Have you ever wondered what it takes to tailor your own business towards the right audience and grow your social media presence to over 100,000 followers? Or how to monetize your own social media to provide a secondary source of income? Or even just how to create the right content so that you can generate engagement and build your social proof online? If you’re intrigued, read on - as Anish Parmar has achieved all of the above at just the young age of 18-year’s old.

From providing and selling modification services on the PlayStation 3 to make a profit for himself at the naïve young age of 14 to being featured on the BBC, ITV, Thrive, Medium, IMDb and more at age 18, Anish Parmar has done it all. We recently sat down with him for an interview, here’s what he had to say.

 

What do you currently do?

I’m currently a digital marketer and offer various digital marketing services for my clients via my own personal brand AnishParmar.net.

From viral social media growth to content marketing, I help brands, businesses and influencers all around the world with building their personal brands from the ground up and help them break into the industry in their niche. I can also help them with monetizing their social media profiles online for profit and teach them how to turn their social media following into lead generation paradise. Furthermore, I can even get my clients featured in big publications such as FOX, Forbes, ABC and more.

 

What were the biggest challenges you have faced when running your business, and how did you overcome them?

Honestly, when it comes to me running my own digital marketing business and being “my own boss” the biggest challenge that I faced at the start of my journey was imposter syndrome. Even though people were calling me an expert in the digital marketing industry and with the services I provided, I always thought I lacked substance.

I always had a sinking feeling of uncertainty and doubt in the back of my mind that I shouldn’t be where I was in my journey. However, this wasn’t due to the lack of results I was getting for clients but was actually due to my mindset as a young entrepreneur as a whole - which I later figured out down the line and fixed.

Why you may ask? I was merely a product of my environment. I always got told “No” – by my peers or by my teachers when I was younger. I even had a few people laugh in my face saying that my goals are “impossible to reach.” That of course, reflected on me as a person and these experiences also sub-consciously affected me as a result when I was trying to scale up my business. However, I quickly realised at a young age that other people’s opinions don’t matter as their future and goals are not aligned to yours. I also realised that I can do anything that I put my mind too and that I should always chase my dreams and have confidence in what I do and what I bring to the marketplace. This helped me get rid of imposter syndrome very quickly, allowing me to grow and scale my business to what it is today.

 

Who are your biggest influences and the people you admire in life?

Well, I have currently two people I admire that have been a big part of my life.

For the marketing industry, the first person who comes to my mind has to be the one and only Jade Darmawangsa – I started watching her videos on digital marketing and social media growth on YouTube when she had 200,000 subscribers in late 2018. When starting out in the industry myself I found that it was actually hard to find someone so authentic and “real” in digital marketing space. She was just someone I connected with due to her age being similar to mine and because of the value she was providing in her online content. She proved to me, and to many other young entrepreneurs that no matter what your age is, if you provide value and results – you can dominate your market.

However, in life, the people that I have the biggest admiration for have to be my parents, as they raised me into the human being that I’ve become today. They have always allowed me to follow my dreams even when I felt like the whole world was against me and have picked me back up when I failed and then encouraged me even more to create my own lane for myself, and for that I’m forever grateful.

 

Finally, what is your next step in your entrepreneurial journey? Where do you see yourself in the next couple of years?

My next steps for me will be to release my coaching course “AnstaSocial” in Summer and also scale up my business. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic I may need to put that on hold as various brick and mortar businesses are struggling with getting revenue and clients. So, for now, I’d like to help businesses go from offline to online and help them with their digital marketing strategies. However, for the future I see myself holding events around the world teaching businesses my own digital marketing techniques that I personally use – and help them transition their own business or businesses from offline to online.