WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.859 Welcome to the Innovation Conversation, a podcast 00:00:02.859 --> 00:00:05.419 about innovators, both in business and real life. 00:00:05.879 --> 00:00:08.380 Hosted by myself, Ricardo Rescual and Harry McCona. 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:11.699 This podcast is also sponsored by ODEV Tech. 00:00:12.439 --> 00:00:14.640 ODEV Tech is your premier software development 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:18.019 partner. Make sure you check them out at odev 00:00:18.019 --> 00:00:22.399 .tech. The podcast is also sponsored by Notion 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:25.359 .so. Notion is offering six months for free for 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:27.820 new users. Make sure you check out our website, 00:00:28.039 --> 00:00:30.539 thestoreofevents .co .uk to read in the software. 00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:33.740 Hi, and welcome to another episode of the Innovation 00:00:33.740 --> 00:00:36.600 Conversation. Today we are joined by Lina Gallinger. 00:00:36.840 --> 00:00:39.179 Lina, welcome to the podcast. Ricardo, thank 00:00:39.179 --> 00:00:41.579 you for inviting me. It's a pleasure having you 00:00:41.579 --> 00:00:43.439 here. Lina, would you like to introduce yourself 00:00:43.439 --> 00:00:46.710 to the audience, please? Yeah, so I'm Lina Gallagher. 00:00:46.710 --> 00:00:50.229 I live in the United Arab Emirates in Dubai for 00:00:50.229 --> 00:00:53.390 the last 12 years. I have a number of companies. 00:00:53.530 --> 00:00:55.990 One is e -commerce consultancy, where we help 00:00:56.280 --> 00:00:59.280 businesses to basically start selling online 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:02.020 from technology to operations to marketing. It's 00:01:02.020 --> 00:01:04.640 called Emers Consulting. I have a paid media 00:01:04.640 --> 00:01:08.159 agency called Enkindle Digital, where we run 00:01:08.159 --> 00:01:11.739 a traditional Google method, Snapchat, LinkedIn 00:01:11.739 --> 00:01:14.879 ads in both languages. So Arabic and English, 00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:17.430 which is. Pretty unique. I have an e -commerce 00:01:17.430 --> 00:01:19.370 training academy, which is actually globally, 00:01:19.569 --> 00:01:21.629 and majority of the clients are actually Europeans, 00:01:21.909 --> 00:01:25.269 called EcomWave, where we teach you, predominantly 00:01:25.269 --> 00:01:29.090 founders, startup owners that want to do e -commerce 00:01:29.090 --> 00:01:31.890 and don't... Maybe know where to start. I don't 00:01:31.890 --> 00:01:34.090 know how to scale and grow. You can imagine these 00:01:34.090 --> 00:01:36.469 are like digital courses. I have a book called 00:01:36.469 --> 00:01:39.730 Winning in a Platform Economy in the GCC. So 00:01:39.730 --> 00:01:42.829 it's also talks about how do you compete with 00:01:42.829 --> 00:01:46.049 T -machines and the rest of the platforms globally 00:01:46.049 --> 00:01:48.950 when you are launching e -commerce brand. And 00:01:48.950 --> 00:01:51.109 like yourself, like Ricardo, I have a podcast 00:01:51.109 --> 00:01:53.849 called Commerce Talks, where we talk about e 00:01:53.849 --> 00:01:59.870 -commerce. It's all around e -commerce and all 00:01:59.870 --> 00:02:02.890 around working from founders who haven't even 00:02:02.890 --> 00:02:07.530 started to actually very large enterprises that 00:02:07.530 --> 00:02:10.849 are going through growth challenges, profitability 00:02:10.849 --> 00:02:14.229 challenges, expansion to another country challenges, 00:02:14.569 --> 00:02:18.550 so you name it. So very honored to be here and 00:02:18.550 --> 00:02:20.750 I'm sure we'll have a great conversation. Thank 00:02:20.750 --> 00:02:23.090 you. It's a pleasure having you here. Lina, how 00:02:23.090 --> 00:02:24.370 did you get started with all this? Because there's 00:02:24.370 --> 00:02:26.430 quite a lot of stuff that you actually do. So 00:02:26.430 --> 00:02:28.349 how did you move from the UK to Dubai? I mean, 00:02:28.490 --> 00:02:30.150 how was that transition? How do you even get 00:02:30.150 --> 00:02:32.669 started doing all these things? So I'm actually 00:02:32.669 --> 00:02:35.889 an entrepreneur since 13. I started my entrepreneurial 00:02:35.889 --> 00:02:39.340 journey very young as a a website developer, 00:02:40.219 --> 00:02:42.860 and I used to create like what used to, now it's 00:02:42.860 --> 00:02:45.520 a WordPress, but before that HTML traditional 00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:49.539 websites, you know, for the listeners, I'm 37. 00:02:49.939 --> 00:02:52.439 So at that point we still had, I would develop 00:02:52.439 --> 00:02:54.740 your website, like coffee shop, mini restaurant, 00:02:54.840 --> 00:02:56.620 you know, like any website, right? So you have 00:02:56.620 --> 00:02:59.800 the, just at least a landing page. And after 00:02:59.800 --> 00:03:02.259 that, you know, I would go to your, on the same 00:03:02.259 --> 00:03:04.120 street to your neighbor and say, okay, would 00:03:04.120 --> 00:03:06.219 you like to advertise on the restaurant shop, 00:03:06.259 --> 00:03:09.360 on the coffee shop? And I will do those annoying 00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:11.960 banners. Remember when we used to go on some 00:03:11.960 --> 00:03:13.939 website and they're like these banners pop up 00:03:13.939 --> 00:03:17.460 into your face. So then I would, I was part of 00:03:17.460 --> 00:03:20.300 the, let's say banner revolution where all these 00:03:20.300 --> 00:03:23.280 AOL, Yahoo and, and so on and so forth before 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:26.810 the social media even was invented. At 18, I 00:03:26.810 --> 00:03:29.909 moved to Liverpool to study e -business. It was 00:03:29.909 --> 00:03:32.150 the first university globally that actually did 00:03:32.150 --> 00:03:35.430 e -commerce, like as a university degree. So 00:03:35.430 --> 00:03:37.849 I went through this whole bubble bus and you 00:03:37.849 --> 00:03:40.770 name it. Three years in uni, very, very challenging, 00:03:40.770 --> 00:03:43.750 but actually I was one of those students who 00:03:43.750 --> 00:03:47.849 left university and said, OMG, I actually learned 00:03:47.849 --> 00:03:53.669 a lot. I am 22 or 21 actually. I'm 21 and I... 00:03:53.710 --> 00:03:56.789 actually can run e -commerce business, or at 00:03:56.789 --> 00:03:59.610 least I know all the elements, but maybe no practical 00:03:59.610 --> 00:04:01.729 experience in all of this. But as you can see, 00:04:01.729 --> 00:04:04.490 I'm quite chatty. So then what do you do next? 00:04:05.030 --> 00:04:07.210 World's perception is that you go into the job. 00:04:07.689 --> 00:04:11.129 So I was one of the fortunate ones that I got 00:04:11.129 --> 00:04:14.289 a graduate scheme at Deloitte Consulting London. 00:04:14.930 --> 00:04:17.430 I still think, I know it's on the record, it's 00:04:17.430 --> 00:04:20.589 one of the best consultancies in the world. The 00:04:20.589 --> 00:04:23.819 reason I sit today in Dubai, is because the mentors 00:04:23.819 --> 00:04:27.959 I had there, the partners I worked for. Was it 00:04:27.959 --> 00:04:31.199 hell on earth? Yes, it was hard work. It was 00:04:31.199 --> 00:04:34.620 hustle every day. It was long hours. And everything 00:04:34.620 --> 00:04:36.959 that you read in the press, it was the case, 00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:40.819 okay? London city pressure, competitive, you 00:04:40.819 --> 00:04:43.639 name it. But I wouldn't change anything. You 00:04:43.639 --> 00:04:45.259 know, me and my husband joke, you know, even 00:04:45.259 --> 00:04:47.439 these days, we're like, even if our kids, we 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:50.199 have two kids. Even if our kids want to do art, 00:04:50.339 --> 00:04:53.600 be artists, go into the pro bono type of work, 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:56.139 they are having internship at one of the big 00:04:56.139 --> 00:04:58.860 fours because it really teaches you not just 00:04:58.860 --> 00:05:02.459 business. It teaches you how to structure your 00:05:02.459 --> 00:05:05.480 day, how to structure your life, how to be motivated, 00:05:05.500 --> 00:05:09.480 driven. You understand what like mentorship is. 00:05:09.819 --> 00:05:12.759 You really like, you are in a very big pond, 00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:15.519 small fish, but you are surrounded by the smartest 00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:17.870 on the smartest on earth. Honestly. wouldn't 00:05:17.870 --> 00:05:21.009 change it for the world. So when I was working 00:05:21.009 --> 00:05:23.850 for Deloitte, I was part of their Deloitte digital 00:05:23.850 --> 00:05:26.889 founding team, in terms of when e -commerce was 00:05:26.889 --> 00:05:30.230 just coming up. I worked on all these big projects, 00:05:31.009 --> 00:05:33.649 large brands globally, starting their e -commerce 00:05:33.649 --> 00:05:37.149 journeys. And then opportunity came out for my 00:05:37.149 --> 00:05:40.569 husband in the Middle East. And by that time, 00:05:40.629 --> 00:05:43.470 it was you either move with him or you end relationships. 