oh yeah I run my own company oh yes I'm
a businesswoman that all sounds amazing
but in this video I really want to talk
about what's behind that hi my name is
Marina I'm 34 years old I started my
first company when I was 21 and in this
video I just want to talk about things
that I would tell myself if I decided to
start business for the first time in
2024 but before we get to my actual
business learnings I want to thank
HubSpot for sponsoring this video it's a
wild Journey it's crazy but it's so
rewarding but there are certain things I
want you to know before you start but
I'm going to talk about everything so
watch this video up to the very end
quick background story when I was 21 I
was still back in Russia my home country
and uh my then boyfriend and I started
an agency helping people study abroad
and then we started helping people learn
languages and that company transformed
into an online booking platform called
lingua trip we moved to Silicon Valley
raised money from 500 startups and
several other Angel Investors during Co
our travel part shut down and it was
never able to recover after that but we
launched the onine part which is doing
really well right now and while running
that company also started another
company called lingua Marina which
manages three of my YouTube channels
this one and a couple more and uh I was
able to raise a venture round as a
Creator from a company called slow
Ventures here in silon Valley but today
are my key learnings from doing business
for 13 years I'm not that old it's crazy
now the first thing when I was I think I
was 25 and we're going through an
accelerator in back in Russia and they
asked us a very good question they asked
us why we were building the company and
there were like three options one to
sell it second to keep it because we
think it's a lifestyle business and the
third is to IPO and when I looked at
those options I was like of course
number two like who starts a company to
sell it who starts a company to well IPO
could be possible but like number two I
love it this company is my child and now
now I realized this is such a weird
mindset for the first business yes your
first business could be something that
you do for your whole life but just
having this mindset oh my God I'm stuck
with this idea for the next 30 Years
this is not the right mindset and the
more and more I talk to entrepreneurs
the more I realized that we were just
lucky that our first business idea
actually made sense because I went into
the space that I absolutely loved and
maybe I am that person who has to work
on something I truly love despite this
not being the sexiest Market in the
world and this is where you have to
decide what type of mindset you have
what type of person you are there are
people like I don't know Kagan there are
people like Mark Zuckerberg who were
just testing different ideas and uh they
tried to see what sticks what kind of
problem uh is the best to solve right
now and there are people like me who are
like I just understand you know study
abroad now I also understand social
media and I just want to stick to it I
don't want to sell I don't see myself
without this company and this probably
one of the reasons why I am still active
in both companies but it's just you know
with a second approach it may take you
years before you find that right idea so
if you want to start a business now just
be ready to iterate through ideas just
go through them I just recently talked
to Raj from um salana so he co-founded
this blockchain which is valued at I
think $70 billion and he started like
nine companies in a year and all of them
well some of them failed some of them
took off without him with other
co-founders but his mindset was I will
keep looking for ideas until I find the
one and it doesn't matter if I'm 95 I
will still keep looking for ideas but
luckily enough he found a salana but I
also asked him about family like but how
do you start a family if you have this
mindset you can't just be iterating and
having kids because it's just impossible
he's like family was not on my road map
because of that I was like okay so if
you have this mindset is really hard
with a family so this mindset is does
not apply for me cuz I always knew I
wanted a family and I knew that for me
my business has to provide stability
just think about where exactly you're at
with your mindset and this will make
everything so much easier for you
because I was blaming myself for not
chasing other ideas I was like maybe I
should try this and that another silon
Valley hype until I realized like I have
to fall in love with idea I don't care
if it's a billion dooll Market if it's
sexy or not all I care about is that I
care about people who have this problem
and that's it now once you realize what
type of person you are and you start
something and you're passionate about it
but how do you know when to stop and I
keep asking entrepreneurs this question
as well like when do you know it's time
to give up when you know that is not
growing Etc and there are several
different rules that apply to Silicon
Valley companies or businesses in
general because you don't have to be a
Silicon Valley company to have a
successful business but what I'm taking
away from all of the answers you have to
come up with a certain metric before you
even start for example you're starting a
business and you know that you have 6
months uh worth of savings and in order
to continue doing that you need at least
like 100 clients that's your proof of
concept so come up with that number and
it's okay to change it later it's just
very important to mentally understand
where you want to stop and for me with
lingua trip I'm like okay as long as it
pays the bills this is great like I love
