Are you building your life or are you living somebody else's? Meet Andrea d’Agostini, who evolved from an acting and hosting career to becoming a rising star in the entrepreneurial world starting from less than 0.
“Creativity is in everything we do, I think entrepreneurs are artists as they can create businesses, innovation, ideas from nothing. And they do it every day.”
He says, “I have travelled the world helping incredible beings develop their businesses, their marketing and their sales, scaling their brands quickly from $0 to $1 million in more or less than 12 months.”
Too many people are treating life as if it was a “rehearsal”. Tiptoeing through their everyday life, afraid to actually live. Well, life has only one take. That’s the movie, you better choose to play the main character's role, otherwise somebody else will.
Find Your Niche, and Repeat
Start with what you love, d’Agostini advised. Even if you’re not certain of what your niche is, being open to change is enough to show you the way.
“I arrived in Rome at age 18 and wanted to become an actor, ” he said. “Within two years, I landed a big role in a popular soap opera (Casa Famiglia 2), after a few more roles and one year as a host on national TV, I started my own production company, where I got to work with some amazing brands to evolve their communication and creativity to fit the 2.0 ‘language’, which later landed me at Sephora.” He didn’t set out to become a creative entrepreneur, and actually in the beginning, he says he didn't particularly enjoy his talent. He didn't like being good at it, because he thought it was taking him away from “the stage”. How wrong he was. In fact, building a business is an art, and can be extremely creative as there is only one way you can build a business, which is your way. People don’t appreciate the importance of the role of entrepreneurs in our society, this is something often misunderstood, as we are talking about those people that can really bring innovation to our society and truly better the conditions of the world we live in.
d’Agostini moved to the U.S. in 2013 and became the VP of PR & Marketing for a young energy company (American Power & Gas), and in 2015, started touring the world with speaking engagements as a way to give back. By 2018, he formalized his creative ideas by establishing SalesJet, and then in 2019, Monarchy. SalesJet is an online platform that increases the efficiency and speed of marketing processes and automation, while Monarchy began as an influencer marketing company before expanding to become a growth engine for businesses that want to break 7-figures and scale.
Staying true to your passion is admirable, but not at the expense of losing out on other opportunities that challenge you to grow your skills and talents in new ways. “Continuing to move forward though, with an eye towards all of the possibilities, will help you go from strength to strength in ways you may have never imagined,” he said.
Get Creative About Your Message
Many people associate creativity with fine art, and while many artists are indeed creative in pursuits like painting and sculpting, Andrea's success is a good reminder that there are limitless ways to use those skills beyond the traditional arts disciplines.
“Each one of us has some peculiar strength. Figure out what you’re good at, and then use those talents to solve a problem,” he said. “The same talents that helped me as an entertainer made me feel totally at ease when speaking, and my creative nature transitioned seamlessly into my marketing work so I could further develop my thinking about entrepreneurship. Also, don’t try to be good at everything. Become good at finding other ‘actors’ for your play. Monologues are interesting only for so long.”
Success looks a little different for everyone. Be sure to choose your own definition of success and to choose values to be inspired by everyday.
“Don’t be afraid to decide for yourself what your measure of success is,” he says. “It’s freeing to look at your metrics this way.
Think Outside the Box
By synthesizing your inventiveness with your skills and talents, you’ll discover for yourself the best way to capitalize on it. For d’Agostini, the purpose of being an entrepreneur is to foster a global renaissance that explores the best we have to offer the world.
“You have all the skills and tools you need inside you,” he said. “It’s about thinking about what you have to offer and where you want to be, and finding a way to marry the two. Don’t write off possibilities just because they don’t align with the typical expression of creativity.”
Above all else, d’Agostini said the measure of true success isn’t in how much money you make, but in how you use your talents and skills to help others.
You want to be an absolute force for good. But know that: not everybody will be happy for you. So make sure you are doing something you really want to do, so when challenges come your way, you’ll be able to withstand them and persevere.
About Andrea d’Agostini
Andrea d’Agostini is a serial entrepreneur, renowned public speaker, and successful mentor. He has helped thousands of people around the world scale their businesses and learn the advanced fundamentals of marketing, and his campaigns have been featured in Forbes, Vanity Fair, Glamour and many others. To see if you qualify to join one of his programs, click here.
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