00:05:44.029 --> 00:05:47.209 We were together by that time, seven years. As 00:05:47.209 --> 00:05:50.389 much as my husband moved to London for my job, 00:05:50.709 --> 00:05:53.550 it was my turn to move to the Middle East for 00:05:53.550 --> 00:05:58.670 him. So we moved and let me tell you, I moved 00:05:58.670 --> 00:06:01.829 to Deloitte, but I quickly realized that maybe 00:06:01.829 --> 00:06:05.470 I'm missing Deloitte London too much. You know, 00:06:05.509 --> 00:06:08.870 I tried to do projects, maybe with Deloitte London 00:06:08.870 --> 00:06:12.170 and so on and so forth. If you asked me before 00:06:12.170 --> 00:06:14.930 the move, would I ever left the company? The 00:06:14.930 --> 00:06:17.029 answer was no, no way. I was going to go for 00:06:17.029 --> 00:06:20.069 a partnership. Even if you threw money at me, 00:06:20.230 --> 00:06:21.970 entrepreneurial journey, I would have never, 00:06:21.970 --> 00:06:24.810 I would have said no. I was loving the life that 00:06:24.810 --> 00:06:28.430 much in that career. But things changed in the 00:06:28.430 --> 00:06:31.329 Middle East. I just decided that I saw too big 00:06:31.329 --> 00:06:34.089 of the opportunity that e -commerce did not exist 00:06:34.089 --> 00:06:36.769 here. Like nobody had e -commerce, no large brands 00:06:36.769 --> 00:06:39.529 had e -commerce. It was too big of an opportunity 00:06:39.529 --> 00:06:44.790 to. be in the job. So I took a risk and I started 00:06:44.790 --> 00:06:50.930 at 2012, 2012, 2012. So large enterprises had 00:06:50.930 --> 00:06:54.629 no e -commerce, you know, like if in the UK Tesco, 00:06:54.810 --> 00:06:58.009 John Lewis, like all these Chanel, Dior's, Fashion, 00:06:58.269 --> 00:07:00.269 Zara, you know, they were all online. In Dubai 00:07:00.269 --> 00:07:02.850 at that point, everything was offline. So you 00:07:02.850 --> 00:07:05.350 had a lot of famous brands, but because they 00:07:05.350 --> 00:07:07.750 were franchised, you know, from the brand to 00:07:07.750 --> 00:07:12.379 the Middle East. the franchisees were not investing 00:07:12.379 --> 00:07:15.079 in e -commerce. Some of them did not want to 00:07:15.079 --> 00:07:17.420 invest. Others did not have skillset. Others 00:07:17.420 --> 00:07:19.259 were like, oh, we're doing so well on offline. 00:07:19.399 --> 00:07:23.699 Why would you go online? So I took a hit. I left 00:07:23.699 --> 00:07:28.629 a very well paid job, very big brand. I decided 00:07:28.629 --> 00:07:31.269 that I'm going to start my mini consultancy, 00:07:31.670 --> 00:07:36.629 if you like, and maybe one woman show and try 00:07:36.629 --> 00:07:39.850 to convince. First of all, my goal was not to 00:07:39.850 --> 00:07:42.350 make money like I'm dreaming of being Jeff Bezos, 00:07:42.430 --> 00:07:44.889 because by that time I've seen a lot in consulting 00:07:44.889 --> 00:07:47.589 that Jeff Bezos is not born overnight, okay? 00:07:47.810 --> 00:07:50.790 I saw that it needs work ethic and all this. 00:07:51.110 --> 00:07:52.870 So it wasn't like, oh, I'm tomorrow going to 00:07:52.870 --> 00:07:55.370 wake up with millions because I started, I was 00:07:55.370 --> 00:07:58.000 the first to start e -commerce consultancy. But 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:01.199 I knew that they are looking for the skill set 00:08:01.199 --> 00:08:03.620 that I had it. And I knew it will be hard work, 00:08:03.620 --> 00:08:05.800 but my vision was a lot bigger. I was like, imagine 00:08:05.800 --> 00:08:09.480 telling someone you played a key role on digitizing 00:08:09.480 --> 00:08:12.920 the country. Where else in the world I can say 00:08:12.920 --> 00:08:14.920 that I'm working on all these green projects. 00:08:15.079 --> 00:08:17.560 In London, whether anywhere in Europe, I'm Lithuanian. 00:08:17.660 --> 00:08:20.500 So anywhere in Europe, you would be like either 00:08:20.500 --> 00:08:23.439 improving e -commerce, maybe re -platforming. 00:08:23.779 --> 00:08:26.259 You know, so you could bring a lot of new things, 00:08:26.439 --> 00:08:29.060 but that's not... Oh, I'm starting it. Like, 00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:31.839 I didn't know anyone at that point that would 00:08:31.839 --> 00:08:35.259 say, I started e -commerce for, you know, carafo. 00:08:35.779 --> 00:08:37.840 People are like, how old are you? You know what 00:08:37.840 --> 00:08:40.740 I mean? So, and I had this opportunity here. 00:08:41.379 --> 00:08:43.860 So I, it took, look, it wasn't easy, you know, 00:08:43.919 --> 00:08:45.899 it was a lot of knocking on the door. So you 00:08:45.899 --> 00:08:49.220 can imagine, blonde, female, doesn't speak the 00:08:49.220 --> 00:08:52.360 language, you know, only English. No, no connections 00:08:52.360 --> 00:08:55.080 of sorts of like, I know such and such and can 00:08:55.080 --> 00:08:57.899 get you into such and such. So a lot of knocking 00:08:57.899 --> 00:09:00.799 the door and honestly, not giving up, you know, 00:09:00.820 --> 00:09:02.779 and I think I learned that at Deloitte, you know, 00:09:02.980 --> 00:09:05.159 at Deloitte, every project was like a new company. 00:09:05.320 --> 00:09:07.220 You had to build relationships with clients. 00:09:07.340 --> 00:09:09.820 You had to reset your value. You had to win the 00:09:09.820 --> 00:09:12.940 deal with a partner. So I was from the very younger, 00:09:13.419 --> 00:09:16.559 from the age of 21, taught to never give up. 00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:20.120 And like, just because they said no, does not 00:09:20.120 --> 00:09:23.360 mean that you stop knocking the next door. So 00:09:23.360 --> 00:09:26.220 I was kind of like constantly knocking, constantly 00:09:26.220 --> 00:09:29.320 sending messages. I went everything. I offered 00:09:29.320 --> 00:09:32.299 work for free. I offered an opportunity to call. 00:09:32.679 --> 00:09:35.759 I said, I will take all the risk. Anything you 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:39.360 can possibly think of, I risked it to do it. 00:09:39.399 --> 00:09:42.360 And I'm glad I did, you know, because if you 00:09:42.360 --> 00:09:45.480 are not a fraud and you know what you can do 00:09:45.480 --> 00:09:49.860 with your two hands, this region is amazing because 00:09:50.090 --> 00:09:53.029 It's really like they love, you know, like they 00:09:53.029 --> 00:09:55.690 present you a lot of opportunities. You just 00:09:55.690 --> 00:09:58.509 need to grab it. But one thing you need to know 00:09:58.509 --> 00:10:01.789 that you need to be able to deliver with your 00:10:01.789 --> 00:10:05.690 two hands. So, you know, like if, if in maybe 00:10:05.690 --> 00:10:09.230 Western world, we would be like, okay, it's me. 00:10:09.269 --> 00:10:11.610 And then I will get the team of five, of 20, 00:10:11.629 --> 00:10:15.450 of a hundred. I do ace Ricardo does B and we 00:10:15.450 --> 00:10:19.129 together do something over here. No, like here. 00:10:19.399 --> 00:10:24.139 You can succeed, but you can't expect from anyone 00:10:24.139 --> 00:10:28.559 anything, right? They give you very open, very 00:10:28.559 --> 00:10:31.100 openly invite you. They're willing to pay for 00:10:31.100 --> 00:10:33.159 you for your knowledge, but they will ask you 00:10:33.159 --> 00:10:37.419 very clearly. What do you know? Not what someone 00:10:37.419 --> 00:10:39.220 else is like, you know, so like, you know, if 00:10:39.220 --> 00:10:41.559 you're just sales guy selling it, but they will 00:10:41.559 --> 00:10:43.759 be like, but what do you, Ricardo, know? So if 00:10:43.759 --> 00:10:46.500 I put you in this job just by yourself, what 00:10:46.500 --> 00:10:49.669 are you able to do? And I was fortunate enough 00:10:49.669 --> 00:10:54.169 that I learned, I have wide a wide skill set 00:10:54.169 --> 00:10:57.649 in this e -commerce. So it's very specific, but 00:10:57.649 --> 00:11:00.789 across in industry, technical, operational, marketing, 00:11:00.909 --> 00:11:03.990 product, you know, in e -commerce. I could advise 00:11:03.990 --> 00:11:08.169 on any angle. So if my project on tech is late, 00:11:08.230 --> 00:11:11.409 I can go for the project on operations or marketing, 00:11:11.470 --> 00:11:14.470 you know, like try to get secondary income, like, 00:11:14.529 --> 00:11:17.289 you know, from the two projects. I can hire people 00:11:17.289 --> 00:11:19.909 across different lines of business because I 00:11:19.909 --> 00:11:22.909 understand what they should be presenting as 00:11:22.909 --> 00:11:26.610 a skill set. So basically I ended up here for 00:11:26.610 --> 00:11:28.889 love, but I'm never leaving again. I think this 00:11:28.889 --> 00:11:31.730 is the best country in the world to live. Nice. 00:11:31.990 --> 00:11:34.470 And what drove you? I mean, what's that fire 00:11:34.470 --> 00:11:37.370 burning within? What does it keep on saying to 00:11:37.370 --> 00:11:40.240 you? Because it's some really rough pictures, 00:11:40.340 --> 00:11:43.059 right? Yeah. So look, it's like any entrepreneurial 00:11:43.059 --> 00:11:45.860 journey, I would say globally, whichever country 00:11:45.860 --> 00:11:49.039 you're based in, you need to be a good hustler, 00:11:49.039 --> 00:11:52.899 I would say first. Secondly, I think recruitment 00:11:52.899 --> 00:11:56.100 is a second challenge that I personally struggled 00:11:56.100 --> 00:11:59.220 to kind of my expectations was from everyone 00:11:59.220 --> 00:12:02.639 that they would be me. And I think just that 00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:06.700 understanding in your twenties that Actually, 00:12:06.899 --> 00:12:10.399 for some people, this is just a job, Lina. And 00:12:10.399 --> 00:12:12.960 reminding to yourself as a founder that, listen, 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:15.820 like Ricardo maybe is not willing to give up 00:12:15.820 --> 00:12:19.379 his life for this company, you know? It was a 00:12:19.379 --> 00:12:22.840 learning curve for sure. But coming back to your 00:12:22.840 --> 00:12:25.519 question like what drove me, even up to today, 00:12:26.379 --> 00:12:28.740 you know, maybe I don't need to work so hard, 00:12:28.740 --> 00:12:32.120 but I still work pretty incredibly long hours. 