Do you think we lost it?

We have had many reviews and comments on our Facebook page of CE, they are cool to read and I like to sometimes scroll through the many different aspects and comments that different people have said of CE throughout all of its history.

Today I opened one page of our comment book and read something that really touched me. Here it is

Hopeless. Do you think we lost it?

Realization. Do you think we can do it?

Broken. Do you think I am fixable?

Lost. Do you think we can bring us back?

Pale. Can you bring the colours back?

Untouchable. How close can we get?

Cold. Can I get warm just by looking at you?

Dreamless. Can we build our world again?

Unknown. Are we really strangers?

Fragile. Can you put together my pieces?

Young. Have we gone too far?

Speechless. Did we run out of words?

Dead. My heartbeat is gone.

I really enjoyed this, I know it has nothing to do with CE, but I thought more people should read it too

Staff

This is a post about hiring, maintaining and keeping the staff at your business.

This has been extremely challenging for me. Not being the typical ‘boss’ personality, I am emotional and indecisive. When it comes to being tough and strong, I am weak and honestly I feel more frustrated with myself in times of trouble then with other people. I find it hard to express if I am upset about something, I am sometimes easy on the wrong things and rough on the things that are not so important.

After the crew of CE left in 2013, I was left with cafe to find staff and people who would work there. There were many of our friends who asked to join the crew and they did, from that point on, I had many people come and go. Only a few of the original workers have remained to keep their job at CE. Some have moved on to jobs they felt they were more suited for or more passionate about. Some have left the country to start a new life. Some have left on bad terms… but not many… in fact hardly any. Despite all the ups and downs of staff recruitment and training. I have learnt a few good lessons when it comes to bringing the team together and working with people

For one, hiring your friends can be a tricky but rewarding experience. This is something almost everyone warns you about ‘don’t hire your friends, you won’t be able to tell them anything’, I don’t think its actually about not hiring your friends, but more about choosing which friends you would like to work with. Think about how long you have known them, what experiences you have gone through together, what stories they have told you from their previous jobs and how they react to criticism. If you have found them difficult to communicate with and sensitive in all the other areas of your life, chances are that it will be the same, but amplified in a working environment. I found that people rarely change, small adjustments happen, but the core of their personality is staying with them. If you find dependable, honest and hard-working people that are your friends, it could be a great way of strengthening your relationship to work with them.

I learnt also the importance of being appreciative and caring for your staff. Asking questions instead of giving orders.. if something needs to be done, ask them if they think it should be done and if perhaps they could do it. I once returned from a trip to find the Café dirty, I was very distressed and showed my disappointment and displeasure all over my face. I did not get angry, but I made it clear that it was really not what I wanted to see. The person in charge had been under a tremendous amount of strain, personally and at her other job that she was working. She was taking care of CE for such low wage, because she wanted to help me. My lack of appreciation and approval pushed her off the edge and she was very emotional and quit her job. I lost a good person on the team, because I didn’t take time to assess the situation and went ahead with my first emotional reaction. From that I learnt its better to hold back on the wave of frustration until you try to understand the situation. Look at the big picture and see more then the surface dirt before you lose your cool and also potentially lose a friend and worker. How do I choose people that will work at CE? I usually give them a short interview, ask them what they think they can bring to the team, talk to them about how they feel about our place and explain to them the way we work. We are an extremely casual business, I also work a lot of shifts and waitress, tend the bar, take out the trash and do whatever needs to be. The people who work for me.. actually work with me. I see the whole project of CE as a team effort with less bossing and more co-working. The people who come to work for Culture Exchange, whether its good or not, usually start off as friends or become my good friends during the time we work together. I genuinely love each of my staff and want to make sure they are happy where they work, I have heard from others that perhaps being too involved is not a good thing. The truth is that all their lives are important to me, and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

We all meet together every other Sunday in a casual meeting, we plan the week ahead and talk through any problems in the management or service areas. We mostly talk about practical things, sometimes we get serious and talk about problems within the team. I used to have a hard time being the coordinator of the meeting. It was hard for me to have confidence to lead. Nothing anyone can say or do can make you gain more confidence, for me, its always a matter of time, experience and practise. The tip for that is ‘Act the way you want to feel’ If you want to be able to communicate, take a leadership role and direct your team, you need to realise that sometimes its not natural, some personalities find it hard, I am one of those. I had to pretend that I was confident in my abilities so many time and stammer out what I wanted to say. Now that I have gone through so many meetings and discussions with the crew, I can honestly say that I do feel confident, able to be in the driving seat and have the guts to say the more difficult things. Don’t panic if you are not where you think you should be, we are growing towards our goals and everyone has to start somewhere.

