From Agriculture to SEO

Great people say ‘passion' and ‘perseverance' drive success in life, but at times there are aberrations, when things fall in place by luck or in others words, when destiny drives.

Having said that, the 'passion to do something in life' or the 'never say die spirit' should never die to make things happen.

When on one night Nitin Agarwal, the CEO of Wildnet Technologies, boarded a bus to his hometown Meerapur, located in district Muzaffarnagar of UP, he was determined to join his family business of agriculture. He was so passionate about farming that he decided to leave his IT job.

"Farming was my first love always, so thought of joining my father who was a full-time farmer. But I knew leaving this job would take him by surprise so I was well-prepared to parry my family's volley of questions."

"I thought my sudden visit to home in the middle of the night would be a shocker to them, but to my surprise they gave me a very casual response. Nobody was interested to know the reason behind my sudden visit...but finally when I told my father that I wanted to do farming instead of asking anything else, he just asked so when are you planning to come in?" recalls Agarwal.

That was an unexpected reply which prompted Agarwal to revisit his decision. Had his father been adamant and had said no to his decision, Agarwal says, he would have quit the job but fortunately or unfortunately that time never arrived to do farming and "I believe everything happens for some good so I am here today."
But yes, he always wanted to be an entrepreneur and was always high-spirited. Although agriculture was there on the top of his mind, coming to IT was by chance when he got a job through the reference of a college senior.

At an age of 21, he left his hometown to pursue MBA from SGRRITS, Dehradun, and that was the beginning of his journey.

Just Can't Forget Those Days...
Agarwal was brought up in a family of seven with limited means. Being the eldest of the five siblings, he had a lot of pressure to do well in life and to support the family financially.

"My mother and father lived a very hard life. Our income was less than Rs 3,000 per month and we hardly had electricity in our place. My mother used to iron my clothes by heating the iron on the gas stove."

"My family was always there with me. Whatever I wanted to do, they were there with me. See even after doing job in Delhi for four years, when I evinced interest to do farming my father did not discourage me...he said, ‘I know whatever you will do, you will do right and succeed so go ahead'," says Agarwal.

"My father Surendra Agarwal is the man who made me believe that whatever you do, it bears fruits at some point of time and his spirits were at times even higher than mine."

When asked that whether he had ever attempted any other kind of business before Wildnet, with a pause and then pride he talks about his first stint of a flourmill which his grandfather started long back.

"Initially, we did not have a shop but I always used to wonder that how people are cashing in on their shops and making huge profits out of them. So, I was too excited when my grandfather started our own atta chakki (flour mill) and I took that as a challenge to run it successfully and test my business acumen. After all, I got an opportunity to be an entrepreneur and make money. But just after three months, I had to shrug off my responsibilities for further studies of class-11."

And that was the end of Agarwal's first entrepreneurship. The mill could not survive long but that stint gave him the confidence and belief that he can really do well in business.

Tryst with IT
After grabbing an IT job in Delhi, Agarwal found the stream a bit challenging, and that was one of the reasons that why he decided to join his ancestors' business of farming but he says that doing the basics right and being ethical have helped him. Besides, the interest in the digital marketing industry paid off so it was "the right fit and mix."

As entrepreneurship was always there in the back of his mind, so finally he took a major step of his life by leaving his job to establish Wildnet in 2006.

It all started with a meager amount of Rs 2 lakhs, Wildnet Technologies was set up. The road to Wildnet was not that rosy, as he mentions, at the outset it was difficult to get good people on rolls, getting business against established players was a challenge since the firm was just a start-up.

"But my passion and commitment kept me strong enough to convince clients and employees that the dream is a reality and they will be a part of this journey. All we had was spirit and passion. So we concentrated on keeping our expenses low, especially overheads. We had an accountant who used to come for two hours a week and managed our accounts. We worked in shifts to keep the rent low rather than having a bigger office," he says.

Agarwal remembers one instance of the struggling days, when one of his clients asked for some last minute changes in the middle of the night and the presentation was due for the next day morning.

"I immediately called up my project manager at around 12 at night. But he explained the difficulty of traveling during such an hour. So, without a second thought I took my car and went to his home, taking him to office."

"So that night I don the hat of a driver, I slept in the car and after completion of work, dropped my manager home."

In every step of life, we are surmounted with difficulties but you turn out to be a real hero if you can overcome them with ease.

The Best Bang For the Buck!
Wildnet started with SEO as the main service and then it ventured into SEM, SMO, mobile apps, web design and development, Facbook advertising. The focus was always on delivering the value to the client's money and that has been one of the biggest USPs as the firm valued clients' money and tried giving them the best bang for the buck.

As a result, the company's revenues have grown 19 times in the last seven years. The major drivers propelling growth have been constant research in digital marketing space, remaining ahead of curve in the technology, keeping client and team as priority, taking good care of people and being fair with them, explains Agarwal.

Today, Wildnet's client list includes Aditya Birla group, Eureka Forbes, Discovery Channel, Buniyad Retail, Candid Marketing, NeoBrix, Avaya Global, Tirubala Group, HCL, TEN Sports, Shoolini University, Amar Ujala, Tecnova Global, etc.

A Glance Over the SEO Market
When asked that why he cherry picked SEO for business, Agarwal says that the marketing always had been an important part of a lot of businesses. It is being even more important as its changing its shape from just SEO to many other dimensions. SEO in current and future scenario now is helping firms with sales and also with branding.

"The market is bright but we need to constantly evolve and be ahead of the curve. The SEO professionals/ companies have to better understand the client's business to be able to deliver good results and value to their clients. We always try to think from the customer's mindset and devise solution that fulfill their needs," he mentions.

He further adds that this year, Wildnet is focusing high on skill optimization and further differentiation in services. "We are looking at about 45% growth this year."

The Journey so Far...
For Agarwal his journey from farming to IT has been immensely satisfying professionally and better than his expectations in terms of earnings and establishing the brand and company.

Although there are a lot of challenges in life but that is how we learn why success is counted sweetest.

Today, Agarwal has no regrets and is a happy man with an optimistic view about the future. He is driving a multi-million dollar SEO firm with a good number of clients.

He takes life as a play. "We have a limited time here in this world and we should do all we want to do. We should do anything to raise the quality of people, be and remain a good person contribute towards raising the quality of people in the society, enjoy the life's journey...Don't dance too fast, the music won't last. Enjoy!" says a father of two, Himi (10) and Vihaan (4).

And at the end, in his message to young entrepreneurs, he rightly says:"If you can dream it, you can do it."