00:12:34.490 --> 00:12:37.149 I love e -commerce. I love, you know, when people, 00:12:37.610 --> 00:12:40.110 when, you know, when they make that sale, I celebrate 00:12:40.110 --> 00:12:42.629 with them, like as much as it's my own business. 00:12:43.429 --> 00:12:46.429 So for me, one thing is like, I love the variety. 00:12:46.710 --> 00:12:49.509 So I think, you know, getting into one job and 00:12:49.509 --> 00:12:52.190 just doing that job is not for me as my personality. 00:12:52.909 --> 00:12:56.470 So doing multiple things in one day drove me 00:12:56.470 --> 00:12:58.960 as of like to keep going, you know, cause Maybe 00:12:58.960 --> 00:13:00.940 one meeting is bad, but the next one is good, 00:13:00.940 --> 00:13:03.460 you know? So it's like the balance out the bad 00:13:03.460 --> 00:13:06.899 and a good day. Secondly, that fire in the people's 00:13:06.899 --> 00:13:09.259 eyes, whenever they see e -commerce, the first 00:13:09.259 --> 00:13:11.860 sale, the growth, when they see profitability, 00:13:12.899 --> 00:13:15.860 even up to today, no clients tell me like, for 00:13:15.860 --> 00:13:17.899 some reason it feels like, Lena, you are more 00:13:17.899 --> 00:13:20.299 excited about this than we are. You know, sometimes, 00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:22.600 you know, because I'm genuinely, genuinely like 00:13:22.600 --> 00:13:25.940 really, like, I love what I do and I really, 00:13:25.940 --> 00:13:28.960 really care. So. I feel like I have a lot of 00:13:28.960 --> 00:13:31.100 my own, a number of my own businesses, you know, 00:13:31.220 --> 00:13:33.980 because I live the challenges through, through 00:13:33.980 --> 00:13:37.000 those companies. So that always, even up to today, 00:13:37.179 --> 00:13:38.759 it really drives me, you know, like that kind 00:13:38.759 --> 00:13:42.559 of motivates me in terms of getting these clients 00:13:42.559 --> 00:13:46.320 successful, making them money online, proving 00:13:46.320 --> 00:13:48.120 them wrong. You know, let's say some of them 00:13:48.120 --> 00:13:50.179 said, I don't believe in e -commerce and you 00:13:50.179 --> 00:13:51.940 know, like me proving them wrong. And then they're 00:13:51.940 --> 00:13:54.470 like. Oh, sorry, Lina. I wish I started earlier. 00:13:54.509 --> 00:13:56.470 We should have started earlier. What's next? 00:13:56.549 --> 00:13:59.490 What's next? So that's second. The third thing 00:13:59.490 --> 00:14:03.629 I would say I am, which is maybe kind of proves 00:14:03.629 --> 00:14:06.289 that I am entrepreneur at heart. E -commerce 00:14:06.289 --> 00:14:08.889 is a very, very changing industry, right? So 00:14:08.889 --> 00:14:11.950 like what worked yesterday is not going to work 00:14:11.950 --> 00:14:13.929 today. Even if you look at meta ads, you know, 00:14:14.009 --> 00:14:16.549 Zuckerberg will come up, say something new and 00:14:16.549 --> 00:14:18.610 have the whole strategy falls through. Finished. 00:14:18.809 --> 00:14:21.090 Like you have to be... Now, you know, Trump came 00:14:21.090 --> 00:14:23.149 out with tariffs, all the clients calling in 00:14:23.149 --> 00:14:26.049 one second. What are we going to do on the production? 00:14:26.169 --> 00:14:29.049 You know, if we are selling in the US. Thirdly, 00:14:29.090 --> 00:14:32.169 COVID hits, you know, I was in labor. I'm on 00:14:32.169 --> 00:14:33.889 my watch, you know, and the doctor looks at me, 00:14:34.029 --> 00:14:36.610 what are you doing? And I'm like, the world is 00:14:36.610 --> 00:14:39.009 stopping. E -commerce is the only thing that 00:14:39.009 --> 00:14:41.289 might could be doing it. And then the doctor 00:14:41.289 --> 00:14:43.610 looks at my husband. My husband's like, look, 00:14:44.090 --> 00:14:46.870 I'm a spectator here. I can't say anything to 00:14:46.870 --> 00:14:49.669 her. This is her babies. and all the warehouses 00:14:49.669 --> 00:14:52.230 stores are closing, e -commerce is their only 00:14:52.230 --> 00:14:54.710 revenue source and they are obviously not ready 00:14:54.710 --> 00:14:56.850 for this event, right? So then all the clients 00:14:56.850 --> 00:14:59.190 are like, Lina, we know you have a few days off 00:14:59.190 --> 00:15:01.789 for your maternity, but I was like, well, no, 00:15:01.809 --> 00:15:04.029 I'm actually in labor now, but yeah, what's the 00:15:04.029 --> 00:15:08.269 problem? So it's constantly changing it in a 00:15:08.269 --> 00:15:12.769 sense. And for my personality, it really suits 00:15:12.769 --> 00:15:15.940 this change. I read a lot. I listen a lot. I 00:15:15.940 --> 00:15:18.200 learn from my stakes. I analyze the data of the 00:15:18.200 --> 00:15:20.360 clients, even if it would not be in my scope. 00:15:20.740 --> 00:15:23.379 Every single week, I look at my clients' dashboards. 00:15:23.460 --> 00:15:25.360 You know, like we all talk data, data, data, 00:15:25.759 --> 00:15:28.179 but so many of us don't even do anything with 00:15:28.179 --> 00:15:31.240 that data, right? So I am that person that would 00:15:31.240 --> 00:15:34.019 always look and be like, uh, I think it shows 00:15:34.019 --> 00:15:36.580 this guys. Like I would call Ricardo, did you 00:15:36.580 --> 00:15:39.299 check Warrah House A? And they're like, Lena, 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:40.659 this has nothing to do with you. I was like, 00:15:41.100 --> 00:15:45.389 yeah, but. Tomorrow, if we don't fix this, tomorrow 00:15:45.389 --> 00:15:49.350 it will affect e -commerce sales. I'm always 00:15:49.350 --> 00:15:55.610 trying to stick to them, trying to keep one step 00:15:55.610 --> 00:15:58.049 ahead and e -commerce is a constantly evolving 00:15:58.049 --> 00:16:00.649 thing. Now, for example, I'm doing incredible 00:16:00.649 --> 00:16:04.049 things with AI. Who knew? You told me two years 00:16:04.049 --> 00:16:06.809 ago that I will be replacing so many things with 00:16:06.809 --> 00:16:10.179 this whole AI revolution. I would have never 00:16:10.179 --> 00:16:12.120 even dreamt it because I can tell you two years 00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:14.620 ago, I wasn't even Googling it, like what we 00:16:14.620 --> 00:16:17.039 can do with AI, you know? And now, you know, 00:16:17.500 --> 00:16:19.700 like so many of my processes, like AI driven 00:16:19.700 --> 00:16:24.120 and unfortunately, not every client of mine can 00:16:24.120 --> 00:16:26.700 keep up with it. So, you know, they kind of look 00:16:26.700 --> 00:16:29.840 at me to bring that into the, into the sort of, 00:16:29.879 --> 00:16:32.159 first of all, awareness. Secondly, maybe make 00:16:32.159 --> 00:16:34.600 it happen for them. So, and I love it, you know, 00:16:34.620 --> 00:16:38.570 so it keeps me super busy. Super active and constantly 00:16:38.570 --> 00:16:41.250 learning, you know, and I feel like only by learning 00:16:41.250 --> 00:16:43.250 you kind of this is how you know, you asked me 00:16:43.250 --> 00:16:45.809 how many different companies only by constantly 00:16:45.809 --> 00:16:47.710 learning, you know, you can kind of come up with 00:16:47.710 --> 00:16:50.210 all these additional ideas because I don't just 00:16:50.210 --> 00:16:51.909 sit them like, okay, what's the next company 00:16:51.909 --> 00:16:54.110 I should start with? No, like it's it's always 00:16:54.110 --> 00:16:58.149 starts quite naturally from from this constant 00:16:58.149 --> 00:17:00.350 education, constant learning, constantly staying 00:17:00.350 --> 00:17:02.870 curious, I would say. And what happened first? 00:17:02.909 --> 00:17:05.880 Was it the book or the podcast? So You're growing, 00:17:06.140 --> 00:17:08.640 you're super successful. The podcast. Okay. And 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:11.819 how did it came about? So the podcast, this is 00:17:11.819 --> 00:17:14.640 where I would say also when entrepreneur meets 00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:17.039 entrepreneur. So you might, you might see like, 00:17:17.460 --> 00:17:19.559 I have this podcast with a guy called Alexander 00:17:19.559 --> 00:17:21.960 Graf. He is a very, very successful e -commerce 00:17:21.960 --> 00:17:26.579 entrepreneur in Europe, a German guy. And basically. 00:17:27.119 --> 00:17:29.380 runs an empire, like I don't know, like he has 00:17:29.380 --> 00:17:31.819 2000, whatever, like quite a large organization. 