In this episode, I converse with Andrei Polgar who is the author of Wealth Management 2.0. He is an entrepreneur, an economist and an investor so he brings a unique perspective to the conversation. I like his story and can’t ignore the fact that he is another guest who has built a nice following on YouTube. This proves that having a platform of some kind is really important for developing an audience and gaining credibility. If you are still not building your own platform, it is time that you do so and you can thank me later. Check our Andrei’s 3 tips for launching an online startup, you surely won’t want to miss these.
Conversation Notes from this Episode
- Andrei teaches 1 minute economics online on YouTube, makes it easier to understand. In simple terms.
- When working online the barrier to entry is very low. With YouTube you don’t need anything but a camera and internet connection and you can start something on YouTube. It is important to remember that what you are doing can be meaningful and have an impact.
- With a low barrier for entry online, it can be a double edged sword. On the one hand we have so much available information on any given topic. On the other hand having so much information on everything can be incredibly overwhelming.
- It is important to always be authentic, people respond best when you are being your true self.
- Andrei’s book teaches people who make money online how to manage it. He was able to write about this particular topic, because he has lived it. He was his community’s equal, but also he is an economist. It is a book about how to manage your money, written by an economist.
- Being a freelancer requires a unique set of skills. There are millions and millions who make money online. These people are smart enough to make money online in the first place, but a lot were not great at managing their money. He wanted to teach these brilliant people basic economics, so that they become success stories.
- 3 Tips for Launching a Startup Online:
- Go out and do stuff. Try some stuff and fail. If you are out there trying at least some of what you will do will stick. Most fail more than they succeed. Be a doer of stuff, do not be an armchair entrepreneur. Don’t be afraid to fail.
- Resist the temptation of being a perfectionist. You want to do your best to have a good product or service, but being a perfectionist can destroy you. Have a proper work ethic, but do not spend ridiculous amounts of time on things that do not really matter.
- Realize that you need a certain type of stomach to be an entrepreneur. It is tempting for people to see an entrepreneur and think they are lucky, but they do not realize how much work and failure there is behind what entrepreneurs are doing. You need a certain type of stomach handle failure after failure and keep going. There is so much hard work behind something that seems simple, people don’t realize that. Making money on the internet is not as easy as it seems.
- The amount of failure and risk is way bigger in entrepreneurship than it is in the corporate world.
- It is surprising how powerful the YouTube community can be. He was always insecure about his English speaking. He thought people would be disappointed with his videos because he spoke imperfect English. He was stressed about letting people hear him, but he did it regardless. He was shocked to find out that people embraced those flaws. They liked what the channel was about, and were willing to support in anything he did.
- The community element on YouTube, if you manage to corner your small little slice of viewers, are amazingly supportive and loyal. He found YouTube is a community. It is hard to put into words what kind of potential that can have for whatever type of business you have.
About Andrei
Andrei is an economist, as well as an online entrepreneur and an investor who specializes in exotic assets such as domain names. He felt he was in a reasonably descent position to write a book. Why? Simply because, just like you, he earns a living online.
How many people earn a living online in one way or another? As freelancers, as online entrepreneurs, as domain investors, as bitcoin investors, as authors who self-publish, as online traders and so on? Millions upon millions. Yet up until this point, nobody had thought about publishing a wealth management book written specifically for this audience. Andrei decided to do something about it.
Andrei started out as a freelancer writer. He then launched an article writing business, ultimately expanding it to other sectors, from Web design to hosting.
He then became a serial entrepreneur and launched a wide range of projects: a brokerage business for digital assets, a domain auction platform and even an escrow service (which was sold to Agreed.com, which ended up being sold to Escrow.com… which ultimately ended up being sold to Freelancer.com). I think it’s also fair to say he understands online entrepreneurs better than the average economist.
As an investor, he specializes in exotic assets, mainly domain names but also cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. So if you invest in online assets, you can once again rest assured that he understands your way of thinking better than the average economist.
Finally, his YouTube.com/OneMinuteEconomics channel should make it clear that he loves economics and most importantly, that he loves teaching people economics in an entertaining manner. As you can see by taking a look at his videos, he makes it easy for people to understand complex topics without smoke coming out of their ears and without boring them to death.
Website: wealthmanagement2.com
YouTube: youtube.com/oneminuteeconomics