Adrian Nantchev's Blog, page 20

Experience Does Not go Hand in Hand with Age - 87/101 Entrepreneur Mistakes & Lessons

It is a major misunderstanding that age equals experience.Someone can be 100 years old and have never left their home town, whilst someone else can be 20 and have travelled the world and written books on different topics.In 2002 I remember having an argument with a girl, where I was telling her that experience does not go hand in hand with age. She could not understand that age and experience are two different things.You always want to be expanding your comfort zone and becoming better. Do not let your age deter you from achieving bigger and better things.Never listen to people that tell you what you can and cannot do, because we all have unlimited potential and with the world we are in now there is so much more opportunity.The technology we have today enables all sorts of businesses to exist.Experience can be gained from everywhere and in most cases, either cheaply or for free.I've been told that travelling the world will broaden your horizons. So, this is something I want to do in the future, when things are set up.When you are looking for experience there are a few places that are worth checking, such as YouTube, Amazon, Google and places like coursera. Go crazy watching videos, reading blogs, reading books and doing video courses.Nothing beats actually doing the work hands-on as you retain more of the knowledge, but the problem with this is that is not very scalable and can be time consuming, but you will learn more.The world is ours, so make your ideas and dreams a reality. Really only you are stopping them from becoming real. You really only need two things:To expand your comer zone.Increase your knowledge.Both of which will enable you to conquer business and conquer life.Question of the day: what are you not experienced at/with?There are another 100 mistakes that I made here.

Live a 3 month year - 86/101 Entrepreneur Mistakes & Lessons

When you have plans, goals and ambitions, I've been told it is a good idea to set and accomplish them in groups of 3 months. I suspect this is a way to get you to push yourself to achieve the things you want and as a way to achieve more in a single calendar year.But when you begin to think in sets of 3 months, then you are creating urgency to accomplish things in a short space of time.If you were to give yourself the entire year to accomplish a task, then you'd not be as efficient as you could be if it was 3 months.Imagine the success and how much more happier you'd feel in the New Year knowing that you've accomplished 4 times as much as you planned in the outgoing year because you worked in stages of 3 months.Be quick on getting your goals accomplished and work in phases of 3 months. When you aim to accomplish things within 3 months, you subsequently accomplish more in those months than most people do in a 3, 5, 10 or even 20 years.Define your goals and focus on them.I've set myself some deadlines at the start of 2017, where I wanted a certain amount of books on Amazon by the 23rd March.Set yourself deadlines and do not procrastinate nor dely.Life is about challenge, and when you achieve your first challenge, every other challenge becomes easier and easier. And the self believe and confidence you achieve from your accomplishments enables you to do more, and then you begin to experience how success and beget success.You are not going to be good at everything, but the few that you are good at: magnify your talent and ability to be even better at it.Question of the day: what are your goals for the next 3 months? What do you need to focus on?There are another 100 mistakes that I made here.

Have a plan - 85/101 Entrepreneur Mistakes & Lessons

Wherever you want to go and whatever you want to do in life you need a plan.My goal is to write this and dozens of other books by March 2017 and my plan is to create different books on topics using a certain book writing strategy.Without a plan you are like a ship that has no course of action. The ship might eventually leave the harbor, but with a plan it knows which way to go and which course to set.Never leave anything to chance. When you leave things to chance, you are that ship in the harbor: you may not get out to open sea.Without a plan you have no course of action.You need a plan of action for the tasks and objectives you want to achieve.When you have a plan you have a structure and something to follow which will guide you to success.The more thorough your plan is the better. Because there will be things that come up which will throw a spanner in the works and mess up your plans. You see a plan never survives contact with the enemy, so you need a backup plan and you need to be flexible in case of emergencies.Which bring me on to contingencies: you need to have fail safes set up in case you don't meet your plans, or in case there are emergencies.Lastly, it is worth reminding yourself about your plans in your affirmations. I remind myself about the deadlines, so they are always at the top of my head. And because of that I am thinking about is how I can fulfill my plans and get the task done in the time allotted.Question of the day: what do you need to plan?There are another 100 mistakes that I made here.

