Latest / To Your Success! Podcast / Episode 58: How You Can Build a Business You Can Run From Anywhere
Transcript
- Christer: The world has never been more connected. Why do you think it's easier to build an international business today than before? Well, first of all, so many people we talk to want to do that. We have our workshops, we have a survey, so we have about thousand people that answer that survey now, think. And it's recent, right? It's just the last six months they have answered that. We say that about more and more people, it's over 50%. They want to create something on their own. They want to create their own business. And we work with high achievers only. So it's high level people. have a great career. Maybe they already have their own company of running, then they want to expand it or they want to create an international business from everywhere. So how do we do that? Yeah, and why do you think it's easier to do it now than before? Well, first of all, it has never been easier than now to be successful. And not only in monetary terms, right? So not only in terms of money, but in terms of success to live the life you truly want. It is because most people are completely distracted. And the reason is very much this, the phones and the screens and that they are connected all the time. So they are distracted all the time and they get more and more into the habit of reacting instead of acting. it's easier than ever before because most people are distracted. Then we have the technology, right? Which makes it possible. We are at anchor in Greece right now. we are not going to have water all around. You see, it's like 200 meters, 300 meters to land. We have water all around. We in the boat. You could be in the marina. mean, the technology is here. Either you have mobile network all over or like us, we have Starlink, which is an antenna just behind the element there. And record this with Starlink, which is great. It's super affordable. It's it always works. So it's just. And that was the last technical hurdle I had. can I create... Because the old satellite networks, were so expensive and so slow. And then I bought Starlink. I was not an early user on that, but I was pretty early. It's like that changed. It changed everything. Now we have internet all over. All over, wherever we are. But the key thing with creating a business, international business, is mindset. So what kind of mindset do you think that the international business entrepreneur... need to have. The biggest mistake people do is to define the home market. I did that too, right? Because my identity was based on me being a successful CEO and board member of international companies but based in Norway. So the companies could be international, but I had my network in Norway. And that is maybe one of the biggest mistakes I did. when I started up was that I thought that my network would give me a lot of clients and I'm not alone having that experience. No, it's like your network is don't rely on that. Right. Of course it can be great. have had clients who said that I have six thousand connections on LinkedIn. I said, I'm not sure if I shall congratulate you or my condolences. But they focus on that and they have got, just like me, I got some clients from World Network, but it's very, very important, right? If you want to build it. And today international is to be, I would say the world is so small. The world is in our hand. Our mentors are in America. We have clients all over Europe. It's like the only limitation we have is the time zone we work in. So the mindset is actually no limitations. Yeah. And there are no limitations, right? Absolutely none. So technically it's easy. The hardware is super easy. The software is super easy. It's affordable and it's available all over. So it's all about your mindset. And then I would just say that, don't think about markets. Don't think about regions like borders and all that. Just look for the people you want to work with and you will find them all over the world. And having the mindset that anything is possible and there is no problems. There is only solution. I don't know what a problem is. That's a problem. No, it's not. it's not. I mean, I can have challenges. But problems? No. It's like if you're in a partnership or a marriage and you say that we are full of problems, that's like then you should go. Because then you only focus on the negative things. If you're in a partnership or a marriage and you say that we have some challenges, of course we have. Everybody has that. Everybody has that. Not I, but you have. Yeah, of course you No, I don't. I have, don't. Okay, Okay, but the mindset is, I think it's, both you and I understand that to have the mindset that anything is possible is so important when you start your own business, international. But what kind of skill set is important for someone who wants to start a business? Selling. Selling, yeah. I agree. It's number one. I've had clients who have been in startups, still have right, startups, tech companies etc. And I say how do you monetize this great technology? And they say we haven't thought about that. I said well then you're gonna fail. Three, four years ago, I mean two, three years ago it was free cash right? So people threw money at everything. Explain that a little bit more. Well it was so much