BIO: Cesar Hasselmann is an author, mentor, coach, and business consultant.
STORY: Cesar started a very successful gas and supermarket distribution network when he was only 16 years old. Unfortunately, about three years later, his country’s president stole public funds and caused most businesses, including Cesar’s, to suddenly collapse.
LEARNING: Challenges make you a better entrepreneur. Everything has a time. Understand the macro environment.
“Make your business and life work for you, not the other way around.”
Cesar Hasselmann
Guest profile
Cesar Hasselmann is an author, mentor, coach, and business consultant. After helping multinational and international companies adjust and succeed in their projects, he began to branch out and help small to medium business owners achieve success and founded AMH Consultancy.
Worst investment ever
When Cesar was 16, he started his first distribution business in Brazil. His family knew some business people who owned industries, and he got to distribute their products through different channels. One of the most successful channels was a small gas station he’d started.
Later, Cesar opened several gas stations and now had a successful network. This opened more opportunities for him, and he started selling for all the big gas station brands, like Shell. Cesar asked his brother to join him in the business as a partner. His brother left his job at Coca-Cola and joined him. The brother took over the supermarket distribution channel.
The business grew, and they started adding more products. The two brothers were experiencing great success until the president stole public funds with the excuse of paying the country’s debt. Everything started to collapse, and the whole country was scrambling. The only money businesses could hold was the new money coming in because the money they had saved was gone—this crippled Cesar’s business.
Lessons learned
- Challenges make you a better entrepreneur.
- Everything has a time—be mindful of making decisions too late or too early in the process.
- Don’t start a business if you don’t know where you’ll end up or how it will impact your life in the next 20 years.
- Work today on the things you want to see happen. Don’t wait for tomorrow. It’s too expensive, time-consuming, and stressful.
Andrew’s takeaways
- Understand the macro environment.
- Understand the currency you’re using and what’s going on with it.
- Investing is about risk, and sometimes bad things happen without warning.
Actionable advice
Know your magic numbers. Also, have your plan in place. So if you have a family business, you must have a succession, acquisition, or sales plan. You need to be ready to sell every day.
Cesar’s recommended resources
Cesa recommends reading his upcoming book, The Life Break Through (available in the next 30 days). This book is about business, family, and personal cycles. Cesar broke down these cycles to allow people to understand their different emotions and their impact on their businesses.
No.1 goal for the next 12 months
Cesar’s number one goal for the next 12 months is to have two properties—100% percent paid out—and $1 million in his bank account.
Parting words
“Make the best use of my experience to put yourself in the place where you’re fulfilled and have a better life.”
Cesar Hasselmann
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