Always be Researching About the Fundamentals and New Things - 84/101 Entrepreneur Mistakes & Lessons

This kind of also fits in nicely with you needing to be curious, as the more curious you are, the more you'll learn.Earlier today I was searching about how is it I can write a book faster, as writing this specific book has been quite a brain teaser. As writing each chapter is like being in a car and constantly switching between 1st gear and reverse. Once you've built momentum for 1 chapter, you then need to start all over again. Which can be annoying.So, I know some strategies to write some books in around 40 hours, but I've heard about ways to write books in 90 minutes. There are different strategies. But, the principle is, even though I have written a few books already, I am going back to basics and the fundamentals to see how I can improve. If I can begin to write faster, then I can write more books and solve more problems overall.I spent 2 weeks in November 2016 learning about inbound marketing and how I could use it for my books, to build my brand and how to use it for WeWantHemp.The way I see it is that all the knowledge we have is like a giant jigsaw puzzle. Where every bit of knowledge comes together from different sources and forms a giant picture and thus a plan and strategy.Delve deep into research, be curious and learn everything about that topic as you can. The more you learn, the more opportunity you can create for yourself.When you learn new things, you can then see how it can be applied and mixed with the things you already know. Like when I was talking about the knowledge in your head being like a series of particles, and when an external input comes onto your brain it bounces around your existing knowledge pool, and the more particles of knowledge is bounces off, the more ideas you can generate.You need to keep adding knowledge to that pool so when you learn something new or are reminded of the fundamentals: it creates a storm of ideas and opportunity in your mind. That is how you also create opportunity from nowhere and how you create money from thin air.Question of the day: what fundamentals do you need to revise?There are another 100 mistakes that I made here.

Think Big - 83/101 Entrepreneur Mistakes & Lessons

When it comes to business: thinking big and global, but acting local, is better than just thinking and acting local. It's easier and more rewarding that thinking small.When you think big you are imagining, creating and aiming for more than you normally would. When you think big you are thinking extensive and global.Evidentially, it becomes easier to make £100 than it is to make £10 when you are acting and thinking big. Because once you show to the general public that you are worth buying from, then more people will buy from you. Or, if you create enough content and ways in which your customers can find you, then plenty more people can buy from you than if you acted local and small.I'm not doing any marketing for my Potato business, 100% of it is coming from word of mouth. This is a little risky, but the customer acquisition cost is £0.00. Which is very helpful.With my Hemp business, I'm going to create plenty of content that appeals to different kinds of people and different kinds of content to promote indirectly the products that we sell. This also helps to build authority when people are consuming content from me.When it comes to thinking big, it is down to what actions you want to take and goals your want to set. Why only write 1 book, when you have enough ideas for 4? Why create 10 videos, when with a little bit of creative thinking, you can make 100?Think and act bigger.Question of the day: how are you changing the status quo? How are you thinking big?There are another 100 mistakes that I made here.

Go to Bed Every Night Wiser and with More Knowledge - 82/101 Entrepreneur Mistakes & Lessons

[image error]Go to bed a little wiser every night and you'll get ahead step by step. As we get ahead day by day, by crawling and it does not need to be in fast spurts, but persistence counts.It's not a case of being good, it is a case of getting better. If you get better at 1% a day for 3 years, then over time it compounds and you'd be completely different from when you started. You'd be wiser, richer, more knowledgeable and perhaps happier too.At a compounding rate of 1% a day you'd get ahead and outpace the majority of your competition probably by 40 days. Seek to be wiser every day and over time your knowledge and wisdom will compound and you'll achieve more in 1 year than some could achieve in 10 years, or more.Now with your new founded knowledge, all you need to do is expand your comfort zone and then you can do anything that you put your mind to. You can become unstoppable through self confidence and knowledge.By getting wiser every day you are getting ahead, and no matter how slow your progress is, it is still better than 99% of the population. Because most people want to get ahead and recognize the value of it, but they do not want to put the effort in, for one reason or another. It is a case of not stopping and keep going.Drop one extreme belief a year. Whether this is in politics, economics or religion. The world is not as bad place as you think, and extreme beliefs tend to get you nowhere because they generally may be ignorant or not taking in all the facts.There is a story about a boxing gym and the coach leaving the lights on even after everyone has gone home at 9pm for the day. One day a boxer asked the coach why he leaves the lights on, and he replies "somewhere out there right now is another boxer training 1 extra hour a night. God help you if you ever meet him in the ring, because you'd lose."By training 1 extra hour a night you have an extra 16 days a year of practice and of getting ahead.It's these small little extras every day that compounds over time and makes a massive difference in the long run. And again: the only worthwhile game playing is the long term game.Question of the day: how are you getting ahead day by day?There are another 100 mistakes that I made here.

