Update: We Crossed A 500% Growth Rate Over The Last Year [$30K/Month]

Sravani Sundeep

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Published: September 22nd, 2022

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Sravani Sundeep

Founder, Apna Writer

$30K

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

Apna Writer

apnawriter.com

from Trivandrum, Kerala, India

started July 2020

$30,000

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

Discover what tools Sravani recommends to grow your business!

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Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future Peter Thiel

Want more updates on Apna Writer? Check out these stories:

1. How I Started A Content Writing Service In India (2021) ➜

This is a follow up story for Apna Writer. If you're interested in reading how they got started, published about 3 years ago, check it out here.

Hello again! Remind us who you are and what business you started.

Hi, my name is Sravani Sundeep, and I am the CEO of Apna Writer. We at Apna Writer offer end-to-end content writing solutions to new-age startups and established businesses and help them solve their content requirements.

Our talented and skilled workforce comprises leading writers and editors in the country who can deliver professional content copies to assist businesses in achieving their marketing goals.

With the importance of content marketing rising in digital marketing, businesses are looking for cutting-edge content to connect with their customers. I felt a need to fill the gap for businesses by providing them with quality and reliable content writing services to help them achieve their business goals.

This is how Apna Writer started. We serve businesses of different scales and sizes, including website content, press releases, emails, social media, blogs, and advertisements.

Initially, we worked with around 10 new clients a month. But, now, we are associating with at least 50 new clients a month. We have crossed the revenue of 1cr in the previous financial year and have projected to double our revenue in the current financial year.

Our profits are currently below 20%. But I’m happy with our path towards building Apna Writer as a trusted, reliable, and powerful brand.

Tell us about what you’ve been up to. Has the business been growing?

Because of our focus on client retention, we have crossed an 500% growth rate over the past year and are scaling effectively.

We have been scaling our business operations with a strong foundation and focus on delivering a quality customer experience. We started with a few freelancers, and now we have a strong in-house team of editors and writers. We also have a strong network of freelancers in different parts of the country.

We have also increased our clientele to 400+. We have worked with leading brands in different industries to assist them in publishing high-quality and engaging content for their customers. Because of our focus on client retention, we have crossed an 500% growth rate over the past year and are scaling effectively.

I always measure the success of Apna Writer through the number of repeated clients. And I am happy to share that we have successfully retained over 95% of our clients. All thanks to the talented team behind the organization who leave no stone unturned to deliver higher than the client’s expectations every time.

The primary hurdle we faced in our 2 years of journey at Apna Writer was increased traffic and sales on our website. With an effective blend of organic and inorganic marketing strategies and top-notch quality content, we bypassed the hurdle with finesse. Most clients loved our online content marketing copy that streamlined the conversion and sales process.

We hired many professionals to handle our writing, management, and editing processes because of the surge in our clientele and associations with leading brands and startups in different industries.

Although different marketing strategies have helped us attract leads and convert them into our clients, the primary strategy that has worked for Apna Writer is client retention. If you solve the customer's problems in the field, it is normal for them to perceive you as the industry expert. And when that happens, the next step for them is to transact with you. Hence, my major investment in my business is client satisfaction.

We rely on word-of-mouth marketing, SEO, LinkedIn, and Google Ads to strengthen our presence in the industry and ensure we stand out with our content writing services.

What have been your biggest challenges in the last year?

The biggest challenge over the past year has been quality team building. With the increase in clients, traffic, and content writing service requests, we needed more professional writers, editors, and project managers to handle the smooth business process.

In my experience, I have seen great products and services fail only because of the wrong team selection. The company’s workforce didn’t share the same vision as its leader and didn’t give their 100% to the cause, leading to the startup's failure. I would say no one could be blamed here rather than the leader, as it is the default responsibility of the leader to hire, nurture, and cultivate a competent team.

