At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring to our community some of the finest stories from the entrepreneurship world. As part of this endeavour, we invited a passionate entrepreneur – Aashirvad Kumar for an exclusive interview with us. He is an Entrepreneur, Digital Marketing Expert, and Sales Strategist. Aashirvad is the Founder and CEO of Optimize For SEO. Let’s learn more about his inspiring journey, his background and his advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Aashirvad:
We are aware of your contribution to the field of Digital Marketing, talk us through your background and your journey as an entrepreneur, please?
Ever since my childhood, I was more of a kid who had a keen interest in learning. Born and brought up in a small town named Daltonganj in Jharkhand, I had limited access to quality education and facilities where I did my schooling from VPM Gyan Niketan School and graduated with an English major from J.S College.
Although I got no such exposure, guidance, or environment in my hometown to opt for fancy courses or degrees to choose a suitable pathway, I was lucky enough to have my friend named ‘Ritik Kumar’ who helped me to take the initial step that was blogging in my college days. Technical learning like that of software and programming caught my major interest so I consistently learned and practised M.S Office, C++, etc. with joy and wrote more on the same.”
Just within 2-3 months, I started earning from my blog and decided to take further steps and landed on the wide digital platform. Soon after my blog site was monetized, I gained some confidence in my work and started to explore different segments with my school friends. Thus, we planned to go for a startup “Primor Mart” as a team. We gave it a shot and also got selected in Jharkhand’s program called “Startup India”. Unfortunately, we couldn’t make it to the finals due to a lack of funding and non-trustworthy team members. However, this was a big lesson for me, especially how to form a good team.
It’s been years since I started off with blogging and then laid my hands successfully into Digital Marketing to stand as an entrepreneur today. Even today, I am in tune with my first blog site – “teletrickmania.com” despite running my own digital marketing agency in a partnership with Sonam Singh.
Aashirvad & Sonam (Founder & Co-founder Of Optimize For SEO)
Back then, after my school life, I was aware, Daltongonj wasn’t the place to set my career, I decided to move to Ranchi where I got immense opportunities with real-life endeavours that I always craved.
At first, I was offered an internship program where I was taught about Digital Marketing and its entire services. The process of self-learning has never stopped for me. Even in my internship days, I gave enough time to study the working of technicalities in SEO, digital marketing, branding, etc. In tune with my cooperative team lead, I started giving results in a short span of time.”
The projects on which I worked had my 100% effort and dedication due to which they started to rank on SERPs. With this, the company that hired me as an intern offered me a full-time job as an SEO Analyst and then promoted me as a Senior SEO Executive. Amidst these, I also started receiving freelance projects and acquired a good client base as a freelancer apart from my full-time job.
Basically, I worked there to get an in-hand experience on how an organization works. And to upgrade my management skills after the failed startup, I got into the corporate sector.
Once I was all set to go after a few years of experience from a professional organization, I left it and dedicated my entire time to my next and current startup “Optimize for SEO” which, despite all ups and downs, stayed stiff.”
I already had a team of a few members but when I renounced my 9 to 5 corporate lifestyle, I formed a strong base and expanded it to make a proper Digital Marketing Agency in collaboration with my partner. Today, I have a strong team with a good number of employees, potential national and international clients for years, and a business that is growing in the digital space.
What attracts you towards entrepreneurship instead of a corporate career?
Ever since I started doing freelancing along with my full-time job, I have been able to acquire a good number of clients. With each passing day, my client base kept on growing and I was unable to devote enough time to them due to corporate jobs.
This happened when my SEO techniques worked successfully and I was able to prove my promising nature by helping businesses to rank on top results. This wasn’t a quick move, I worked a lot on this and studied each day without missing out on the tactics. This was a growth-oriented turning point for me, where clients themselves started giving my referrals whom I actually call the “happy clients”. People were keen to know more about me, my work, and services in the digital zone, and they directly reached out to me for that.
Gradually I started attending seminars and upgraded my skills. These boosted confidence in me which lifted me to handle clients well which is quite a challenging task.”
Altogether, I was then eligible as well as self-assured that I’m reading to start something of my own. With this, I took my first step fearlessly and landed on the journey of entrepreneurship.
I would say my curiosity of always looking a step forward landed me here!
‘Optimize For SEO’ is such a unique name; talk us through more about it, please. Our audience would also love to know what kind of problem you are solving?
As I was already into SEO, so it was obvious that I would choose the name for my agency strategically. Along with Prashant Kumar, who was my senior executive in the first company, I did a lot of research to find a domain name with a business perspective i.e it must have high search volume and intent.
For me, “if you are offering something to others, you must prove it from your end first” By this, we came up with the name “Optimize for SEO” which did fit perfectly for my long-term goal as well as signified my work forum. Hopefully, it did work as planned and we are getting traffic from this keyword.”
Me and my agency focus on bringing business growth digitally. It helps small, medium, or even large-scale businesses, regardless of their niche, to onboard leads by making the best use of online marketing. Mostly, at these times of pandemic, businesses are suffering over their sales and growth, and this is where we dive in as a Bane.
Tell us more about your company in terms of offering services. How are you making a difference in your industry?
Optimize for SEO focuses on application development, web development, and Digital Marketing which includes SEO, SMM, SMO, PPC, Email Marketing, and Content Marketing.