What to do when a staff member is not cooperating with the team? Now the way I see this, CE is like a family, you cannot get rid of family, the crew that work there have all had ups and downs, so have I. The point is that I never fired someone, I never felt that firing someone is a solution. By inviting them on the crew, I invite all parts of their personality into the bigger family. If someone is seriously disruptive, we try every other method to try and get on the same page. Mostly honest communication will do the trick, love, patience and not getting overly critical and blowing things our of proportion. It so easy to be harsh and to criticise someone, however there is another way. Talk it out, get the guts to actually explain to them how you feel. Most of the time after I have talked with a member of staff about any problem, and they explain to me their reasons, I am no longer upset, I am calm and feel understanding of the situation in a new way.

Design by Sanja Andjelkovic

Does action and in action lead to the same path?

Do we feel differently in the end when we try?

 This is the question I was wondering the other day. This post has nothing to do with business or anything important in any way, except its kind of... well heart-felt.

So I have been discussing with some people about their lives, some of these people are in some kind of depression and in-action rut. They don't want to do anything with their lives, or try, because they feel that no matter what they do they will be unhappy and dissatisfied. They are kind of deeply dissatisfied with everything surrounding them and with themselves as well I guess. I was speaking with a friend when I told him about everything that I am trying to do, all my little projects, silly ideas, actions, future plans... and he told me 'yeah but in the end you are still dissatisfied right'. Well actually now that I think about it, I am a very restless kind of person. It just seems that no matter how much I do, I feel its never enough. I feel constantly dissatisfied with myself and I am always trying to improve. Sometimes I feel very depressed when I look at the business, and I feel it will never be good enough.

What makes all that we do worthwhile?

Why do we try for a better world and better ourselves when it feels totally pointless? 

Can banging your head against a brick wall break the wall in any way?

Can we make a dent in this society?

Can we be satisfied?

Can we really change the world?

I cannot answer all those questions yet.

I came to the conclusion that in the end, the feelings of goodness, happiness and satisfaction that I have felt from the Cafe and all our other projects have been extremely intense emotions. Also the feelings I have had with myself of dissatisfaction and discouragement have been equally as intense. Meaning the lows and the highs have been drastic.

I think then that it is the point that if you want to feel at all, you must move, you must be passionate and you must not let the fire in your heart die. You will not always feel good, you may feel even more depressed then ever at the lack of reaction you see from your efforts. But you will feel. All of these things are what make us alive.

Passion is that little flame that is inside each person, nurtured or neglected to each persons on actions on those things.

IN the end I think I will always choose to be a person who acts, who creates and who trys. I couldn't bear to sit at home and not do anything, it would slowly put out my flame, and I would feel nothing at all at some point in time. That is the one thing that I don't want. I know how badly it hurts to put your heart, soul and passion out on the front lines, to forge ahead with ideas, feelings, emotions and everything that you want. But in the end, you experience... you win some, you lose some, but you lived some.

A friend of mine once told me a very impassioned speech about life and he ended it with 'try or die... its always going to be that'.

SO the message for today, guys we are going to die anyways one day, lets not do it when we are 25, we must try or die to make the world and ourselves better in small ways everyday.  

And if we cannot change the world and we are deeply dissatisfied with our situation or surroundings, maybe this is the time for you to change YOU, you are after all a part of the world, in being better.. more loving, sincere, true, less superficial, more giving, kind and sharing, you are impacting change. 

The Fascinating Banking system in Serbia

    OK, I have mentally prepared myself for this post, its about the financial structure and bank establishment that Serbia has.

  I am a pretty well known face at my local bank (after they took my balaclava off anyways).

  My basic and poor level of Serbian language has always been a source of true confusion and fun when confronted with the detailed legalities of the money business. I can almost see the dread on the faces of the bank clerks when I walk in and approach them with 'Imam pitanje' (I have a question). After this we are in a battle of understanding from both sides, this whole charade involves a great amount of acting skills, patience and translating.

