At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring some of the meaningful and powerful stories from around the world to empower and motivate our growing community of entrepreneurs, investors, management students and aspiring entrepreneurs. This week, we spoke to Francis Landivar to know more about his inspiring journey and the way forward. He is a seasoned entrepreneur with over 30 years of domain expertise. He is also actively involved in various philanthropic initiatives for underprivileged. Let’s learn more about his journey and his advice!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Francis:
Tell us a little bit about yourself (background) and your journey, please;
I was born in Peru; my mother is Italian by origin and my father from Peru. I am the third of four children. I left home at 16, and I have travelled to over 68 countries so far.
I have lived mostly in Europe and Asia, including the last 22 years here in Russia. I have settled here. The projects I am currently working are:
1) www.rukipomoschi.ru is a charity foundation that during the last 22 years has helped over 70,000 disabled, orphaned and destitute children of our Region.
2) https://englishcamp-vlad.com/ Also for the last 22 years, we have worked hard to provide quality programs for the families and children of our community. It is an educational summer camp offering rest and entertainment for children ages 8 to 16.
4) https://habitsofsuccess.org/ Recently started writing and coaching. It is my new dream, and I hope to develop it into a professional company.
Why did you choose to be a coach (entrepreneur) over a job?
I want to contribute more and create things that can help alleviate some of the problems we face in today’s world. Being an entrepreneur gives me the freedom to work doing the things I love.
I have always been self-employed, and enjoy helping others. I believe the education system is becoming obsolete, and the future is in self-education. With technology, we can learn from the greatest minds on the planet and save years of trial and error by modelling successful people.
What makes you unique and sets you apart from your contemporaries?
I don’t feel I am unique or better than others. We all have our journey. Society equates success mostly with money and achieving great things. For me, success is fulfilling the destiny that I was born to fulfil. There is as much beauty in a majestic mountain as in a small flower.
Success involves not only money but good health, great personal and social relationships, finding our passions and converting them into our professional goals and objectives.
What I do have is a compelling vision, and I know why I do what I do. In the end, it comes down to enjoying the process and doing my best to add value to humanity, starting from my family, my friends, my clients and the people I meet in my everyday life.
What gets you out of bed in the morning i.e. what’s your source of motivation?
Every morning I awake and feel grateful to be surrounded by the love of a beautiful family, my wife and two daughters. I am blessed to do work that I love.
I am motivated by loving others and making the world a better place – one day, one heart, one act of kindness at a time. What could be a better motivation than that?
What challenges/obstacles did you face in your journey so far?
All my life, I have faced many challenges, and some were extremely difficult. We all experience such situations in life. The difference is whether we see them as horrible bad things happening to us, or as opportunities for growth.
Things are impossible until someone does it.
When I look back, I see that many “bad” things that happened opened the doors for greater things. Every problem has a solution and all we have to do is find it. We need to learn to ask the right questions: Not,” Why is this happening to me?” but, “What can I learn from it, and what can I do to overcome it?”.
When someone says: “It’s impossible” – I know that is just their opinion. So many things that were “impossible” 50 years ago are possible today. Human beings have the fantastic ability to overcome any challenge life throws at them. History proves it. The problem is that most of the time, we live in the prison of our own self-limiting beliefs.
What is your secret sauce to achieving massive success?
Someone asked me recently to give them the three steps to become successful – as you said, the “secret sauce” or magic formula.
We live in a society that wants everything fast, instant gratification, fast food. Technology helps make things happen more quickly! But success is a process.
I laugh when I read invitations to buy a product that will make me a millionaire in one year, lose 20 kilos in 3 months or heal all my sicknesses with one drug.
The sad thing is that some people believe those claims and buy the product. No one wants to put in the hard work, sacrifice, and determination that real success involves.
To achieve massive success, you need to work hard! Then you need to have the right state of mind, it will be hard to become successful if you are always upset, depressed, or fearful. You need to be resourceful.
You can save years by modelling others that have done what you want to do. The truth is that only a few people succeed! Because few are willing to pay the price, most stay inside their comfort zone.
You have the potential, and then you act; you produce results, positive ones that give you self-confidence. Later you try again, a bit more and get better results; eventually, you gather momentum, and you succeed. But the opposite is also certain. Which is why the rich keep getting richer and the poor poorer.
How do you handle the pressure and manage stress?
The right state of mind is of vital importance. Depressed people take anti-depressants and are still depressed! They try to change the chemical aspect of their body, but not their state of mind.
If you focus on the problem, you have stress. If you focus on the solution, you have happiness. Wherever focus goes, energy flows.
You need to decide to live in a happy, positive, and grateful state of mind. That is the best antidote for stress. Suffering and pressure often come from something related to you personally, what you should have done or that someone did to you. But the truth is that many events are out of your control.
Our brains are not made for happiness; they are made for survival! We have to learn to see the good in people and situations. That is your job as a leader. You can accomplish much more and have much more energy when you operate from a beautiful state of mind.
What is one strategy that you believe has helped you grow as a person/startup?
Modelling. There are habits and strategies that successful people use to succeed. By making them my own, I successfully saved myself a lot of time and problems.
I am always asking myself: Who has achieved what I want to do? How did they do it, and what was unique about their approach?
How can I improve it? What do I need to learn to be able to do it also? How are my standards and work ethic compared to theirs? What habits and rituals did they have that I should also follow?
In your opinion, what are the keys to success?
Who here has ever failed? If I asked you why you’d probably say, lack of resources: I did not have time; I didn’t have money; I didn’t know the right people or technology. All of these things are resources.
But limited resources are not the actual problem. Lack of resourcefulness is the real problem. The ultimate human resources are determination, creativity, honesty, passion, love, sincerity, faith, decisiveness. If you have these, nothing can stop you.
If you have the attitude: “Succeed or die trying”, then nothing can stop you.
What advice would you give to someone starting on their entrepreneurial journey?
You need to fall in love with your client, not your product. You must always add value to your client. Seek not to be understood, but to understand them and see things through their eyes. Not you want, but what they need.
Next is innovation – always make it better. The last one is marketing; you have got to become an expert marketer or hire someone that is. It doesn’t matter how good your product is if no one knows about it; you will fail.
BrilliantRead is committed to bringing stories from the startup ecosystem, stories that reshape our perspective, add value to our community and be a constant source of motivation not just for our community but also for the whole ecosystem of entrepreneurs and aspiring individuals.
Note: If you have a similar story to share with our audience and would like to be featured on our online magazine, then please write to us at [email protected], we will review your story and extend an invitation to feature if it is worth publishing.
