Times of Questions:
01:20: What was it that inspired you to become an entrepreneur?
02:34: What do you like most about the work that you're doing?
03:42: What are some common mistakes that you see your customers or clients making?
05:58: What are some of your big goals that you're looking to achieve over the next one to two years?
10:52: So, what's a big roadblock that is stopping you from achieving your goal of growing your agency?
14:38: So you've talked about inner work and attracting the companies. Is that the only thing that you do is kind of their law of attraction aspect or is there more that you do to attract or for marketing your business and for getting new clients?
16:34: Is there something that you would like to share that I haven't asked you?
20:19: Where can people find out more about you and what you do?
Virginia Purnell:
Welcome to Entrepreneur Conundrum with Virginia Purnell, where growing entrepreneurs share how they get visible online.
Hi everyone. Today I'm talking with Olga Fomenko.
Olga grew up watching her father build businesses in post Soviet Russia where free enterprise was not even a thing. She inherited his free spirit and started her first business at the age of 17. After moving to the US and working hard on other people's businesses for years, she got a taste of the American dream, decided to become a full time entrepreneur and never looked back. Through highs and lows, she built herself from ground up in the online business space and now is helping others to do the same. Today Olga is an integrator and an online business manager for high net worth business owners. She is passionate about working with virtual teams, building systems that allow business owners to have the life they dream of and all things marketing. Olga is continuously learning and growing and believes that your network equals your net worth. That's why she enjoys being a part of the number of amazing communities of entrepreneurs and business owners. And that is actually how we met and got to know each other a few months back.
Welcome, Olga.
Olga Fomenko:
Hey Virginia. Thanks for having me.
Virginia Purnell:
Thank you for joining us today.
Olga Fomenko:
My pleasure.
Virginia Purnell:
So what was it that inspired you to become an entrepreneur?
Olga Fomenko:
I don't know if you get inspired to become an entrepreneur or you're born to be an entrepreneur, but I usually say that my story has started with watching a movie and reading a book. I watched the movie The Secret. And then a few months later I read the book by Kim Kiyosaki and she's the wife of Robert Kiyosaki. Her book was the Rich Woman and that's where I learned about, Rich Dad, Poor Dad book. And that's how it all started for me. I mean, that's how I started to pursue the career of an entrepreneur on a full time basis. But I think I was an entrepreneur all my life because I always tried to do something. I always try to start a business. I always try to find opportunities to make extra money and do all kinds of stuff.
Virginia Purnell:
What do you like most about the work that you're doing?
Olga Fomenko:
Well, my favorite part of working with other business owners is that I get to really be a part of something bigger. I get to be part of different visions and help other people, other entrepreneurs to achieve their greater goals and greater dreams. And through that I get to learn different things. I get to learn different things. It's not like unlike taking a course on how to launch a podcast or how to launch your book, I actually get to do that with my clients. And that is what's really, really exciting for me.
Virginia Purnell:
It must be fulfilling to be able to see the business owners reach their dreams and to reach their goals and knowing that you were able to help them get there.
Olga Fomenko:
Yes, absolutely. That's my favorite part.
Virginia Purnell:
What are some common mistakes that you see your customers or clients making?
Olga Fomenko:
Well, you know, we will make mistakes as we're building businesses. Like one of my mentors likes to say, "your business is broken, if you do things right, it always will be.' The mistakes are the parts of the process. And part of the progress. I deal with digital marketing, team building, systems building and in the businesses. So many mistakes that I get to, I would say maybe challenges that I get to solve are around those topics. You know, like people don't hire the right way. They rush into the hiring process, get somebody on board just to get them just because they need help as soon as possible. They don't think through that process. Some people try to rush through launches, not thinking that through, not assessing all of the you know, pros and cons, all of the certain strategies that they pick and that may result and the difficulties or you know, lower results then they expect. So I hope that answers your question a little bit.
Virginia Purnell:
It does. Thank you. I like what you said about like mistakes isn't the like a bad part cause it's like what Thomas Edison said, he's like, I didn't do a hundred wrong things to get to or make a hundred mistakes to get to the light bulb, or a thousand, he's like, I learned like it was a thousand step process to get there. And I'm totally butchering that quote, but it was something to that effect. Like it, it didn't, he didn't do everything wrong. It just took him the process to get there, to know what not to do.