00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:34.539 And I knew a lot of people from his team because 00:17:34.539 --> 00:17:37.019 they are all selling SaaS solutions for the e 00:17:37.019 --> 00:17:39.359 -commerce fans. So if you want to enter the Middle 00:17:39.359 --> 00:17:41.720 East in e -commerce and most of the vendors would 00:17:41.720 --> 00:17:43.900 probably call me, invite me for the meeting first, 00:17:44.359 --> 00:17:46.160 because they know that they kind of know the 00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:47.900 influence, you know, I would have in the region. 00:17:48.700 --> 00:17:51.299 And three years, I met a number of his teams, 00:17:51.740 --> 00:17:55.500 a number of sales guys. And we only talk technology 00:17:55.500 --> 00:17:58.519 and I said, this and this, whatever. And then 00:17:58.519 --> 00:18:01.259 one year in one conference, he sees me running 00:18:01.259 --> 00:18:03.700 through his stand because I was doing the, I 00:18:03.700 --> 00:18:06.779 was moderating a couple of sessions and it was 00:18:06.779 --> 00:18:08.859 a shortcut through his stand, through his SaaS 00:18:08.859 --> 00:18:12.079 solution stand. I'm running, he jumps in front 00:18:12.079 --> 00:18:14.140 of me. He's like, are you Lina? I was like, yeah, 00:18:14.140 --> 00:18:16.980 who are you? And he's like, Alex, I have never 00:18:16.980 --> 00:18:19.200 met the guy. He's like, do you have a podcast? 00:18:19.940 --> 00:18:22.700 I was like, no, but I said, You will not, you 00:18:22.700 --> 00:18:24.859 know, this is like, you know, this is our conversation. 00:18:25.880 --> 00:18:27.700 I said, but if I would tell you now that I've 00:18:27.700 --> 00:18:29.759 been thinking about it, you will say I'm just 00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:31.740 using blah, blah, you know, no conversation. 00:18:31.779 --> 00:18:34.619 So I said, let me open you my life to -do list, 00:18:34.619 --> 00:18:36.440 you know, cause I am a consultant. I have a to 00:18:36.440 --> 00:18:38.359 -do list for everything. So imagine in front 00:18:38.359 --> 00:18:42.619 of his eyes, I open, it says Lina's life to -do 00:18:42.619 --> 00:18:44.299 list, like in life, you know, I need to achieve 00:18:44.299 --> 00:18:47.400 this. And number one, it says podcast. I said, 00:18:47.539 --> 00:18:49.640 so see, I'm not telling you this just to keep 00:18:49.640 --> 00:18:52.640 the conversation going. I said. I have been thinking 00:18:52.640 --> 00:18:54.839 for a while and I said, I have loads of speakers 00:18:54.839 --> 00:18:57.000 that would love to come. I want to share the 00:18:57.000 --> 00:19:00.480 Middle East, the Middle East sort of like take 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:02.819 about e -commerce globally. I think a lot of 00:19:02.819 --> 00:19:07.079 brands would benefit globally about it. And because 00:19:07.079 --> 00:19:09.099 it's very hard to find information on Google 00:19:09.099 --> 00:19:11.660 about the Middle East, but I think on my podcast, 00:19:11.839 --> 00:19:13.559 people would open up, you know, because I work 00:19:13.559 --> 00:19:16.740 with them. I understand. And then imagine he 00:19:16.740 --> 00:19:19.539 says to me, okay, on Monday, we have a podcast. 00:19:20.099 --> 00:19:22.940 I said, Like, I don't know anything about the 00:19:22.940 --> 00:19:26.019 guy. We exchanged LinkedIn messages. And then 00:19:26.019 --> 00:19:29.579 I only discovered that he's quite a successful 00:19:29.579 --> 00:19:33.140 founder, quite a big deal in Europe and the US. 00:19:33.799 --> 00:19:36.660 And I said to him, wow, and that's what makes 00:19:36.660 --> 00:19:39.160 people entrepreneurs. I said, imagine how many 00:19:39.160 --> 00:19:42.599 times I met your team. Nobody told you about 00:19:42.599 --> 00:19:46.900 me and no one told me about you. This is what 00:19:46.900 --> 00:19:48.680 you can't take from the entrepreneur, you know, 00:19:48.700 --> 00:19:50.559 like doesn't matter how many people you have. 00:19:50.740 --> 00:19:53.099 And I said, you see, you just see opportunity. 00:19:53.099 --> 00:19:56.740 And as, and we clicked and we clicked so good, 00:19:56.740 --> 00:19:58.599 you know, like I laugh and was like, Oh, you're 00:19:58.599 --> 00:20:01.039 a king of, of e -commerce in Europe. I'm the 00:20:01.039 --> 00:20:03.619 queen of e -commerce in the Middle East, but 00:20:03.619 --> 00:20:06.140 we don't have to do a podcast. We don't have 00:20:06.140 --> 00:20:08.599 to write the book, but you know, we have plenty 00:20:08.599 --> 00:20:10.279 of things to do, you know, than writing a book 00:20:10.279 --> 00:20:11.700 together. Do you know what I mean? Or doing a 00:20:11.700 --> 00:20:14.779 podcast together, but we both believe in the 00:20:14.779 --> 00:20:17.220 bigger thing. We like. No one is sharing the 00:20:17.220 --> 00:20:20.140 knowledge. No one is talking how it is. No one 00:20:20.140 --> 00:20:22.579 is telling these founders that e -commerce is 00:20:22.579 --> 00:20:27.140 not easy. Why no one is doing it? And both of 00:20:27.140 --> 00:20:30.000 us believe that, stop whinging. I hate when my 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:31.920 team comes and says, problem, problem, problem. 00:20:32.180 --> 00:20:35.960 What can we do? Maybe it's not in our scope, 00:20:36.140 --> 00:20:39.460 but at least we should try to do it because otherwise 00:20:39.460 --> 00:20:41.299 whinging is not going to change anyone, not going 00:20:41.299 --> 00:20:44.140 to change client, not going to change us. Alex 00:20:44.140 --> 00:20:47.420 is very similar to me. And we were like, I told 00:20:47.420 --> 00:20:50.420 him, like, during one of our real trips, you 00:20:50.420 --> 00:20:52.119 know, for breakfast, we are just having a hotel 00:20:52.119 --> 00:20:55.200 breakfast. And I said, you know what, my 2020, 00:20:55.279 --> 00:20:59.400 this was 2023, maybe 2024, 2024, actually, I 00:20:59.400 --> 00:21:03.400 said, Oh, my 2023 November, I tell them, you 00:21:03.400 --> 00:21:06.119 know, my 2024 goal is to write the book. I actually 00:21:06.119 --> 00:21:08.799 wrote half of the book. I said, you want to read 00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:10.460 it? You know, like, because I respect the person 00:21:10.460 --> 00:21:13.359 that sort of like, level, you know, that I would 00:21:13.359 --> 00:21:16.099 show him my draft. And then he's like, wow, you 00:21:16.099 --> 00:21:18.400 know, like he's like, it's a good, it's, it's, 00:21:18.400 --> 00:21:20.480 it's very good. And he's like, you know, I'm 00:21:20.480 --> 00:21:23.519 writing a book, a similarly about Europe, Europe's, 00:21:23.519 --> 00:21:25.099 you know, like the Western world e -commerce. 00:21:26.019 --> 00:21:27.920 And we were like, Oh my gosh, should we just 00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:30.500 combine what happened in the West to what's happening 00:21:30.500 --> 00:21:32.940 in the Middle East? Your take the West, my take 00:21:32.940 --> 00:21:35.700 the Middle East. And I said like, so for readers 00:21:35.700 --> 00:21:37.440 in the Middle East, they will learn from the 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:40.680 Western world examples. And for the Western world 00:21:40.680 --> 00:21:42.740 examples that are all trying to come into Dubai 00:21:42.740 --> 00:21:46.559 and Saudi and whatever else, we can show it like 00:21:46.559 --> 00:21:48.579 how it actually works, what to be careful of. 00:21:48.859 --> 00:21:50.299 You know, it's definitely not fiction book. You 00:21:50.299 --> 00:21:52.039 know, it's very like business book, let's say. 00:21:52.819 --> 00:21:57.519 But we clicked like house on fire. And, you know, 00:21:57.519 --> 00:21:59.640 I always say to him, I'm like, listen, you give 00:21:59.640 --> 00:22:01.779 me a call. Like I clear my calendar. I fly anywhere 00:22:01.779 --> 00:22:05.000 in the world. We do keynotes because I first 00:22:05.000 --> 00:22:08.150 of all love, you know, like how we have a good 00:22:08.150 --> 00:22:10.309 dynamics on e -commerce. I find it very interesting 00:22:10.309 --> 00:22:12.809 chat. We are first of all friends and I think 00:22:12.809 --> 00:22:15.109 in business is very important. We're first of 00:22:15.109 --> 00:22:17.690 all friends. So then every challenge that we 00:22:17.690 --> 00:22:19.369 come across, like, believe me, writing a book 00:22:19.369 --> 00:22:21.529 from two different countries and on something 00:22:21.529 --> 00:22:24.190 like, you know, it's not easy, you know, and 00:22:24.190 --> 00:22:26.690 we both have very different work styles. And, 00:22:26.829 --> 00:22:29.250 you know, I'm very like a document is document 00:22:29.250 --> 00:22:31.349 that, you know, like consultant and he's more, 00:22:31.630 --> 00:22:35.119 he's been entrepreneur all his life. So. He's 00:22:35.119 --> 00:22:36.299 like, no, it's fine. We'll leave it to them. 00:22:36.359 --> 00:22:38.180 I was like, no, I have to finalize this chapter. 