Hey guys!
Love to see so many fastlaners here! It's a pleasure to be in that community. I've been reading your intros for some time already and you guys are so inspirational that I thought to myself that maybe I could somehow inspire new fellows. So here's my story.
Since I was a little kid, my parents wanted me to be better than kids at my age. That's why they signed me up for English lessons (yes, it isn't my native language), music school, showed me different sports, etc. All I ever wanted was to be just like my 15 years older brother. He was a great (at least for me) hockey player. Other hockey players wanted to be like Gretzky, Ovechkin, or Crosby, and I wanted to be just like my brother.
To pursue that dream, I realized at a very young age that I have to train harder than my teammates. Therefore, every single time we've been running during training, or skating - simply competing, I had to be the best. Although I was taller and heavier than my teammates, I've always been finishing first or second. They admired my dedication so badly that they've seen me as a leader, and made me the captain of our team.
A few years later, we won three times the championship of our country. We never had the best individuals. Our biggest strength was being a good team. Everyone understood their role in the team and that allowed us to become the champions. After our third championship, some of us (me included) started receiving calls from the coach of the U18 National Team. That's when I started to be even more serious about hockey. I started to earn some money and work even harder.
The National Team meetings were happening once per 2 months. We used to train together and play for a week or two, and play against other teams in Europe. At some point, during the normal season - not during NT meeting, I've been performing worse than usual and that's why my phone didn't ring when the coach called for the best players in our country for a meeting. That's when I thought to myself: it will never happen again. I will always be on the National Team no matter what, and for the next month I've been training even harder than usual. I started running before school, doing some stickhandling drills before practice on the ice, stretching after the training, etc. This failure made me become an even better player and even a human being. Nothing motivates as much as such failures, trust me.
3 years forward, the coach of my first and last senior team wasn't allowing me to play during matches, although he ensured me during pre-season that I will play every game for sure. He didn't keep his promise and I decided to end my hockey adventure. I wanted to improve and play, just like every player, and I couldn't do that with that coach. Then the 3rd coach of the National Team wanted me to stay and do "the last dance" during World Junior Championship. I agreed and my teammates made me their Captain during WJC.
After WJC I ended the adventure and started my very first business - the production of gaming chairs with a cooling system. I received a donation from European Union, finished the best business accelerator in my country, and of course - failed. I didn't have much experience and didn't know how hard is production.
That's why I changed my approach for a while and started to work for a game-testing company. However, my enreprenual spirit was still alive, and after one year of work for that company, I learned how they work, and what are their weaknesses, and decided to do this on my own. Unfortunately, my boss found out that I'm approaching clients on my own, and I got fired. Once again, this failure is like fuel for me. It made me work 24/7 on my game testing company.
My current challenges:
Love to see so many fastlaners here! It's a pleasure to be in that community. I've been reading your intros for some time already and you guys are so inspirational that I thought to myself that maybe I could somehow inspire new fellows. So here's my story.
Since I was a little kid, my parents wanted me to be better than kids at my age. That's why they signed me up for English lessons (yes, it isn't my native language), music school, showed me different sports, etc. All I ever wanted was to be just like my 15 years older brother. He was a great (at least for me) hockey player. Other hockey players wanted to be like Gretzky, Ovechkin, or Crosby, and I wanted to be just like my brother.
To pursue that dream, I realized at a very young age that I have to train harder than my teammates. Therefore, every single time we've been running during training, or skating - simply competing, I had to be the best. Although I was taller and heavier than my teammates, I've always been finishing first or second. They admired my dedication so badly that they've seen me as a leader, and made me the captain of our team.
A few years later, we won three times the championship of our country. We never had the best individuals. Our biggest strength was being a good team. Everyone understood their role in the team and that allowed us to become the champions. After our third championship, some of us (me included) started receiving calls from the coach of the U18 National Team. That's when I started to be even more serious about hockey. I started to earn some money and work even harder.
The National Team meetings were happening once per 2 months. We used to train together and play for a week or two, and play against other teams in Europe. At some point, during the normal season - not during NT meeting, I've been performing worse than usual and that's why my phone didn't ring when the coach called for the best players in our country for a meeting. That's when I thought to myself: it will never happen again. I will always be on the National Team no matter what, and for the next month I've been training even harder than usual. I started running before school, doing some stickhandling drills before practice on the ice, stretching after the training, etc. This failure made me become an even better player and even a human being. Nothing motivates as much as such failures, trust me.
3 years forward, the coach of my first and last senior team wasn't allowing me to play during matches, although he ensured me during pre-season that I will play every game for sure. He didn't keep his promise and I decided to end my hockey adventure. I wanted to improve and play, just like every player, and I couldn't do that with that coach. Then the 3rd coach of the National Team wanted me to stay and do "the last dance" during World Junior Championship. I agreed and my teammates made me their Captain during WJC.
After WJC I ended the adventure and started my very first business - the production of gaming chairs with a cooling system. I received a donation from European Union, finished the best business accelerator in my country, and of course - failed. I didn't have much experience and didn't know how hard is production.
That's why I changed my approach for a while and started to work for a game-testing company. However, my enreprenual spirit was still alive, and after one year of work for that company, I learned how they work, and what are their weaknesses, and decided to do this on my own. Unfortunately, my boss found out that I'm approaching clients on my own, and I got fired. Once again, this failure is like fuel for me. It made me work 24/7 on my game testing company.
My current challenges:
- Sales - I'm not sure how to get the first client
- I want to make hockey more important in my country, and I have a plan for it
- I want to host every single Christmas Eve with my family at my house
- to make my employees happy and for them to feel appreciated
- to bring my country's hockey national team back to the Olympics
- to buy nice houses for my brothers and parents
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