A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR “Give yourself the space to listen to your own voice-your own soul. Too many of us listen to the noise of the world & get lost in the crowd.” The world is a small place, literally. We are all connected to each other through all the technological advances that have happened in last few decades. However the more we rely on the technology, the more we get drifted away from ourselves. Throughout the day, we take time to check our emails, phone calls, WhatsApp messages, social media updates but have no time for our loved ones and most importantly to our own body and soul. That’s why it is important to listen to your own voice and soul so that you don’t get lost in the noise of the world. In order to succeed in life, one needs to understand self and spend time for self-development and growth. Our cover story guest Brianna Wiest is one such philosopher who intends to help people through her writings so that they can find meaning in life and transform it forever. She focuses
on mental health and wellness issues for young adults and is a successful author of 4 books. You will also learn from the life journey of Anthony Moore wherein he will share his struggles on de-addiction of pornography. We have some great advice from the likes of Steve Pavlina, Leo Babauta, and interviews from entrepreneurs like Theodore Moulos of GrowthRocks.com and Gustavo Razzetti of Liberationist. We also have some great deals on software and tools for your business growth. We hope that you will like the issue as much as we like it while designing and conceptualizing the Issue.
The Editor
Editor-in-chief PETE WILLIAMS
Contributors LEO BABAUTA STEVE PAVLINA BRIANNA WIEST ANTHONY MOORE THEODORE MOULOS GUSTAVO RAZZETTI
Image Credits
freepik.com, unsplash.com
Design
THE CREATIVE CHIMNEY
(www.thecreativechimney.com)
ART DIRECTOR KANIKA GUPTA
U p Scale Pete Williams
contents
29
issue 10
Anthony Moore on De-addiction, Success and Life MOTIVATION
15 Brianna
Wiest
How to Be Prepared for
01 Anything Life Hacking
Learn to challenge yourself one stretch at a time
MEET GUSTAVO RAZZETTI CHANGE LEADERSHIP
07 11
Ways
to Gain Clarity Personal Growth
33
Live your life with Passion meet Theodore Moulos
GROWTH INTERVIEW
41
How to Be Prepared for
Anything
‘NEVER LET THE FUTURE DISTURB the same thing. So we’re going to learn YOU. YOU WILL MEET IT, IF YOU HAVE some internal survival skills that will help TO, WITH THE SAME WEAPONS OF us deal with anything the future holds. REASON WHICH TODAY ARM YOU AGAINST THE PRESENT.’ Second, a little prep MARCUS AURELIUS
before you prep:
I’ve found that while the external details aren’t as important as what you do internally, it’s still good to have your house in order as much as possible. That means have your finances in order — get out of debt, or at least have your debts listed with a plan to pay them off as soon as you possibly can, have an emergency fund, spend less than you earn, invest as much as you can. That means simplify your possessions and your time. Get your health in order — focus on eating more whole foods (especially vegetables) and The trouble with this is you don’t know less processed foods, get active. Once you what’s coming. And so you’ll spend your have these things down, the rest of life is entire life preparing for various things, much, much easier. and not really be ready. And who wants to spend their life just preparing? Another way of preparing is learning some skills that will have you ready for just about anything that might come. There are various ways to prepare yourself for what might come your way, whether that’s a tough work project, a crisis, the loss of a loved one, an argument with your partner, or the zombie apocalypse. One way is to get everything ready for anything that’s likely to come: get all your survival equipment, prepare your skills, plan for your work projects, get your affairs in order, think through your arguments, and so on.
THIS IS THE SURVIVAL KIT OF LIVING.
First, the philosophy:
you can’t prepare for the details of every single possible thing that might come your way in the future, because the future is uncertain. Instead, realize that the external events are just details … the real thing to prepare yourself for is what happens internally. And it’s pretty much
01 | SCALEUP | ISSUE 10
The Survival Kit
If you learn these things, you’ll be ready for anything — from regular work and personal events to crises of all kinds, to major losses and life changes.
Mindfulness.
This is the foundation — without practicing mindfulness, you won’t be able to do the other skills regularly enough for them to be useful. You can practice mindfulness simply by meditating — focus on your breath for a few minutes every morning, to start with. As you get better at mindfulness, you will get better at noticing what’s going on inside you as external events happen. For example, if someone is yelling at you, you might be mindful of your body at that moment and notice an increased heartbeat, a panicky feeling in your chest, a hot flush in your face, or something like that. Mindfulness of your body’s responses alert you to what might be going on in your mind.
Watch your internal response. As you
start to notice your mind’s responses to external events, you can begin to guide your response. For example, if you are given a large project at the last minute, you might notice your breathing getting shallow and your chest tightening, or your jaw clenching … you can then see that you’re extremely anxious about this, maybe resentful that you’re being asked to do this on a short deadline. You can then examine those responses — anxiety, resentfulness — and decide how to act, rather than being controlled by them.
See what you’re holding onto.
When you have a difficult feeling, like anxiety, anger, resentfulness, fear (including procrastination) … there’s something you’re attached to that’s causing the feeling. It can be difficult to spot this at first, but with practice you can see it in an instant. If you’re angry or resentful, there’s an ideal situation you would like, and are holding onto, that doesn’t match up with reality. For example, maybe someone has said something mean to you … you might be angry because (ideally) they shouldn’t treat you that way. It doesn’t matter if you’re right or not — if you want things to be different than reality, you’ll be angry or resentful or frustrated. Noticing what you’re holding onto is an important step.
Let it go.
It’s impossible not to ever hold onto certain ideals … but if you see that the ideal is causing you pain, you can be compassionate with yourself and let go of the ideal. Sure, people should treat you nicely, but that’s an ideal that’s not always going to be true. Letting go of the ideal means embracing the reality that there’s a wide range of behaviors that people will have, and that’s a part of life. Humans don’t always act ideally. We need to accept that, and not force an ideal on reality. ISSUE 10 | SCALEUP | 02
Respond appropriately.
Acceptance of reality doesn’t mean you do nothing. It means you let go of the ideals causing the painful feelings, and then figure out how to respond without the anger, frustration, anxiety, resentment. Responding to a person or situation in anger or resentment (for example) doesn’t usually result in a skillful response. If you can let go of the ideal and let the painful feelings go, you can respond more skillfully. When my child breaks a dish, for example, I can get angry (“They shouldn’t break dishes!”) and yell (not skillful), or I can let go of that ideal and the resultant anger, and see if the child is OK, and then calmly and compassionately talk about how to avoid that in the future. That’s a more appropriate response. When we respond in anger or frustration, we only compound the problem. Responding calmly and compassionately means we’re going to be able to deal with anything that is in front of us, whether it’s a crisis or a loss or an angry loved one.
Stay in the moment. We make situations worse when we replay the past in our heads (“How can they have done that?”) or think of all the things that might go wrong in the future. In the present moment, things are OK. We can meet the present moment with calmness and compassion, if we can stay in the present. That means being mindful of when our mind is stuck in the past or speculating about the future, and returning to the present as much as we can.