We have been using different strategies to ensure we hire the best, most talented, and most professional writers, editors, and managers. We provide a collaborative and growth-oriented workspace to ensure our workforce achieves the highest efficiency level and improves their skill sets daily with something new to learn.

What have been your biggest lessons learned in the last year?

Every year offers something new to learn. You must know that Apna Writer is my second startup, and although my first startup was not successful, it was not a failure either. I must admit that I learned many things from my first startup and have applied those lessons successfully in Apna Writer for its success.

One significant lesson I learned from my previous experiences is that no matter how good the platform is, it won't be a successful venture if you can't guarantee the quality. So, we ensure that each content piece delivered by Apna Writer is of top-notch quality, which fulfills our client’s expectations regarding content requirements.

Every content piece is grammatically correct, has a smooth flow, is error-free, transitions well between the topics, and is in the business tone ideal for the client’s business.

Also, understanding the advantages of having a solid and professional team can help you climb mountains and handle tasks of any complexity level.

What’s in the plans for the upcoming year and the next 5 years?

With Apna Writer’s foundation set, we hope for our brand's positive and growth-oriented future. Brand marketing is more impactful than direct response marketing in the long term. Currently, we are following minimum profits and maximum customer satisfaction strategy, but we’ll make the required amendments for better scalability and growth of our business.

We have also been focusing on multiple things for our impactful business future. A of the segments are scaling our business operations, establishing physical office culture, stabilizing the in-house and freelancers work ratio, and improving the profit margins.

I’m very optimistic about expanding our business in the future while maintaining the standard operating procedure to deliver the high-quality standards our clients love us for.

Our vision and mission with Apna Writer are to bridge the gap between businesses and quality content writing solutions at cost-effective pricing. Whether an SME or an enterprise, at Apna Writer, we create content that charms our clients and their customers without compromising on standards, quality, and values.

We believe in professionalism and strong work ethics and strive to meet the highest level of customer satisfaction.

What’s the best thing you read in the last year?

I love to read and have read multiple books related to business, content writing, personal growth, and spirituality in the last year.

The Adweek Copywriting Handbook and Triggers by J. Sugarman are two of the best books related to niche-oriented copywriting strategies and techniques that improve the quality of content.

Zero to One is another masterclass but related to startup setup and scalability. It also provides great information about how to build companies that create new things.

These books helped me learn valuable insights about my professional and personal life as an entrepreneur. Implementing the learning in my day-to-day life, makes handling complex issues easier.

Advice for other entrepreneurs who might be struggling to grow their business?

One of the best lessons for entrepreneurs struggling to scale their businesses is to reanalyze their past and current performance and point out what’s wrong with their strategies.

Self-realization is a highly underrated trait but can help you get more clarity about your business. You must ensure your work on your weaknesses until they become a part of the strengthening.

Getting everything right in the first go can be hard in a highly competitive environment. But in reality, when things don’t go according to plan, you sit, re-analyze, and work on the potholes to achieve the desired results.

Many young entrepreneurs might face a stagnant phase in their startup journey and decide to quit or completely change their line of operations. These extreme decisions must be avoided, and more focus should be given to improving and optimizing the existing business assets.

When I started my first venture, I faced difficulties growing my business, but then I analyzed my mistakes and learned from them to bounce back again.

I integrated my learning while starting Apna Writer, and then it helped me grow and strengthen my business in the competitive niche where different big names were ruling the industry.

Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?

As I stated, with the increase in demand and client requests, we have consistently focused on building a highly talented and qualified team for the Apna Writer.

Yes. We are looking for certain positions to minimize the workload and ensure a quality customer experience. Different positions, like in-house writer and editor, are vacant, and we look for quality applications from your medium for our content writing service brand.

Both positions have different roles and responsibilities in the organization, but we require sincere and hardworking professionals open to learning and growing their careers to new heights.

We are ready to offer paid and full-time job opportunities for deserving candidates who can showcase their worth to the organization. Applicants can apply for the positions by sending resumes to [email protected].