My Entrepreneurial Journey: From Blogger to Serial Entrepreneur
My name is Om Thoke, and I started out my hustle way back in 2005, when YouTube’s co-founder Jawed Karim was uploading his first video “at the Zoo.” There were no webinars, no meet-ups, no SEO tools like Ahrefs, SEMRush, no DA/PA — nothing but hit & trial, and I kept trying until I succeeded… well, the hustle is STILL ON, thanks to COVID-19.
I hail from a small city, Durg/Bhilai (Chhattisgarh), a gaming freak, and an avid writer since I learned how to hold video games remote control and pen in my hands. Also, a passionate guitarist, karaoke singer, and now a proud dad to a 6-year-old cute boy, Sanshray. I ended up building a company, Sanshray Ventures, after him, and in the last 3 years, we’ve achieved over $1M in revenues.
But, how did a wannabe blogger turn into a serial entrepreneur, clocking millions of dollars in revenues? Let’s take a step back and dive into the journey!
Flashback to 2004: The Journey Begins
Flashback to 2004 – I came to Bangalore to pursue my BE in ECE and fell in love with the city’s amazing weather and vibrant nightlife. I was the 1st-semester college topper, but soon, I lost interest in studies and got attracted to playing Yahoo pool, chatting with chicks, and exploring ways to make money online. And, that’s where my journey began!
Struggles in My Early Years
In my 5th semester of engineering, I lost my dad to cancer and started desperately trying all sorts of ways to make money. I tried:
Working at a call center
Amway MLM
Data entry jobs
Tutoring my juniors in college
Alongside college, I worked an additional 10 hours a day, barely sleeping for 5-6 hours and hustling to make money somehow.
The Turning Point: Freelance Content Writing
The turning point came when I decided that I’ll do whatever it takes to make money! My first $100 freelance content writing project turned into one of the BIGGEST projects of my life, growing from $100 to $1000, to $10000, to $100,000+.
I saw a $500 pay-check from a friend at Google Adsense, and just as the Wolf of Wall Street says – I was INSTANTLY HOOKED. I tried, failed, failed, failed, but kept going. It took me 11 months to get to my first $108 pay-check.
The Breakthrough Moment
But, I didn’t give up. I kept going, trying every day and night, and started making $3–4/day, eventually growing to $100/month consistently. I created at least 500+ posts on my car blog, and I was waiting for the magic to happen.
And, as they say, Fortune favors the brave!
In 2009, I woke up one day and found $80.96 in my Adsense account instead of the usual $4! I had made my entire month’s income in just 30 hours instead of 30 days. It was like that first lucky breakthrough when your video goes viral on YouTube — I was on cloud 9!
From $4 to $1000 a Day: The Unstoppable Momentum
I decided I WON’T let this fall again, no matter what it takes. I kept producing 10 articles/day, building more links, testing sub-domains, new concepts, keywords, and updated posts. Eventually, I crossed the $100/day mark and felt UNSTOPPABLE.
It went from $200/day to $2000/month in just 20 days. This wasn’t luck — it was the snowball effect of all the hard work that kicked in together.
Reaching New Heights: The $37k Milestone
From there, I scaled to $40k-50k/month with 11–12 Adsense accounts, where I made $3000–5000/month. But, as they say in Hindi, “Ati kisi cheez ki achchi nahi hoti”.
The Devastation of May 18, 2011: A Lesson in Diversification
On May 18, 2011, Google wiped out 93% of my revenue and traffic. I was devastated, as I was losing almost $10,000/month. I had just bought my Mitsubishi Cedia Sports, moved into a lavish villa, and had a team of 46 people, with office rent, villa rent, car loan EMI, and more.
I realized the true meaning of “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” but it was too late to fret over. I took it as a challenge and rebuilt Webfosys as a digital marketing and web development agency. We handled projects for brands like Audi Bengaluru, Davanam Sarovar Hotel Bangalore, and more. Eventually, I bounced back and crossed the $40k/month mark again.
The Million Dollar Mark
This time, I was aiming for the million-dollar mark, and by 2015, I achieved it and bought my luxurious first villa in Bangalore.
Cars, Regrets, and E-Commerce
Having made money with car blogs, I ended up blowing a lot of it on cars — an idiotic move I regret now. Here’s a quick list of our automotive family:
TVS RTR Apache 160 (sold)
Yamaha RX 135 (still with us)
Hyundai Accent 2006 (sold)
Chevy Spark 2009 (sold)
Mitsubishi Cedia (still my favorite commuter)
Ford Endeavor (sold)
A Massive $250k Setback and the Comeback
In Q3 of 2015, I was scaling affiliate campaigns at $100k–120k/month when a large advertiser defaulted, and a few projects went wrong, causing me to take a $250k cashflow hit. It took almost 2 years to recover!
E-Commerce Breakthrough
In 2018, I entered e-commerce and achieved our first $1M in revenue in India 🇮🇳.
The COVID-19 Setback
Just as everything was going well, COVID-19 hit, and we crashed from 1.4 Crores/month revenues to ZERO. It was a $700,000 revenue loss, but we’re now fighting back. In the meantime, I created Bloggers World University to help people make their first $100 online with blogging and freelancing.
Creating Digital Warriors: Super 11 and Beyond
Inspired by the movie Super 30, I created Super 11, and now, we’re about to start Super 17 this Saturday. We’ve helped participants rank on the first page of Bing & Yahoo, and now some are ranking on Google, getting AdSense approval, and making their first $100 online.
Vision: Empowering 200,000 Lives
My goal is to reach 200,000 lives in 2020 and teach them the NEVER GIVE UP ATTITUDE, empowering them to earn their livelihood.
My Journey Continues: From Blogging to E-commerce
I don’t believe in selling dreams. I prefer selling e-commerce products 😆. With lifetime revenues of almost $10M+, I’m qualified enough to teach people how to make their first $100 in 100 days!
This is my fourth innings, and I’m launching Ecom World University this Sunday with my Super 11.
Connect with Me
Stay connected through the following platforms:
Quora
Facebook
LinkedIn
Instagram
Bloggers World
Follow me on my social media platforms:
LinkedIn: See my post with over 250,000 views.
Instagram: Over 40k followers, 100k+ story reach.
YouTube: 3333 subscribers, 100k+ views.
TikTok: Daily 2–3 short posts.
I’m excited for the future and looking forward to the next life-changing moments!