IAM1694 – Co-founder Passionate About Diversity and Leveraging Technology

Why it was selected for “CBNation Architects”: Nelia has experience with helping tech companies and organizations start and build their startups in a short period of time. We talked a lot about “failing fast” and the benefits of speed. I also loved how Nelia talked about asking and finding your “why” helps you to be intentional with your decisions.

I AM CEO Handbook Volume 3 is HERE and it's FREE. Get your copy here: http://cbnation.co/iamceo3. Get the 100+ things that you can learn from 1600 business podcasts we recorded. Hear Gresh's story, learn the 16 business pillars from the podcast, find out about CBNation Architects and why you might be one and so much more. Did we mention it was FREE? Download it today! 

Previous Episode: https://iamceo.co/2020/12/18/iam858-co-founder-passionate-about-diversity-and-leveraging-technology/

Transcription:

Nelia Kovbasa Teaser 00:00

So that's why we built MVPs. In a short period of time, you go to the market, you see the feedback and you decide on how to move with the product forward or or make the PWA or do something better and do more features. So that is the part of our business, which is the most crucial for our customers, for startups, and for tech companies.

Intro 00:23

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs. Without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I am CEO podcast.

Gresham Harkless 00:50

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I am CEO podcast and I appreciate you listening to this episode. And if you've been listening this year, you know that we hit 1600 episodes and we're doing something a little bit different where we're repurposing our favorite episodes around certain categories, topics, or as I like to call them, business pillars that we think are going to be extremely impactful for CEOs, entrepreneurs, business owners, and what I like to call the CV nation architects, who are looking to love, love their organizations.

This month is around technology. We're a technology company that does dot, dot, dot. Technology is no longer an afterthought or something that you might do. It's actually a core part of your business and if you're a real estate investor, you're using it. If you're a financial firm, you're using it, cleaning company, author, speaker, you are using technology, and if you are in any type of business, you are using technology. And if you're not, then you're probably gonna be disrupted by this.

So this month we're gonna look into repurposing episodes that are around technology. Whether that be firms or organizations that are actually investing in technology and have that as a core part of their mission and vision of what they're doing, or people that just might be using them as CEO hacks and CEO nuggets in ways that you can leverage them. So remember that we're all a technology company that does dot, dot dot or a technology organization that does dot, dot dot. So sit back and enjoy this special episode of the I am CEO podcast.

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I am CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Nelia Kovbasa of GTMPlus. Nelia, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Nelia Kovbasa 02:20

Hello Gresham. Thanks for having me here today. I'm really so excited and I want to share everything with entrepreneurs and CEOs.

Gresham Harkless 02:29

Yeah, absolutely. And I'm super excited to have you on as well too, and get to hear a little bit more about your story and all the awesome work that you're doing. And before we jumped in, I wanted to read a little bit more about Nelia so you can hear about all these awesome things that she's doing.

She's the CEO and co-founder of GTMPlus, a software development company that provides IT outsourcing, team extension, and customer, and technical. Services for businesses that want to work with broad-minded people who understand customer problems and provide excellent solutions. She's a public speaker, co-founder of Startup School University Edition, the get-things-done person with a passion for diversity in leveraging technology to make life digitally better.

Nelia, are you ready to speak to the I am CEO community?

Nelia Kovbasa 03:12

Yeah. Thank you for the introduction. I'm ready.

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Gresham Harkless 03:15

All right, let's do it then. So to kick everything off, I wanted to hear a little bit more on how you got started. Could you take us through what I call your CEO story and what'll let you get started with all the awesome things you're working on?

Nelia Kovbasa 03:25

Okay. Actually, I started as the project manager in a tech business incubator, and I was always part of startups, their passion, and the way they work. And I actually wanted to do my business at that time, and I did. I started the Education Academy, Tech Education Academy in Austria in Europe with tutors around the world. I failed the first time. Actually, there were several times, but that was the first time because we didn't do the market research and the market was not ready for the product we created at that time.

