At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring some of the meaningful and powerful stories from around the world to empower and motivate our growing community. This week, we invited yet another entrepreneur passionate Srijan Bhardwaj to know more about his inspiring journey and the way forward. He is a Digital Marketing Expert, Mentor, Coach and Internet Entrepreneur who has been training, helping and teaching people how they can generate more traffic, leads, sales and revenue for their business. He is also the co-founder of an Internet Marketing Company that has been creating and launching digital products and has grossed 4 Crore Rupees in revenue in the last few years. Let’s learn more about his impressive journey!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Srijan:
Talk us through your background and your journey as an entrepreneur, please;
I was born and brought up in Delhi. I did my schooling from Hans Raj Model School.
I was extremely shy and introverted since my childhood. Growing up, I was always fond of reading and writing, and sports. I’d read hundreds of comics, history books, freedom fighter biographies and the ancient culture by the time I’d entered my 10th grade.
I loved playing cricket and football and played it daily for hours throughout my 8th standard to 1st year of college.
I’m an engineering graduate from Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology, IP University. When I entered my college for the first time, I’d just 1 dream – Be the most popular guy.
So I started networking with my college seniors and asked them for opportunities. Through the opportunities they shared with me, I started selling community and membership passes. Then, I started selling party passes to other college students.
Gradually, I started raising college sponsorships and by the time I had completed my first year, I was already working 6-8 hours a day along with attending my college and playing sports.
Since most of my side hustle was based around marketing and sales, I’d like to move around a lot and spent a significant amount of time commuting and prospecting. This was pushing me towards burnout and I asked one of my college seniors for help.
He suggested that I create a website and that’s how I got started with Internet Marketing. For the next 3 years, I tried various things like Website Development, SEO, Blogging, Review Sites, Affiliate Marketing but nothing worked for me.
There weren’t a lot of Internet Marketers, especially Indians in those times (2012-15), but luckily, one day, I met a guy from Delhi who helped me make my first money with Self publishing through Kindle books.
In April 2015, I self-published my first Kindle book and made Rs. 3,000 and that gave me the confidence to start my journey.
On 1st July 2015, I started my startup Blisstro along with 3 of my friends.”
We faced losses for the first 1.5 years and had to take several loans to keep the business running. In this time, we’d rapidly launched around 10-12 products and services and had zeroed in on 2 of them.
Finally, we got profitable after 1.5 years but we all felt that we’d a different calling. So me and my college best friend picked one of those services and our friends parted ways with the other service.
In the next 3.5 years, we did Product Launches, eCommerce, Affiliate Marketing, Digital Products, Trainings, Consulting, Coaching Programs, Events and Webinars.
As of now, we do 3 things – eCommerce, Digital Products (Online Training Programs), Brand Consulting. We’ve grossed over Rs. 40 Crores in sales in the last couple of years for all our products and services combined. Right now, we have a team of 12 people and we’re just gearing up to scale to hit the next goals.
We are aware of all the good work you are doing in your space; what keeps you going?
Great question! I feel my unquenching thirst of solving problems keep me going.
I started selling community passes because I’d a problem – I wasn’t famous.
I started learning how to build a website because I’d a problem – I was spending too much time commuting and prospecting.
I started interning with big brands like United Nations, Freecharge, Nokia, Channel V etc. because I’d a problem – my growth had stagnated.
I did Kindle publishing because I’d a problem – I wasn’t making any money with Internet Marketing.
In terms of my career, whatever I’ve done is to solve problems, mine and that of others and I feel I’m getting pretty good at it. I enjoy this process and I want to constantly push myself and test my limits by solving bigger and more complex problems.”
Why did you choose entrepreneurship over a corporate career?
I never had the mindset or the thought of being an entrepreneur until I was in my final year of college. Before that, I was clear that I wanted to do something in the field of marketing and sales, preferably Internet Marketing and not an engineering job as I was a pretty terrible engineer.
When I made my first Rs. 3,000 with Kindle Publishing, I was excited and finally had the proof of concept that I could make money with Internet Marketing.
My new problem was to make Rs. 30,000/mo with Internet Marketing consistently so I wouldn’t have to go for a job. And to achieve that, I took a leap of faith and started my startup instead of joining the companies where I’d been selected in the campus placements.
Please share with our audience some of the challenges you have faced in your journey;
The biggest challenge that I faced was the lack of direction. Because Internet Marketing was extremely new back in the year 2012 and since there were just a few Bloggers and YouTubers who were sharing strategies and tips, I spent the first 3 years trying almost every possible thing without any luck or making any money.
The next challenge was to convince my family to let me start my startup. My parents are in government jobs and almost all of my family has been in a job.
So not going for any of the 3 placements and starting a business, in a field that hardly anyone in my family or their vicinity knew and understood was a big risk. It took me over 3 years to convince my family. My mom still sometimes asks me to do an MBA, lol.
Another challenge I faced was no understanding of how to handle money. We spent almost 30% of the startup capital on fast foods and having meetings in coffee shops or juice parlours. Since none of us was financially literate, we’d like to borrow money very early, in just the 4th month of starting a business.
