Personal Experience: What Thirty Years in Business Have Taught Me
Roman Vasilenko, Doctor of Economics, author of The Success Hunter
Can entrepreneurial success be reduced to a specific formula? Over the years, I have come to the conclusion that there is no universal recipe. However, there are patterns that repeatedly appear in the lives of people who have achieved significant results.
Over the past thirty years, I have gone through different stages of my professional journey: I worked in the financial department of a naval organization, engaged in commercial activities, and founded and developed my own ventures. By observing myself and other entrepreneurs, I identified twelve principles that I consider particularly important. These observations are at the heart of my book The Success Hunter, published by Piter Publishing House.
Today, I would like to present these ideas in a condensed form.
Principle 1. Set Goals That Can Be Measured
One of the first mistakes aspiring entrepreneurs make is having a vague idea of the result they want to achieve. Phrases such as “I want to be successful,” “I dream of starting my own business,” or “I want to achieve financial independence” indicate a direction rather than a specific goal.
A real goal should have a clear criterion by which the result can be measured. For example, instead of simply wanting to “increase your income,” you can set a goal of reaching a specific amount of monthly profit by a certain date. Instead of “getting into sports,” you could plan to take part in a half-marathon six months from now.
Once a dream has numbers and deadlines attached to it, it becomes a concrete objective.
Principle 2. The People Around You Influence Your Future
There is a simple way to make an educated guess about where you will be several years from now: look at the people who make up your closest circle today.
We inevitably adopt the beliefs of those around us about what is normal, possible, and acceptable. In an environment where everyone sees work solely as a source of income, starting a business may seem like an unjustified risk. Among entrepreneurs, the same idea is perceived quite differently—as one of the natural paths for personal and professional growth.
That is why choosing your social circle is not a secondary issue. Learning to consciously shape the people around you can significantly change the direction of your life.
Principle 3. An Executed Idea Is More Valuable Than a Perfect Concept
Over the years, I have heard a huge number of different business ideas. Many of them were interesting and promising. Yet only a small proportion ever made it into practice.
Any idea that exists only in your mind produces no results. Even an imperfect project that has been launched, tested in the real world, and gradually improved has a better chance of succeeding than a brilliant concept that is endlessly discussed and postponed.
Do not wait for perfect circumstances. In real entrepreneurship, the perfect idea, the perfect moment, and the perfect conditions rarely come together.
Principle 4. Consistency Is More Reliable Than Short-Lived Inspiration
Motivation can come and go. Today, a person may feel capable of moving mountains, while tomorrow even the simplest step may seem difficult. If you build your work entirely around emotional highs, your results will inevitably be unstable.
It is far more reliable to develop a system of actions that you carry out regardless of your mood. This could mean exercising every day, reading professional literature, working on your own project, or maintaining regular contact with clients.
Small actions repeated consistently often produce a far greater effect than occasional periods of extraordinary effort.
Principle 5. A Mentor’s Experience Can Help You Avoid Unnecessary Mistakes
Your own mistakes can certainly be valuable teachers. But that does not mean you have to learn every lesson the hard way.
Someone who has already traveled the path you are taking can warn you about problems that might otherwise take months or even years to solve. Sometimes, a single meaningful conversation with an experienced mentor can significantly shorten the path to your goal.
Do not be afraid to seek knowledge from people who have already achieved what you are striving for. And if mentorship comes at a cost, that is not necessarily a drawback. A conscious investment in someone else’s experience can be far less expensive than learning through trial and error.
Principle 6. Financial Management Is a Skill That Must Be Developed Separately
A high income does not, by itself, mean financial well-being. Earning money and managing it wisely are two completely different skills.
I have met people with substantial incomes who nevertheless could not clearly explain where their money was going. Financial literacy is not determined solely by education or intellectual ability. Above all, it is a system of specific habits.
Tracking income and expenses, budgeting, separating personal and business finances, building savings, and investing regularly are all skills that need to be developed deliberately.
Principle 7. Well-Established Habits Are Stronger Than Willpower Alone
Willpower tends to become depleted. A habit, by contrast, allows you to perform a particular action almost automatically.
If a person has to convince themselves every morning to go to the gym, they are constantly using mental energy to make that decision. If exercise has long been part of their regular routine, there is no longer a need to force themselves to do it every time.
Major achievements are built from countless repeated actions. That is why it is more useful to gradually adjust individual habits than to try to change your entire life in a single day.
Principle 8. Difficulties Show That You Are Moving into Unfamiliar Territory
An entrepreneur who encounters serious obstacles for the first time may see them as proof of their own inadequacy. But difficulties do not necessarily mean that the chosen path is wrong.
When a person creates something new for themselves, they inevitably face challenges they have never dealt with before. Not having ready-made answers is a natural part of growth.
Therefore, an obstacle should not be seen as a signal to immediately abandon your goal. Instead, it can be an indication that you need to gain new experience, acquire a new skill, or find a different way to solve the problem.
Principle 9. Taking Care of Your Health Is the Foundation of Long-Term Results
Even the strongest business strategy is useless if a person lacks the physical and emotional resources to put it into practice.
Many people postpone taking care of themselves indefinitely: first earn money, build the company, achieve the desired result, and only then focus on their health. The problem is that this “later” can keep being pushed further and further into the future.
Sleep, proper nutrition, and physical activity are not optional additions to a successful life. They are basic conditions that enable a person to remain productive over the long term.
Principle 10. Reputation Is Built by Keeping Your Promises
Trust in the business world is not built only during major contracts. It often starts with the simplest commitments.
If you promised to call back on a particular day, call back. If you agreed to send materials by a specific date, send them on time.
At first glance, such things may seem insignificant. But they are precisely what gradually builds a professional reputation. People judge you not so much by impressive statements as by whether your actions match your promises.
Reputation takes a long time to build, but it can sometimes be destroyed by a single serious incident.
Principle 11. The Willingness to Share Creates New Opportunities
Some people believe that success must be carefully protected: knowledge should be kept to yourself, resources should not be given away, and connections should be used only for personal gain. In practice, this approach does not always work better.
When a person shares their experience, knowledge, opportunities, and valuable contacts, they build a stronger network around themselves. People begin recommending them, they receive more requests, it becomes easier for them to get support, and they discover new opportunities for growth.
Moreover, a willingness to share reduces the internal tension that arises when a person is constantly trying to keep everything exclusively for themselves.
Principle 12. Achieving a Result Is Not a Reason to Stop Growing
After the first major success, it is easy to decide that most of the journey is already behind you. Your first substantial income, your own apartment, opening an office, or a successful project can create the feeling that you can now stop and simply enjoy the results.
But every level you reach needs to be maintained and developed further. In business and in life, there is no permanent finish line: the environment changes, new competitors, technologies, and opportunities emerge.
If a person stops moving forward, they may eventually discover that those they recently considered to be behind them have already moved far ahead.
Conclusion
These twelve principles are not a universal secret to success. There is no magic formula here that guarantees results for everyone. Rather, they are practical observations that have been repeatedly confirmed by real-world experience.
Most people are familiar with these principles in one form or another. The difference lies not so much in the amount of knowledge they possess as in their ability to put that knowledge into practice.
You can spend years reading about goals, discipline, financial literacy, social circles, and habits. But change begins only when knowledge is translated into concrete action.
Start doing what you are putting off today, and a year from now, you will most likely find yourself in a completely different place.
I wish everyone not only the ability to find the right solutions, but also enough energy, discipline, and persistence to turn those solutions into results.