1. Tell us about your background and journey.
Therefore, college was where I began my journey. It was 2012 at the time. After I started studying engineering, I concluded that it was not what I had initially believed. And I realized that I could not go for a regular corporate job because I could not picture myself, writing code, developing programs, and working in a cubicle. I was coming from a lower-middle-class family. We had faced financial issues all our lives, we stayed on rent until I was 23 years old and because I couldn't pay my tuition on time, I was teased at school and even in college. Although my parents worked extremely hard to make that happen, my teachers used to make me feel bad for not being able to pay the fees. I don't receive report cards or anything like that.
Therefore, when I started college in 2011, I realized that I needed to make changes in my life because studying engineering was not really going to help me achieve financial stability the way I wanted. So, I started looking at ways to make money, did internships, and started tutoring students at home, and in 2012 I learned about internet marketing and digital marketing. I enrolled in a few courses and then started putting what I had learned from my internships into practice. I tried blogging for the following three years, but I was unable to make it successful. I continued to gain money through internships with companies like Channel, Micromax, OLX, WeChat, Viber, Star Sports, and other similar brands. So, in 2015, when I finished my engineering degree and received my diploma, I began my own business with three other colleagues. We published books on Amazon and Kindle, provided site development and graphic design services, and engaged in various forms of digital marketing. But none of us had any prior business expertise. The company split up, two co-founders left, we had two debts over our heads, and we went bankrupt in 1.5 years.
It was at this point that my first successful business venture emerged. It was an animated explainer video company where I used to make animation videos for clients on various topics and sell these services on the freelance marketplace, fiber.com. I made money from that point on, we turned a profit, and over the course of the following year or two, we expanded the business to somewhere around 78,000 rupees. 2017 was the year that I first learned about e-commerce. In order to sell printed t-shirts in the United States utilizing Facebook advertising and our suppliers in China, we first started with the drop shipping business model. From there, we converted to the print-on-demand business model. We have established a profitable t-shirt business in the United States since 2017, generating more than $5 million in income in 2019. After we passed our first threshold of $1.5 million in sales, we began instructing others on how to achieve the same. In order to teach people how to create online stores, we created our education business.
As a result, 19 learners, our top students have generated total sales of more than 50 crore rupees for their own e-commerce firms that they launched through our programs. I started my company, Kalman Ross, in 2021. where we sell shirts. We provide shirts for sale all over the world. We have a website dedicated to India. Additionally, we have websites for the US called calminross.com and calminross.in. Presently, Kalman Ross generates close to 50 to 60 lakh rupees in earnings each month. Along with YouTube, I also post content there under the name StarLingden.
2. How did you come up with this idea and go about executing it?
Since running an animation video agency was so challenging, I just wanted to build a company that I could scale without having to interact with customers. Dealing with clients, meeting deadlines, and other such things did not appeal to me. And I desired a company structure that would allow me to enjoy freedom. That is how e-commerce came about. On Facebook, I acquired myself and located a mentor. We noticed a gap in the market for an e-commerce firm in 2020 and 2019 when people started asking us about our successes. People then began contacting us and asking whether we might assist them. Therefore, in 21 when we released Kalman Ross, we spotted a market opportunity.
My father has a shorts production company that has been in operation for thirty years. COVID has had a devastating impact on local enterprises. We were sitting in a balcony during the lockdown, was speaking with my dad in 2021, at that point my T-shirt company in the US was booming. As well as many other Indian enterprises, my father's company was shut down. So, that's when we had the inspiration. What if we create a brand where you and your team handle the production and manufacturing? My team and I, take care of the marketing, branding, and delivery. I questioned him. And it was there that we developed the idea and introduced it a year later. Calvin Ross in 2021, print on demand in 2017, and education business in 2019.
3. What are the biggest challenges you face and how to overcome them?
There were multiple challenges. Like if I think of the e-commerce business the biggest challenges have been technical, like how do we scale? How do we run Facebook ads in the right way? How do we scale our businesses, manage teams retain games, deal with customer complaints, customer issues, taxation, and understand taxation.