it I love the industry in this video I'm
focusing more on your mindset and the
right approach to starting a business
rather than paperwork or detailed
business plans however my hope is that
you take action after watching this
video and in that case you'll need more
practical help with starting a company
that's why I recommend downloading this
free templates from HubSpot in the
description below they will help you
turn your idea into an actual business
it's actually a free business startup
kit that includes a business name
brainstorming workbook really important
check the trademarks because you know I
made this huge mistake when I um took an
name lingua trip and it was actually
trademarked in one of the countries so
we had to pay $20,000 to the person who
owned it so double check so that
workbook is really helpful business plan
template marketing plan template and
much more personally I really like the
eight elevator pitch templates from this
kit because you will need to practice
your elevator pitch cuz you're going to
be pitching your idea to your friends
investors and just random people these
are practice tested text structures so
you don't have to reinvent the wheel
just take the readymade working texts
and adapt them to your needs this kit
was made by HubSpot who's sponsoring
today's video big thanks to them for
providing this free resources Point
number two set up a metric for you that
will tell you when to stop because not
every single idea becomes a business and
there are several metrics like silon
Valley you have to grow 2x every month
if you're just starting out Etc they're
different metrics and and every VC will
have their own but you don't have to be
a silon valley company in order to be a
successful company so it's really
important for you to decide how much
time you have and uh what makes an idea
a good idea so for example for me it was
very crucial to be able to find our
first clients and we were just lucky
that that our clients were studying with
us and that was a great proof of concept
that if I won this product and if a
couple of my friends won this product
and uh I understand like we are in a
good University in Russia Etc but I
could predict how big the market was and
that was enough for me but if I start
something and I just don't see any
clients and I have no idea how I find
them that's a great question to ask
yourself like is it really viable does
this idea have to exist and I like what
Noah Kagan told me during our interview
he was like I would post on Reddit that
you know I will give you a coupon for
for this app for this amount of dollars
or I will do this for you for this
amount of dollars and he started seeing
what took off and and what didn't so
come up with a metric that you can reach
by easy tests because sometimes we just
don't know what success is and defining
early success for yourself will really
help you determine whether you're going
to continue working on the idea or not
and right after this comes the problem
that a lot of new entrepreneurs are
facing and I was facing it honestly
selling and letting people go but
selling comes first cuz you have to make
the product work and it was so difficult
for me that was such a hard thing to do
like selling the product and I was 21
years old I was basically a kid selling
trips for $2,000 and I had to sound
professional and I was talking to
parents and they were like 40 plus years
old and they were like CEOs of companies
and I had to sound very professional
that was really tough for me but some
things that really helped me uh doing
those first sales I knew that I was in
love with the product and I knew the
result I was basically selling them the
result I wasn't selling them the trip I
wasn't asking their money I was like I
went on such a trip when I was 14 and it
completely changed my life it helped me
with my English I went to this Olympiad
and I won it just amazing it is very
important that you sell the result then
it makes a sale so much easier but also
don't forget that repeat customers are
everything so don't overpromise on
average it costs five to 25 more times
to attract a new client versus making
your old customer buy something else so
just make sure that you're not
overselling that you're not over
promising I always have this philosophy
that we have to overd deliver with a
products and if I ever see a negative
review send it to my team ask them to
explain like I dive really deep into
what's going on I try to dive deep as
long as I can and improve the processes
because at the end of the day the
reputation of your compan is everything
and yes while you're small you can
experiment and make mistakes but also
when you're small you're kind of
determining the set of rules for you the
set of morals that will help you make
decisions easier and it doesn't work
this way that oh in this situation I
will you know negotiate with a client
cuz he's an and in this
situation I will just give them a
discount because they're nice it doesn't
work that way the thing is when you have
uh double standards for different
clients or different situations you just
spend so much mental energy on thinking
what type of situation that is so it was
really important for me from the
beginning of our business to set up
certain morals or certain rules that I
follow and um it just makes decision
making easier like one of those rules
I'm always trying to help like as long
as I can make an intro and I'm not
thinking like oh I'm going to help this
person be successful and uh they're not
going to pay me back yeah they're
probably not going to pay me back but
the universe is going to pay me back and
so he hopefully and when you're just
starting your journey and the best time
