Nick Is An Amazon Entrepreneur
What’s your story?
I was born in Belarus, raised in Canada from age 11, and I now reside in Thailand and travel the world. At 19, I started my first business running a window cleaning franchise. Since then, I have built and sold my home services company, started an Amazon brand spanning every Amazon FBA platform, and helped grow an emerging cannabis business, in Canada, to a 5 figure profit within 6 months. I have visited 20% of the countries across the globe and have made amazing friends along the way.
What excites you most about your industry?
Learning about the way the world is changing. It feels like we’ve gone from big corporate to online e-commerce and services, to niche companies, made up of small teams around the world. As a business owner and visionary, I have learned a lot about my strengths in team and brand building. I have also learned to hand over the creation of marketing platforms and coding to experts. Oh how I admire the wizards that know how to code!
What’s your connection to Asia?
As a boy, I dreamt about living in Asia. My first visit to Asia was to Thailand in 2016. My best friend convinced me to move there to see the opportunities for myself. Since then, I’ve lived in countries all over the world for 3-6 months at a time, and came to realise that Asia is my home. I enjoy the business opportunities, the people I’ve met, the hustle, the lifestyle of adventure, as well as the safety. This is the decade of Asia.
Favourite city in Asia for business and why?
Manila. I heard a lot of amazing things about Hong Kong and Shanghai but never got a chance to spend a lot of time in these places. I love working with people in person and Manila offers an amazing pool of talent for a third of the cost of the countries in the west. The people I’ve met here are strides ahead of digital nomads I’ve met in Chiang Mai. Not to mention the lifestyle is to die for.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?
Expect anything worthwhile to take a long time. Jumping from project to project is a sure way to experience long-term failure.
Who inspires you?
A lot of people. Recently, Charles Buckowski and his legacy. His gravestone reads “don’t try.” Yet, in his poetry, he says “Try. And if you’re going to try, go all the way. It’s the only good fight there is.”
What have you just learnt recently that blew you away?
A succinct expression of how to persuade anyone. In “The One Sentence Persuasion Course,” Blair Warren breaks it down simply as, “People will do anything for those who encourage their dreams, justify their failures, allay their fears, confirm their suspicions and help them throw rocks at their enemies.” Listen to Tyler Durden’s fight club speech and see how it hits every beat of the sentence.
If you had your time again, what would you do differently?
I would dream bigger instead of getting comfortable with achieved success. Having a healthy income from an Amazon business that required less than 4 hours per week of maintenance has spoiled me. Drifting in the void, as Tim Ferriss would describe it, is where talent and ambition dies. It’s never about the money, but it is by the meaningful work you can do, that aligns with what you want to learn, people you want to meet, and confronting your fears.
How do you unwind?
Late evening drinks with smart people caught up in a smart conversation about something real. Getting out of my head with something physical like MMA, paintball, shooting range, rock climbing, racing, or long boarding. These activities dispel all concerns and worries.
Favourite Asian destination for relaxation? Why?
A motorcycle adventure into the unknown. So far, the best trip has been the Mae Hong Son loop around northern Thailand while listening to audiobooks. But I believe the beaches and small towns in the Philippines give Thailand a run for its money.
Everyone in business should read this book:
“How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big,” by Scott Adams. “A goal is a specific objective that you either achieve or don’t sometime in the future. A system is something you do on a regular basis that increases your odds of happiness in the long run. If you do something every day, it’s a system. If you’re waiting to achieve it someday in the future, it’s a goal.”
Shameless plug for your business:
You can find my Amazon FBA Story on YouTube.
How can people connect with you?
@nicknerov on Instagram. Nick Nerov on Facebook. Don’t be shy. Being social is my thing.
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This interview is part of the ‘Callum Connects’ series of more than 500 interviews
Callum Laing is an entrepreneur and investor based in Singapore. He has previously started, built and sold half a dozen businesses and is now a Partner at Unity-Group Private Equity and Co-Founder and CEO of MBH Corporation PLC. He is the author of three best-selling books ‘Progressive Partnerships’, ‘Agglomerate’ and ‘Entrepreneurial Investing’.
Connect with Callum on Twitter and LinkedIn
Download free copies of his books at www.callumlaing.com
