Chapter 1. First Steps into Adulthood

I can hear my mobile phone ringing. I answer it, and I can hear a voice informing me, “YOU’VE WON AN ELECTRIC SCOOTER. WOW!” And it wasn't some fucking bullshit telemarketer calling to sell me something. I’ve been waiting for a bank representative to call me and tell me this overtly obvious news. You must think I'm so full of myself because I was confident in winning the competition. But that's not the reason. The task was to write a short essay about how ecological I am, and the words I put down on the piece of paper came straight from the bottom of my heart – honest truth only, so I didn’t expect any different verdict.

Right. So you're eco-friendly, and. .? Well, my victory only confirms that everything I do in life and how I think about the world matters—that I'm heading in the right direction. Maybe the universe is showing me where to go? It's nice to receive such a mark from fate, and it only motivates us to continue working.

The story you want to get to know took place when I was the head of a dynamically developing company specializing in building photovoltaic installations, which means that thanks to us, solar power plants producing ecological electricity were built. Working in this trade is difficult and requires a great deal of sacrifice, so it's difficult to stick to your values when you're under the pressure of all kinds of obligations, tasks, demands, and expectations that you have to deal with every day at work. But how can you trust what you thought was your system of values and beliefs if you haven't lived life in general? That in itself is often difficult, and when you haven't learned yet, you can't control everything.

When we are born, we are tabula rasa – a blank slate. In the beginning, our parents introduce us to their system of values, and then comes the time for our peers to put new ideas into our heads; the systems of primary and high school or university continue the job, and it is then that the real school of life begins. When you’re in the whole educational process, you don’t think about your future life until you graduate. Everything changes when you reach adulthood, and retirement becomes the next stage of your life. Oh boy, haven't I gotten too serious? Well, that's what it is all about. The fun of real life is that we always start with some type of experience, which will certainly evolve, but that's a completely different story.

In this chapter, dear Reader, I will tell you how my first adventure with my own company began – my first real and responsible job. I will also tell you about how I developed the principles that guided me at work and in my personal life, about difficult times in my life and how they affected my integrity, and about one of my goals, which was to create a place – a great place – where I would want to work if I were looking for a job. Do you feel like it will be boring? I assure you it will be far from that! People claim that most inventions were born out of laziness, that someone didn't want to do something and instead looked for a shortcut. I definitely belong to this group... Of course, this does not imply that I am unaware of what hard work entails. Well, I do, even though I find the rat race and corporate slavery to be outrageously unfair, but hey, everyone is the architect of their own fortunes. In my private and professional life, I have chosen a path in which I have avoided taking shortcuts. Why? Well, because in the past, I had an unpleasant experience that taught me humility and, above all, fairness in many aspects of life, both professional and private. The situation I have in mind took place in the first half of my first semester of economic studies. Unlike my classmates, I never cheated in exams. Reading these words, you will probably think it is completely normal, but believe me, there are countries where this isn’t the case; cheating doesn’t surprise anyone. I simply came to the conclusion that if I pass an exam, great; if not, it means I deserve a failure. The reason I decided against cheating was not because I thought it was unethical but because, as I previously stated, I had failed miserably due to cheating. For one of my exams, I created a cheat sheet for the entire group. I had the best cheating spot during the test, and I was one of 200 people taking it. We all gave similar answers, and you know what? I FAILED as one of five people; what a bummer! That's why I decided that cheating wasn't for me, and over time, I started applying this attitude to other aspects of my life.

After three years of taking it easy, writing my bachelor's thesis felt like wading through the jungle. Furthermore, my supervisor took his work so seriously that, on ten pages of standard text, he was able to write about 100 comments, such as "No, no, and no again" or "The lights are on, but nobody is home," not to mention editorial errors that he corrected concurrently. This doctor of economics, who soon became one of the youngest professors, clearly felt a sense of mission as he deleted entire chapters from my work. Oh, it was a difficult journey. He liked testing his students’ endurance but seemed terribly bitter and snippy, showing a total lack of empathy.

