At BrilliantRead Media, our aim is to bring to our community some of the unique and compelling stories from the start-up ecosystem. As part of this endeavour, we invited a passionate entrepreneur – Mitesh Sharma, for an interview with us. Mitesh is the Founder At Educlasses.co.in, Joofers.com And Jervice.com. Let’s learn more about his interesting journey, his advice for our community and the way forward!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with him:
Tell us a little bit about yourself (background) and your journey as an entrepreneur, please;
I am from Jodhpur, Rajasthan. I was passionate about technology and computer from my school days so I did my polytechnic diploma in computer science from Bikaner (Board of Technical Education, Jodhpur) in 2003. After that, I wanted to do Engineering but I did not go for it because at that time I could not go to other cities for engineering due to family reason. So I started a job as a designer in 4GL Technologies. After a year I was shifted to ITAC Technologies as an intern of Remote Sensing and GIS in ISRO. ITAC was doing outsourcing projects of ISRO, RRSSC (Jodhpur) at that time. I had learned each and everything about Remote Sensing and GIS technology because of my interest and hard work but more credit goes to DR. D. Dutta (Senior Scientist in RRSSC, Jodhpur at that time). He taught me everything about new technology in a very short time. He made me an expert, capable to handle any project. I did many national-level projects like LULC, Wasteland, Degradation, Watershed using many Softwares like Arc GIS, Erdas and many more. In 2013, I moved to SRSAC, Jodhpur (State Remote Sensing Application Center) and had been doing many projects till 2018. Between that, I started a shop of Men’s Apparels in my city and hired staff to run it. It did well but during this business, I realized that it is not for me. I did not relate to the fashion business. My heart was always hovering around computer, internet, education and technology space. I always asked questions to my customers regarding their career, study, education and future rather than selling clothes to them. One day I decided to do something in this segment that solves the problem of career and education of students and professionals. I started Educlasses.co.in my first online educational venture in 2018. We give educational study material free on our online educational platforms like Career and Course Guide, MCQ series, Tutorials, Educators & Professional Interviews, Technical and Educational Blog and much other stuff. Currently, our educational platform has got good success and is trying to serve every aspirant in their career. Now we have taken one further step and will come in online educational video course (Paid and Unpaid) of many exams like CA, JEE, NEET etc. It will go live next month.
I started two more online ventures Joofers.com (www.joofers.com) and Jervice.com (www.jervice.com) to solve many problems of students and professionals. Currently, these are running in a pilot mode to get insights into the market. Joofers.com is for free gifts & coupons platform and Jervice.com is to solve the job and accommodation problem of the city.
So my journey from Remote Sensing/ GIS Engineer to Shopkeeper and from Shopkeeper to Entrepreneur is amazing with lots of ups and downs but with full of knowledge and experience. I am very happy to run an online educational platform and try to solve the educational problem of the world. We are also giving services in Web and App Development, Digital Marketing and SEO, Fashion Business.
Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a job?
I had been doing RS/GIS expert job from last 12 years. But it did not give me satisfaction. I run a fashion shop too but my heart does not lie in it. I wanted to do something in online segments like website, applications, education, technologies, and problem solutions, it always attracted me. I wanted to go into online business to solve the problem of many peoples. I was really excited to see many online ventures were solving a real-world problem with the help of technology and the internet. So I decided to become an entrepreneur and try to solve the career-oriented problem of many students and aspirants with the help of my online venture. Now I am really happy to do problem-solving work that relates to my passion and interest.
How do you find the industry/niche that you’re in?
My interest and passion are on computer and internet. I can’t live without both of it. These technologies have changed the world in every aspect. I love to read a lot too either it educational books, technologies book etc. I am in the field of computer, technology, GIS and Remote Sensing, Internet from last 12 years. So it was very easy for me to do work in any online niche that solves the real-world problem of the world. Due to interest in technology and education, I started my business in the online education industry. We are doing more things online that are in a very early stage but we are keen to solve problems online and serve society.
What gets you out of bed in the morning i.e. what’s your source of motivation?
