From 25MB of Data to 100+ Clients Across 17+ Countries
How It Started: A Mobile Phone and 25MB of Data
My online journey began in 2012, when my elder brother Romen Roy showed me how to access the internet on a mobile phone. Back then, we used GrameenPhone's free data pack, or sometimes paid 9 Taka for 25MB. That was our window to the world.
In 2013, I saved up and bought a second-hand Micromax X210 for around 400–500 Taka. I used it to download MP3 music, wallpapers, and small videos. One evening, I sat there wondering: how does any of this actually work? How are these files stored? How does a website exist? From that question, everything else followed.
Building My First Website for 150 Taka
In 2014, I got a phone called the Symphony FT10 — the same model my brother used to build websites. I asked Romen to create me a website. He charged me 150 Taka and built it on wapka.mobi, a mobile website platform. I spent hours staring at the code, editing it, breaking it, fixing it. That was my first encounter with XHTML. I was hooked.
I built several more sites through wapka.mobi and Xtgem. I copied source code from other sites to understand how things worked. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't — but every failure taught me something real.
Learning HTML on a Phone, No Laptop
Throughout my two years of intermediate school, I taught myself HTML5, CSS, and the basics of PHP and JavaScript — all from a mobile phone. No laptop, no desktop, no formal training. I learned from YouTube, blogs, and forums, experimenting late into the evenings after my studies.
I also took a web design and development course at IT-Bari during this time. I finished it in about a month. I was still coding on my phone. That is how determined I was.
My First Course and My First PC
In 2017, during my final HSC (A-level equivalent) exams, I bought my first laptop. That changed everything. With a proper screen and keyboard, I could finally work at the speed my mind was moving. I launched websites, drove traffic, and started earning meaningful income as a student.
From Student to Professional: SoftBangla and SEO
In 2018, I completed an SEO course at IT-Bari under Abdul Kader. I then found my first mentor, HB Arif, who gave me hands-on SEO experience and helped me land my first professional role at SoftBangla in September 2018. I worked there until 2020, building real skills on real client campaigns.
After briefly joining Rok Online Marketing in early 2020 (cut short by COVID-19 lockdowns), I made the decision to build something of my own.
Building Three Agencies from Scratch
In 2020, I co-founded Grow Marketers with my brother Shimul Roy, serving local businesses across the USA, UK, Canada, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. In 2022, I launched Local SEO Lab, sharpening the agency's focus on local search. In 2025, both merged into GrowNion — my current agency, operating with a team of four plus outsourcing partners in Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Everything I know, I built myself. No investor money, no shortcuts, no inherited network. Just curiosity, consistency, and 12 years of showing up.