Be grateful & accept the moment 03 | SCALEUP | ISSUE 10
for what it is.
Reality can suck, if we want it to be different … or we can accept reality for what it is, and be grateful for it. This takes practice, because it’s hard to be grateful when you feel you’re being treated badly, or you’ve lost a job, or you’ve lost a loved one, or you’re battling illness. But this is the reality you have, not the ideal you wish you had. And it’s a reality that contains beauty, if we choose to see it. This skill makes us much more at peace with whatever we need to deal with. It might seem overly simplistic to say that this survival kit of dealing with life will help us be prepared for any situation. And it is. But there’s nothing wrong with simplifying things, if only to help us focus our efforts on what’s most important. In my experience, these skills matter. They make a huge difference. Practice them, and see how you’re able to deal with life in an entirely new way.
Author Bio Leo Babauta is a simplicity author and creator of Zen Habits (http://zenhabits. net), one of the most-read blogs in the world.
Leo Babauta
Personal Growth
11 Ways
Personal Growth
to Gain Clarity I’m sure you’ve read that clarity and focus are important qualities for success. Decide what you want, and then pursue it with passion and energy. But what if you’re feeling uncertain and don’t have a lot of clarity about your future direction? What if you can’t decide what you’d like to do next? This is a common problem, especially for today’s 20-somethings who are growing up in a world of unprecedented change. Fortunately there are many actions you can take and mental adjustments you can make that will help you shift from uncertainty to certainty. Here are 11 tips for infusing your life with more clarity:
1. Assume 100% responsibility for your own level of clarity.
Many people assume that clarity is something that will arrive in good time if they simply wait patiently. Others feel stunted that they aren’t gifted with the same degree of clarity as others. The common pattern is that clarity is seen as something that is bestowed from the outside in, that it’s something God, the universe, or the world at large has the power to grant you — or that it’s an accident in some way. Some people get lucky; others don’t. 07 | SCALEUP | ISSUE 10
These attitudes are pointless and self-defeating. Clarity isn’t something that arrives from outside of you. Clarity isn’t a matter of luck either. Clarity is what you create for yourself. Clarity is a decision. Whatever degree of clarity you’re experiencing right now is what you’ve decided to create. Not deciding still counts as a decision; in that case it’s the decision to remain uncertain. The word decide comes from the Latin decidere, which means “to cut off from.” To make a decision, you must cut away other potential directions. If you remain open to lots of different directions at the same time, you get confusion and fuzziness. When you commit yourself to one specific direction, clarity is the natural result. It’s wise to remain open and responsive to what comes your way. Don’t be so
rigid as to ignore what’s coming to you. But neither be so “open” that you succumb to wishy-washy indecision. Be like a ship captain who sets sail with a specific destination in mind, while keeping a keen eye on the wind and waters during the journey. Now it’s entirely possible that you may not be very good at creating clarity yet. You may in fact be very good at creating confusion and uncertainty for yourself — and have a long track record to prove it. That’s okay for now, but take it as a given that you’re the one who’s creating your current level of clarity. No one else is doing it to you — not God or the universe or your friends and family or your boss or your spirit guides or the Law of Attraction. Furthermore, realize and accept that if your current degree of clarity is to improve, then you must actively make some changes. Endlessly pondering why you don’t have clarity will only perpetuate confusion, so that’s a bad habit you can drop immediately.
If you want more clarity, then it’s time to treat the generation of clarity as a serious undertaking that’s entirely 100% your responsibility. It’s not going to happen unless you make it happen.
2. Stop creating the opposite of clarity.
Some thoughts and actions lead to increased clarity. Other thoughts and actions have the opposite effect. If you want to experience more clarity, you must disengage yourself from that which has an adverse effect on your clarity. Clarity-reducing patterns include: • Hanging out with fuzzy, unfocused people who are drifting aimlessly with no direction • Living with people whose goals and values are in conflict with yours • Distracting yourself with excessive TV, web surfing, video games, or other time-wasting habits • Numbing your mind and emotions with junk food, alcohol, or other addictions • Overstimulating yourself with caffeine (which for many people leads to racing thoughts) • Whining about your lack of certainty or complaining that you don’t know what to do ISSUE 10 | SCALEUP | 08
Personal Growth Clarity-boosting patterns include doing the opposite of the above: • Hanging out with clear, focused people who can tell you their purpose and direction • Living with people whose goals and values align well with yours • Feeding your mind with inspirational and motivational material like quality books and audio programs • Eating healthy, unrefined foods (especially fruits and veggies, fresh juices, and smoothies) that keep your mind sharp and alert • Avoiding stimulants that cause swings in your thoughts and emotions • Thinking about your goals and the next actions you can take today If you find yourself surrounded by people and circumstances that leave you feeling dizzy and confused, drop those elements from your life, and give yourself the space to create and enjoy the clarity you seek. Spinning in circles is unproductive.
Personal Growth patterns of clarity vs. fuzziness. For example, do you feel clearer and more certain after taking the time to write down your goals? Do you feel fuzzier after having a conversation with someone who’s always nagging you to change in ways you disagree with? If so, then do the former more often, and do the latter less often.
4. Use visualization to create the vibe of clarity.
Either you feel clear and focused right now, or you don’t. You may assume that your external reality has to be a certain way in order for you to feel clear and focused. Having all your ducks in a row may make it easier to feel clear, but you can also use your imagination to create the feeling of clarity.
Clarity is more than just a feeling. There’s an emotional state associated 3. Harvest and apply the with it, but it’s more than that. Clarity is a certain vibe. When you’re really clarity lessons from clear, you can sense that vibe through your past. every cell of your being. Your mind and Notice that your level of clarity isn’t emotions are centered. Every part of you the same at all times. At some points in is on the same page. There’s no doubt or your life, you’ve been very clear. At other uncertainty. This is a powerful state of times you’ve been extremely uncertain. being to experience. Take a moment to review those times Sit quietly for a few moments and when you’ve been at one extreme vs. the imagine what it’s like to hold the vibe other. See if you can identify some of the of total clarity. Imagine what your causal factors on both sides. surroundings would look like if you Notice which factors lead to reduced were really clear about your direction in clarity, and do less of them. Also notice life right now. Imagine the people and which factors lead to increased clarity, and circumstances that would be in your do more of them. This sounds childishly reality. Imagine how you’d dress, how simple, and it is, but chances are that you you’d move, and how you’d communicate aren’t applying this idea as well as you with others. Paint a vivid picture of a could. Humor me, and give it a try. You’ll reality — any reality — in which you feel be amazed as the a-ha moments that can crystal clear about your direction in life. be gotten from a quick review of your past What matters isn’t the specific 09 | SCALEUP | ISSUE 10
visualization you create. What matters is the vibe you experience. You can imagine yourself as an ancient Roman conqueror as long as it helps you hold the vibe of clarity. Do this for at least 10-20 minutes per day until the clarity vibe feels normal and natural to you. The more you practice holding this vibe, the more clarity you’ll bring to the rest of your life and to all the decisions you make.
