What would you do if you were told from the beginning you might never amount to anything? If the people charged to inspire you did nothing but discourage instead?
Well, hopefully you would have the good sense to ignore them. And that’s exactly what Zubin Kutar would advise.
Way back in grade school, no one would ever have guessed Kutar would be involved in the business he runs today. It’s a business that requires him to write on a daily basis.
“I was told in grade 8 by my teacher that I would never be able to write a paragraph in English,” he remembers.
But this teacher, who’s job it was to encourage young Kutar, didn’t stop there, he says.
“She also called up my parents and told them that I would find it very difficult to get into a good university and find a job,” he adds.
So, it might surprise this teacher today, if she were to learn that the student whose writing skills she so thoroughly dismissed all those years ago, is a successful writer with a faithful readership.
From Modest Aspirations
For Kutar, it all started one cold evening in Toronto when, coming home from work, he happened to read a magazine article about a blogger who claimed he was making $40,000 a month.
Kutar was intrigued.
Though he didn’t know much about blogging, he figured if someone were able to make $40,000 a month doing it, he should certainly be able to make an extra $400 to help cover his rent.
Without previous experience, Kutar launched what would become WebTrafficROI.com, though he admits success was not as simple as he had at first thought.
“It took me more than 200 posts and over six months till I made my first dollar from the blog,” he says. “Today the income from the blog takes care of a lot more than just the monthly rentals.”
Treating a Blog Like a Business
Many small business owners and entrepreneurs might use blogging for marketing, to build personal brand or credibility or for something connected to another main business. But Kutar treats his blog as a business.
He says his site now averages more than 5,000 visitors a day. And from the site, Kutar offers advertising and sponsorship options and also blog set-up and consulting services based on his own unique experiences thus far.
Kutar also keeps adding features as a way to continue building value.
“We recently added the Good Morning Sunday series where every Sunday we feature an inspirational post or a success story to make your Sunday awesome and keep you motivated through the week,” he says.
Hard Work Is The Key
The most important thing to remember is that building and running a successful blog, like any other business, takes time and effort, Kutar says.
“Blogging is not easy. It involves a lot of hard work,” he explains. “I’ve blogged at odd hours – 2 am, 4.30 am…I’ve stared at the WordPress dashboard night after night without writing a single line. I’ve had no big blog idea for weeks together.”
After five years and nearly 600 posts on various blogs, Kutar is seeing the rewards of that work and continues to grow his business.
He says the key is to get started. And adds that building a network, like the one on BizSugar, has also been a great help.
“Bizsugar has helped me be a part of a large network of influential thought leaders and bloggers,” he says. “It’s given me a platform to share my expertise and learn from fellow bloggers and internet marketers.”
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