I wondered why life was testing me this way. Others received approval for everything they wrote; sometimes, their supervisors did not even read their work! My road to success was rocky and frustrating. But I finally did it! In fact, thanks to my teacher, I was able to understand what a true thesis is, that every sentence and phrase is significant and should not be fabricated. So, I received my bachelor's degree, but I was completely fed up with this intellectual terror, with the phrases and definitions repeated over and over again. And though most of my colleagues went on with their studies for their master’s, they later admitted I had done the right thing, giving up further studies because they spent the following two years going over what they had learned in the previous three.

The moment when I decided not to study anymore coincided with my father's new idea to start his own company. At the time, my father engaged in a variety of trade-related activities. He was coming out of a very difficult and demanding period in his life and was able to overcome all of its consequences, which left some space for new experiences. It was 2012, when renewable energy sources almost didn’t exist in our country, meaning there was no market for them – they were still too expensive, and the government didn’t subsidize their purchase and didn’t want to develop legal regulations favorable to this industry.

Suddenly, out of the blue, a new proposed law regarding renewable energy came to light, promising everyone the moon. Unfortunately for us (or maybe fortunately), the project also fell into our hands. So, together, we founded a new company that combined the experience of a long-time businessman with the fresh perspective of a rookie. At this point, I must admit that dealing with things that contribute to the positive development of the world is very uplifting. Example? Imagine that you sell coal – yes, thanks to you, people can heat their houses, but on the other hand, you largely contribute to air pollution, so your actions are harmful – what the heck, you do it only to be minting it. But when things you do are worthy, it is much easier to find extra motivation and perseverance – because you know what you do is fundamentally good.

In the first three months of work, I learned more than I did during my three years of studying. Most of the time, I just observed my dad working – he showed me how to conduct meetings and told me the secrets of sales and other aspects of running a business. Everything I did was full of content – it was an “organism” that I co-created, and I could observe how it was developing – not just another theory according to students’ CPFC principle (meaning Cram/Pass/Forget/Celebrate).

I was immediately thrown into the deep end – after two weeks of learning what photovoltaics really is. We took part in a trade fair – we were exhibitors there. I don't really know what I was telling the people there, but they were listening to my words with interest as if I were an expert. Sometimes, they came back for more information. It was amazing – I found myself in a completely different world where I felt appreciated, in a world where others treated me as an equal partner... It felt wonderful! I was no longer a student; I was a business partner, and I was becoming a businessman.

However, in all honesty, the beginning was not particularly encouraging. I recall all of the mistakes made during the first installation for a large telecommunications company when we installed a PV (photovoltaic) system on pipes used to construct built-in wardrobes. Fuck me, what a botch that was. I was stressed because I saw that we were delivering a piece of crap. It was the first installation, our first money earned, and, on top of it, we trusted our foreman in this matter, who apparently took us for a ride. Our client was, to put it mildly, confused. Because the funds needed to be spent by the end of the fiscal year (it was already after Christmas), there was no turning back—we had to let the current situation take its course. I thought we would finally get through somehow. And so, we went into the new year with the first installation on our account. Later, our foreman took pity on us and delivered a decent structure, and we gave the client's representative a new iPad so that he wouldn't bitch at us left and right... Oh well, the first pancake is always spoiled.

First experiences are what they are. My first sex wasn’t the adventure of a lifetime either. Sometimes you have to grit your teeth and move on, knowing what you absolutely do not want to do: repeat the same mistakes.

When we founded the company, the market was practically non-existent – the total number of installed photovoltaic panels in our country was 2 MW, which is as much as would fit on 10 acres of land. So we were true pioneers who wanted to use each opportunity and take all the chances we could. It was an interesting experience to start something that involved some challenges, such as having to educate potential customers or running a much higher risk of screwing up a business plan.

