Our journey touches us to the different and unpredictable

Introduce yourself in a few words..

I am a strange nature, delving into the details of cases that at first glance seem clear and predictable, until the facts and logic point in another direction – usually a problematic case that no one even suspected! This is me – Joanna Krysteva Dimitrova, the person expected to find a solution to a financial problem, to restructure debt by transforming property, to restructure a functioning but ineffective structure, or to build a working mechanism that can achieve the goals and respond to the strategy of the shareholders or business owners or strategic unit. It sounds and looks complicated, but over the years it becomes easier and more predictable because the cases and processes themselves change and acquire a similar structural logic. Only the thinking of people and their actions and steps change over time. I am one of those financiers and corporate managers for whom numbers speak a lot and from them you can reach conclusions and they can give you a logical explanation and hint at the right solution.

It is not difficult in itself, it requires a lot of practice and hundreds of cases, knowledge of the system and predictability of reactions and events.

For you, traveling around the world is?

A conscious necessity and providing an opportunity for something new, different, challenging, and enriching. Meetings with different people, cultures, customs, and traditions, local cuisine, cultural values, and landmarks, different ways of working and team and process structures, another perspective on architecture and building urban environments, other religions and attitudes towards values in life.

How many different countries have you seen so far? Tell us an interesting incident or highlights from your travels?

I rather think about where I haven't been, due to the nature of my work I travel almost every month to several different destinations for almost 20 years. My work takes me to places that are so different and interesting with other people and traditions, understandings and approaches to things, different working environments and presentations, different from all the others. The beauty is the touch with the different and unpredictable, which implies exclusivity and a personal business and personal communication environment of communication and respect, hospitality and valuing opinions, advice, and direct intervention and recommendation on the essence of finding a solution. There is a significant difference in the feeling between work and personal travels. When they are work-related, the scope is broader and meetings imply mutuality and sharing to achieve the expected result from the joint work or restructuring, for which I am actually there.

Do you like to repeat destinations? Give examples and motivation “for” or “against”?

Yes, I repeat above all places that have enchanted me with beauty and recharge me positively, to which I love to go again and again and every time it feels like the first time. One such place is Vienna, the Schönbrunn Palace, as well as all their small castles in different small villages and towns, some of them reconstructed into beautiful places for relaxation and entertainment, the beauty of Budva and Sveti Stefan, all places are beautiful, each has its own charm, allure, mystery, and beauty, depending on the state of the person and in a moment of relaxation what exactly they would like to experience and enjoy. Each place positively charges in its own way and leaves the feeling of uncertainty and unpredictability, mystery, and even some mystique from the mysteries and knowledge of ancient culture and traditions.

What was your first trip that truly changed you as a professional and can be said to have changed your thinking?

My first trip to Switzerland, and subsequently Liechtenstein, Zug, Zurich where I actually stayed and worked changed me as a person, shaped my thinking as a person and financier and strategist, predetermined my future career and my approach to money and numbers, my attitude towards assets and working with them, their place in business and their transformation into useful asset management as a global strategic business unit. Switzerland is a country that definitely changes both your thinking and your attitude towards things in life, the value of money and their transformation in business processes with a sense of efficiency and effectiveness in the return on invested funds and the value of money over time, the difference between value and price and the overall attitude towards money as a means. Practicality and effective attitude towards resources and assets as a whole. This is a whole science in professional relations.

 

What do you learn about yourself and your professional skills when you are in a new cultural environment?

How the environment itself influences a person and changes them depending on what they encounter and what they go through, the different focus and perspective on things, the different mentality and approach to everyday life, even the planned activities for the day and checking them off as completed. It’s as if sometimes you become another person and the very pace and influence of meetings make you think differently, unconventionally, the paradox is that you discover things you didn’t know you had, as if your brain thinks differently and generates different atypical ideas. In my conversations with representatives from different levels of a Chinese company, I found that my thinking when forming responses to their questions is so different and atypical for me that it’s as if I stepped out of my “box” and started thinking outside of it.

Have you met people or ideas during your travels that have influenced your career path?

