Entrepreneurial Success

Module #1 – Entrepreneurial mindset and principles
Episode #1 – Introduction

Today we’ll be discussing what an entrepreneur really is,
why would you want to become one, and their role in the economy and the world.

Now before we get started, it’s important to know who I am, you may ask me,
why would I want to learn from you Tasos? what’s your background?

Well, my entrepreneurial journey started out when I was a little boy.
I remember my parents fighting day and night to grow their clothing business.
From a small knitting workshop to a mini-lant, to a big factory employing over 50 people.
We were producing women’s clothes and selling them abroad.
I remember discussing businesses with my father as he was driving in between the radio news and the commercials.
He was explaining everything and I was eager to learn more and more.
So I kept on asking questions, that’s what kids are great for, anyway…
At a very young age, I had the chance to visit factories, production lines, managers, directors, and employees.
I also remember myself helping my parents, managing our factory’s warehouse, with my uncle.
I remember the stories of my father and how he got started when he was only 10 years old.
He was forced to bring in money for his poor family, selling stuff in the flea markets, like socks, t-shirts, this kind of stuff.
And I remember my father’s brothers, who had their own small businesses.
I remember my grandfather, father of my father, who was a toy store owner in a small village.
And I remember photographs of my other grandfather, father of my mother, who was a coal trader downtown,
I remember an uncle who was manufacturing sports clothes and uniforms.
I remember friends and partners of my parents who had their own businesses.
And the list goes on…this was my circle, my environment as a kid.

When I was at the university and in my free time, I was driving across the country selling our clothes door-to-door to stores
as we were expanding on the local market.

Eventually our factory was closed in the late ’90s and I continued this business in the basement of my house with the help of my mother,
my fiance, and a few employees.

In 2003, me and my sister built a hotel in Chalkidiki.

Between 2004 and 2014, I opened, operated, and sold various businesses, such as clothing stores, restaurants, and cafes.
In December 2014, I expanded online, and I fell in love with marketing. Since then, I’ve helped hundreds of brands sell more of their products and services as a marketing publisher. In 2019, I started proving marketing services and training locally and to businesses across the globe.

I also have a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and this is when I first came across marketing as a science.

So what is an entrepreneur?

And entrepreneur builds, manages, and runs businesses. They create products and services to meet customer needs.
They are innovators, they introduce new methods, ideas, new products new services, they always strive for a change.
They are creators, they create new things, they create opportunities for others and for themselves.
They create success for others and for themselves. They are also risk-takers, they are willing to spend money, time, and they even risk their own reputation just to build something the world wants.
They provide value in the marketplace.
So what is value?
Different people value different things. An entrepreneur is interested in learning what other people value, their desires, frustrations, needs, and wants.
And they create products and services to satisfy those needs.

Entrepreneurs discover and capitalize on opportunities, they don’t wait for things to happen, they make things happen.
They constantly try to improve and scale. They want to improve in every area of their business, whether it is production, sales, marketing, customer service,
everything.
They are productive, they work all the time, they don’t sleep a lot, I mean they sleep less than other people.
Now, that does not mean you should only sleep for 3 hours. But definitely, you should not sleep for 9 hours.
If you are committed to your mission, if you are committed to creating something amazing that the world remembers, I believe sleep is the last thing you would care about.

And here’s something very important:
Entrepreneurs are action-takers, they take action immediately, they don’t wait for tomorrow, next month, for a good day, they go for it, they take the risk, and this is absolutely critical. If you want to become a successful entrepreneur, you need to take action on what you learn.
And here’s a favorite quote:
Information without implementation is just procrastination.
Keep in mind that
Also, entrepreneurs jump from idea to idea until they hit gold. They are focused on results, and they always get results.
They don’t have the mindset of an employee, who is trading time for money. They care about the results.
They don’t just adapt to the environment, they create the environment.
They constantly experiment with new ideas new products, new services, new solutions to problems.
And they know most of their ideas won’t work. And this is true for everything in life. Not every idea we have is working.