to come up with this set of rules is
when you first encounter the situation
when you're just starting a business oh
what am I going to do later on like when
I'm a million-dollar company when
Everyone's Watching there was one advice
that my investor gave me uh he was like
Marina when you don't know what to do
think that Wall Street Journal is going
to cover this in their article and
they're going to dig into everything so
always think that the Wall Street
Journal is watching you so you don't
want to mess up I hope this helps this
might sound like a cliche but well sorry
you have to grow your social media as an
entrepreneur you have to be a producer
for your own image as an entrepreneur
you will you also have to produce your
company's social media and just
understanding the rules by which the
industry is playing right now and
they're constantly changing so it's not
like you figured it out and you stop and
then it works for years unfortunately
everything changes every couple months
the algorithm changes so if you ask me I
think every entrepreneur has to have
some kind of social media presence
because this is how people not only find
out about you but also find out about
your company and your audience is a
great base to test your new ideas you
can ask them if they actually have this
problem and a lot of products at lingua
trip were actually inspired by our
audience they were like oh we really
need to study online but I was like no
learning languages abroad is the best
way why would you study online but when
they asked us for a Skype teacher it was
back in the day for like uh 20th time I
was like okay we need to think about
that um so the best ideas also come from
your customers the best video ideas come
from the comment section so so really
try to start playing the social media
game no no matter where you are in your
journey if you're already building
something document that if you're not
building something document your
thoughts like I'm thinking of leaving my
job and by the way speaking of leaving
your job I would never leave a job to
just think about ideas and brainstorm
them the best ideas you will find energy
to work on them regardless of what's
happening on your job like you will find
time on weekends the best ideas you just
cannot not work on them you just have to
I've heard a lot of those stories when
people started when they were working
full-time I was lucky enough I was I
started when I was studying full-time
and it was easier cuz you know I could
walk out of the classes I could take
calls in the University Corridor I was
around people who were potentially my
clients uh but I still had to be there
from 99 to 6 every day it was just more
flexible but now if you're working from
home why not let's talk about delegating
because I started a business as a
21-year-old with no upfront investment
our investment was like $300 to start an
LLC we had to pay the lawyer I come from
the background where where you know I
have to try to do everything by myself
first and then delegated and I think if
it's your first business idea this is
the way to go like try to post on social
media to see what it looks like what it
takes because otherwise somebody comes
in and tells you like I'm going to
charge you $3,000 for three Re and
you'll be like oh maybe that's how much
it costs okay take my money and then
they're not performing but if you know
what it takes to create a reel and if
you know what it takes to create a good
reel then you can negotiate and tell
like hey no I can delegate this to
people people in other countries and
they're going to charge me $25 for the
whole video and honestly because you're
starting this No One Can Do Better
marketing and sales rather than you
because you are the DNA of this company
you are basically the product of this
company if you are a type like me who
wants to build something they're
passionate about so if I were you I
would start by doing everything by
myself but at some stage you stop and
you start delegating and the worst
mistake is to start delegating too late
because that means you're wasting your
energy on day-to-day instead of strategy
so at some stage and this is my favorite
thing to do every day when I do
something I ask myself a question do I
have to be doing this or can somebody
else do this so when I'm filming this
video I know for this channel it's me
for lingua Marina we have a teacher and
sometimes she replaces me our students
don't mind they love her I keep asking
myself this question do I have to edit
the video do I have to translate all the
documents that was 2011 oh my God this
is crazy I used to translate everything
by myself and now we have deep L and all
of these things and all of the other
things but you ask yourself do I have to
be doing this or I can hire someone if
you're in the US please do not forget
that you can hire abroad I met so many
American entrepreneurs who go like but I
like how do I hire abroad independent
International contractors you can hire
them by yourself you can hire them using
businesses who are valued at billions of
dollars like deal.com they help you
structure everything uh there are other
startups who help you find Talent abroad
and you pay a fraction of cost do that
especially for remote tasks it's just a
GameChanger to your business and when
people ask me Marina how many people
help you make these videos and I tell
them like 30 40 they're like oh my God
and I tell them like they're not in the
US they're all over the world it's not
like I have to pay them silcon Valley
prices so my business is smaller than
you think yes but because everyone's
abroad I know Charlie changen has
started his company called P.O where
they help you hire Broad and they just
helped us hire a video editor in