  The bank clerks at Intesa Bank where I go, for the most part do not speak English (or they don't want to) I found this funny, because Serbian people as a whole speak very good English and are extremely talented in languages. As far as the South of Serbia I met many middle-aged and older people who are speaking English very well, and of course most of the young people do. However you cannot expect to be understood or have your questions answered if you are a foreigner and need some help with a financial procedure.

  For the most part the bank clerks are polite, kind and to the point. They are not suffering fools gladly (unfortunately for me) and they don't have much patience when it comes to waiting for you to piece together your Serbian words to explain what you want.

  Setting up an account is easy enough, hand gestures and showing them your old bank cards would do the trick. And setting up the account for your business will follow in a similar manner.

  Monday morning is my business day, I set off with great appreciation of adventure every time I step into Banca Intesa on Monday morning. I must pay the money into my account from the income of CE and I must also pay the bills, pay the staff, work through any legalities etc. Every week its slightly different, but I do make my regular appearance there pretty much on time.

  Something to be prepared for, there are VERY long lines on Monday morning, you can always catch the moment when there is not so many people on the same path as you, but its rare. I expect a 45 minute wait every time I go. I remember waiting in a que in the UK at the bank and the outrage by the other people when there was a 10 minute wait, they were exclaiming loudly to each other how unprofessional it was and of course... they made a scene. This kind of behaviour will not be tolerated In Serbia, you will wait your turn.

  There are two respective lines, for business and for personal (bills and household things) This always caused a problem for me, because I have to do both of these activities when I go and this means I must wait first in one line and then in the other.. double trouble. Many times when I go to stand in the business line at my bank, I am gently reprimanded by the other business people waiting in line. They just don't think I should be standing there with them, I do not look like someone who has business banking to do, they try to move me back to the personal line, and after much smiling, few Serbian words and gesturing at my paperwork, they admit that I must be one of them and in the right place.

  While waiting in line, you may not use the phone or talk loudly, I have been scolded. It is a serious environment and smiling is frowned upon. Everyone has a very serious face in there, I like to look at them and occasionally make eye contact with one of the very somber and depressive faces, they often whisper something to me in Serbian (obviously some complaint) I just nod with as much understanding as I can muster up.

  I always take this time as a great opportunity to observe the other bank users at Intesa. I swear the oldest people in the world are there, the line of pensioners is astonishing, they are of course adorable. But I have honestly never seen such old people going to the bank to collect their pensions, every time one of them leave the building its a real scene, we all try to assist, doors are held open, hand are held, back up support is called and they are gently escorted out. I remember one time seeing and incredibly old and wrinkled man trying to sign one of his bills, he just couldn't stand anymore and almost collapsed, I was surprised when, instead of being taken home, an armchair was brought for him to sit in and a staff member held his hand to help him trace his signature. He looked like the living dead and I was sure he really wasn't supposed to be out and about.

  There are a lot of grumpy people in there, dissatisfaction with life written all over their faces, I think about their lives a lot when I am in there, it sometimes feels a bit sad. All in all they are not complaining, its almost like they are acceptent of the disappointments in life and are simply going   through the very pragmatic motions that they must to survive.

  Payments and money transactions are pretty reliable and I really have had pretty much smooth sailing in my banking life over here. However it is sometimes surprising the obvious lack of care of your finances that the bank demonstrates. When I go to the bank in the UK, I am welcomed and plied with customer service, they assure me in every way that my money is in safe hand (well I guess they want customers). It almost seems over here that they do not want you to be their customer and couldn't care less that you chose their bank. I remember the time when I had a 5000 dollar check that needed to be transferred from an American account into mine, I brought the check to the bank, they processed it and I waited for my money. It however did not show up in my account, so I went back and explained the problem to them. They were not delighted to see me again, and after much scurrying around and calling around they informed me that they did not know what happened to my check. I asked them what I should do. They had no idea... the lady also refused to speak English to me. I was very exasperated and told them 'listen please explain to me what happened to my money and where it went and what I need to do to get it', cooperation was minimal and done very unhappily. In the end it worked out and the check was re-sent from my American friend and the money got into my account. They however did not seem concerned that I had just lost 5000 dollars, and that's a lot of money over here and a lot of money to me.