5. Ask for help.
Help is available when you need it, so take advantage of it. Ask someone who’s clear about their path to assist you. The quality of help you receive will vary depending on the source. An experienced counselor may be able to help you gain clarity quickly, while an enthusiastic but inexperienced friend may create more confusion than certainty. Also, consulting with an unbiased outsider is usually more beneficial than asking for help from someone who’s personally invested in your situation.
Bear in mind that you’re still 100% responsible for your level of clarity. Use counselors, coaches, and advice givers as a resource to help you see the big picture, but don’t give your power away to them. If you try to give your power away to such people, hoping they’ll tell you what to do, it will backfire. A good counselor can help draw out and validate a path that’s right for you, but s/he cannot create a path for you. Creating the path is your responsibility.
6. Put your goals in writing, and review them daily.
This is a well-known habit of success, yet its practice remains inconsistent for most people. As soon as you write down your goals, you’ll experience a boost in clarity. And each time you review your goals, you’ll gain more clarity. Writing down your goals pushes you to make them clearer and more precise. It’s easy for a goal to remain fuzzy when it’s only in your mind, but if it’s stuck in your head and you can’t even write it down, it’s more of a fantasy than a goal. Putting your goal in writing is the first key action step toward making it real. How many times have you imagined a sexual fantasy for instance? And how many of those did you commit to writing as an actual goal or intention? Which ones are more likely to manifest? Whatever you’d like to keep as fantasy, leave it in your imagination. But whatever you’d like to experience in physical reality, put it down in writing. Keep drilling your goals into your subconscious mind by reviewing them daily. Imagine your written goals as physically real — not fantasy — and ISSUE 10 | SCALEUP | 10
Personal Growth soon your internal resources will be aligned with making those goals come to fruition. It takes a while to condition the subconscious through repetition, but if you persist with this habit, you’ll begin to notice subtle shifts that bring your goals ever closer. Jack Canfield recommends the practice of writing your goals on index cards, one goal per card. Then flip through the cards and imagine each goal as real when you first wake up in the morning and again before you go to bed. This is an excellent habit to install.
7. Accept that any goal is better than no goal.
When asked to take a few minutes to write down some goals, certain people love to whine, “But I don’t know what to write down. I don’t know what my goals are.” In that case you can write down, “I want nothing!” If all you have is a blank page — or no page at all — then your goal is nothing. That’s what you’re asking for, so that’s what you’ll receive. The people who whine that they don’t know what to ask for are really saying, “I want nothing. I can’t think of any single thing I want. So I’m asking for precisely nothing.” Sounds pretty foolish, doesn’t it? It is foolish! Surely you can come up with something to ask for that’s better than nothing. Ask for a nice dinner. Ask for an extra $100. Ask for a new friend. Ask for a nicer phone. Anything is better than nothing. Imagine asking a child, “What do you want for Christmas?” and hearing the response, “I’m content with what I have. Please don’t trouble yourself on my behalf.” Now that would be a rare child indeed. Some might say that such a child 11 | SCALEUP | ISSUE 10
Personal Growth is enlightened. I’d say that such a child was drugged. Even a dog is capable of expressing what s/he wants, including a neutered dog. Don’t pressure yourself into trying to come up with the perfect list of goals. You’ll never get there. Just write down some items that appeal to you, such as new experiences you’d like to have. Start with the goals that are easy for you to desire. Is there someplace you’d like to visit? Some activity you’d like to try? Someone you’d like to meet? As you get into the habit of setting and achieving goals, better goals will come to you. Don’t worry so much about changing the world if you’re still new to goal setting. Focus on some appealing but smaller achievements first, and as you get good at achieving those goals, continue to expand your goals in new directions.
As you review your goals, try to lock them down and make them more specific. For example, instead of asking for a job you enjoy, you could say, “I make a living creating movies.” That’s a positive step towards greater specificity. Then as you think about that goal, you may progress to, “I enthusiastically earn $100,000 per year writing, producing, directing, and distributing independent short films that uplift, motivate, and inspire people to find their passion.” That goal is much clearer still. Clear written goals help you stay focused. Fuzzy goals leave you feeling uncertain. There’s no need to add superfluous details that are irrelevant to you, but if you can be more specific about what you truly want, it will help you achieve your goals faster, partly because clearer goals are less prone to procrastination. It’s too easy to procrastinate on a goal when you can’t figure out what the next step may be.
9. Pay attention to the path, not just the end result.
Sometimes the way you achieve a particular goal is more important than the goal itself.
8. Crystalize your goals. At first you may write down a goal like, “I have a job I enjoy.” That’s an okay place to start, but it’s not a very powerful goal because it’s so fuzzy. Your mind will have a hard time locking onto it and taking action.
When I started college my second time, ostensibly my goal was to earn my degree in computer science. That was an important goal for me, but it wasn’t very motivating by itself. The first time I pursued that goal, I failed miserably and got expelled from school. The thought of spending 4 more years in school to get a degree was demotivating, so I triplemajored in poker, alcohol, and shoplifting instead.
A year later when I started over as a freshman, I altered my goal to be, “I graduate with a computer science degree in only 3 semesters.” Now that goal inspired me! Challenging myself in that way was even more inspiring than the degree itself. I could have majored in psychology instead of computer science, and the goal still would have excited me. Would your goal be more inspiring to you if you found a way to achieve it faster? With a partner or a small team? While traveling? Without spending a dime? When a goal is too straightforward, it can become demotivating because the action steps may get tedious and repetitive after a while. But if you can spice up the process used to achieve the goal, you may discover some newfound excitement. Sometimes it’s fun to take the scenic route.
10. Stick with one primary goal at a time.
If you have a lot of goals, it’s easy to fall into the trap of jumping around between different goals and making little progress on any of them. If you want to actually achieve a goal, focus on one key goal single-mindedly until it’s achieved. Then move on to another goal. This is what top achievers do. Having too many competing goals will simply scatter your energies. It’s great to have a big list of goals, but which of those goals is most important to you right now? Which one do you want to achieve first? Make that goal your primary aim, and focus on its achievement. When you can work on that goal, do so. Work on other goals while you’re waiting for responses from others or if you simply need a break from the first goal. ISSUE 10 | SCALEUP | 12
Personal Growth What if you have a really huge goal that will take many years to achieve? Same rule applies. If that goal is truly important to you, then center your life around it. Otherwise you’re unlikely to sustain the kind of momentum needed to make it a reality. If that’s too much for you though, you can scale back your goal to something more manageable. Set a subgoal to achieve, but realize that if you do other things between those subgoals, you’re delaying the end result of your primary goal. That’s perfectly fine if you’re still making good progress and enjoying the process. The final result isn’t the only thing that matters. When you look back on the previous year, do you see a track record of massive progress toward your primary goal? If you aren’t satisfied with your current rate of progress, then you’ll need to make some changes to avoid repeating the same pattern next year. There’s no honor in having a big goal on your list if you aren’t making serious progress towards its achievement. Don’t delude yourself into thinking that setting a big goal is the same thing as achieving a big goal.