00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:40.740 I need to rewrite. He's like, Lina, stop rewriting 00:22:40.740 --> 00:22:43.539 it. We will come back if you don't like it. I 00:22:43.539 --> 00:22:45.920 was like, no, I have to rewrite again. And he's 00:22:45.920 --> 00:22:47.799 like, okay, well, if we keep rewriting, rewriting, 00:22:47.980 --> 00:22:50.960 maybe we'll never finish. But these challenges 00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:54.019 are never challenges because I think, first of 00:22:54.019 --> 00:22:57.880 all, I always think I respect him. I find him 00:22:57.880 --> 00:23:02.180 good as a friend, so he doesn't annoy me in any 00:23:02.180 --> 00:23:05.380 shape or form. when we come to challenges, we 00:23:05.380 --> 00:23:07.559 are focusing on the challenge, this challenge 00:23:07.559 --> 00:23:09.880 rather than, you know, kind of like what's wrong 00:23:09.880 --> 00:23:12.640 else in the business, you know, and it works 00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:16.240 for me quite well on a number of ventures that 00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:18.460 I've been involved in as a founder. And do you 00:23:18.460 --> 00:23:20.279 think it's easier to open a business in the Middle 00:23:20.279 --> 00:23:22.519 East than it is in Europe, for example, from 00:23:22.519 --> 00:23:27.200 your experience? 100 % yes. So to open it, this 00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:31.170 country is is probably, you know, if any of your 00:23:31.170 --> 00:23:33.349 listeners read anything about in the news about 00:23:33.349 --> 00:23:35.950 the Middle East, you can pretty much have a business 00:23:35.950 --> 00:23:40.069 in 24 hours here. It's very this economy. So 00:23:40.069 --> 00:23:44.299 if you read anything and I'm like, I am amazed, 00:23:44.359 --> 00:23:48.000 to be honest, amazed. You can do everything from 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:50.619 your phone, sitting, you can have trade license, 00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:54.180 submit your Emirates ID. It's so, so simple. 00:23:54.400 --> 00:23:57.279 Okay? It's simple. So you can have it very quickly. 00:23:57.680 --> 00:24:00.160 It's when, for example, Trump started with tariffs, 00:24:00.180 --> 00:24:01.680 you know, like I told a couple of my clients 00:24:01.680 --> 00:24:03.579 in the U .S. I was like, ah, well, in 24 hours, 00:24:03.579 --> 00:24:05.740 we can have a maybe entity in Dubai. And then 00:24:05.740 --> 00:24:08.299 we think about what do we do? Maybe we do cross 00:24:08.299 --> 00:24:10.019 border shipments in the U .S. You know, like 00:24:10.019 --> 00:24:12.859 rather than B2B, we do B2C directly, Dubai into... 00:24:12.599 --> 00:24:15.480 into the US, you know, like, like, and they were 00:24:15.480 --> 00:24:18.819 like, Lina, we are not opening companies because 00:24:18.819 --> 00:24:20.619 that takes time. You know, like we need solution 00:24:20.619 --> 00:24:23.740 now. I said, listen, Dubai is a solution. Now 00:24:23.740 --> 00:24:26.359 we can have a company tomorrow on e -commerce. 00:24:27.019 --> 00:24:29.079 So, you know, they're like, what? You know, like 00:24:29.079 --> 00:24:30.900 what, because the circumstance, we never looked 00:24:30.900 --> 00:24:32.720 at it, you know, like people that are trading 00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:34.640 in the West, you know, they're like, why would 00:24:34.640 --> 00:24:36.359 I do company in Dubai? You know, that sort of 00:24:36.359 --> 00:24:39.160 thing, you know, but, but it is that, that simple. 00:24:39.799 --> 00:24:42.539 It's super digitized. It's super easy to open. 00:24:42.960 --> 00:24:45.940 It's very, very entrepreneurial friendly, if 00:24:45.940 --> 00:24:48.720 you like. Biggest challenges come from, so you 00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:51.140 open. The challenges comes from opening a bank 00:24:51.140 --> 00:24:54.440 account, you know, but if you are, if your first 00:24:54.440 --> 00:24:57.460 transaction will be sort of like 10 million, 00:24:57.539 --> 00:24:59.700 then obviously you will get all the checks that 00:24:59.700 --> 00:25:02.319 is not money laundering and, and source of all 00:25:02.319 --> 00:25:04.460 the sort of things. So anything that it comes 00:25:04.460 --> 00:25:07.319 on a first transaction, banks are really, really 00:25:07.319 --> 00:25:10.279 careful, they monitor, they check, they will 00:25:10.279 --> 00:25:12.480 ask you like in any Western country, they will 00:25:12.480 --> 00:25:15.319 be like KYC, where the money came, what are you 00:25:15.319 --> 00:25:18.700 doing with that, which is normal. So you can 00:25:18.700 --> 00:25:22.500 have the entity, but you cannot start wiring 00:25:22.500 --> 00:25:25.619 in millions in seconds without actually doing 00:25:25.619 --> 00:25:27.279 business in the Middle East. Do you see what 00:25:27.279 --> 00:25:31.799 I'm saying? And they are trying to do more and 00:25:31.799 --> 00:25:35.759 more like Western world in terms of KYC, prevention 00:25:35.759 --> 00:25:38.779 of all the Money law, like all of that, they're 00:25:38.779 --> 00:25:41.180 really, really working from the top, like regulation 00:25:41.180 --> 00:25:45.559 side, and also banks and entities that open you 00:25:45.559 --> 00:25:50.259 these trade license, like they're focusing. But 00:25:50.259 --> 00:25:52.579 for like people like me or like you Ricardo, 00:25:52.759 --> 00:25:55.380 like who are entrepreneurial, really driven, 00:25:55.619 --> 00:25:58.700 visionary, and generally just want to do business, 00:25:58.720 --> 00:26:01.119 like not some sort of shady operations, God knows 00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:04.059 what. If you are true entrepreneur, it's super 00:26:04.059 --> 00:26:06.490 easy, you know, and then like super fast. And 00:26:06.490 --> 00:26:08.509 you might have seen in the news, they're very 00:26:08.509 --> 00:26:14.170 forward thinking. So now, for example, in Europe, 00:26:14.410 --> 00:26:17.309 let's say, imagine saying to you that influencer 00:26:17.309 --> 00:26:19.329 is a business. Like we are all like, what the 00:26:19.329 --> 00:26:21.250 hell is this influencer? What is this? What is 00:26:21.250 --> 00:26:25.170 that? These guys, they say, we want every influencer. 00:26:25.230 --> 00:26:27.829 If you're above 10 ,000 followers, come to the 00:26:27.829 --> 00:26:29.690 Middle East, we'll give you a visa, and we will 00:26:29.690 --> 00:26:33.130 even give you a free office to do influencing 00:26:33.130 --> 00:26:37.079 from this country. They're really forward thinking. 00:26:37.319 --> 00:26:40.019 Like now, you know, last week AI is mandatory 00:26:40.019 --> 00:26:42.900 education in every single curriculum. You have 00:26:42.900 --> 00:26:45.000 three months to prepare as a school. You know, 00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:48.019 like there's no like, oh, should we put in a 00:26:48.019 --> 00:26:50.960 parliament to discuss who wants AI or what is 00:26:50.960 --> 00:26:53.559 AI impact on the thing or what is, you know, 00:26:53.619 --> 00:26:56.359 these guys are like, it's a future. Like if we 00:26:56.359 --> 00:26:58.619 don't prepare our young, you know, schools on 00:26:58.619 --> 00:27:00.980 it, they will, they will be irrelevant. Do you 00:27:00.980 --> 00:27:05.220 know what I mean? It's so, so forward thinking 00:27:05.220 --> 00:27:07.519 and the same on the business, you know, like 00:27:07.519 --> 00:27:09.440 let's say every year you need to renew trade 00:27:09.440 --> 00:27:11.880 license. Okay. So I just went through my, my, 00:27:12.059 --> 00:27:15.160 one of my companies to renewal and imagine natural 00:27:15.160 --> 00:27:17.500 thing to do would be, okay, let me copy activities 00:27:17.500 --> 00:27:20.200 that I do from last year into this year. Okay. 00:27:20.339 --> 00:27:23.960 Like I haven't changed what I'm doing. I try 00:27:23.960 --> 00:27:25.640 looking, you know, because when you renew a trade 00:27:25.640 --> 00:27:28.500 license, you need to very specific, what are 00:27:28.500 --> 00:27:30.039 you doing as a business? Are you trading? Are 00:27:30.039 --> 00:27:32.200 you consulting? Are you what consultancy? So 00:27:32.200 --> 00:27:35.380 it's like thousands of thousands of rows in Excel, 00:27:35.400 --> 00:27:38.339 but you need to sell it. And I'm like, okay, 00:27:38.559 --> 00:27:40.559 management consulting. Okay, management consulting 00:27:40.559 --> 00:27:42.680 is still there. Anyway, because I do a lot of 00:27:42.680 --> 00:27:45.240 AI training. I do a lot of AI, you know, like 00:27:45.240 --> 00:27:47.160 now it's changed. And even last year I added 00:27:47.160 --> 00:27:50.079 those activities as a new thing, because I'm 00:27:50.079 --> 00:27:53.680 quite ahead of most of them. businesses globally 00:27:53.680 --> 00:27:56.859 when it comes to AI adoption in retail, in e 00:27:56.859 --> 00:27:58.900 -commerce. And so I have loads of clients that 00:27:58.900 --> 00:28:01.119 they're even asking me for like training sessions 00:28:01.119 --> 00:28:03.759 on AI, not just like, you know, projects. So 00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:06.259 I was like, okay, I look for this AI in my renewal. 00:28:07.000 --> 00:28:09.599 I was like, where is this AI going? And then 00:28:09.599 --> 00:28:12.799 I see them that they added about a hundred new 00:28:12.799 --> 00:28:17.559 activities in one year related to AI. Are you 00:28:17.559 --> 00:28:20.460 doing AI development? Are you doing AI training? 