My name is Rojal Shrestha and this is my blog.
Most people who write “About Me” pages focus on how awesome they are and list all of their professional accomplishments.
Don’t get me wrong – I like success stories.
But even more than a success story, I like the story of a person who comes from a very hard background and then gets it back together.
So here’s my story – I hope it gives you an idea of who I really am.
2003 – From the Void of Nothingness to a Real Live Human Baby
I was born on April 9, 2003.
Eager to hit the ground running, I decided it was time to be born 2 months early before my due date.
Weighing merely 3.4 pounds, far below the healthy birth weight, my early days were spent in an incubator. This machine was my first cradle for a premature baby like me, providing the warmth and protection I needed in those critical first weeks.
I was the firstborn son to my amazing parents Rajendra Man Shrestha and Laxmi Shrestha, and we lived in a small rented room in a flat in Lagankhel, Lalitpur.
My very first memory came at 3. I remember being fascinated by the girls in my preschool, a hint of my early social inclinations.
Not to boast, but I was really good at academics when I was in preschool. Thanks to my mother’s dedication to my education, I could already do multiplication up to 5.
2009 – A Pivotal Year That Changed It All
In 2003, two important things happened:
My father moved to Oman for work and my mother and I moved back to Gorkha, to the ancestral home where my grandparents and uncle lived.
This event, though aimed at improving our family’s financial situation, marked the start of a period filled with struggle and emotional turmoil for my mother and me.
The house, governed by traditional norms and expectations, became a place of confinement and control for my mother.
She woke up at 4 am every day, running the household single-handedly, while I watched, my young heart aching at the injustice of it all. The money sent by my father, which was meant to ease our burdens, was tightly controlled by my grandparents. This left us in a state of dependency and vulnerability.
I was just a child, yet I felt the hard times we were going through.
I remember being really poor, which I could tell because I usually only had two bananas for my school lunch. This was a daily reminder of how different my life was from that of my peers.
My mother, the strongest person I knew, was trapped in a cycle of despair and exhaustion. She sometimes thought about giving up and would tell me about it. But she always chose to stay because of me.
I was around 7 years old when this realization hit me.
I couldn’t wait for someone else to change our situation. I needed to create my own opportunities,
I realized that to change our lives, I had to depend on myself and find ways to make money. I need to learn new things and grow to really make a difference in our situation.
This was a big change for me. I went from feeling like ‘I couldn’t do anything’ to feeling strong and in charge. That’s when I decided to take control of my own life.
In 2012, my father came back to Nepal and we moved to his friend’s house in 2 small rooms in Kathmandu.
Just after a year, when I was 10 years old, my little brother Prajwal was born.
Whereas I tried to be considerate weighing under 3.5 pounds at birth, Prajwal was a healthy baby.
I take credit for this as it must have been all of the Power Rangers I was watching that he must have heard in the womb.
Prajwal was the coolest brother a kid could ever ask for. With a 10-year age gap, he was like a teddy bear to me, and as he grew up, I took on the role of looking after him.
He was not just a sibling but a companion and a source of joy in my life, making every day a little brighter with his presence.
2016 – Start of My Entrepreneurial Ventures
The core of my plan revolved around education and entrepreneurship. I decided to dedicate myself to my studies, understanding that a strong educational foundation would be crucial for my future.
Consistently, I was among the top 10 students in a class of 150.
But school education alone wasn’t enough. I knew I had to start thinking like an entrepreneur – to start looking for ways to make money.
I remember I used to watch “How to Make Money” videos using the free Wi-Fi from a nearby hotel, often standing outside to access it on my family’s only touchscreen phone, borrowed from my father after work.
At school, we had four exams yearly, and on result day, there was an exhibition where I’d make money by creating a roulette game. That was my first hustle in my life.
The earnings would cover my school meals for a month.
After finishing school, I had three months off before starting high school. I wanted to learn about making money online.
I followed Instagram pages about money and investing. There, I found out about the book “Rich Dad Poor Dad.”
I read its PDF and it really changed how I thought about money. It was the first book I read that wasn’t for school. I ended up reading more than 20 books in those three months.
Inspired by instagram pages I followed, I started a business-themed Instagram page and grew it to 5k followers.
I landed a job creating content and closing sales through direct messages. However, I quit after realizing my employer was scamming people.
Then, I discovered affiliate marketing, planning to promote Clickbank products through Facebook ads.
However, I faced challenges with Nepal’s international payment system and the need for a daily budget over $50, leading me to abandon this approach.
I also used to watch lots of YCombinator videos. So I decided to start my own startup, Reusly, an online marketplace for Nepalese students to buy and sell second-hand textbooks.
We gained 5000 users and joined the Idea Studio Nepal accelerator program. However, challenges arose when our lead developer left for a job, and my co-founder quit, feeling overwhelmed with the responsibility.
With my visa for the USA approved and the startup’s future uncertain in Nepal, I also decided to step away from Reusly.
2022 – Moved to USA as a Student
I arrived in the USA as an international student, fulfilling a long-held dream, yet carrying a sense of regret for leaving Reusly behind.
However, I faced the harsh reality of a $15,000 debt from the move.
To maintain my student status, I have to juggle full-time college with a 20-hour work week to cover rent, tuition, and personal expenses.
Living independently, managing finances, and cooking for myself, I felt trapped by my choices.
I turned to stoic philosophy for guidance, focusing on what I could control.
I sought passive income opportunities and started going to the gym.
This image highlights my gym transformation, showing ‘before’ and ‘after’ results.
Eventually, I discovered blogging, a flexible option that fit into my free time.
However, the initial nine months were a rollercoaster of trials and errors. My blog, despite my efforts, didn’t take off as I had hoped.
I realized my past failures were due to:
I was focusing on too many things at once.
I was not giving my 100%
I was quitting too soon.
Determined to change, I invested in the Project24 course from Income School.
With renewed focus and clarity, I launched SimpleWorkNest. My vision for this blog is crystal clear: to become a go-to resource for remote workers and business owners setting up home offices.
To achieve this, I set a goal to post high-quality content consistently, every single day.
SimpleWorkNest is more than just a blog; it’s a commitment to my readers and to myself.
It’s a testament to the lessons learned from my past – the importance of focus, dedication, and the courage to keep going, even when the path gets tough.