We were trailblazers and had ambitious plans until it turned out that our approach was naive because reality wasn’t as promising as it had seemed at first. The thing about politics and politicians' plans is that you really want to believe what they say, but until something is put into practice, it's only an empty word, a promise that can evolve endlessly. I didn’t have to wait long for a new surprise to come because the Minister of Environment, who was supposed to introduce the promised solutions, was changed, and the bill on which we had based our company ended up in the trash. What bad luck, what a whim of fate... We’d just started our business, we’d already been present on the market, and there was no way we were going to turn back; we hadn’t achieved our goals yet! We could see them at a long distance, but first, we had to make some changes to the Co2 reduction to act in accordance with new world regulations. Being an entrepreneur meant constantly adapting to the changing reality, so in order to survive, we turned to public tenders. Municipalities received subsidies to eliminate their carbon footprint, which meant the money had to be spent on unprofitable investments that were initiated by some senior-level politicians. So, we unwillingly followed suit, though it was a tough nut to crack.

To show you, my dear Reader, how demanding this task was for me, I will tell you about the most difficult two weeks of work in my entire life, not only mentally but physically as well. What is more important, these two weeks demonstrate how difficult it is for business owners to achieve financial success when, for whatever reason, they are suddenly confronted with costs skyrocketing and liabilities multiplying like rabbits.

The first tender I won was for the installation of approximately 30 photovoltaic house systems in a beautiful mountain town. It was toward the end of September, the beginning of autumn. The deadlines were tight; we only had 14 days to complete the whole job. Together with the designer, we set up a field base in one of the ecotourism farms, which, in addition to accommodation and an office, also housed a warehouse and a hotel for the working teams. And so it all began... To explain the whole situation more clearly, I will tell you what my typical day looked like. I started work before 6 a.m., oversaw the warehouse release to the assembly teams, took a break to take care of office matters, and then became a delivery bus driver, running errands between the electrical wholesaler and the installers, who were always lacking something.

At the same time, I had to solve a lot of interpersonal and logistical problems, etc. After all, I had about 50 people working for me, including all the subcontractors. I had to learn to make zero-sum decisions; there was no time for second-guessing. In the meantime, I met with the mayor and residents. A quick lunch and then back to work. As twilight came, around 6 p.m., I had to get back to the office, plan and update the work for the next day, and only then could I help my designer with paperwork, which lasted until midnight every day. Six hours of sleep and everything started all over again. I remember that in order to survive, I promised myself that when the whole thing was over, I would go surfing to recharge my batteries and improve my health and condition. There was no hot water in the room we stayed in, so every morning, I took a cold shower to start with – what a fuckin’ challenge that was! Fortunately, our hosts took pity on us and really cared for us in many other ways. During that time, I celebrated my 25th birthday, which surprised my coworkers when they learned that a youngster was managing them.

Our company was co-founded by two additional partners – they provided us with an office and a warehouse, and apart from that, they didn’t interfere too much with our work. Okay, let’s be clear: they interposed a bit, but I'll talk about that later. We planned to create a major company that not only assembles but also expands its network of associates. As an incorrigible idealist and perfectionist, I threw myself into work, creating rules and regulations and taking care of conditions – there was a lot of it. But the most important thing was that I was given an entirely free hand, and I could make my own decisions about how I wanted to have things done. However, one of the partners, a former customs officer and a martinet who always bossed people around – a difficult guy to work with – wanted to control everyone and everything.

