In this impromptu video recorded while driving from Richmond (RVA) to New York for a Salesforce conference, Coach Dre (Andrey V. Karpov) delivers a motivational monologue aimed at aspiring entrepreneurs, using a recent encounter with a fearful physical‑therapist as a springboard. He argues that fear—especially fear of lacking capital, ideas, or support—is the chief reason people stay employed by others. Drawing on Eric Ries’s Lean Startup, he explains how he founded Hire The Best LLC and the True Agility RBA concept, emphasizing that the only real requirement to start a business is desire and the willingness to “sell yourself.” He contrasts the employee’s reliance on job security with the entrepreneur’s autonomy, noting that an entrepreneur can “fire” themselves but must self‑discipline. Dre shares concrete, low‑cost tactics: using AI tools like ChatGPT or Claude, reallocating discretionary spending (e.g., coffee, Netflix) toward productivity subscriptions, and leveraging personal hustle experiences—Uber driving, free coaching sessions—to acquire clients and build credibility. He stresses the importance of grit, non‑standard thinking, and personal values (life, liberty, pursuit of happiness) rooted in his immigrant background. Health habits, avoidance of harmful vices, and disciplined work‑aholism are presented as supporting pillars. The talk culminates in a heartfelt call‑to‑action for the unnamed therapist and the broader audience, urging immediate, agile action toward their own dreams, offering his services as a “true agile partner.”
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How's it going, guys? This is your coach, Dre, actually driving right now from RVA to New York City for Salesforce conference tomorrow, and wanted to record a small video on entrepreneurship for you. There's one person that I met recently, she's a physical therapist, and she's very inspiring person, and she was thinking about starting a business and had a lot of fears, had a lot of worries about it, wasn't sure really where to start. What to do, and how to get herself to that point. So using that as the sort of the benchmark for this video, I wanted to record a quick reel for you so that you all out there could understand how easy it is to transition into this mindset of an entrepreneur. So the number one reason, and this is gonna be a revelation hopefully, why people work for someone other than themselves is, ready for that? Fear. Fear to try to do something on your own. And you may say, "Andrey, well, hold on. Well, what if I don't have a starting capital? What if I don't have a team? What if I don't have an idea? What if I don't have support? What if I don't have this? What if I don't have that?" The truth is you have everything already that you need. It starts with a great idea. We all have a ton of ideas, right? That's why people say, "Hey, I have an idea." You have an idea, all of that kind of stuff. And wonderful, Maryland house service area is coming up, so I'll be able to stop to refuel, catch something to eat, walk my dog, and actually record this video for you. But while that's cooking, what I can tell you is in order to start a business, you don't need that much. And the way I started Hire The Best LLC, which basically is a full-fledged business that started from a concept of True Agility RBA, was by reading Eric Ries' book called Lean Startup, right? And that really inspired me and gave me the determination of making it all happen. Had I not read this, I would have never really done this, and it would have never really worked. But I did read it, and what happened was I realized how easy it is to truly start a business. That all you need to do is have the desire— ready for this— sell for yourself and sell yourself. And the way I put this, and I want to explain this to you, is because when we are— meet my dog right there with me, she's going there, it's going to stay at my parents for a few days— so when we are a business owner, where we're— when we are an entrepreneur, we are actually selling ourselves. Now, interestingly enough, you're doing the same thing when you are working for someone and you're selling, um, their services. You know what the only difference is? If you fail, if it doesn't work out, you cannot fire yourself. Think about it. You're an entrepreneur. How are you going to fire yourself? Are you going to quit on yourself? You know, work for someone? Yeah, you can run out of money, but you're hustling, you're grinding, you're trying, you're doing something to make it all happen. And when you're working for someone, the only thing that steers you in the direction of trying to achieve success is your fear of losing that job. Nobody truly recognizes your great abilities. Nobody's going to pay you just because that you were successful somewhere else. They want you to show success at the place where you're hired. And for that, you have to go out of your ways to please and satisfy the stakeholders, people that have hired you. And that's a huge problem. It is a huge problem because you are doing what, basically they're asking you to do instead of trying to work from a place of passion, creativity, desire to kick yourself in the butt, to grind, to be stronger, to be better. Like, oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna try to sell this, I'm gonna try to achieve this so that I can keep my job, so that I can make more money. When you are an entrepreneur If you have your mind in the right place, your game is about creating impact, replication impact, replicatable impact that can truly change the world around you, your community. You're not thinking about, oh my God, what's going to happen? You're constantly analyzing. You're scanner type personality. At least that's how I am, being an ascendant Aquarius. But you can be different. You can be very narrow focused, like I'm a lawyer, I'm having my own practice, I'm an accountant, I'm a real estate agent. Nothing wrong with that. It's a very narrow focus. It can be very successful. Can be not very successful depending on what you're doing, how you're doing it, what experience you have, what networking you are doing, and so forth. When you are an entrepreneur, serial social entrepreneur, which I am in the technology and AI space, primarily executive and strategic consulting space, executive coaching space, you are hustling your butt off to make it happen. You're talking to clients, you're talking to business partners, you're talking to potential people you can hire. You're really grinding to make it all happen. You are at work 24/7 because you choose to be. You love it. And most importantly, if you need to pause, you can. You don't need anybody's permission. I learned all of that when I was doing Uber in this very car, in my Honda Accord 2020 Turbo. I loved it. I was my own boss. And what kept me going the whole night long was my desire to persevere, my desire to compete, not with others. I don't know what they were making, but with my previous self, with my quotas, with my ability to provide extra service to customers. I was not doing it the way Uber wanted me to do, full