  In all this, I have to admit that I am the foreigner, its not their priority to speak English and in no way do I feel they should have to. Its really my bad if I cannot understand them properly and all of these things have been cool learning moments and also moments of great humour.

There you have it, the banking system in Serbia in a nutshell

Start-up business in Serbia 

Ok so i wanted to write something that had some practical tips, advice and problem/solution information about business set-up in Serbia.

This seems like it’s going to be a really long article and not necessarily interesting for everyone, but for the one poor lonely soul who may be considering a business start-up here, this article is written to you

Be prepared for the constant questioning from our Serbs about just why you made this crazy choice, they just can’t seem to understand why anyone would move here… but I can tell you 5 good reasons why moving to Serbia and setting up a business might not be such a terrible idea after all.

1 1. Cheapness

           Well I guess the first thing that you might notice about Serbia if you come here on holiday or for any other reason is that it’s pretty damn cheap. Now listen, don’t be completely taken in by this, many things are the same or similar price as in the rest of Europe (for instance clothes, some foods etc.) But the kind of bigger stuff that you are looking at in the terms of business expense are relatively cheap. My little house costs me 135 euros a month, and it’s even PINK… can you believe that. Also bills are way lower, though not your phone bill, mine costs me 25 euros a month and that’s the same as in other parts of Europe, and it’s not because I talk so much… everyone pays the same.

Now the cool thing I think about it not being too expensive in terms of renting a place, buying equipment and all that is that it kind of brings your financial risk factor way down when it comes to opening a business. For example if I set up a business in the UK, I would pay 1500 pounds rent, another 1000 on utilities, and lots more for the other various services I would need, and besides that to get people to fix equipment is just sky high.

 Here in Serbia I can keep the bills of the Café down to a fraction of that, if there is a financial emergency (I had one of those last summer) no need to mortgage the house… which is a good thing.. cus I don’t have one. I could simply borrow a little from my savings and bail myself out of jail. Also when something brakes at the café…..and trust me, stuff breaks a lot, there are very reasonable mechanics and repair men who fix it for you.

Of course as with the less risk, you also cannot make much money over here, but I think it’s cool that you can have the space and breathing room to not be so financially burdened.

2  2. The great weather, 

         Even though we don’t have a sea front or an ocean view, sandy beach or any of that touristy shit. We do have fantastic weather over here. I am talking HOT in the summer, mhmm… great tans or in my case sunburn. COLD in the winter… like freezing coldness of beautiful snowy winteriness. The summery warm part lasts almost 9 months and it’s really hardly ever too hot, sometimes it’s intense, but rarely will it be extreme. Winter part… well recently it hasn’t actually been that cold, but it’s got snow and ice and chilly days and nights. So for me, this is a great thing about life in Serbia, you really get the best of both worlds.

3  3.  It’s got a lot in there… 

          Yes Serbia has a rich and existential culture (I feel very grown up, I am using a lot of big words in all my posts J)  I have been up and down and around the country and there are bits and pieces of beauty in every little corner. Many world touring cyclists who have stayed with me have commented that Serbia is one of the most friendly and beautiful places they have cycled.. and they also love the people, who are extremely welcoming.

4 4.  It’s a safe country…

          Now I know what you are thinking, that we had a lot of troubles here. I did mention in a previous article about the window smashing, death threats (you need to read the post about the history of Culture Exchange to understand this)… etc. Ok this was an extreme circumstance, with a highly political agenda attached. Aside from the occasional death threat we received, I can honestly say that I have felt more safe here than in England at any time. There is just not such an aggressive attitude. I know it doesn’t seem like that… but come and see for yourself, I walk home at 4am… alone and in very dimly lit streets, but I don’t feel afraid (it could be those Ti-kondo skills I learned in my free time). I think it’s kind of the whole atmosphere and attitude of people here is not so aggressive. For example in the UK, I would many times have a little space out (time where I go blank and stare at something for no apparent reason) within seconds of losing concentration I would been greeted with ‘WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU LOOKIN AT’ startling me out of my moment of peace and quiet, now that’s an ice-breaker if I ever heard one. When I go out in the UK at night, there are so many fights and people are just ready to start something. They always have that jostling, red-cheeked, too drunk to know what’s going on kind of look about them (not all Brits… sorry everyone who is British and not angry and red-faced)

I don’t know if this is just my opinion but I have hardly ever felt in danger or at risk here in Serbia. With the majority of the people being a peace-loving, friendly, kind, anti-aggressive.. fuzzy bear, loveable, huggable crew.