They solve problems, instead of creating them, instead of whining for something. They provide solutions.
They keep learning new things, they are educating themselves, they read a lot, they network with others, they know the power of the community.
they know that if they want to scale their business, they need connections, relationships with other entrepreneurs, businesses, and people.
They improvise to make things better, to make things happen.
Entrepreneurs share values with the world, they don’t just care about money.

They are also good listeners, they are patient and consistent on taking action.
they are givers, they donate, help unprivileged people.
This is what makes them happy, to see other people succeed and happy.
They don’t value things only with money.
They have a very strong imagination. They believe in something before they see it.
they are leaders and they are being followed by other people.
They are also targets of haters, and this is inevitable when an entrepreneur becomes successful, there is always someone who hates them.
And this is a good thing, we want the haters to talk about us. This is free advertising, as you’ll discover later in this course,
They are self-motivated and devoted to their mission, they don’t expect others to push them forward, they push themselves forward.

When you look at an entrepreneur as someone that has all these characteristics and traits we just described, you shift your mindset from someone who is
just a consumer to someone who is a creator, an innovator, someone who provides value, someone that people follow, a leader, someone that is making the world
a better place.

So why would you want to become an entrepreneur?

You will be creating amazing products and services that the market needs., You will be solving problems for other people.
You will help them move forward in their lives, you will create success, for you and for others, you will be discovering people’s needs, desires,
fears, and frustrations. You will be creating job positions and wealth for other people.
You will be creating opportunities and success for others, for your employees, for their families, for your customers, and other businesses.

You will be followed by people as a leader, people are waiting to get shaped by someone like you, by someone with these characteristics.
You are someone who brings value to people’s lives and they turn to you for advice.

I always wanted to become an entrepreneur since I was a kid. I wanted to become someone different, someone, who brings value and hope in people’s lives.

An economy without entrepreneurs is really miserable, it’s an economy that is flat, without dimensions, without depth.

Entrepreneurs create new things and innovate, they invent, they experiment and this creates progress.
Progress is also created by competition. Because entrepreneurs want to outrank their competition so they become better, they improve themselves,
and this creates progress for them and for others that surround them.
they provide a lot more value than they consume. Often times they are willing to work without asking anything in return.
They create knowledge and wisdom. They are prime movers, an unstoppable force, nothing can stop them.

They want to create something remarkable, something people will enjoy. But when they take risks, they take calculated risks.
We discuss that entrepreneurs jump from idea to idea until they hit a golden opportunity. But they are selective, they don’t just follow every idea that comes in their way.
Entrepreneurs care about their personal development. They don’t just care about profits and money.
This is what an entrepreneur really is. This is their role in the economy a special role of a leader, of an innovator,

In the next episode, we are going to discuss what to do during an economic crisis, how to discover opportunities, and how to network.

Until the next episode, take care.

Module #1 – Entrepreneurial mindset and principles
Episode #2 – Economic Crisis

In the previous episode, the introduction, we discussed what an entrepreneur really is,
why would you want to become one, and their role in the economy and the world.

We discovered that entrepreneurs are creators, innovators, productive, risk-takers,
they provide value in the marketplace. They discover and capitalize on opportunities, and they constantly improve.
Also, we underlined that entrepreneurs are action-takers, they don’t wait for another day, they take action immediately.

Now it’s time to analyze what entrepreneurs do during an economic crisis, which is a very timely subject.
When millions of people go unemployed in the blink of an eye and thousands of businesses are going to close, it’s inevitable, people
start losing their faith and hope.

So, what successful entrepreneurs do during an economic crisis?

These times are times for re-evaluation, re-consideration,

And in times like this, people focus on the things they lost. But this is the wrong mindset.

We need to focus on what we have right now. And to focus on what we can do, not the past. It’s not an easy task because our brains default to the bad things.
We regret, we should have done this and that, NO, we have to keep moving forward, we have to be prepared.

You need to fix your negative thoughts, you need to gain momentum, to soothe the pain of fear, and take action.
also, you need to disqualify your weaknesses and focus on your strengths.

Upgrade your skills, learn new skills, always educate yourself.

