Tell us about yourself, your background, and what you are doing currently

My name is Santhosh Kumar Nayak. I have a diamond face shape with a golden heart.

Jokes apart, I am a 21-year-old marketing enthusiast working as a copywriter and content writer at GrowThat Media. Also, I am a final-year engineering student at St. Joseph Engineering College.

What motivated you to get into marketing?

Ever since I was a kid, I love to tinker and brainstorm ideas and understand the underlying meaning of things. My love to communicate using words and my curiosity to understand humans motivated me to get into the marketing domain.

What went into landing your first opportunity - Was it tough?

I used to struggle a lot when it came to landing opportunities before I discovered Fueler. Due to the lack of a proper way to show my work to potential clients, I lost a lot of opportunities. From the day I started sharing my Fueler custom portfolio with potential clients, I have been able to land more opportunities.

What role does Proof of Work play in your career? How have you used it so far?

When it comes to career, Fueler is like a sherpa on Mount Everest.

I used the Fueler custom portfolio to land many freelance opportunities in the past.

A few weeks ago, I sent a cold email with my Fueler profile to the founder of a marketing agency. He loved my cold email and the proof of work that helped me land a job in his agency.

What was the role of Proof of Work in your freelancing career?

In the initial days, I used to think that if I had a skill, I can become successful in freelancing.

As time passed and after facing many rejections, I realized the importance of proof of work. I sent potential clients a link to my work on Google Drive, but it wasn't professional and didn't fit their needs.

Using Fueler's custom portfolio, I developed client-specific portfolios based on their needs, which made the process easy and helped me impress employers easily.

What are the biggest challenges you've faced and obstacles you've overcome? If you had to start over, what would you do differently?

The biggest challenge I have faced is to show my work.

Every day, my imposter syndrome haunted me because I wasn't confident in my skills. My confidence increased when I saw people from different niches publishing their work on Fueler, which gave me the courage to overcome my challenge and start showing my work.

If I had to start from scratch, I would execute and build more projects, join different communities, and interact more with people.

How was your experience using Fueler?

Discovering Fueler is one of the best decisions of my life.

Initially, I thought that this is just a website to publish my work. It was later that I discovered the amazing people behind it who are always encouraging and give more than they take.

People in Fueler's community share a wealth of knowledge and experience from various niches and it's super engaging.

Fueler has introduced me to some amazing friends who are always encouraging and offer suggestions when I get stuck. 

What do you love the most about Fueler?

I love the custom portfolio feature in Fueler that allows me to share my work according to the prospect's needs. Also, I'm loving the Fueler community, which is so engaging, and I'm glad that I've decided to join and learn new things every day.

What’s your advice to opportunity seekers who are just starting out?

My advice to opportunity seekers who are starting out,

• Learn a skill and build more projects that the market demands
• Publish your projects on Fueler and get discovered through your work
• Build a network of people who add value to your life and engage with them
• Keep the promises
• Be shameless

Would you like to share any of your favorite quotes?

Bhagavad Gita 2.47: You have a right to perform your prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, nor be attached to inaction.

Special thanks to Rajita for covering this success story.

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