5  5.  Mhmmm…

            So what could possibly make me stay here in Serbia for 4 and a half years… all those reasons above wouldn’t be enough without the WONDERFUL people of Serbia. I have made many of my closest friends in Serbia. I have to tell you something about them. They are a fierce, intense, passionate, loving, and crazy nation (maybe that’s why we get on so well). They are protective of their friends and very loyal. They are different from the British people in some ways, some ways of acting and seeing things perhaps. But my goodness, they are fascinating and really really loveable. So since I arrived in Serbia, I have really felt strong connection with the people here in lots of ways (we have also had lots of super intense moments, fights and arguments) But they are always willing to help out with each little detail. Culture Exchange wouldn’t exist without the army of good friends that helped us each step of the way, with not only physical help, but encouragement of every kind.

Ok so this post was supposed to be about business start up.. but its not, I just got off on a tangent and never got back on. Now it’s late… and I am far too tired to talk seriously with you. I will leave you with one thought. Prepare yourselves for tomorrow, because I will be back, and I will be doing that serious talk (the birds and the bees) for all of you who are looking to do business start-up. That’s all for today kids x

In May this year, I was asked to give a talk at an AISAC conference about start-up businesses. I was going through a bit of a dry spell in inspiration at the time and didn't feel qualified to talk to others about what little I knew. However I agreed even though I was afraid I wouldn't know what to say. I wrote everything down and it was a really good thing for me to look back on everything that we had learned from top to bottom and think about how far we had come. When it came time to talk, they had given me a half an hour window of time (which I thought could be too much) I talked for an hour and had to stop so the other speakers could also have some time. I had actually only talked through a quarter of the material I had prepared.

So below is the text I prepared for the talk

So where to begin Its really exciting to be here and to be able to talk to all of you, about something that i still feel i am a complete beginner and learning something everyday. Culture Exchange as you just saw is a really small company, but its pretty successful (i think) and its been really successful as a learning experience and as a totally home-grown, grass-root idea, that has been made by a few people, starting from zero. As you already may know, all of the owners of Culture Exchange are not from Serbia, and did not speak Serbian at the time of the opening of the business. Hopefully this will inspire you to see that anyone can do it, and yes, you can too. So it started with 7 young people, from all over the world, we met in Serbia, we were doing volunteer work and various other projects, building, teaching, working in separate jobs. I can remember so well that we were sat in our living room altogether one day and like we always did we would just sit together and talk about ideas, things we could do, joking around. and I said ‘You know what guys, i think we should dream some big dreams, what about opening a Café’ and everyone was like ‘okay’. and that was it, from that moment on, almost all my time and thoughts went towards this. At the same time, Simon (one of the crew) starting making bicycles in our basement, it was like a little workshop and he was down there for hours, taking apart bikes and experimenting in putting them together and he said that he would like to open a bike shop and so we put the two ideas together. So none of us had any experience in doing any of the things which we wanted to do, he started making the bikes then, none of us had ever made a coffee (some people can tell) and i had definitely never had any experience in making a business, paperwork etc. On top of all of that, it would be in Serbian, which would be in itself a challenge. Its so hard to piece the story together and to know which parts to tell you, as the whole story of CE is really complex and it grows longer and stronger with every day. We are still living in the adventure of it and its just the beginning .

