Last two weeks I’ve been traveling through my country of Poland, visiting different BarCamp meetings, talking to current and future startup owners and spreading good news about productivity and getting things done. I loved every minute of it and enjoyed the ride. Had 5 presentations in 5 cities within 8 days. Each presentation was followed by Q&A session about productivity and about my business of running Nozbe for the last 3.5 years.
Does it make sense for me to travel and talk about productivity in Europe and create localized versions of Nozbe where most of my customers (and revenue) is in the USA and there is still more to get there?
Yes and no. Financially, I’m better off preparing new marketing campaigns and selling more Nozbe accounts in the USA. Definitely. Should my company had more investors than myself, I’d be thinking about “maximizing my shareholder value”.
Well, I’m doing that, but not quite all that. I am preparing marketing campaigns for the US market and I am taking good care of my revenues… but it’s not money that inspires people. Money doesn’t inspire me as well.
Passion inspires people. I’m passionate about productivity and entrepreneurship. This is why I spend my time and resources compiling Productive Magazine and recording Productive Show. This is why I’m blogging here.
I was born in Poland and I feel very European. I live in Poland and have lived throughout my life in Germany, Spain and Belgium. I love learning new languages and getting to know new cultures and meeting some great people in our continent. This is why I want to focus my efforts on bringing Nozbe to as many countries as I can and to as many language versions as possible.
Even if these countries won’t bring me that much revenue and will require more resources and more efforts. I have a healthy business and a mission to bring productivity to people all around the world. And I’m planning on enjoying this as much as I can :-)
This is the benefit of my “lifestyle business” - I’m actually enjoying it and I believe I’m changing the world by helping people get more done.
I might not sell my business for Millions (like you hear on Techcrunch), I might not have guys investing Millions in my business. Heck, I might not even be a Millionaire. I couldn’t care less. I love my job and I’m enjoying my “lifestyle business” and I sincerely believe I am changing the world.
After my trips and presentations I got lots of emails and messages via social web from folks saying I inspired them to improve their productivity or to continue developing their startup.
This is what keeps me going and what keeps me pumped up. This is what makes my life great and my business healthy. This is what inspires people.
I wish everyone would enjoy their business as much as I enjoy my small but healthy “lifestyle business”.