Vadim & Sergei Revzin: Meet The Mentors

When it comes to understanding how to build a business and what the entrepreneurial journey looks like for many entrepreneurs, The Mentors, Vadim and Sergei Revzin, are here to help. From their personal story and start to what they’ve seen countless times with other businesses, they’ll share the importance of testing your business idea before quitting your 9-5. They’ll also share why it’s critical to listen to your market along the way. Join the three of us as we dive deeper into the topic entrepreneurial and all that goes with it. This episode is brought to you by my free LIVE Master Class training, How to Chase Purpose: 5 Shifts to Help You Acknowledge Your God-Given Gifts, Align with Your Passion and Powerfully Answer the Call on Your Life. To REGISTER, become a  Purpose Chaser at iamaPurposeChaser.com  About Vadim & Sergei Revzin Vadim and Sergei Revzin are twin brothers and co-hosts of The Mentors podcast, a weekly show where they share stories about ordinary people who have become extraordinary entrepreneurs. On their podcast, they also break down what it takes to succeed in the critical early days of starting a business.  Vadim is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Ethos, a national non-profit. He also teaches entrepreneurship at State University of New York. He’s advised hundreds of startups, and has been both a founder and leader across several early and growth stage startups. Sergei is a venture investor at the NYU Innovation Venture Fund where he leads the university’s technology investments. He has mentored hundreds of entrepreneurs all over the country, and has been an early employee and founder at tech companies in NYC and Boston. Make Entrepreneurship More Accessible On their podcast, Vadim and Sergei are known for using real stories and experiences to transform the complexities of entrepreneurship into something that’s accessible, enjoyable and fun. And unlike some of the more popular business coaches, these two say it’s okay to step back, take a full-time job when necessary or take a job to enhance a certain skill level because: “Though we believe in entrepreneurship, you’re not going to be entrepreneurial 100% of the time.” – Vadim and Sergei Revzin  They also went on to say how everybody they know, young and old, are supplementing their primary focus or full-time job with a side project or new creative pursuit. The lesson here: The beauty of entrepreneurship is it can manifest itself in many different ways, as well as, there are many different ways to define it. Of course, this is so anyone can let their entrepreneurial gene shine. First Entrepreneurial Venture Wow, do you remember your first entrepreneurial venture? Well, Vadim and Sergei recalled wanting to start a company of some sort back in their college days. BUT, they knew nothing about running or business or even where to start. But after hearing a story about a man from the United Kingdom who’d ventured into the world of advertising and made a million dollars, they started to think about the importance of leveraging advertising and social platforms for business growth. So, they decided to use that idea as their first steps into entrepreneurship. Now, with the idea in hand, they found an engineer on campus who had the skills to execute their idea – someone who wanted to be a partner in their business. And while they turned down the offer of partnership, a decision they now regret,  they did learn a valuable lesson that has followed them throughout their entrepreneurial journey: “One hundred percent of 0 is 0 and it’s okay to give away equity if it increases the chances of your success significantly, especially if you find someone who will complement the skill.” – Vadim and Sergei Revzin  Listen to Your Market Now, Vadim and Sergei were so confident about their brilliant idea that they worked with engineers for months to build a prototype all before ever talking to their audience. And that was a major mistake.  Products and services are created for the audience. This means, no product or service can be “perfect,” brilliant or deemed a game-changer until AFTER the market validates it as such. Take me, for example, I now have a program called Purpose to Platform and at one point I shared messaging that was very strong around saving for your kids’ college days and saving for your family, and then I realized after doing a survey with the audience that over 70% of them didn’t have any children. Here’s what we’ve all learned during our entrepreneurial journey: “It takes a desire to intimately want to understand and serve the people you’re targeting.” – Patrice Washington  Choose Productive Over Pretty The last topic Vadim and Sergei touched on was the idea that people waste so much time doing the pretty things in their business – logos, web design brand colors, photo shoots – because, as humans, we default to the things we’re most comfortable with. Now, this discussion was so real that you’ll have to tune in to catch all the gems, but I will share this major lesson: “If at least once a week you’re not doing something that creates revenue, you’re not going to be able to do it full-time.” – Vadim and Sergei Revzin And with that, I’d love to hear from you. What are your biggest takeaways from my conversation with Vadim and Sergei? What questions do you have? And how do you plan to use the tips they gave in your business? Visit https://thementors.co/ to find out more about Vadim and Sergei and The Mentors Podcast. Redefining Wealth Rapid Wisdom Questions And with that, let’s dig into Vadim and Sergei’s responses to our Redefining Wealth Rapid Wisdom Questions. Define Success: Vadim: “It’s about having more interesting experiences. I’m fulfilled if I’m continually experiencing new things.” Sergei: “Personal happiness and satisfaction. If I’m able to have the impact I want in the world and balance that with my family and loved ones, that’s success.” Define Wealth in 3 Words or Less: Vadim & Sergei: “One word: Contentment.” One Book that Has Redefined How You See Wealth: Vadim: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie  Sergei: Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson Fill-in the Blanks … “My name is ___ and the truth about wealth is ___”: “My name is Vadim and the truth about wealth is the most rewarding moments are when you see you have made an impact on somebody else, even if it’s just one other person.” “My name is Sergei and the truth about wealth is if you chase it head-on, it’s elusive. If you focus on value creation instead, more often than not, wealth will come in the form of contentment of financial gains.” LINKS: To advertise on the podcast: http://www.patricewashington.com/podcastads  Become an Official Purpose Chaser: http://www.iamapurposechaser.com  Join Patrice’s Pod Club: http://www.patricespodclub.com  To check out ALL of our past guests + episodes: http://www.patricewashington.com/Listen  If you have questions about booking Patrice or sponsoring the podcast, email us at [email protected].  Find me in Social Media:  Our podcast hashtag is #RedefiningWealth Instagram: @SeekWisdomPCW Twitter: @SeekWisdomPCW  Facebook: @SeekWisdomPCW  YouTube: @SeekWisdomPCW