How I Started A Profitable Entrepreneurship Blog With Just $50

Safwan Khan

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Published: September 5th, 2022

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Safwan Khan

Founder, Startupily

$1.5K

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

Startupily

startupily.com

from Islamabad, Pakistan

started March 2016

$1,500

revenue/mo

Founders

Employees

Discover what tools Safwan recommends to grow your business!

Discover what books Safwan recommends to grow your business!

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Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?

Hey fellow entrepreneurs! My name is Safwan Khan, and I am the founder of Startupily. I write business, entrepreneurship, and personal development articles for Thrive global and Influencive, and I recently published a self-help book on amazon called Mind Influence.

Startupily is a blog for entrepreneurs seeking useful business articles, resources, and tools to start and grow their businesses.

I started Startupily when I was looking for a job and desperately needed to earn an income. Back in 2016, I read several articles on how blogging was the new trend and a great way to earn a side income. It has the potential to turn into a full-time job so I decided to take the plunge and join the blogging bandwagon.

Flagship Service of Startupily

Initially, the flagship service I provided on my blog was interviewing entrepreneurs from around the world (providing PR services) and publishing their interviews on Startupily.

Within the first 2 months, I interviewed around 70 startups from different countries. I was surprised to see the positive response and the scope of growth this platform could have.

After interviewing the entrepreneurs I would promote it on my social media networks and business groups that I was a member of every single day. This got me lots of traffic and people started appreciating the service I provided.

Over time I expanded my blog by publishing business articles to educate entrepreneurs. I added business plan templates, business worksheets and other documents business owners would need to get started.

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What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?

After completing my master’s degree in International Marketing in the UK I was looking for a marketing job and had to wait for several months before that happened. I was getting frustrated, and annoyed and was sick of constantly going for job interviews.

I knew I had to take action, take a risk and do something different. I was searching for ways to make money online or freelancing. I came across Pat Flynn’s podcast on how he started a blog from scratch and was earning more money than he had ever earned from his job.

He said on his podcast, “If I can do it, then anyone can” That stuck with me and I made the decision to start a blog as well.

You can accomplish absolutely everything and anything if you put your mind and heart into it. This was the first time I experienced accomplishment. It is the greatest feeling ever.

The idea startupily came into being when I joined this networking app called DUST – created by Mark Cuban. I noticed most of the people on the app where small business owners and they needed a medium to promote their business. I spoke with them about their pain points and none of them ever did any PR campaigns because it costs money and they did not have the funds.

I found a problem that small business owners were having so I created a solution for it. The solution would be my website platform where I could promote these business owners for free.

My initial concept of Startupily was to interview these business owners and publish their interview on the blog and promote it on social media daily and business groups I was a member of on LinkedIn and other platforms. The business owners would also promote it amongst their followers and this would help my site get more traffic. It was a win-win deal.

Take us through the process of designing your initial product

For a week I learned everything I could about blogging. I took the risk, believed in myself, and bought the domain name and hosting from Godaddy.

I then realized I didn't know how to create a website with Wordpress. I hadn’t thought about this and was confused about what to do. I could either hire a developer to make the website for me and then rely on him to constantly make changes on the site and pay him which would end up costing me a fortune.

So, the only solution was for me to learn how to create a wordpress website. I watched YouTube tutorials for 3 days and it was confusing as I didn't have any knowledge in this field of work. I remember sitting at my desk holding my head thinking “NOW WHAT”.

The only way to proceed with the blog was to practically create it while watching the tutorials as I would learn better that way.

After a week of working on the site for 7 hours a day I came up with the prototype. (I wish I had images to show you). To be honest it was horrible, haha.

Even then I started to promote it amongst my community and surprisingly people liked the concept and were interested in being featured on it. This raised my hopes and made me believe my time for greatness is coming.

Over these years, I kept learning more and more about how to improve my site and it has become so much better than what it was before. (I am still working on improving it)

Describe the process of launching the business.

Once I had the initial prototype ready for Startupily I was fairly confident that it would gain traction from entrepreneurs who are just starting out to feature and promote themselves on it.