Olga Fomenko:
For sure. Yeah.
Virginia Purnell:
So we kind of talked about you helping your clients reach their dreams and their goals. What are some of your big goals that you're looking to achieve over the next one to two years?
Olga Fomenko:
Oh, my goal is actually to keep building my agency and keep helping the business rockstars to create jobs and build the new economy. You know, like today's, this is going to be the most important saying for the country and for the world is to build new businesses, create new jobs, create new opportunities. And through my skills, I'm seeing an opportunity to be a part of that. And actually you know, take on more businesses where I can come in and help to create those opportunities and help to grow the bottom line of the businesses so they can afford to bring on new team members so they can afford to scale and you know, and become bigger, better, stronger for the good of the society and for the for the good of the new economy of that we're going to be building in the next two years.
Virginia Purnell:
It's crazy how everything has shifted kind of all of a sudden, hey?
Olga Fomenko:
I didn't know. It's kind of all of a sudden because I have been in entrepreneurship full time for 10 years now and I got started a little after 2008, and when 2008 recession was happening, I was not aware of what is going on besides that I moved to California and I couldn't find a job and I couldn't understand what's going on. But once I started to study this and I started to read the books of Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump and you know, all of the real estate guys, I started to get into the understanding that the market goes through the cycles, real estate markets, stock market, all of that goes through the cycles and sooner or later we're going to have a recession again, like sooner or later the market is going to fall and we're going to see that again. And for the last three, four years experts, financial experts, have been saying that the recession is inevitable.
We don't know how it's going to happen, but we know it will. So that's why you always want to be preparing because even when we're out, like I know that officially we're not in the recession yet because this crisis is not finished, but once the crisis is finished, we're going to go into recession and there will be time to rebuild and overcome that and brands where you're going to go on the top of a mountain for a little time for a little, you know, period of time and sooner or later another session is going to hit. It's the cycles, the normal cycles of life, like humans are always, even in crisis, the planet always lives in crisis. There's always all of these different crises happening around us, so it's all a matter of being prepared for them and knowing that the next crisis is coming and just make sure that you are built for it. You're built for it emotionally. You're built for it financially and educate yourself about what has happened in previous crises and crises, right? They've been happening all the time. So if you're educating yourself about what has been happening, that it's going to be easier for you to pivot and the new crisis and understand where things go and how you can not just survive it, but actually thrive in the next crisis that is inevitable. Just like this one was.
Virginia Purnell:
Thanks for that reminder, about like everything has its cycle and yeah, it was, it is inevitable. Like it's going to come. And just to get ourselves in a position, like you said, like whether it's mentally, emotionally, financially, like just get, get ourselves in that position and be aware and be prepared.
Olga Fomenko:
Yeah.
Virginia Purnell:
So, what's a big roadblock that is stopping you from achieving your goal of growing your agency?
Olga Fomenko:
Don't think anything is stopping me right now I am actually feeling in the momentum. I feel terrible for people that are out of momentum and are experiencing all of the challenges and difficulties that came with this crisis. But to me personally, it's been a blessing because what I do is actually needed in the online and the digital world. So I had more requests for help than normal. And I have actually been working on my personal mindset and have been doing a lot of inner work to prepare myself to help all of those people that are requesting our help because nothing is stopping me from achieving my goals. But it doesn't mean that it can't change. And the matter of you know, a few moments because it's, it's really, it's truly inside of you the confidence that you can go through certain challenges and you can help other people. So working on myself has become my main focus for the last few months so I can build my confidence to the level that I can help other people. And you know, like Zig Ziglar, used to say that if you help enough people to get what they want to, you can have what you want. So that is my mantra. I want to help as many people as possible and through that I will get the reaches that I am dreaming of and I have no doubt this is how it works.
Virginia Purnell:
I totally agree with you. It's amazing how like when you focus on others and on helping others, that you get what you need or you get the help that you need. Like it doesn't matter whether you're low, you're low, just like emotionally or something like that and you're helping others and then you, you feel better. And it's fun how it works that way too in the business world.
