Resume

Professional Achievements at Weaving Thoughts

I pursued a regular on campus full time degree course from 2009 – 2012. The below was achieved while pursuing a full time under-graduation degree. So I had to balance my studies, business and hobbies all at the same time.

1. Founded Weaving Thoughts without funding or capital of any sort. And scaled the business from INR 8,000 per month in May 2008 where I was the only writer to nearly INR 45,00,000 annually in 2012 (approx. USD 85,000+ that time) with a huge team of writers and a single manager, all without ever taking a loan or raising capital. The money came solely from operations.

2. Recruiting, maintaining and managing a team of 40+ writers, managers and others through a very unique, difficult, yet profitable system of working.

   Every single person in this company is a part time work from home freelancer and nobody is on our payroll. Freelancers only get paid based on the amount of work that they complete and get approved by our clients. This results in an extremely high attrition rate.

   Despite this, I’ve ensured that the writer count doesn’t go down as the years go by.

   Also, I have turned our weakness on its head because this system of working allows us to hire better skilled work from home moms and dads, well read college students and others who are willing to only work from the comfort of their homes and are willing to sacrifice higher pay for it.

   So it allows us access to a bigger pool of better skilled yet cheaper skilled writers and managers who we couldn’t afford otherwise in this small industry.

3. Maintaining a pre-tax net profit of close to 50% for several consecutive years despite having overheads that amounted to about 20% of the total revenue. As of 2015 the net profit is much lower due to the decreased margins and other reasons. But this held true for several years starting from 2008 to well beyond 2012 hen the business was still at its peak and continuously growing.

4. Convinced a client who had rejected us to try us again and he ended up giving work worth INR 20,00,000+ (approximately, from memory, could be much more) in less than 24 months before the project came to an end. He was our main client in 2010 and 2011 and most of our profit came from this client. The details can’t be shared for confidentiality of the client.

5. Managed to run the company successfully from the comfort of my home, without needing office space (which saved me rent and allowed me to hire talented freelancers because most of them weren’t willing to work for me if I made coming to a physical office mandatory).

   What might seem a boon to many turned out as a blessing for us at Weaving Thoughts. People worked for me because most of them didn’t have to work from an office. And this allowed me to work with skilled people from all over India and all across the world.

   Although it made discipline tougher, it ensured that I work 12-14+ hours a day, 7 days a week, because Weaving Thoughts became my sole purpose in life. My home became my office space. And this seriousness helped me grow the company.

   At the same time, we were able to avoid several overheads associated with a physical office that might have led to our closing down long back during lean seasons when times were tough.

   Besides, since most of our clients were based overseas and even those in India weren’t necessarily in India, we could afford to go down this route.

   At the same time, I was very clear to my clients and my team that I wasn’t a freelancer and this was my primary business. It was my bread and butter and we had to ensure it grows. And thus clients treated Weaving Thoughts as a regular company and writers respected the discipline we expected of them.

6. More than doubled the revenue between June 2008 (INR 30,000/month) to August 2009 (INR 80,000/month) while maintaining 50%+ pre-tax net profit.

   Doubled revenue between August 2009 (INR 30,000/month) to October 2009 (INR 1,60,000/month) while maintaining 50%+ pre-tax net profit.

   Doubled pre-tax net profit between September 2009(INR 50,000/month) to October 2009 (INR 1,00,000/month).

   More than doubled revenue between October 2009(INR 1,60,000/month) to Early/Mid 2012 (INR 3,75,000 approx. /month).

   Doubled pre-tax net profit between October 2009(INR 1,00,000/month) to Early/Mid 2012 (INR 2,00,000/month) while maintaining an approximate profit margin of about 50% or so

   Between June 2008 and June 2012, the revenue increased about x13 times and the pre-tax net profit about 10x.

7. Maintained INR 3,75,000/month revenue for at least 18-24+ months.

   Scaled from delivering less than 300 articles a month in June 2008 to over 1000 articles a month in October 2009.

