We all sell something; the better you market yourself and your products or services, the more people will believe in you! The more opportunities you will get and the more successful you will be! Believe in yourself and market yourself in the market of this world.
AP Web World is a digital marketing firm that offers a proven & complete 360° solution for all the marketing needs of our National and International clients.
For any business, creating a product is not enough; marketing it to the right customer, in the right way, on the right platform, and at the right time is very crucial! Through Digital Marketing services, our team ensures that every client gets efficient and promising marketing so that they can focus more on innovation.
Since 2012, we have travelled a long road. From 1 single desk to a completely structured workplace wasn't easy! But time, commitment to learning, building a dependable team, and a customer-focused approach has brought AP Web World this far!
2. How did you come up with this idea and go about executing it?
Since my college days, I have wanted to do something of my own. During my college days, I worked on many content assignments, which gave me ideas, and details about the importance of quality content in marketing. I did my B. Tech in computer science and joined Axero Solutions as a software testing engineer. After 1 year of working, I got the idea for my startup, and the journey began with 4 friends. I don’t remember how I got the idea of a marketing agency. As they say, the best ideas come when you are not thinking about them!
The start was nice. Daily hustling, client searching, and much more. It was all so full of meaning. It all felt so concrete! But soon, we started having issues; we hadn’t planned the budget very nicely, we didn’t understand the industry and many more issues that I realize today. It took time, and our family background was not too good. There was a bit of pressure from our families, too. Thus, 1 by 1, all 3 friends left for some job. But I continued with my startup.
3. Why didn’t you give up, just like your friends did?
It’s hard to give up on something you believe in! Something you have wanted for a long time. Not that I was always motivated. There were times when I felt depressed about all my failures! There were times when I thought to leave this dream of mine and go for some job like my friends did!
But, you know, I don’t know how to explain it, but it was like drowning in water. It is hard to keep trying to swim even when you fail, but it is harder to stop trying and let yourself drown! It was hard to carry on, but it was harder to quit! And I don’t think I am a person who quits very quickly.
4. What has been the biggest challenge that you faced and how did you overcome that?
The biggest challenge came when all 3 friends had left, and I was alone, fighting to keep my dream alive. I was looking for clients, cold calling, cold emailing, and sometimes even got a few small clients. But I couldn’t keep my promise and deliver the services efficiently. And then I realized that I didn't know much about the industry yet.
Thus, I forgot everything for a while and dedicated myself to learning and only learning!
I gave 4-5 years to build my foundational knowledge of Digital marketing, freelancing, managing an agency, and building a team and leadership skills. I met people, did events, took courses, read case studies, and then I started again. I managed my finances, made the budget, and built my team, and here we are!
5. What do you think are the most important qualities of a successful entrepreneur?
There are many qualities that successful people share. I will tell you what brought me this far. My journey has taught me to be a lifetime learner because if you have not learned enough or have enough knowledge about what you do and you build a team as a startup, you won’t be getting experts and won't go a long way towards your success; there will be newcomers who are looking for a chance to learn and grow. So, when they have a problem, they will look to you for some help and guidance.
As they say, good readers become good leaders! The second quality is to be a team player. Many entrepreneurs are introverts and don’t like to socialize, so they try to be a one-man agency. If you really want to build a concrete, upstanding company, you need to learn to work with a team. And finally, it is important to be a good leader. If you are a good boss, you will have a good team, but if you are a good leader, you will have a dependable team who believes in you, and your vision. These are the most important qualities of a successful entrepreneur.
6. What are some of the most important factors for running a successful business?
For running a successful business, there are many important factors, depending on your industry and niche. I will tell you the factors that I have learned in my journey and that I think are important and should be applied to all businesses. The first one is building a reliable and dependable team. There is no alternative to this. You have to have a team that believes in your vision. And you have to take care of them and give them opportunities to learn and grow regularly.