00:28:20.619 --> 00:28:23.019 Are you working with ChachiVT? And you know, 00:28:23.039 --> 00:28:26.079 I was saying like, imagine back home, you know, 00:28:26.099 --> 00:28:28.000 I was even saying to my aunt, imagine back home, 00:28:28.500 --> 00:28:31.119 the government renews, it's like, you know, we're 00:28:31.119 --> 00:28:34.460 so used to maybe just the same of the same of 00:28:34.460 --> 00:28:35.440 the same, you know, because people are like, 00:28:35.579 --> 00:28:37.319 no, because I would need approval and an approval 00:28:37.319 --> 00:28:39.740 and a million approval. We have one role on AI, 00:28:39.740 --> 00:28:43.359 so let's leave it this AI. Yeah, no way. Everything 00:28:43.359 --> 00:28:45.220 is renewed. And I was like, even saying, I was 00:28:45.220 --> 00:28:47.619 like, you know, I was reading for all these activities 00:28:47.619 --> 00:28:51.670 and I was like, wow, I actually do this. I didn't 00:28:51.670 --> 00:28:53.390 know that it's now even an activity, you know, 00:28:53.569 --> 00:28:55.509 like even for someone who's been doing business 00:28:55.509 --> 00:28:58.670 and long time here, I was like, I constantly, 00:28:58.789 --> 00:29:01.029 I am amazed, you know, like I'm generally, generally 00:29:01.029 --> 00:29:04.789 amazed how fast they are reacting to the global 00:29:04.789 --> 00:29:07.410 trends and they make it, they try to make it 00:29:07.410 --> 00:29:10.130 easier and easier and easier. They generally, 00:29:10.250 --> 00:29:12.089 generally what you read around the world that 00:29:12.089 --> 00:29:14.170 they want everyone here. They generally like, 00:29:14.210 --> 00:29:16.730 they do, you know, and, and look, my plan, you 00:29:16.730 --> 00:29:18.109 know, if you ask me, what's your plan B, my plan 00:29:18.109 --> 00:29:20.069 B is always Europe, you know, I'm European. So 00:29:20.069 --> 00:29:22.559 of course I would. you know, God forbid something 00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:25.200 happens, I packed my bags and I go back, you 00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:29.339 know, but, but being an expat here and running 00:29:29.339 --> 00:29:32.279 a business, I don't get any, you know, like you 00:29:32.279 --> 00:29:34.119 could say like, are you discriminated because 00:29:34.119 --> 00:29:36.519 you're a foreigner? Are you like, you know, are 00:29:36.519 --> 00:29:39.039 you discriminated because you're a woman? Nothing. 00:29:39.700 --> 00:29:43.079 They are open arms. They are like equal rights 00:29:43.079 --> 00:29:46.559 for everyone. It's so like At no point I even 00:29:46.559 --> 00:29:48.359 like, you know, she's a female, she has issues. 00:29:48.680 --> 00:29:51.279 No way. I can honestly, I'm the best advocate. 00:29:51.839 --> 00:29:53.700 You know, if I, you know, if I could move my 00:29:53.700 --> 00:29:55.799 parents here and they would not be in love with 00:29:55.799 --> 00:29:57.460 their, what they do at home, I would move them 00:29:57.460 --> 00:29:59.680 here. I would generally like, if I, you know, 00:29:59.759 --> 00:30:03.000 my sister's in London, parents in Lithuania and 00:30:03.000 --> 00:30:04.460 entrepreneurs and all of them. So, you know, 00:30:04.500 --> 00:30:06.400 it's not so easy to move like the businesses, 00:30:06.420 --> 00:30:09.319 but if I could, you know, like I tell my sister 00:30:09.319 --> 00:30:11.809 all the time, like, listen. Drop whatever you're 00:30:11.809 --> 00:30:13.329 doing. You know, she's a quite big architect 00:30:13.329 --> 00:30:15.809 in London. I said drop the architecture can't 00:30:15.809 --> 00:30:17.769 be an architect here I tell my parents my parents 00:30:17.769 --> 00:30:19.730 and the hospitality like hotels and all this 00:30:19.730 --> 00:30:23.289 sort of thing quite the mini and Empire but so 00:30:23.289 --> 00:30:24.710 I said to my dad Oh, I just wish you know, you 00:30:24.710 --> 00:30:26.809 can move these buildings into Dubai and just 00:30:26.809 --> 00:30:29.029 move here like I genuinely genuinely that thing. 00:30:29.049 --> 00:30:32.569 It's great Lin is it easy to get investment in 00:30:32.569 --> 00:30:36.269 the Middle East and for young young entrepreneur 00:30:36.269 --> 00:30:38.829 for you know, a startup is it easy to go to invest 00:30:38.829 --> 00:30:41.089 and say hey Can you invest in my company? Are 00:30:41.089 --> 00:30:42.630 you interested in investing? How does that work? 00:30:43.130 --> 00:30:45.890 No. So this is a very good question. So the answer 00:30:45.890 --> 00:30:49.869 is no, in a nutshell. Over here, it's not about 00:30:49.869 --> 00:30:52.289 that it's not easy. It's about that the market 00:30:52.289 --> 00:30:55.329 is not mature enough. So you know, like in Silicon 00:30:55.329 --> 00:30:58.049 Valley, you have venture capital, you have private, 00:30:58.089 --> 00:31:00.309 and it's very clear. If your revenue is X, you 00:31:00.309 --> 00:31:03.180 can go to VC. If your revenue is Y, you can go 00:31:03.180 --> 00:31:05.539 to private equity. If your revenue is below this, 00:31:05.640 --> 00:31:08.000 you go to angel investor. If your revenue is 00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:10.200 this, you can friends and family. Like this is 00:31:10.200 --> 00:31:14.000 pre -seed seed, like a serious A, B. No one, 00:31:14.220 --> 00:31:15.940 like, you know, like if I would go to Silicon 00:31:15.940 --> 00:31:18.500 Valley, like all like the London investment scene, 00:31:18.519 --> 00:31:22.059 like if you like, I would not, I would not turn 00:31:22.059 --> 00:31:24.730 up to the VC and be like. Well, I'm making $10 00:31:24.730 --> 00:31:33.569 ,000 a month from the subscriptions. Can you 00:31:33.569 --> 00:31:36.470 invest in me? The VC would be like, Lina, I love 00:31:36.470 --> 00:31:39.990 you to bits, but I mean, have you read the venture 00:31:39.990 --> 00:31:41.609 capital? You know what I mean? You would never 00:31:41.609 --> 00:31:43.609 even turn up to this because people will look 00:31:43.609 --> 00:31:46.829 at me like, is she delusional? At the same time, 00:31:47.009 --> 00:31:50.730 if you're Uber, You're not going to go to like 00:31:50.730 --> 00:31:53.009 a angel invest and be like, sorry, can you just 00:31:53.009 --> 00:31:55.390 drop like a hundred million on the investment? 00:31:55.569 --> 00:31:56.970 You know, like the people who look at me are, 00:31:57.230 --> 00:32:00.509 okay, like she's like, why is she not going to 00:32:00.509 --> 00:32:02.730 VC's private equity? What is she doing? You know, 00:32:02.730 --> 00:32:05.670 like she, it would paint me as a founder. Like 00:32:05.670 --> 00:32:09.009 I haven't done any research. Okay. So it's very, 00:32:09.009 --> 00:32:12.349 very mature and very structured. What the maturity 00:32:12.349 --> 00:32:16.369 also brings is that to get introductions, it's, 00:32:16.410 --> 00:32:20.190 I wouldn't say easy, but it's. easier because 00:32:20.190 --> 00:32:24.430 these VCs would have like events. They would, 00:32:24.470 --> 00:32:26.369 you know, but it's publicly advertised. You know, 00:32:26.369 --> 00:32:29.130 it's not like someone or someone called you, 00:32:29.230 --> 00:32:33.250 send a WhatsApp and turn up. Now, will we in 00:32:33.250 --> 00:32:36.869 the UAE and Saudi one day be there? For sure. 00:32:37.150 --> 00:32:40.609 So my kids are five and seven. When my kids are 00:32:40.609 --> 00:32:42.450 in their twenties, and if they want to build 00:32:42.450 --> 00:32:44.670 businesses here and raise money and whatever 00:32:44.670 --> 00:32:47.700 else, I am sure. We will be, maybe it will take 00:32:47.700 --> 00:32:50.660 even faster, but we will be like Silicon Valley. 00:32:50.960 --> 00:32:53.119 Okay. Like I have no doubt with their vision, 00:32:53.559 --> 00:32:56.460 but where are we now? Now you need to remember 00:32:56.460 --> 00:33:00.799 that traditional money like investment does not 00:33:00.799 --> 00:33:03.819 exist here in a mature way. So yes, we have VCs, 00:33:04.299 --> 00:33:06.519 we have private equities, we have like angel 00:33:06.519 --> 00:33:09.259 investors, but it's more like you can count on 00:33:09.259 --> 00:33:11.619 like, you know what I mean? It's not like volume, 00:33:11.619 --> 00:33:14.589 you know. So you can't say like, oh, I'm building 00:33:14.589 --> 00:33:17.289 the biotech and there is like a hundred companies 00:33:17.289 --> 00:33:19.230 that I can approach for money. Do you know what 00:33:19.230 --> 00:33:21.589 I mean? Like it will be like, I'm building biotech 00:33:21.589 --> 00:33:24.509 so I can only go after one company and that company 00:33:24.509 --> 00:33:28.470 invests in biotech, fintech, AI and what else, 00:33:28.569 --> 00:33:31.670 you know? But what this region has where the 00:33:31.670 --> 00:33:35.049 West doesn't have, over here it's still very 00:33:35.049 --> 00:33:39.259 family office oriented culture. Okay. So there 00:33:39.259 --> 00:33:43.000 are a lot of wealthy families that have their 00:33:43.000 --> 00:33:46.220 family offices. Okay. That can invest, you know, 00:33:46.259 --> 00:33:47.819 so if you read, you know, how much they invested, 00:33:48.160 --> 00:33:50.880 family offices invested in chat open air. So 00:33:50.880 --> 00:33:52.720 pretty much no one in the U S can even match 00:33:52.720 --> 00:33:54.559 it. You know what they invest, you can reach 00:33:54.559 --> 00:33:57.079 what they invested in, like all these, like, 00:33:57.079 --> 00:33:59.640 um, sales forces and, and Microsoft and what 00:33:59.640 --> 00:34:02.819 else, you know, so the money as of the value 00:34:02.819 --> 00:34:08.409 itself, it exists, right? But the route to that 00:34:08.409 --> 00:34:11.510 money is slightly different to what you would 00:34:11.510 --> 00:34:14.809 have in the