Olga Fomenko:
Yeah. I've seen that over and over again that, you know, we don't want to,and I don't know, like maybe there are people that think differently, but to me it's really important that people that I work with, my mentors, my support group, my coaches, even my clients, that they are confident, they know they can help their audience, they know they can help their clients because if they're not confident about what they're doing, then it's very, very hard to believe them. You know? Like if you don't believe in yourself, then how can your clients believe in you? I, I think that inner work is the most important work that we have to be focused on all of us. It doesn't matter what industry you're in, what you're doing. I think it's the most important thing.
Virginia Purnell:
I agree. Cause it's like, yeah, like, like you had said before, like if you're not confident in yourself, others around you are going to see it and that's not gonna help you get what you want in essence, right? You're just going to repel the people.
So you've talked about inner work and attracting the companies. Is that the only thing that you do is kind of their law of attraction aspect or is there more that you do to attract or for marketing your business and for getting new clients?
Olga Fomenko:
Well, you know, up until this point for the last nine years, my business was mostly word of mouth. But actually in the last few months I have been working on the revampion of my market and systems and ready to do some lead generation. So I'm an expert at digital marketing, right? So I know what to, how to help clients to create lead generation systems. And it's interesting that I barely had to do it for myself. So now I'm actually revamping my marketing and looking into it from the perspective of let me do for me what I do for my clients and put in some systems in place for organic marketing, put in some systems in place for paid marketing and working on also some information products that will be ready beginning of next year. It's a large project so I'm not really talking about it quite yet, but that that is something that I'm preparing for early on, if that makes sense.
Virginia Purnell:
It does. Thank you. Is there something that you would like to share that I haven't asked you?
Olga Fomenko:
Well, you know, it depends on who you are, where you are in your life and your business, which your aspirations are. I know that a lot of people are going to have to pivot. A lot of people are going to have to make drastic changes and what they're doing regardless if they had a job or had a business, or were in school, it really doesn't matter where you were, things are going to be different. I keep saying that we are going to be building the new economy. The economy that existed up until February 2020 is not coming back. We're going to build a new normal. And you know, I heard this from one of the doctors actually listening to, you know, one of those coronavirus videos. And his doctor said a really, really great thing that I love. He said that, I really hope that you don't go to that old normal where we were all locked in our shells, on our screens.
You know, like thinking about our jobs and not thinking about our families and our environment. And you know, like this lockdown was a good thing for many, many, many people because they got to spend more time with their families. They got to go hiking, they got to journal, they got to sing and dance. And you know, like while I'm sure many, many people struggled, I also hear a lot of great stories of how people could reconnect with themselves and the planet. My favorite favorite book of all times is the Little Prince and you know, and the Little Prince, there was this really cool moment when his dad said that, if every person would sweep their front porch, our planet would be such a better place. So I believe that if we'll do the in our work and we will think about people that are around us and the planet that this beautiful organism that we were a part of and we just reconnect with one another and create the new world, the new normal, the new economy, the new possibility is I think we totally have a chance to do that as a humanity. And I want to believe that this is why we as humanity were given this challenge so we can actually create something better than we used to have. So that's what I got to say.
Virginia Purnell:
Such great words of wisdom. I hope that we don't go back to "normal" either and that we do look out for one another more. And we do value, let's say the little things more and our family. Not saying that our families are little things, but just not everything is behind a screen and not everything is so self absorbing, I guess.
Olga Fomenko:
Yeah. Definitely.
Virginia Purnell:
Where can people find out more about you and what you do?
Olga Fomenko:
Well, I am on Facebook. I am on LinkedIn. My site, my blog site is under redevelopment right now, but it's OlgaFomenko.com. And I'm actually sharing a lot of ideas about business building, marketing, social media, team building and personal development, which as you probably know, it's for clarity and my favorite topic. So I pass to do this and I promote personal development all day, every day, every chance I get because that's what changed my life and I think it's an opportunity to change a lot of other people's lives. So that's what I love talking about.
Virginia Purnell:
Great. Thank you so much, Olga, for coming and joining us today.
Olga Fomenko:
Thank you for having me.
Virginia Purnell:
Thank you so much for joining us today. Be sure to subscribe and leave some love through the review and I'll catch you on the next episode.
Resources and Mentioned Items
Distinct Digital Marketing.com
OlgaFomenko.com
Kim Kiyosaki - Rich Woman
Robert Kiyosaki - Rich Dad Poor Dad
The Little Prince
Zig Ziglar