Meet Raj Shamani, the man who went from being called a ‘useless kid’ to being one of the youngest Indians to represent India in the United Nations.
“An average human being has 86,400 moments in a day and if we utilise each and every one of them, we can be what we wanna be, we can have what we wanna have, and we can live like we want to live and still, we don’t”
From getting called a ‘good-for-nothing’ and a failure multiple times to being a 4-time TEDx speaker, there’s no one like Raj in this whole wide world. The amount of resilience this guy has is hard to top, and we’re here to communicate his story as admirably as we can.
He is a motivational speaker, content creator, author, and entrepreneur- from handling his father’s business to being the founder of House of X, a startup meant to assist digital content creators to upscale their D2C brands.
The Beginning
Growing up in Indore, Raj was labelled as the ‘useless kid’ and a ‘failure’ since academics weren’t his strong suit. Raj grew up feeling inadequate and worthless due to the constant letdowns that people used to throw at him.
From school teachers to annoying relatives, everyone around him continued to belittle him to the point that he was frequently demotivated, with no clear vision of a future so unpredictable.
His dad, possibly the only person who had undoubted faith in him, faced a sudden health issue which turned out to be just another health scare. This made Raj get up on his feet and work towards a goal which was yet to be discovered.
Additionally, coming from a family with financial restrictions, he joined his father’s business, Shamani Industries, at the age of 16 and sold soaps along with him.
In hopes of earning money to financially assist his family, [not to mention, a family of twelve] he started making liquid soaps after discovering their demand, went up to people, asked them to promote his products and offered them 25% of the sales.
His marketing strategies worked surprisingly well and the company proved to be profitable. He then started creating content to share his journey with the world. He was just 17 years old when he started working with firms like Jaguar, Land Rover, and TATA.
Moreover, right around the same time, English was not his forte and took it upon himself to attend English classes. Later, he came to discover his one true passion in life, storytelling.
And today, he’s making every single person who ever said he ‘couldn’t do it’ hide their faces in disgrace, as he rightfully should. Look at him now, he’s a 4-time TED-X speaker, an author, and heck, one of the youngest Indians EVER to represent India in the United Nations, at the United Nations Assembly, Vienna.
He is also the author of the book, ‘Build Don’t Talk’, which he released on 25th November 2022. Passionate about gaining knowledge outside of restrictive classrooms, Raj created this book for those of us who want to experience life beyond formal education. It’s packed with the life struggles he went through and the journey alongside.
Figuring Out Podcast
You can make it big in the industry and still be unsure of what lies ahead, and believe it or not, Raj is the epitome of this very fact. He grew up feeling unsure about his life path and for this reason, he thought of creating a platform that would resonate with people just like him, unsure, but with a distinct vision.
He says he was “the fastest in the race with no finish line.” At the Figuring Out podcast, he invites over entrepreneurs, artists, creators, and everyone who shares this commonality.
He guarantees you that no one’s got it all sorted out no matter how put-together they look. That is why Raj, at Figuring Out podcasts, invites over entrepreneurs, creators, artists, and other influential people who’ve made it big in their respective fields but are still figuring life out and are still in the middle of putting two and two together.
So far, Raj has invited over Ashneer Grover, Amit Jain, Bhuvan Bam, Ranveer Allahbadia and others, to talk about their life journey and to encourage young entrepreneurs to step up and start their journey too.
Believing in the power of your dreams
Raj’s success is all the more impressive given his humble upbringing, and he inspires us to pursue our dreams regardless of our socioeconomic background.
He says, “Coming from a humble family and city, having big dreams was considered a ‘luxury.’ But today as I get acknowledged for fulfilling mine, it isn’t just me who wins. This is a win for everyone who doubts themselves for not being talented enough, not being rich enough, not being from the big city, not being an IIM/IIT graduate & still continuing to believe in their dreams.”
And at the age of 26, he’s been featured in the Forbes 30 under 30 list of brilliant young achievers. Fun Fact: In 2013, he wrote in his diary that he’d be on the cover of Forbes magazine someday. And little Raj wouldn’t have believed this but 10 years later, in 2023, he was featured on the cover of Forbes magazine. We might as well say that he’s the king of manifestation! Just kidding, this is the outcome of persistent efforts and commitment.