Indonesia and and they charge $5 an hour
I don't know what you're waiting for go
explore International talent but before
you start exploring you have to
understand the task and ideally create
an instruction like a PDF uh that your
new contractor will follow like oh if
I'm talking to this client and this this
and that this is our tone of voice this
is our style I remember it took me a
while to create all of those but it made
my life so much easier and so for every
function now we have those instructions
and when they come in and they receive a
new instruction they will just update
the file and and it's very easy for me
when somebody graduates from their job
somebody new comes in they already have
all of the updated instructions and I
don't really have to spend too much time
on boarding them so make sure you are
focusing on your superpower and your
superpower is just driving this business
to the moon and making sure you're
helping people save their problem the
team should be doing the rest I
participated in this 2-day intensive
Management training back in Dubai last
year and uh we were discussing top
entrepreneurs and um top entrepreneurs
spend most of their time hiring talking
to candidates doing interviews because
their were job is to find the best
people to make things happen at their
company and they are the vision let's
talk about Network let's talk about ways
I lost my precious time when I was
starting my business when we just moved
to silon Valley we went into this
accelerator and I got distracted by all
of the parties that we got invited to I
thought it it was very important to
network though I didn't have ask I was
kind of fundraising but I knew that
going to Startup parties doesn't really
help you fundra because everyone is kind
of just thinking about their idea or
just starting out and I was just going
and going to those parties until I
realized I had to be working on the
product so networking is important and
now I spent maybe 30 to 40% of my active
worktime networking uh going to
conferences having meetings with
companies and just meeting people in
general but the foundation is actually
the product that I've built and now
networking is an essential part of my
job but when you just start out you
don't really have to network the time
when you have to start networking is
when you start having clear ask that
could be fundraising or maybe you are
stuck in your journey as an entrepreneur
you don't know how to hire and you want
other entrepreneurs in your circle who
can teach you how to hire or recommend
places where to hire so networking can
be kind of distracting when you see
others post on Instagram I'm networking
whatever if you don't have a clear ask
nothing will come out of that networking
people especially in the US are very
business oriented if there is no
business there is no need to spend your
time and other people's time love your
mistakes so I lost money somewhere I
made a stupid mistake I lost money and I
got myself not really worrying about it
because it was a business mistake I
tried something and uh I failed and I
realized that it's actually great
quality because I remember 7 years ago
when I made a huge mistake and I lost
back then a lot of money I spent much
more time trying to chase that company
that defrauded me and I kind of won but
I didn't get my money back but the thing
is what I realized a successful
entrepreneur actually loves their
mistakes yes you ask yourself why this
happened what did I learn from it how
can I prevent this from happening in the
future but you're not punishing yourself
for for these mistakes you're not
telling yourself that you're not built
for this like don't even go there the
best entrepreneurs they view mistakes as
the best lessons so whenever I make a
mistake and again I'm a I'm a very
emotional person if I'm wrong if
something goes bad in the business if
the client is unhappy if there is a bad
review like my first uh natural instinct
is Scream and like tell everyone how did
that happen or blame myself for not
being attentive enough to detail
whatever but then I tell myself like
it's actually great that they told some
negative things about our company
because now I see them and we can fix
them if they were just quiet maybe you
know I would notice it so of course bad
reviews happen or mistakes happen and uh
hiring wrong people happens but if you
compare Marina now with Marina 10 years
ago in 2014 like my hiring decisions
back then I felt like I was a
three-year-old now my team is amazing
like in back then I would just promote a
social media person and make them the
COO that was the type of manager I was
I've learned the hard way even if I took
the course 10 years ago I would say like
nah I know better this social media
person is amazing they're going to run
the company to the Moon uh billion
dollar valuation that was how I thought
so I'm telling this to you now not
because you need to question your hiring
decisions you probably won't question
them after watching this video but if
you later realize that this was a
mistake just braise yourself and tell
yourself this is how I'm becoming a
better manager I know it's hard again
remembering all of my emotions that I
had when I made mistakes it's really
hard this is how you learn and this is
what makes your journey exciting and uh
and at the end of the day entrepreneurs
are people who don't like stability they
like UPS like crazy ups and crazy Downs
this is what makes our life interesting
and exciting this is what gives us joy
and adrenaline I'm wishing you all the
best on your journey thank you so much
for watching Silicon Valley Girl Please
Subscribe and share this video with your
entrepreneur friends and see you soon
bye