At that time, I began to experience mobbing for the first time; although I no longer remember what exactly happened. I probably pushed it out of my memory. I remember the emotions I experienced during meetings with that man, including anxiety, uncertainty, and fear of words he might say to me. His way of treating people was like a soldier's drill, which was contrary to the way my parents raised me. And when he disagreed with someone’s point of view, you couldn't argue with him – he didn't accept dissimilarities. I avoided him as much as I could; otherwise, I wouldn’t have felt like working at all. I really don't wish this for anyone. I think that as a newbie, I was supposed to accept everything that the old guy said – he definitely wanted to show me where I belonged. This kind of difficult situation is unbearable when you come to work every day to do your job, but you constantly feel deterred from it. It has always been the case for me that difficult emotions accumulate inside me like water in a vessel until I can no longer take them, and the same was true here. I just had enough. Finally, something inside me broke and, torn by emotions, I told him everything I had been afraid to tell him before – about how terrible he was to us all and how hard it was for me to tolerate his behavior any longer.

Unfortunately, my father wasn't around to support me, so after a short exchange of loud words and very unpleasant words, the fight ended with me being thrown out of the office. I was told to fuck off because, supposedly, it was me that was the problem for them, not the way I was treated. It was bound to happen unavoidably, though it came as a shock to me, but it was the first time I experienced such difficult emotions in the workplace. Then, after a few days, the conflict died a natural death. There was work to be done, but the atmosphere definitely cooled. All I had to do was grit my teeth and move on.

In fact, for the first few years of our company's presence on the market, we could barely make ends meet. It was difficult for us to run a start-up business in a beginner market, where convincing someone to invest in solar energy was as hard as selling them a plot of land on the moon. Also, there was another problem related to the money we had earned. When they finally showed up, our partners immediately borrowed it to pay for the goods at their transport company, which was where our company had been founded. The situation was preposterous, and it couldn’t last forever. We really needed a change, something that would help us develop – we didn't want to get stuck where we were. Fortunately, a new investor appeared on the horizon – a wealthy business investor and a friend, a person with extensive experience who had been giving us advice so far and now was ready to help us financially. He believed in our plan to create the company and soon bought the shares from our partners and invested capital in the implementation of increasingly larger public tenders. He did it because, as he said, it was important for him to invest in people who sincerely wanted to create something good and useful. This change led to another one – we started working in a new headquarters and put the past aside so that the next stage of our company's expansion could begin in a modern office building.

When you start again with a fresh perspective, you naturally don't want to make the same mistakes. Once you have gained some experience, you want to try doing things in another, better way. One of the pillars of the newly formed team was the attitude that we are all equal, and I think that the experience of being mobbed had a big impact on the idea. Also, my relationship with my father, who never aggrandized himself because of the experience he had gained before and treated me as an equal partner, must have contributed to it. I initiated all activities related to our company’s internal development. I had always been interested in that – I wanted to create the most harmonious organism possible – a modern company ready for our times. I had a fresh perspective, which positively impacted the quality of work and the commitment of new employees who were joining our team. We wanted to implement a flat structure, a turquoise organization without a classic hierarchy that would help everyone feel safe and comfortable so that the employees would go from being pawns on the chessboard to becoming our partners in developing the company together. This is exactly the approach I wanted to go for – a place where I would like to work without an overbearing boss. And we had one captain on the bridge of our boat who was our true leader.

It really worked because everybody enjoyed coming to the workplace, and that didn’t cause unhealthy pressure. You might have a casual conversation with a colleague at any time or leave your desk for any reason. Everyone knew their tasks, which sometimes required asking for help from another team member, and if someone could provide it, they did it without hesitation. There were no rigid rules and no rigid adherence to assigned roles or tasks. Our 90-meter open space also allowed for the development of a well-integrated team without the dreadful partitions of a CEO's office or any other isolated spaces.

In this way, so to speak, the company’s parlor was created, where everything happened, people were coming and going, and installers dropped by before the job to report on what was happening. It was here that if someone didn't understand something, they could ask about anything on the forum. I really liked the growth of our team, also due to the frequent changes in furniture configuration and the creation of new desks, because then I became the designer and contractor, if necessary. Of course, the desktops were made of unused solar modules. Our team was systematically expanding with new designers and tender coordinators who started as apprentices and later very often became our full-time employees in a young team – young blood, young energy. My responsibilities at that time included creating rules for the functioning of new employees and implementing a project management system and a platform for common communication and activities aimed at uniting the entire team. I was also responsible for marketing activities, preparing internal procedures, and handling thousands of other matters. That was a lot, but if you like what you do, it's not a problem. I was the one who connected the work of all the others, the Char Man from Spider-Man story, and the others were the superheroes of that movie.

