Adnan Ibrahim ... a young man who loves to work on the Internet and wins his first million dollars before reaching the age of thirty
"I was all the time fascinated by the Internet, according to my memory," says Adnan Ibrahim, a tech businessman, although he is still in his 30s.
And he adds, "I spent my teenage years, when I was growing up, in my secret, England, doing various activities on the Internet, such as forming groups whose members have common interests or hobbies, and engaging in income-generating work as well."
Ibrahim had established, during his studies and from his bedroom, the "Car Throttle" website for car enthusiasts, to show by this, from his youth, that he had an entrepreneurial spirit in the field of projects.
In an interview with the "A Million Bay 30" program (I achieved the first two million before I was 30 years old) broadcast by the "BBC Radio 5 Live" radio station, this young man said that the first time he realized the financial benefits, which he can seize through Working on the Internet, it was during the years 2005 and 2006 "when I started selling to my schoolmates, bands that were placed around the wrists and were popular at that time."
"Annoying bites" in Adnan Ibrahim's life
Adnan explains: “These bands were sold on eBay at ten times their original price. So I launched my first auction (on the site), and started shipping these things from my house. I had to ask my mother to go to different stores and buy the largest quantity. Possible from those bands. " And he adds that during that period, he managed to make "good money, for a student at school."
When he reached the age of sixteen, Adnan turned to blogging on the Internet, after failing in a project to sell iPods.
The young man remembers that period by saying: “I was stung badly. I lost a few thousand pounds after it emerged that (the person I was dealing with) was pretending to be a seller” of these devices.
Fortunately, blogging turns out to be a lot more money. Because he loved cars, he started blogging about it, but he kept it a secret. He used to come home from school every day, writing and publishing some articles. The next day, he was monitoring the reactions to it, and getting acquainted with a number of those who read it, saying: "I was counting how many pennies I would earn from ads," which are posted on the blog.
A second life in Adnan Ibrahim
When he saw these pennies increase from "ten to twenty to fifty to a hundred, then to a few thousand dollars a month," Adnan began to realize that he had the ingredients to launch successful projects on the Internet. He sold this blog at the age of eighteen. He did not disclose possession of it to his parents, except when he needed them to complete necessary legal procedures.
“It was strange, but I liked the fact that no one knew what I was doing,” says Adnan. “This was my second life on the Internet.”
Adnan Ibrahim is "a little embarrassed"
Adnan also preferred to wait and tell his friends about his success. “Nobody knew. I didn't tell anyone except my family. I kept it all completely confidential. I was a little embarrassed by the idea that I created for myself this second life, which no one knows about. I was writing and writing. To some degree, what people might think of "my doing activities like this."
Adnan Star kept this secrecy surrounding that part of his life, even after he completed his education in school and enrolled in university, during which time he launched the "Car Throttle" website. He said, "I didn't tell my roommates until my residency with them entered its second year. Before that, they had no idea I was involved in activities like this."
Perhaps we can now recognize the vision of the journalist and writer Trevor Clawson, who has been working for more than ten years, to address in his writings emerging technology companies as well as fast-growing companies. For Clawson, the imposition of this level of secrecy is not surprising among new entrepreneurs. He says, "There are a number of factors that could lead some to the effect of staying relatively out of sight, at least in the first phase of their projects."
One of these factors can be fear of criticism, he explains. When you are developing an idea, it is not necessarily helpful to face criticism from friends or colleagues, who may not be able to understand the meaning of the concept you are working on in the first place. Especially before it completely crystallizes.
"Batman" moment in the life of Adnan Ibrahim
For Adnan, it took "a good while" before he realized that his project was interesting enough to push him to reveal it to his friends. "I thought this project was a bit strange, and other people wouldn't react to it positively, at least immediately," he says.
Adnan points out that the outlook for commercial enterprises in the field of technology was different at that time than in the current period. "I think the activity on the Internet was seen as a bit vague," he says. And the young man continues by saying: "A secret aspect of my personality was present on the World Wide Web, something I did not want at the time to inform the rest of the world about."
Adnan vividly remembers the moment his roommate revealed that he owned the Car Throttle site. But this moment was not full of excitement and enthusiasm as he expected, as he imagined that it would be like revealing "Batman" (Batman) for his true personality, for example. However, it was simpler than that, recalls Adnan, who recounts what happened at the time by saying: “I told him, 'I have something really important to report to you. I have a website'. I remember his mouthpiece was' So what? It was not important to him. "
On the other hand, Adnan remembers when the word "million" began to appear in the folds of his spreadsheets and his accounts. He says in this regard: "The number of one million began to appear very quickly, in 2013 and 2014, whether in terms of the value of our project, or regarding our revenues reaching the threshold of one million pounds sterling, as well as the subscribers of our YouTube channel reaching one million subscribers, and also when we have a million A follower on Facebook. We were advancing really fast, and unexpectedly. "
And in 2019, Adnan sold "Car Throttle" to the British publishing house, Dennis Publishing, after the number of followers of the site reached more than 15 million people, and the views of the video clips posted on it reached 2.5 million views.
Douglas McCabe, an expert in technology and media publishing and CEO of Ender's Analysys research and consulting in the field of media and entertainment, says that this site has great appeal, given the number of its audience and its ability to reach the target segments, although it is not the most valuable among news sites. Cars in the world, by revenue.
Makib said that this site provided its new owners "with a new audience, especially since 60 percent of its followers were under 35 years old. It also has a special value in terms of its ability to reach different segments of society, as its scope increases in this. The issue was reported by Auto Express magazine and Carbayer, two of the auto media outlets owned by Dennis Publishing, 14 and 17 times, respectively.
Although Adnan says that he does not regret any decisions he made when he was younger, even the wrong ones, he wishes he had dealt with the opportunities that came to him in the past, in a "more audacious" way. "I think a person suffers from a great deal of inferiority complex, when he is at that young age," he says.
Professor Ben Lecher, a professor of leadership skills at the management level at Henley College of Business, says that young entrepreneurs often fear that they will become victims of their own success, as each of them cannot believe that he is the same, successful person that others are talking about.
Now, Adnan is CEO of the mental health startup, which he also co-founded, Mind Labs. The company aims to "make the world a happier place". And this young man, by virtue of his experience, has some advice for owners of new projects in the field of technology, as he tells each of them: "There are many obstacles along the way, you have to realize that you will make mistakes, and this is completely normal."
"One of the basic things you need is perseverance," he concludes. "But all too often, it's hard to have it."
BBC
