This way of saying may seem a bit ludicrous but you’ll see further on, why it’s exactly like that and what life has to do with bicycles and monkeys.
First of all, let me introduce myself.
I am Bogdan, also known as @gaitan, a 22 years old male, living in Romania. I’m one of the co-founders of Chameleon Projects, a sales outsourcing start-up, looking to help you finding new clients for your own business. My two other partners and myself are motivated to expand as soon as possible throughout the country, the business still being at a local level.
Getting back to the point, I must tell you two short stories:
The first story begins 3 years ago, in October. I moved from home (a small village, north of the country) to the city where I’m living right now (Cluj-Napoca). Got admitted to the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration and I was ready to get a bachelor degree in Management. All great in the first year, looking forward to learn as much as possible so I can implement what I’ve acquired later in my own business. One year later, still going strong. The exams where easy and didn’t required too much effort from my side.
In the meantime, I signed up in an NGO, which has a main core of developing leaders. One of the nicest things about it is that the organization is much like a corporation but without the corporate politics we get these days. So I got the chance to learn about corporate management systems (which are good to know and implement after you modify them in order to eliminate a few aspects). At the end of the second year, after months of thinking and a couple of days of staying in my bed, it was time to quit. I dropped out of the faculty.
The second story begins last year, in the summer of 2015. Paul (real name) a friend of mine and I, were having a discussion about businesses in our city and how can we, two young guys, start something of our own. We acquired sales, HR and marketing skills in the NGO I was telling you about earlier and we were connected to the start-up community, so this was our first step already done.
After a few weeks of thinking, planning, discussions with other CEOs and business owners, we decided we would establish a start-up looking to improve HORECA* businesses. Our main activity was mystery shopping and marketing solutions. Our investment was minimum at that point (about 1000$ each, savings we had from crappy student jobs). Things were running pretty good at first, but our lack of experience was a breaking point. After just 6 months, finishing our second contract, we paid the last penny for our rented office and we closed our business.
Ok, now that you know two of the most important events in my life, maybe you’re asking yourself why am I telling you this?
These were huge failures for me! I got to the point where I had no money, no education and two holes on my trust. I’ve overthought these two decisions of dropping out of faculty and closing the business for about half a year, after it already happened. With the stress and lack of concentration on anything else, other problems appeared soon. I was not able to connect really well with people around me, I did not have the trust in myself to do anything really… My friend, Paul, was a little bit better off, his father being there supporting him and understanding, as his father also had a similar experience in his youth.
But for me, life was just like “a monkey riding a bicycle” at this point. What I mean by this is that nobody is born “good at life” and you put yourself up to the risks and decisions early on and learn through experiences. When you fall of that bike like a monkey, because you don’t know how to ride it.
In my opinion this is the most rewarding part even though it is also the hardest one. You get to know how to bear pain and find solutions. The tricky part is to not leave yourself be miserable, so I knew I had to do something.
I called my uncle, who lives in Italy, which has been a role model for me since I was a little kid. We talked for about an hour and that’s when I got the best advice in my life and what he said lives as a pillar for who I am now.
Everything is taking an ugly turn at some point and your decisions may not be the best, but your capability of overcoming situations is what remains. Over time, everything gets easier. Stay focused!”
At the end, your decisions in life, in the short term, may look like shit. It is important what you do from that point on and how you manage to learn and evolve, making your life even greater.
Plan B is not the next best thing, sometimes it is the better plan.
A few months back I’ve started my second business, in sales, looking to help the local market. We have five ongoing clients and plans to acquire new talents for expansion. Five out of six of our employees have traveled to three countries in Europe for internships at different companies, as a plan for professional development and bringing new ideas to Chameleon Projects. We love to establish ourselves as a fresh and open minded company.
What I’ve learned from all of this is that I should never give up or let myself be average. I should do what I like, with passion and trust. I will always fulfill my dreams, one way or another.
Keep dreaming and take action!
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
― Albert Einstein
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