As my interview series is running from last 2 months, so many of my Pakistani readers were suggesting me interview this blogging tycoon, who helped many of them indirectly with his blog. I asked him many questions and he replied all of them from his heart.
Let�s read about his life and blogging journey.
1. Tell us about yourself and your childhood dreams.
Thank you Kulwant Nagi for considering me worth an interview. I hope this interview helps to entertain your readers productively.
My life is full of interesting stories and turning points. I was 7 years of age when I used to accompany my dad at his shop. I used to sell plastic bags for rupees 2.0. Ever since I understood the value of being responsible, I started dreaming with open eyes. I am a normal guy who loves socializing and making new friends. Swimming, riding, bunking classes, preferring to be a back bencher, and hanging out with friends are few things I love to do. =)
I am currently pursuing a Bachelors degree in Computer and Information System Engineering. Fortunately just 7 months are left before I become a graduate, I am now both financially independent and engaged. I got tied up with a beautiful princess in 5th March 2013 and have to bring her home after graduation. So the childhood dreams are all accomplished today Alhamdulillah and what I dream next is to live a peaceful life with nature all around and improve the socially failed academic system of education at schools, colleges and universities that always aim at producing career-oriented milk feeders and never business-oriented grown ups.
2. MOHAMMAD, I am listening your name from year 2010 when one friend of mine told me about term �blogging�. Please tell us how you started your career with blogging?
I completed high school in 2006 and then started applying abroad for higher studies in 2007. Half of my classmates received scholarships in MIT, Harvard, YALE and Standford but despite being brilliant in studies I didn�t receive any scholarship. My parents were weak financially but to live up my higher studies dream, I applied to a community college in New York. Things were going great but due to poor economic conditions I didn�t qualify for an US VISA. I was half shattered and lost hope in quality education and to be more precise I lost hope in life. I remained a victim of depression for about a year but believe it or not � this one year of sitting at home introduced me to BlogoSphere. I practised HTML4, CSS, JavaScript, Photoshop and kept on learning by trial and error. With time my interest in blogging increased. I setup my first blogspot blog for my school mates (though I was always mocked for doing stupid things) and started writing tutorials on WindowsXp and trending software.
My true inspirations were two Indian guys, one is Divya sai from bloggerstop.net and another is Aneesh from BloggerPlugins.org. They are the two people who always encouraged me with everything I did. They are my true idols unlike the big names Online who talk big but help less.
3. You did Computer Engineering, and then tried your luck with masters in same field. How difficult it was for you to make your mind to get back in daily routine (I am asking this question because in 2010 I was admitted in RIT, NewYork, USA for higher education. But everything was shattered and it took me atleast 4-5 months to get back into daily life).
I have not yet completed my studies and I don�t plan to do Masters. I believe education is good only when you are able to apply it. My future goals are linked with my business endeavors. That�s where I wish to invest the remaining half of my life.
4. How you convinced your parents to do full-time blogging as compared to job?
My parents were the first to demotivate me with my blogging activities. Spending hours in front of your computer without earning a penny during the initial start of your online career is surely a family Taboo but with time (over a year) my parents realized its potential and always encouraged me to excel more.
I still remember my dad saying �Son why the hell are you wasting your time in front of this box?? Get up and study!�
I had to convince them every other day and would often ask them to have Patience by giving them surety that good days were near..
5. How much time you spent on your blog in starting days, and how much time you are spending now?
I used to spend around 10-15 hours during the initial phase. i.e. 2008-2009. Then with time the Studies and Readership burden increased and my timings dropped to 6 hours. Today when STC Network is blessed with several contributors and employees, I have to spend only 4 hours online, dealing with clients and maintaining the sites.6. You are still running your blog on BlogSpot. Aren�t you feeling any insecurity to run this blog? Because we have heard that Google can delete our account any time.
I have tested all major Content Management Systems be that Joomla, WordPress or Blogger. Earning and traffic are dependent on your quality content only and independent of the platform you use. The reason why I like Blogger is because it provides free Web hosting, Up-time servers, highly secured logins, easy template customization features and friendly front end control. There are some people who attach unnecessary security doubts to blogger regarding Google�s blog Deletion policy.
We have shared several posts that guide blogspot users on how to keep a daily backup of their posts just like we do at WordPress through plugins. Comments, posts can easily be backed up in Blogger like any other CMS. Blogs that are deleted are ones that badly violate Google�s TOS and this action is taken against blogs that mostly promote racist, explicit, unethical and infringed content. If you know you are doing nothing wrong, then you are safe from all sorts of penalty. Blogs on WordPress or other CMS systems are more vulnerable to attacks as compared to Blogger. We have written an interesting post here:
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