It was intense work from early morning till late in the evening, and watching it was like watching your own child growing up, when what you see gives you great joy. This was also fundamental for selecting people for the team – we wanted people just like us, who would enjoy every activity they would do. This spirit of freedom, enthusiasm, and responsibility is what I would like to thank my father very much for, as he always works with passion, and this is what he taught me. When you realize that the work you do adds a small brick to building a better world, your motivation increases by a hundred times. It's worth doing meaningful things; it really is.

While listening to my friend's podcast about setting up a paid online advertising agency, I got very inspired. You probably wonder what good can come out of such a trivial job that causes hundreds of annoying advertisements to appear in front of our eyes. Well, my friend founded his agency with the idea of creating a turquoise organization, an open payment system, and a well-thought-out work system in which everyone has an influence on its shape and functioning. Several years have passed since the company was started, and the organization has grown to hire several dozen people with a truly advanced paying system, but the effects are already visible in the form of a motivated, like-minded team of specialists, no time waste, a trusted remote way of working and marginal employee turnover. The thing that motivates Mike is that one day, he will be able to show the world what they have created, and maybe an employee-friendly work system will come to light, treating them as complete team members who feel responsible not only for their tasks but also for the entire organization.

Good practices are worth copying – and that's what I did. The era of transparency in our company began, though not everything went smoothly because implementing structural changes in the company is difficult and time-consuming. Although individual earnings were still a secret, everything else was our common good. At the forum, we often talked about the changes that were ahead of us, and I convinced my colleagues over and over again not to be afraid and to come up with their own initiatives. I implemented reasonable ideas immediately so that they felt that they really were the prime mover. It's definitely much easier to row a boat with everyone involved than to pull others along like a tugboat.

I really enjoyed the atmosphere of working toward a common goal that motivated us – then everyone felt inspired and in good mood. That was how I got my employees used to the fact that changes and constant changes are a standard issue, and that you shouldn’t be just a sceptical critic, but a resourceful creator of an organism which enabled everyone to receive their salary every month.

I felt a bit like an artist who generated a certain vision through people, tools, and tasks. My dad was rather focused on his own world, the world of big clients and issues, always being engrossed in work and sometimes totally preoccupied with it. Working in your own company means not only the ability to come to work whenever you want but also immense commitment and a lot of stress. Our company's market didn’t make much progress in the first five years, while the costs were impossible to avoid.

Accounting charges, computer lease, office rental, company car lease, employee salaries, and finally, if there was enough money, there was the salary for me. There were also months when you had to choose what to pay and what to withhold; my salary could always be suspended because it was the last thing to deal with. So, even though I was the boss and the manager, I often didn't have enough money of my own, nor did I think about saving. I lived in constant fear as to whether we would be able to survive another difficult period as a company. I must admit that keeping sane in this situation, in my first job after college, was a huge challenge. It really was a nightmare...

