Aditya Raj Singh

Dropping Out of School – A Decision I Will Remember for Life!

When the other boys of my age were aiming to score big in their final school exams and choose the best college they can, I had made up my mind to drop out of school. It took a lot of courage to do so, but even more than that a lot of convincing for my parents to agree with my decision. In fact, I really doubt if I managed to truly convince them at that point.

But without that decision I wouldn’t be where I’m today. I wouldn’t be living my dream!

I was 14 years old when an additional subject in school, computer science, sparked my interest in web technology and led me to learn HTML and CSS. This passion towards web technology was the starting point of my entrepreneurial journey.

The Opening of a Whole New World for Me

Just a year later, I was running a YouTube channel where I’d post video tutorials about using different software and started monetizing the videos. In no time was I approached by other content creators to do video editing for them. I started working part-time as a video editor.

Before I knew it, I was making almost the same amount of money as an average adult in my country.

But unlike the other kids of my age, it wasn’t expensive toys that attracted my money. Instead, I invested the funds to develop my web design skills further by purchasing online courses. It was because I believed in myself, my ability to be a successful entrepreneur, and the necessity to drop out of the rat race before I even came close to entering it.

My first website project came when one of my video editing clients needed a website. I designed a website for him and he was extremely happy with the end result.

Taking the Plunge!

There was no looking back. I was spending more time learning PHP, CSS and other skills than mugging up school textbooks. When I turned 16, I applied for a part-time job in a company based in New York.

I had no other qualifications except for my skills. All I did was send across samples of my work. Guess what? I got the job!

At that point I decided it’s about time to take the plunge. In an age where getting good grades, a well-paying job and then regular promotions is all that parents ask for, this was a hard decision to take. And even harder to actually do it.

Stallion Cognitive Turns Out to be a Hit

But once I founded Stallion Cognitive, my financial marketing agency, all the doubts became a thing of the past. I loved to help financial businesses, and my skills allowed me to do that in a great way.

The result of this combination were a bunch of super happy clients. In fact, I never had to actively market my services. I just kept getting referrals and even had to keep expanding just to keep up with the demand and new clients.

It gives me a lot of satisfaction today that the financial businesses we have helped with their marketing have transformed into a completely new phase of growth that they couldn’t dream of achieving before.

“Cloud” Is the Limit!

I realized that clients have a hard time with hosting their website, which is essentially the foundation of their business online. I was hosting sites on their behalf on the best shared hosting services, but is shared hosting really reliable? I knew the answer!

I decided there has to be a way to let my clients as well as other people with no knowledge of cloud hosting or anything about advanced tech for that matter to be able to experience the power of cloud hosting without the complications associated with it.

This is how Acrux Cloud was born, my second company. It lets people use cloud hosting pretty much the same way they use a shared hosting service. Except that it’s much more reliable, powerful and secure.

In the Pursuit of Another Passion

Just like web technologies, I’ve always had another passion too in finance.

In fact, it was the reason I decided to start a marketing company that would only serve financial businesses. I understand finance really well and knew I could solve their problems.

But in India, the understanding of financial matters is poor in general. Even highly educated people neglect financial planning often until it’s too late.

This why I also started Namaste Finance, a financial blog that educates Indian people about financial planning and building wealth.

I’ve also been working on some other smaller ventures, but they haven’t become anything noteworthy yet. Regardless, I’m prepared for any failures that come my way and embrace them. After all, what’s an entrepreneur’s life without some failures?

Let's talk about Failures, shall we?

In Q3 2022, I quit YouTube again, the NamasteFinance project altogether, a WaaS I had been building for over two years, and taking on low-ticket customers for Acrux Cloud. Why? Because none of these turned out to be sustainable.

As if that wasn't enough, I also had to lay off my marketing team and shift my focus to operations at my agency. Why? The recession hit hard as my client base was primarily in the USA.

Overall, 2022 was a rough year. It did not turn out as expected, if not the opposite. Hoping for a recovery in 2023, let's see how it goes.

Finally, here’s a timeline of my short entrepreneurial journey so far.

2013 (Age 12)

I developed an interest in coding and computer technology, so learned HTML and CSS. I also started a YouTube channel posting tutorials of different software's.

2014

I started working part-time as a video editor for video content creators. Later in the same year, I got my first professional website project.

2015

I had learned CSS, PHP, JavaScript and more at this point. My YouTube channel started making me more money than many adults I knew.

2016

Attended Google YouTube Creators event and met creators like Technical Guruji, QRT. Received a video editor job offer from QRT founder but had to reject it as I wasn't able to manage my time with work and studies. Finished my 10th standard from CBSE (Secondary School).

2017

Continued doing YouTube, worked with big brands such as Asus, NordVPN, SurfShark, WonderShare, FeiyuTech and more.

2018

I failed my 12th CBSE (high school) so took a year break to learn valuable skills, did WordPress and SEO freelancing.

2019 (Age 17)

Landed a high paying developer job from a New York based company and used the paychecks to start Stallion Cognitive, a financial marketing agency. I put my heart and soul into not only making my agency successful, but also of those financial firms who came to me with big hopes. I didn’t let them down!

I also finished my 12th standard (high school) in business/commerce from NIOS.

2020

Stallion Cognitive grew beyond I could dream of in just around a year. We started getting more clients than we could handle without even running any marketing campaigns.

By the end of 2020, I realized business owners without any tech skills and low budget deserve the power of VPS hosting without going through the hassles of using it. I started Acrux Cloud to do just that.

2021

As someone very passionate about finance, it was sad for me to see many people around me neglect their financial future completely. They don’t realize how big of a mistake they are making!

With the goal of inspiring people to build a solid financial future for themselves, I also started NamasteFinance. It teaches Indians about a variety of financial topics that helps them build wealth, do proper financial planning and have a sound financial future.

2022 (To be 21: Nov 25)

Decided to restart my YouTube channel, but this time I wasn't going to talk about tech but finance - my new and everlasting interest, with a bit of productivity and entrepreneurship content, and this time in my native language, Hindi.

Mar 25, 2022

I'm very curious about many things, including the universe, human brain and how it all works. The more knowledge you have in your brain the better off everything will be! So I try to learn as much when I'm not working on my businesses about metaphysics, astronomy, climatology, cosmology and neuroscience.

But I really wanted to dig deeper in neuroscience, specifically behavioral neuroscience and so I opted for Psychology (Hons). This certificate or degree has no immediate application in my line of work, yet I'm doing it simply for knowledge and pleasure 😉

Q3 2022

I realized that Financial YouTube in not suitable for me. I am unable to share knowledge with my full potential and continuing just as a hobby is not efficient. Therefore, I have decided to quit this channel. I am still curious about starting a travel channel, but I am unsure about content creation at the moment.