Personal Growth problems was that you didn’t really know what game you were trying to build until you were already well on your way to building it. Very rarely could you write out a complete design on paper and then implement it. That simply never happened for larger projects. Too many important design decisions had to be made along the way; otherwise golden opportunities would be missed, and the final product would fall far short of its potential. Much of the time, a small team would develop a prototype that would demonstrate some interesting gameplay dynamics, and then they’d play around with it to see how they might develop it into a commercial product. Funding would typically occur in stages, with one or more rounds of funding to create the experimental prototype and demonstrate key features, followed by additional funding to staff up with a larger team and create the final product.
The final goal, i.e. defining exactly what kind of game was being created, often didn’t become clear until the project was well underway. This process made sense for the designers, but it often drove the publishers and marketers nuts, so typically the production team 11. Explore and would document more certainty about experiment. the specs and the schedule than was Sometimes it’s tough to set a clear goal realistic, so as to make their financial because you don’t know what you’re backers more comfortable. Nevertheless, getting into. In that case you can this design-as-you-go process led to the experiment in order to gain clarity about creation of some very innovative games the goal space you’re exploring. (which inevitably went over budget and When I worked in the computer gaming were released a year or more behind industry, one of the major chicken-egg schedule). 13 | SCALEUP | ISSUE 10
Doing what you’re already doing won’t give you more clarity. Thinking about what to do next and writing down some goals can certainly help, but that isn’t always enough. Sometimes you have to get moving first before clarity can be achieved. You’ll enjoy more clarity when you’re in motion than when you’re standing still. A pilot has better visibility from the air than from the ground. When you’re stuck in a state of ambivalence, do whatever it takes to break the impasse. Do something radically different than what you’ve been doing. For example, if you know your current job is unfulfilling, but you don’t know what kind of work you’d enjoy, then quit the unfulfilling job immediately, and do something completely different for a while. Don’t expect to get it perfect on the first try. Go out and rack up a string of failed experiments, and you’ll be much closer to figuring out what you truly love. Some people will judge you harshly for undertaking such an exploration, but their reactions have little to do with you. They may be upset because you’re reminding them that they haven’t been learning and growing as much as they could be. Or they may be upset because you’re interfering with their sense of certainty; they thought they had you all figured out, and then you throw them for a loop. Or they may just be having a bad day.
Regardless of the reason, don’t let fears about other people’s reactions hold you back from conducting your own growth experiments. If I can handle all the sardonic silliness that other bloggers feel inclined to publish about me, then surely you can handle your friends and family thinking you’ve gone off the deep end for a while. Just remember that every person who takes issue with what you’re doing is really saying, “I care about you enough to invest my time in you.” Don’t wait for clarity to come to you. You’re responsible for creating your own clarity from within. If you lack clarity, then get busy creating it. If you can achieve clarity by doing written exercises from the comfort of your home, great. If not, then leave your comfort zone behind, go outside, and explore what’s out there!
About Author
Steve Pavlina is widely recognized as one of the most successful personal development bloggers in the world, with his work attracting more than 100 million visits to StevePavlina.com. He has written more than 1300 articles and recorded many audio programs on a broad range of self-help topics, including productivity, relationships, and spirituality.
Brianna Wiest
is a writer, author, and editor. She has published thousands of articles that have been read by millions of people throughout the world. She writes daily for multiple national publications, and has travelled internationally as a reporter for Teen Vogue. Brianna is currently an editor at Fine Living Lancaster, and does copywriting for PR companies and nonprofit organizations, specifically focusing on mental health and wellness issues for young adults. Brianna is the author of four books, her first of which was a bestseller on Amazon for two years straight.
In 2014, Brianna’s writing amassed 70 million reads on Thought Catalog alone while serving as their Editorial Director. The year prior, Slate ranked two of her articles on the Top 20 most viral of 2013. She has done sponsored content for companies such as HBO, Lena Dunham’s GIRLS, Smartwater, Sleep Number, Away, Lucid and Care/Of. Brianna has interviewed dozens of celebrities and public figures, including black-ish’s Marcus Scribner, when she flew to Jamaica to cover a story about his contributions to The Sandals Foundation, and the cast of Riverdale, when she flew to Vancouver to interview them on set and appear in the final scene of the first season. Previously, she was the award-winning Editor-in-Chief of The Etownian (“Best Newspaper,” 2013 Apple College Media Association Awards; “Excellence in Leadership,” Elizabethtown College). Prior, she worked as their news editor and copy editor. She grew up on Long Island, NY, and became a writer when she was 20. She graduated college early and started working as a professional writer. Her dream was to be an editor, and she definitely didn’t expect her life to go in this direction, but now, five years later, she is really happy that it did. She went to school in Pennsylvania, and now she live here with her fiancé. She does a lot of different types of writing, but she is probably best known for her work on emotional intelligence. She has just finished writing her new book Salt Water which is a hybrid of self-help and poetry. When she was growing up, she lived near the beach, so she spent a lot of time there in the summer with her mom. When she had scrapes on her shins, she’d tell her to go stand in the salt water, because it heals. That’s where the title comes from: the idea that everything that breaks us makes salt water (sweat, tears) and the idea that both nature and the willingness to embrace the sting of life, at times, can be transformative. Her other 101 Essays is a compilation book. A lot of the writing in there had been previously published, a few pieces are new. ISSUE 10 | SCALEUP | 16
According to her, the feeling of holding your own book in your hands is a very, very cool experience. It’s probably something that she dreamt of but never thought she would actually do. She just writes what interests her, or what she is feeling or thinking about... and how people respond to it is kind of out of her control. It’s humbling that people have responded the way they do. Something she learned through writing a lot is that if it doesn’t flow somewhat naturally, it probably isn’t right. She has done most of her articles and books in a short matter of time. As soon as she is clear on what she is trying to say, it’s effortless. She thinks that we use the term ‘hard’ work when we mean ‘dedicated’ work. She feels that her life is about the latter.’
Struggles in life
“Oh man. I think it’s probably self-evident that someone wouldn’t write the way I do without having been through the wringer a few times” She had a lot of struggles with mental health issues, especially in young adulthood. She had really debilitating anxiety and depression, and it touched every part of her life. She was unhappy with her life. “I wasn’t connecting, I was overthinking, I felt powerless, directionless, insecure... all of it”, says Brianna. She is grateful for everything as she learns from everything. She believes strongly that you reap what you sow, and so her goal is to interpret everything as feedback. Good times in her life shows that she is aligned while bad times show her what she still needs to work on. That’s really what she has learned: “you don’t have to live being thrown around by the ‘good’ and the ‘bad,’ you can create what’s steady and peaceful and embrace everything else as it comes” One thing that has transformed her life massively is when someone taught her that she is solely responsible for the quality of her life, and that she has control over everything that really matters in the end. Nothing that you are seeing happening is an accident. Very little of it is luck. It is intentional – She is behind the scenes every day working on it. Cheryl Strayed used the phrase once: “The future has an ancient heart,” and said that when she became a published author, she was both surprised and not. Brianna feels similarly.
