End of My Days as a Couch Potato

My family has its own business and one day I'm going to be my mother's sucessor. Now you might think: "How convenient for him. His life is pretty much set already without having to stir a finger." Or, you might think: "What a lucky guy. He'll get paid for bossing people around and doing nothing in particular."

To be quite frank, I admit, thought so as well. Neither I had any interest in business or finance, nor I thought I needed to learn anything new to take over my mother's business successfully and run it to the sky in profits. You know the American dream realized but with no sweat - make lots of money with just an idea and no huge effort or time invested learning new skills. Delegate everything. Be on the beach. That's what I believed in. At least that's what I thought I would do with my life. I had paid my dues by getting nearly straight "A"s at an Ivy League college.

But one day my parents got pretty annoyed with me, that after having graduated I only sat in front of the TV or computer playing video games, and the only discussion that interested me was a very long holiday I wanted to take a long holiday across Europe financed by my parents. They told me that my life wouldn't work out this way, that they would not let me handle the family business unless I acquired skills at a summer program for finance and business. Some sort of rigorous boot camp in investments.

All I thought then was: "Thanks a lot for ruining my summer with some boring crap!"

Well, as you can imagine, I applied, and thanks to my good college record, got accepted, and the fateful day arrived when I had to actually show up at the summer program called Swiss Finance Academy. I met a woman on the first day who was in the same shoes as I was. She was helping her parents manage a business in Asia. But unlike me she was determined and serious about fully taking over family business at some point in the future.

Others were as ambitious as she was. Seeing how determined and capable all the others were, I got exceptionally motivated myself. Today I can tell you that I had the wrong mindset prior to attending the Academy. I learned so many practical things about managing and leading one's own business from people who were very successful themselves and who actually knew what they were talking about. Unlike some of the traditional university professors who spend most of their time talking theory and textbooks, but hardly ever encounter any real life investment banking or investing situations, the Academy instructors lived their life doing deals and building businesses all year long. My curriculum was based upon proprietary cases and included customized training methods, modules and simulations.

Nowadays I am able to attend meetings with my mother and actually understand what they are talking about. My mother tells me that the difference between how I think now and how I used to, is day and night. There is no need for me to put on a facade or to pretend anymore that I understand, because I actually do, and sometimes better than most. I am able to take part in the discussions and contribute ideas on how to improve my mother's business. I love it that she appreciates it.

Spending my summer at Swiss Finance Academy's summer program has given me an invaluable experience which was a crucial turning point for my life. If it wasn't for that program I'd still be sitting in front of my TV and playing video games right now. Now I am building an international multi-million dollar business.