I'd say getting acquired has been the toughest hurdle. I believe that as business owners, we frequently get acquired or occasionally blame the business strategy. We believe that one of the issues with our current company model is the reason we are unable to expand. Or occasionally, we grow tired of the business concept. After that, though, it took me a while to realize that the issue was not with the company strategy. It was me who was at fault. I couldn't focus on one subject for very long. I was unable to go deeply into any one thing. Challenges arise in every industry, but you have to have the resources to overcome them. We were able to get through this after we made the choice to keep doing what we were doing and figuring things out rather than fleeing or changing our businesses—especially since we changed a lot of them when we first started. So, yes, it has been the largest obstacle.
4. What do you think are the most important qualities of a successful entrepreneur?
I think determination, is thirst, the entrepreneur needs to be really thirsty for success. They have to have it in them to do whatever it takes. They should have that never-settler attitude. They should burn all the boats behind so that they don't end up settling down and going behind and giving up and going for jobs and all of that. You can do jobs, but then you should never leave running your business.
An entrepreneur should always remember why they started at the first place because things are not going to be easy and they must know why they started. Being determined is very important, being persistent and being patient is very important. Learning is very important. Hard work is very important. Being open to learning, making mistakes, and getting feedback is also very important.
5. What are some of the most important factors for running a successful business?
You must, in my opinion, have your numbers, when you first start out, you shouldn't consider automating your firm. This is a mistake I've made. I reasoned that I could just assign everything to my team and take it easy. That is not how it operates.
The proper mechanisms must be in place, and you must be actively involved in your company. Automation is a possibility, but it must come first. It requires patience, a system, processes, and a long-term perspective. I'm not advocating the creation of vision boards and mission statements. I was very clear. I wanted to make money simply with the education. I knew that I was doing this because I love education. I love teaching. I love being seen. I love creating content and I love it when people get results.
6. What are your tips for first-time, aspiring entrepreneurs?
I would say focus on learning a high-income skill. You want to make yourself really skillful because you know, you want to know how to market yourself or your brand.You want to know how to market your brand. You want to master that skill. You can sell using advertising, Facebook ads, you can sell using organic marketing, Instagram, organic YouTube, or whatever you want to master. You want to learn how to get attention from people because no matter what you bid, you will need attention from people and you want to learn how to do that.
That's a skill that you want to learn. Like I said, either you could do it through paid advertising or like Google Facebook ads, you could do it through YouTube ads, you could, or you could do it. Organic methods like SEO or blogging, YouTube content, Instagram content, and LinkedIn, because once you have attention from people, you can sell whatever the hell you want. By doing jobs on the site, by doing internships, or by starting as a like you can learn how to run Facebook ads and build a portfolio by helping people around you for free.
7. How can one become a hurdle of lack of funds?
I'm sure everyone has, some businessmen around in their family or friends or relatives. Let's say let's say even if you have someone who runs a Kirana store or someone who runs the general store, run Facebook ads with them and figure ways out to help them get more customers, more walk-ins
let's say there's a brand that needs online marketing on Instagram and ads for them. So learn a high-income skill, like let's say advertising to help people for free, build a portfolio, get testimonials, and then start reaching out to clients on LinkedIn or Instagram or cold emailing, learn that skill and start a freelancing business so that you make money from there. And use that money to find. Whatever project you want to get into. Don't run behind funding when you start an art. You should look out for funding when you are, I would recommend when you're already profitable and you want to scale, you know but before that learn a high-income skill, make money by providing freelancing services, I would say, because that's exactly what I did. And then just move ahead.
Brief Bio:
As an influencer, he has also created content about building online businesses, attracting a following of 100,000 online.
In addition to that, he is a coach and mentor to aspiring eCommerce entrepreneurs and has helped his students generate over 50 crores in revenue for their businesses.
Nishkarsh is not just an entrepreneur, but a dedicated family man who cherishes his freedom and values peace.
He encourages people to pursue their dreams and live a life of freedom and choice.
Interviewed By - Aarya Gode
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