After a long time, I am publishing another inspiring interview with one of the successful bloggers in India. This time it is an amazing story of a 16-year-old boy, who leaves behind many top bloggers with his passion & dedication for passion. I am talking about Umer Quereshi, founder of GuideBlogging.com.
Blogging has become very popular these days and people know that we can make money from blogging. But honestly, it’s not that easy as the competition is very high and you need to put genuine efforts like any other profession. Don’t think that if a 16-year-old boy can earn 6-figure income from blogging, it’s easy. Think in a different way, how much dedication you need to do blogging and earn money at the age of 16.
Umer proved everyone wrong, who think that you need to complete the typical education, grow as a human first and then start making money. When almost 99% kids are playing at the age of 15-16, Umer involved in blogging and in a very short period of time got featured on few of top newspapers in India. It’s an amazing achievement.
Hi Umer, welcome to BloggingJOY Inspirational Interview Series. Please share about yourself & your blog.
Answer: First of all, Thanks Santanu Brother for having me in this series because when I started GuideBlogging, I try to read almost all interviews of your blog to get some motivation,
So now let me introduce myself to all GROWBLOGGING readers,
Hey Freinds, I’m Umer Qureshi, Founder of GuideBlogging.com. I’ve been blogging for the last 2 years and In these 2 years, I’ve been gone through with many ups and downs.
Apart from this, I also run a Facebook group with the name of “Guide Blogging – Blogging, SEO, Affiliate Marketing, and Digital Marketing” where almost 15000+ awesome bloggers already joined.
In this group, We have many pro bloggers like Santanu Debnath, Navin Rao, Sumit Sao, Anil Agarwal, and many more who are ready to help everyone.
You started blogging at the age of 13. How exactly that happened?
Answer: Interesting Question, So basically, I started my blogging journey in 2017, At that time I was in 8th standard and I have a free time because of my summer holiday.
The first picture I took from my mother’s phone of my small brother. And On that summer my mother purchased a new phone for herself so I spend most of my time searching for an online income source on her phone and by this, I come to know about blogging.
I remembered I started my first blog on a gaming niche where I share tips related to gaming and that time as a student. I love to play games so that’s why I keep writing content in this niche but after few months I quit this blog because of a lack of knowledge and also I didn’t get any results there.
After this blog fails, I don’t feel demotivated and Think to start my new blog once again.
After doing lots of research I found that WordPress is needed to see some growth and as a kid that time I don’t have so much money to invest in this so, on my birthday (April 13, 2018) I’m going to do a birthday party as every kid do but on that birthday I took one decision to not do a party and Invest my all birthday party money in the domain and hosting.
So, I invested my all money in buying hosting and domain (You can check the screenshot above). After purchasing the hosting and domain I set up it and start working but, in starting, Blogging is quite tuff for me because I don’t have proper knowledge, so I start investing in my learning to increase my knowledge about this Blogging industry.
So that’s how I started :).
How do you manage both school & blogging together? Please share your daily routine.
Managing Time for blogging with the study is quite hard so I try to make a time table to get everything done.
I try to update my time table frequently but Let me share my current time table with your amazing audience:
- 10:00 am – Wake Up
- 10:20 am – Do some exercise.
- 11:00 am – After exercise takes some bath and Eat breakfast.
- 11:00 am – 12:00 pm – Checking emails and try to reply to them all
- 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm – Work
- 3:00 pm – 3:30 pm – Lunch
- 3:30 pm – 4:00 pm – Book or Ebook Reading
- 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm – Tuition
- 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm – Work
- 8:30 pm – 9:00 pm – Dinner
- 9:00 pm – 11:00 pm – Study
- 11:00 pm – 12:00 pm – Rest
- 12:00 am – 3 – 4:00 am – Work after that bedtime
Currently, I’m on holiday because of this my time table looks like this.
Do your friends & classmates understand your work? What exactly is their response towards your passion towards blogging?
Basically my some close friends know about this but in Class, I didn’t reveal that I’m doing blogging and making money through it and
I don’t have any response from my classmates but When some of my close friends come to know about this work they also start praising and motivating me.
When a mature person at the age of 25-30 is struggling to make money, how exactly are you able to make money at the age of 15?
I think the answer to this question will be “Spend Like A Beggar and Invest Like A King”
Why I’m answering this question in a quote?
I’m answering this question in a quote because Many people afraid to invest their money in the courses and plugins that are really needed to grow there blogging business.
And I think The number one reason which helps me to grow is that I started investing the money in the courses which help me to improved my skills and ultimately the whole business has grown.
I want to know how do you see your education path forward, as we all know our education system ends with a good job with a good salary. But you are making even better before completing your school?
According to me, Education is also necessary for some stage but it totally depends on the person that what he wants to become If he wants to do a job and want to earn the same salary for the lifetime then the job will work for him, But for entrepreneurs/bloggers like us want time freedom and I think that job can’t give enough freedom to us.
How are your parents taking your blogging aspiration?
Firstly when I started this Blogging Career, They don’t even support me because of that time they think that this is something wrong which I’m doing,
But when I start getting results from this, So now they are supporting me all the time and When sometime, I feel demotivated, They use to motivate me which helps me a lot every time.
I also want to add one thing, If you start something on your own then your parents may not support you so try to get some results first and after that, you’ll see the change because,
Every parent wants their child to be in the safe zone but as a blogger, we have to do something that nobody is doing in our localities and We have to prove to them that we can do anything that we have a desire.
Now let’s come to blogging. Who inspired you to become a blogger and taking this as a serious career option?