So we had a few problems to solve before we could even get started. 1. We had no money 2. We didn’t have a clue how businesses work here We began right away to work on different ways to earn and save money for this. One method we used that was successful was to make a short video clip and put it on Indie-gogo site (talk about what that is) You can see it here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jQgqaRaMGU ) So also I went on a bike trip with one friend to Istanbul, we saved from every available thing we had, whenever my parents sent me money, i saved every penny and spent nothing. We estimated we needed about 15 thousand euros to make the business and slowly we started crawling towards that goal We had some major setbacks along the way of course. Finally we had the money we needed to begin and all this time we were gathering information about how a business should start, and trying to find a location. It was very hard to decide which location to pick and even though in the beginning of 2012 we had the money needed, we stalled a bit on the opening to be sure we had the right place. Around that time it got very difficult for me personally to cope with all the stress and the pressure of the opening, I almost wanted to quit and leave as there was a huge amount of criticism and commentary on my shoulders, of what every person thought i was doing wrong and I just couldn’t agree on what location would be best. Something I learnt from that is the importance of having people there to help you and to give you the push you need off the ledge, when sometimes the final jump can be really difficult and you need those other strong friends or members of the team to add weight and encouragement on your decisions. On the otherside, something you need to realise is that as soon as you step out to do something different and take on a leadership role (especially when you have never done this kind of thing before) you become a bit of a target for people’s negativity and criticism and there will be many many people who will just tell you that it cant be done, that you aren’t capable, that it will fail, that you will be closed down. The fear and pressure hurt me a lot and when i look back at that time, i still feel like it was one of the hardest times of my life and every emotionally and physically stressful. You may lose your self-belief at moments like this, as I did, but the important thing is that no matter how you feel, you must not quit or stop trying, all mistakes are making you, making your story and its part of the learning process. Just like a baby learns to walk, you fall a hundred times, all those people around you can sit and laugh, but you are the one learning to walk, and walk you will, just get back up. As Theodore Roosevelt once said 

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” If your dream is strong enough and that passion is in you, you know you cannot stop, it will take over your life and its always going to be for me ‘try or die’ there is no other way, you have to keep on, no matter how you feel about yourself So back to the story, finally we found the location and spent one month working together as a team to build the interior, we made everything, from the bar, to the tables, to the floor and painting everything. It began to take shape and the transformation was a beautiful thing to witness. Its wonderful to work as a team on a project like this, as your team are not just workers, they are passionate individuals who are committed (the power of teamwork). We built Culture Exchange together and are still doing it every day. Finally on June 29th 2012 we opened our doors for the grand opening, I always think that starting a new business is just like having a baby. First you have the beginning stage when you start trying for that baby, the idea comes, then you start preparing, just like the 9 months of pregnancy (though sometimes it takes a lot longer then 9 months to get that baby ready) then you have the hardest part, the actual part where you get it out there, opening it, just like the delivery, its so difficult, but as soon as you hold that baby (or that business) in your arms, you know it was worth it, then you have to take care of the little bugger for the rest of your life… yeah it’s pretty similar Ok so Culture Exchange opened and right away we just flew into learning about running a busy Café and Bike business, it was a shock to all of us and a great joy to see how people started coming to the café (one of my biggest worries was that no one would come, proving again how useless and crazy so many of our worries are) We started to be really active in the community, participating in the critical mass and other bike initiatives, this started to make the bike kitchen well known and we started to get orders for bikes. Also we hosted gigs, art galleries, poetry nights, comedy nights (epic fail) and just about every idea that we could think of or that others could think of… it was almost like anything was possible at CE. It’s been a real pleasure for me to see so many talented young artists do their first gigs or exhibitions at CE and to see them first on our stage, afterwards many of them have gone on to real strong advancements in the music or arts industry and i’m proud to say that we gave them the first little push out on the water to show what they have to the world.

One of our strong points i think is that we were so open to everything, we gave people a real sense of freedom, probably this is because we were totally inexperienced and sometimes knowing nothing is really a strong point and can give you so many out-of the box thoughts and the kind of belief that everything is possible, because you don’t know what is not done, or not possible. Advantages of being Newbie’s and foreigners • You don’t have many limitations on your mind • You can make an impact of being different and new • everything is more exciting and you see it all through totally new eyes, its thrilling and adventurous Disadvantages • You can get taken advantage of financially as you are more nieve • More vulnerability and lack of basic knowledge can sometimes give you setbacks • Not knowing anyone can sometimes leave you without a first base of customers • lack of knowledge of the language and legal system can put you at risk of the law enforcement when you don’t even understand properly the laws

So whether you are starting from completely scratch or you are full of wise experience, there are advantages and disadvantages to each aspect

So after Culture Exchange was established and running for around one year we had another huge groundbreaking change, this happened in a way none of us had ever expected as we were viciously attacked in an online portal by a young wanna-be journalist called Daniel Radzepovic.

