What was hobby years ago has turned into money spinner for 29 year old Vizag based Purna Chandra Rao Duggirala today. He has done his MBA from IIM Indore. He started blogging about the his B school experiences and registered the domain "chandoo.org" in 2004.
Then he started blogging about the technology and in March 2008, lifehacker.com reprinted one of his articles, bringing more traffic on his blog. This is a time when he monetized his blog. While he was working with TCS after his MBA, his job entailed extensive work on MS excel. Over a period of time his proficiency in excel improved a lot and he started offering advice on how to master spreadsheets on his blogs. He went a step ahead to release an Excel-related e-book in February 2009 and priced it $5.The product was received very well and he soon doubled its price. He still sells around 20 copies of this book every month. In September 2009, he launched a set of project management templates catering to analysts and project managers and priced it at $30. The product was runaway success and in 2010, he launched his best selling product, an online training program for Excel, "Excel School" and priced it at $97 per student. In a year from September 2009, he has earned over $100,000 from his online business. He is now focusing on improving his blog and boosting his revenue stream. Now he is full time entrepreneur.
http://chandoo.org/wp/about/
http://startupdesi.com/100000-startup-revenue-in-12months/
Source: The Economic Times Wealth (13 Dec 2010) and Chandoo.org
No idea is small idea. What matters is where do you want to take it and how do you want to take it. If you understand these two things, you can build a big empire through that small idea. This is what Chandoo has taught us, isn't it?
