Niko Papadopoulo was an electronics engineer making good money and a father. But, something was missing in his life. Here's our interview.
Thank you so much for doing this interview with me, Niko! I'm very curious about your story. So, let's get started!
Where were you born, what did your parents do for work, and what was life like growing up?
I was born in Limassol, Cyprus; the "big" island at the East end of the Mediterranean Sea! I quoted the word big, because the local population of Cyprus is less than a million people.
My parents used to have a small knitting manufacturing factory at the underground basement of our house. They were supposed to be business owners, but actually the business owned them.
They had to be there to make money. Those machines only worked fine if they were well maintained and many times I was into helping out! It was a bit of dirty work, but loved helping my parents on it!
Since most of the time my parents were at the factory, I was mainly with my grandparents after school. Even during the summer season, I would "move" to a family house at the village along with my grandparents and brother and nieces and nephews.
It was nice and cool there (since our summers in Limassol are very hot and humid) but, I would basically see my parents during the weekend…
During my late teenage years I would help out at the factory a bit more. You see, my brother is autistic (luckily enough, a minor case), so quite a big weight was on me to help and support my parents with everything they need from my young age.
I am not complaining; actually I see it as a good thing. It built me up and prepared my character in many ways!
The engineering bug was engraved deep inside me from my early childhood as you can imagine. I was taking a good look at my father while he was fixing and maintaining those machines and began to learn myself as well.
Then personal computers began to evolve. I was fascinated by computers and my first PC was with an x80286 processor running on MS DOS 4.0. Can you guess my age? 🙂
I enrolled in the technical school of Limassol as a computer technician, instead of going to a "regular" school.
When that was finished, at the age of 18, we all had to serve to the military here in Cyprus, which back then it lasted 26 months.
Again, I didn't want to settle for the "regular" military bodies, and enlisted to the Special Forces. Now that I think of it, I was pushing myself to the limits from that early age.
Other than the physical and guns trainings, I was also specially trained for radio communication, radio repairs, cryptography etc. I guess that was because of my technical background. But that pushed me even more towards engineering!
When the military service was finally finished, I was one of the fortunate ones to be able to go to USA to pursue my Undergraduate degree! That's a different story though…
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Was there any entrepreneurship in the family? And, what drew you to become an electronics engineer?
Clearly my parents owned their business, and our life was planned around that business. So I guess the business planned our life.
Being involved with the factory during my childhood, I began to realize my natural drive in technical areas. Actually, I always loved breaking up my toys to figure out what's inside them, what made them function, and then put them back together.
So, I believe my natural instinct with my toys in addition with being in the factory of my parents really emphasized my electronics drive! This is the main reason I pursued my Engineering degree the first place.
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You made great money as an electronics engineer, but something was missing. Can you explain what that was?
I wouldn't say I was making great money as an electronics engineer. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful of what I was making and the experience I got, and the people I met and everything, but with my current mindset that was not great money.
I was quite happy with what I was having until our first son was born. That's when I began to realize that I would miss him from growing up.
You see, I did not want him to miss me during his early ages of his life, as I was missing my parents. Since I was the Technical Manager of the company I worked for, many times I had to go at work during weekends or even holidays.
I remember one time I was even abroad "vacationing" and I had to support my team and customers because of a huge electrical power problem we had on the whole island.
So, yes, if I didn't change something, I would be missing the life of our son. And I did not want to happen.
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How has having children changed your perspective on life?
The moment we were blessed with our first son, I not only began to look for other opportunities to earn money, I wanted to find ways in order to potentially have time freedom to spend it with my family.
I did not want to only have children; I wanted to live with my children. I wanted to experience their life. I wanted to become a part of them, not just to have them.
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A friend turned you on to network marketing. What did you think about network marketing at first, and how did you begin building it?
I had no idea whatsoever about what network marketing was. Yes, I was introduced to it by a friend at a local coffee shop and was stunned by the product idea as well as the global potentials.
I instantly thought this idea can go viral because everyone (at least everyone I knew) loved the product. And also, through the internet this could reach everywhere!
