I was the quiet kid in class. Calm, peaceful, the one who didn't talk much with others.
But every time a new teacher walked in, or a new school year started, the same question came around the room:
"What do you want to become when you grow up?"
Doctor. Engineer. Pilot. Army. Driver. Everyone had an answer.
My answer was always the same: software engineer.
As I grew up, I was always fascinated by big things. And there was one more interest that never faded, no matter what else changed: business.
Me and Textbooks Were Never Close
I was never the kind of student who only read school or college books. I didn't have a deep relationship with the coursebook.
Don't get me wrong, I did read my textbooks. I just never felt connected to them.
What I really loved reading was everything else: articles, books and any informative content I could find on whatever I was curious about at the time. That's where most of my learning happened.
What I did have was curiosity. I was always exploring something new on my own, and at different times in my life that curiosity picked a different thing to go deep into.
This is how I've learned almost everything that matters to me: not in a classroom, but by getting curious and figuring it out myself.
Class 8, Building My Own Drone
From class 6 all the way to class 10, it was robotics.
I started building projects with Arduino and made many robots. By around class 8, I had built my own quadcopter, a drone.
There was no help from school for any of this. No lab, no robotics club, no teacher guiding me. I did my own research and built things one by one. Every time something worked, it felt incredibly motivating.
But slowly, the interest faded. Not because I got bored, but because I realised how much money I was spending. Sensors, motors, parts: everything was expensive, especially for a school kid.
Robotics still has a corner in my heart, though. One day, I'll definitely go back to it.
The Walk Where We Counted
The next thing my curiosity picked was fitness, and this one started with something that hurt a little.
As a kid, I was overweight compared to other kids my age. I still played every sport I could: football, cricket, kabaddi, anything. I never sat out.
But I knew I was overweight, and people never let me forget it.
I remember one day, my mom and I were walking from our home in the city to our home in the village. Along the way, we started counting how many times people commented on how fat I was.
The count reached around 13 or 15. Haha.
So I Did What I Always Do: I Researched
You know my curious mind by now. One day I sat down and started researching how it all works: how the body works, how food works, how energy works inside the human body. Anatomy, nutrition, energy, anything my brain could think of, I went deep into it.
That's how I found out that weight training is important for both building muscle and losing fat. And weight training meant a gym.
So I searched for gyms in my city, found one, and asked my mom if I could join.
She didn't really know what a gym was. And like many people back then, she had heard that if a child goes to the gym, they stop growing taller.
So the answer was no. I asked again and again. A few months passed. But I never stopped the learning part. I kept reading and researching the whole time.
Finally, I convinced her, and my fitness journey started.
I don't remember the exact number, but I was 90+ kg for sure. Over about 6 to 8 months, I came down to around 60 to 65 kg.
And it wasn't just exercise. It was proper nutrition and training together, the things I had spent months learning about before I ever walked into the gym.
One funny moment I'll never forget: a neighbour uncle stopped me and asked, "Aashish, are you taking drugs or something?" Because in his mind, people who suddenly lose a lot of weight must be on drugs.
I said no, came home and told my mom. We both laughed. But yes, I had lost a good amount of weight, the right way.
After 12th: CSIT or BSc IT?
By the time I finished 12th, one thing was clear. I wanted to study computers. That "software engineer" answer from the classroom had stayed with me all along. I just didn't know the path yet.
But you know me by now. I've always loved practical things more than theory. So I did what I always do: I researched. CSIT looked like the perfect fit.
I gave the entrance exam, made the rank and was eligible to study.
Then, while I was at the college for more information, I found another degree I hadn't really considered: BSc IT, a foreign-affiliated program offered in the same college. I was eligible for both.
After counselling, I felt BSc IT was the more practical of the two, so I joined it.
Even with a practical course, though, I never stopped exploring on my own. College gave me a structure. My curiosity still did most of the teaching.
My First Digital Marketing Course
Alongside computers, my other love, business, was still there. I was already familiar with digital marketing, SEO and email marketing, and I'd been exploring them on my own.
Then one day, a friend and I went to look at IT courses for him. At one company, I saw they also offered a digital marketing course.
I had been learning on my own for a while, so after some research (of course), I decided to join and learn it properly.
That course was my first real exposure to digital marketing, beyond what I had been exploring by myself.
To be honest, it wasn't everything they promised. It was fully online, the content was decent, but for the value I got, it was on the expensive side. The course didn't even fully finish.
But it gave me something more important than a certificate: a push. That push started everything that came after.
From Intern to Freelancer (Who Was Secretly Running an Agency)
After the course, I started working at that company as an intern, and later joined full-time.
Working there taught me something no course could. Business isn't just about selling. There are many parts working in parallel: marketing, sales, operations, the team, the clients. A business only really grows when every part grows together.
Later, I left and started my freelancing journey.
And I quickly realised it wasn't ordinary freelancing. It felt more like running an agency, with just me in it. I was doing the outreach, the meetings, the deals, the work, the delivery, the reporting and the finances. All of it.
Remember the quiet kid who didn't talk much? He was now reaching out to businesses and sitting in client meetings. Life has a sense of humour.
Out of all that chaos, I built a system for managing clients and finances, and I still use it today.
The story of my very first client meeting? That one deserves its own post. Coming soon.
Business Was Never a One-Person Job
From the very beginning, I knew one thing: a business is never one person's effort. To make it work, you need people who put in the same effort you do. That's how you grow.
So from the start, I worked with people who are like brothers to me.
We all bring different skills. I handle digital marketing, client relations and management. They handle development, branding and design. Together, we can do the best work for every client.
How that team came together is a story for another day.
60+ Businesses Later
Fast forward to today: I've worked with more than 60 businesses, and most of them are long-term clients.
I think the reason is simple. I care about what each client actually wants, and I treat their business like it's my own.
That means I don't sell random packages that a business doesn't need. Here's how I work instead:
One or two meetings first, to fully understand what the business actually needs.
A plan together, on how we can really help their business grow.
A proposal, agreement and contract, so everything is clear.
Delivery, doing the work we promised.
Reporting, so the data shows what our work actually did.
Where I Am Now
We're still working this way. Now we're growing the team and building real businesses together. Alongside client work, we're also building our own internal products and services.
Because I've learned that this isn't one person's job. It's a chain: people, businesses and industries connecting, each one helping the others grow, and together growing the economy.
Back to the Gym, Again
One honest confession before I finish.
While I was working and studying at the same time, I stopped going to the gym for around a year. And yes, the weight came back.
But I'm not worried, because I've done it before. I know I'll get fit and transform my body again.
Now that the business is slowly getting systemised and cash flow is good, I've started that journey again. The goal this time isn't just losing weight. It's becoming a healthy, fit entrepreneur, the kind who believes that when you grow, the people around you should grow with you.
What the Quiet Kid Learned
Looking back, the pattern is the same every time. A drone in class 8. A gym my mom said no to. A digital marketing course I decided to take on my own. A freelance career that turned into a team.
None of it came from a textbook. It came from getting curious, researching until I understood, and then actually doing it.
If you're a quiet kid who doesn't talk much but can't stop wondering how things work: keep wondering. Look things up. Build something. That curiosity will take you further than you think.
This is my story so far. There's a lot more to tell.