Later on, I worked as an IT consultant for tech companies and also as a project manager. I found my perfect partners and we decided to set up the company, which will help tech businesses to grow fast enough to keep up with the developing world, all the time. So, yeah, that's the story. Right now I'm a really young, CEO of the company. We've started the company five years ago and right now I'm 26, so you can imagine.

Gresham Harkless 04:37

Yeah, absolutely. Well, happy five years and it's a very exciting time and probably a crazy time as well too. But I think so many times we forget that when you have the failures or the mistakes, the things that don't go the way we want them to go, a lot of times there are seeds of success that allow us to start our next venture and the venture after that a lot better. But it's important that we understand that and then also take the lessons learned that we can take to learn and be better.

Nelia Kovbasa 05:02

Yep. All the time. All the time you need to see what you've done wrong and what to do better next time.

Gresham Harkless 05:08

Yeah, absolutely. So, I know I touched on it a little bit when I read your bio. Could you take us through GTM plus, tell us a little bit more on how you're working with and serving the clients you have now.

Nelia Kovbasa 05:18

Yeah, actually I say that we help startups and companies to grow their tech products faster than light speed. To say the truth, we provide software development and staff augmentation in a really short period of time. Our team does understand that time is money and there is not so much time for proving your concept, for example.

So that's why we built MVPs in a short period of time, you go to the market, you see the feedback, and you decide on how to move with the product forward, or make the PWA or do something better and do more features. So that is part of our business which is the most crucial for our customers, for startups, and for tech companies.

Gresham Harkless 06:03

Yeah, that's absolutely huge. And to be able to have something, you get to understand if you want to double down and put more resources into it, or if you need to pivot or maybe just put it on the shelf and not deal with it, but you have that information, that data that you can build from it sounds like.

Nelia Kovbasa: 06:24

Yeah. Yeah, because I was doing mistakes from the beginning in my businesses, and I know that the faster you do them, the faster you can make the right choice after. So it's really, really important to fail first.

Gresham Harkless 06:31

Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. And this could be for yourself personally or your business, or a combination of both, but what do you feel sets you apart and makes you unique?

Nelia Kovbasa 06:42

My success secret is to combine everything, to relax, to have enough rest, and work enough. I have several tips. I have applications on my phone, which I use all the time. The first one is Google Calendar and I book there everything. I'm booking there for my vacation half a year before and I book time for rest and I book time for a family there. And so nobody can book a meeting after.

Also, I'm using the application for meditation. I think it's really nice to have this time for your own and to calm and relax. Also, I think that it's really important to work really dedicated to one task at one time. So I'm using the application. There are a lot of applications for that but I'm using focus to do this. This is the application for using Pomodoro techniques. So the Pomodoro technique makes you focus on one thing at one time for a short period of time, but you don't have any other disturbing things from outside. So that helps to work productively.

And also I have one thing that may be a secret. It's a book. How will you Measure your Life, Clayton Christensen. I reread this book each year I think, and all the time when I need to make really crucial decisions. And this book helped me to choose the right way all the time and I think that my choices were correct all the time.

Gresham Harkless 08:19

Nice. I definitely appreciate that. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO Nugget. So this could be like a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client or if you hopped into a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

Nelia Kovbasa 08:35

Okay. CEO nugget for me is work smart, not hard. And actually, that helps to not burn out and achieve your goal because working a lot and hard is not about goal achievement, it's about working all the time. And working smart is another way for organizing your life and balancing your life and achieving your really important goals of the whole life because when you are doing something, you are not doing this for nothing.

You need to think all the time about the huge goal and the way that is the most easiest way to go there. So that should be the smart way, not the way when you are burned out all the time, every day you are really tired of life. It's not that thing.