Of course, I began building the "old-school" way, which is making a list, calling people, setting up local meetings etc. Loved it to be honest, because I always wanted to be with people and help people!
Something I really liked at first with network marketing is that one can only have success with it, if he helps enough other people succeed. I think that's a Zig Ziglar paraphrase, but I didn't know about Zig Ziglar back then.
What was the first two years like in MLM and what was the biggest lesson you learned?
I wouldn't say I am a big success, as far as income is concerned. But I totally know I have changed as a person. I was exposed to personal development trainings, to sales trainings, to character trainings, to mindset trainings… I began to shift all my mindset to the better.
I started reading personal development books, where before I was only reading engineering staff. There's nothing wrong with engineering, but developing one's self I feel is more important. I also met people from other countries and became really good friend with!
The biggest lesson I learned and I am so grateful at it, is that I have been exposed to personal development. I am exposed to becoming better and better.
I am exposed to take responsibility of my actions and that if I want my life to become better, I have to become better and take action about it!
I am building myself up because I know I can do just that. I cannot settle for the normal or the average. Again, there's nothing wrong with normal or average for those that want to be like just that; not me though, not any longer!
Being exposed to network marketing opened my sight to all these possibilities of becoming great! I am so grateful at my sponsor for introducing me to this blessed profession as I call it, even though he quit from it. I found others that were willing to help me!
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I love your blog, how old is it, how many posts are on it, and what is the daily traffic like to it?
Thank you for the kind word about my blog. I stated it on September 2014 and there are 92 blogs on it. My traffic is not much at the moment, less than 100 per day.
Even though the traffic is low, I have generated some leads with it and things are picking up, which is pretty cool!
I had to have a break from it for a period of a few months in order to re-configure my strategies etc, and things are growing back up now!
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What is the importance of owning your own blog, as opposed to using a free blog, like wordpress.com or blogger.com?
Like I mentioned in some of my posts, we own our blog. It's like our own real estate on the internet land. Nobody can take it away from us.
It's not like any social media account that can be shut down or be reported by others and be put to "jail". Plus, you can built your email list through it and create a new following/community with it!
Over time, you will become an authority online because of that and even monetize it with whatever you want.
In addition, by having your own blog you are completely free to set it up as you like and make it look exactly as you want! You are totally free to do whatever you want with it!
Everything else online can be used to drive traffic to your home! Plus, you can keep posting your previous blogs all over the internet so that more and more people can be exposed to them!
When did you begin MLSP and do you promote that along with a network marketing opportunity?
I began with MLSP because I've been struggling on the online world. I was doing it all wrong when I started promoting my business online.
I know now that I was actually chasing people away from me, instead of attracting them to me. You see, network marketing companies teach us how to do the business offline, but that does not necessarily work online.
So, I was looking for a way to learn how to properly and effectively market myself online.
Actually, I mainly promote myself online. And depending on the lead's needs, I offer the right solution to them. It can be my network marketing company, it can be MLSP, it can be both, or even nothing.
It all depends on the prospect. I try to figure out what they need, and take it from there. If I have nothing to offer them, I just tell them so and keep the friendship intact.
You never know what the future will entail. Why ruin the friendship by offering something not suitable to someone?
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You talk a lot about Attraction Marketing on your blog. What does Attraction Marketing mean to you?
OMG! Attraction Marketing is the new name of the game. Attraction Marketing is the "magic", the beauty, the blessing of having people reaching out to you for help instead of you always having to prospect people all the time. I had no idea about this prior to being involved with MLSP.
Prospecting is good, but what if at least 10 new people would be reaching out to you every morning, asking you for help?
What if some ask you for your link because they want to sign up with you? How would that change your business?
Attraction Marketing is the marketing work one performs over time in which prospects get exposed to it and because they like what they see, they request more from you.
Attraction Marketing takes a cold prospect and converts him into a warm prospect. Attraction Marketing takes a warm prospect and converts him into a ready-to-buy hot prospect.