   Ensured efficiency in delivering over 5,00,000 words a month during peak times. 500 words = 1 Article

Professional Expertise at Weaving Thoughts

1. Responsible for lead generation and developing strategy for client acquisition, retention, interaction, pre-sales and post-sales service.

   I need to develop and refine new methods and sources for lead generation and client acquisition. I’m their only source of contact with Weaving Thoughts. I have dealt with over 500+ clients in the last 7 years.

   Currently, most of the business Weaving Thoughts generates is a result of the client network I created at Weaving Thoughts between 2008 and 2015.

   I’m responsible for retaining them, ensuring Weaving Thoughts stays in their good books while convincing them to keep their business with us.

2. In charge of recruiting and training writers, managers and web design personnel and coming up with systems and processes for it.

   I have interacted with 1000+ writers since 2008 and it is an ongoing process due to the nature of our industry. I only hire suitable and skilled candidates and train each one of them to ensure they are suitable for our clients’ projects.

   There was a time I was myself managing a team of over 20+ writers myself and keeping a track of 80+ writers, should I need their help.

   That is when I decided that I need Managers to help me run Weaving Thoughts so I could scale faster.

   Currently, Weaving Thoughts works with over 30 writers.

3. Strategizing business management processes and developing systems to maintain and grow Weaving Thoughts.

   Strategizing business management processes and developing systems to maintain and grow Weaving Thoughts.

   Methods have to be devised to manage a high attrition rate so that the writer count only goes up. Our industry is such that we need to constantly find new sources of work and I need to form and execute methods of constantly bringing in new business week after week, while retaining as many old clients as possible.

4. Carrying out A/B testing and optimizing the sales funnel, conversions and online promotion campaigns to win new contracts and also attract skilled talent at affordable prices.

   Most of the ad copy and concept at Weaving Thoughts is made by me. Often the layout and non technical aspects of design are drafted by me and then made on the computer by my designers.

   This includes Pay Per Click advertisements using Google AdWords, forum advertising, sales copies etc.

   On the front of hiring skilled labor, I need to come up with new ads and email copy to attract skilled and affordable talent and convince them to join us, without the tag of a Multi-National Corporation or a big pay packet or even without a fixed salary! And despite this, it has only increased our efficiency and profitability.

5. Cold calling via email and phone within India and to UK.

   I have studied the industry of cold calling in detail. Edited highly converting scripts and used them to generate business for Weaving Thoughts on several occasions.

   I have worked on several scripts and achieved great success in getting my point across without being hung up on, while selling to warm leads.

6. Editor in Chief and Head of Quality Control.

   Due to the magnitude of work Weaving Thoughts undertakes and where margins involved are really small, unique techniques have to be developed to optimize the efficient of delivering quality content while not affecting the bottom line.

   I’m responsible for randomizing checks on articles in such a way so as to reduce the rejection rate to a minimum while avoiding the cost involved in manually checking every single article.

7. Responsible for pricing services in a manner such that the bottom-line is boosted in the best possible way.

   I’m responsible for carrying out A/B testing and doing market research of the competition and industry to finally tweak our prices such that our net profits are as high as possible.

   Although our prices and margins have often decreased with respect to previous period, I’ve tried to ensure that overall profits either go up or at least aren’t affected to the same degree. And often we have achieved success here.

8. Experience in Domaining (selling domains to end users at a huge mark up through cold calling via email).

   I have managed a team of 3-4 people during my short stint with selling domains.

   We successfully sold LAEventPlanning.com for USD 195 (bought for USD 10 approx) and have sold at least 1-2 other domains as well through cold calling via emails.

   It was very time consuming and tedious because we needed to search for quality available domains at GoDaddy.com using specialized software and then contact suitable buyers through relevant business directories.

   Recently, I sold NoMobilePhones.com for USD 240 through a GoDaddy auction (this one wasn’t through cold calling).

   This experience brought a fresh perspective into the life of full time domainers, the challenges they face and the skills one needs to learn to better this art. It involves writing engaging and relevant copy, that will likely be shredded like junk by many prospects where the domainer still needs to keep his cool. And also patience is really a virtue for those involved in the domain trade.

