Chitraparna Sinha: Giving Business Structure to Freelancing #womenentrepreneur

At a certain point in all our lives we face the toughest dilemmas of them all. Do we take the secure option which we have never wanted and lead a stable life or, do we take a leap of faith on to something we have always loved and try to achieve what we have always dreamt of?  In the summer of 2010, a young girl faced a similar kind of situation. Having cleared her Masters in English from Jamia Millia Islamia, Chitraparna Sinha faced a serious web of decisions ahead. She had always wanted to write but was in doubt whether it would cover all her expenses. When you are completely independent and self-reliant you tend to run into situations like these. However, for Chitraparna a steady job was not to come.

She decided to continue freelancing (which she also did to cover her college expenses; robust self-esteem here, don’t you think?) and today she is undoubtedly amongst the top bloggers in India. Apart from blogging and freelancing full time, Chitraparna consults other online businesses over their content strategy and social media optimization. Her work is very popular among the online business crowd and can be found at her website: Esmee Network.

Not many freelancers in India today can boast of a six figure monthly income: Chitraparna can

It all started when her mother’s friend, Shanker Bakshi, also a close mentor and guide, offered to register a domain and pay for the hosting. Nothing has held her back ever since. Currently her influence is substantial over Indian freelancing and related media. This caught the eye of Global Payout Firm Payoneer which roped in Chitraparna as their Indian brand ambassadors (along with Jitendra Vaswani).

We can all clearly see that success is not about knowing how much bank balance you should have. If you look at the crux of Chitraparna’s operations across the six years of her experience you will find that the bottom line is to believe in an idea, analyse how can it work and give it your best shot. In all the success stories, this is what works! I met Chitraparna on Truelancer. She was my first client. The moment I started working with her on various projects, her guidance and communication brought confidence into me and we did some amazing work together.

That is what successful entrepreneurs do best: Bring out your maximum potential

 

Having worked closely with her, I noticed some entrepreneurial traits we make her the best at freelancing and business in general

 

1. A balanced approach

If you have read this popular article by Chitraparna about writing 5000 words a day then you will get a hang of what I mean.  Chitraparna is very balanced in her approach. It simply means that she does not overdo or overthink stuff. I do not find this trait in many wannabe entrepreneurs these days. This is one thing which I learned by working alongside her! The moment you realise that it is calculated effort that works, you will start generating results.

2. Focus

This may not come as a surprise to you. Focus is the key to delivering the best you can. Chitraparna is focussed on her blog because she knows that it is the best source of her income and clientele. People in online businesses generally focus on their blogs for initial years and then shift focus to other stuff but forget that things like events, influence and income come because their blogs have influence. Chitraparna, on the other hand has never undermined the importance of the same. Even currently, her blog is the source of 80% of her income.

 

3. Excellent Communication

The first time I talked to Chitraparna when I was a struggling freelancer, I could easily make out what she wanted and how she wanted it. This is a very remarkable trait among successful entrepreneurs. They know exactly what they want. They can poetically imagine the results and convey the same to their workforce in the most simplest of ways. In a nutshell, there communication channels are excellent.

4. Dexterity

Working with the same thing and trying to take it a level up every time, consistently for six rigorous years is not everybody’s cup of tea. It requires two attributes which constitute dexterity in general: hard work and persistence. Unless you don’t put in the effort required, results will always come only in dreams!

 

5. Awareness

Knowing what’s trending in your sector is one thing and being aware about how your sector is moving is something entirely different. For instance, Chitraparna follows the works of global digital marketers and content specialists like Neil Patel (Quick Sprout), Steve Pavlina and Ana Hoffman (Traffic Generation Café) almost on a daily basis. What this does is allow her to tap into trending opportunities and technologies and get the best strategies to maximise her businesses potential.

When asked about her favourite mantras for success in freelancing Chitraparna mentions:

 

1. If you have something unique, don’t give it for free. I used to do a lot of free blog ‘content development’ advice but I have stopped them now. I charge for them.
2. Do not write daily. When I started, I wanted to post something daily. Later I realized that unless I have a team, it is not possible and so I have reduced it to 2-3 times or less per week and I focus more on promotion.
3. Blog for your audience and not for search engine bots.

Nothing complex here I guess? Chitraparna is an example of how such a simple passive thing like freelancing can take you to greater levels of success if you truly give serious thought and effort to it.

Chitraparna can be contacted on her blog and you can also reach here on twitter and facebook where is constantly updating her latest activity. She will be speaking at the Payoneer Entrepreneurship Meetup on Saturday this weekend.