This is an interview with Nancy Misra of My Business Route and ProWorkly.
Hey, Nancy. Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do?
I’m Nancy Misra, popularly known as “The Cynosure Girl” (YouTube & Instagram), a 24-year-old enthusiastic Blogger, YouTuber and an Entrepreneur.
I am the co-founder at ProWorkly and My Business Route and I’m in this beautiful online world for two and a half years. Before, I was just a normal college girl (and still am right now) and I am really fond of creating online businesses and teaching people how they can make passive income (my YouTube Channel is all about that).
Three years ago, I was completely unaware of what online business was and how we could start blogs and create websites. Initially, I wanted to do an MBA, but unfortunately, I couldn’t. Then, one day one of my close friends Abhishek, just said, “let’s start a business together.” I was surprised as we were still in college. I asked him to stop thinking about businesses and instead focus on our studies.
He said, “No, we have to start it right now.” Then I thought twice and agreed to start a business with him.
I started researching online and learned about entrepreneurship from YouTube. I watched videos of successful people and saw how they started their journey. All these things were fascinating to me as I was a newbie in this field.
You may not believe it but I am a biotechnology student and had zero technical and business knowledge. I got all these interests when I was in my second year of college. But the passion for business and curiosity to learn more drove me to where I am right now.
Today, I help people through my Instagram page and YouTube videos by sharing my experiences, mistakes and knowledge. I also believe that we learn more from the mistakes of others rather than their successes because only a few people have the courage to share their weaknesses as everyone loves to share their strengths only.
So, I would suggest you learn from failures as much as you do from successes.
What inspired you to get into online business?
I used to watch many motivational videos of big entrepreneurs like Gary Vaynerchuk, Tony Robbins and Russel Brunson. I can say that these people have inspired me to start my own online business.
I also wanted to mention my favorite Marina Mogilko, a blogger and entrepreneur at Linguatrip. I have learned a lot about business from her YouTube Channel “Silicon Valley Girl”. She is a great inspiration for all the female entrepreneurs struggling to find a way in their lives.
So, these things inspired me to start my own journey.
What was your first business idea and how did it go?
Haha, you would laugh if I tell you about my first business idea. When my friend and I started thinking about business ideas, we had no clue about the budget for marketing and creating apps. We were just planning whatever we thought was right at that time.
So, we planned to start a “coaching aggregate business” where we collaborate with the local academic coaching centers, put them on one platform (or app) and then market them under our brand. We thought that there is a booking platform for hotels but there is no booking platform for coaching centres.
We started planning and approaching some app developers. Then, I found out that creating an app is not easy. It requires a lot of money and if my business idea fails, I will become almost bankrupt.
What happened next? Yes, we had to drop that idea. But as usual, I never stopped there, and started thinking about the next move.
Read also: Freelancer vs Blogger vs Course Creator: Which Business Model is Right for You?
What is ProWorkly and how did you come up with the idea for it?
ProWorkly is a Sales Funnel Management Company. We basically work with small entrepreneurs who want to grow their online businesses via the digital medium.
We offer great services, whether it’s social media marketing or running any digital ads, we always try to give the best possible results to our clients.
Our entire work is based on Sales Funnel Management. We offer services like:
- Funnel Creation
- Social Media Marketing
- Email Marketing
- Social Media Advertising
- Content Management
We started as a digital media agency but initially, our plan was a bit different as we wanted to make ProWorkly a freelance aggregator business just like UpWork and Fiverr.
Unfortunately, we were unable to grow in that way as competing with such big companies was impossible without any funding. That’s why we decided to work as a digital marketing company.
Now I think that our decision was completely fine because we were able to make over $1000 of revenue in the first couple of months only.
So, in my view, if anyone is not getting any results from their first business idea, pivoting must be a wiser decision in that case.
How did you find your first clients when entering such a competitive field?
I found my first client through my Instagram. They approached us for Instagram management and we got our first $100. It was such a special feeling for me because I never worked for anyone but finally, I started earning.
It was all possible only because of my Instagram and I’m really proud of that. Also, I believe that building your personal brand could be really beneficial in any business.
How has building your personal brand helped you with your digital marketing business?
I got my first client with my personal brand only and then things started growing every next month.
We started getting more clients as we were getting good reviews from our previous customers. Within 2 months, we were able to reach $1000 in revenue.
What’s Sales Funnel Management and why is it important?
The sales funnel is a way of marketing for the journey of your potential customers. You can imagine a funnel where we have a broader top and a narrower bottom.
It can be divided into four parts:
- Awareness
- Interest
- Decision
- Action
Sales funnels are important in any kind of online business as today no one is interested in who you are and instead they care about your values. So, it helps people to know the company, what value a business is offering, and how their product can be beneficial in improving the customers’ lives.
In other words, it’s useful for visualizing the customer journey from initial awareness all the way through conversion. The sales funnel also provides a useful framework through which one can analyze any business and identify areas for improvement.
What’s an example of a simple but effective sales funnel?
For answering this question, we can take Netflix as an example.
It’s the most used paid subscriber video streaming or OTT service that allows its members to watch a wide variety of award-winning shows, movies, documentaries, etc.
Their site is very simple and there’s not much confusion on the homepage. It’s easy to know exactly what you’re getting.
Looking into their sales funnel, it can be explained in two steps only: The first step in their funnel is their homepage where they are giving a risk-free trial and you can cancel anytime.
Second is their pricing page. Netflix selects the Premium plan for you which is a very smart way of presenting the funnel. Anyone can downgrade if they want, though.
When and why did you start your blog My Business Route?
This is my favourite question because I love to help people grow their online businesses. I started my blog six months ago with the intention to help others and also follow my passion.
I took this decision to start My Business Route that solves problems people usually face in their initial stages of starting a business. I mainly share online business tips for beginners.
Why did you choose Instagram and YouTube as your main platforms for building an online presence?
Social media is the reality of today and also platforms like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube are perfect to market any business.
I started my Instagram and YouTube in 2019, but I was not sure if I wanted to market my business there.
I simply started because I always wanted to become a YouTuber. Soon I realized that it could be a good medium to promote my work as well. That’s when I started promoting both of my businesses there.
What are your top 3 tips for successfully growing an IG page?
- Quality Content
- Consistency
- Perseverance
These are the only 3 secrets that helped me in growing my IG page. It wasn’t an overnight success. There’s 2 years of hard work and consistency behind it.
Do you think anyone can start a business in college?
100%, without any doubt! Anyone can start a business in college if they are passionate about their idea.
Starting a business while studying is not a piece of cake. You have to spend your whole day in college and you have only your evening to dedicate to the business.
Me and my friend used to do client work on weekends and we had to work late nights to get the best results.
So, yeah, it’s not impossible to start a business in college, but if you have decided, don’t let anything stop you.
What’s your advice for aspiring entrepreneurs who don’t know where to start?
My advice for all future entrepreneurs is that even if you have no business idea, you should just start working on your personal brand, build your own community, and network with others.
Start watching videos of entrepreneurs and learn from their mistakes. The most important thing is to always executing your ideas.
90% of the time people fail because they don’t execute. They might have million dollar ideas but due to lack of implementation, they never find success.
So, please always, always, always take action.
What’s next for you and your business?
We have many upcoming projects, but currently, we are working on a new business plan that involves selling digital products online.
We always try different business ideas as we love working online and will always try to help others by solving their problems. This is our main focus.
Thanks for having me on your wonderful platform.