9. Skilled at copywriting, sales pages and email copy.

   Capable of writing engaging and interactive copy that is light to read and high on impact while paying attention to every minute detail as far as researching the situation is concerned.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

1. Award for the Best Internship Presentation (SSCBS 2012) (College graduation):

   I interned at my own company Weaving Thoughts. The presentation I made got the award for the Best Internship Presentation Award. This award was made specially for the emotional and in fact, this was probably the first time our college gave an award for this. Possibly due to the unique and emotional impact I made with my presentation content. And in our college barely 5% of people get an award of some sort if I recall right. It may even be more like 2-3% or so.

2. Member of EXUN – Experts Unlimited (Class 8 – 12): The Computer Club of DPS RK Puram whose members in computer related events like Quizzing, Programming, Web Designing, etc at an inter-school level. Less than 1% of the students make it to EXUN.

   1. Jr. Quizzer from class 8 – 11.

   2. Co-organizer of HardOC: HardOC was a Hardware Cum Overclocking Event, co-founded and co-launched by me in 2007 as part of the annual EXUN event. It was related to the knowledge of enthusiast hardware and making the hardware perform past the manufacture specified specifications. I conceptualized the project and co-executed it as a part of EXUN.

3. (Finalist) Member of the 4 student team that made it to the finals in Future Cities 2020 by Bentley (Class 11 – DPS RKP – 2006/2007):

   Future Cities 2020 by Bentley was a national level competition that amalgamated civil engineering and technology.

   Several teams competed to represent DPS RKP and my team was one of the two that made it.

   Only 10 teams from India/New Delhi (not sure) went on to the final round and my team of 4 students was one of those finalists.

4. Member of the Organizing Committee of CBSMUN 2010 (College 2nd year): MUN needs no introduction. It is one of the largest events in the world, which caters to the school and college populations in many countries of the world. CBSMUN is the only organizing committee of Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies’ for MUN.

   I also helped secure a sponsorship for the event through one of my close contacts.

EDUCATIONAL CREDENTIALS

Schooling: Delhi Public School RK Puram, one of India’s leading schools for classes 6th to 12th.

CBSE Class X Boards 2006: 92% (Best of 5) | 89.4% (with English)

CBSE Class XII Boards, PCM with Computers 2008: 87% or so (approx.) (PCM-English) | 83.4 (Aggregate of all 5)

Scholar badge holder from class 4 – 10.

Awarded multiple blue ties and blue coats because of being a continuous scholar badge holder.

Always scored 85-90% aggregate from class 4 to class 9 (80% is the minimum for being a scholar badge holder, class toppers usually score 90-95%+).

Engineering entrances (2008):

AIEEE (the biggest and toughest engineering entrance in next after IIT-JEE): AIEEE 10666 out of 8,00,000+ test takers.

Was eligible for CSE in some NITs. Was eligible for at least one or more courses in most of the best NITs.

Would have been eligible for PEC (Punjab Engineering College) should I have wanted to opt for it.

Manipal Engineering Entrance: Got through every single course in every single campus of theirs.

SRM Institute of Science and Technology Entrance: Got through every single course in every single campus of theirs.

Undergraduate Business Management entrances (2009):

AIR = All India Rank

University of Delhi (Bachelor of Business Studies – BBS):

BBS AIR 62

BFIA AIR 43

Total applicants: 15,000+

Eligible for both courses and all three colleges. Got through the best college: Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies (SSCBS, also known as CBS).

SSCBS has been awarded Asia’s No.2 Undergraduate Business Management college and the best in India, by Commonwealth Nations.

To get accepted, one has to clear three rounds:

Written aptitude and GK test (I was bad at GK but was strong at the rest)

Group discussion

Personal interview

And then there is a 20% weightage for board exams where the average for successful candidates was 88-92% in class 12 and I only had 83.4%. So I had to make up in the other parts.

University of Delhi (Bachelor of Business Economics – BBE):

AIR 30 out of 5,000+ applicants

Got through every college.

50% weightage for the written aptitude test and 50% weightage for class 12 marks, and the latter was below average for top 30 ranks. Despite that I scored AIR 92.