Western world. So here is very family 00:34:14.809 --> 00:34:17.650 offices. So what does that mean? If the family 00:34:17.650 --> 00:34:21.250 office does not believe culturally or family, 00:34:21.389 --> 00:34:23.650 you know, like we all have our own beliefs. Yeah. 00:34:23.650 --> 00:34:25.690 Like imagine like someone, you know, coming into 00:34:25.690 --> 00:34:28.309 your family, like you would not marry someone, 00:34:28.309 --> 00:34:31.769 you know, that you don't like, right? While VC 00:34:31.769 --> 00:34:33.769 could invest even if they don't like you because 00:34:33.769 --> 00:34:36.090 it's an opportunity in the Western world. But 00:34:36.090 --> 00:34:38.969 in here, it's like you coming into their family 00:34:38.969 --> 00:34:41.670 sort of thing. So family would judge, family 00:34:41.670 --> 00:34:45.449 would vote. So it could take six months, 12 months, 00:34:45.769 --> 00:34:49.230 two years till you build a relationship with 00:34:49.230 --> 00:34:55.789 them before they will open you a checkbook. What 00:34:55.789 --> 00:34:58.150 that means is that if you are already existing 00:34:58.150 --> 00:35:01.230 business and you can show projection and there 00:35:01.230 --> 00:35:03.789 are some like big VCs behind you in the Western 00:35:03.789 --> 00:35:07.389 world, they will quite openly invite you and 00:35:07.389 --> 00:35:10.210 learn, you know, because they love... People 00:35:10.210 --> 00:35:12.469 over here are very humble in the sense that they 00:35:12.469 --> 00:35:14.909 will tell you, I have never done this biotech. 00:35:15.070 --> 00:35:17.769 You know, like in Europe we're very bad at admitting. 00:35:18.010 --> 00:35:20.429 We will be like, no, I am a big... you know the 00:35:20.429 --> 00:35:22.929 partner in this company and this and this you 00:35:22.929 --> 00:35:24.769 know even if you haven't done it you will not 00:35:24.769 --> 00:35:26.829 openly say in the meeting I have no clue what 00:35:26.829 --> 00:35:29.190 you're presenting to me right well over here 00:35:29.190 --> 00:35:31.289 everyone's very humble they will be like Ricardo 00:35:31.289 --> 00:35:34.789 I absolutely have no idea what it does however 00:35:34.789 --> 00:35:37.849 let me read about it I find it fascinating it's 00:35:37.849 --> 00:35:40.610 good if these people believed in you like maybe 00:35:40.610 --> 00:35:43.110 there is some meat behind you know so they're 00:35:43.110 --> 00:35:45.670 very like a family like a friends you know conversation 00:35:45.670 --> 00:35:48.980 and they would open you so so the First route 00:35:48.980 --> 00:35:53.019 to market is family offices, but it's a lot harder 00:35:53.019 --> 00:35:55.780 to get to them because it's not open, right? 00:35:55.860 --> 00:35:58.559 It's not advertised. It's not like they don't 00:35:58.559 --> 00:36:00.599 organize events. Like the always the question 00:36:00.599 --> 00:36:02.639 is like, how do you get to them? Okay. And how 00:36:02.639 --> 00:36:04.719 do you normally get is like by being just here, 00:36:04.840 --> 00:36:07.320 like you can't, you can't do it from the, from 00:36:07.320 --> 00:36:09.579 anywhere else. You know, it's very still. I would 00:36:09.579 --> 00:36:12.179 say physical, like you need to meet, you met 00:36:12.179 --> 00:36:14.139 someone, someone introduced you, someone, someone 00:36:14.139 --> 00:36:16.940 like this. Very like what, let's say your grandparents 00:36:16.940 --> 00:36:18.659 would do business or my grandparents would do 00:36:18.659 --> 00:36:21.280 business like traditional way, like what now 00:36:21.280 --> 00:36:23.739 in Uzair. So that's one. Secondly, over here, 00:36:23.840 --> 00:36:26.340 we have a lot of, in a very dense environment, 00:36:26.380 --> 00:36:29.179 we have a lot of high network individuals, like 00:36:29.179 --> 00:36:32.260 individuals. So now what does that mean? These 00:36:32.260 --> 00:36:34.599 people don't want to run business on your behalf. 00:36:34.960 --> 00:36:37.059 They generally like, you know how you would go 00:36:37.059 --> 00:36:39.840 into like, VC or like private equity, they will 00:36:39.840 --> 00:36:43.019 ask you for these like budgets, board meetings. 00:36:43.340 --> 00:36:45.239 I sit on quite a lot of like boards, you know, 00:36:45.559 --> 00:36:47.519 like it's like non -exec directors, you know, 00:36:47.539 --> 00:36:50.400 like, like a proper governance structure. Okay. 00:36:51.139 --> 00:36:54.280 Over here, like high network individuals, they 00:36:54.280 --> 00:36:57.760 would believe in you like a founder. Okay. So 00:36:57.760 --> 00:37:00.860 it's not so much about how much you're going 00:37:00.860 --> 00:37:05.699 to build the next Uber, but more about who you 00:37:05.699 --> 00:37:08.699 are as a founder. And when they meet you, like, 00:37:08.780 --> 00:37:10.960 you know, I can't tell you how many success stories 00:37:10.960 --> 00:37:14.179 there is here where like founder was like doing 00:37:14.179 --> 00:37:17.500 A, they met in like angel investor, sort of like 00:37:17.500 --> 00:37:20.219 high network individual who doesn't really even 00:37:20.219 --> 00:37:21.940 really care what they're doing in that sense. 00:37:22.059 --> 00:37:24.460 But they like, they see that spark in founders 00:37:24.460 --> 00:37:28.199 eyes and the investor would say, listen, do you 00:37:28.199 --> 00:37:30.460 not want to do B? I'm not telling you change, 00:37:30.739 --> 00:37:33.179 but I think you would, I've seen enough in my 00:37:33.179 --> 00:37:35.300 life that you might be doing B and you will scale 00:37:35.300 --> 00:37:40.159 at it. And it's a lot more mentoring relationship 00:37:40.159 --> 00:37:44.639 if that's the right word, you know? So these 00:37:44.639 --> 00:37:46.920 high network individuals really might give you 00:37:46.920 --> 00:37:49.500 the cash, you know, but not the millions, you 00:37:49.500 --> 00:37:51.780 know what I mean? Like, so we're talking like 00:37:51.780 --> 00:37:54.119 million, maybe like half million dollars, you 00:37:54.119 --> 00:37:56.659 know, like just to kind of get going and test 00:37:56.659 --> 00:38:00.780 the idea. And then they will really play. a mentor 00:38:00.780 --> 00:38:02.960 role, like you can call them, you can tap into 00:38:02.960 --> 00:38:04.599 their resources. Like, you know, cause most of 00:38:04.599 --> 00:38:07.139 these high network investors have like companies, 00:38:07.500 --> 00:38:10.460 like back office operations, contacts. So if 00:38:10.460 --> 00:38:13.380 you are driven as a founder, you can be like, 00:38:13.579 --> 00:38:15.320 okay, I need this introduction. I know you're 00:38:15.320 --> 00:38:17.579 doing A, I even know you're doing B. Can you 00:38:17.579 --> 00:38:21.000 introduce me to A, B and C? So imagine if Ricardo 00:38:21.000 --> 00:38:23.980 is this investor in ABCD companies and I get 00:38:23.980 --> 00:38:27.800 access when I start on ABCD companies. It's a 00:38:27.800 --> 00:38:31.139 start. It's a start. So if you don't give up, 00:38:31.579 --> 00:38:35.360 you will make it. You will make it. No one will 00:38:35.360 --> 00:38:39.159 give you millions as a salary. So these high 00:38:39.159 --> 00:38:40.519 network individuals are not going to say like, 00:38:40.639 --> 00:38:42.860 okay, now Ricardo, you want 20 ,000 euros salary. 00:38:43.219 --> 00:38:45.019 You know, like they will not, but they will, 00:38:45.079 --> 00:38:47.719 you know, they will give you some cash plus open 00:38:47.719 --> 00:38:51.320 you a lot of doors. And I think on that, it's 00:38:51.320 --> 00:38:54.420 a lot easier to meet here because it's very dense 00:38:54.420 --> 00:38:57.519 society and people are sharing knowledge very 00:38:57.519 --> 00:38:59.579 easily. Then, you know, let's say to meet high 00:38:59.579 --> 00:39:03.679 network individual in London. I personally, I 00:39:03.679 --> 00:39:05.539 don't know where would I begin in London, you 00:39:05.539 --> 00:39:07.400 know, trying to meet high network individuals. 00:39:07.619 --> 00:39:09.659 I wouldn't even know like where to begin. Do 00:39:09.659 --> 00:39:11.300 you see what I'm saying? I'm curious on one thing 00:39:11.300 --> 00:39:13.199 because I know you've been through a lot of struggles. 00:39:13.900 --> 00:39:16.300 Yeah. What do you say to yourself when you're 00:39:16.300 --> 00:39:18.420 struggling with something? What's the one thing, 00:39:18.519 --> 00:39:20.099 what's the one message that pops in the back 00:39:20.099 --> 00:39:22.179 of your mind saying I can do this? What is it? 00:39:22.599 --> 00:39:25.159 What keeps you pushing forward? This is definitely 00:39:25.159 --> 00:39:31.599 not the answer you would expect. But this is 00:39:31.599 --> 00:39:34.239 all in my life, not just like the struggles. 