Left 99.2 percentile in XAT for Entrepreneurial Dreams
From Engineer to Digital Marketer - My journey (including income proofs)
Yes, I did this. Coming from a Tier-1 Engineering college like N.S.I.T, I too had the "MBA ka Keeda". I scored 99.2 percentile in XAT 2016 but left that to pursue what I love and not follow the conventional wisdom.
Before I see any comments on proofs, Here is a screenshot of my XAT scorecard for 2016:
Ankur Aggarwal Xat Scorecard 2016
Who am I?
My name is Ankur Aggarwal, and I am a Freelancer Digital Marketer. I won't bore you with the details on what I love and what I hate, you can read more about me in my Bio. And if you are still more interested to know everything about me then you can read my About page on my new website incomeboy.com
What is this article all about?
Well honestly, I don't have one specific goal for this article, here are few reasons why I am writing this article:
1. This is my first contribution to yourstory.com (one of my most visited websites, you can check my browser history :D ) and I want to get familiar with this platform
2. Maybe feel more accountable after sharing my journey. I beleive, Peer pressure is the best kind of pressure, so this article will bring more accountability to my December 2017 goals and hence I will be able to focus on it in a much better way
3.To share some incredible resources that are an absolute must for any wannabe Entrepreneur.
Now, lets come to the point.
My journey to score 99.2 percentile in XAT and what the hell about my CAT score
Just like all my friends, even I was enthusiastic about my MBA degree. I was also running the same rat race along with my friends, but my mock test scores made me realize that I was far behind any of my peers.
In 2013, college ended and I got selected in a KPO firm. Honestly the work load was excruciating. Managing time was the biggest challenge. My daily routine was,
1. Wake up at 7:30 AM
2. Reach office by 9:00AM
3. Work till 7:00 PM
4. Reach home, eat dinner and study till 1:00 AM and sleep
Weekends were more about taking mock test and analyzing them.
This went on till the CAT exam, and I scored 98.3 percentile. Being a GEM (General Engineer Male) the score was heartbreaking. For a person who is targeting the best IIM's, I was utterly disappointed. My last option was MDI in Gurgaon (i was able to convert the interview)
I decided to give CAT again. Next year I got only 96.3 percentile (99.3 percentile in quant and 88.2 percentile in verbal). Yes, a typical engineering conundrum. Again I was disappointed. Honestly, i was so fed up with this CAT thingy that I decided I will start my own business. Also, i did not study anything for XAT; I thought cracking MBA exam was not my cup of tea.
Ok, wait a minute, what kind of transition is that. From studying for CAT to starting your own business. You might be thinking the same right?
Well during my second attempt for CAT I got introduced to the world of Podcasts. I had an iPhone, and this new virtual world just blew my mind.
I started listening to people like Pat Flynn (smartpassiveincome.com), John Lee dumas (EOfire.com) and many more. Since I had a lot of interest in building websites, SEO and Digital Marketing I loved this new world. Getting to learn from the Pros that too free of cost totally amazed me.
I was hooked.
Since I was always interested in Digital marketing since the beginning (was already making significant income from freelance consulting and my own personal websites), these podcasts just reinforced the same principals in me. My focus was that I would first get an MBA degree and then I will be more equipped to start my own business. But after listening to these podcasts and getting a low score in CAT, i was determined that starting my own business was the correct step. After all the baniya blood had to show its true colors.
When i gave XAT exam, trust me I was not at all prepared. I just gave it with whatever knowledge I had acquired during my CAT prep. Also coupled with the fact that the girl sitting in front of me and on the right of me were extremely beautiful, I knew that my XAT dreams were already dead.
To my surprize, i scored 99.2 percentile. I believe it was because I was carefree this time. Since I had no pressure on my mind of cracking this exam, i was able to concentrate more effectively, and that led to an amazing accuracy rate and hence such percentile.
Till the result time, I had already made up my mind that I will be starting my own business or startup or whatever but never do a full-time job again. I was already making more money than my job salary through my network of websites and freelancing gigs.
For the year 2016, I knew one thing that I need to capitalize on my Digital marketing knowledge. I wanted to go from Intermediate to Advanced or even Pro level. So, I immersed myself into learning the ins and outs of digital marketing (including SEO, Social media marketing, PPC campaigns, Email marketing, lead generation and what not). I was implementing the newly learned tactics on my own blogs and also helping many clients to grow their business. From November 2016 to February 2017 I was helping my dad in his business. This was when I was fully equipped to start my own business.
Apart from my other websites and blogs (which are already making me money) and my freelance consulting gigs, now I have started Incomeboy.com - A websites to educate Indians to save and make more money in India.
When I was researching the market, I saw that so much information available on the internet is not good. So much nonsense is spread on the internet and since these websites are ranking high, people are led to believe that the information provided is correct. This was when I decided that I will be creating an accurate, 100% reliable resource on money hacks and online business in India.
With my 7+ years of experience in freelance marketing consulting and helping many online businesses scale i knew I am more than capable of spreading the knowledge. The goal of incomeboy is to provide comprehensive, accurate, actionable and insightful advice on career, online business, saving and making money in India either online or offline.
Here is traffic stat of few of my websites:
Website 1 for US audience. Niche: Technology
Website 2 for US audience. Niche: News
Income proofs to back my claims:
Now the target of Incomeboy.com for 2017 is to reach 1 million visitors/month. Honestly even I will be surprised to achieve this goal (as no one in the history of blogging has ever done that). I am fairly confident I will be able to achieve this by 31st December 2017. Our website launched in April 2017, and I have already written some highly comprehensive step-by-step guides like:
1. Best hosting in India - 10 different hostings compared
You will be amazed at the level of details we have covered and shared in our articles. No one in India is doing this. We strive on quality and not on quantity and this will be our biggest differentiating factors among our competitors.
Here's a quote to end my first article on yourstory.com:
Risk comes from not knowing what you are doing - Warren Buffett
