By Celeste Rodgriguez

People tend to view successful entrepreneurship as challenging or unattainable – especially in this digital era. The digital era in entrepreneurship has created a whole set of challenges when people try to build a profitable business.

Distancing from traditional entrepreneurship has brought new ways of running a business through a digital process.

Digital entrepreneurship is accepting and learning about the technologies that influence others. There is no path that will provide you with a secure spot in digital entrepreneurship so it takes a lot of grit and consistency to make that first step.

Building a profitable business takes more than having knowledge about influential technologies. It is about pushing your limits beyond your current mindset to prepare for the journey ahead.

The story of Deepak Shukla, CEO of Pearl Lemon, is proof that building a profitable business is more than just about technical knowledge. It is about shaping your mindset to develop the stamina and strength to build a business.

Leading up to Pearl Lemon

There are many things you can learn from Deepak Shukla and one thing is that he pushes his limits physically and mentally. Let’s analyze his story before Pearl Lemon to see how he was able to create a profitable business.

Deepak studied English Literature at Warwick University but decided to take a gap year prior to that. Despite his parent’s negative view towards this plan he worked 14-hour shifts 3 days a week with a full-time job at Natwest bank.

After 6 months he saved £6,000 to start backpacking in March 2004. He travelled through India, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and the States. After attending university, he worked at MEC which was one of the world’s leading marketing agencies. Following that, he worked at Deloitte as a tax consultant.

During the peak of the 2008 recession, he decided to pursue his own business and goals. Initially, this was his time to produce more music which he did. He left that behind for his first startup ‘Meet My Tutor’ in 2010 followed by his next business ‘The CV Guy’ in 2014.

Finally, he founded his agency in October 2016 known as Pearl Lemon – which is now an award-winning SEO Agency. Even though his first business ventures didn’t work out as planned, continued to remain innovative and perseverant.

An important thing to remember is that this SEO agency started with just him in a coffee shop with good WiFi. All the people he worked with were completely remote and this business model provided a unique opportunity for digitalization and globalization.

It is a good example of remote agencies that are able to grow and remain profitable through lots of obstacles, including a pandemic like this one. Since it started, more and more companies are trying to digitalize in order to keep their businesses afloat.

But what if they went further than that and created companies that could operate efficiently through digitalization – this would limit the need for in-person employees. Certain industries like medicine and construction will always need to be in person, but the rest of the world can surely adapt.

Having the mindset to create a profitable business

Now that we have taken a look at Deepak’s journey we can see that his journey didn’t begin with Pearl Lemon – it began way before that. Deepak’s journey to creating Pearl Lemon was not a straight shot and his path to building a profitable business will not be the same for everyone.

Yes, it takes knowledge to understand the technologies that influence your audience but the foundation of any business you create starts with your character and mind. From his journey leading up to Pearl Lemon, you can tell that Deepak Shukla had grit towards everything he did.

Shukla states, “It had been a rough period in my life – hence the name Pearl Lemon. One thing that I’ve always been good at though was marketing, so I found a way to harness that experience to build a digital agency.”

He started out as a freelancer on UpWork and decided to take his skills to the next level. Many people who start out as freelancers often get discouraged because of how rocky the profession can be. But it’s important to remember that it’s possible to build a profitable business using the skills you gain as a freelancer.

He tests his limits and pushes through difficult obstacles to get to the results he wants. That mindset isn’t just towards his business but he applied that to his life. Surely his backpacking trip was not a smooth one and at any moment he could have gone home. There was nothing holding him back or requiring him to continue his travels but he did it anyway.

He is the reason why Pearl Lemon has grown into a profitable business because he teaches your mindset towards the business starts by applying it towards your life. That is why he teaches about improving your mindset to his whole team.

You can have all the knowledge about digital entrepreneurship and the steps to build your business but you have to train your mind to be prepared for the journey. There will be times where you face criticism and doubt. Your hope and desire to reach a profitable business is ot enough.

It takes growing your mind to be strong against the doubt and not settle for anything less. Building a profitable business starts with building your mindset.

Final thoughts

Entrepreneurship in the digital era requires more knowledge than traditional entrepreneurship. More courses and classes are surfacing to help the next generation of entrepreneurs but we also need to equally focus on training the mind.

We need people like Deepak Shukla to teach others ways to mentally prepare for the journey. Their mindset is going to help them push through the obstacles and create a profitable business.

Author Bio: My name is Celeste Rodgriguez. I am currently pursuing a business degree and interested in entrepreneurship. Before starting my career, I hope to get the chance to travel internationally.