Adrian Nantchev's Blog, page 11

What kind of habits should I develop? - 25/101 Entrepreneur Questions and Answers

This is an except from my book: 101 Entrepreneur Questions and Answers.Learning, reading, expanding your comfort zone and taking in more knowledge. These are the most important aspects to master in your life, because these will determine your success and change your life the most.There are only really two requirements to be an entrepreneur:Expand your comfort zone.Expand your knowledge.These are two major things holding you back from success.As you expand your comfort zone, so you begin to be more tenacious and daring. When you are more daring you are willing to try new things, tackle bigger problems, have a stronger mindset and are willing to think bigger and more creative. The more things that you do that will scare you, the stronger you become, the more audacious you become, the bigger your success will be.I remember when I launched my first business and I realized that I needed to put some of the products on sale. This immediately expanded my comfort zone, because I did not know how to do that, nor wanted to. But I knew that I had to put my products on discount in order to generate sales and momentum. Today: doing a sale is rather easy.The other thing is your knowledge and taking in more of it. The more you learn, the more you can earn; your comfort zone is the tenacity to act, whilst your knowledge is the tools to act with. So the more you learn the more you can build, create and achieve. The person that has expanded their comfort zone but has no tools is weaponless, whilst the person that has all the tools, but not expanded his comfort zone, is no threat as he is all talk and no bite.So you need to develop habits that help you expand your comfort zone and expand your knowledge. I try to make it a habit to read a book a week, meet new people, jot down ideas for books and business, and focus on my goals.Question of the day: What do you need to work on: comfort zone of knowledge?

How do you handle the negativity? - 24/101 Entrepreneur Questions and Answers

This is an except from my book: 101 Entrepreneur Questions and Answers.The negative beliefs and thoughts of other people can be damaging, so it is best not to listen to something un-empowering.Remember to listen to your own internal thoughts, because at the end of the day it is your dreams that you are  building and you have got to listen to yourself. Remind yourself of why you are doing what you are doing. Reminds yourself of your goals and the progress and achievements you have made so far.Often a good cry is helpful. With all these penned up emotions that are boxed in- a good cry is often needed to reset your emotional balance and to clear your head of negativity. You feel much better afterwards and you have a clearer mind to work with. The way I see it is like it's a correction to your emotions, the very same ones that have been under attack repeatedly for so long. Because of this you need a good cry to let your emotions and frustrations go.An unbalanced mind will interrupt your ventures and activities.Over time the negativity means less and less to you because you learn how to cope with it, and you have bigger things to worry about such as you customers.As you become more experienced you can handle more and more criticism and negativity. I remember when one of my ex girlfriends was telling me that my was business was dodgy because that her friend was getting viruses on his computer from my website- which later proved to be false because there was no evidence. He was jealous of me and she didn't like the idea that I was running a business, something which she found to be risky.Question of the day: What are you doing to tackle your negativity?

Who should I listen to? - 23/101 Entrepreneur Questions and Answers

This is an except from my book: 101 Entrepreneur Questions and Answers.You want to listen to everyone because, as I said earlier, it is important to know what not to do just as much is it worth knowing what to do.Listen to the naysayers and turn their negative energy and criticisms into the power to push you forward. They disapprove of your mindset and objectives because they do not know you, your plans nor understand your business. They often criticise from a personal angle with their own emotions entangled and sometimes they may not be able to bear watching you achieve what they want to achieve also, but do not dare to.Listen to the people that criticise you as well, because although it can hurt it; shows areas which you may need to improve upon. Especially criticism from strangers whom you have never met before, because they are looking at your business, marketing activities and other things from a purely objective and unbiased standpoint- especially if they are your customers, as they have no emotions attached to you or your business. If they are telling you what you're doing something wrong then listen to them so you can take down their feedback and think about ways in which you can improve.Listen to the people that support you as well, because they will have your best interests at heart and will want to help you all the time.Listen to other entrepreneurs also, because when they are talking about their business ventures; you can learn a lot from their experiences, share ideas amongst yourselves, inspire each other and become accountable to each other.I have a few entrepreneur friends that I meet every few weeks to catch up and share ideas.Listen to your gut as well as your instincts because these are your natural reactions to the world. You can help your gut become smarter and wiser by learning, taking in more information and knowledge whether from books blogs, videos or other people- this way your instincts becomes sharper and wiser over time.Listen to everyone, whether they are on YouTube, in person, their blogs, their books, everyone - but take it all with a slight pinch of salt because not everyone knows what they're talking about, so they could be talking crap and misleading you, but could have the best of intentions. Take everything in from everyone you meet but take it with a pinch of salt, also realise that it is just as important to know what not to do as much as knowing what to do; so even their crap can be educational.Question of the day: What are you doing to learn new things?

