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| The set up I used to use in 2019 to work on OFN and make videos. |
Written on February 25, 2024.
In a week from now, Online Free Notes, or OFN, will turn five. I would not say that in five years it has reached the place I had imagined it to be, or rather missed the mark by a lightyear, but it is still somewhere, continues to exist, and continues to make miniscule progress. This post is primarily to document how OFN came to be.
Teaching and learning
I have always been tutoring children—largely to stay alive. I remember teaching children in classes 1–5 when I was in class 11. By the next two years, I was teaching children up to class 10—all subjects.
I had had a fair understanding of English as a language by then, and I felt teaching children all subjects up to class 10 should not be difficult if I understood the concepts and ideas. So I taught, and this was going to be a significant factor years later when I would start OFN.
For clarification, I studied Commerce but had the desire to choose Arts and have always been fascinated by Science. These all led to confusion and eventual clarity, as all the subjects were of interest to me.
Getting familiar with technology
Around 2014–15, I started contributing listicles to different websites using my friends’ computers, and later on, I acquired a used computer for Rs 5,000 from a classmate, who later revealed that after selling me that junk, he danced in joy.
Anyway, I wrote for TopYaps (now defunct), RVCJ, Unbelievable Facts, etc., and somewhere in the middle, I was told by one of these platforms that they could only accept my articles if I submitted them on WordPress, and not as a word file.
I had no idea how to go about this, but I didn’t want to let the earning opportunities go, so, after watching many tutorials, and doing the things over and over, I could get a hang of it. Little did I know that God was equipping me that way with the skills I needed to eventually start OFN.
Inception of the idea of OFN
To be absolutely honest, the idea of OFN was as original as the creation of Adam and Eve in my head. It wasn’t an inspired or stolen idea. It originated towards the beginning of 2017, when I noticed that some of the children I was teaching at that time were unable to come to my place daily because of the distance, the floods, and other reasons.
When they arrived the next day, I had to give them enough time to copy the notes I had provided the day before from the copies of those present. This was a waste of time, and I started to explore the idea that what if I started storing the notes online so that when a student would skip a class, he/she would still have access to them and I would not have to waste time?
Evolution of the idea
Throughout 2017, I kept thinking about it, and in February 2018, I registered the domain onlinefreenotes.com using the money of one of my friends, for I didn’t have even that much.
Since I didn’t have the money to buy hosting, I started using Google’s Blogger. I would simply take images of the notes and publish them, for I didn’t have the time to type out everything. At the same time, I also borrowed some money and purchased a laptop.
Abandoning OFN
Publishing notes like that caused issues. The website was too slow because it was loading uncompressed images and sometimes PDFs. Even the students I was teaching at the time were hesitant to use that. I knew it wasn’t going to work.
Around that time, I fell in love with a girl—let’s call her Ashlesha—and suddenly, she completely occupied my mind. The two factors, combined, completely removed OFN from my mind.
OFN was abandoned.
Resurgence
As fast as she came, Ashlesha was gone again within a year, and I started to limp back to my routine, and OFN re-occupied my mind. Towards the end of 2018, I got in touch with Barbie, a remarkable girl who had read scores of books but would not consider herself an extensive reader. We had read similar books, and both of us still loved Game of Thrones as the season finale hadn't yet aired.
I could safely say a sentence to her, picked literally from a book or a random episode of GoT, and expect her to reply perfectly, picking lines from the same book and episode. She was a professor, teaching MBA students at a reputed college in Guwahati, but had left the job to pursue PhD. She would always start the conversation by saying, “Hey you.”
We talked for two or three months until she started dating someone, and this time, to keep the multitude of thoughts away from my head, and heart (for I was a bit lost), I somewhat devoted myself to building OFN.
Everything coming together
In February 2018, I approached two of my friends with the idea, and they seemed interested, providing me with around Rs 9,000 in total.
I used the money to renew the domain, buy shared hosting, and, using the few things I learned about WordPress while working as a freelance writer and collecting information from blogs and YouTube, set up the site from scratch again. It was launched privately on February 25, and an announcement was made on social media on March 1, 2019.
Learning from the past, this time I typed everything out day in and day out so that the site would load fast and would be SEO friendly.
Because I used to teach most of the subjects to students up to class 10, I was able to easily make notes for all of the important subjects for OFN on my own at first because I was only focusing on NBSE classes 9 and 10.
This time, I stayed consistent, not being swayed by people or circumstances, even though I did not earn a penny until 2021.
The big picture
Looking back, I realise it was God who had been preparing me for this day since my school years. He guided me to acquire skills essential for building OFN. Although it may not appear that I have achieved much in the past five years, it remains significant to me, considering my position a decade ago compared to where I stand today. I still believe this is just the beginning.
God is in control of everything—He is fighting the battle, and I need only to remain quiet.
Statistics
I think we hit 100 users in a day towards the end of 2019. Fast forward to February 2024, and we get about 8,000 to 12,000 visitors a day. In terms of page views, we are getting, on average these days, 24,000 to 50,000 page views.
Meanwhile, I continue to be in journalism.