Syed Balkhi (born 1984) is a Pakistani-born entrepreneur. He was born in Karachi, Pakistan.
Syed Balkhi started his first business when he was 7 years old selling holiday greeting cards for Muslim holiday (Eid). His mom gave him the initial funds to start, according to him the business was a successful venture. He said; “I tripled her investment within a month.
I loved it so much that I replicated it by selling flags for Pakistan’s
Independence Day celebration. This too was profitable.
The entrepreneur spirit in me could not stop there. I wanted to expand from doing seasonal sales to doing something more regular.
With the help of my mom and grandmother, I started a small snack shop for my neighborhood when I was 9 years old. This was extremely profitable.
At age 12, my family immigrated to the United States.
I found myself facing some of the biggest challenges of my life. I had to learn a new language while dealing with racial tensions from the 9/11 incident.
It was hard for me to make friends when I didn’t know the language. I turned to the internet to find a hobby, and I found myself spending majority of my time playing online games.
On the side, I was searching for something I can do to earn extra money because like most immigrant families, we were financially struggling.
My cousin pointed me to the domaining industry, and I jumped right in. With little guidance, I was able to buy and sell domains.
This gave me a little bit of extra cash, but I still had one problem.
No social life! High school lunch breaks were the worst as I sat in the library trying to play games, but most gaming sites were blocked by the school firewall.
Out of frustration, I learned how to bypass the firewall and created my first web proxy.
When other kids saw me playing games in school, they asked me how I was doing that. I saw the demand and seized the opportunity.
I decided to control the entire chain, so I created numerous web proxies along with arcade sites. This way, I could maximize my advertising revenue.
To promote my web proxies and arcade sites, I started creating web directories.
Next thing you know, I found myself deep in the SEO industry working with some very large brands.
At the same time, I started my freelance web development business.
Fast forward few years, I graduated high school and attended University of Florida — Yes, I did graduate with Honors in Anthropology and Religion.
Through out college, I further expanded my online businesses, but I couldn’t keep up.
In 2008, I decided to migrate all of my clients from static websites over to WordPress, so I can get rid of the maintenance part of our business.
Next thing you know, all of my clients were asking questions on how to use WordPress.”
In 2009, Syed created WPBeginner, the largest free WordPress resource site!
In 2011, he created an entertainment site, List25, with his college roommate and best friend David Pegg.
Currently they have over 2 Million subscribers and over 500 Million video views on our YouTube channel!
In 2013, he also launched a product called OptinMonster that helps businesses grow their email list.
In 2013, he acquired ThemeLab where they sell high quality premium WordPress themes.
In 2014, Syed became a partner in SoliloquyWP, the fastest responsive slider plugin for WordPress.
Syed also became a partner in Envira Gallery – a responsive WordPress gallery plugin to help you showcase your photos.
In 2016, he launched WPForms, a drag & drop WordPress form builder with a single goal: make the most beginner friendly WordPress forms plugin.
Syed Balkhi quoted and said; “Through my entrepreneurial journey, I had several failures (not-listed above). I simply learned from those and kept moving forward.”
Syed Balkhi is happily married to his beautiful wife, Amanda Balkhi.
They currently live in Gainesville, Florida as Amanda finishes her p.h.D in Clinical and Health Psychology.
Syed Balkhi net worth is estimated US $5.2 million (net worth estimated in 2017).
- An Uzomedia Biography
Vía Uzomedia http://ift.tt/2kLmbJL
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