Success leaves clues. Finance Strategists sat down with Raunak Chhabra of EditingCorp. He shared his thoughts on the past, present, and future of the company, as well as insight gained from running the business. Q: Who are you and what’s your background? I am a 29-year-old entrepreneur and a wildlife photographer based in India. Creativity has always been a big part of my life. As long as I can remember, I have always been writing, designing websites, taking pictures, and making short films. It became an amazing outlet for me, growing up and going through different things. Design and creativity have always been my escape and happy place. I got the itch to build something myself in 2013 and started EditingCorp - an online resource focused on creating valuable and useful content for designers, editors, and photographers. Q: Who has been your biggest influence, and why did they have such a significant effect on you? Definitely my dad. As long as I can remember, he always carried a Ricoh film camera in his waist pouch. He introduced me to the art of photography that later down the road made me explore and cultivate my own artistic abilities. He taught me from an early age that to reach your goals, you have to work hard with full dedication, and that is what I try to do every day. I was also fortunate enough to work with companies like Adobe and Skylum as a Beta tester for their post-production tools and that certainly influenced my way of thinking. Q: Knowing what you know now, what would you have told yourself when you were just starting out? Well, if I get the opportunity to get back in time, I'll tell myself to focus on one thing at a time and say “no” more often to ideas that did not support my goals. Time is too valuable to waste on things that won’t take you anywhere. Treat and grow your creation, no matter how small it is, like a real business no matter what people tell you. However, what I know now is the result of the actions I took in the past so I am pretty much happy with the overall journey and where it led me today. Q: What is EditingCorp? From useful creative how-tos and tutorials to design inspiration and freebies, EditingCorp has everything that designers, editors, and photographers look for. We share insightful tutorials and time-saving techniques, as well as articles on the latest and most innovative design resources that our readers can benefit from. EditCorp targets Graphic designers, Web & Mobile designers, Filmmakers, Photographers, Video Editors and Bloggers. This audience is always eager to discover more about the tips, tools, and services that will help improve their work and make their job easier—which is why we’re dedicated to providing them with the latest and greatest information on the web. Q: What makes EditingCorp stand out from its competitors? The number one thing that makes EditingCorp stand out from its competitors is our focus on creating high-quality content and digital products absolutely free of cost. Most of our products are free to download and use for personal and commercial purposes. At EditingCorp, we believe that money is only the byproduct of what we do and how we do it. If our work is unique, high-quality, and consistent, the money will tag along. Every 6 months, our entire content library goes through a quality check and audits to filter out dead and underperforming content. We then take necessary actions either by removing or updating the content to match current trends to ensure quality and consistency throughout the entire website. Q: What led you to start EditingCorp /How did you come to work with EditingCorp? EditingCorp started from my passion for web designing and photography. I had a photographer friend back in 2013 who wanted to learn the technique of isolating a single color in an image while turning the entire image black and white. To help him out, I set up a small blog and published an extensive and detailed written tutorial on the topic. Little did I know about the great amount of organic traffic I would be gaining over the next 2 months. What started as a standalone blog has now grown into a community of more than 1.6 million users from all around the world. Q: What has the experience of building/growing the business taught you? The most important thing I've learned so far is that talent is useless without persistence. Chances are that the first time you try something, you might not be good at it. However, once you’ve completed the same task many times, you’ll soon be better and better, eventually becoming an expert in the process. Q: Where do you see things headed for you in the next 5 years? Other future projects, the future for EditingCorp, family, retirement, etc. EditingCorp will soon turn 10 years old. While we don't really believe in having a next 5-year plan, all I know is we'll stick to our mission of creating and publishing great content year on year. I would also love to dedicate more time to my passion for Wildlife Photography and contribute to the protection and conservation of endangered wildlife species. For more information, see editingcorp.com .
Introduction
Who is Raunak Chhabra?
Business
True Tamplin is a published author, public speaker, CEO of UpDigital, and founder of Finance Strategists.
True is a Certified Educator in Personal Finance (CEPF®), author of The Handy Financial Ratios Guide, a member of the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing, contributes to his financial education site, Finance Strategists, and has spoken to various financial communities such as the CFA Institute, as well as university students like his Alma mater, Biola University, where he received a bachelor of science in business and data analytics.
To learn more about True, visit his personal website or view his author profiles on Amazon, Nasdaq and Forbes.
