What It's About
How one person turned answering questions on the internet into a profitable hustle.
Words of Wisdom
Karmeish says that starting side hustles can be full of uncertainty at first, but to persevere: “It will be hazy and murky in the beginning, like I faced when I started Karmaworks however trust me things will slowly get clearer each day. There is no better school than doing it yourself.”
Fun Fact
Quora was founded by Adam D’Angelo and Charlie Cheever in June 2009 after the two left Facebook. By March 2010, the website was valued at $86 million. Today, Quora is worth $2 billion with 300 million monthly active users.
Notes from Chris
Episode 1277
Karmeish Ghosh was working as the Head of Sales and Business Development at a steel company in India. The company contracts some business activities to third party services, which in this case meant helping to create jobs for hundreds of rural women in India. Although Karmeish was seasoned in the field, every once in a while he had a question. Naturally, he turned to Google for the answer. Through looking for answers on how to get more clients for his employer, he found that countless others were asking the same questions on the website Quora. So, Karmeish began to answer any questions that he knew he could help with. More than anything, he wanted to support others in this specific field. He never imagined that Quora would turn into a “funnel” of networking, but soon an outpouring of connection requests flooded his LinkedIn account! Karmeish had provided such helpful advice that people wanted to stay connected with him. So, in January of 2017, he made his first move to start getting clients. Karmeish purchased 100 business cards and booked his first breakfast meet and greet with Business Networking International. It was there that he introduced himself as the Chief Sales Officer for Karmaworks Consulting, his brand new company. At that event, he booked his first two clients—and left with a deal for $1,000. From there, Karmeish decided to focus on three target audiences. This included introverted techie founders struggling with sales, founders who didn’t have sales and marketing systems in place yet, and finally, people who had the money but didn’t know the go-to market strategy. Investing time into the needs of those specific markets paid off. In his first year, Karmeish made $3,100 in revenue and only spent $140 on his business. And you guessed it … most of those expenses came from designing and printing those business cards. The next year, in 2018, he decided that he needed a website. He purchased Karmaworks.co along with some web hosting services. Karmeish planned to write and use his blog to educate his potential clients and create some authority in his niche. Unfortunately, he didn’t put as much energy in the business as the year before and his sales dipped. Although Karmeish is now making good money from his volunteer venture, he hasn’t forgotten the philanthropic origins of Karmaworks. He still gives free coaching and one-on-one calls. He loves the strategy of, “Giving 90% of my stuff for free and charging a premium for the rest.” He’s learned that a side hustle is like a plant. As he says, “we need to nurture it everyday else or it will die off”. So, moving forward, he plans to continue creating online courses, working closely with his clients, and providing free resources wherever he can.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
- Learn more about Karmeish and his business at, Karmaworks.co.
SEE ALSO:
- Public Health Employee Earns Extra $2,000/Month with Salesforce Consulting: An enterprising nonprofit employee bids for consulting contracts, earning a steady second income each month.
- Medical Emergency Inspires $90,000/Month Consulting Business: An ambitious startup employee pays for his parents’ medical care through student consultations, then grows a side hustle into a real business.
- Workforce Expert Creates Empowerment Consultancy: After feeling mistreated at work, this workforce development expert regroups and plans her escape.
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Resources
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Quote of the Day
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