I couldn’t afford anything. Like most other people in Pakistan, I couldn’t either. When I started my first blog, I couldn’t buy the domain or the hosting. When I bought my first .com domain in 2009, I couldn’t afford a separate hosting package.
I paid 1600 Rs for 1 year of domain inclusive of 1 year of shared hosting that couldn’t take 10 sessions in parallel. But I went ahead, and still shared that hosting with my friend Awais Imran aka WaisyBabu and hosted his site ArtsyHands alongside my site. The small blogging and tech community was very inclusive and believed in giving.
Uzair Sajid aka UzEE, who was also a student at that time, would help me modify my theme because I didn’t know how to. Salman aka SKDev, may his soul rest in peace, would do serious development work for me, for absolutely no charge.
Writers wrote for free for the love of music until KoolMuzone could afford them. Photographers and videographers covered concerts for KM, also for the love of music.
Faizan Shoaib became our product manager, for absolutely no compensation. He worked with us, at no cost, from 2009 to 2012. It wasn’t until 2019 that I met him for the first time.
My cousins and friends abroad would help me receive $20 in their PayPal and travel all the way to Western Union to send that money over.
My younger brother, became editor in chief, without me asking and eventually assumed co-founder role.
It all worked out in the end. I couldn’t afford anything or anyone. I couldn’t afford myself, let alone any employees. Still, it all worked out. It worked out because I guess I wanted it all to work out.
Not just for me, it worked out for all my friends who struggled alongside me. If you’re wondering that you can’t make it because you’re poor or foolish or no one would help you or teach you, then you’re wrong. All you have to do is reach out to people or learn on your own and take actions. If you keep taking actions long enough, it will work out.
That’s my promise to you.
<3