The entrepreneur who thinks about tomorrow changes the world today

Introduce yourself in a few sentences – who are you today as a person, professional, and woman?

My name is Maria Amzina, I am the founder of schools “Educational Technologies” with offices in Sofia and larger cities in Bulgaria. I am the founder of two private schools – a primary school and a high school – Private Schools “Educational Technologies.”

I am the author of a personal development program for both schools, a certified teacher in communication skills, and a coach for preparation for International certificates in key competencies – “Leadership Vision” and “Presentation Skills and Public Speaking” at the University of The Hague.

I am the manager of the joint-stock company EDUTECH.

At Private Schools “Educational Technologies,” I teach personal development, mentor students and teachers, train teachers in their role as mentors, and participate as a mentor in the management team of the schools.

I am the author of the book “Is It Worth It?” - a business story about the brand Educational Technologies with valuable business lessons.

 

How does a lady entrepreneur feel when the Day of Women Entrepreneurs arrives? What does this day mean for you personally and professionally?

For the first time, I will participate in the Leadership Forum for women entrepreneurs. I feel special for the opportunity to share my vision for a business with a cause. Thank you for the opportunity given for the organization to share experiences and learn from others.

 

What did you dream of as a child? Is there something from those dreams that still drives you forward?

As a child, I had several dreams – to be a teacher, a director, a doctor.

Being a teacher is a calling for me, a mission, a responsibility. This is a truly fulfilled dream, and the creation of private schools is the reward for me from the Universe.

I have also fulfilled my dream of being a director – I write plays for the students in the schools, which always have a human message. I have participated in the creation of a holistic medical center as a manager, in the entire organization and work with doctors. Thus, I also touched this extremely human profession.

My need to make a contribution is what drives me forward through all these years and gives me a boost even now, after I turned 60. I feel even more confident and inspired because I see the benefits.

 

At what age did you earn your first money and what was the feeling? Share a funny or instructive incident.

I worked for the first time when I was in 8th grade – I participated in hay gathering. They paid us 0.50 stotinki a day. But 5 leva for 10 days was money back then.

My first job after graduating from high school was at Zavod Elektrа – I had to work for 8 months to apply again to the university because I was not accepted the first year.

As a student, I washed train cars, and what I would share here  is my satisfaction from what I left – a clean car for the people who would travel in it.

I have instructive incidents from my work experience, described in my book “Is It Worth It?”.

 

How did your entrepreneurial journey begin? Do you remember your first steps, the emotions, and the difficulties back then?

The field of my business is Education. Everything started after I entered the classroom for the first time as a teacher, still a student, at 23 years old. I was invited to substitute as a geography teacher at the school in the village of Bistritsa, where I studied.

This was the first opportunity for me – the realization of my calling.

Even in the first classes, I wanted every child to understand what I was teaching and to master it. What I knew from the university was not enough for me. I started looking for sources of information on different teaching methods. Thus, I found a book from the book market near the university “Techniques of Learning and Mental Work” – a poorly published translation, but it gave me direction. Later, I also came across a German-Austrian system for working with colors, which I applied. Thus, I created my own training system, which yielded high effectiveness.

The next step that brought me closer to creating the brand Educational Technologies was again an external factor – the trust of a girl in me to prepare her for applying with geography at Sofia University. She became a student, and this gave me the confidence to develop my training system with teaching materials. No one knew me, but I strongly believed in the benefits I could provide in teaching students, as well as teaching them how to learn, which would leave them with long-term benefits.

Thus, my husband and I printed the first textbooks, and for two years I tested my system for free.

The high success rate created the effect of word-of-mouth advertising. From here begins the organization of our school and the creation of our brand.

 

What challenges did you face at the beginning, and which taught you the most?

My first challenge was that no one knew me in the student training market. At that time, well-known and sought-after were teachers from universities or teachers who had established their names in the market for many years. I had to earn their trust – I describe details from the stories in my book.

But the most difficult challenges in our business have been the people we invited to work with us. The right people are a reward, and they are part of our mission and cause. The wrong people are the test of faith, of whether we deserve this mission.

This challenge is still valid now, when I have a stable management team.

 

What is the most difficult moment in your career or business, and how did you manage to overcome it?