Gresham Harkless 09:29

Yeah, absolutely. And I'll say so many times that it's sometimes not the number of hours in the day, it's how you leverage them. And, I think so many times we forget that we can be very strategic with what we're doing on a day-to-day basis. So that's why I love that nugget because it talks about really understanding and being focused on how to be creative, smart, and intelligent with the decisions that you make on a regular basis. Not just spending time just to spend it, but to be very strategic and smart about those every second and every hour.

Nelia Kovbasa 09:57

Yeah. That's really important. Because the only thing that is not renewable is time. And when we waste the time, there is no way to go back and change something. So the thing that is the most important and the most expensive is time, I think.

Gresham Harkless 10:13

Yeah. Yeah. I would definitely agree with that. And I imagine definitely, working with clients as you are related to that IT aspect and be able to consult with them and let them know the best ways, that's probably one of the best ways to leverage as much time as you can and be very smart with your time.

Nelia Kovbasa 10:28

Yeah, that's correct. Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 10:31

Awesome, awesome, awesome. So now I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote and quote CEOs on this show. Nelia, what is being a CEO mean to you?

Nelia Kovbasa 10:44

Okay. For me, being a CEO is about leading people by example to a goal that is common for everyone in your organization. The goal should be defined and everyone should understand it. And you as a leader, as the CEO should empower people to go there and to achieve it.

So, the CEO is about leading and inspiration of people around you and making them feel comfortable in dedicating their time to your business and to your common goal.

Gresham Harkless 11:26

Nice. I definitely appreciate that and as you said, leading and being inspirational. I love that word that you used about empowering. I think so many times as leaders, we think that it's that person that's pointing in front of the ship and saying, everybody does this, that, and third. But I think when you really empower people, not only do they really take ownership of their position and what it is that they're doing, but they also find out sometimes how to problem solve without being told how to do that. And I think that at the heart of entrepreneurship and business, especially in the startup world, it's all about solving problems.

So as more people you have doing that, the more likely you have a successful organization.

Nelia Kovbasa 12:01

Yeah. You're right. Because you need to have people in a team whom you can rely on. Not only saying the instruction, what to do.

Gresham Harkless 12:09

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well, Nelia I truly appreciate that definition and I appreciate your time even more. What I want us to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know, and of course, how best they can get ahold of you and find out about all the awesome things you and your team are working on.

Nelia Kovbasa 12:29

Actually, what I want to say is that before doing something, it's really important to define what you are doing it for. And I think that every CEO has his or her own company and they need to think about the company like, is this my loved company or is this company just for business.

So when it's a company for business, try to find a company that you will love, and then move forward with that company that will make you happy and provide you with the result.

Gresham Harkless 13:05

Yeah, absolutely. And I think asking those questions, as we talked about and said so much about in the nugget is so important. Because I think a lot of times we're just going through life, going through the business, going from a day-to-day standpoint, but to be able to ask those foundational questions and be able to have those answers is really how you get to where you want to be.

Nelia Kovbasa 13:24

Yeah. That's correct. Absolutely. I really thank you for this podcast. All the time I'm sharing these thoughts with people, I'm very excited because I think that it may change the life of someone. I hope that will do.

Gresham Harkless 13:39

Yeah, absolutely. I think you're doing phenomenal things and it's great to have and pick the brains of really awesome people that are doing phenomenal things to learn from. So I appreciate you for doing that. And, for people that might want to follow up with you and hear more about what you're doing, what's the best way for them to get ahold of you?

Nelia Kovbasa 13:54

We can connect on LinkedIn or you may write my email. I think you can share my email with them.

Gresham Harkless 14:02

Absolutely. We will have that information in the show notes so that everybody can follow up with you Nelia. Again, I truly appreciate you as well. Thanks for taking time out, the most valuable resources we talked about, and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Outro 14:15

Thank you for listening to the I am CEO podcast, powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co. I am CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and everywhere you listen to podcasts.

Subscribe and leave us a five-star rating. Grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I am CEO podcast with Gresham Harless. Thank you for listening.

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