easier to get equity, to get risk capital, to attract people, to attract investors. Because... First of all, alternative cost interest rates were so low, so you couldn't put the money in the bank because then you lost, right? Now, as we record today, the long interest in America on US treasuries on the 30 year is about five and a half percent. It's the highest since 2004. And it's going up. And it's going to go further up because we are in this spiral where, well, inflation is going to grow and grow and grow. And there are central banks setting up the interest rates. Even ECB did that now. So then the alternative costs for investors are different because they can put money in the bank and get a higher interest rates. That is one thing. Then it's a risk of time because well, it's a risk on in AI. I don't know why they blow that bubble so high, but it's like that's growing. to attract other capital, it's not free yet. People demand to actually have a return. They don't throw money after you. So that's the difference. Right. So and then and the biggest mistake people do is not to focus on cash flow. mean, companies don't die because of bad ideas. Companies die because of lack of cash flow and cash flow is sales. The easiest way. I mean, there are two things that are really easy to sell today. One is public shares. Elon Musk is example of that. Right. So to sell shares is like the most valuable thing you can sell today, which is and he's really good at selling that. So he is a triple billionaire, a trillionaire, whatever. And that is one thing that is easy to sell. So you can sell shares. The other thing that is easy to sell is good services. And if you want to build, I mean, we have a lot of clients and I say, can you imagine sitting on the beach? And I said that to so many people. Can you imagine sitting on a changed city now? I used to say Dubai, now I say Nis, can you imagine? I haven't been to Dubai but I've to Nice and the beaches are actually not so nice because there are more rolling stones, right? But you can imagine sitting on a beach in Nice and watching the azure blue ocean and you have your laptop or your iPad on your lap and you run your business from there while having a cold beer or a cold coke or ice coffee or whatever it is. And a lot of people relate to that and say, that would be nice. I said, why don't you do it? And that's the mindset thing. I had no idea to sail around the world and run an international business when I started this. me I no idea, but I had the experience of running international companies. So I had the language, I was used to travelling, I was used to handling different cultures, But I didn't know. But that didn't stop us. And that's a huge difference because... People say, that would be nice. I wish I could. But I don't know how. Stop asking the how. Stop. If you had known the how, you'd already done it. So what can you ask instead? What can I do today? You mentioned cultures there. how do you, when you start something new, of course I go to the how, but how do you build? trust in different cultures when you're starting up something international. First of you have to be open-minded. It's like the things we are used to do it is not the way we do it. I guess I learned that at INSEAD, I was at a management course at INSEAD, the French top level business school, and it was about international negotiations and I had never negotiated with Arab people before. And then I started, and then I just realized that there are so many ways to do business, right? Because me as an international guy living in Norway, working in Sweden and... It's it's order, order, order, order when you have an agreement then it's signed and then it's like done. Right? And we are very much like that in our business. Right? If you don't accept the terms we work on, we don't want to work with you. No, because we know that this is the route to success. And for some culture that can be difficult. That can be difficult or different. Right? Yeah. So, but... First of be open-minded. There are so many ways of doing business. There are so many ways of living a happy life. Just go to China. I've been a lot to Russia. I've a lot to China. It's just different. But they still prosper. They still have success. So you just have to be open-minded and accept. But I would say as a business, you need to have a business standard. And you can have a business standard that you are international. That means that you go to whichever market where there are clients who want to work with you. I started with a whole market, I would never do that now. I started with Norwegian market because that was where I was comfortable. But all my teaching has always been in English. My book is written in English. So it's just a sign that you were ready for something else. I was just messed up in my mind. I was fixed in my mind instead of being adaptable. You believe, you accepted the wrong idea? I accepted the wrong idea, definitely. But you learned from that, so it's different today. Okay, but what's the biggest... starting this, what's the biggest challenge that you have experienced? I don't know if it is a challenge. I would say it's more fun. The biggest challenge, I don't know. It's just to try. We're not afraid of failing. I'm not afraid of failing. This week we have failed. We failed in one of our