Business is a system related to resources – with finances, people who directly perform the service, collaborators to whom we entrust the most important information about the quality of the service and organization, and last but not least are the clients you can win but also lose due to poor quality of service from direct performers.

The most difficult moments for me have always been the challenges with the wrong people who show another face to the clients but actually represent me and my cause. In our business, we have had several cases of gross disloyalty – stealing clients (students of our school) from teachers who have taken advantage of direct communication with students and stealing the business from managers in schools across the country.

In both cases, we overcame the challenges by relying on our values for purely human systems. Thus, we have retained our clients through integrity towards them.

A difficult moment over the years was also the high inflation in 1996 – 1997, when all money evaporated at an exchange rate of 3000 leva for 1 dollar. Despite this, we managed to get through this period while retaining our clients and our team of the right people.

 

And what is your greatest success so far – that moment when you said to yourself “It was worth it”?

In the industry in which our business operates, I measure success by the success of each student, especially those students who have had difficulties in learning or low motivation. It always “is worth” the effort, it is always worth it. The reward comes with the success of the students.

Such a moment is also the first award that my author program for personal development received at the international forum “Global School” for 2024.

 

What is your greatest lesson as an entrepreneur and as a woman leader?

I learned that not all people change. I use four directions in managing people – I apply them from Patrick Lencioni's book “The Advantage of Being Exceptional.” These are: organizational clarity, cascading communication, teamwork, and purely human systems. I apply human systems when giving feedback, during training, even when I have to part with an employee due to not coping with the work.

Over the years, I have had the delusion that the people who come believe in what I believe. But over time, I have been convinced that even if I make the best training and apply the most human systems – some people do not change.  My expectations for a long time with my hopes for change have not been justified. What I learned as a lesson is to part with such people at the beginning, at the first indications that they are not part of the cause.

 

Which people or experiences from your childhood have had the greatest influence on who you are today?

What I am now is the result of my upbringing in my family, from the model of my parents – their example of honesty, loyalty, ability to be grateful, hard work, personal contribution.

My teachers have also had an impact on me. As a student, I admired Margaret Thatcher – as a woman, as a leader. I was inspired by artists like Sophia Loren, as well as many Bulgarian films from my youth – “Yesterday” and others, in which humanity was the leading message.

 

How do you maintain your curiosity and inspiration – what are your sources of energy, knowledge, and new ideas?

My strong point is curiosity. I am a searching person and always want to know “Why,” “How,” “What.” As a teacher, I always look for ways to teach students to learn effectively, methods of motivation, I am interested in the success of others and I research it, I read many business books and books on personal development. I always do self-assessment, and when I am not confident, I look for ways to learn.

I never go unprepared to work, to a meeting with parents, or on stage when I am in front of a large audience. I compare myself with others in the industry, not as a competition, but as inspiration.

 

Has your perception of what motivates you and how you measure your success changed over the years?

Since entering the classroom for the first time as a teacher until today, I have been guided by the same values – meaningfulness, conscientious execution of tasks, leaving a benefit, seeking new ways if something does not work, and caring for every child entrusted to me or our schools.

 

How did you decide where and what to study? If you could go back, would you choose the same?

In my desire to be a teacher and my interest in geography, I was motivated to apply for geography at Sofia University. If I had to choose again – I would choose to be a teacher again.

 

What helped you the most in the transition from education to entrepreneurship?

What I learned at the university is only an orientation in my profession.

I have always wanted to learn what I do not know. Thus, in addition to searching for methodology and techniques for learning, I started looking for how to motivate and inspire my students, how to do marketing, how to manage people. Business books have been my main teachers. I have always read such books as textbooks and have taken those models that correspond to my vision for business.

I do not live with illusions – the nice words of a lecturer can inspire me, but the rest is my job.

 

How do you maintain your personal brand and how would you like people to talk about you when you are not in the room?

As a woman and a leader, I want to be recognized as elegant, feminine, impressive, and vibrant. My aura is always joyful, kind, respectful, and caring. This is who I am.

I am extremely happy that I have many followers – the chief manager of the private schools, directors, teachers, managers of our offices. What makes me extremely satisfied are the nice and grateful words of the students and parents, said about our work as schools and educational institutions.

