Raj Shamani: The ‘Useless Kid’ Influencing The World One Person At A Time

For someone who was frequently described as ‘lazy’ and ‘useless’ during his developmental stage as a young boy back in India, Raj Shamani has been able to overcome an unfavourable beginning and become a ray of hope to others facing the same challenges.
Raj’s story is one of determination borne out of initial discouragement and negative perception especially from older folks; something many kids and young people today can relate with. Read on to find out more about this remarkable young man.
His Early Life
Raj Shamani grew up in India amongst people who had no great motivation or direction for their lives. Though he had lofty dreams, this kind of negative environment meant he spent many years struggling with school and academics. Gradually, his self esteem plummeted but he never gave up on his dreams.
Instead, he kept nurturing an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, travel, and success by receiving outstanding training from some of the world’s most renowned trainers including Blair Singer and Brain Tracy till his life changed dramatically for the better. In fact, his life has changed so much that today this 21-year old is breaking barriers and has given speeches in more than 18 countries worldwide. He was also one of the youngest Indians to speak at the United Nations assembly in Vienna. And, just like his role model Gary Vaynerchuk, Raj grew his father’s business by more than 200% in just one year.
Raj Shamani’s Mission and Work
Presently, Raj is a prolific and globally-recognized public speaker, a TedxSpeaker, a Forbes U30 participant, and he's been featured in Medium and many international media hubs as well.
Back home in his native India Raj has given speeches in India’s leading organisations and institutions including Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). Raj is the host of a business/inspiration and Q&A show ‘Voices’ (Voices with Raj).
There are three major areas that Raj Shamani focuses on: Youths and Kids, Social Media Personal Branding, And Voices with Raj.
Youths and Kids
Because of his struggles as a kid, Raj identifies with the many challenges kids and youths face in modern society. And he feels so passionate about them that he recently turned down an offer in 2018 to join one of the biggest speaking agencies with a very attractive salary. Rather, he chose to go to small cities in Europe and help teenagers become more confident and self-aware and he doesn’t charge money for his speaking engagements.

His focus and mission is to help these kids boost their confidence and identify opportunities in the world. By doing this, the so-called ‘useless kid’ has become a ray of hope to young adults and teenagers around the world.

Wherever he travels whether India, Romania, USA, Austria, Singapore and so many other countries, people are listening to him because he uses his personal experiences, pain, and challenges to inspire and motivate his young audiences and letting them know that they too can still succeed even in very negative environments.
His message to them is clear - It doesn’t matter how much money I make or how many cars I have, what matters is how I make others feel about themselves. - Raj Shamani
Social Media Personal Branding
So many people are using social media platforms for entertainment but they fail to realise the enormous potentials these tools carry and that’s what Raj wants to help them change. Therefore, as part of his speaking engagements, Raj talks about ‘leveraging personal branding over social media to find opportunities.’
Take Instagram for instance, where fashion bloggers can use the amazing image qualities of the platform to display their creativity. Others can also connect and network quickly through Instagram DMs (Direct Messaging). Or, YouTube which is a priceless resource for speakers, singers, artistes, advertisers and just about anyone with a message to pass across.
Other platforms he regularly discusses include SnapChat (for lifestyle bloggers etc.), Twitch (for gamers), and how DJs and other people can use podcasts to reach out to an audience.
His underlying message is that by interacting with users and building an active community on these platforms, people can maximize the potentials these tools offer and create a brand that represents and nurtures the life they desire.
Voices With Raj Shamani
Another popular avenue he uses to speak and advice people is his Voices with Raj podcast. In this podcast, Raj regularly invites and interviews world's leading influencers, artists, entrepreneurs, leaders, etc. with the aim of getting them to tell us 'how they did it, and how we can too.’ Voices is a platform that helps to fire up motivation and inspiration in its listeners.
You can find out more about Raj Shamani here or follow him on Instagram and YouTube.