A Different Path to Success After UniversityAleksander Vitkin

Facebook.com/Aleksander.VitkinAleksander.Vitkin@gmail.com

& Special GuestMoritz Bauer

Introduction

• Who am I and why should you listen to me?– Freelancer Marketer and Recruiter since 2009– Helped build a company from $2M to $5M– 28 years old, traveled to 23 countries while

working online (Lived in 9 countries)– 2 Marketing/Communication degrees– Worked with hundreds of young interns and

managed several employees– Privileged position to see who succeeded and who

didn’t and why

Table of Contents

• What to Focus on to Become an Entrepreneur• How to Get Hired by a Start-up• Questions• Difference Between How the World is

Presented to You Now and the “Real World”

What to Focus on to Become an Entrepreneur

• How I started:– Jobs, Internships and “door to door sales”– Consulting business– Get clients right out of college– Focus on giving value 100%, monetary rewards are less

important– Read and surround yourself with high level/ high value

ideas– Master wealth

• Course: Self Made Wealth – Eben Pagan

– Who has become successful: quick starters, implementers, pushers, persistent people, education never mattered

How to Get Hired by a Start-up

• How to choose one:– Go to startup events (Lean Startup,…)– Find out what they need before anything else– Mutually beneficial?– Do you want to do this for 10 years?– Treat it like your own company

How to Get Hired by a Start-up

• How to get the actual job:– Suggest solution to their most urgent needs– Present project and how you will help themFrom their perspectiveExample (Marketing): “3 Month Plan to Increase Lead Generation by 50% for Startup x y z”

What is the difference between liking entrepreneurship and BEING an entrepreneur?

• Ideas are cheap (80% execution)Example: the idea man who “protects his precious”

Broadcast your intention to everyone you know and then execute

What is the difference between liking entrepreneurship and BEING an entrepreneur?

• Totally different view on failure and success Failure: Learning opportunity Success: Just the beginning, not time to retire • Time and Focus investment• View everything as a way to improve your

business• Understand long term effect of decisions

Business plans. Are they useful or necessary? When are they useful?

• You need to change what you’re doing based on incoming data FAST

• When you go to banks for money, they need business plans to funnel you through their system

Business now moves much faster than in the past.

Questions

• Sample from Vishen Lakhiani and Mindvalley.com ($20M business):

How to convince others (especially techies, people with a technological background) to join your startup?

• Have bigger vision than “Make money by offering service x y z”, be a game changer

• Broadcast what you stand for• Give them a say in the company, don’t lock

them up in the basement

Should I invest all my time in my startup?

• 100% focus and commitment• Breathe, talk and live your business - View everything in terms of “how will this improve my business”

Questions

• How to attract foreign investment?– Create something people care about– Present it in a way that’s attractive– Put it on Kickstarter.com, similar sites– Equity crowd funding is going to explode soon

Difference Between How the World is Presented to You Now and the “Real World”

• Presented: get good grades get into a good university and study hard get a high paying job get a wife/husband get a mortgage get a child get a raise/promotion save for old age pay taxes retire live to a ripe old age and die

Difference Between How the World is Presented to You Now and the “Real World”

• How I like to view it:– You are 100% responsible for every aspect of your life, not

society, not your friends, no one else.– The average is the easy, lazy way– You get 100% of what you deserve, at any given moment

(there are exceptions).– Hussle, hussle & hussle– Retirement / stop learning = early death (age doesn’t

matter)– Jobs are for chumps– Real life example: Moritz:

The 4-Hour Work WeekA Real-Life Example

Moritz Bauer

Who I am

• 29 years old• Never had a “real” job• Changed studies 6 times (finished 1)• 4 failures in previous businesses• 5th one worked (thanks god!)

“Failure is your friend”

My Business

• Personal development website• Selling Digital Information Products

Advantages of a DIP Online Business

• Location independence• Fully automatable• High margins• Low time-investment• Earn money while you sleep

How It Works

1. User comes to site from search engine2. Opts in for Freebie3. Gets emails with relevant content + link to

product4. Buys product (hopefully)5. Becomes a raving fan and buys everything

you have (open the champagne!)

That’s How a

Day Looks Like

3 Things You Need(or you’re dead in the water)

1. Product2. Traffic3. Conversion

Example Products

• Flyer’s Guide to Discount Airfare• How to End Panic Attacks• Get Your Ex-Boyfriend Back• How to Make $ With Twitter• Dog Training Secrets• The Sixpack Program• How to Build a Chicken Coop

Advice to aspiring Entrepreneurs

• Do what you love (no love = no power)• Check that there is a market for your product• Model first, innovate later• Watch that balance (enjoy the journey)• Go, make things HAPPEN! NOW!

Audience Questions

Aleksander.Vitkin@Gmail.comFacebook.com/Aleksander.Vitkin