The second most important factor is having a customer-centric business approach. When you are creating your product or service; keep your ideal customer in mind. Think of their needs, desires, fears, and challenges. And this should not only be done with the product, you know! You must also have a customer-centric approach to your marketing. Even the father of marketing, Philip Kotler, teaches this.
And thus we at AP Web World always keep our clients in our minds, and even in our hearts a bit, because, you know, you can't understand their pain without being in their shoes. And when you do that, you develop a soft corner in your heart for them. So these 2 factors are the most important, for running a successful business.
7. What are your tips for first-time and aspiring entrepreneurs?
There are many things to take care of in any startup in any industry. Product, team building, finances, but I have seen in my journey that many start-ups fail because of one thing. A bad digital marketing plan.
They make a wonderful product, and then they wait. They think that the product is so promising that it will sell itself. Who all is reading this; I would like to let you know that entrepreneurs should focus both on the product as well as the marketing.
No matter how amazing your products or services are, you need to have proper marketing for them. And not only have a marketing plan for them but market them properly. Market them to the right audience, in the right manner, on the right platform, at the right moment!
8. How can one overcome the hurdle of a lack of funds when starting up?
First, you should prepare your budget, calculating all the assets and liabilities, your income, expenditure, and how much funds you need to arrange before you start making a regular profit. Once you have built a budget and calculated the funds required, you can arrange for those funds from family, friends, bank loans, or investors. Even after this, you must save some deposit for an emergency because you never know when what may happen!
6. What are some of the most important factors for running a successful business?
For running a successful business, there are many important factors, depending on your industry and niche. I will tell you the factors that I have learned in my journey and that I think are important and should be applied to all businesses. The first one is building a reliable and dependable team. There is no alternative to this. You have to have a team that believes in your vision. And you have to take care of them and give them opportunities to learn and grow regularly.
The second most important factor is having a customer-centric business approach. When you are creating your product or service; keep your ideal customer in mind. Think of their needs, desires, fears, and challenges. And this should not only be done with the product, you know! You must also have a customer-centric approach to your marketing. Even the father of marketing, Philip Kotler, teaches this.
And thus we at AP Web World always keep our clients in our minds, and even in our hearts a bit, because, you know, you can't understand their pain without being in their shoes. And when you do that, you develop a soft corner in your heart for them. So these 2 factors are the most important, for running a successful business.
7. What are your tips for first-time and aspiring entrepreneurs?
There are many things to take care of in any startup in any industry. Product, team building, finances, but I have seen in my journey that many start-ups fail because of one thing. A bad digital marketing plan.
They make a wonderful product, and then they wait. They think that the product is so promising that it will sell itself. Who all is reading this; I would like to let you know that entrepreneurs should focus both on the product as well as the marketing.
No matter how amazing your products or services are, you need to have proper marketing for them. And not only have a marketing plan for them but market them properly. Market them to the right audience, in the right manner, on the right platform, at the right moment!
8. How can one overcome the hurdle of a lack of funds when starting up?
First, you should prepare your budget, calculating all the assets and liabilities, your income, expenditure, and how much funds you need to arrange before you start making a regular profit. Once you have built a budget and calculated the funds required, you can arrange for those funds from family, friends, bank loans, or investors. Even after this, you must save some deposit for an emergency because you never know when what may happen!
If you are taking loans, make sure you don't rely completely on your profits in the first few months of your business because, as you know; the first few months are always unstable, irregular, and risky to depend on for loan repayment!
9. Any last words to our readers before we end this interview?
As a digital marketer, I would say this world is a market! We all sell something; the better you market yourself and your products or services, the more people will believe in you! The more opportunities you will get and the more successful you will be! Believe in yourself and market yourself in the market of this world.
9. Any last words to our readers before we end this interview?
As a digital marketer, I would say this world is a market! We all sell something; the better you market yourself and your products or services, the more people will believe in you! The more opportunities you will get and the more successful you will be! Believe in yourself and market yourself in the market of this world.
- Pranav Jha (LinkedIn)
- Interviewed by
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