I am not Sundar Pichai; I am his partner. My name is Awais Raza. Thanks to my less focused nature, two decades back, while the world was yelling at me, “focus on your studies”, I was focusing on computer screens. Today, I am the youngest Google Partner in Pakistan and a successful entrepreneur.
I do have not the slightest idea about a study back in 2000 that measured how long a person can focus on one thing? I was focusing and following my mother back then. While the study resulted in 12 seconds and then squeezed to 8 seconds in 2015, by the time I had shifted my focus from studies to computers, leaving aside books and bags. By then, I already was a drop-out, finding no time to focus on my studies. If you have read up to this, I have grabbed your attention as a digital marketer. You are eager to start afresh!
My early life was not different from any of an average middle-class boy next door who were always running errands for his family and neighbors. I was not focusing on my school, showing all symptoms of an early drop-out.
At my previous job, with CreativeOn, I took inspiration from the company name and earned my first hundred thousand by being creative enough selling a website for rupees 1 lac. My interaction with the computer world started with just scrolling but I scrolled up, not down- the lead precedes meat. Even today, I am scrolling the Google products up, not down.
Like any other entrepreneur, I dreamt of establishing my business and started off partnering with two of my childhood friends. While the business expanded, hearts shrank. My partners somehow forced me to leave the company. I was a drop-out again, but this time with my laptop.
The sense of freedom and independence followed by a month of sorrows, sobs, sighs and regrets. “Dost fail ho jaye toh dukh hota hai, lekin dost first aa jaye toh zyada dukh hota hai…”. Do you listen? My previous partners are murmuring something.
The second drop-out was the beginning of my journey towards owning my company and starting afresh by establishing SpixHost (SMC-Private) Limited. Eventually, I ended up becoming a Google partner and earning 10 million (1 crore) last year–*** not bad. I put my heart and soul in the company and today SpixHost is making more than 10 million a year. It is said, success has its own cost. I paid that cost in the shape of my childhood friends and a well-running business.
During the pandemic, I pioneered for online classes using Google classroom and allied services. The ideas helped educational institutions and students alike.
The path of my partnering with Google was not as smooth as it seems today. I had to take 24 complex Google exams to become a Google workspace, Google Cloud expert and a Google Reseller. Even after so many examinations, Google denied me the partnership. Thanks to a bug in the Google system that I identified, the door to the Google partnership opened!
Today, I am a successful entrepreneur- after two drop-outs. I have learnt my lesson, “you need skills to start afresh.”
It is time to help other drop-outs, and not yet drop-outs. I have developed online courses for Pakistani youth to help them earn online. From next month, I will conduct live Zoom and Google Meet sessions for young Pakistanis who have an entrepreneurial nature like me and want to drop in online earning. Remember, you can only become a millionaire if you are not into a 9-5 job.