It all started when I found an escape from my traumatic childhood by dissecting electronics and developed a love and talent for computers. I was a child from a broken home, who spent nights wondering when my next meal would come but hopeful about what the future would bring. This child-like optimism never left me, and it was a contributor to my very first business concept – a prototype for an interest-based social media platform. Unfortunately, the idea didn’t materialize to the extent that I had hoped for. I am proud of my heritage, but being from Pakistan meant I faced more issues when dealing with the international market, from banking to business and everything else.
By the age of 13, I found susceptibilities in the websites of companies such as Sony, Microsoft, ESPN, EA, and AOL after my interests turned to cybersecurity, cyber forensics, and reverse engineering. At 14, I began to pen-test products for security websites and was regularly showcased on websites with written proofs of concepts. My life took a turn when I had to leave school eventually before I graduated. All my dreams were slowly shattering, but I believed my fate was far from achieved.
Growing up in poverty, witnessing volatile relationships that led to abandonment, and struggling with abuse and chronic illness might be too much for some children, but it never held me back. As a child, I just needed an escape from my troubled day-to-day life, and I found exactly that in the form of computers.
I had no money to my name, but I began taking apart any electronic device I could find to see how it functioned, as I was obsessed with innovation, technology, and the inner workings of electronics.
Things were not always great at home either, with mom and dad splitting eventually, and several instances of abuse occurred that I still struggle with today. There were countless days that I kept my head down and hoped for the best.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m a proud Pakistani man who loves my country, and I know things are not just black or white. I have always seen beauty too. I know all the information and news channels continually paints a dire picture of Pakistan, which has the world under the impression Pakistan is a country of violence and intolerance. This is simply not true. The government has outstanding beauty and a unique, nostalgic old school charm, with millions of good people living there. If one ever made an effort to visit and travel through Pakistan, you would discover astounding natural beauty and cultures so old that you wouldn’t believe they have survived for thousands of years.
Hope, inspiration, and belief helped me overcome childhood abuse, poverty, and some of the most horrific incidents that happened to me during my teens and young adulthood. Today, I look back at my difficult childhood and understand that if it weren’t for the failures and difficulties, I wouldn’t have learned the skills of resilience, grit, and determination to succeed no matter what. These challenging circumstances came in handy over the years when some relationships close to me turned toxic, and I was continually beaten down for what I believed in.
Since my childhood, my mom was one of the only few people who believed in me and supported my dreams. Others thought I was crazy when I used to share my vision for the businesses and technology I would work on and build.
They smirked and laughed at me. “Unlikely young man. Better you get yourself a decent job like everyone else in the neighborhood.” Back then, technology and IT were not significant in Pakistan, with few of the older generations understanding the disruption mobile and computer technology would one day have on the world. But I’ve always been obsessed with innovation and technology, fascinated by how a particular electronic worked. So, when things started going south during my childhood and early teens, I turned to the one thing I was good at for solace and to keep my mind straight – computers.
My tech interest soon led me towards developing my own social media platform, Zstash, in my teens. As I was coding away each night, working on the forum, I thought Zstash would be my one-way ticket out of poverty. I dreamed of making millions like Mark Zuckerberg and conquering the online world. Unfortunately, due to several setbacks, I had to let go of my first business. “I told you it was going to fail,” people close to me said. “Get a proper job.”
I was miserable for days on end when I realized my first business venture failed. “Life is unfair,” I thought to myself. “Why does everything have to be so hard?” And just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, I was told that there was no more money for school and that I had to find a job to help support our family – be the man of the house since my dad left. My mom had spent so long trying to protect me from our financial position until it was just no longer possible to continue the pretense. My dreams of earning a degree overseas shattered into a million pieces. There was no other way, though; I knew that. I struggled for two more years to earn an income while simultaneously working on a new business concept I had in mind for a second business. This time, I didn’t tell anyone about it, fearing that they will once again dump their negative assumptions and ‘knowledge’ on me. I knew that all I needed was self-belief and motivation.
