As a child, I wanted to become the best salesman in the world

Introduce yourself in few sentences..

My name is Plamen P. Popov, I am 42 years old, father of an amazing son Plamen P. Popov - Junior. Glarus third generation from Burgas. Until the age of 10, I grew up literally on the beach of camping Yug during the summers. I have been engaged in entrepreneurship for 25 years, and for the last two of them, I have been writing, as a hobby, a book on branding - “Sh*banian branding”, of which nearly 2000 copies have already been sold and I plan to print it in August.

What did you dream of becoming in your childhood?

As a child, I loved to argue a lot. Over the years, I realized that lawyers argue and I decided that I wanted to be a lawyer so that I could present these arguments. Later, I gave up this idea because I found out that as a salesman, I could argue with much more freedom than lawyers. At that time, I decided that I wanted to become the best salesman in the world.

At what age did you earn your first money? Tell us an interesting story?

The story of my first earned money is very funny, at least for me. And it was not at all funny for my parents at that moment 😀 As I mentioned, we spent summers at camping Yug, where we ran the ice cream stand at the entrance to the beach and the fruit and vegetable shop. Yes, this was before the fall of communism and there was still no competition - one of almost everything. So the stand was positioned right at the entrance to the beach, and across from it, about a hundred meters away, was the camping bar. There, all the owners of some commercial activity, the managers of the base gathered, and mixed with Czech tourists. One evening around 8:00 PM, everyone was already at the bar and the party was starting, there were almost no people on the beach, and my mother and father had left the ice cream stand open and were sitting with the others. At one point, they see that a line is forming in front of the stand and my mother recounts: “We saw only a small hand, how it was handing over an ice cream cone through the window.” It turns out that I was selling ice cream to the last beachgoers for 50 stotinki each, instead of the advertised 17 stotinki, because I couldn't count and give change. When my parents came to the stand to regain control over the ice cream trade, the Czechs refused to order from them and wanted me. That’s how I earned my first money, which, of course, did not stay with me.

What are the main factors and examples that shape us as individuals at an early age and form our interests? What is your recipe for curiosity, sources and wells of information and inspiration at this stage of our human development?

The environment always prevails over the individual. From an early age, the foundation comes from the family. But not through what we say to children, but through what they see us doing. It is absurd to explain to a child that they should not cross on red while “it is safe with us” and we do it holding their hand the next day. It is absurd to want our child to study, but not have a single book at home. This is the foundation upon which every child builds as a person. Then come friends, first in kindergarten, and then in school. They exhibit the habits of their parents and in this way, the choice of educational institution for the child becomes the second most important decision for a child. Years ago, not so much, but today, social networks have a particularly strong influence. Their influence is becoming more and more palpable and even manages to prevail over family habits where they are particularly weak. For me, there is no exact recipe that works as a panacea for good upbringing and proper development of a personality, because there are too many variables, but I still have the following belief: the busier a child is with creating something, the less nonsense they think and the more information they generate that they will need to achieve a good final result. Sports are certainly something mandatory, but working with hands, especially for the little ones, is invaluable. There is no more developing action than creating/assembling something from scratch.

Has there been any significant change in your perceptions in more mature age about what motivates you to do or not do something?

I would replace the word motivation with discipline. Let me give you an example: if humanity relied solely on motivation, we would still be waiting for rain to harvest crops and feed ourselves. Then motivation is at its peak because it is easy. Discipline, on the other hand, has made us work and create the reservoir, the irrigation systems, and that during drought, to overcome circumstances and obstacles. For many people, motivation drops when conditions hinder results. Discipline is the alternative that is a reliable and fail-safe method. The inconsistency of motivation has created one of the most absurd business niches - that of motivational coaches and speakers, because every time your motivation drops, you have to pay for a session. They are like Viagra, temporarily boosting results, but not fundamentally solving the problem, and you have to buy it again and again.

