“Success isn’t a destination, it’s a journey.”
Raja Bilal khan is the Co-Founder and current President of 247 Virtual Solution, a US-based call center and a company that provides one of the best Digital Marketing services in the industry. From inbound and outbound to Final Expense and Medical leads, it has all the important services to bring to the table.
Mr. Khan’s journey like most of the successful entrepreneurs was not easy at all. It took him stress, pressure, sweat, hard work, failures, financial crisis, breakdowns and what not to establish a company of his own. He has marked his presence in the Digital world in a very short period of time with his skills, ambition and hard work and still burns midnight oil to take his company where he wishes to see it in future. He is one of the youngest successful entrepreneurs who has a lot to teach the world.
He strongly believes that success does not find us, we have got to go out to look for it and then, earn it.
We happened to have a detailed interview with Raja Bilal Khan and the journey of is success is actually worth a lot more of them!
How was your childhood and your student life?
“My childhood was the same as the childhood of any other child belonging to a middle-class family in Pakistan. I’ve seen all the highs and the lows as a child,” Mr. Bilal Khan smiled.
“You know, life is hard when the only breadwinner is your father and you have got to meet his expectations at any cost to make him happy. I was not a very bright student, in fact, it would not be wrong to say that I have even failed multiple times. I had become nothing but a disgrace to my entire family. I will forever remember the disappointment on my mom’s face when I failed,” he added.
What was your favourite subject and has it been good to you?
I honestly never had a favourite subject till I reached the intermediate level. The only subject that I got attracted to, all my life, was accounting. Most of my friends and batch mates would rant about how difficult and stressful studying accounting is while I would actually enjoy it. There was even a point in my life where I thought that’s it, accounting is what I need to pursue! You see, you plan and God also plans but He’s always the best of the planners,” Bilal said.
“It would not be appropriate to say that accounting could do no good to me as I happened to do an internship at this bank and have also been the accounting head at Mac Enterprises. Both of the jobs helped me learn a lot about many things that were important for me to learn for the paths that I had to follow. You’ve most probably heard, “What doesn’t kill makes you stronger” and that is exactly how I would describe the role of accounting in my life,” he smiled.
Why did you quit your bank-job and the other one as an accounting head at Mac Enterprises when accounting had always been your favourite subject?
I had no intentions to quit any of them before I joined them. However, after a while, I realized how I just liked the idea of having accounting as a part of my life but had no interest in it on the whole. This was when I felt lost and strived to find a purpose of my life. Hard days,” Mr. Bilal said.
How did the idea of digital marketing services pop in to your mind?
It wasn’t planned, honestly. When I stepped into the digital world, there were a lot of things that I realized. One of them being the increasing need and scope of the digital marketing services around the world. It was honestly one of the best decisions in the world,” he smiled with pride.
Have failures ever scared you?
Well, if I say no failure has ever scared me, it would definitely be a lie,” he laughed.
“It is pretty natural and okay to be afraid of failing at something you have invested your energy in. I think, it’s about time people start normalizing facing failures in life because even if success reaches you before failure does, you certainly would be successful but not experienced enough to keep it with you forever,” he said while rolling his sleeves.
Who was your biggest inspiration?
There sure were many people I have always tried following the footsteps of. On the whole, I think there should not just be one inspiration to keep you going because even if you become more than half of them, you will always just stay that way and would fail to cross them, if that makes sense? It is more like following the path that your ideal follows and being lost in case you lose the path for the rest for your life. You should make yourself flexible enough to absorb positivity from anywhere and anyone,” Mr. Bilal said.
So your first stable job happened to be a call-center-job. Was it good to you?
Well, yes! Ignoring the fact that it did start getting all chaotic a little before I left it but it helped me learn everything I needed to before owning a call center of my own. The staff, the clients and everyone associated with it was happy with me, my work and my sincerity towards my job. I have worked for almost 6 years and it was always a blessing in disguise to me,” Raja Bilal said.
What always kept you going and has it been hard to stay motivated?
The only thing that always kept me going was the idea of making my dreams come true, if you want me to be honest. There have been times when I was lost and kept wandering till I created my own ways towards my destination. I think, the most important thing to achieve something is the love for it. You know, when you love someone, you make efforts for them and the same goes for something that you genuinely love – it makes you want to move mountains to get it,” Mr. Khan said with a smile on his face.
When you stepped into your practical life, did you feel yourself changing?
“In ways I never imagined,” he laughed.
I mean, life hits you hard when you go from being dependent on someone for your basic necessities to having to manage everything on your own. Life does take a drastic turn, and nothing is the same in the blink of an eye. You feel little to huge changes in your personality and lifestyle. Not just that, your mindset and views on a lot things change when life throws unexpected things to deal with at you,” Bilal added.
Where do you see your company in 5 years?
24/7 is already among the best call centers and Digital-Marketing-service providers in Pakistan and will be a well-known organization all over the world in 5 years or less,” Mr. Khan said.
What’s your biggest goal as a successful entrepreneur now?
The biggest goal is to be one of the best organizations in the whole world and to make people aware of all the new opportunities to avail. I wish to create employment through my company and teach people all the skills they have never even heard of,” he said.
Reach out to Raja Bilal using the following links.
- https://www.instagram.com/rajabilalllc/
- https://www.facebook.com/rajabilalllc
- https://www.tiktok.com/@rajabilalllc
