Chhavi Agarwal

Chhavi & Amit are location independent entrepreneurs and owners of Mrs Daaku Studio – a place to find to legitimate work from home jobs and creative ways to make money online. This blog tells you exactly how to start working from home and what are your best options. They aim to encourage others who are not happy with their current 9-5 jobs to take a chance on themselves and follow their heart. Chhavi and Amit have been featured on leading publications like Readers Digest, Go Banking Rates, Yahoo Finance, MSN, Fit Small Business and other known platforms for their expertise on this front.

Where did the idea for Mrs Daaku Studio come from?

I knew I wanted freedom and flexibility in life which a law firm job won’t be able to provide. So, when I had to quit my 9-5 for many reasons, I took it as an opportunity to explore options and to start something on my own.

I chose to start a freelance writing business which later on inspired both me and my husband (Amit) to start Mrs Daaku Studio. We are constantly making efforts to make it a one stop shop for anyone wanting to live a location independent life and earn a full time income.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

I start out my day with a cup of tea, an hour of yoga and breakfast.

I have divided the days of the week for different tasks related to blogging and freelance writing. For example, Mondays I work on writing a new post and briefing my writer on what she has to do; Tuesdays I work on our YouTube channel and it goes on.

I keep Saturdays and Sundays free of work. Amit and I generally use it to chill or brainstorm how to grow our blog.

All that said, I make sure I do not work more than 5-6 hours in a day.

How do you bring ideas to life?

By doing it.

We often get stuck in the vicious cycle of perfection and learning that we forget to take action. What happens then – ideas remains ideas and as time goes, they are forgotten.

If I have an idea today, I give myself a week to plan it out and a deadline by which I have to give it a try.

What’s one trend that excites you?

The gig economy trend

A lot more people and a lot more companies are now embracing remote working and freelancing. It makes me so excited that the idea is finally getting the recognition it should.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

That would be my habit of not dwelling in the past or ability to move ahead without being affected by failures too much.

Entrepreneurs fail. That is a fact! The sooner you accept it and start learning from your mistakes, the better it is for you.

Think of it this way – If you spend all your time thinking about your failures, when will you work on growing your business or taking corrective actions.

See past your failures. They are the stepping stone to success.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Two things –

1. Understand data. There is a reason why something works or something does not. Analyse both of them and understand why it worked or it did not. It will go a long way in building strategies that always work.

2. Invest in learning, development and paid tools. They make your life much easier and helps you achieve goals faster.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

You don’t need education, skill or money to start blogging. All you need is the passion to build one and learn the necessary skills as you grow. Remember, you can always outsource later.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

Learn, apply and stop trying to be perfect at every single thing. You cannot be perfect right from the start and you cannot be perfect at everything.

As you apply new techniques, you will learn what works or does not work for you. You will have to modify strategies and implement new ideas.

I recommend everyone to just start and be ready to take on the challenges and opportunities that come your way

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

We focused on helping people build an online career and giving away all the information possible. If you focus on resolving the pain points of your audience, you will grow fast.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

I have had many. I failed at blogging completely when I started out but I told you, I have the ability to learn from my experiences and move forward.

I had started a travel blog in 2016 which failed and I quickly shut it down. But, I do realise the idea was good but my strategy had loopholes. I changed it, relaunched my blog and it is all working out.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

If you have knowledge about a very specific item or area, for example guitars or coffee, start a niche affiliate website. They are trending right now and you can make a lot of money with it.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

Elementor. It is an amazing website and landing page builder. Not only has it allowed me to beautify the looks of our blog, but it also has add on features (like tripwires) that other builders don’t have. I recently bought license for 3 websites. Best $100 spent!

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?

Tailwind.

It is a tool that allows me to schedule out pins for an entire month in one go. I can then spend 5-10 minutes everyday on the platform and be done with it.

Pinterest is the number 1 traffic source for my blog.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

All books Jeffrey Archer. If you read him, you will know how to to keep your audiences attention throughout your storyline effectively.

What is your favorite quote?

I recently came across this and loved it. “You have to see failure as the beginning and the middle, but never entertain it as an end.” -Jessica Herrin, founder and CEO of Stella & Dot”

Key Learnings:

• Don’t be a perfectionist. If you have an idea, start already
• Learn from your mistakes and move forward. Do not dwell in the past
• Understand the data available at hand and draw conclusions
• Focus on helping people first (instead of focusing on building a business idea)