You need to gain momentum, but how do you gain momentum?
You set realistic goals that you can reach so you can make small steps forward.
When you reach a goal, you gain momentum and then you can set the next goal.
You can think big, but you should act small.

When things are normal and everything seemed to work without much effort from our side, we stop improving.
We have been lucky for quite a long time, but now during an economic crisis, we paralyze and fear, this happens because we took things for granted.

When challenges show up we need to face them and become better.
these challenges are wake up calls, calls for improvement, calls for a change.

So how can we discover opportunities?

first, we need to trust we have what it takes,
trust our imagination and be creayive, and all our crazy ideas, because we never know what the future brings.
In the previous episode, we said that entrepreneurs jump from idea to idea until they hit gold. This is what you should do.

Consider what is working and what’s not in your business. People’s needs change, demand for certain product change.

To be successful during an economic crisis, you need to solve urgent problems and pain that people deal with right now.

Do some research, gatehr data on what’s working, watch the trends, read reports, blogs, join forums, communities, netowrks, and groups.
Discover what peope are asking, what problems are they trying to solve.

Try to identify industries that are growing. The most successful businesses are getting lift by an industry lift, not neccessarily because they are great.
We need to find industries that are growing, because during an economic crisis, there are certain industries that go down,
but there are certain industries that will thrive.

Perform thorough keyword research, it’s the most valuable tool online, because it shows what people are searching for, right now.

Criteria to choose a market to target:
a) a market with urgent problems
b) a market with future problems, an evergreen
c) a market where people spend money already
d) a market with forums, communities, groups
e) a market with competition
f) a new market, an emerging trend, where you take the risk to expand upon

Never stop searching for new customers, your current customers one day may dissapear, and this was one of the reasons
my parents’ factory was closed. Things were going well, we had new clients finding us on their own, we had agencies bringing us clients.
But one day, China got in the clothing manufacturing game and everything changed. They were selling so cheap that all our clients dissapeared.
The quality of their clothes was lower, but our customers found the opportunity to buy the clothes at much lower prices.
We did not have a sales force to bring in new clients. We were not spending any money on advertising.
We were not prepared, that’s why during this economic crisis, the factory was closed.

Keep on advertising no matter what. Why well-established brands keep spending money on advertising?
Brands like Coca-Cola, Adidas, Mercedez, all these giants. Do they need advertising?
They do, becasue people forget. If your competitors advertise and you don’t, people will think you’re out of business.

Marketing is the main spring of any business, it’s what makes or break a business, it’s the difference between brands that thrive and brands that go out of business.

Utilize underperfoming relationships, relationships that you could use to connect with other brands, entrepreneurs, to expand your network.
Don’t be afraid to take action. Do it today.

Join forums, communities, groups, attend local events. Not just to pitch your product or service or to give your business card,
but to make valuable connections, that will benefit your business in the long run.

Consider new collaborations and partnerships with other brands and entrepreneurs to create new products and services or to launch campaigns.

Connect with influencers and promote them for free. Provide value to their audience without asking anything in return, and new doors will soon open up for you.

Don’t forget to use your phone, yes, cold calling, it still works.
Emails, cold emailing, it still works.
Use platforms like LinkedIn and platforms dedicated to influencer marketing and outreach.

We will discuss networking later in this training in detail.

If you already run a business, it’s time to consider what is working and what is not. Because in times like this, people’s needs change
Do you have a product or service to fulfill those needs?
Do you have something that the market really needs, right now?

If you aren’t an entrepreneur yet and you want to start a business, then this is the best time to do it.
You can take advantage of the knowledge industry, the eLearning industry that is booming where you can share your skills, hobbies, passions, expertise,
life experiences or even share other people’s experiences to help people move forward fast and get paid for doing so.

In the next episode, we are going to put theory into practise and take what we learned in the first episode and turn this knowledge into ideas, solutions, and products
that you can create to grow your existing business or build a new business from scratch.

In the next series of videos we’ll be focusing on specific niches of the market, and in each video, we’ll be exploring one niche.

Until the next episode, take care.