Story of Channeling passion into business op: Ranveer Allahbadia, Digital content creator, podcaster, investor
At one point, ‘BeerBiceps’ resonated more with the youngsters than his name Ranveer Allahbadia. Starting his YouTube channel in December 2014, the Mumbai-based content creator made videos on healthy diets and gradually diversified his content. Today, at 29, Allahbadia is a popular name on YouTube and has also featured in this year’s ‘Forbes 30 Under 30’ list.
Allahbadia always wanted to work in a startup. So, when he started his channel at 22, he treated it like one. Incidentally, when he attempted to launch a startup earlier, it led to a meeting with an investor who suggested that he should use YouTube to market it. “When I met Viraj Sheth, we launched Monk Entertainment, a talent management company, at the age of 24,” he adds.
Allahbadia says he is largely self-taught and comes from a family of doctors; so, there was no Plan B. His parents granted him a two-year gap period after which he would pursue an MBA if things didn’t work out. But they didn’t pay him and asked him to work and earn. Till YouTube started paying off, he trained people and gave them fitness advice to make ends meet. Since YouTube and social media in general were relatively unknown careers then, there was family pressure. “Every parent is convinced once they see the money start to appear on paper,” says Allahbadia, who has 11.6 million followers across social media platforms. His popular videos are with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Priyanka Chopra and Ayushmann Khurrana, among others.
Allahbadia feels if a youngster is upskilled enough to pay for himself, then business is the way to go. “I am always of the belief that everyone should aim to be a job creator rather than a job seeker,” he states that he has never had a regular job but feels that the same raw skills apply across all professions, which are integrity with work, grit, how long you can keep going, people skills, leadership skills and, most importantly, sales skills.
Allahbadia believes that his entire channel and personal brand have been built by showcasing mistakes and failures, so people need to know that they are a very real part of the long-term journey. “I just hope that while people notice the successes, they also notice everything that goes wrong because those are the lessons that you gain from,” he adds.
© The Financial Express – Subham Mitra