I experienced endless mood swings; the decreased moments of motivation were intertwined with excitement and satisfaction from small successes, but there was no stability to feel safe. It was a rollercoaster most of the time. Either way, this state of affairs must have had consequences for my well-being. It had happened to me before, such mood swings, like to everyone else, but they had never affected me in the way as to call them depressive or depression itself. However, there were so many problems and uncertainty that the day finally came when my mood dropped to the very bottom, and I stayed there for the next couple of days. Seeing that the situation was getting serious and that I couldn't deal with all of it myself, with my responsibilities, or with anything in general, I decided to seek help from the outside, and I went to a psychiatrist. The doctor gave me a simple diagnosis: "You are experiencing classic depression." He prescribed some medication and said I would be back on my feet in six weeks. In such situations, family support is extremely important, and it’s much easier to deal with one’s own thoughts. When I was about to tell my father what condition I was in, he suddenly said, “Son, I need to face my depression. Now, the company will be entirely on your shoulders.” WHAT THE FUCK? It didn't make any sense to tell him that I wasn’t in the best state either, so I decided it was better for him to think that I could handle everything. And that's how I started to assume the role of an actor who was left alone with his problems. (A few years later, I learned by accident from family friends that my parents were very grateful to me during this period for meeting the challenge.) I basically limited all my activities to a theatrical minimum. I was at work, but I pretended that I was doing something. I just tried to attend to the loose ends that guaranteed the company's survival. And indeed, after six weeks, the depression disappeared, and I slowly started to stand on my own two feet. Then my psychiatrist, whom I considered a typical prescription giver and not a very good doctor, told me something very sensible that I took to heart: "First of all, please don't take on more responsibilities than you can handle. Secondly, please don't worry about other people's decisions, then you will recover and we won't meet again."

How very true it turned out to be! I wouldn't have thought of it myself, but those were simple tips, ready for immediate implementation. Over time, I also noticed that I had this tendency to fall into cycles in which, at first, I planned a lot of work, then I toiled mindlessly, sometimes for a dozen hours, and finally, I became exhausted, collapsed, and suddenly nothing mattered anymore. That way, I got back just to the beginning – to the point similar to the one I had found myself in after the depression ended. I started noticing it, and then I knew that when this happened, it meant all my efforts went to hell, and I would have to start working again, this time step by step, to get the wheel rolling again.

A large team also meant a lot of different problems, and despite our sincere intentions, it was impossible to control everything. Our staff grew as we participated in larger and larger projects. However, these weren’t always lucrative investments. It often happened that the costs or delivery dates were incorrectly estimated, and in such cases, we just broke even or fell into debt temporarily. There was a case where we made a lot of mistakes and lost tens of thousands of dollars. Another time, someone failed, hoping that the panels from a reliable supplier would arrive on time, but the delay put us so much behind the schedule that we did what we could without modules, turning the construction process upside down. Still, another case was an error of judgment in trusting our management staff to handle everything on their own. Despite their experience, they couldn't cope; there was basically organizational chaos. In such a situation, you cannot do anything more because if the deadline for handing over the investment is exceeded, severe penalties will be charged for each day of delay. As one of the captains of our ship, I had to take matters into my own hands and go to the construction site of over 60 home installations in one commune, a commune that looked like it was taken straight from the Wild West. It was already past the deadline, so every day of delay was a financial pain in the ass. I felt incredibly strong, and when the situation required it, I turned into a managing robot and was able to control everything. It was a race against time for us, intense assembly work, and a struggle to reach the goal. I must admit it was quite tiring. At the same time, I tried to extend the project implementation time, but the people from the city hall just smiled at me and didn't give a damn. At the end of that period, when we were approaching the happy end, on receiving and signing the documents, I got in a bad way again, feeling weighed down and helpless – it was too much for me. In addition, the negative balance hurt a lot as we were not a rich company. We had to grit our teeth and move on, but first of all, draw conclusions. I learned the importance of cooperation combined with transparency. Alone, you can do little, but the help of others cannot be overstated, and when everything is made public, it is much more difficult to hide from others the fact that something isn’t going right.

