Meet Manish Pandey, a mentor to content creators and consultant to companies working in the creator economy space who is famous for being the unofficial coach of India’s content creators and top YouTubers.
He began his professional career at a call centre in 2007, then moved to a digital marketing company, worked at Reliance Industries, met with popular YouTuber Ranveer Allahbadia (BeerBiceps) in 2016, talked to him and provided some mentorship and today Manish is sought after by every other content creator and content companies.
Ranveer also introduced him to many other YouTubers and top content creators of India, and today Manish is considered a ‘Bade Bhaiya‘ in the creator economy space guiding some of the top creators and entrepreneurs of India.
The journey that began as mentoring Ranveer Allahbadia has now come a long way and today Manish Pandey is also the director of his companies, BeerBiceps Media World Private Limited, BeerBiceps Foundation and BigBrain Media Private Limited. He is also in the leadership team of Josh Talks.
The person who had to think of even for his meals a few years ago, now he is consulting startups and some of the biggest companies you can think of. Manish Pandey is a true inspiration for everyone who is trying to break the barriers, fulfil their dreams, and achieve success.
Beginning of the Journey
Manish hails from Kotwa Narayanpur of Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh but has spent most of his childhood at his maternal grandfather’s house in Nepal with his mother and sister.
His family’s economic condition was not that good. His father used to do menial jobs in the village and then got a job as a watchman in a factory in Silvassa.
Soon, Manish along with his mother and his sister came to his paternal home in Ballia and Manish started giving tuitions to the nearby children.
After some time, he convinced his father and came to Silvassa living in a small watchman’s cabin. He got to somehow know about the Kendriya Vidyalaya entrance exam, appeared in that and got admission into KVS. Manish began giving tuition there also and soon was earning more than his father which he used to send to his mother back home.
When he was in Class 9th, one day the Principal told him about the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya’s lateral entry in class 9. Manish was happy to hear that all his studies would be free if he got selected for that school, so prepared for that entrance exam and luckily he got admission there too.
Manish went to Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) and then his mother and sister also came to Silvassa. Now the watchman’s cabin was not sufficient, so they rented a ‘kutcha house’. As his earning from tuition was not there, his mother also started working to support the family.
At JNV, Manish got into reading books and somehow his dream of becoming a doctor resurfaced and started preparing for that. After 12th, he cleared the medical entrance test but he couldn’t fulfil his dream because no bank was ready to give a loan because of the absence of proper documents.
This was the year 2007 when his dream got shattered and after someday he took his little savings and went to Pune in search of a job. After roaming around here and there for some days, finally he got a job at a call centre and soon climbed the ladder of success.
Call Centre to Working at Reliance Industries
In Pune, after some days of searching for a job, Manish got a job at a call centre with a salary of 3000 INR per month. That job helped him to improve his communication skills and there he learnt a lot of other things also.
He even did a part-time job at McDonald’s so that he could improve his English speaking skills talking to customers.
One fine day, one of his seniors suggested that he should try to get into an international call centre because there he would get a higher salary. He did the same thing and got a job at an international call centre with a salary of 9000 INR per month.
Manish was very happy getting a higher salary because he always wanted to shift his family to a good house. So he asked his father to look for a 1-BHK house for rent in Silvassa and shifted his family from a hut to a good house.
Things kept going on and social media was also blooming in India. Somehow, Manish got into social media, created his accounts and started using every other social media platform.
One day, he got a message on LinkedIn that was looking for some interested people to work at a digital marketing company in Pune. He knew nothing about digital marketing back then, but they might have seen something in him that he got selected in the interview and got a job at a digital marketing company.
Now his journey of digital marketing began putting an end to the call centre life. Manish worked very hard there, got promotions, moved to managerial roles, changed jobs and finally got a job at Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) as a digital marketing consultant in 2016. At that time, Captain Raghu Raman was the president of RIL and he was working under him.
Becoming a Mentor of YouTubers
In 2016 while working at Reliance Industries, Manish Pandey met Ranveer Allahbadia at an event where Ranveer was a speaker and Manish was handling the social media of the event.
At that time, Ranveer had around 100K subscribers on his YouTube channel, BeerBiceps. He wanted someone who could help him explore spirituality and improve his habits in life. After talking to Manish, he felt good and after that event, they talked a few more times and then the bonding became stronger.
Every time Ranveer talked to Manish, he was amazed to listen to his thoughts and advice that he gave him. He also got connected to him due to his deep knowledge of spirituality which Ranveer was trying to explore. Later, they also began to discuss content creation and the journey of mentorship kept on.
Soon he introduced Manish Pandey to his other creator friends in the YouTube space telling them also about his greatness. Manish talked to them, they also got influenced by him and soon he became the unofficial coach of some of the top creators of India.
Manish Pandey also co-authored a book, Booming Digital Stars, along with brand expert Harsh Pamnani that covers the inspiring stories of 11 content creators of India like Bhuvan Bam, Ashish Chanchlani, Abhi and Niyu, Kabita Singh, Ranveer Allahbadia, Nikunj Lotia, Prajakta Koli, Madan Gowri, Team Naach, Yashraj Mukhate, and Ujjwal Chaurasia.
Bade Bhaiya at Josh Talks
Manish always looked for opportunities and attended every event happening around him. He met the co-founders of Josh Talks, Supriya Paul and Shobhit Banga at an event, talked to them and they also got influenced by his thoughts and knowledge.
In 2018, he started working at Josh Talks as ‘Research Head‘ where he led its in-house team to find stories from the grassroots of India, and managed content strategy and partnerships as well as brand integrations.
In 2020, Manish got into the leadership team of Josh Talks heading culture and growth. His position has no title, and popularly called ‘Bade Bhaiya‘ being the go-to person for everyone inside and outside of Josh Talks.
Currently, he is in a consulting role at Josh Talks responsible for supporting recruitment, training, motivating and retaining the team at Josh Talks. He leads team engagement and enforces organisational culture.
In addition to working at Josh Talks, he now works along with Ranveer Allahbadia also leading his companies BeerBiceps Media and Monk Entertainment. He is also consulting several content companies and content creators who seek his advice and suggestions.
The best thing about Manish Pandey is that he talks with everyone who approaches him despite the number of subscribers/followers one has on social media. He does not even charge anything, that he can obviously do and earn a lot of money through consulting.
Manish is very happy to see himself in such a position where he can help others and enable them in whatever way he can to fulfil their dreams. His life journey is very inspiring for everyone and he is a living testament that if he can break the barriers and achieve success despite his poor family conditions, then anyone can do anything and fulfil their dreams.