To do new things and give something more resourceful to society is my source of motivation. I always ask a question to me “What we can do to make things better to solve a real problem of the world?” It makes my subconscious mind active and it starts to find more solutions that solve the problem. Our online venture progress is the result of that motivation. We started from a blog, and then add MCQ and Tutorials, then career and course guide, then again added educator’s career guidance interviews and now we will come with an online video course. So it is my view that everyone asks some question from himself to get a good solution just like Mr Jobs always asked him a remarkable question every morning. And his answer changed the entire world with great products like iPhone, Ipad, Imac and many more. So always find a good solution to any problem is a real motivation for me which gets me out of bed in the morning.
What challenges/obstacles did you face in your journey so far?
Lots of challenges I faced during this online venture. During my education and Job, I was a very introvert person. But when I came into a business it gave me a lot of problems. I felt so awkward to meet anyone and show my plan. I did not have good communication skill and impressive attitude. We want many educators and technical persons because we are giving content on our website for users like MCQ questions, blogs, interviews, tutorials and many more. It gave me so problem but I decided to face it. I went to many educators, institutes and intellectual persons in my city to come on the board and share their knowledge with the students to solve the problems. But no one was interested to share knowledge on an online platform. No one was ready to help me as a technical expert too. So I learned many technical things and did many jobs like making MCQ questions, wrote technical blogs, doing interviews, content marketing, SEO and Digital Marketing to run the platform and its promotion. Some month’s later website got popularity, people recognized it, and the audience came from the local, national and international domain. Now people are coming to join with us and some are sharing their knowledge in the term of blogs, MCQ, interviews etc. We are progressively trying to solve the career problem of students and aspirants. So I could say that beginning phase was too difficult but things are going good now and we are working very well to serve everyone in online education and service. My colleagues Vijay Athwani, Sunil Sankhla and whole team, including our associate institutes like Bhavish Institute (Commerce), Hybrid Eduhub (JEE & NEET), Maven Institute (IELTS, TOEFL, Foreign Language) and many more are trying to solve the problem and grow our online platform.
What comes first for you – money or emotions?
Money is important but emotions come first. I am a very emotional person. I am so worried when I see some students who are brilliant but not have money to do study, courses. We are trying to do some work in that segment too to give some scholarship to those students who are facing that kind of problem. This online venture helps me to make a kind of platform where education is free. Today everyone has a smartphone and he/she can do study free on this online educational platform. We are starting online paid videos on our platform soon but I will give some basic courses free on our platform for everyone.
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
Meditation is the key to handle pressure and manage stress. I do meditation every day for half an hour. Yoga is also very helpful for that pressure. Reading motivational books is a great source of energy. Watching inspirational videos on YouTube is also very good solutions. So there are lots of things to handle the pressure and manage stress but you must have something inside to cope with your evil. That is the will power that motivates you to find the solution to a problem.
What is one strategy that you believe has helped you grow as a person/startup?
“Finding the solution of any problem” is the strategy for me to grow as a person/startup. Many hurdles come in the way when you start any business and startup. But many solutions are also there which solves these problems too. So think about how to solve the problem rather than about the problem. Always try to keep yourself busy and engage your mind to think about a solution. So whenever I feel sad and worried. I read one of my favourite lines “Do not sit at home and think about it, Go out and Get busy”.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
Solving any real-world problem for others is a great success for me. If you do that then you will get the real success. Maybe you will take some time to evolve and get success but if your solution is good and impactful then you will definitely get success. The money will come automatically then because it is a byproduct of success. We are trying to give free online education to everyone and it gives us really a feeling of success.
Learning new things like technology, courses are one more thing to get update yourself and compete with the world. I am also a learner and try to update myself with many courses. Right now I am learning Data Science from various online courses like Krish Naik YouTube Channel and many more.
What advice would you give to someone starting out as an aspiring entrepreneur?
Search the real-world problem and try to solve it. If you give solutions to the world then the world will take you by heart and you will get great success and money. All big entrepreneurs and companies are successful due to their services and solutions which solve the major problems.
Commitment, Patience, Dedication and Focus are the real words that motivate you to start as an aspiring entrepreneur.
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