We are not just a service provider but a business consultant. When we work with any client, we set no boundaries. Working together with the client, we understand their long-term business goal according to which we offer suggestions even if it’s not relevant to our services because we regard them as our potential clients. And that’s where optimize for SEO stands as a milestone in the industry.
During this COVID-19 crisis, what are the measures you have undertaken to continue your business without disruption?
Firstly, all my employees have been assigned work from home to avoid coming in contact with the deadly coronavirus. We coherently followed all disciplinary work schedules to avoid mash-up of personal and professional life. Due to covid, many of them were going through a lot mentally. So to help them maintain their mental pace, we avoided the toxic over working hours, unless extremely necessary and stayed connected virtually as a family.
Most importantly we didn’t lay off any deduction in the salary. In fact, some of them who were in utmost need of financial support, we paid them in advance.
To keep the team motivated at these rough phases, we introduced incentives that geared them up with the spirit of joy and diminished their bucket of agony.
How do you manage to keep going despite the challenges? What drives you?
From the early stage of life itself, I never looked back and focused on the present to build my future. I started this work as a passion before profession which formed a gist of never giving up, despite all odds that I faced.
My curiosity always brought an urge in me to overcome every challenge even if it’s hard. We were always in the hunt for new clients which helped us bear the expenses that were hampered due to non-payment and delay from the client’s end during covid.
The real challenge was convincing the clients for which we presented the factual result we delivered to our previous clients. It proffered a real-time analysis and displayed our work transparency that built our strong trust with every client. Our understanding of business helped us stand as better examples in the industry.
Who do you believe has been the biggest source of motivation in your daily life?
Books have been the real motivators for me. I am an ardent follower of Robert Kiyosaki’s book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. Besides, there are many other books like “Think Like a Monk”, “The $ 100 Startup”, which have filtered my thoughts in the right direction.
Alongside this, my parents are my pillar supports. Had they not believed in me throughout, despite low income initially, I wouldn’t have reached this stage of life. I am obliged to have them as my constant motivators who strived me to achieve better than prior.
Talking of this, my partner Sonam Singh is no less. She was a girl who was into the preparation of general competition yet she never fell astray from self-learning during her internship program. With her effort and constant learning, she developed her skills and moulded herself into a professional which was really sparkling.
How do you conquer the fear in you?
I see failure as a process of learning. I believe it’s better to give an extended attempt and fail than to give without putting effort. Had I not failed in my first startup, I wouldn’t have developed myself to start with better ideas.
Also, I do introspect quite often which doesn’t allow me to run away from any sort of failure.
What suggestions would you like to convey to the students who are willing to make a career in digital marketing?
Nothing can stop you from learning if you are really passionate about it. There’s a very simple yet deep meaning term, “you tend to set your own boundaries when you fail to fight and signify it as non-worthy.”
Today, we have enormous courses available in almost every field. The students who want to make a career in digital marketing can start off any day. For this, you don’t necessarily need to have exclusive courses. YouTube is the best platform and the whole internet is yours.
But as these learning bent towards theoretical learning, try to get involved in practical learning once you are aware of the terms and activities of digital marketing. Follow your industry leaders and try to keep yourself updated with the latest arrivals of digital marketing.”
It would really be great if you get yourself involved in internships or work under digital marketing agencies, even as a freelancer to gain industrial experience. At times, you will get non-paid offers or low wages but it’s absolutely okay to accept it because that would offer you advanced learning without charging. This is in real term, an investment for you. Thus, “Don’t go for money, try to gain experience as it will pay you soon”.
What are some of the strategies that you believe has helped you grow as a person?
I believe these qualities have really helped me grow:
1) Humble and kind-hearted
2) Co-operative and liaison
3) Self-confident
4) Strategic planning
5) Risk-taker
6) Tenacious
7) Self-disciplined
What are the three most important lessons you have learned building your startup?
(i) Keep yourself prepared to face the consequences of the decision you make. Not every decision may work in your favour.
(ii) You are no longer confined to a single domain when you are beginning a startup. Therefore, buckle up to be a multitasker and whilst being a good problem solver.
(iii) Never look back on your past journey. The present matters the most to make your future. Hence, stay determined, keep yourself motivated.
In your opinion, what are the keys to success?
I would suggest these keys in my opinion:
(a) Learn from your mistakes and never give up, no matter what.
(b) Be a responsible person and keep yourself ready to take risks.
(c) Stay curious and have an eagerness to learn new things.
(d) Never stop learning and stay updated with the industry trends.
(e) Keep a positive attitude to be a good decision-maker.
(f) Patience is the key. So, stay calm and serene.
(g) Keep a leadership attitude, not a bossy one!
What advice would you give students and young professionals who want to have a successful career?
Students must always follow their passion rather than going on with just the traditional education system so that whenever there is the right time, they must be ready to show that passion. And this is possible only if they are following their passion, wholeheartedly. They must follow their industry leaders and keep themselves in tune with the particular platform.
Young professionals who are into 9-5 jobs can also resume their passion without worry. If the passion is real, it can be followed apart from office hours. It isn’t necessary to start all of a sudden on a wide scale but they can take baby steps like showcasing their talent on youtube and other digital platforms which will build their self-worth and help them overcome the “fear and desire” with a sense of independence.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