Way I work
“I am focused when it is time to work, and then once I’ve crossed everything off my to do list, the computer closes, and that’s it.” She has found that the more responsive and productive she is during her work hours, the easier it is to log off and focus on the rest of her life. She works in the mornings, and then have the afternoons to herself. That’s a self-imposed schedule. She wakes up and her first and clearest energy of the day goes toward work. She likes to keep her inbox at 0, and use the messages in there as a kind of ‘to do’ list. She email herself notes all the time. First half of the day is reserved for her articles, projects, edits and whatever else she is responsible. After that she has her lunch and go to yoga. She usually tries to go outside, read and then hang out with her fiancé in the afternoon/ evening. She keep the routine consistent and simple.
Productivity Secrets Momentum. “I make a list of things to do and start with small ones. The motivation builds from there. The more I recognize I can accomplish, the more hungry I am to do so” She prefers to maintain a simple and minimal life when it comes to tools and technology. She does not bother with anything that doesn’t matter, and this has hugely changed her life. Financially, mentally, emotionally, from what she wear to what she writes. She did it like this: “imagine the life that you want, how you want to be every single day. Get super clear on exactly what that vision is, and then realign your routine so that you are continuously contributing to creating that. It will happen effortlessly from there. Your time is not limited each day, your energy is. You have to choose very carefully what you spend it on”
Seeking motivation in life “I hope this doesn’t sound terrible, but mostly I just find new ways to improve my own life, things that inspire and encourage me. I usually find that if it’s something I need to hear, someone else does, too.” He dad is the source 21 | SCALEUP | ISSUE 10
of inspiration for her. She also seeks wisdom in her favorite writers, like Chrissy Stockton, Ryan Holiday, Cheryl Strayed, Mary Oliver. Other people who inspire her are her fiancé, who is her best friend and the best thing that ever happened to her. She also credits the editors who decided to take a chance on a newbie when she was first starting out.
Resources for success She recommended two books - Resilience, by Eric Greitens, and The Wisest One In the Room, by Thomas Gilovich and Lee Ross. “I think they are must-reads. If you’re in your 20s, The Defining Decade by Meg Jay is another amazing one”
How to find success in life? You have to wake up to your power. You have to realize that nobody is going to change your life for you. Once you start to see just how much you can accomplish and change by sheer willpower, you will never doubt yourself again. Discomfort means that something needs to change. It means that something isn’t quite right. You aren’t in purgatory. You are being communicated with. Living the life of your dreams is your destiny, and empowering yourself will have a ripple effect on everyone and everything around you. The only question is whether or not you are going to get out of your own way. ISSUE 10 | SCALEUP | 22
You don’t control the outcomes of your life, principles do.
but how you act. If you want a “soulmate” relationship, think of it not as something you find, but a person you choose and then grow with over time. If you want to find your purpose, think of it as whatever you are good enough to keep doing, until you leave a The examples he offers are eye-opening: legacy — then it is your calling. Benjamin Hardy says that our lives are governed by objective principles: if you drop a book, gravity will ensure it hits the ground. You controlled that action, but the outcome was the result of how it interacted with the outside world.
Given the choice, which would you rather have: $1,000,000 in your pocket right now or a penny that doubles in value for 31 days? Most people would choose the million. However, the doubling penny actually ends up being $10.7 million dollars. Yet, the majority of the growth happens at the very end, and most people aren’t patient enough for the big return. The live for the moment culture of today stops people from investing. It is small, even undetectable, habits that accumulate and create the quality and legacy of our lives. The big things are just the small things done repeatedly.
It is not in premeditation that we decide what the big, important parts of our lives are, it is doing. Particularly, what we do over and over again. Doing defines our lives, our characters, our relationships—everything. Everything that matters happens in small, repeated actions, and small actions are made up of moments. Which is why instead of living for the desires of “the moment,” you should live for the work of your legacy. Your legacy is what you will be remembered by — what kind of person you were, and what you did while you were here. Developing this requires you to be present. It requires you to choose. It requires you to use each of your moments, rather than wash them away with a rush.
When we talk about “living for the moment,” we’re usually referring to acting on our immediate desires, rather than consciously choosing for each moment of our lives to serve some There is a deeper, more profound kind of purpose, add to some kind of peace that comes from working toward building a part of yourself in objective. the world, rather than building your Freedom is not the ability to act on any life around catering to your senses’ given impulse, it is the ability to choose immediate desires. It will be equally what you want to act on, and why. It taxing, frustrating, gratifying, joyful, is not the absence of commitments, exhausting—but at the end you’re left values, or discipline, it is the ability to with something greater than yourself, and that is the point. Everything is choose them at will. The truest love is not how you feel, hard, only some things are worth it. ISSUE 10 | SCALEUP | 24
The Art of the Start 2.0:
The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything
Book Description: Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, small-business owner, intrapreneur, or notfor-profit leader, there’s no shortage of advice on topics such as innovating, recruiting, fund raising, and branding. In fact, there are so many books, articles, websites, blogs, webinars, and conferences that many startups get paralyzed, or they focus on the wrong priorities and go broke before they succeed. The Art of the Start 2.0 solves that problem by distilling Guy Kawasaki’s decades of experience as one of the most hardworking and irreverent strategists in the business world. Guy has totally overhauled this iconic, essential guide for anyone starting anything. It’s 64 percent longer than version 1.0 and features his latest insights and practical advice about social media, crowdfunding, cloud computing, and many other topics. Guy understands the seismic changes in business over the last decade: Once-invulnerable market leaders are struggling. Many of the basics of getting established have become easier, cheaper, and more democratic. Business plans are no longer necessary. Social media has replaced PR and advertising as the key method of promotion. Crowdfunding is now a viable alternative to investors. The cloud makes basic infrastructure affordable for almost any new venture. The Art of the Start 2.0 will show you how to effectively deploy all these new tools. And it will help you master the fundamental challenges that have not changed: building a strong team, creating an awesome product or service, and facing down your competition. As Guy likes to say, “Entrepreneur is a state of mind, not a job title.” His book will help you make your crazy ideas stick, through an adventure that’s more art than science – the art of the start. 27 | SCALEUP | ISSUE 10
About Author: Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist of Canva, an online graphic design tool. Formerly, he was an advisor to the Motorola business unit of Google and chief evangelist of Apple. He is also the author of APE, What the Plus!, Enchantment, and nine other books. Kawasaki has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA as well as an honorary doctorate from Babson College. ISSUE 10 | SCALEUP | 28
Anthony Moore on De-addiction, Success and Life Anthony Moore is one of the unicorns that was actually born and raised in San Diego. Despite his father’s urges, he ended up with a degree in English instead of barking orders in the military. He had a terrible addiction to pornography, beginning at age 10. He eventually ended up in therapy and counseling for it, which finally addressed so much toxic baggage he had been carrying around for 15 years - family issues, total lack of self-worth, and an intense fear of people. He started blogging 5 years ago as he wanted to be a writer and write about his experiences But after 4 years, he had only gained 200 subscribers. His stuff was crap! Looking back, he cringes when he read it. But this past year, he finally started getting serious, and he has gained over 15,000+ subscribers in the past few months. It wasn’t until he finally started opening up about the hard parts of his life - addiction, failure, rejection - that he finally started attracted readers.
motivation
His lowest point in life
was when he became addicted to pornography at about age 10. The first person he opened to was his high school girlfriend of 2 years. She immediately dumped him, and then told all her friends that he was a pornaddict! His whole high school knew his deepest secret. That was probably one of the most embarrassing points of his life. But he learned that being vulnerable, open, and transparent is exactly what attracts people in the first place. As Mark Manson wrote in The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, “Being open with your insecurities paradoxically makes you more confident and charismatic with others.”