New experiences and lessons learned allowed us to gain expertise. It is very exciting to see how everything evolves, though. A similar thing happened with our market, which was beginning to move from the tender market to the retail market. Finally, appropriate regulations were passed to support consumers, thanks to which investing in your own electricity began to pay off. We started our adventure with individual clients by supporting a local subsidy program, which partially financed investments on a non-refundable basis, and the client received a low-interest loan for the remaining amount. Trying to enter a new market segment, we looked for customers among our close and distant friends, and eventually, we managed to gather over 30 people willing to invest with us. This program had one drawback – grant funding was based on the order of applications received in a physical form, and the budget was limited. Registration started at 8 a.m. on Monday, so you had to be right in time for it. We worked on applications, valuations, etc., for 12 hours a day, each day for more than two weeks, and it was a very intense time. When I went to the company office on Sunday afternoon to check and finalize all the activities, it crossed my mind to go to the building where the fund was located and see if a calculating genius of some kind hadn’t come up with the idea to stand in line in front of the building. When I arrived there, I saw two men sitting on chairs in front of the entrance door. WTF? I didn't expect this, and I was very glad that my instincts didn’t fail me in checking on it. So I stayed there for a while, but then I couldn't wait there until the next morning as I still had a lot of work to finish. I quickly found a queue waiter – a replacement I paid to wait in that line. Apparently, in the times of communism, that was a standard procedure when things were scarce in stores, and you had to be in the first five to get something. I wasn’t born then, but now I can experience how it used to be in the past. In the evening, I drove up to my queue waiter with a campervan, a mattress, and a duvet to provide him with comfortable working conditions. By that time, a large group of potential beneficiaries had already formed outside, feasting and enjoying themselves. That night magically brought them all together.

The more we developed, the more new competencies I gained, and this was also due to the fact that I really liked changes. When a project had already been implemented and went its own way, I would take on a new one, like a new mission. And the mission I had just set for myself was a serious task – to start regular sales of photovoltaic installations to individual customers. There were a few challenges I had to face. In the beginning, it was an opportunity for an emerging customer market, so you had to take advantage of such opportunities. A good company diversifies its sources of income, and I wanted tenders to be not the only one.

My father had a similar attitude, which is why he focused on really large investments worth several million dollars (in fact, this process was tedious and slow, so you had to wait several years to see the results), and I focused on what could be done here and now – quick sale, short assembly, and immediate cash inflow. Another problem was creating a sales department from scratch, as well as diverting our designers from working on the tender in favor of private orders, and finally, organizing several installation teams into a new branch of the company. It wasn't an easy task, though. At the same time, there wasn't a lot of pressure to do it. However, changing the client from public to private was associated with quite a challenge and much higher expectations. Having already established the basic values, such as being guided by passion, equality, transparency, and cooperation, all we had to do was add the last brick, which was high quality in everything we did. When things you do are of high quality, satisfaction increases – customers are satisfied, and therefore, they recommend your service to others, and the wheel starts spinning, according to the principle that one satisfied customer will bring three more, and a dissatisfied one will discourage nine. And it was then that I made a new observation. It was not only about the customer being satisfied with the installation itself but the pleasure they might find in the entire process leading to the purchase decision. So, I started a stage of visually refining the offer, ways of communication with a potential buyer, and implementation procedures. I did everything to make it as clear and simple as possible – after all, I am a minimalist at heart.

That was how we entered the best stage of my entrepreneurial adventure when responsibilities associated with managing the company gave me great joy. I really enjoyed everything that was happening at the time. It also affected my private life, which was actually subordinated to work, but so what if it was good? It was obvious that I was in the right place, no one breathing down my neck, so I was elated with this spirit of freedom despite the many hardships we experienced. My tasks often didn’t require me to be in the office, so I enjoyed going to a café or a library – I just liked to find a friendly place to spread the wings of my imagination and envision new future ventures.

Here is what happened on a winter day when I lived near a trade fair center. On my way into town, I decided to walk through it – an interior trade fair was just taking place there. I had no urgent meetings or compelling tasks to do. When I was walking between the stands, I suddenly saw a huge roll-up with the slogan: Win an electric scooter at the stand of one of the banks.

