How I created content in 2020 – Ankur Warikoo

Back in Aug 2016, I started creating content to share my experiences as an entrepreneur.

Over 3 years I had put out 1,200+ hours of content – posting every week without fail.

August 2016. It has been 3 months since LinkedIn had launched its video feature.

And I had been waiting for it to be activated on my profile.

Little did I know that something I started almost 4 years back would give my life an entirely new direction.

At the end of 2019, my biggest platform was LinkedIn with over 700K followers.

In Jan 2020, I decided to build a team that would help me with the content.

I ran a month long recruitment drive to hire a team of interns. 

It comprised 4 detailed rounds – starting with my loved 20 questions, then an assignment, then a WhatsApp video round and finally F2F.

Through 1,200+ applications, I finally selected 6 profiles, starting March.

I am a firm believer in Peter Thiel’s ‘one task, one person’ philosophy. So the team was structured such that everyone was responsible for ONLY one task.

1. Content ideas

2. Videography

3. Video editing

4. LinkedIn (+TikTok) distribution

5. FB+IG distribution

6. YouTube distribution

Today the team comprises 10 interns.

3 of them have full-time jobs

4 of them are students

3 of them are freelancers

All of them are paid the same fixed stipend (10k) – paid in advance (not end of the month) + 10% of the brand income every qtr is shared equally as variable.

They are spread across the country.

Delhi NCR

Kolkata

Pune

Manipal

Jodhpur

Coimbatore

Through fixed + variable an intern stands to earn almost 2L a year, working for 10-15 hours a week!

Here they are, we call ourselves wariCrew!

I believe creativity is a process and not some spark of brilliance that comes at unannounced times! 

So we create our content as a process

1. I shoot an hour of content every Tuesday.

2. Wednesday it is categorized and shared with subtitle agency + video editors + graphic designers.

3. They get a week to work on them.

4. Over a week, this hour of video content is converted into 80+ unique content types to be distributed across 7 different platforms.

5. By next Sunday, I review all of it.

6. By Monday, the team schedules the content.

The same “boring” process is clinically executed every week!

There is no magic wand to this, no secret sauce, no holy grail.

It is just showing up and doing the same thing over and over again, and tracking progress.

Every Monday, we catch up as a team and have a Weekly-business-review (WBR)

We go over every platform’s performance, what worked, what didn’t.

This takes 30 mins.

For the next 30 mins one of us asks a question that everyone has to answer. Our attempt at replicating office chats!

Every platform is unique in its audience, demographic and thus requires constant context switching. 

This is where most of the time and planning goes, at my end.

I spend less than 2 hours a week creating content and about 5X preparing – by reading, engaging with the audience.

I also spend a huge amount every month on software.

My usual statement to wariCrew is – you are not daily wage laborers.

You are people who have been selected for your skills and judgment.

DO NOT WASTE TIME doing things that a computer can do for you.

So my monthly software purchases are:

1. Canva: graphics

2. Envato: stock footage

3. DescriptApp: english translation

4. Spext: translation

5. ConvertKit: newsletter

6. Google Drive

7. Zapier

8. Zoom

The team also has an unlimited budget for ANY training they wish to go through, that will help them do their job faster, better.

The biggest thing for me is that I LOVE DOING THIS.

Frankly, I do not have any better answer than the fact that I truly enjoy helping people.

And everytime I get such responses, I cannot help but feel grateful for being able to do this.

I am blessed that content comes naturally to me. 

I joke that I am living such an envious life where the perceived effort of what I do is quite high (people think I live my life 24×7 online) when the actual effort is quite low (I work less than 10 hours a week on this!)

Where will this take me?

I think I have some ideas.

What do I want to get out of this?

Help people make choices in life from a point of awareness and not ignorance.

Everything that we do at wariCrew is shared in this document – which is free for you to consume, download, share and replicate. 

I truly feel that people have so much to offer and I wish more people shared!

As of Dec ’20, brand Warikoo has 1.7Mn followers across 6 platforms, from 800K in March 2020.

Imagine how far can this go in the next decade! The opportunities, reach and impact is truly limitless.

Lessons I have learned through the journey.

1. Consistency + Authenticity is the magic formula to crack the content game

2. Ideas are all around you. Do not look for original ideas. Share your take on existing ideas.

3. If you are not having fun while doing it, people will see through it.

4. Do not assume on behalf of your audience. Share and then listen. Listen intently.

5. Don’t pretend to be someone else. Be yourself and then ask, who all does this persona appeal to?

Thank you, if you are one of those who have spent your time on my content. You should know I consider it as a privilege and a responsibility. 

You have added meaning to my life.

I am forever grateful:)

Ankur Warikoo

Ankur Warikoo is an Indian internet entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and angel investor based in India. He is the co-founder of Nearbuy. Warikoo was previously the CEO of Groupon India + APAC, MD of at Rocket Internet India, Co-founder at Accentium Web, and a management consultant at A.T. Kearney. He is an inspiration and a great mentor to every Indian young hustler.