Blogger. Mentor. Entrepreneur.
Hey, Thanks for visiting my blog.
If you’re reading this page, chances are.. that you’re trying to find out more about me. Well, here goes…
I’m a blogger, entrepreneur and mentor. What does that mean?
For almost a decade, I worked with companies in US, Middle East and India, helping them grow & scale online. Metrics, spreadsheets, numbers, charts, projections…that kinda life. Phew!
I got bored. And took to blogging.
Silicon Valley to Entrepreneur
Blogging was a hobby to kill time, then. Something like a daily journal to note down things to myself. Something to vent out. And boy, I did… (Read How to suicide)
But it soon got popular. No wait, not soon. Took almost twelve years.
I knew the blog was popular when I started getting nasty emails from strangers calling me cuckoo in the head. (Not one, not two, but a couple every day.)
Guess I was.
I quit my cozy job in the valley to start something on my own.
I decided to take on blogging full time. (They covered it on CNN business here.)
Living the blogger life!
Some folks call me a professional blogger. I don’t have a liking to that word. It’s like calling a chef, a “professional chef”. Wait what? (Ok, I made that up.)
But I loved the idea of sharing ideas with people. Strangers to be precise.
Like my shower thoughts are now public and some dude sitting half way around the globe get to comment on it. Ha! Sweeeeet! 😀
Anyways, so that made me a blogger and an entrepreneur. I started my own studio startup in India. (And wrote this long ass article about how to start your own business in India.)
I work from my cozy home studio and sometimes get lost there. But it’s pretty awesome.
Especially when you get to work for yourself, at your pace, at your place.
No bosses, no deadlines, no colleague stooping over your shoulder. Nice and cozy!
It’s a great way to channelize your creativity and explore yourself.
Mentoring & Entrepreneurship
Apart from blogging, I try to help. Sometimes startups. Sometimes people. Sometimes strangers.
‘Cos, helping is actually pretty cool. It makes you feel good (even though, selfishly).
Seeing that smile on someone’s face, is so satisfying. (This sounds so hyperbole, but you get what I’m saying, right?)
I help startups grow and scale. Work with a bunch of them already in India.
Drop me a line on LinkedIn if you are one.
Stuff I Do
I’m a lazy workaholic. What that means is that, I like to work at my own pace and optimize my time doing stuff that I love. That I’m obsessed with.
It actually goes back to my school days where I use to completely ignore subjects that I didn’t have a liking for while acing the ones I was curious about.
I don’t do agency work. Like helping others with marketing. I used to, but realized it’s too much hassle managing projects. So I quit it.
Right now, I play around with fun projects I’m passionate about.
Like Return to India.
This was an over the weekend project I put together that got a lot of accolade from media and the NRI diaspora. Read news mentions here (The Quint), here (CNN), here (Yahoo) and here (DT Next).
(Along with Return to India members at our Hyderabad Meetup)
Today, it’s become this large eco-system of NRIs planning to return to India & those who already did, helping each other for the cause.
I’m super happy to have created this space.
Or DailyBlogger and DailySEOblog.
Which, over the last couple of years have become a hub of online marketers and SEOs trying to learn online marketing. On DailyBlogger, I write about blogging tools & resources for bloggers.
And Return to India Jobs – which is a database of NRIs returning to India & searching for jobs. I also share about my experiences on the blog being an NRI, living and traveling to the US…and stuff like that.
Apart from these one-off projects, I work with several fun folks from the tech space, creating web apps, digital products and stuff.
How To become a blogger?
I recommend blogging to people trying to do something out of their regular jobs.
Something to keep you busy and earn extra income while at it. I mean, those cubicles and spreadsheets can soon get boring, isn’t it?
We all wanna do things on our own. We got our own ideas and wanna make them big, isn’t it? This is where blogging can help. It’s basically a platform to showcase your talent. Whatever you always wanted to show the world.
And blogging can earn you good income as well. (They pay you real good these days!)
If you wanna know about how to start blogging, do sign up for my newsletter.
Brent Rickles
Mani is unequivocally a hall of fame marketeer and teammate. In the year that we’ve been colleagues, I’ve witnessed him deliver amazing results day-in-and-day-out via his exquisite marketing acumen and generously proactive and positive orientation that is unwavering regardless of the scenarios and challenges presented. He’s a lead-by-example guy who helps his teammates post ‘wins’ just as readily as he produces his own. There is no organization that wouldn’t benefit from his involvement. Those looking for further details regarding my endorsement of Mani are welcome to contact me.
Brent Rickles
Keith Korneluk
I hired Mani recently as an SEO consultant for my blog and was impressed by the immediate results he was able to achieve. My Google page rank increased quickly as a result of his work. I am very satisfied as a client and would hire him again.
Keith Korneluk
Janelle Laguette
Mani is an exceptionally talented Search Marketer. He is well versed in the latest techniques for SEO and SEM. It’s important for any Search Marketer to understand how Content and Social play with SEO and SEM strategies and Mani is particularly strong in this area. Mani is a pleasure to work with and always had the best interest of the product and Company top of mind. I would love the opportunity to work with Mani again in the future.
Janelle Laguette
Andrew Taylor
Mani is a skilled search marketing professional that deeply understands the SEO tactics that position a company for long term growth. His advanced knowledge in both paid and organic search makes him a valuable asset to any search marketing team. As I worked along side Mani, I was always impressed with his ability to adapt to rapid change with a positive attitude. He’s always wearing a smile and persuading people to use search marketing as a low-cost, effective pathway to brand success. I would welcome the chance to work with Mani again.