I had already done some research beforehand when I used the networking app DUST and had made some connections on it with several business owners who needed to promote their businesses. I reached out to them and told them the site was ready and functional and it was time for them to feature themselves. Most of them opted out of the interview and instead wanted to write an article about their business and have that published.

I published their article and promoted it on my social networks. Since they already had a following from before they promoted the article as well for their PR. It worked well as my website got its initial traffic of about 1000 views in the first 3 days. I was super excited.

The initial investment in starting my blog was barely anything, I only paid $4.99 for the domain name and approximately $35 for the web hosting for the entire year. And I invested my time into learning how to make a website using wordpress which took around a week. To be honest it is the greatest investment I ever made.

What I learned from this process are 3 things:

Never procrastinate and Just Start - I wanted to start the blog so I learned the entire process on the go. I could have learned everything first and then started but I knew that would take too long and eventually I might get disheartened and would never start.
Do Not Rely on Anyone - I could have hired someone to create the site but then I would rely on the developer for everything and at his convenience. Learning to do it myself saved me the cost, time, and my sanity.
You can accomplish absolutely everything and anything if you put your mind and heart into it. This was the first time I experienced accomplishment. It is the greatest feeling ever.

Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?

Once Startupily was launched I created my social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. I already had my Linkedin account set up with my profile and added my blog as my new job.

The great part of this was Linkedin notified all my connections regarding my new position as founder of Startupily. At that time I had around 6000 connections on Linkedin out of which over 1000 of them messaged me to congratulate me on starting the blog.

This gave my blog a boost in traffic and I replied to all the congratulatory messages to thank them and also provided details on what my blog was about. This helped increase traffic to my blog and I got an additional 50 business owners interested in featuring themselves.

If you are scared and fearful of doing something just do it anyway. You will overcome it eventually. I was scared of writing and now I published a book. So if I can do it you can do it too.

After a year of working on my blog, I was approached by two large media outlets Influencive and Thrive Global asking me to write for them. I cannot tell you how amazing it felt. I was over the moon. They liked my blog and writing style so much that they wanted me to share my knowledge and experience with their readers. Below are the links to my articles there:

Guest writing for these two huge sites has helped build my credibility in the blogging space, gained traffic to Startupily, helped get me paid guest posts on my site, and also paid link inserts to my existing articles. I have also been approached by several other sites to write for them but unfortunately, I had to decline them.

How are you doing today and what does the future look like?

My blog is doing great, it does have its ups and downs in terms of traffic. The only costs I incur for keeping my blog running are the yearly fees for a domain, hosting, SSL, and email subscription.

I have several ways of generating revenue from Startupily;

I work with 2 agencies from the US and UK who send me a combined amount of 20 articles per month for which I charge to publish.
I work with SEO consultants who pay me to add their clients' links to my existing articles.
I have worked with several clients who pay me a monthly fee for adding a banner image to my blog's main page header banner.
I have a resources page that provides some great business resources for aspiring entrepreneurs to start their businesses. (They are affiliate links so it generates a good amount of revenue)
Business documents - I provide all sorts of business documents like marketing plan templates, legal documents, Amazon FBA documents, and marketing campaign budget worksheets to name a few.
Business Plans - I have a database of over 100 business plan templates/samples for various business industries

Due to all the chaos around the world and people losing their jobs I noticed people need help to make money. I interviewed over 100 entrepreneurs from different countries on how to make money online. After condensing all the content I published a comprehensive article on Best Side Hustles to make money online. It has increased my viewership, I got 2 new blogs interested in me writing for them, and a blogging agency in Canada read the article and is interested in providing me clients for article publishing.

My future plan is to upgrade Startupily - I am currently looking at new themes while I am writing this interview. I plan to change the theme and update the site. Make it look a lot more modern, clean, and sleek. I will work on improving my content, transitioning to focus on blockchain, metaverse, and NFT projects as well.

I will be providing a new upgraded PR service to my clients. I have made connections with several PR agencies that can get entrepreneurs featured on Forbes and Entrepreneur.com. I will be working on this as well. It should be very interesting and I see growth potential when this is launched.

