Why I Stopped Wearing My Socks

by Alok Kejriwal

The biggest lesson I learned was to be prudent, practical and street-smart while pitching a business proposition. Many entrepreneurs I knew could not accept giving away their products and service for free. I fought that mindset and did the opposite. The advantage of starting out as a free service meant that I did not have any critical deliverables to be held accountable for. Who would demand anything from something that came complimentary? For many months, contests2win was a free service that partnered with the world’s greatest brands, without having to live up to their stringent expectations or asked to deliver an ROI (Return on Investment) because really, there was no ‘I’—Investment! This amazing relationship allowed me to perfect my business, create a deep value proposition for clients and build a great brand for myself. I mastered the art of ‘piggyback value creation’. Another deep lesson was understanding the psychological drivers of a business (which exist in every business) and leveraging them to the fullest. In my case, it was the lure of ‘free’. Free prizes made consumers go crazy, and they visited my site very frequently looking for free prizes. Soon online contest on contests2win.com had become a habit. And a habit, as I would figure out, was the foundation of a super-successful business model.