Business Upside [BU]: How do you define entrepreneurial success?
Adam Azim [AA]: By having lived a fulfilling life. As they say, ‘Bella Vita’ or ‘Dolce Vita.’ Indulge in food and pleasure and travel a little bit, but try not to get carried away by it. As soon as I finished grad school, a good family friend of mine who is a medical doctor told me to travel as much as possible before I get bogged down by anything. And I have tried to avoid being bogged down by anything ever since, hence my immersion into entrepreneurship. Only entrepreneurship would enable you to avoid or evade getting bogged down by anything. Nor have I travelled as much as I would like to have travelled. Overall, I have been to about fifteen countries outside of the United States. And inside of the United States, I have been to only twelve out of fifty states. On one of my travels inside of the United States and during my trip to Istanbul a few years ago, I met three different old men, all of whom were either American or British. One of them – the British gentleman – told me that he travelled to fifty or so countries, and the other two who were American told me that they travelled to about ninety different countries. The British gentleman also added that his favorite country was India, while one of the American men said his favorite country was Iran, and the other one was still in the process of figuring it out. So I am pathetic. I’m lame. But then again, I am not in my seventies or eighties like they were. I’m only thirty-six years of age. So hopefully, by the time I am their age, I will have matched the tally. But we shall see. No one really knows.
[BU]: How do you keep your passion alive during tough times?
[AA]: Foucault said “madness is the absence of an oeuvre.” Without reading or writing, I would have lost my mind by now. That is the simple answer to your question. And unfortunately, we don’t even really have people in government who are as literate or well-read as they should be. As a matter of fact, we never really did in recent years. It is not just the present moment. But in all honesty, reading and writing was both my repentance and my salvation. As Foucault said, madness is the absence of an oeuvre.
[BU]: If you could change one wrong decision you made, what would it be?
[AA]: I should have worried less about what people thought of me when I was younger, and I should have handled gossip better. I should have known that gossip is simply a fact of social life, if not the most basic fact of social life. Gossip is to social life as oxygen or sunlight or water is to natural life. If I had handled gossip better, I would have avoided a number of hassles and hindrances which came far too early in life. But then again, you cannot succeed without failure, and you cannot learn without mistakes. Life is all about trial and error and experimentation and inquiry. I would of course change some things, but then again, it is what it is. Wanting to change certain things is far different than having regrets. And fortunately, I do not have many regrets.
[BU]: How do you spot opportunities in a competitive market?
[AA]: Chance and luck. You can go above and beyond in all your efforts and struggles, but in the very end, it all comes down to chance and luck, but also preference and taste. Being creative and innovative also helps, but being creative and innovative is actually more of an energy and mood that comes from a place and a source that is largely hidden and unknown to us. If anyone could muster up creativity and innovation, everyone would be creative and innovative. But of course, we see grave disparities in terms of creativity and innovate thinking between people all the time. And of course, like we said before, culture and civilization itself hinges on creativity and complex thinking. So if there is a cultural or civilizational decline to be had relative to, let’s say, China, then we know the cause or the reason for it.
[BU]: How do you ensure your company is always innovating?
[AA]: A lot of is done through contemplation and vision, believe it or not. It is about closing your eyes and imagining or seeing where you are going or where you want to go, and determining what kind of a reality you would like to manifest for yourself down the road. There will of course always be adjustments and changes which are made along the way. Sometimes, the goal and the vision end up changing or evolving. Many folks would perhaps be shocked if you told them that it all really comes down to a little bit of dreaming and imagination. But if they are shocked by this, it is probably because they lack the ability to dream and imagine a little bit. And that is unfortunate.
[BU]: How do you create a strong brand identity?
[AA]: I had to know who I was first and foremost before I could go on and present and solidify a certain kind of brand to people. I had to overcome a severe identity crisis up until now. “Who am I?” I have asked myself this question more often than not. It took me a very long time to answer this question. I am still in the process of answering it, but I have made large strides over the course of time. I am much more comfortable under my skin now in my mid-thirties than I was in my teens or twenties or even early thirties.
[BU]: How important is word-of-mouth marketing for your business?
[AA]: Word always spreads very fast. Information always spreads very fast. And I believe that the same applies to my enterprise and work as well, even if I am not directly or explicitly made aware of it. You’ll be surprised, but discretion and secrecy are always bigger than we think it is. I’ve been turned into myth and a symbol. And I don’t even know why. I don’t consider myself that special to be turned into myth or a symbol. But it simply turned out that way. So it is what it is.
[BU]: What’s the best way to build customer loyalty?
[AA]: I would never promote or try to sell something to others which I wouldn’t buy or prefer for myself. I am hellbent on creating and promoting content and stuff that I genuinely and truly like. If I don’t enjoy what I do or share with others, how are others going to derive pleasure and satisfaction from it? You have to enjoy what you do and share with others. Or else life itself becomes miserable, let alone your entrepreneurial results and outcomes.
[BU]: What’s one leadership trait every entrepreneur should have?
What I find most admirable is when an individual manages to find a way to get back up after having gone under. I have met and I know a number of individuals who are like this, in the sense that at some point in time, they went under, but in due time, managed to climb back up from under. And in some cases, they failed at achieving their goal, only to come back and achieve an even bigger goal. I find that to be the most admirable characteristic or trait a person can have. Certain folks go under and never seem to recover from it. But certain individuals recover from it. We should perhaps figure out the formula or the secret behind how these individuals managed to come back from going under when lots of other people go under but never seem to recover from it. It is something that is definitely worth figuring out and knowing from an entrepreneurial standpoint.
[BU]: What’s the best financial advice you’ve ever received?
[AA]: Invest in books. No matter how much money you invest in books – and I can attest to this from personal experience – you will never really experience or feel a sense of debt or loss as a result of it. Go wild in terms of buying books. Get to the point where you have bought more books than you can possibly get through in a lifetime, and then maybe you can slow down or stop after that. You will never experience debt or loss as a result of buying books and reading them. Of course, some books are much better than others. Some aren’t worth buying or reading at all. I can name some people, but I don’t want to humiliate them. But regardless of that, no matter what it is you have bought, you will never really feel a sense of debt or loss when you invest a certain portion of your money or income in books.
More Information
Company URL: www.adam-azim.com
LinkedIn URL: http://linkedin.com/in/adam-a-azim-94bb111b2