IP University (Bachelor of Business Administration – BBA)

AIR 92 out of 40,000+ applicants

Got through every college.

COLLEGE – Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies – University of Delhi 2009 – 2012

58%+ aggregate (Second class degree) (First class is 60% or more), equivalent of a GPA of 3.0 in USA.

Passed with second class, Bachelor of Business Studies in Finance.

2012 – Present:

CEO at Weaving Thoughts.

Part time from 2008 – 2012.

Full time from 2012 – 2015+.

HOBBIES

1. Computer and Gadget enthusiast: I have spent over USD 10,000 over the last few years keeping my PC and other gadgets up to date. Whenever I have cash to spare, I like to splurge it on the latest PC graphic cards, processors etc. I also play games on my high end rig occasionally. My steam library has over 400 PC games.

2. Avid audiophile and music enthusiast: I love good music. More importantly, I love it when that music plays on high end speakers with good sound fidelity. I have AVI ADM 9RS speakers (made in Gloucestershire in England), and the co-owner of the company has become a contact who knows me personally. I also love my mid-fi Sennheiser HD 650 headphones and the rest of my audio setup.

3. I’m a big foodie: I love to dine at high end fine dining restaurants in Delhi. I love Chinese, Italian, North Indian as well as South Indian. I have a sweet tooth as well.

4. Surfing the web to read about random stuff and learn new things.

I haven’t forgotten my hobbies and always take out some time every week despite working 7 days a week.

ACHIEVEMENTS OUTSIDE MY EDUCATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL LIFE

1. Moderator and Promoter of a Whatsapp Group for Entrepreneurs and Investors

   Appointed the admin during the initial stages.

   Took it to over 50 members in less than 10 days or so and to over 70 members in less than 30 days or so. Through a combination of personal contacts, email

   marketing and Linkedin promotion, without spending a dime on acquiring new members.

   Made it popular enough to warrant a separate less formal Google Group for the same purpose. Founded that, however, that got sidelined.

   United entrepreneurs and angels from all over the world including USA, UK, India, Dubai etc (primarily India however).

2. Founder and Moderator of a Whatsapp Group for Audiophiles and Audio Enthusiasts

   Took the group to over 25 members through primarily personal contacts in a matter of days, without spending a dime.

   Ensured it remains active and self sustains itself with just a little push from my side.

   Also incorporated non Indian members as a part of the group.

   Tried to supplement personal contacts through unpaid forum marketing to acquire new members.

3. Founder and Moderator of a Meetup.com group Audiophilia for Audiophiles from all over the world

   Currently a work in progress. We already have about 50 members in less than 60 days already.

4. I’ve penned down 200+ poems on love, life and philosophy in English, Hindi and Hinglish (a mix of Hindi and English) over a span of less than 3 years. Most of them are published between 2 ebooks on kindle.com. I have also written the lyrics of a handful of songs that I wrote out of passion.

COMMUNITY SERVICE

1. Volunteer Content Writer for the Dera Sacha Sauda (Sirsa – Haryana)

   1. Helped in the content marketing and content creation of the Dera Bollywood flick MSG – The Messenger of Saint Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insan.

   2. I personally write web content for the Dera Sacha Sauda (Sirsa) websites. I’ve been doing this since 2013. I don’t do it very often, but I do it regularly.

   3. Received ‘Daat’ aka token of appreciation from Pitaji (Saint Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insan) for the above work.

2. Participant in two Safai Maha-Abhayan campaigns (aka Clean India Initiative) of the Dera Sacha Sauda

   Personally helped in cleaning dirty roads, the gutter and other unclean areas, amongst the other lakhs of people involved in the same mission.

3. Mentor to rejected article writers at Weaving Thoughts and the Moderator of a Whatsapp Group I formed for them

   Sometimes I help rejected writing applicants at Weaving Thoughts by correcting their articles and helping them improve their grammar. Without charging them for it. Just to give back to the community.

Date of Birth: 5th June 1990

References: Available on Request

Author: aakshey

Founder & CEO of Gaia Internet (previously Weaving Thoughts). View all posts by aakshey