“Studies and market trends have proven that the freelance market has gained much hype during recent times. Moreover, it doesn’t seem to be a short-term demand; instead, it holds much potential for almost every business in any stage of development.
Everything is getting techno-savvy. Hence, the demand for high-quality content is definitely growing with the tremendous increase in internet users, social media channels and more. The freelance world is taking an uphill vis-à-vis ongoing consumer behavioural trends. Today, everybody wants to work as per his/her own convenience while the concept of 9 to 5 working is gradually fading away.” Said Anton Rublevskyy, Founder & CEO Contentmart.com
In an interview shared with us Anton delightfully elucidates on the rising need of pertinent content in the marketing domain and how it’s just not about story telling but telling your story right.
Here’s the complete Q&A describing his journey in the world of entrepreneurship and what made him initiate in this niche.
Q. Please tell us about your journey in the corporate world so far? Any inspiring incident that you can share: like went hungry, was a refugee, lost something/someone, no home or anything or dropout or topper or best student or awarded etc?
A. An urge to accomplish something colossal and substantial was always on my cards. It was indeed a long wait and I must say it was worth waiting. The Ukrainian market was not completely ready to accept and unfold the proposed business potential. Thus, time favoured me to explore the markets and think of considerable options.
Q. What was the thirst that led you to this?
A. Having tried and tested many similar and analogous content platforms in Ukraine to outsource content for my other businesses I realised that it was quite evident that this model works efficiently in gathering the content easily and speedily.
Well, the motivation originally turned up after realizing the fact that the market is in a dearth of high-quality content and it’s about time to fill the gap especially when it comes to run a successful digital presence of any business, come what may, and also there is a huge requirement for impressive content in a language which is globally accepted – and this geared us up to launch a magnanimous Content Marketplace platform (Contentmart.com).
Q. Finding the niche and the market?
A. After constant research, we certainly noticed that content market in India is not well organised and it’s not easy to get high quality original content that swiftly, so launched a product in this niche.
We observed that in India there is a huge bunch of qualified and skilled writers and also the demand for quality content is very high. So, our roadmap headed us to this direction and today, Contentmart has set an outstanding platform for skilled writers and content seekers to connect with each other in the most secure way possible.
Q. Finding Venture Capitalist, funds, negotiating?
A. Currently, ContentMart is running from the funds raised from our own pockets but we are thinking to raise funds to scale-up our business soon.
Q. Team members and what made you choose this country or place?
A. We have an assimilation of people from the profound background. Vikas Trivedi, our Co-founder & Business Head, with big experience in marketing and online industry.
The reason for choosing India as our launching pad was quite simple. The huge market, here, is at an early stage of development and it has miles to go in terms of digital world that will vastly impact present as well as future businesses.
Q. Tips for fellow start-ups
A. The gist of setting a successful example lies in believing yourself. This applies to each and every task taken up by any individual. Move ahead with time and try to find your niche while working like crazy to achieve results.
Q. How has outsourcing and the freelance world changed since you joined before and earlier that led your decisions.
A. Studies and market trends have proven that the freelance market has gained much hype during recent times. Moreover, it doesn’t seem to be a short-term demand; instead, it holds much potential for almost every business in any stage of development.
Everything is getting techno-savvy. Hence, the demand for high-quality content is definitely growing with the tremendous increase in internet users, social media channels and more. The freelance world is taking an uphill vis-à-vis ongoing consumer behavioural trends. Today, everybody wants to work as per his/her own convenience while the concept of 9 to 5 working is gradually fading away. This increases the scope of such a platform to nurture manifold.
Q. What are the most important decisions that you have made along the way?
A. I assume the decision to start doing business in a humongous market like India was the most important decision. It was an absolutely different and undiscovered experience.
Q. What is an accomplishment that you are proud of?
A. Being able to create a promising team of product development and business operations!
Q. What are the wrong decisions that you took
A. In fact, we make wrong decisions every day but this is the only way to make right decisions – Make mistakes, learn and achieve success.
Q. Are there any degrees/certifications that you recommend for your career that you miss or should have taken?
A. I believe it’s just the experience and your hard work – this is the best degree one can graduate in.
Q. Please tell us briefly about your job profile and the role you play in your organization?
A. Currently, it is not restricted to a specific role. I am involved in almost everything be it product development, marketing or sales. When it comes to defining my job profile – I’m an entrepreneur since I was 16. While I was still exploring and learning to adapt with the market, I had launched 2 companies in Ukrainian market and sold them while they were already climbing their success ladder.
Q. What are you doing to ensure that you continue to grow and develop as a leader? What challenges you face? Who are your competitors and how do you see the market in your domain.
A. I spend a good amount of time in reading a lot of articles, memorandum, specimens and books on management, frequently meet managers of different levels and always seek advice at every step where I feel I presume to go wrong.
In India, we don’t have any competitors but globally there are quite a few. The focus is to build and create the best product and deliver best results to our clients.
Q. Give your location, website, social handles, Founders and team, funding.
A. We are currently Self-funding. I’m the founder and Vikas Trivedi is the co-founder and business head.
Q. Your target audience and clients?
A. Anyone who is in need of a high-quality content – digital marketers, content heads, e-commerce business, agencies, corporate, any individual bloggers and many others!
Q. How you want to expand globally
A. To start with, we want to expand in all English speaking countries.
Q. How you plan to grow and what challenges/bad/good you see ahead?
A. It’s important to prune and fine-tune our product to grow massively. Thus, give the best experience, support and services to our clients and getting them delivered the best quality content at competitive prices speedily. And for that matter, we are closely monitoring all the metrics to measure the same along with the roadmap to achieve it.
The challenge for such platforms is always to purge and eliminate the clients and writers interaction out of the platform and for that we already have a moderation system in place and trying to make it more robust and refined to this kind of an interaction.
Q. Your interest, food/office, outings, hobbies, family or friends you want to share, books/movies/person that inspired.
A. It’s a pretty decent list including travelling, active sports – fishing, hiking, and riding ATVs. I relish the time that I spend time with my family, son and friends. I enjoy reading books and watching movies too.
Q. How do you characterise your business?
A. (a) where you did your schooling, birthplace, graduation degree or college
Well, I was born in Simferopol, Ukraine where I finished Gymnasium. Studied in the US for 1 year and moved to Kiev (capital of Ukraine) to study in National Aviation University and was equally engrossed in business.
(b) most important thing in your life, moment in business or office
Frankly speaking, the birth of my son is the most important thing that has happened to me on a personal front.
Talking about the business, each and every moment is crucial and formidable, I must say.