“Training gives discipline”. How sport helps Ivan Serebrennikov create business

I wake up at 6:00-7:00 am, read the news, then a book, take a cold shower, have breakfast.

Then I look at the calendar and form two priorities for the day. Afterward, I drive to the gym. At 8:00-9:00 I start my workout.

Colleagues have known for a long time that I’m not on call until 11:00, I don’t get important work-related tasks assigned to me. This is my personal time. Then I go to meetings related to business development, if there are any, or take care of things that require decision-making. After 18:00, if I have free time, my personal life begins: rendezvous with friends, dinner or a movie with my beloved, family meetings.

My family is Orthodox, so we spend significant Orthodox holidays together. Also on weekends we traditionally meet with friends, go out for activities (snowmobiles in winter, picnics in summer). We even have our own club of fathers, where we often visit different cities or even go to the mountains (we have been to Elbrus a couple times).

Since I can already fly myself, sometimes with my son we go somewhere near Moscow on a light-engine airplane.

I practice meditation every day, do a lot of sports (up to six times a week), go to a monastery a couple of times a year and disconnect for a few days. Also, regular travel and vacations give me a chance to get away from the hustle and bustle of work for a while.

I have two simple rules:

1. Do the two most important and prioritized tasks in the current time that lead me to my goal every day from my planner.
2. Not to do anything that doesn’t get me closer to my goal. However, there are days when I can just stay out of the house and watch a TV show because there are no important tasks.

As for books, I read a variety of literature. Five years ago the emphasis was on business works, now I like fiction more. I sometimes take courses too, if there is a task where I lack skills.

However, the best development for me is networking with people from different spheres who have achieved great success. Firstly, their results inspire confidence. Secondly, I absorb the life experience of real characters faster and apply it to myself, which allows me to change and transform faster.

I do not consider myself successful: rather, I am only on the way to success.

In general, in my opinion, to consider myself successful limits the rate of growth, but I do not devalue my experience and achievements.

If to speak at all about the first earnings, it was in the fifth grade. Then we washed cars with friends and neighbors in the yard, but all the money was spent on sweets, because in the 90’s they were in short supply, and I wanted goodies.

Something more serious started in the 11th grade. I have always loved IT and started a dedicated internet line in my neighborhood – connecting a device/group of devices to the internet via wire/cable.

This was in high demand at the time because before that, one used internet through a phone line. Since I loved cars very much, I used the money I earned to buy myself a car.

It’s amazing, but I opened a sole proprietorship at the age of 17. Many people will probably think that it is impossible to do it as a minor, but before it was possible to become an individual entrepreneur not through the tax office, but through the administration. The authorization was in the form of a blue book.

It required bringing a letter from my parents with a signature confirming that I was capable and emancipated. They supported my endeavors and gave me this document.

Even now I do not cease to overcome obstacles, I cope in different ways, more often I settle things myself, because I am a good negotiator and can agree, as it seems to me, with almost any person.

At some point I realized that people and connections are my main assets. Over the course of several years, I have acquired some decent acquaintances. Now they often help me to solve various problems.

I have tried to do business with partners, but the best experience I had was in a project when I was in it alone.

I don’t think that doing business alone is better, it’s just my experience. Now in some projects I am more of an enabler and own a minority stake, but there are also projects where I am alone.

An enquirer is a consultant with deep knowledge and experience in a particular field who helps companies solve strategic issues.

However, being the only shareholder does not mean not having a companion. I consider my team to be partners, as they do most of the business, performing tasks on a daily basis. I only set the vector, the strategy and give resources.

The advice I would give myself at the beginning of this journey is to take your time, take reasonable risks, and take care of your finances.

Speaking of money: I do not feel that I have achieved financial success. I think such a fortune and an expensive purchase will come when I really feel satisfied with the result.

Business is a journey, you never know when you will get to the result.

Started playing sports in 2012 when I was 27. Was into karate for a few years and got belts every year.

We need the serotonin released when we achieve goals. Physical activity allows us to achieve them much faster, helping to reduce the stress levels caused by the uncertainty of the entrepreneurial journey.

Sport is a real pill that will definitely make businesses feel better. And the simplest thing that exercise gives me is discipline.

In 2020, I got a knee injury and after a few months I realized that I couldn’t swing my legs like that anymore. Then I started boxing. I train at least four to six times a week, depending on how busy I am.

In 2017, my (now close) friend, whom we met at Skolkovo, got me interested in triathlon, which includes swimming, biking, and running. In the summer I ride my bike on the bike paths in Krylatskoe (a neighborhood in Moscow) twice a week, in the winter I run 10-12 km twice a week and go to one swim training session every week all year round.

I also try to make a couple of starts every year. I have two Ironman 70.3 runs under my belt. Now I want to do a full Ironman 140.6. To achieve your goals outside of sports, you just have to get your heel up every day and accomplish the tasks.

As far as nutrition goes, I was a vegan for many years, didn’t eat meat or even drink alcohol, from the word “at all”, it went on like that for seven or eight years.

Now I just don’t eat flour and sweets. In the morning – buckwheat porridge or eggs in any form, in the afternoon – chicken/ turkey or fish, in the evening – vegetables. I try not to eat after 18-19. From snacks I usually have protein bars without carbs. These are my basic rules, sometimes I can break them, but I try to do it rarely.

Books and movies everyone should read and watch

I would recommend the Bible, but I realize that not everyone is religious, and if they are, there may be other faiths. To get a feel for the entrepreneurial spirit, any biography of American brands would do, from Steve Jobs to Nike (I loved Phil Knight’s “The Shoe Salesman” by the way).

From the tool books I can recommend “Purpose. The Process of Continuous Improvement” by Eliyahu Goldratt and Jeff Cox (a book-cousin of productive people, I call it that). Six years ago I gave it to all the top managers in my company.

Another good author is Nassim Taleb, known as the author of Black Swan: Under the Sign of Contingency and Antifragility. He writes well about risks and attitudes towards them.

Theodore Dreiser talks about finance, Ayn Rand about will and freedom of spirit. Some of her profound works are: “The Source,” “Atlas Shrugged.”

4 habits that keep me energized – both physically and emotionally

1. Meditation;
2. regular sports;
3. sleep schedule (11:00 p.m. to bed, 6:30 a.m. to rise).
4. socializing with successful people.

Blitz-survey

In what sport could you become a professional athlete?

Most likely, boxing, martial arts are my element, my way of thinking. I am a fighter by life, and sport reflects my essence well.

What was your first job?

I have always been an entrepreneur, in my youth it was connected with electronics trading, and I spent the money I earned on a present for my girlfriend – a pager and a bouquet of flowers. After a while my first major purchase was a car when I was 19 years old.

What would you like to be?

I would become a pilot, the sky has always drawn me, and now I fly a light-engine airplane, finishing my private pilot training.

Favorite exercise in the gym?

Boxing sparring and biking.

What do you usually do to relax after a hard day?

Meditate, listen to music, drive my car and think about the future.

Which athlete do you consider an idol?

No idol as such, but I consider Khabib [Nurmagomedov] a good example both in sport and in his approach to thinking.

What dish could you eat all your life?

Buckwheat with stew.

Do you have to force yourself to do sports?

Forcing myself to do anything at all is not my approach. I make a deal with myself, it’s the only way it’s fun and rewarding. Resistance leads to depression and illness.