How do I find a mentor? - 22/101 Entrepreneur Questions and Answers

This is an except from my book: 101 Entrepreneur Questions and Answers.A mentor has got to be someone that is, preferably, 20 years ahead of you in business, but not necessarily in life. Furthermore, a mentor has got to be embarrassed if he earn the amount of money that you earn, because he knows that he could do better. These are the ideal requirements for a mentor, because you don't just want any person teaching you how to do business, you want someone that has done it all before and can teach you the ropes.A mentor does not have to be someone you know in person, this is an important fact to realize. The mentor could be someone who is dead for the past 2,000 years or you could just read loads of their books or watch loads of their videos.How do you get these kind of mentors? You buy their books, to subscribe to their YouTube channels. You do not need to know the mentor in person for them to be teaching you, a lot of what I have learnt about business is from a few select mentors that I have never met.The only mentor that I worked with in person is my real estate investing mentor- whom I worked with for around three months in the summer of 2016.This is important to understand, because you can learn just as much from an online mentor as you can from a physical mentor.You can find mentors and potential mentors and the places I mentioned earlier: MeetUp.com and Eventbrite.com.When you seriously want to work for and learn from a mentor, ask them the following: "how is it I can work for you for free, in order to learn from you?" A lot of people expect to learn something for free from their mentor, and few of them realize that you have to provide value to them first, in order to justify you receiving anything from them- their time and knowledge is valuable. Remember: you have to give first before you can receive.When you offer to work for free, you are saying that their knowledge is more valuable to you than money, because you can then use that knowledge to become a better entrepreneur.Question of the day: What do you need a mentor for?

Where can I meet other entrepreneurs? - 20/101 Entrepreneur Questions and Answers

This is an except from my book: 101 Entrepreneur Questions and Answers.Here are two great websites which you can meet other entrepreneurs:MeetUp.comEventbrite.comMeetUp is more social and it is like Facebook mixed with an event planner. Eventbrite is more about pure event planning, as MeetUp has a social element to it.Just search for business, marketing, finance, etc, related events and you will meet other people.There are also Facebook groups, and you can meet new people online this way.There are also different conventions and exhibitions going off in the big cities. Places in the UK like the NEC (National Exhibition Centre), find the big exhibition halls near you and see what upcoming events they have.

How do I keep going, even after defeats? - 21/101 Entrepreneur Questions and Answers

This is an except from my book: 101 Entrepreneur Questions and Answers.Do not let a temporary defeat turn into a permanent failure.When something is not working, all it means is that you have to go back to the drawing board and rework your plan, strategy or business. This is why having mistakes are so important, because you can then learn from them as your comfort zone expands.When you are faced with defeat, it simply means that you need to adjust your product or business that you are marketing because it means that your customers are not willing to pay you for what you are currently offering.It is like digging for diamonds: you never know truly how close you are to the diamonds. You simply have to keep digging and digging and digging until you finally find the diamonds under the ground. You don't want to stop, because the moment you stop is the moment you'll regret not finishing off forever.Persistence counts in entrepreneurship. You can outwork your opposition that simply gave up when they tried the first time. Like the woodpecker, you have to keep trying.Question of the day: what challenges are you facing?

But, no one else is my family is an entrepreneur- nor do I know any other - 19/101 Entrepreneur Questions and Answers

This is an except from my book: 101 Entrepreneur Questions and Answers.This does not matter just like how I was the first person in my family to go to university from my mother's side of the family.Just because no one else is doing it doesn't mean that you shouldn't do it either.You can always meet other entrepreneurs in the world, as you start to focus on being an entrepreneur you start to find other people who are entrepreneurial as well. Whether you find them at social events or just happen to meet them in person.There is a friend of mine who I was at school with and in the fall of 2015 we got in touch and we meet regularly to discuss what is happening in the world and to share ideas.By being the only entrepreneur in the family you will be the black sheep but you'll be the one that is living the life to the fullest, and other people will recognize this and probably will become slightly jealous of you. Jealous because they wish they had to be tenacity to do what they love, as they see you doing what you love.Become the first in your family; break the mold and change the status quo.

How do I discover who I am?- 18/101 Entrepreneur Questions and Answers

This is an except from my book: 101 Entrepreneur Questions and Answers.We all need to discover ourselves and understand who we are. There are four questions that I use to discover more about ourselves, one of which you have already come across earlier in this book.What do strangers consistently compliment you on?What kind of environment did you grow up around?What can you talk about effortlessly?What have you been doing for the past 5 years?Each of these profound questions helps you to create an image in your mind as to who you are, what your priorities are, what your strengths are and who it is you want to become.The first one is all about what strangers compliment you on- people that do not know you at all, thus their opinions are unbiased. What is it they say you are good at? I've been told repeatedly that I'm an ideas guy, so that is what my strengths are that what I work with. Whatever it is you are doing: you have to build it upon your strengths, do not build a business on something you know little about. You can learn on the job, but in the short term you'll struggle, this is why I'll need to spend a few weeks researching heavily into hemp as I launch the business.What kind of environment did you grow up around means that there may be a common thread or theme in your life, as the environment you grew up around helped to shape who it is you are today. Define and understand your background and how it affected you. You either mirror or are the complete opposite to your parents, in my case I'm the complete opposite.Thirdly, what is it can you talk about for 20 minutes? Meaning: what one single topic do you know enough about to give a presentation on? No matter whether it is in front of 1 or 1,000 people. The point is what single topic can you talk about effortlessly for 20 minutes? This is a big indication as to what your knowledge and expertise are, and what you enjoy in life. It also means that you have enough in-depth knowledge and expertise of something- it also demonstrates that being able to talk about one thing for 20 minutes means you have a level of passion and interest. Enough to warrant a presentation and enough for people to recognise you as an expert in your field and to get them thinking and questioning.What have you been doing for the past five years meaning: what if you spent the last five years doing? I have been spending on travel, work and on university. What you voluntarily spent your time and energy on is a clue as to what and who you are, because that means you've dedicated five, or so, years to doing one specific thing and you are more than likely talented, experienced or have mastered a specific skill set in that time.When you begin to think about and answer these questions, then you can discover who you are, what you're priorities are, where your strengths lie and whether this is the person you want to become in the future.These questions certainly help and are a stepping stone to your bigger successes, because it helps when your success is based on something you are passionate about and love.