marketing activities. It didn't work out. Well, it worked out a lot, the results were the way we thought. So it's like, wow, that's great. Let's change. We have and we changed immediately. It took two days and not even that. We just realized after three days this shit doesn't work anymore. Okay, what do we do? And then we have a new plan. Yeah. But we work like that. We change all the time. But it's adaptable. that's that's a key thing. You have to be adaptable. Right. So many people are so fixed in this is the way I do it. No, you can be fixed in this is the way I have done it. But this is You have to be adaptable in the way you do it in the future. And that's actually the same thing about culture as well. Be adaptable. And adaptable is very, very much a mindset. It doesn't mean that you... It is the principle of touching lightly. What is touching lightly? Touching lightly is the principle where you don't let the outside world control you. You are firm. in that your goal is the most important thing you do. It's like playing an instrument, right? You don't hold it hard, you hold it light, but you play it with intention. And that is how we deal with life. We play life very intentional. This is what we want. If I had asked you, can you say out your goal out loud now, you could have easily done that. The same with me. It's like boom, right? I changed a little bit on the wording on my mind today, on the goal today, right? But that's okay to change a little bit. It's just that the new thing, it's still on my go-kart. I just moved it out. it's more important to me now. realize that freedom is more more important to me. Over everything else. And you could try taking away my freedom. What do get? No, you get an angry lion. Like a tiger. That goes to both ways. So we are good at giving each other freedom. Okay, so one more thing. One more thing, because I was master of business planning when I was CEO. We made the best business plans. And we didn't follow them. And that is one of the reasons why we were successful. It means that we didn't find up new markets to go into. But the beauty of planning is the planning. It's not to exactly do what you have said, because if you make an annual plan, And you do that in September, right? Because that is where most budget processes start in August and then September, October, and then you have the management review and then you have that and that and that. And late on New Year's Eve, you finally sign off on the budget and everyone has worked really hard creating numbers, but not results, which is, I think is a really stupid idea. It is an idea to have for the management to have control. And that is good, right? Because management needs to have a certain degree of control. But then... You don't need to make a really comprehensive detailed business plan because what you forget and what you don't put into that plan is how fast you learn. So you say that this year I'm going to do that. And when you know how fast the world changes now, how easy it is to change, how easy it is to communicate, how small the world is, how the technology opens up, I so much more have a very, very short plan, a concept. Not a detailed plan, a concept. This is what I do. It's like we don't go into producing coffee. We buy coffee, but we don't do that. We are into helping other people, living the life they want, having success. So we know that. And then we are adaptable all the time because the goal changes and we learn so much. So we don't make budget and business plans. Well, from a company, I have like a rolling three months cash flow. three months. That's three months. then, but for the rest it's like adapt, adapt, adapt, adapt. All the time you have to think about how can you serve at a higher level? How can you solve bigger problems? How can you reach more people? How can you double your reach? Just like two days ago I just decided that we're gonna triple our reach. Yeah. Yeah, it's like boom. Okay, can we do it? Yes. Of course we can. Of course. I didn't object to that. you didn't. And that's good, right? Yeah. So what's the... But I can just say that it's very, important because that decision didn't create so much more work for us. No, but it creates more work for people who we leverage at. And they want more work. So that's a thing. it's so important, right? I just want what happens for us is that we're going to spend more money on marketing. But that's good. And we have to do a little bit more work as well, but that's not much. it's not much. It's just to do it in a different way. Yeah. So what is the biggest opportunity you think is in the future for someone starting the I wish I could just take the camera and turn it around and show what the possibility is. The possibility, the opportunity, the opportunity is to live free. Right. Because how the world is today is that it's more and more and more mechanical. We try to optimize everything. Right. And we try to solve everything with working harder. If you look at the corporate world now, people work like eight, no, not eight, they work 10 to 12 hours, five, six to seven days a Yeah, it's terrible. And sometimes I don't post very much on LinkedIn, but I just sometimes I just poke a little bit on people and say it's Sunday evening and you're still sitting here. Why? Well, because you feel you have