Oh yes, categorically, my conversations with the Chinese in 2008 changed my life forever, they changed my way of thinking, my logic, and my strategic focus through the lens not of the problem, but looking into the very appropriate solution. The most valuable strategic lesson in my life was given to me by them with the following question - case: At the bus stop waits an elderly woman who needs help, your best friend who saved your life years ago, and the love of your life. You pass by in your car and see all three of them, but you can only take one of them, what will you do and how will you act? The correct answer shows who you really are, your quick thinking, your attitude towards people, and your grading of the importance of things for you. From my answer, which was instantaneous and very quick, I actually realized the power of my logical thinking, my reactions in a choice situation, and my ability to act correctly, viewed from all sides. In fact, this is a kind of test for yourself to assess who you are and what your thinking is. This was truly a great experience that I wish everyone to experience. I can provide the answer upon request, let everyone test themselves.

Do you think that traveling helps you expand your professional network? How?

Absolutely always happens, because resolving cases and problems unites and brings people closer, not because they love each other a lot or are attractive to each other, nothing like that, just the necessity to discuss things with a kindred spirit like you confirms the need to have someone to talk to about a given issue or case with the clear consciousness that you will be understood and the other side can also offer a solution. You simply have similar focuses and understanding of things. This is valued above all by those for whom this is important. Otherwise, no, you just see each other and that’s it, and if there’s a next case, it’s the same, mutual interest and usefulness, nothing more. That exists too. Still, let’s not forget that interest gathers people, organizations, and companies above all. That’s life, and we are part of it.

What skills do you develop the most when you travel, and how do they reflect on your work?

Logical thinking and a different perspective on things aligned with the nature and national psychology of the other country.

Is there a city or country that has inspired you to start a new business or project?

Yes, I have such a perspective that is clarifying at the moment and is in the process of structuring.

When you are in an unfamiliar country, do you feel more motivated or more distracted? Why?

I do not feel distracted, but I am generally always motivated, regardless of where I am and with whom I am.

Are there destinations that act as a “restart” for your creativity and ambition?

All Asian countries and places with strategic creativity and architecture, a model for human thought, brain creativity, and realization.

How do you manage the balance between work and pleasure when you travel?

I turn off the button of work thinking and turn on that of relaxed and unburdened thinking in rest mode.

How have travels changed the way you perceive the value of money?

The travels themselves have not done this, but the country that has such an attitude and is shown by life in it does it very successfully and forever. To learn to differentiate between value and price.

Do you travel to find new ways to make money?

When the perception and understanding of things from before and now change and how we want it to be tomorrow, then the equivalent of income also changes in parallel with our perception of how we see tomorrow. Then the idea itself crystallizes. Money is not an end in itself, they are a consequence.

What lessons about financial independence have you learned from different economies and cultures?

I would say that financial independence should start to be cultivated and built from an early age, as well as the attitude and value of money. If this is left to be acquired during travels at a completed mature age, it is not a disaster or a vice, but relatively difficult and quickly one will have to get back on track, otherwise it is relatively difficult and painful for the person when facing their dreams and reality and the confrontation between them. The yawning chasm is usually filled slowly, time-consuming, and painfully.

Do you think it is better to spend on experiences rather than material possessions?

As a financier, I will say that money is primarily a means to achieve something important – there are no dogmas and stigmatization exactly for what is good and what is not! Allocating funds for experiences is for me related to valuable experience and memories that last forever, as for material possessions it depends on what they are, if they are such whose value increases over time, it is a kind of investment and that is wonderful, it depends on how each person perceives this and how they see things. Every formula works, but not every one is profitable and logical. It’s a matter of individual judgment from each. I, in this aspect, am a conservative financier who allocates for memories and experience and for investments with increasing value.

How do you see the future of digital nomadic life?

I do not see it clearly and distinctly, just temporarily.

Are there specific countries that are more favorable for work and investments?

Every country is favorable for investments, for work, and for new ideas and products, it depends on what they are and where they are applicable, realizable, and suitable. Everything is a matter of analysis.

If you could choose one place in the world to develop your next big idea, what would it be and why?

China and India – this is the future of technology, digital money, and product positioning from a consumer perspective. Just consumer capacity.

What are the destinations you would recommend to be visited and why?

China, India, Switzerland – each of them shows what is obvious and useful to see and understand.

What is the career advice you would give based on what you have seen around the world?

There is nothing universally right!

Everyone paves the way for those who know where they are going. Keep moving forward and never stop or give up. You will reach exactly where you set out to go. Just determine the direction and arm yourself with patience and perseverance!

There are no impossible things!