"I believe anyone can find the drive and motivation to follow their dreams and do something they love doing."
Meet Bol Varga – a career eCommerce business owner and entrepreneur, founder of bamb-u, Detectors Direct, and Healthy Habitats. He has a passion for selling high-quality products that add value to people’s lives.
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Table of Contents
Thank you for joining us today. Please introduce yourself to our readers. They want to know you, some of the background story to bring some context to your interview.
Bol Varga: My name is Bol Varga. I am a career eCommerce business owner and entrepreneur. I have been involved in eCommerce since 2013 and have a passion for creating high-quality online retail stores.
You are a successful entrepreneur, so we’d like your view point, do you believe entrepreneurs are born or made? Explain.
Bol Varga: I don’t think entrepreneurs are born. I believe anyone can find the drive and motivation to follow their dreams and do something they love doing.
If you were asked to describe yourself as an entrepreneur in a few words, what would you say?
Bol Varga: I am a quiet achiever that likes setting myself challenges and exploring ways to continue my personal and business growth.
Tell us about what your company does and how did it change over the years?
Bol Varga: I run a few different businesses, all in the retail eCommerce space. While each are in their own niche, over the years they have evolved into being some of the go-to stores for their respective markets.
Thank you for all that. Now for the main focus of this interview. With close to 11.000 new businesses registered daily in the US, what must an entrepreneur assume when starting a business?
Bol Varga: A budding new entrepreneur should assume several things. Starting a business isn’t easy. There are no hacks or shortcuts that will get you to success. Your days will be long, much longer than working for someone else. No one is going to do the work for you so you need to be prepared to do the hard yards.
There are going to be steep learning curves and things always take longer than you first expect. Not all businesses succeed the first time around so be prepared to take what you have learned if you don’t succeed at first and put that knowledge into your next project. To be an entrepreneur you need drive and motivation but more importantly, you need resilience and perseverance.
Did you make any wrong assumptions before starting a business that you ended up paying dearly for?
Bol Varga: Luckily no I haven’t. I invested in a business coach and surrounded myself with successful entrepreneurs at the beginning of my career. This allowed me to lay out my plans and ideas and have them analyzed by people who had a lot more experience than me. So I was able to work out any potential issues or drawbacks before continuing down a path.
If you could go back in time to when you first started your business, what advice would you give yourself and why? Explain.
Bol Varga: I would remind myself that success is not a race and building successful businesses takes time. When I first started off I put a lot of unnecessary pressure on myself to grow as quickly as possible. I would be unrealistic with goals and timeframes which added extra, unnecessary stress in my life.
What is the worst advice you received regarding running a business and what lesson would you like others to learn from your experience?
Bol Varga: The worst advice I received was to not follow my dreams and to stick with the security of a 9-5 job. This created a lot of self-doubts which not only delayed my start in becoming an entrepreneur but caused me to constantly second myself.
In your opinion, how has COVID-19 changed what entrepreneurs should assume before starting a business? What hasn’t changed?
Bol Varga: I think the biggest change Covid19 is making for entrepreneurs is in brick and mortar stores. I personally would be very cautious about opening a physical store and if I were I would be doing extra research into it. I think online hasn’t changed in a negative way in fact eCommerce has grown exponentially and that is where I personally would be put my attention to.
What is a common myth about entrepreneurship that aspiring entrepreneurs and would-be business owners believe in? What advice would you give them?
Bol Varga: That all you need to do is build a website and you will be successful. This is something promoted all over social media and the internet. My advice is to research the best courses you can do to make sure you have the proper tools and education before you start. And invest in a quality business coach.
People use trainers to help them get into great physical shape. Counselors to help them get better mental health and happiness. A coach will help steer you in the best direction for success and help you understand where your pitfalls are and how to navigate them
What traits, qualities, and assumptions do you believe are most important to have before starting a business?
Bol Varga: The best traits to have before starting a business are having perseverance, motivation, and a can-do attitude. It’s important to assume that it won’t be easy and even if you have done everything possible to ensure a successful start that failure is a possibility. This should in no way be negative. It is reality and it is what you learn from it that will take you toward success.
How can aspiring leaders prepare themselves for the future challenges of entrepreneurship? Are there any books, websites, or even movies to learn from?
Bol Varga: There is a wealth of knowledge out there. A good book to help get the motivation going is, ‘The Four hour Work Week’ by Tim Ferriss, I personally use podcasts to keep me inspired and up to date. The above author also has a podcast called, ‘The Tim Ferriss Show’.
A couple of other great podcasts are, ‘How I Built This’ by Guy Raz and ‘Entrepreneurs on Fire’ by John Dumas. There are dozens of other excellent options that a quick google search will bring up.
You have shared quite a bit of your wisdom and our readers thank you for your generosity but would also love to know: If you could choose any job other than being an entrepreneur, what would it be?
Bol Varga: This is a great question. This is my dream job but if I had to leave this job then I would go back to producing music for artists.
Thank you so much for your time, I believe I speak for all of our readers when I say that this has been incredibly insightful. We do have one more question: If you could add anyone to Mount Rushmore, but not a politician, who would it be; why?
Bol Varga: My two kids. They are the reason I get up every day and do what I do and they deserve the world and more.
Mike Weiss, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Bol Varga for taking the time to do this interview and share her knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Bol Varga or her company, you can do it through her – Linkedin Page
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