He shares the following advice which changed his life completely. “Stay in your lane.” Don’t worry about how much faster or slow other people are - just focus on your own speed. This eliminates the toxic comparing, jealousy, and insecurity the world encourages us to do.
Talking about his productivity secrets,
he says that he knows his vital tasks. He is at the point where he still needs to be the guy talking with tech support, integrating email software, and answering all his emails - but he knows where he needs to spend his time. His three most important, vital tasks are writing, creating online courses, and selling/pitching.
He uses Medium.com for all
his writing, as well as storing drafts, writing ebooks, and the like. He uses Evernote for all his note-taking. He carries a journal with him everywhere, and he writes quotes religiously from whatever he is reading. He plans rigorous goals in the most important parts of life - relationships, finance, health, writing, etc. and he follows up with the goals every week, month, quarter, and year.
He recommends the following important books for success and personal development that he has read in the past 5 years: • Mindset by Carol Dweck, • The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy, • The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday, • Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, • Grit by Angela Duckworth, • Choose Yourself by James Altucher, and of course, The Bible.
How to transform your life? He gives following advice - It’s gonna suck at first. Most people quit at the initial discomfort. If you can manage to get through the first few weeks of a new habit, you can pretty much do anything. Everything is a choice consistency and perseverance beat luck, talent, genes, good intentions, and even quality. ISSUE 10 | SCALEUP | 30
Learn to challenge yourself one stretch at a time MEET GUSTAVO RAZZETTI
Gustavo Razzetti is the founder of Liberationist which is a change leadership firm that helps you ignite and accelerate a culture of change. He is originally from Argentina but has been living in the United States for over 12 years now. His career took him to PR, then New York, Los Angeles, and currently located in Chicago. He likes to define himself as someone who is comfortable being uncomfortable. He believes that our role in life is to give our best. And that should be defined by our own standard not others’. He believes in constantly challenging himself to experiment, try new things because learning and personal growth happen when we cross the boundary of our comfort zone. He has always been obsessed with human behavior and how to transform it. He started working in advertising as Strategic Planner and became an “expert” on consumer behavior. He studied Social Psychology to better understand team dynamics. Then he moved to leadership positions and run and turnaround five organizations. He learned a lot about organizational and team transformation. He became an informal coach for many CEOs and also junior people. He loves to work with experienced people, but also with those that are getting started and are super optimistic and naïve. He launched a digital marketing shop 15 years ago and then sold it to a large corporation. After moving to the US, he got very frustrated with his career and studied innovation and change management. He became an advisor for various startups. He went to the Stanford Design School twice to learn Design Thinking and to attend a Change Leadership 3-month program. He kept challenging himself.He started doing change leadership workshops for individuals and teams. He saw the transformation people went through and that got him excited until he decided to quit his corporate job and launch his own firm last year. The following experiments, among others, define his mindset and how he approaches life: running a creative workshop for patients in a Lunatic Asylum, living one day as a homeless person, being lost overnight in the Patagonia mountains without food or warm clothes, or having lived in various cities and countries.
Change Leadership
High and low points in life. His lowest point was that after working many years in marketing and advertising he realized he lost his drive. He was successful at what he was doing but he wasn’t happy, he didn’t feel fulfillment and he didn’t feel challenged. His high point is when he made the decision to change his career and start his own business Liberationist, a behavior change firm to help people and teams ignite and accelerate a culture of change. It took him a couple of years to prepare and then, at age 50, he quit his EVP job at the largest ad agency in Chicago. He has always followed his passion. It’s not the first time he took a big risk, but every time he did so in the past went well. It’s not easy to start a business from scratch. But every time he is working with a client and see the transformation they are bringing to their teams, that’s his new high. Every new project is bringing so much fulfillment and satisfaction that he is always reaching a new high. We all feel afraid to follow our purpose. It has happened to him too. But if you cross that line, the results can be amazing. In his case, he feels full of energy and creativity as he has not felt in ages.
Lessons learned from the highs and lows in life. He learned to be more grateful for the highs. He learned that he has always recovered from his lows. And that life is full of ups and down. We need to understand that nothing lasts forever. Being grateful during great times build resilience for when face hardship. We have two enemies that are ego35 | SCALEUP | ISSUE 10
Change Leadership driven. Pride is our enemy when we are doing great. Playing the victim is our enemy when things are not great. The most powerful lesson is to trust oneself. And to keep your ego in a short leash. You are the same person when you are successful than when you are failing.
Why do people or organizations are hard to change? First, lack of commitment. Most organizations say they want to change to please their Board, the press or employees. But their leaders are not committed to change or they are just reacting to what other organizations are doing. This is what he could change to please expectations. Second, they don’t prepare their people and culture to be more open to change. Our brain is a muscle that needs to be trained. The same way you wouldn’t run a full marathon if you’ve never run in your entire life, you can’t expect to turn a risk-averse organization into an innovative one overnight just because the leaders say so. You need to prepare and coach your team to develop ‘changefitness’ as Gustavo explains in his book “Stretch for Change”. Third, we don’t have a human approach to change. According to McKinsey, 70% or corporate change initiatives fail because of people. Either employees resist change or managers do not support their teams to thrive in change-conditions. To help people change requires tapping into the mindset and emotions that are getting in the way. If someone is risk-averse in their personal life that will affect how they deal with change at work.
Effective change requires organizations to promote personal development and help their team overcome personal limitations.
Advice which changed life “You are not good at that.” Every time, someone didn’t trust in his own potential it was like fuel for him. He likes to be challenged. And he challenges himself a lot. When someone rejects him, the tacit advice they are giving him is: “Don’t expect me to trust you if you don’t show me things first.” He is totally convinced that we can all do much more than we think. And once we reach our new normal, we realize how much we’ve grown during that journey.
The same way that he feels that he need to work, but his body or mind needs to rest, he takes a break. Sometimes he decides not to work on a Friday evening to clear his mind and then work a half day on a Saturday. He is not guilty of either.
Productivity Secrets Gustavo’s deep connection with his mood and energy is the secret of his productivity. He divides his tasks into three categories: High/ Medium/ Low depending on a combination of passion and energy. His early morning and late afternoon are for High activities because that’s when his brain is at its peak.
