This represents 100% of one of our income streams (affiliate income). 

All of this has been done through our company balance sheet; no separate entity involved.

Here’s my belief: If I can do it, so can you. 

There’s nothing that makes me special or different from you.
I’m not the smartest or hardest working person around. 

What I’ve consistently done is bet on the one thing I have control over.
Myself! 

Thank you for your support and feedback all through.

The ability to say no comes from self-respect (not worth my time) and self-awareness (not something I can do).

If you find it hard to say no, you lack either or both.

The ability to say no comes from self-respect (not worth my time) and self-awareness (not something I can do).

If you find it hard to say no, you lack either or both.

I used to believe in going big or going home.
Until I had to go home.

Today I am not playing the game anymore.I am slow, and I am deliberate.
I am patient in every aspect of my life.

I love playing tricks with my mind.

I stay on the 13th floor and quite often climb up the stairs, after my morning workout.

Usually I climb up while looking down – thinking about something and not consciously counting the floors.

One time, I did notice the floor.
It was floor 4.
And my mind instantly went, “Damn – all the hard work done until now, has to be repeated 2 more times.”

Another time, I noticed the floor.
It was floor 7.
And my mind instantly went, “Okay – just repeat what you have done until now and you will reach.”

And then one time, I noticed the floor.
It was floor 10.
And my mind instantly went, “Just about half of what you have done until now!”

And then one time, I noticed it was floor 13.
And my mind instantly went, “Wow! It’s done?

Another time, I noticed the floor.
It was floor 15.
And my mind instantly went, “I didn’t even realise it!”

There are so many ways we can trick our minds.
All of them begin with not tracking what milestone we have hit so far.
And it will surprise you how far you go.

Focus on the climb.
And keep climbing!

We make the worst decisions when we make them in the moment, led by our emotions.

We make the best decisions when we make them with no pressure, led by our awareness.

YOU ARE NOT STUCK.
No one’s ever stuck. 

In life if you feel stuck, you will be FAR MORE miserable for the exact same conditions, than if you have options.

It is true, not just for work.
It is true for relationships.
It is true for money.
True for life.

Even if the option you create is only marginally better, it will compound subconsciously to make you feel more powerful eventually.

The worst enemy in your life is the person who convinces you that you do not have any other choice. That you do not have options. 

That you are stuck.

Often that person is you yourself.

Managing time can be intensely hard in today’s distraction-filled world.

I see it as an opportunity to stand out.

The world is going to reward even more, the ability to take control of one’s time and drive your own agenda.

If someone told you that you are a lot like the other person, would you take that as a compliment or not?