The bigger the problem you solve, the more you'll get paid - 81/101 Entrepreneur Mistakes & Lessons

This is how you become rich and/or become a billionaire: by solving big world problems and by doing so also helps you to think big. The bigger the problem you solve for the world, the more you'll get paid.You don't have to be a billionaire, but this is the principle for making money.Bill Gates solved a big world problem of the need to computerise the world, so he makes computers available to everyone.It is a similar story with Elon Musk, as he tries to get a humanity onto mars, create renewable energy and make an electric car that does not rely on fossil fuel.When you solve small problems for people, you'll get paid small amount. Remember: your income is directly related to the size of the problem you solve.This is also why a lot of employees still have a small income, because they are not solving a big enough problem. They are still solving a small problem at the company where they work.This also helps to explain why the rich continue to get richer, because:They focus on creating assets.Those assets solve more problems for people.The definition of a problem is anything. It could be information that someone lacked or was in need of, so they bought a book on the topic. It could be a service, like getting from A to B, thus they'd need a taxi or an airplane. Or it could be hunger, so someone buys food from you.The interesting thing is that people don't always know that they have a problem that needs solving, until you make them aware of the how your product makes their life better. Such as with Bill Gates and his computers- not everyone saw the benefit of using computers.Solving big problems is meant to be hard. It is that difficulty of the task that makes it great in other people's eyes. The harder it is, the more rewarding it'll be.Question of the day: what bring problems is your business solving?There are another 100 mistakes that I made here.

Look up to Other Rich people - 80/101 Entrepreneur Mistakes & Lessons

Success does indeed leave clues for us to follow. When someone successful has a biography, look into reading it, as I mentioned earlier. Because it helps to build your own belief and strength that you can accomplish something. Especially when you see what challenges other people overcame.Successful people have achieved much more than most people, so it is worth listening to them, because they could impart some knowledge that'll change your life.When you listen to how millionaires and billionaires make their money, or about their philosophy or knowledge, then you too can benefit. You can learn from their experiences, especially when they are sharing it with the world and there is always something you can learn from everyone.Although, take even their experiences with a pinch of salt, because there is a cognitive bias called the survivorship bias, which means that the successful people's experiences are unique to them and the advice that worked for them, may not work for you, because that advice originated and solved their particular problem. But listen nonetheless to these people.When you listen to them, you are learning directly from their experiences, successes and failures.The rich listen to and look up to other rich people, while the poor people scour them their success, for one reason or another. And this is a disappointment because you can learn a lot from other successful people.Such as what to do in life and what not to do. They hold valuable information can could lead to all sorts of new opportunities and changes for you, you've just got to be open minded enough to listen.And I mean real open mindedness, because a lot of people claim to be open minded, yet in practice they are closed minded.Question of the day: who are you learning from?There are another 100 mistakes that I made here.

Understand More about Psychology and Human Behaviour - 79/101 Entrepreneur Mistakes & Lessons

Few humans are alike, and we all have our own unique strengths and weaknesses. Yet, we all have some common features.Some of these features are more common in some than others.We all have our own strengths and weaknesses.Because this is who you are dealing with: Humans. When you can understand them, then you can understand the entire human race and how they function, what makes them tick, etc. It is not through doing business with animals which pays us an income, it is from humans. We do business with humans and when you understand psychology, then you have a big advantage.We have what are called cognitive biases, which are akin to 'glitches' that are inside us that affect how we think and feel. The more of these biases you understand, the better you understand human psychology.There are 100s of different cognitive biases, and the more you understand, the more you can predict human behaviour.They go beyond the scope of this book, but here are some biases worth researching about:Anchoring bias.Authority bias.Bandwagon effect.Cheerleader effect.Contrast bias.Forer effect.Gambler's fallacy.Google effect.IKEA effect.Kantian fairness.Liking bias, disliking bias.Reciprocity.Spotlight effect.Also check out my book, 50 Cognitive Biases for an Unfair Advantage in Entrepreneurship.Question of the day: what kind of psychology are you going to use? What did you not know about?There are another 100 mistakes that I made here.

Entrepreneurship is about solving problems - 78/101 Entrepreneur Mistakes & Lessons

I used to think that entrepreneurship was about connecting the dots. I now know that entrepreneurship is about solving problems for people and being rewarded in proportion to the size of the problem that you solve for them.I use to think it was about connecting the dots: what product/service can you get from where, where does it need to be, who will buy it and at what price.One way to know what problems you can solve is to define your strengths and weaknesses and then build a business around them.I originally had the idea to start my third business a few years ago, but I wanted to it be so much more grand and complex. I wanted to involve hydroponic farming and creating a biofuel that would replace diesel and petrol. But I left it and over time I learnt new things that would, subsequently, change the strategy.I learn that you've got to build a business on your strengths. So I decided to scale the idea down and build it around what I know about: ecommerce, marketing and social media.Thus began the business: WeWantHemp and because in a previous lesson I shared with you the fact that you need to start a business with a purpose. The purpose behind WeWantHemp is to .This is done by educating people about as many facts, features and benefits of hemp. I'm working on solving the problem of a lack of Hemp awareness and demand in the world. Which is a business which can be scaled, and an product and principle which everyone has an opinion on.Question of the day: what problems are you solving for people? How big are those problems?There are another 100 mistakes that I made here.