There are no sure things in the world of business. In fact, studies tell us that most new businesses fail within five years. In light of this, many entrepreneurs are interested to learn whatever they can to improve their chances for success. One great way to do this is to look to the example of others who have already found success in business ventures of their own. To that end, today we’ll be looking at the career of Oleg Firer, CEO of Net Element and a leader in the payment processing industry. An overview of some of the key moments in his professional life can be instructive for anyone just starting in the world of business.

Learning to overcome challenges

There aren’t many sure things in the business world, but there’s one thing of which you can be assured when starting your own business — it will be challenging. Markets shift, products go out of date, reality falls short of projections, there’s practically an endless array of ways in which things can go wrong. How you respond to the challenges inherent to being an entrepreneur will go a long way towards determining your eventual success or lack thereof. Meet challenges with a drive to overcome them, and your chances for success improve. Lose your way when confronted with a challenge and your path becomes much more difficult.

This is, perhaps, one of the key lessons from the early life of Oleg Firer. Born in Odessa, USSR, the future entrepreneur and his family fled the Soviet Union when he was just 11. After an arduous journey of a refugee, the family settled in New York to begin their new life. The experiences of growing up as a recent immigrant, like learning to speak a new language and adopting the norms of a new home, were difficult. However, it can be argued that they provided him with the chance to hone his ability to overcome adversity. He eventually flourished in his new setting, showcasing his ability to thrive when the going gets tough. This same set of skills would serve him well later in life when his businesses met challenges of their own.

Grow experience in a field

It’s possible to innovate in a field in which you’re not experienced. Bringing a fresh set of ideas to a field can be paradigm-shifting and can help to establish a new business from a sea of more uniform endeavors. However, it’s safe to say that this type of success is somewhat rare. That stands to reason since the less an entrepreneur knows about the field in which they operate, the less equipped they are to capitalize on opportunities within that field. Conversely, if you’re starting a business in a field in which you have a great deal of experience, you may be able to build a successful endeavor on the back of the knowledge provided by that experience.

To see how this can play out in reality, let’s look to the early professional life of the entrepreneur. When he was just 15, he got a job working at a franchise electronics store. In year’s he had been promoted to a general manager, the youngest person at the company to hold the role. That job gave him a depth of experience working with various aspects of technology. He was able to see how technology in the 1990s was changing the very core of the business world. He was also able to see how much of this change was fueled by the internet and wireless communication. When it came time for him to leave that company, as we’ll see, he was well equipped for future endeavors in tech.

Be okay to start over

Some people create a first business idea, succeed, and are able to ride that success for the rest of their life. This, however, is not the norm. If you look to the life of successful business people, it’s normal to see a string of past failures from which they’ve learned. This is so common that failure often isn’t seen as a bad thing in the business world. Instead, it can be seen as a learning opportunity. If you can similarly adopt this mindset, it has the potential to serve you well on the road ahead.

In the case of Oleg Firer, we can see a few different opportunities for learning that came from business failures. One of the most prominent examples of this comes from an early wireless supply business that he started after his time at the electronics franchise. That business was operating with a great deal of success and it seemed that he had found a hit his first time out at bat. That sentiment dried up, however, following the infamous collapse of MCI WorldCom. When the telecommunications giant folded, it had widespread effects on the wireless economy. This trickled down to the entrepreneur’s own endeavor, and he had to close his doors. The big takeaway he gathered from the collapse was that diversification was a critical way to stave off ruin.

Apply your lessons

Eventually, with some luck, the time may come in your business life where your experience and learning opportunities will converge in just the right way so as to create a success. The work of the CEO at Net Element helps showcase what can happen when experience and preparation meet opportunity.

After his exit from the wireless market, he started working in the payment processing industry. After a string of businesses and positions at other companies, he hit it big with the simple idea of buying up distressed entities and consolidating their user bases. By doing so, he was reaping the benefits of his past learnings on the importance of diversification. Eventually, that endeavor was purchased by a NASDAQ-listed Net Element and he was installed as CEO. To this day, the company prioritizes diversification in its offerings, a trait that has made it a well-respected player in payment processing and other industries.

There’s really no one-size-fits-all approach to business. However, one can improve one’s chances of finding success by looking to the example set by those who’ve already found it in their own work. The above overview of the career of Oleg Firer is one example of this. By noting the manner in which the CEO has overcome obstacles, learned from failure, and brought his learning to his current endeavors, prospective entrepreneurs can improve their chances for success in the world of business.

More information about Oleg Firer on Crunchbase

Source: http://companycultures.org/career-of-oleg-firer-illustrates-how-to-successfully-grow-a-business/