I didn't know this, but one can buy from you (or do business with you) if they know, like and trust you. Because Attraction Marketing works 24/7 for you, if you put out good-quality-valuable-problem-solving-content out on the internet land, people will find it and start to get to know you, to like you and to trust you.
Over time, your valuable content will be like a magnet to people, hence the Attraction part of the Attraction Marketing expression!
One concept you discuss is called "ILT." Can you explain a little what "Invest, Learn, Teach" is and who should use it?
I did not invent this of course, but it does make sense! I am sure you and your amazing audience are aware of the Blogging Beast Ray Higdon!
I heard this concept from Ray, which means that we have to invest in ourselves (through trainings, books, events, etc), Learn something from that, and then Teach it to our audience. This concept is the basis of his huge online success!
He also teaches the concept of, if one wants to dominate their marketplace, he has to out-teach their competition! So, post much more value on the internet to out-teach everyone else. It's very simple if you think of it, but I wouldn't say it's easy.
Everyone wanting to succeed online with their business should use this concept. Not just our fellow network marketing professionals, but everyone that wants to make money through the internet.
The business model or product or services you offer, does not really matter. What matters for your potential customers is to know, like and trust you. And the fastest and best way to do it is through ILT.
They will be exposed to your teachings, they will get to know you and like you because of that value you shared, and then they will want to buy from you! Isn't that what everyone wants for their business?
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I notice you have a great Instagram account. What has been the best social media platform for getting leads?
Thank you for the kind word about my Instagram account! Even though I do not spend too much time on it, I only just post good images almost daily.
I concentrate mainly on Facebook and Twitter. Most of my leads are coming from Twitter and that's from the last MLSP teachings I am getting these past few months alone!
I just broke the 10,000 followers there with two accounts over a period of only 4 months basically! The great thing with Twitter is that you can drive a lot of traffic to where you want to, for free!
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What is your favorite book right now?
That's a tough question. Each book I read has impacted me to some extent. The last one I am working with (not just reading) is the "The power of the subconscious mind" by Dr. Joseph Murphy.
It just blew my mind at what's actually going on, or what we can actually do with the power of our mind! The techniques on what to say and the stories of how things are being done, is just amazing! And I am working on them daily now!
Of course, like I feel for most entrepreneurs out there, it all started with me with the "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill. That book has really shifted my mindset about so many things!
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What are your goals for 2017?
Some of my 2017 goals are the following: (the list is not complete yet)
Like I said above, my brother is autistic. I have been exposed to autism because of my brother and feel very keen for all of them. I know they need a lot of support, and I plan to assist as much as I can, as best as I can!
What's the point of building residual income, without being healthy to enjoy it, right?
This will be one of my major drives for 2017.
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What is your favorite quote and why?
Another tough question my friend! There are so many quotes I love and feel inspired by them!
Quotes that can make me cry or boost me up. I would say each one comes to my mind depending on the mood I am at that moment.
But I always loved helping and contributing and volunteering to others.
So, Zig Ziglar's quote of: "You Can Have Everything in Life That You Want, if you Just Give Enough Other People What They Want" really resonated with me from the first time I heard it!
It's not only natural for me; it just resonated perfectly, to use an engineering expression!
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Thank you so much for doing this interview, Niko! This has been a great journey! Thank you so much for sharing. To your success!
For more information on Niko, please visit his Blog HERE.
Other Awesome Interviews:
Sincerely,
Erik Christian Johnson
Erik Christian Johnson is a Entrepreneur, writer, full-time Network Marketer and Blogger. He shares tips on various topics including: Alcoholism, Anxiety, Network Marketing tips and how to work full time from Home. He is also the #1 recruiter in his primary business. His blog is summed up as being: "edgy personal development with a twist of financial freedom."Income disclaimer:
The owner of this blog may receive compensation when products and services featured herein are purchased. Results are unique. Your results will vary in your business. It's the law that I tell you that I might make some money and that you may or may not.
Source: Niko Papadopoulo on Attraction Marketing, Blogging, and MLM Tips
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