Success stories of Online entrepreneurs: Lasantha Wickramasinghe
Millionaire who never let anything make him down.
Believe it or not, we must admit that success is not built in one night. It’s a whole lifetime of failures and dedication.
Here is the significant life story of Lasantha Wickremasinghe, the pioneer of online entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka.
Born in a middle-class family in Sri Lanka, Lasantha has made many struggles to go for success. But his dedication, desire to succeed and hard work could never let him down.
Lasantha studied at Dharmaraja College, Kandy. He faced A/Ls in the Mathematics stream, and he failed in his first attempt. On his second attempt, it was not also good enough. As a middle-class family, his parents were not able to invest in private education. However, he was able to complete the Management Assistant exam successfully. In 2005, he entered the Department of Museums. It was a permanent government job, and everyone believed that it was a well-settled career, except Lasantha. He was not happy and satisfied with his career. He wanted to do something better and earn more.
Lasantha’s way of thinking and his dreams pushed him forward to find a better way rather than being a state worker. Since he was young, Lasantha had a keen interest in computers. He used to spend his free time with his computer. Compared to nowadays, the internet was not that common in those days. He had to struggle with the limited resources in the beginning. After getting an internet connection, all he did was job seeking on the internet. As people were not that interested in e-money in those times there were only a few left to help him when he was in trouble. While he could just entertain himself by surfing the internet, Lasantha used his resources wisely.
Lasantha had a clear goal to achieve and all he did was powerful and strong enough to reach his goal.
After some time, he was able to buy a laptop with his salary. He reminds that there was no one he had heard about being successful with e-money at that time.
Lasantha found information about Google AdSense while surfing the internet. After reading plenty of blogs on e-money Lasantha decided to start his own blog. His valuable content attracted the audience and later he got approval for Goole AdSense.
Then he heard about Fiverr, which is the best platform to get paid for your skills. He decided to learn Graphic design, and after that, he entered the world of Graphic design. He started his freelancing career with Fiverr. He believes that you must become good at something before you enter the marketplace.
He then started doing his graphics for customers around the world. His designs were very good, and he got a lot of income from graphic design. In 2012 he was able to earn more than 1 lakh in Sri Lankan Rupees per month. By that time, he realized that he was losing time with the government job, and he resigned from it. Then with his entrepreneurial mindset, he started his own business in an upper-floor room in his house with four computers and named it “BuiltApps”. With BuiltApps he mainly focused on SEO and Google AdSense. According to his invite, his fellow friends joined the business, and they created content for their website targeting Google AdSense.
Lasantha always wanted to be different, and he made a difference as an online entrepreneur. His desire to earn dollars has made him the person he is now. He always believes that businesses should not be limited to the local market.
An online business not only improves your growth but also helps the country’s economy and development. Lasantha is not someone who grows alone, he also wants others to be successful like him, and he helps and guides others to follow his way. The Online Entrepreneurs Club of Sri Lanka is a place where experienced freelancers share their expert knowledge with beginners. Lasantha also shares his knowledge with the beginners through the group.
With Lasantha’s zero knowledge of Software Development, it was a hard time for him to grow his business. But with his passion and smart work he was able to deal with some investors. Later he became the Managing Director of Outsmart Hub Sri Lanka.
Lasantha is married and has three kids. He lives in a luxury life that he worked hard for. In 2020, he was awarded the “Deshamanya Award”, which is the second national honors of Sri Lanka.
Lasantha advises beginners in the field to find something they love; something suited to their passion. According to him, what you are doing is not important, the most important thing is how you are doing it. If you work hard and focus on your dreams you are not too far from achieving them. Lasantha says it doesn’t matter what you are doing, like AdSense, Fiverr Forex or any other makes you dollars. If you have the talent and interest, you will be successful one day. There are no easy ways or shortcuts to success. Because they will not last for long and may lose all your hard work.
With the life story of Lasantha Wickremasinghe, it’s comprehensible that you need an extreme desire to achieve your dreams. But make sure that you are not just dreaming but also working hard to achieve them.