 

Whose decision was it where to pursue higher education and what to study? Was that decision correct, looking at it from today’s perspective?

My mother and father studied at the construction technical school in Burgas. My brother graduated in tourism. The decision to start a business immediately after the army and not to enter university was mine. I wanted a different future for myself. Yes, it is true that my business education turned out to be much more expensive and longer, but the quality of this empirical approach is incomparably higher.

Share with us more about your interests, knowledge, skills, and hobbies?

My main personal interests are people and our psychology. Over the years, I have taken NLP courses, personal development training, professional public speaking, negotiations, sales, and so on, and in all of them, psychology is leading. I am interested in reading literature that examines human behavior and why and how we make decisions. I love to walk for miles and think about strategies or analyze results. I love to play sports, but I also find excuses that I don't have time. Here I admit that my discipline is not at the level I would like it to be. Professionally, I am very interested in creating business projects and selecting and uniting quality entrepreneurs.

Would you change your profession today and which areas of activity capture your interest?

In no way. My profession is to increase the influence of the Bulgarian entrepreneur. Combining 20 years of experience, I created a new form of magazine that exercises effective branding and in five years I created a construction company, a cleaning company is forthcoming, a branding company, dozens of friendships, and hundreds of partnerships in over 15 business areas. My work requires me to constantly learn new things and I have neither the desire nor the time to think about something different that would limit me to just one area.

They say that personal branding is everything that people say about you when you are not in the same room with them. What would you like to hear today?

Life has taught me that it doesn't matter what anyone says about anything or anyone. Words are something momentary, closely related to momentary interest or emotion. I believe that branding is the feeling someone gets when they hear our name. And in this regard, personal branding can be highly volatile. Never the same for all people. In this sense, it proves the maxim that you can never be just good or just bad for everyone. So, the better decision is always to be yourself rather than trying to please someone. What I have been hearing for years and would like to continue hearing is that I am genuine. Regardless of whether someone likes me or not.

Emotional intelligence, adaptability, and flexibility, as well as our soft skills, are key conditions for success in recent years. How do you cope with the daily challenges of life to stay in good shape and mood?

I am not always in good shape or mood. At the risk of repeating myself, I will repeat myself - discipline. Doing the things you don't feel like doing at that moment is a victory over yourself and circumstances. Here I am not talking about motivation, I am talking about the human factor, which is also the riskiest. We are just people, we find ourselves in stupid situations, we part with loved ones, we get sick, we get angry, we crash. But the truth is that the world does not stop spinning. My way of coping if the day is really bad in an emotional, energetic sense is to stop. I stop for an hour, two, a day, but during that time I work on myself. I reflect on why I am in this state, find a pragmatic solution, then write down my tasks as points and start executing them. This way, I quickly get out of unhealthy emotional states.

What are the most important conclusions you have made so far for maintaining proper communication considering the different characters of the people you meet daily – colleagues, friends, close ones?

Not to chat about important things, but to verbalize them. To give the necessary time to myself and others to find our center and then make an informed decision regarding the situation. Sometimes the right communication is the one that has been interrupted.

What do you think about money? What is their influence on your life? What is your advice to people who often ask themselves questions related to money and how sufficient they are?

I have been very poor, I have also been rich. The world is created in a way that is enslaved to money. The influence of payment means, whether it is a lev, euro, or dollar, is enormous, and the truth is that they are never enough. This is a paradox. We can live with a lot and with little, but the more we have, the more we need. 99% of millionaires are more afraid for their money than people who are on a salary, for example. If someone says that money doesn't matter, they are lying to you, most often because they have no money, and this thought helps them accept their situation more lightly. Of course, money does not bring happiness or health, although with money you can afford better treatment, but to live normally, the influence of money is inevitable. At least for now.

What is the most valuable career advice you would give to people?

Don't waste time! If you are at work, work. If you don't feel like working, quit and find what you feel like working on. Don't waste your time on laziness and excuses, because you will sink into a swamp of mediocrity.