Dragos Roua is the guy behind DragosRoua.com, a popular blog around personal development and productivity. He has some very interesting stories to share, so I decided to send him a few questions.
Oscar: Hi Dragos and thanks for giving me the opportunity to interview you. You own a blog which is very popular in the personal development niche, can you talk a bit about how you become interested in personal development in the first place?
Dragos: I don’t think there was an “a-ha” moment in which I decided I will go into personal development. Almost any intention to improve myself have been built gradually, most of the time while trying to overcome some sort of obstacle. It was a normal response to a difficult stimuli. Fact is, in the last 5-6 years I’ve been more and more preoccupied with self-improvement, generally speaking. If we’re talking about the blog, well, that’s another story. The decision to start and maintain a personal development blog was taken at a certain moment in my life.
In 2007 I decided to sell my online business and focus on something else. At that time, I was quite a visible online entrepreneur in Romania, and some of the web properties I built were leaders in their niche (talking about cars and cuisine). But the whole activity of maintaining and managing my business became more of a burden than a joyful ride. It was like going to a job, although I owned the business. I used to joke about that: “well, now instead of one boss, I have all the employees in my own business as bosses”. I just wanted something different. So, I started the selling negotiations. After more than a year and 7 potential clients, in the summer of 2008 I sold the company. There was quite a strict non-compete clause in the contract, which basically said I won’t be allowed to do anything on the online publishing and niche portals, not only in Romania, but also in several European countries where my client had operations. The only exception mentioned in the contract was my blog. The moment I signed the contract, 2 years ago, I knew that my next activity will be a blog on personal development. Couldn’t be otherwise, I just signed myself into it.
Oscar: Can you talk about how you sold your business and become financial independent? Many of us dream of being financial independent, but I know it takes hard work to emulate what you did. How did your life changed after you sold your business?
Dragos: First of all, being financially independent is a little bit relative. The fact that you own a bigger amount of money doesn’t automagically spares you from financial crisis. On the contrary, what changes with the crisis is its amplitude. The more you have, the bigger the crisis, so to speak. Now, about selling an online business, that’s a tedious task. It involves a lot of work to create and maintain sustainable processes. When I sold it, my company had 10 years of operations on the market. We had 4 or 5 year long clients, which, in the online business, is quite a lot. I had, like I told you, 7 potential clients. Some of them were pro-active, meaning they initiated a specific discussion involving selling, others had to be pitched personally by me. The negotiations took more than a year. All in all, was quite a difficult process, but it was incredibly liberating for me. I used to tell that I didn’t sold my company, instead, I bought my freedom.
After I sold my business a lot of things happened. The moment you don’t have to struggle for the day to day paycheck something strange occurs. And not necessarily something pleasurable. You realize you have to do something with your life. Making a living is so often an excuse for not looking deep into your heart and see what’s happening there. Once you have the money, you’re forced to do it. And finally get a grasp of one of the most important secrets in this world: money doesn’t solve problems, people solve problems. A lot of stuff changed both in my personal and professional life. One of the most visible effects was the absence of compromise. I wouldn’t let any more compromises into my life. Both personal and professional life. Another effect was the immediate action for building a scaffold for my passion, and this is how the blog started. Even before my 6 months hand over period finished, I already started my blog, I started to learn, to apply what I’ve learned, to make plans and to put them into practice. It was like: finally, I have the time, I really don’t want to waste a second. In a way, I worked even more after I sold my business, although it just doesn’t feel like work anymore for me.
My final advice, even if I repeat myself: money doesn’t solve problems, people solve problems.
Oscar: Do you think your tech background helped you with blogging/business? I often advocate the importance of learning technical things, what do you think about it?
Dragos: Indirectly, it helped a lot. I learned how to deploy and maintain a linux server from the moment it arrives at your door in pieces to the moment you put it in the rack at the co-hosting facility and as you already know this is a huge amount of work. Installing a LAMP environment was something I did with my eyes closed, so to speak. This certainly helped me to understand the technical processes behind a blog, what a ping server is, how the inbound links are working, how you can automate certain tasks and so on. But once I decided to blog as my main form of providing value, the technical part faded away. Although I have a dedicated server on which I host my blog, I like to delegate as much as possible form the technical part and focus on the writing, interaction, planning and evaluating.
Oscar: Who are/were your mentors? What books/tapes changed your life?
Dragos: You may be surprised but one of the persons who inspired me the most was and still is, Ernest Hemmingway. When I was young, I wanted to become a writer and live in Paris, as he did. Instead, I become a successful business man but the dream never really died. I liked his discipline and winner mindset. There were times when he didn’t had enough to eat so he pretended he was invited to lunch and left his wife and first boy to eat alone, while he was actually walking around in parks and writing at the bistros. I think Hemmingway is one of the most persistent persons I ever know. Also, one of the most successful, of course.
Recently, I was dazzled away by The Secret (the movie). Half of my life was spent in communism and I don’t fall easily for this get rich quick mumbo jumbo, but The Secret was a real milestone. If Hemmingway showed me what determination can do, The Secret opened a door towards exploring your passions, your emotions and be in tune with higher frequencies and vibrations. I know the movie by heart now, but there was a time when I was looking at it at least 2-3 times a day.
Oscar: In your book, you talk about the importance of having the right mindset, but at the same time you say it’s very important to take action. Can you offer some advice to people who struggle to find the motivation to take action?
Dragos: Well, for me, a mindset IS an action too, so to speak. For me, a mindset is a certain way to do things, not only to have some specific thoughts. One thing I learned being an online entrepreneur is that a brilliant idea is worth nothing. And that’s equally true for an intention or a visualization. You can have tons of visualizations each day and you won’t have not even an inch of abundance. Things are created by action. Pure and focused, continuous and persistent action. I think that’s one of the most stupid interpretations of The Secret (as well as the Bible verse: Ask and you should be given): just thinking at beautiful things won’t magically bring them into your life. You have to take action. Now. Right now.
Oscar: Thanks Dragos for the interview. I wish you all the best with your books and have a great 2010!
Dragos: Thank you, Oscar for this opportunity and I wish all the best to you and your readers. Be Brilliantly Better! :-)
After the interview it turned out that Dragos is releasing another awesome book this month. I don’t know all the details, but this should another reason to follow him in his blog. In the mean time you can still check out his awesome book 30 sentences for a millionaire mindset, for developing the right entrepreneurial mindset.