Maintaining work-life balance Gustavo does not believe in maintaining work-life balance. He thinks pursuing work-life balance creates unnecessary walls between one and the other. He loves what he does for a living and love what he does when he is not working. Both feed off each other. The focus of his work has always been human transformation. It is impossible to shut down his mind. Even if he is not working he is constantly observing how people behave and, especially, why they struggle to adapt or accept change. He writes a lot. Most of the things he published are “work related.” But they don’t feel like work to him. He enjoyed it. It keeps him honest, it’s gratifying as a human being when people write him back because something he wrote helped them overcome internal limitations or personal obstacles. ISSUE 10 | SCALEUP | 36
Change Leadership His low is between 2-4 so that’s when he does Low task activities. Around 5 or 6 he usually does 40 min meditation or visualization and gets back to work. When he wakes up he does a 5 min meditation exercise and he “dreams his day.” He also does a short exercise (1015) to connect with his mind and body before he gets the day started. He loves Slack to collaborate with teams and clients. He also loves his post-its as that’s how he takes notes and capture his ideas. He also builds his daily routines with postits. He color code them and remove when he finish something or switch the order when he readjusts priorities. He is very visual so he needs to see his entire day. He uses Evernote to keep track of articles and research. He has stopped using many apps and tools because they created more distractions than real help. He was overwhelmed with notifications and having to keep everything updated. It’s a paradox of modern life: the tools that are supposed to make us more productive add more workload and busyness to our calendars.
drives his passion to do what he does. He loves helping people reconnect to their dreams and make them realize that they should take the leap. He has built a method that has been very successful. He loves to put into practice and help more people. His grandfather was one of his greatest influences. Especially when it comes to making decisions based on our true values. He declined a coupled of jobs throughout his career that would have made him extremely rich. He said no because the culture of those places was toxic and he had to operate under conditions that would go against his values. It’s a great reminder some roads might bring success in the short-term but unhappiness in the long run. He seeks wisdom from books. Some of his favorites are Bernard Roth’s “The Achievement Habit” and the “I Ching” because it doesn’t give you solutions but helps you reflect on what’s going on and find the solution yourself. Finally, he recommends reading “The Sanity You Are Born With” – A perspective on Buddhist Psychology by Chogyam Trungpa
Source of inspiration & motivation
How to transform your lives?
He feels grateful for all the opportunities he had in his life. He has so much fun experimenting with his own life that he feels bad that people feel good about sticking to the same old. He is not saying that people need to radically change their lives, but he can’t accept that people don’t pursue their dreams for lack of courage, inspiration or real help. That
It’s never too late. Follow your guts. Learn to challenge yourself one stretch at a time. Look back at major changes in your life and how you overcame any challenge. You are still alive, so change didn’t kill you in the past, why will it kill you now? The worst regret is not what went wrong but what wanted to try and never did.
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The Hard Thing About Hard Things:
Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers Book Description: Ben Horowitz, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz and one of Silicon Valley’s most respected and experienced entrepreneurs, offers essential advice on building and running a startup—practical wisdom for managing the toughest problems business school doesn’t cover, based on his popular ben’s blog. While many people talk about how great it is to start a business, very few are honest about how difficult it is to run one. Ben Horowitz analyzes the problems that confront leaders every day, sharing the insights he’s gained developing, managing, selling, buying, investing in, and supervising technology companies. A lifelong rap fanatic, he amplifies business lessons with lyrics from his favorite songs, telling it straight about everything from firing friends to poaching competitors, cultivating and sustaining a CEO mentality to knowing the right time to cash in. Filled with his trademark humor and straight talk, The Hard Thing About Hard Things is invaluable for veteran entrepreneurs as well as those aspiring to their own new ventures, drawing from Horowitz’s personal and often humbling experiences.
About Author: Ben Horowitz is the cofounder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that invests in entrepreneurs building the next generation of leading technology companies. The firm’s investments include Airbnb, GitHub, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Previously, he was cofounder and CEO of Opsware, formerly Loudcloud, which was acquired by Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion in 2007. Horowitz writes about his experiences and insights from his career as a computer science student, software engineer, cofounder, CEO, and investor in a blog that is read by nearly 10 million people. He has also been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the New Yorker, Fortune, the Economist, and Bloomberg Businessweek, among others. Horowitz lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife Felicia. 39 | SCALEUP | ISSUE 10
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Live your life with Passion
Tell us about your professional journey so far? I’ve always been interested in programming, entrepreneurship and building technological products. My career started back in 1996 and since then I have been involved non-stop in several top international teams and products.
Right after University, I worked as a Senior Consultant in a Consulting firm where I was implementing various projects and managing a team of 10 consultants. In just a few years, I moved in CTO positions creating products from scratch and implementing projects. Then, I have been a co-founder and CEO in various international companies leading teams. Currently, I am the group CEO of GrowthRocks, co-founder of Growth Hacking University, co-founder of Growth Hacking Academy, and co-founder at Viral Loops. Growthrocks is a growth hacking marketing agency, that very soon got traction in the international arena, that helps startups and wellestablished companies to achieve rapid and sustainable growth. GrowthRocks has subsidiaries in 3 countries, affiliates in another 3 and we became in total 32 persons in only 2 years. I honestly feel great seeing that!
meet
Theodore Moulos
So far in my 15-year experience, I had the opportunity to run numerous successful and profitable software products. One of my major career achievements was running Pinnatta Mobile app but also creating “i-docs” an international product in Customer Communication
Management and “segmatiX”, a product on marketing automation which very quickly found traction in important markets in Europe.
Tell us about your company. What challenges you faced while growing your company and what you did to fix them. In each of my companies, GrowthRocks included, it’s inevitable that we always face challenges. We started GrowthRocks approximately 2.5 years ago. I co-founded the company with a colleague of mine - I was the CEO and he was the Product Manager at the time. We had a clear vision of creating a marketing agency like no other. For this reason, we decided to move from old-school marketing and traditional technics into the growth hacking arena. This was the future and it was obvious to us. As always the challenges when started something new were many. Particularly we wanted to build all the missing elements: • A product that rocks and then move to the next one. We have 4 products now. • A team that rocks. I can proudly say that we have 32 colleagues currently. • A multimillion-dollar sales-funnel. We now have an awesome inbound funnel and 6 subsidiaries in major countries.