00:39:34.440 --> 00:39:37.780 I always have very clear plan A, B and C, but 00:39:37.780 --> 00:39:40.219 all my life, all my life, no matter what I do. 00:39:40.739 --> 00:39:43.800 So my plan A, take every risk possible. What 00:39:43.800 --> 00:39:46.719 does that mean? I am one of these lucky people 00:39:46.719 --> 00:39:48.800 that bought Bitcoin when no one knew the Bitcoin, 00:39:49.139 --> 00:39:53.280 but I also bought all the NFTs that, you get 00:39:53.280 --> 00:39:56.010 what I'm saying? I made money, lost money. I 00:39:56.010 --> 00:39:59.210 am very, very big risk taker, you know, on a 00:39:59.210 --> 00:40:02.889 plan A. So no matter what I do, because my plan 00:40:02.889 --> 00:40:07.670 B is a husband. Okay. So I know that, you know, 00:40:08.710 --> 00:40:12.469 he has a stable job. I know that from his job, 00:40:12.650 --> 00:40:15.670 we can live in the apartment. We would have enough 00:40:15.670 --> 00:40:18.110 food on the table. The kids will not have to 00:40:18.110 --> 00:40:20.329 drop, you know, and I think it calms me down, 00:40:20.329 --> 00:40:22.449 you know, like knowing that Yes, maybe we cannot 00:40:22.449 --> 00:40:25.250 live the same lifestyle, holidays, flights, and 00:40:25.250 --> 00:40:27.409 I don't know, investments and whatever else, 00:40:27.849 --> 00:40:31.469 but we can survive. You know what I mean? So 00:40:31.469 --> 00:40:34.710 it really calms me down for my plan A. That's 00:40:34.710 --> 00:40:36.269 what I'm, if you ask people and they're like, 00:40:36.329 --> 00:40:38.909 Oh my God, Lina is like next level of risk. And 00:40:38.909 --> 00:40:41.110 that's why I got into this AI before the world 00:40:41.110 --> 00:40:43.949 was even, like I was using ChatGVT in 2022 when 00:40:43.949 --> 00:40:45.809 they just released beta. Do you know what I mean? 00:40:45.949 --> 00:40:49.000 Like, so like. I'm always, I get myself involved 00:40:49.000 --> 00:40:50.780 in all these things that, but I'm very curious, 00:40:50.920 --> 00:40:53.340 like very, very curious as a personality. So 00:40:53.340 --> 00:40:56.360 that's my plan B and my plan C is always my parents. 00:40:56.539 --> 00:40:59.900 And I, and I'm only always very open about them. 00:40:59.940 --> 00:41:01.880 Like I tell them all the time I'm like, like 00:41:01.880 --> 00:41:05.760 I would call my dad and say, listen, I have this 00:41:05.760 --> 00:41:08.159 crazy idea. I want to start something. I'm going 00:41:08.159 --> 00:41:12.320 to pour $50 ,000 from my pocket. If it falls 00:41:12.320 --> 00:41:15.500 and I need like, you know, I will take from my 00:41:15.500 --> 00:41:18.469 immersed business. to put in something crazy. 00:41:19.070 --> 00:41:21.809 But if I have no money for the employees' salaries, 00:41:21.889 --> 00:41:24.110 because I've done some, I don't know, some crazy 00:41:24.110 --> 00:41:27.329 thing, I said, can I borrow from you the cash? 00:41:27.530 --> 00:41:29.489 Like, you know, but I would call him always and 00:41:29.489 --> 00:41:34.210 very openly say, like, can I rely on you to lend 00:41:34.210 --> 00:41:37.849 me this amount of money if I need it? Fingers 00:41:37.849 --> 00:41:41.070 crossed I don't. And, you know, so I think it's 00:41:41.070 --> 00:41:44.349 a fortunate situation to be in. But I think it 00:41:44.349 --> 00:41:48.750 calms me down on having plan A, B, C. And that's 00:41:48.750 --> 00:41:53.530 why I am, as you can see, quite chatty. I drop 00:41:53.530 --> 00:41:55.329 clients, you know, if they, if they don't meet 00:41:55.329 --> 00:41:57.750 my comp, you know, like if they root, if the 00:41:57.750 --> 00:42:00.389 client is rude to my team, I would drop the client 00:42:00.389 --> 00:42:02.429 and I will call the client and say, listen, as 00:42:02.429 --> 00:42:04.489 much, maybe you are even right. Maybe my team 00:42:04.489 --> 00:42:07.110 is wrong, but I can't afford to lose the team. 00:42:07.409 --> 00:42:10.190 I can't. So if this balance is not achieved because 00:42:10.190 --> 00:42:12.789 you don't like. her or him he or she doesn't 00:42:12.789 --> 00:42:15.590 like you maybe let's just park ways doesn't change 00:42:15.590 --> 00:42:18.489 anything between Lina and Ricardo but as business 00:42:18.489 --> 00:42:21.030 we we cannot work and I'm very open about it 00:42:21.030 --> 00:42:24.190 because I'm always thinking that it's good to 00:42:24.190 --> 00:42:27.030 be walking on eggshells it makes you think outside 00:42:27.030 --> 00:42:30.469 the box it makes me hustle and and you know like 00:42:30.469 --> 00:42:32.530 and I think I always laugh you know like my some 00:42:32.530 --> 00:42:34.150 of people say oh it's easy you know and you can 00:42:34.150 --> 00:42:38.639 call dad and I said well you try to be 37 And 00:42:38.639 --> 00:42:40.699 admit to your father that you need to borrow 00:42:40.699 --> 00:42:43.159 money. Like you got to such a level that you 00:42:43.159 --> 00:42:45.820 need to borrow money from your dad. I said like, 00:42:46.079 --> 00:42:48.400 just think about it. How embarrassing is this? 00:42:48.760 --> 00:42:51.599 So yes, maybe it's good that, but like I don't, 00:42:51.599 --> 00:42:54.039 I don't manipulate that because that's also beyond 00:42:54.039 --> 00:42:56.079 embarrassment. You know, like on one level, you 00:42:56.079 --> 00:42:57.980 know, he reads about me in the papers, watches 00:42:57.980 --> 00:43:00.440 on TV. And second minute, like what I need to 00:43:00.440 --> 00:43:02.400 call him, like say, sorry, I can't pay my employees 00:43:02.400 --> 00:43:04.960 salaries. Like I tried not to get myself in a 00:43:04.960 --> 00:43:08.619 situation like this, you know. But that's what 00:43:08.619 --> 00:43:13.599 calms me down. I don't overthink anything, which 00:43:13.599 --> 00:43:17.639 is maybe bad, but I don't stress. I'm very mathematical. 00:43:17.719 --> 00:43:20.659 I try to solve every problem with a potential 00:43:20.659 --> 00:43:24.880 solution. I'm not going to lie, in 10 years of 00:43:24.880 --> 00:43:27.019 doing business, I told the client, don't pay 00:43:27.019 --> 00:43:30.239 this invoice. It was my mess. My team forgot 00:43:30.239 --> 00:43:33.760 to turn off the ads. I called the client and 00:43:33.760 --> 00:43:36.510 said, listen, we spend extra $10 ,000. more than 00:43:36.510 --> 00:43:38.590 you had it on a budget. I would tell the client, 00:43:38.909 --> 00:43:40.449 take it out of my invoice. And they're like, 00:43:40.489 --> 00:43:42.489 no, it's fine. I said, no, no, take it. It's 00:43:42.489 --> 00:43:45.110 my team's mess, but I don't take from their salaries. 00:43:45.250 --> 00:43:47.469 You know what I mean? But I'm very, very big 00:43:47.469 --> 00:43:51.829 believer on, on it's okay to make mistakes as 00:43:51.829 --> 00:43:54.809 long as we learn from them. But I try not to 00:43:54.809 --> 00:43:57.510 stress about like lose sleep over it because 00:43:57.510 --> 00:44:00.050 entrepreneurship is hard, but it's super rewarding. 00:44:00.530 --> 00:44:02.710 Look at me. I'm going to go and work from the 00:44:02.710 --> 00:44:04.550 summer, from Europe, you know, all summer. So 00:44:04.550 --> 00:44:07.860 like. I love what I do, I generally do, and I 00:44:07.860 --> 00:44:10.320 would encourage everyone to do it. But it's definitely, 00:44:10.519 --> 00:44:13.400 I can say, you don't become Jeff Bezos overnight, 00:44:13.460 --> 00:44:17.460 like for sure. It's all about hustle, curiosity, 00:44:18.019 --> 00:44:21.460 pivoting, always, you know, and always, always 00:44:21.460 --> 00:44:23.940 motivating yourself, first of all, because it 00:44:23.940 --> 00:44:26.019 is hard not having a boss. Who do you complain 00:44:26.019 --> 00:44:29.320 to? Nobody. Very true. Lina, as we nearing the 00:44:29.320 --> 00:44:31.380 end of the podcast, if people want to reach out 00:44:31.380 --> 00:44:34.230 to you, what's the best way of doing so? The 00:44:34.230 --> 00:44:37.050 best is definitely LinkedIn. I am the most active 00:44:37.050 --> 00:44:39.530 on LinkedIn. You can find me in all these Instagrams 00:44:39.530 --> 00:44:42.349 and everything, but LinkedIn is, I share about 00:44:42.349 --> 00:44:45.570 e -commerce news and retail news every single 00:44:45.570 --> 00:44:48.650 day. I'm very active. I write all myself. I'm 00:44:48.650 --> 00:44:51.469 truly very passionate about it. And I really 00:44:51.469 --> 00:44:53.610 want to educate as many people as possible about 00:44:53.610 --> 00:44:56.139 the industry itself. This is, I feel like my 00:44:56.139 --> 00:44:59.619 legacy. So LinkedIn is my go -to platform. If 00:44:59.619 --> 00:45:02.519 it's a platform, I also have a quite active WhatsApp 00:45:02.519 --> 00:45:04.519 community, you know, if you are in e -commerce 00:45:04.519 --> 00:45:08.699 and retail, so also very quite active, but LinkedIn 00:45:08.699 --> 00:45:11.079 is, so definitely connect with me, drop me a 00:45:11.079 --> 00:45:13.880 line. Let me know if you enjoy the podcast and 00:45:13.880 --> 00:45:15.719 we take it from there. Sounds good. Lina, thank 00:45:15.719 --> 00:45:17.039 you so much for your time. It's been an absolute 00:45:17.039 --> 00:45:19.179 pleasure. All right, Ricardo. Thanks for having 00:45:19.179 --> 00:45:24.710 me. Bye. Notion is offering 6 months for free 00:45:24.710 --> 00:45:27.489 for new users. Make sure you check out our website, 00:45:27.670 --> 00:45:30.130 the startupevents .co .uk to read them yourself. 00:45:30.530 --> 00:45:33.449 This podcast is also sponsored by startupnetworks 00:45:33.449 --> 00:45:37.309 .co .uk. Startupnetworks is an online forum where 00:45:37.309 --> 00:45:39.289 you can find all the resources you need to run 00:45:39.289 --> 00:45:42.070 your startup, from grants to investors to tips 00:45:42.070 --> 00:45:44.150 and tricks on how to be successful in your startup. 00:45:44.409 --> 00:45:48.869 This podcast is also sponsored by ODEVTECH. ODEVTECH 00:45:48.869 --> 00:45:50.889 is your premier software development partner. 00:45:51.019 --> 00:45:54.739 Make sure you check them out at odev .tech