In 2012, when I was 20, I opened my second business’s virtual doors, C Media. By then, I had developed a business concept that revolved around helping celebrities and public figures earn money in various ways by building out their brand reach. With the lessons learned from previous failures, I was determined to make this work. I committed all my time to cold calls and emails to prospective clients. I didn’t know anything when I started this company; I had minimal experience in marketing. With my interests being mostly in the science and tech spheres, I knew little of sales and business management. Nonetheless, I put everything on the line. I taught myself along the way and ensured that everything I have done was valuable, whether it was as an action or a lesson. Failure was just not an option this time around.
I put everything into my company, making tremendous sacrifices. There was none of the glamorous meetings and dramatic negotiations to start with, but relatively minimal life outside of slogging away 20-22 hours a day. This is why it is essential to believe in what you do, because it’s not just the grueling hours required, but also the focus during those hours, even when things are not going to plan. In business, you need to understand the failure of some sort is a given, and you cannot just quit at the first sign of failure. After all, failure breeds success, or so they say.
This paid off. Four years on and C Media was consistently generating a 9-figure revenue, earning me multi-millionaire status by 24. It was a milestone I will never forget! What makes me the proudest, though, is when I introduced my mom to her new house. After so many years of struggle and hardship, it felt amazing to have a place we could call home. The best part of it was knowing that I bought it with my own money without having to think twice.
My business expertise and technology background soon made headlines, and numerous businesses and ventures approached me for assistance to help them scale. Scaling is what I love, and I get a thrill out of seeing businesses growing from strength to strength in such a short space of time! I completely understand and appreciate that business is not linear, but I have quite often used that to my advantage to ride waves, focusing on an aggressive scale right off the bat.
When you run an advertising business that is earning you six figures in income each month, you need to focus on finding ways to aggressively scale it if you want to play in the 7-, 8-, and 9-figure leagues. One technique that has helped me actualize this is implementing AI and automation tools, which is what I did a couple of years ago with C Media. We were stuck for months on end on a 5- to 6-figure turn-around until I realized why: inefficiencies and unimportant tasks were taking up time but weren’t earning us any money.
To save time, we implemented some AI and automation tools that were already on the market to focus on what made us money. It worked! We were soon netting $100K in daily sales. When we got stuck around the 8-figure revenue mark, I knew we had to improve our processes and systems once again. Since there was no software yet on the market that could do what we needed to be, I started planning and developing a new set of AI and automation tools. We’ve successfully implemented these tools in our advertising business and will roll out these tools later this year to a broader audience in the advertising sphere.
It is said that when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. I’m not particularly fond of lemonade and instead believe that life is a serious matter that can’t be sweetened over. It can be dangerous to bury lemons (past hurts) under a layer of sugar. Sooner or later, these hurts will overwhelm you, and you’ll have to deal with them mentally and emotionally. Instead of sugar-coating things, focus on dealing with difficulties and devising solutions so that you can move on and create the life of your choice, not other people’s. Coping with obstacles head-on will result in a better understanding and a swifter solution – vital in the fast-paced business world.
I’m thankful that I didn’t give in to my past and understood early that there would always be negative people who would try to break me down. Perspectives are different, and you should not get too caught up with other people’s attitudes – listen, consider, and move forward. I’ve learned that to thrive, not just survive in this three-dimensional world; one has to grow a thick skin and not get complacent. Focus on your ultimate goals and dreams, and work hard to achieve them. Know that no matter what obstacles are thrown in your path, you can overcome them.
As cliché as it sounds, do not look to anyone to support your dreams. Rely on yourself. Believe in yourself and your abilities as it is your hope and desire that will give you the foundations to build a life for yourself outside of the circumstances you have been handed. If you look at some of the most successful people on this planet, they all have a story to tell, and one common theme of all their diverse stories is that of resilience.
To learn more about Arham Muhammad, or become a part of his businesses, contact him via his LinkedIn page at https://www.linkedin.com/in/arham-muhammad/ You can also follow him on Instagram