“Success beyond financial profits is when you learn to become content and happy in your personal life. And all of it takes discipline and practice.”__ Adam Azim
Adam Azim’s entrepreneurial journey began with a deep realization of the world of international affairs and the structures that govern it. While assisting a foreign ambassador in Washington in 2018, he recognized the intricate ways in which power and financial influence operated. This eye-opening experience, combined with his desire for independence, led him to pursue entrepreneurship. Rather than becoming entangled in bureaucratic complexities, he chose to forge his own path—one that allowed him to explore business with autonomy and purpose.
In this exclusive interview with Business Upside, Adam shares the pivotal moments that shaped his entrepreneurial mindset, his views on mentorship, and the lessons he has learned along the way. He reflects on the challenges of navigating business landscapes, the importance of financial awareness, and the evolving role of technology in modern enterprises. His journey underscores the idea that entrepreneurship is not just about wealth accumulation but also about resilience, adaptability, and the pursuit of meaningful success.
Edited Excerpts from the Interview
Business Upside [BU]: What was the defining moment when you decided to become an entrepreneur?
Adam Azim [AA]: It was when I was assisting an ambassador of a foreign country in Washington in the year 2018. It was right after I published my book in 2018. When I realized that the whole international affairs business or enterprise in Washington was all about snatching taxpayer money or smooching a piece of taxpayer money, I realized I wanted to have very little to do with Washington, and so I decided that entrepreneurship would be the best path forward.
[BU]: What was your first business idea, and did it succeed or fail?
[AA]: I got my first idea from a friend, a real estate agent, while I was in Washington assisting an ambassador of a foreign country, who said the only path forward is to build an “empire.” Another instructor of a real estate seminar I attended in 2019 said that all of it was a game against Uncle Sam. In a sense, you have to outgrow Uncle Sam’s encroachments and infringements on your property and space. We are all in a race against Uncle Sam. They say Rome was not built in a day, but nevertheless, that was the original idea, and it even predated my immersion into entrepreneurship.
[BU]: What’s the hardest lesson you’ve learned as an entrepreneur?
[AA]: The hardest lesson was actually the most interesting lesson I learned from another entrepreneur, who told me that business or entrepreneurship is all about managing or figuring out how the dollar that is sitting in the pocket of another person can end up in your pocket. In a word, swindling. Knowing that a lot of business and entrepreneurship has to do with swindling is the lesson that I am still trying to process, in all honesty.
[BU]: Can you share a time when a major setback turned into a valuable lesson?
[AA]: It was when petty relationship problems spilled over into serious lawfare against me while I was finishing up grad school. Coming out of all of it relatively unscathed, given that I was innocent, made me fearless, and that fearlessness has translated into lots of evolution and growth in this international affairs business or enterprise.
[BU]: How do you measure success beyond financial profits?
[AA]: Success beyond financial profits is when you learn to become content and happy in your personal life. And all of it takes discipline and practice. It is not easy. But when you nail down the discipline and the practice of it, it is quite fulfilling and satisfying.
[BU]: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received about scaling a business?
[AA]: Again, it goes back to that game or competition we all have as entrepreneurs against Uncle Sam. How Uncle Sam wants to gnaw at what we have, and we have to keep outgrowing Uncle Sam’s appetite for wanting to gnaw at what everyone has. Uncle Sam is what one economist called “the global minotaur.” That’s the name of the game.
[BU]: What’s your take on social media marketing for startups?
[AA]: In my case, it was all about making a tradeoff between a focus on delving into social media or focusing on the quality of my content. In the end, the quality of the content matters more than the marketing aspect of the business or enterprise.
[BU]: What’s your leadership philosophy?
[AA]: It is to remain as detached as possible from flux. The world is essentially a world of flux because, as Heraclitus said, the world is a world of matter, and the basic nature of matter is flux. So, to remain as stoic or detached from the flux as possible is perhaps the only way forward.
[BU]: What financial metrics do you track the most in your business?
[AA]: In my view, inflation really matters. The two basic pillars of the economy are inflation and interest. The fact that inflation was quite steady for a certain period of time before the year 2000, only for inflation to constantly rise since the year 2000, is perhaps the most important financial metric we can look at from a financial standpoint. Inflation essentially eats away at what you have. Inflation will snatch one dollar from the five dollars you have in your hand, and then it will snatch two dollars from the five that you have in your hand, leaving you with only three for purchasing power. So, it is very important to keep an eye on inflation.
[BU]: What’s your opinion on the future of tech-driven businesses?
[AA]: At one point, leaders were warning us of a “military-industrial complex.” Now, that has pretty much evolved into a “military-tech complex.” This “military-tech complex” will intrude and penetrate into every aspect of our lives. Foucault called it a “panopticon” or “panoptic malveillance.” That is my basic and simple opinion on the tech business or the tech world. Privacy is becoming obsolete. All of these developments in tech will eventually drive us into a kind of radical truth and transparency that is unprecedented in our history as human beings.
More Information
Company URL: www.adam-azim.com
LinkedIn URL: http://linkedin.com/in/adam-a-azim-94bb111b2