to, right? Have you ever gotten an answer from someone? No. No. They have no time. They don't have time to answer. Maybe they don't have time to think about it either. But I was there, you know, I was when I was in the corporate world, like on the highest level of my career. If you say that, like I would see our president of a large international company and we were running, running all the time. I was sitting there on Friday night on Saturday night on Sunday night. Right. And my kids didn't dare to knock the door to my office to say that can we ask something that's sad. That's really sad, right? That's not success. It's not worth it. So that's I guess that if you give someone advice that will start today, start an international business today, that will be kind of the advice. Just think outside the box. know, there's a there's a beautiful there's an institute called Arbinger Institute and they teach a lot about this being in the box. And they say in the second you realize that you are in the box, then you're outside, right? Yeah. Because you realized that you are in the box. I just want to hold up. had a client. We have a client in Hyatt. were now and three months ago we talked with her. First time I talked to her when she signed up, she described the situation that she was in and she said, I want to get out. And now I had a call with her just a few days ago and she was exactly in the same situation. And I said, my friend, you are exactly where you asked me to take you out of three months ago. And she got completely silent. It was like me hearing her head explode. And she said, thank you for holding up that mirror. I said, sure, you're most welcome. That is what you asked me to do. You have to start to reflect, not only do. And she has, I see her so much bigger than she sees herself. It's like she... She's wonderful. Her energy is just amazing and she can completely change the world like she wants to if she just dares. And it's so... You know, we are so stuck in the hamster wheel that you're afraid of jumping just like I was. Remember when I sent my resignation? I was shaking. I had accepted this stupid idea that I was afraid of change, which is really stupid when you are a... working in the corporate world. then just change, jump, right? A lot of people we talk to, have savings, right? So they have a runway of like, well, what if you don't make any money in six months? Will that be, yes, I have more than that. Yeah. And most of them say that for a year or two. So what are you scared of? Yeah. So what are you scared of? It's losing control, I think. What are your investments and money for? Except creating a great life. I don't get it, but I didn't get it five years ago either. No, right? Yeah, because I measured my happiness with how much how big my savings account was right? Yeah, this is a really stupid idea So starting something if you if you were to start the business all over again now What is the first thing you would do go bigger? bigger. Yeah, go bigger don't start with only my network and in small I would just go big say to the world here I am. But of course I know so much more I mentor at a so much higher level I know I know so much more of the business and what you know you cannot unknow right unless you get the brain stroke. Ufta. Ufta means shit. Now it is true so it's easy to say right but that is why that is why a key to success is actually to have a mentor. you booked a call with your mentor next week, right? And I said that to you, right? Why don't you? Yeah, I should do that. Because, and that's like a 15, 20 minutes talk and I'm sure it's going to be completely life changing because she has a totally different perspective on things, right? And it's so easy to be stuck in your world and say, I don't know how, I don't know how, I don't know, I don't dare, I don't dare. And then just do it. I mean, we run this company from a 14 meter long sailboat. Yeah. I think that just to wrap this up then is like to start an international business when you want to do that, don't be afraid. See no limitations. Be open-minded to different cultures. Use the technology and everything that is there for you to use and just go big. One more thing. Get a mentor. Get a mentor that has done what you want to do. If you want to run an international company, if you want to create freedom, get a mentor that has done it. Right. And it knows what it is because that is an amazing shortcut. Yeah, it is. Yeah. So that is that is the best. mean, that's that's the most successful advice we can do. We do it all the time. All right. And for us, it's not important if you choose us or others. Choose someone who resonates with you, but choose a mentor that has done what you want to do. And if you want to work with us and have Kristo as a mentor, just. Go to our website, right? ChristaJohnson.com. There is a let's talk button there. See if you qualify for a strategy call and most likely that will be with Alien. Yes, it will. And, and yeah, because our goal is to help other people. It's always to help at a higher level, better level, have people successful. Because everything we do is to your success. And success is to live the life you truly want. Nothing to do with money. Of course, money is an important aspect of it. but it is that you do what you really want to do. Until next time, bye bye.