Positive words about our work, about our brand, are not for me, they are for the people who make things happen and directly perform the service. This means that I have done my job.

 

Women's leadership is often associated with empathy and resilience. How do you balance strength and softness in managing people and processes?

I answered this question above – with the method of purely human systems. I always accept the people who work with me as close, with their joys, worries, and needs. I always respond when support is needed.

As a manager, I have an important rule for me – pay people for what you agreed upon, pay them more when they leave added value for the clients, give them part of your share when they work as if the business is theirs. And pay the people who leave what you owe them, and to those who have contributed personally – give an additional bonus.

 

How does a lady entrepreneur maintain herself – what helps you to always be in shape, inspired, and confident?

Whether a lady is an entrepreneur or not, when she loves herself, she takes care of herself and emphasizes her femininity and aura. For me, elegance and the vision of a woman is an attitude towards oneself and others. Our vision is our message to others, our vision is a model for others. And nothing justifies a woman not to look inspiring both as a woman and as a leader.

I have a long working day, almost 18 hours, but I manage to organize my home, cook most of the time, and give my attention to my family. As a mother, I am always available to my children as support and when they need me in different situations or advice. In communicating with my children, I learn from them as well.

 

What are your rituals or practices for emotional intelligence, balance, and harmony in a busy daily life?

To build emotional intelligence, one must first realize that the subconscious determines their life. It is necessary to be aware that the accumulated programs, models, and traumas in us define us and this prevents us from unfolding our potential. In other words – this is our protective ego, from which we must free ourselves. When a person understands these things, it is right to strive to apply them and work with their ego.

I am interested in this and seek different information – there is much to learn about the power of our lineage, about how to be free, how to build virtues in us that shape our strengths and correspondingly the culture of our character.

I work on this every day and pass it on to students and teachers.

I start the day with gratitude. I thank and always, when I have worried about someone or something and everything has ended well. I am grateful to the Universe for the mission it has given me and I want to fulfill it with dignity.

 

What place do money occupy in your idea of success? What is your personal principle regarding financial independence and satisfaction?

Money is energy. The first is to respect money. It is necessary to value the time when they were in shortage or lack for us. And my family and I have had such periods. Here, resilience has helped us. A large part of the money that has come as profit from growth of our business in the country has been invested in the creation of private schools, for which we do not spare resources even now.

I feel financially independent, but that does not inspire me to live ostentatiously. On the contrary, I prefer to live modestly, but to be able to afford everything regarding a healthy and comfortable standard.

 

What advice would you give to ladies who are considering starting their own business but are still hesitating?

First, to find their calling. And if they have an idea – first to see what benefit what they will do will bring, to seek meaning for others in what they will do, regardless of whether it will be a product or a service. And to not stop learning, reading, seeking the most correct way to realize the benefit of their business.

 

What makes you feel truly successful – personal satisfaction, achievements, influence on others, or something else?

All three directions make me truly successful – personal satisfaction from what I leave behind as I make students and teachers successful, as I influence them by example. My achievements are measured by the achievements of the teachers, and their achievements by the achievements of their students. For me, it is always important to do things in an exceptional way, with the details, so as to leave exceptional benefits.

What gives me satisfaction for a job well done is the success of others whom I have trained, led, and delegated tasks to.

 

What do you want to leave behind – in your organization, community, or in the world?

This is the main question that should concern every entrepreneur.

Behind me, I have many successful and inspired students who have developed as individuals by following my model, which they felt during my work with them. I have many examples of this and personal feedback from them. This is something I have left in them, beyond their preparation for university applications. Behind me, I have about 1000 trained students as candidates in a period of 19 years. I have also taught at NBU, where I had full classrooms of students, and I still maintain relationships with some. I have left inspiration in my students whom I taught in school when I was a regular teacher.

I am extremely happy when I have left inspiration in teachers who work in our schools or in private schools and have some of the highest results, and therefore also incomes.

What I want to leave is to realize my cause in this business – through private schools Educational Technologies ™, for the children in our schools to grow up as good people, confident individuals and striving for personal achievements. And with our parents and teachers, I want to create a community of trusted adults for the children, a community with shared values. Only then can we contribute to the children growing up as good people and thus change the world for the better.