Pawan: From a Hindi Medium school to writing for renowned blogs

From being schooled at a Hindi Medium school in a small village in Rajasthan to writing great content in English for renowned websites, Pawan, A farmer’s son has come a long way. Pawan has been a hustler all through his life. Be it be doing side hustles in college to support his family or be it staying optimistic to get a job even after nine rejections. The rejections forced him to try new things which are now his daily bread and butter. Something which Pawan is immensely proud of. Read Pawan’s inspiring story in this blog, it is going to leave you with a lot of motivation in the end.

Tell us about yourself. Where are you from? About your family, parents? How was your childhood?

I’m from a small village in Rajasthan. My father is a farmer and my mother is a housewife. And I have 3 siblings. My parents always encouraged us to read and learn more. I got my education from a Hindi medium school. I started reading books (life lessons related) when I was very young. But when I was a kid, I had no passion. I didn’t know what I wanted to do in my life.

Why did you opt for engineering?

As I said, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I had a Math-Science stream in my senior schooling, so I had only one option (just like most of the students) – Engineering. I also wanted to go out and meet new people and explore places and life.

Your LinkedIn bio says you did a lot of side hustle in college. What was the trigger for a side hustle in college? What objectives did it solve and do you think you made the right choices in college?

The objective completely was monetary. I didn’t want to be a burden on my parents, they provided me with enough education that I could take responsibility and look after my expenses.

That’s why I started doing part-time jobs during my college time as a tutor and online school project writing for making some extra money.

And yes, I made the right choice. 

How did you motivate yourself after getting rejected 9 times by companies? How did you feel? Who helped you at that time:? What kept you going?

Yes, I got rejected by 9 companies before getting my first job. Every interview I applied for I was turned down. It was really frustrating. But I’m a very optimistic person and I didn’t lose my confidence. I kept doing the side hustle. I am an introvert persona and I don’t have many friends. But I am an avid reader and books are my best friend! I always learn something new from every book I read.

I stopped applying for jobs and started working on myself (skills, learnings).

As an engineering student, how did you land a job in Digital marketing, especially SEO, etc? Did you make a conscious decision or it just happened?

It was a surprise. I never heard the word SEO or digital marketing. One of my friends just referred me to a company and I got a call from the company for an Interview. I went there and they liked my writing skills and offered me an SEO and content writer profile. This was my first job (I got this job in mid-2013).

And then I started reading more about digital marketing, SEO, content marketing, PPC, email marketing, and social media marketing. I followed some amazing blogs like Hubspot, SEJ, Neil Patel, SEMrush, Buffer, Social media examiner, Litmus, and more.

You have about 13000 Followers on Linkedin. How did LinkedIn become such a vital part of your Professional life? What things you did do right and what things you did do wrong?

My LinkedIn profile has been the single biggest contributor to my success. LinkedIn helped me to become an average full-time worker to authority in the digital marketing /content marketing field.

When I started using LinkedIn, I considered it as a resume-building and career site. I didn’t have any idea about the power of LinkedIn. I used to open LinkedIn 1-2 times a month. When I started reading about social media marketing then I got to know its power and I thought I must leverage it.

Then I refined my complete profile, connected to some people in my industry, and started writing on LinkedIn. And after 1 month (after writing regularly), I started getting exposure on my posts and following counts 🙂  And I love LinkedIn more than Jenniffer Lawrence 😀

Your posts are published in some of the renowned blogs. Tell us about your Mantra.

Yes, I’ve been featured in many reputed publications and magazines. First I created some quality posts on Medium and used these articles as my writing samples (as you need to show the editors your previous work). I pick a publication/website and read some of their previous articles to understand what kind of posts they publish. Then I select a relevant topic and create my pitch around it and send it to the editor.

What was the trigger to revamp your blog? And is it solving that purpose?

Most of my readers suggested I change the blog name. Before it was Prepawan.com but it sounds more like a personal blog. I wanted to sound more professional as I started accepting guest posts on my blog. And I’m getting really great responses. And people want to write for us.

What are your mission and vision? How do you want history to look at you?

Honestly, I’m not an online marketing or blogging guru. But I love testing different marketing, writing, and blogging strategies.

My mission is simple: Share the online marketing and blogging lessons I learn in my journey with amazing readers. So I’ve created this blog.

As you look back, do you feel satisfied with yourself or do you think you missed something?

I’m pretty satisfied with myself. I just want to help people and businesses through my work and writing. And when people and clients say some positive words about my work. I feel really great!

Pawan can be reached on Refrens, LinkedIn, Twitter, and his website. Reach out to him for some great marketing and blogging lessons.

If you are a freelancer or blogger, Read here how to use Social Media to boost your business.