Nicolas Previdoli

Full transcript: Nicolas Previdoli on London Real

0:00 I am here with Nicolas Previdoli, recent graduate of the Business Accelerator. Nicolas, tell us about you. Where are you from, what do you do? Give us everything. Okay, so I’m from Geneva, Switzerland, the French part of food to them, and I’m trying to start a social media marketing agency, or more online advertisement agency, where we help entrepreneurs to market their business online.

0:30 So to use the tools that they have with the internet, like paid advertisement on Facebook, Instagram, and also content marketing and how to, as you teach us, podcast ourselves, and try to make them follow their passion by using the tools that the internet is offering to them. Okay, have you always had a passion for this kind of thing?

1:01 I always had this passion, always watching videos about this subject, reading a lot of articles, but it’s just recently, after working in asset management for a year, that I realized that it’s not what I want to do for the rest of my life. And when I was thinking about what I’m passionate about, I thought, well, I love the internet and social media marketing, and I thought, I know a lot of things, so why not try to help entrepreneurs like me to use these tools to be able to work to live their passion?

1:43 I find that most of the people on the course kind of have had a turning point in their life where they decided to take it. What was that for you? All right, I mean, do you mean doing the course now? Before, you know, something made you think, you know what, I need to go ahead and invest in myself and try something else, try something new.

2:07 It’s like I was always sure that I wanted to do investing, to work in asset management, and as I went in this industry I realized that I was even there for a bad reason. I wanted to make a lot of money for myself; it was all about myself. And quickly, as I saw my colleagues, I saw that they were not happy with all the money they got, and so I had to find something else.

2:38 And so I found out about what I can bring to others and how I can help them, so I had to shift my mindset. And while I was… I don’t know, I saw one interview one day in 2014, and it was a guest, I don’t remember the name, but she was opening himself, talking about subjects like self-development, and I thought that’s incredible, that you are trying to improve yourself and to go against what everybody else are trying to do or say to yourself.

3:24 And I thought, I have to do the same. I have to develop myself, to be the better of me, to be the best myself. And I got hooked and I watched a lot of interviews. And why go ahead with the Business Accelerator? Because it’s a choice you have to make, it’s an investment in time and money.

3:50 Yes, for sure. You know, you can make all the New Year’s resolutions you want, but if you don’t invest yourself, if you don’t commit, you won’t do anything. And the best way to commit to a service is to put money on the table, you know, and when you have put it on the table there is no going back. You don’t want to lose this money that you’ve earned, so you have to work, you have to go for it, and finally you do what you want to do, you know. Otherwise you just have resolutions on your wall, on your whiteboard, and you never do it.

4:30 So you knew if you invested, that you would fulfill it and make sure you did everything and get to the next level? Okay, I needed to disperse. Yeah. And what were those first three weeks like in the course? It was hard. It does, yes, stuff. No, we learn all these concepts and you’re not even sure of your idea in the first place, so you don’t really see why we go through these steps at first.

5:03 But as you say, we have to trust the process, and later on as we do it, we realize that we are building our idea, and slowly it really is taking form, and everything is coming into place, and it makes sense. Yeah. And what about the class, the community, all these people? Family.

5:39 It’s a big part of the Business Accelerator, to see all these people from all the countries, different ages, and it helps you in a way that you would not expect at first. Because as a young guy, I think that I know everything about computers, about social media, so I’ve got that. But then you see an older person that it’s the first time that they do it, and they have success, a better picture than you.

6:09 And they post on the Facebook group, oh, I’ve done that and I’ve got these results, and I thought, what the am I doing? I have to work, I have to do as well as him. It’s going to inspire you and you go for it. And it’s the best when you are in a downtime, no, because we’re always jumping up and down, and while you are in this downtime and you go into the incredible group and you see all these people having successes, you’re up. It’s great.

6:40 And what was your first success on the course? What was the thing where you were like, wow, okay, I’m doing this well and I like this part? Yeah, so I think it’s the 10 days vlog. I hated it, but then you do it and you post it on your public Facebook group, or Facebook, and all my friends come to me and, what, why are you doing that?

7:11 So I have to explain what I’m trying to push myself to, and to create a business. And first, by telling that to your friends, it can bring you a lot. So for example, one of my friends came back to me with a client, my first client. As I told him what I want to do, he told me, oh yeah, I know just a business that really needs your help, and he put me in contact, and it’s my first client now.

7:45 And secondly, I’ve got a lot of private messages on Facebook telling me that I inspire them to broadcast themselves, and also the subject I was talking on in the videos, I got inspired a lot of different… and it was very fulfilling to see that I inspire people. So that was the hardest part, but the most fulfilling.

8:16 What was your biggest challenge on the whole eight weeks, or the hardest? Yeah, the 10 days vlog. It’s so hard. You have to put yourself in front of the camera and to think whatever you are going to say, and you want it to be perfect. It’s not possible, because it’s the first time you are doing it, so you won’t do it as well as a YouTuber that is doing it for four years.

8:53 And so you record yourself and then you look and it’s so bad, but you have to push yourself to share it. That’s so hard, but that’s how you learn. It’s crazy. What do you think you’re going to take from this course and use for the next year, two years or three years for your own business? The big takeaways?

9:15 Takeaway, I think it’s to broadcast yourself. We live now in a world that, I think, the best way to market a business and to market the personal brand is to broadcast yourself, to talk about you, to be vulnerable and get to talk to people and to connect with potential customers, and that’s the best way to find the people.

9:47 What if you walk down the street right now, you bump into the Nicolas who didn’t take this course? How is that guy different than you? I think he would still be in front of his computer watching YouTube videos on how to set up the Dumas, and would never have done it, and probably his next New Year’s resolution would be to finally set it up again. That’s harsh. Yes.

10:16 And to someone thinking about taking the Accelerator, they’re not sure if they have the time or if they can afford it, what would you tell them? I think the time is an excuse that everybody has. On the course there were mothers of children with a full-time job, and they give it, and they went better than me even. So time is not an excuse.

10:42 And if you have a hard time to commit yourself to start, you have to think another way to commit yourself, and putting money on the table is a great way to do it. The Empire calls it to pay price to action, and I agree. It’s like when people invest in themselves, then we want to invest in them too, you know. Yeah.

11:12 Okay, it’s great having you on this course, and thank you for that energy, you know, that you’re bringing. And it’s funny, because, you know, you’re a guy from Geneva, I used to be in asset management, you know, and you’ve gone a different way, and I know that’s hard to do, because I know what Swiss bankers are like, you know. They do the same things over and over again, and to get outside of that, it’s hard in Geneva.

11:41 Nonconformity is hard. Yeah. It’s one thing to broadcast yourself in East London, but I know it’s hard, but like you said, it can be super rewarding. And the great thing about you is when you do it, it’s easier to be noticed, because very few people do that. So yeah, I think if you keep doing what you’re doing and keep broadcasting yourself, people are going to find you.

11:59 So yeah, so thanks for being on the course. Thank you. And here’s to the next couple of years. I want to see what you’re doing. Yeah. All right.