To pay off that money, we’d have to borrow more money and then some more. This was also happening because we’d hired and delegated our work too fast and had a small team to pay every month.
On top of that, we weren’t getting as many clients or generating as much revenue as we thought we would.
Finally, and most importantly, the biggest challenge I personally faced was about my mindset.
I was often under self-doubt and was under-confident as we were operating in the US market which was (and still is) 7-8 years ahead of the Indian market. I was very conscious about how I looked, how I sounded, about my communication skills and had an inferiority complex.
I even hired a professional accent trainer to learn how to speak with an American accent to gain confidence. Plus, I had self-worth and self-image issues. I never felt I could charge high ticket and premium prices or the value that I was adding was worth thousands of dollars until a very later stage of my journey.
I think battling these mindset issues was definitely the biggest challenge.
During this COVID-19 crisis, what are the measures we have undertaken to continue your business without disruption?
We’ve ensured that we start working from home and have learned and trained ourselves and helped each other to increase our efficiency and output.
We’re also spending a lot of time understanding how the behavioural dynamics of our customers change so we can continue to serve the shit out of them at the highest level.
We’re communicating obsessively and are ensuring everyone’s mental health is good. If anyone feels any discomfort or stress and pressure, we ask them to take a day off and do the same for ourselves.
The world is already going through difficult, turbulent and unprecedented times and right now, having good mental health is the need of the hour.
What is your business mantra: money or emotions?
Honestly, it’s a balance of both. I work because I like solving problems and thus I never feel I’m working. It just feels that I’m playing a game the entire day.
For me, the money I make is directly proportional to the value I’m adding in people’s lives and the impact I’m creating. And honestly, I’m never that worried about money since I know that the work I’m doing is solving major problems and that people are always willing to pay if someone can solve their problems.
Now, I also have very strict Work Ethics since I believe that the success of my business is the mirror reflection of my internal success, i.e. how much I’ve grown as a person internally.
We have a policy in our company – If we don’t help you achieve tangible results or don’t deliver at least 10x the value for which you’re paying, we’ll refund you without a question.
On top of that, we periodically identify and refund people who are not a good fit for our training programs. Our customers are always surprised by this and they tell us that they’ve never seen any Indian company doing this.
I’m also a firm believer in being 100% authentic and honest.
I believe great companies are created by great leaders. Great leaders are honest, truthful and fearless and to have these qualities, you need to be 100% authentic and genuine.
Given the rapid pace at which the world is changing, what are the leadership traits that are necessary for success?
As I said, I believe great companies are created by great leaders. Great leaders are honest, truthful and fearless and to have these qualities, you need to be 100% authentic and genuine.
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
I’ve always been a sports lover and I’ve learned how to handle pressure and stress in the field. Then, I’ve also been a regular gym-goer, and have been trained in mixed martial arts where I was specifically coached on how to have a calm mind even in the most pressing and testing situations.
Since this lockdown, I’ve started doing Yoga as well and recently, I’ve started doing deep breathing exercises and meditation. That really takes away any or all stress and negative emotions that I’ve.
I have a very simple mantra – I only work when I’m happy. I don’t work to find my happiness there as I believe that if you try to find happiness or passion in your work, you’ll fail miserably and eventually burn yourself out.
So I only start working after I’ve spent the first 2-3 hours a day doing things I love like taking a walk, working out, yoga, breathing exercises, reading etc.
And then, I watch some stand-up comedy to refresh myself and take regular breaks to rejuvenate myself.
Our audience would love to know what has worked well for you so far?
4 things:
1 – Being at the right place at the right time by constantly studying the markets and spotting the trends
2 – Knowing what to do and more importantly what NOT to do
3 – Saying no to opportunities and focusing on 1 thing at a time
4 – Delegating and building a team of A-Players
What are the business mantras you have embraced as you sought to establish your success story?
I’ve 3 business mantras that I’ve always believed in:
1 – Your business can’t be successful if it’s good. It needs to be the best since your competitors are also going to be good. If you feel your competitors are shitty then either you’re in the wrong market or you haven’t done enough research.
2 – Always strive to constantly upgrade your product or service quality. Your customers deserve and expect the best and nothing less.
3 – Create a solution that solves a major bottleneck for your market for which they can easily pay you. This will help you build, grow and scale a million-dollar business really fast.
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
There are 5 rules – I call them AB-SHEDC:
1 – ABS – Always Be Solving Problems
2 – ABH – Always Be Honest and Authentic
3 – ABE – Always Be Efficient
4 – ABD – Always Be Decisive, Doing and Delegating
5 – ABC – Always Be Consistent
We would love to know your advice for all those starting out as an entrepreneur?
I’ve 3 pieces of advice for those who want to start a business and want to be an entrepreneur:
1 – Don’t start if you want to make money or want to achieve a particular social status.
2 – Don’t start if you’re passionate about something because passion will run out one day.
3 – Only start a business if you like solving problems because the key to any successful business is whether the business can solve problems at a scale (of millions) or not
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.