How do I set goals?- 17/101 Entrepreneur Questions and Answers

This is an except from my book: 101 Entrepreneur Questions and Answers.I have often struggled with setting goals and having priorities, as I was subject at times to the 'shiny object syndrome' where I saw different things as potential and decided to pursue them, inadvertently achieving little or nothing. This is where I chase different things, but inadvertently achieve nothing- when you chase two rabbits, you catch neither.You and I have got to focus. You and I have to follow one course until success.There is a story that I heard about the time when Bill Gates first met Warren Buffet, a billionaire investor, in the early 90s. Bill's father asked Warren what his secret to success was and he replied that his secret was to focus, Bill immediately turned to Warren and said that was his secret also. As he was able to focus on a single objective and pursue it and work at it until it was a success.When you are focusing on a single business and a single objective, then you will achieve what it is you set out to achieve. Just like the woodpecker that  is constantly pecking at the same point of a tree and he eventually breaks through to the food inside or to create a nest.Warren Buffett also talked about how you have to set 25 goals for yourself. These could be 25 career goals, life goals or personal goals. Then highlight the top 5 from your list and make these 5 your to-do-list. In which you focus on them until they are all achieved. The other 20 are your not-to-do list. You do not touch these at all until your first 5 are completed. Helping you to focus on the things you really want to achieve.Here are the 5 things I wish to work on for the rest of 2017:Maintain the potato business, and phase it out.Record 3000+ Videos for YouTube, each with an accompanying blog.Create colouring books, and other misc types of small books for Amazon.Create Udemy e-courses.Start and grow the Hemp business.The first one is an ongoing process, the 2nd one is what I will be doing once I have finished book and others. The third one is purely for creating income and cash flow. The 4th one is based on the books, blogs and videos. The last one is the next big business adventure after the books, and will be used as research and reference for my official 2nd bookWhen you focus on specific things you get specific things accomplished. There is money in everything- everything can be profitable.Define your five things that you wish to achieve and focus on them and do not let of them, or allow yourself be distracted.There is the story of Richard Branson where are University wanted him to do a special talk and were willing to offer him £50,000. As they rang his assistant, they said Richard would not do a talk, after each phone call they raised the price, eventually, to £100,000. The assistant stated that he would not do any talks, as they would be a distraction from his tasks, objectives and goals. Time is important, as it is the only thing we cannot create more of. You have to value it and manage it well.

What is success? - 16/101 Entrepreneur Questions and Answers

This is an except from my book: 101 Entrepreneur Questions and Answers.Success is what you personally define it is as. My personal definition is: a progression towards a worthy idea by working towards a defined goal.Success is working towards a worthy ideal and success is when you achieve what it is you set out to do. Success is when you get what you are after and for your success you have got to have goals, objectives and priorities that help shapes your future, and without these it is like a ship trying to leave the harbor. Unless the ship has a destination: it will not be able to get out into open sea.Success is subjective and it is in entirely dependent what you want. You cannot let other people determine what your success is and what it means for you. Only you truly know what you want, what you desire from life and entrepreneurship is one of the ways in which you can achieve what you want.Use your goals as minimums and standards for what you personally want to achieve in life and then reverse engineer your activities around it. Use your goals as a bearing and have them incorporated into your actives and systems.If you want to travel the world, then figure out a way in which you can have a business purely from a laptop and make money no matter where you are in the world as long as you have an internet connection. This is what Simon from FreedomSurfer.com does, which is  "one of the internet’s most popular sites for digital nomads, perpetual travelers and location independent entrepreneurs." Simon, who runs the business describes himself as a "location independent entrepreneur. I have been traveling the world non-stop for many years, running my businesses remotely."To Simon, one of his successes is to travel the world, he is a digital nomad. If your goals are to meet new people, then how can you use that as a basis for a business? If you want to draw things, then how can you use that as a basis for a business?Define your own successes, then use that as a standard and bearing for your business. The level of success that you want should determine your actions and the systems that you create.When you are working towards your goals and towards an objective, then you are pursuing your own success and as you pursue your own success you achieve what you want in life. As you achieve what you want, you become happier and it spurs you on to achieve more, if you are so inclined.What is life without the things that you want? How happy is the person that deprives himself from achievement, or has never achieved what he wanted his entire life?Question of the day: what does success look like to you?