I knew what this competition was about. I knew it very well because a few months earlier, I had seen the same competition with the same bank at the renewable energy fair, where we also had our stand as exhibitors. I had a lot of responsibilities then, and there was no time to face this challenge. I had to let go then, but this time... This time I had time and the thought appeared in my head: I need to take part in this competition, this time I will enter it and win. So I visited the stand, took the competition form, went to the fair's cafe, ordered a coffee, got out a ballpen, and engaged in the task.

The competition consisted of writing an essay on one A4 page entitled: What does living and behaving ecologically mean to you, and how do you implement this theory into your own life? It really wasn't difficult because ecological issues had become an integral part of my system of values a long time before, and also, I never had any need to possess things, which I certainly developed in my childhood, but that's another story. Here was a task to present what I really believed in, what I did on a daily basis – nothing but the truth. In life, the best way to sell something is not to pretend anything but to be authentic. That’s the way you gain another person’s trust. I am also a salesperson, but above all, a human being (haha) – I don't pretend, I don't lie trying to sell something, I help people to find solutions dedicated to their current needs. I do my best to help them.

Now let’s get back to the competition – it's important to be yourself. I started with what, in my opinion, should be the standard in the modern world: Living ecologically means following the spirit of the times. Over the years, we are increasingly aware of the fact that human beings come from the Earth and are an integral part of it. After all, the environment in which we live and the times that have come are constantly warning us that, as a civilization, we are on the brink and that if we don’t change something, our world will collapse and die irreversibly. Each person can do small things, but when more like-minded people gather, they can have a huge influence on politicians and other residents of our planet. The statement: human beings come from the Earth should be adopted by the UN because then anything that harms the Earth would be breaking the law. A short note, but it would change so much. Then I wrote about how living in a city forces us to segregate waste and take care of good air quality, and – which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone – how important it is to use distributed renewable energy sources.

I started the main part of my essay with what I, as an individual, would do for the Earth and how I live ecologically. It is important to use as much water as we really need and to filter drinking water instead of buying bottled water if we really don't have to. Another rule I follow is not to buy too much food. When going to the store, I only buy as many products as I can carry in my hands. It's trivial, but it really works, and you can do a lot of exercise without having a shopping basket, and yet it seems that you still have something to squeeze under your arm or between your fingers. But of all the facts described, the one about transport must have really impressed the competition jury: I can afford to buy a car, but nowadays it is unnecessary – fewer cars mean less smog and a better quality of public life. Clearly, this must have influenced the fact that they have chosen my essay. In fact, we had several cars in the company, but I didn't drive any of them at any time. I preferred sharing cars, sometimes I preferred to call an Uber, and traveling by train or public transport was of no difference to me. And traveling around the city on electric scooters is a pure pleasure.

I closed my essay with the following words: To sum up, I chose ecological life because I want to have my share in saving the Earth. It makes me feel like a better person and a happier citizen of our planet. Who else is going to have an impact on our surroundings if we don't start with ourselves? I was really happy that I won, but as I had already mentioned, I really expected it. Well, everyone thinks like that when taking part in a creative competition, don’t they? I don't do this every day. I really wanted to win, and I did, and I feel appreciated for my attitude in life.

Dear reader, through these few pages of text, you can get to know me as a man full of passion for what I do. You got to know my transformation and what it all resulted from. But the most difficult thing in the adventure of an enterprising man was yet to come. The real Armageddon was about to happen. I was about to experience so many hardships that I never would have expected a human being was able to endure. My professional life was flourishing, while my private life was going through an ordeal. Maybe this way, everything balanced out. Who knows?

Support my fundraising on www.buymeacoffee.com/1mdollarbio and find out how my adventure with my first company ended in the next chapter. Thanks to your support, my current dream will come true and you will also unlock the next chapters of my life – the interesting plot will show the valuable lessons I have learned from life. Thank you for reading or listening to my story. See you on my website www.1mdollarbio.com and Instagram @1mdollarbio !