If any of you are interested in getting featured on Forbes, Entrepreneurship.com, or any other large media outlet, get in touch with me (My email is at the bottom of the interview). It will be worth your time and investment.

Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?

The process of learning how to start a blog has been amazing.

I used to be horrible at writing and at first, I was skeptical about publishing articles. I always wondered why would anyone want to read my articles. It took me a while to overcome this fear. I read somewhere once, “Be scared and do it anyways” - You could read more about this in my book Mind Influence.

So yes, if you are scared and fearful of doing something just do it anyways. You will overcome it eventually. I was scared of writing and now I published a book. So if I can do it you can do it too.

I faced many challenges during my few years of blogging. There were times when I stopped writing articles and neglected my blog. This severely impacted it. Traffic reduced by 70% and I lost a lot of revenue from it.

Blogging is a constant job and you need to be at it almost every single day or even a few times a week if you want constant traffic coming. Startupily has become my second income and I am highly grateful for taking this risk in starting it. I aim to make it the go-to place for aspiring entrepreneurs.

What platform/tools do you use for your business?

Tools I use for Startupily are:

Wordpress for my website
Mailchimp for the email list
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, & Quora for social media marketing and helping other aspiring entrepreneurs out
I also use several freelance platforms like Fiverr, & PeoplePerHour to provide clients with business plans, business documents, and business & marketing consultations on how to start and grow their businesses

What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?

Before anything else I have to say my belief in God helped me through everything in my life. I asked him to guide me and he held my hand throughout. I just followed. He has blessed me with so much. I can never thank him enough.

Books that have changed my mindset

The Power of the Subconscious Mind by Joseph Murphy
Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
RIch Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

Podcasts / Youtube Videos

Pat Flynn’s Podcast and website Smart Passive Income
London Real by Brian Rose (one of my favorite Youtube podcasts)
Joe Rogan's Podcast

Gary Vaynerchuk - One of the greatest entrepreneurs I have ever come across. He has changed my mindset and made me believe that I can achieve anything I want.

My Own Personal Development Book- Mind Influence

The journey I went through, the experiences, and the knowledge I gained enabled me to write my own self-help and personal development book called Mind Influence.

Mind influence allows you to think beyond what we are conditioned to believe about ourselves and the world around us.

In this book, my goal is to help question yourself. To make you aware of the state of mind you are in and help you overcome the difficulties, & challenges you face by rewiring your beliefs and mindset to a more positive one that can help you to evolve as a new individual.

Through my personal experiences I take you on a self-development journey to transform yourself into a version you would never believe is possible. It's time to meet your new self. It's time to look within yourself.

Mind Influence book is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Mind-Influence-Power-Within-Yourself-ebook/dp/B08W8VZH2P

Mind Influence definitely will make you think, change your mindset, overcome fear and make you become the person you are meant to become. Give it a read and give me some love.

I just created a new ebook cover using AI digital art. Let me know what you think?

If you are interested in AI digital art, get in touch with me.

Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?

My advice for aspiring entrepreneurs:

First work on your mindset. You need to focus on having a strong & positive mindset. It is a challenging journey. Are you strong enough for this journey?
You need to overcome fear - Fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of negative thoughts, fear of people criticizing you, fear of regrets, fear of losing your investment, and fear of not being able to achieve what you have dreamt of.
Skills you need to learn while on this journey - be passionate, you need to build patience because it will take time for you to start and grow your business, perseverance, and work smart. These skills are key to your entrepreneurial success.
Make sure the business idea is a solution to a problem lots of people have. This way you will be able to scale the business.

A list of my favorite Quotes that will Inspire You:

“Failure is inevitable, a true entrepreneur will prevail over adversity”

“We all have dreams but to make dreams come true, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort”

‘Don’t fear the intensity of the opposing wind O’Eagle. It only blows to help you fly even higher”

“Power alone is rigid but if you can bend with the wind you'll never break”

You're being encouraged to take the leap of faith and step into the new version of yourself that you're becoming. Allow your imagination to be free, and your childlike curiosity to stay alive while you stay receptive to each moment as an opportunity for growth and rebirth.