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Your Successes/failures in life. As far as successes are concerned, what first comes to my mind is the following: I have grown awesome teams consisted of unique and talented individuals. I am very proud of this fact! These teams are exceptional and all of them have growth mindset and culture. So, part of my successes in life is accompanied by beloved individuals with great personal and business value. Colleagues that got amazing C-level positions because they really deserve them. Also, I have created few very successful products in the market, products that got traction in many countries and created a multi-million sustainable business. Managing to grow an agency from 2 people to 32 in 2.5 years was a major accomplishment and source of satisfaction for me. Failure is always part of the business game. You need to have this in mind and be prepared to act appropriately. What have I learned the past few years is that running projects remotely is harder than we ever anticipated. What is the main difference between meeting face-to-face and working on the project remotely with a client? You miss the physical interaction and the ability to build the two elements of trust. We underestimated the complexity of building and retaining customer trust which comprises by two intertwined capabilities: a) the intent to act in the customer’s best interest and b) the competence to do so. These come together to form the foundation of the customer experience. The ability to create a customer experience that builds trust begins with customer intelligence. It requires taking information learned about customers—blending feedback and behavioral data applying analytics and presenting insights they had no idea about. And all these without meeting the customer face-to-face.
What choices did you make in your life which made a significant difference in your life? I can vividly remember a decision in my career that 100% had an impact in my life and how I actually developed to be who I am now.
Right away from the beginning of my career, I was positive that my destiny was to lead technical teams and run phenomenal projects. I was all about technology and management. I was flirting with the role of CTO for years and I knew that this was the career path for me. You may wonder how. It was easy. I read everything available about scrum, agile, rapid development, platforms, and technical stuff. I enjoy this so much! I had the impression that this path would lead me to the CEO position. And then everything changed rapidly as I got pushed into sales. One day my CEO came in my office: “Theo, you need to abandon the CTO dream and move into sales” “Sales? I said. I’m a technical guy. What does a technical guy has to do with sales forecasts and sales goals?” “Theo, you should see yourself pitching” I was not convinced and then he used the ultimatum argument: ”If you want to become the CEO, that’s the path. Sales guys run companies, not technical ones.” The decision has been made. I abandoned my CTO role and the day after I found myself running sales pitches and looking for new endeavors within the group. That was a choice that twisted my life totally. I would never regret this choice!
Walk us through your work day? My work day is full of creativity, productive meetings, planning and valuable time solving problems and challenges. How my work day will be
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planned depends a lot from the day of the week. I love being organized and know the tasks to be solved in advance. For this reason, all team planning meetings happen on Mondays and retrospective meetings are scheduled on Fridays. In this way, I am always aware of all the critical projects and have a good overview of the team. In general my everyday routine is as below: • I wake up around 7. I am a morning person! • I spend around 2 hours planning the difficult tasks of the day. Preparation is essential before starting your day! • I arrive at the office around 9 and I start working with the team in multiple projects. • In average I have 2-3 external meetings with potential or existing customers or partners. • I keep working on the projects until 9 pm. • Then, I usually have a two-hour meeting with colleagues to discuss topics or issues they may have. I act as a consultant to them (once consultant always consultant!) solving their problems in the business or personal life. I’m turning them into entrepreneurs or share with them productivity and efficiency tips. If not with colleagues, I do the same for a series of startups I participate to. I’m having very productive hours with founders from various verticals and I also learn a lot from them around their businesses. • Around 11 I’m back home, sitting in front of my computer to do some operational tasks of mine, like for instance writing posts, posting on my social, uploading stories etc. Around 1 am I’m going to sleep. ISSUE 10 | SCALEUP | 44
• Normally, I’m awake between 3-5 thinking on various difficult issues and keeping notes of my ideas towards those. It is obvious that my work day is just full of people and projects! Love it!
How do you keep yourself productive and motivated? I picked something I love, so that makes everything easier. Focusing on results and pure Growth Rate of our efforts is a metric to keep up my productivity and have incentives to invest more time and hard work. I would not ever be able to do this, of course, without an amazing team that has my back. My teammates - my squad as I say it - constantly inspire me to stay excited and open to new challenges. Having support from my team is what enables me to take more risks as I do know that everything will eventually work as planned. So, proven growth rate and an awesome team are the two elements that keep me motivated.
What do you do to keep yourself on growth path? I keep having the scalability issue as my first priority. I have this in my mind before making any action and I have also conveyed this mindset to all of my team. My vision is to keep on growing the team on an international level as well as scaling our companies. I want to scale at large and to do that I need to scale vertically and horizontally. 45 | SCALEUP | ISSUE 10
Thus, by getting new customers, building new partners, opening new countries but also creating new products. This can be very demanding but also positively challenging! The most important is that I keep doing all the above only having in mind that those activities are interconnected and a new one will benefit from a previous one.
One of those that I could distinguish is “the Hard thing about hard things”. Written by one of Silicon Valley’s most respected and experienced entrepreneurs, this book is full of practical wisdom for managing the toughest problems. It’s definitely a book to add in your “to read” list if you are into startups, entrepreneurship and business management.
What tools/apps do you use for managing work and life?
How do you hire your team? What traits you look for while hiring?
I could never stop talking about new tools that I discovered, fun gadgets that I tried out or apps that I use. I’m a gadget maniac! I use tools to increase my productivity and keep my focused. Among them I would emphasize the following awesome tools: • Slack to communicate with teams, customers and colleagues around the globe. Managing teams in three timezones is a very demanding task and I could not do it without Slack. • Lastpass with all the passwords and credentials of a tons of sites I have to visit every day. • Jira as a main tool for task management. • My Spotify and Netflix for my nobrainer, relaxing times. • My mobile apps (Photofox, YouStar, Werbie) to support my content creation.
Your favorite books? I have always been a bookworm. I enjoy expanding my horizons as well as getting ideas and tops from people that have a story to share. I read everything around marketing and I have many favorite books.
As a leader of a Growth Hacking Agency, I’m continuously working on finding the secret sauce for recruiting rockstar Growth Hackers or growth hackers wanna-be. After working and interviewing a lot of candidates, I concluded that the mindset is the most important. That’s why I created the below questionnaire where I summarised all the skills required (soft and hard) but I added the secret sauce of the importance I’m giving to each element. 1. In total, I judge those four elements which of course will never exist equally: 2. Growth Services Domain Expertise. Assuming he/she comes from a Media buying agency or a social media agency.
3. Technical Background and stuff. A ex. coder or an IT guy would get 5 stars on those questions 4. Industry domain expertise. And I mean direct or indirect working experience. The Soft skills a growth hacker should have. I am deeply interested in educating the new generation of digital marketers and create top growth hackers. For this reason, I have also invested a lot of time and resources into Growth Hacking Academy. The program and its syllabus are carefully curated and, having trained in the Academy, someone can easily step up its digital marketing game as well as dominate the international Growth Hacking scene. Growth Hacking Academy is available in Greece, United Kingdom and soon to be in more countries.
What advice would you give to people looking for success and growth in personal and professional life? My sole advice is: Live your life with Passion. Passion will always motivate you to take the next step, never stop learning and keep getting better in what you do -including soft and hard skills. Passion will lead you in developing initiatives, continuously self-develop yourself, taking risks and as for more. If you stop trying and just staying in your comfort zone, I can guarantee you that you will not be able to grow to your full potential and become what you are destined for. For me, that is all you need to become a successful entrepreneur and father and husband. So Passion is my one-word tip for a successful personal and professional life. Don’t live your life in an underwhelming manner. ISSUE 10 | SCALEUP | 46
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