Being very honest, I’ve so many inspiration, Even Santanu Brother always inspired me because the work that he is doing with his job is extraordinary.
But, Let me try to mention some of the names that inspired me a lot –
- Kulwant Nagi
- Ankit Singla
- Anil Agarwal
- Santanu Debnath
- Sumit Sao
- Navin Rao
- Harsh Agarwal
- Akshay Hallur
- Santosh Gairola
- and many more (I inspired by every blogger and I also try to learn something new with each of them)
What is the role of networking in blogging? Please share your experience.
Networking is the new currency.
Yes! It is because This is the thing that helped me to grow and When I started my blog (GuideBlogging),
I use to do networking a lot and try to connect as many bloggers which help to learn something new and It’s also helped me to grow my blog 10X Faster.
As a blogger, It also works like a charm and I also recommend every new blogger to do networking which helps them to grow there blog easily,
Because, When we make some good connections with others so we try to help each other by sharing different-different ideas and This is a thing that helps you to grow.
What is your next plan in the blogging field?
I didn’t exactly collaborate with them but one of my good friends “Craig Campbell” is the top affiliate marketer of SEMrush which helps me to connect with them.
After knowing my story, They contacted me to be there, and To be very honest, The experience of SEMrush Banglore Event is literally Awesome.
I also met with some of the biggest names of this industry and I can say that these memoirs are literally unbelievable.
Would you like to share some tips with the beginners who are interested to get into blogging & make money online?
So, If anyone who has just started a new blog and Don’t know how he can make his blog profitable then here is some of the tips that I want to share with them –
1. Take Blogging as Business
I see so many bloggers who just started blogging as a hobby and Being honest, I think Blogging is not a hobby at this time because It’s turned into pure business.
Maybe you are thinking that why I’m saying this? So let me tell you the reason for that.
Because see, If you take blogging as just a hobby then you’ll don’t make real money through it but when you take it as a real business,
You’ll start investing in it and When you start investing in it, You’ll start growing, Believe me, If you follow this then I can say that you will be a new successful blogger of this industry.
2. Do Networking
As I already shared how much networking is important in every industry so, I’ll also recommend you do networking with so many people because this going to help you a lot in not only business but in many ways.
3. Try to Find the Right Product to Promote
Finding the right product to promote is the key to success. Yes, If you are doing Affiliate Marketing then, You heard it right.
But before telling you why it’s important so let me share a quick case study.
A few weeks ago, I helped one my friend who want to do affiliate marketing by selling the hosting product through his youtube channel and,
Now I talked so He got 40 sales last month and makes around 4000$ with one video, All because He choose a good product and He has an audience base.
I hope you got an idea that why choosing the right product is important for any affiliate marketer. And now maybe you are thinking that how you can find a good product to promote?
If you are unable to find a good product to promote then promote only those products that you personally use.
As you know that Santanu Bro promotes SiteGround hosting because this blog is also hosted there and he already used it so it’s very easy for him to suggest anybody because he has trust in that product.
Also Read Best Web Hosting Affiliate Programs To Promote
4. Try to Target Low Competitive Keywords
If you have just started blogging then, I recommend you try Low Competitive Keywords. Because these keywords are the keywords that can easily rank on google.
When I started GuideBlogging, I use to focus on Long Tail Low Competitive Keywords which helps me to get organic traffic on the initial days.
So, If you have just started out then I also recommend you focus on these types of keywords.
5. Focus on List Building
Money In The List?
I think you have heard this so many times by many bloggers but have to try this thing in your business till now?
I think No, But let me tell you that this is the way which helps to increase my revenue 50% last month,
Yes Yes Yes… and All this happened because I’m collecting subscribers for email marketing.
Believe me or not?
If you are not doing Email Marketing then you are missing so much money.
So, Try to build your email list from day 1 and also try to provide value to your subscribers from day 1 before pitching any affiliate product.
So, These are some tips, That I wanted to share with newbies, Who are just starting out.
You are a true inspiration for many kids and even adults, as you got some very good results in a very competitive niche. How exactly you deal with this success and do you feel any responsibility?
I don’t think that I achieve success till now but yeah achieving different-different things on a daily basis and,
I think, Now I have a big responsibility as people start taking me as an inspiration so, It’s my duty to help them to achieve the results that they desire and,
That’s why I’m trying to make some free courses which can help my reader to grow in this blogging career,
And I think that every niche is competitive but you have to be different from others to be standout from there.
Consistency and patience are the keys to getting success. How are do you motivate yourself daily and focus on your blogging aspirations? At this young age, how are you building such a strong blogging mindset?
Yes, Agree with your thoughts,
For me, MindSet is everything because If your mindset is not powerful then it’ll be very painful to achieve something in your life.
So, for keeping me motivated, I usually watch or read some motivational stories. I also try to talk with other people which also helps to keep motivated.
As you are in school now, I am sure you are the best person to answer this question. How exactly our education system is helping us to grow in life and get into our desired professions?
Being honest, I can say that Self Education is much better than Formal Eduction and the reason for saying it because.
Harsh Reality – I didn’t achieve results by following formal education, I did Self Education which helps me grow in my life.
But as I said, It’s also very important to do but keep doing the investment in your learning.
Thanks for answering in detail and from your heart. Would you like to share anything else with our readers? Please feel free to share.
Thanks, Santanu Bro for inviting me for the interview, It’s like a dream come true and I want to share two things with your readers which help them to become a good blogger :
- Patience
- Keep Investing in Your Learning and Business
- That’s It and Never Give Up