Shlok Srivastava, 25, has his own YouTube channel named ‘Tech Burner’. In a very funny way, he gives information related to new technology to his audience. Reviews of gadgets like laptops, mobile phones and computers. He has 6.36 million viewers. He was never able to get admission in IIT, which he does not regret. Today he feels more free. Shlok, through his channel, is able to do whatever he wanted to do. They have earned both money and fame by doing the work of their choice, beyond the expectations or expectations of the people.
“Failure doesn’t break you as much as people’s words break you.
verse, The Better India Talking to PTI says, “The story of a middle class home begins like this. If the child is good at studies, then give science to him. After taking science, a long race of admission in IIT starts. How good a student you are, it decides your rank. I did this race too. I also faced the mental stress of school, coaching and clearing JEE Advanced. Although my parents never put pressure on me. But students going to study science and going to coaching have so much competition among themselves that they can not think of anything other than this.
He adds, “Especially the students going to the coaching centers are competing to outdo each other, which is difficult to avoid. To make this situation worse, your relatives, friends and rest of the family members are standing with folded hands. When you fail, it becomes very difficult for you. In fact, your failure doesn’t break you so much as it destroys the way people see you.”
Go again, not like real life coaching center
Shlok said that he had never faced failure before, he was a good student. The hopes of getting into IIT were so high that he began to feel that this was his destiny. But when they failed, everyone’s hopes were shattered. It was such a setback that it took Shlok more than three months to recover.
He said, “For three months after the JEE results were out, I felt that I would hardly be able to do anything now. Then I started thinking have I really failed, what do I want from my life and what is my goal? I was doing my own assessment.”
Shlok explains, “Then I learned that life is not like a coaching centre. Where your partner sitting next to you will not give you the correct answers to the questions. Real life is far different from this. You can ask for help, there are many people ready to help you. I also researched many successful people. It was then known that even the biggest of celebrities had to taste failure. The real winner in life is not the one who wins but the one who doesn’t stop. My mind used to say that I am the winner. Now whether anyone believes it or not.
channel started from college
Later Shlok joined SRM University, Chennai in the year 2014. Now he had to start afresh. There was no pressure here. Now he started doing different things in college. He did designing, did theater and yes, he also started making videos on YouTube here. Now he was leading an open life away from the pressure of people’s expectations and expectations.
His YouTube channel ‘Tech Burner’ is one of the most viewed tech channels in India. Each one of his videos gets an average of 10 to 20 lakh views. In the year 2014, Shlok made his step in this field after being influenced by the marketing industry. At that time it was not so high. For him, it was just content to inform the audience. Content that connects the brand to the people. It was not possible to do this with any kind of advertisement.
The identity of the channel became funny
Shloka has its own special style of making videos. He talks , with English language in a very funny way. While entertaining the audience, he gives them reviews of gadgets like laptops, mobile phones and computers. In his how-to tutorial, he compares it with other products. Which gadget is better than which, why is it better and what is its specialty. Life Hacks has made his YouTube channel a one-stop-shop for technology related things.
This channel of Shloka reaches 5 crore viewers every month. Cashing in on the popularity of his channel, he has launched two different websites (techburner.in and burnerbits.com) and five online applications from another venture named ‘Burner Media’.
Today, both of their websites and apps are earning a lot through advertisements like Tech Burner Channel. Meanwhile, they have recently launched a ‘Premier Value clothing line’ called Overlay. Today Shlok has given full time jobs to about 20 people and 10 people are associated with them as freelancers.
The first video was made on father’s laptop
Before starting Tech Burner channel, Shlok was just such a child of class 11, who had the urge to learn and learn a lot. At that time he was making amateur videos. Neither he had his own mobile phone nor any laptop. New gadgets were a long way off.
He recalls, “I made the first video on my father’s laptop. Tech Burner was started in college days. I studied at SRM for 4 years and kept running my YouTube channel while living there. At that time I had about 5000 subscribers. After passing out from college, he got a job offer. He had decided not to do the job taking the risk.
He wanted to devote all his time to his YouTube channel. However, then he was earning only two thousand rupees from the channel. The family members were not at all happy with his decision of not taking up the job. He said, “There was no doubt in my mind about what I wanted to do. I knew it would work. Then I learned to speak in front of the camera and make good videos on YouTube. A viral moment comes for a lot of YouTubers or other influencers. But till that time I did not have any such viral video, which would take my YouTube channel to different heights.
changed over time content
His early videos on YouTube had a number of specific technical issues. Like how to install Lollipop calendar in your MotoG smartphone. This was a video made about a small feature of a particular phone. Such videos do not work much. It is clear that whoever has this phone and wants to put the lollipop calendar, then only he will see this video. What does this mean to the rest? This video got only one to two thousand views. Shlok could not buy a new phone, so he kept on running his work from college friends, batchmates or his mother’s mobile.
He says, “I have always taken care of the preferences of my audience. My aim is to make gadgets easy for them. With just this purpose I went ahead and started talking about the problems faced by many other mobiles right from my Motorola phone. Also suggested to remove them. The channel has now shifted from inferior technology to gadgets that are used by everyone.”
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He adds, “I made a video about Android USB OTG (Adapter) hacks. It can be effectively used on any phone. Users should be aware of this. Another similar video was made. It was about the five best Android apps. With time we kept on changing. Moved from software to hardware side. Started giving reviews of new phones coming in the market. These are the videos everyone wants to see.”
Why did the channel convert from English to Hindi language?
Whatever be the content of Slok, his way of making videos has never been monotonous. He knew that if the audience is to be engaged on social media, then there will have to be a slight change in the method. He started working on it. He says, “If we teach or tell something while entertaining people, it is very beneficial. This is the method we adopted to bring information to the people.”
Just a few days ago, he put a video on his channel – ‘I turn my table into a gaming computer’. In this, he teaches the audience to assemble the computer. The method of teaching was very funny, the video has a lot of laughs and jokes. It got a lot of love from the audience. Even while reviewing the phone, the joke goes on. Information and entertainment are their specialty. Recently his review of the new Apple iPhone 13 Pro got 1.4 million views in just 5 days.
Initially his videos were only in English. Explaining the reason for coming to Hindi language, he says, “When I was leaving Chennai and coming to Delhi, I showed my video to an auto rickshaw driver. He did not understand anything, then I felt that how many people would not understand my video like this. Then I started working ,.”
If the method is right then success is sure to come.
To be honest, content creation is a business. Tech Burner earns money from its content and advertisements on the channel. As the channel grew, the avenues of earning kept opening up.
Shlok said, “Today we are working with many big brands. They also help us in many cases. Just a few days ago we went to visit a factory. Going there to know how the different components of the smartphone are made. It is rarely seen by an average viewer. Such content is special for the audience and at the same time we get money from it. Brands are another source of income for us.”
No channel of Shlok has become a favorite of people overnight. He has worked hard on it continuously for 5 years. Then somewhere he has reached this point today.
Do they think this is the place for all the YouTubers and social media influencers to earn a decent amount of money?
Responding to this, he says, “There is a place for everyone here. You just have to have creativity and the right way to do things.”
(Click here to go to Shloka’s YouTube channel.)
Original article: Rinchen Norbu Wangchuck
Editing: Archana Dubey
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