This fame seeker wrote a slanderous and negative article about us, and as we all know how facebook and online activities work, the article spread like wild-fire. Creating a huge stir and massive controvocy about our little business. The article focused on some of our backgrounds in the group the Family International and dragged it into our business, out rightly lying about our activities, calling us a cult, religious movement , saying that we hosted orgies and other very scandalous activities (the article was titled Sex on a Bike) Its is important to note that our business has never been used for political or religious reasons. This young man even broke the ethical code of journalism by putting our names and address, putting our lives at risk. We instantly felt the shaking of this attack, in good and bad ways, All of a sudden we were on every TV station and journalists were asking to interview us and get our side of the story, people approached us on the street to talk to us about it, we became pretty well known (even if it wasn't for the best reason) We also got death threats and our window smashed. It was an incredibly stressful and difficult moment for us personally and for the business as we struggled to keep our heads afloat, answer the many questions and run Culture Exchange. Immediately afterwards the owners of Culture Exchange began to get their visa’s denied and were asked to leave the country. We had some legal problems with our paperwork and those were magnified and used to push us out as much as possible. We took several drastic steps to save the business and try and keep everyone in Serbia We hosted two press conferences in Novi Sad and Belgrade, where we gave our statement and opened (this was an amazing moment, as there were so many people who came to support CE, at this point i think i realised what an amazing effect we had on the community here and I am so thankful to every person that supported CE and stood up for us. Imagine the cameras and the people) We did a protest in the City centre to protest the way we were being treated After all of this, the government did not change their minds and in October 2013, all members of CE had to leave, apart from me (which was an obvious mistake) So the point in explaining all of this to you, is to tell you, that in everything you do, you will have many setbacks, attacks and people who want to tear you down. If you are making a difference you will get fought against. Some people love you, some people hate you, and sometimes those people want to destroy what you are doing. You must believe in your cause and have faith, all obstacles are there to make you stronger and just like working your way up a really big hill, after the tough work, you are stronger, fitter and ready for the next one. Don’t worry if you feel you are getting lots of opposition, the same has been true of everyone who did something worthwhile and if you see it in this way you will realise, there are no easy roads to greatness and the smooth path is often the path where you are really doing nothing. When you get a big fight, remember, everything is for your good, learn from your mistakes, get stronger, re-evaluate everything you do, and see how you can do it better, if it means enough to you, there will be a way.

After this, I had the new and difficult task of hiring staff, working to train them and figuring out how to run the business (the bike side) without my 6 partners. So far, its been great, and i have seen how it can run with the local people staffing and teamworking with me. Now 6 months on, there have been many lessons learned and many to be learned still. Every day i see how i can do things better, how there are many areas lacking that need to grow in. The good thing is that we can see how CE can still grow and we haven’t reached a point where we have stopped learning and stopped seeing that there is a way forward The rest of the CE team are now spread out across the world and we make plans for the next ones to open in different cities around Europe. Hopefully we will be expanding but if not I know that all the people who started CE will go on to be successful individuals, as they are creative, inspiring people who have a passion for change and new ideas No matter what happens to the business you have to know who you are Don’t lose focus on the rest of your life and swing out of balance As Steve Jobs said ...Stay hungry, stay foolish

Culture Exchange packed with people for the press conference in October 2013

Our protest in the city center October 2013

The AISAC talk

Purpose of the Pink Fixie blog

The purpose of the blog

To inspire positive action in ordinary people

Sometimes I think I am the most unlikely and unsuitable person to be a business owner. Sometimes other people tell me that too. In fact I can think of millions of reasons why I am very inappropriate for this role in life.. here are a few

I never studied business… actually I never really studied… (my sole claim to higher education being a brief run at a dance academy after high school, i which i spent most of my time avoiding classes and causing trouble)

I never had strong business minded mentors 

I never read a lot about business, accounting, finance or entrepreneurship

I am not especially organised or detailed in my day to day doings

I am not exceptionally skilled in any area, never won any awards (except a few self-appointed ones)

I am not an artist (as such are depicted now days)

I was not well connected with protective people or family influences (but I do have four brothers who are really, really tough)

I am not from a wealthy family, nor do I have any wealth of my own (at least not yet)

I am not a hard dealer, strict with finance or tough to bargain with

So what am I? I think I am pretty much ordinary in every way… with my one deep residing skill of persistence and deep determination, I am sincere and I want to make a difference in the world… I think almost everybody has these things .
If I can succeed in any small way, so can anyone else

So there you have it… I hope this blog inspires

Design of image by Sanja Andjelkovic