disclosure. And by the way, I legally could. I was not drawn by social engineering. I was drawn by my desire to make money by creating impact, by servicing people in the best possible way. Clean car, great drive, wonderful conversation. I wish I could take my dog with me to do that, so they would love me, absolutely. Um, safe driving, right? Um, cords, sanitary napkins to clean your hands, uh, chewing gum. I don't know, nice smell in the car. Right, guidance on what places to visit if you're just visiting town, like a whole nine yards, figuring out their problems. And even, even, that's where I got a bulk of my clients when I was initially starting, and not as an executive coach, a life coach, where people would laugh at me. And let's say in technology space, and you're a life coach, Dre, what the hell? People would laugh at me, but I was able to successfully sandbox a gazillion— I literally lost count— a gazillion sessions where I would talk to people for free, and they would actually leave me tips after that. So technically not free, I would actually pay taxes on those tips. Uh, I would talk to them about their problems. I would talk to them about all of the things they're going through, why they're drinking, why they had too much to drink tonight, what they could do to change their life starting as of tomorrow. I was creating impact. I was getting people safely from the place of their drinking to the place of their home. I witnessed people break up, I witnessed people fall together, I witnessed people even trying to make love in my car. And I was like, guys, that's not how this works. I'm sorry, that's, that's not the type of service I provide. But I was able to truly witness so many things that made me think as an entrepreneur, as a hustler, as a grinder, but yet have strong values, have strong heart. And I want to tell you right now If you want to have a successful business, what you need to learn how to do is think in a non-standard way. People become rich and successful not because they finished a ton of degrees. I just have a bachelor's degree. I'm going to get my MBA very soon, executive MBA, probably with a focus on AI and technology. But you don't really need that. All you need is the grit, is the ideation, the thoughts and different ideas to be able to achieve whatever you want to achieve. You don't need anybody's permission. And yes, I was grinding, I was making money, and at the same time I was thinking how to grow my business, what to do out of it. I met so many different people. I went into the nonprofit sector and worked in here and there, served on multiple boards. I saw how businesses work, how they do their financials, how they do their outreach strategy, marketing, budgeting, campaigns, fundraising, impact reporting. Everything, the whole nine yards. And I always raised my hand the same way I was in school. I remember myself from, you know, from like middle school or whatever, every— the teacher would ask a question, I'm not, not knowing the answer, I'll be like, that's how we did in Soviet Union, I got this. And the teacher was like, Andrey, you always know the answer, or you always participate, stop. But I did participate quite a lot because I was a leader type personality. You got to be a leader, you got to grow a leader out of yourself. But if you're not a leader and you're you don't want to be a leader and you're afraid of all the, you know, consequences of leadership, that's okay. You can be a follower as long, as long, and as long as you have a good boss. If you don't, it's always going to be a challenge, it's always going to be a problem, and you're going to be very discouraged because people will let you go at the least anticipated moment. People will not value you. People will not support you. People will use you for building of their dreams, and the only dream that you should have is your own dream of happiness. That's why I stress so much in their initial statement that True Agility RBA business card had on it was life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. As simple as that. And they said, if the U.S. government ever sues me for using that as a business slogan I must have done something right because I was able to become famous by truthfully, kindheartedly using that phrase as a first-generation immigrant and truly believing in that and creating all that passion. Other than that, all of the other tools that you would create, like pitch decks, financial models, go-to-market strategy, you know, everything else, technology infrastructure plan, and everything in between, social media plan, all of that are just tools and technologies. You know, get yourself a $20 subscription to ChatGPT or Claude. It's going to go a long way. It's going to go a huge way. The money you spend right now on Starbucks or other coffee and on Netflix, ditch that. Use your finances wisely and spend them on purposeful tools that will help you create the right automation, that will give you the right capabilities that you need, that will give you the right intellect, that will complement what you already have. Don't replace it. Be the creator of your ideas, but use that to do research, to enhance further your business ideas. Don't look for easy way out. If it becomes difficult, push-ups, pull-ups, swimming, grinding, can't do it, it hurts, like my back, right? I've been driving for so long, my back hurts. I know I'll have to lie down, get some rest before I go in the conference tomorrow. Accept your body, know your body, treat it well, but do not allow it to control your life. You are the only one who can make it happen. You are an entrepreneur, entrepreneur, which means you do something, you create a movement, you create a beginning, You take action. That's what it is about. It's a beautiful journey of transformation all around that you only have truthfully one opportunity to experience, and that is called your life. The time when it comes, and you know, I hope it will be at least that when I'm 100 years old— I'm 40 now— when I'm at my deathbed, I don't want to see the shadows of ideas and opportunities that I did not realize. I will go through the grind. I will go through the fears. I will go through the hardships necessary to achieve what I need to achieve. I will even, if necessary, get into logical, constructive, limited business debt if I need to in order to invest upfront into technologies, resources, people. That I need to in order to achieve what I need to achieve. If I don't wanna spend my own capital, I will not go into social engineering of getting a house, buying an expensive car, and spending a ton of money continuously on upscale restaurants. Even though you do see me going to different places, that's mainly because I wanna be around people. But most of the things I eat or buy are very cheap. I don't drink alcohol, I don't smoke, so I save a lot of money there. I, you know, don't have bad habits. My only bad habit is my workaholism and my desire to succeed, be independent, and make my dog happy so that she has a small home eventually with a backyard and a loving woman that would hopefully be my wife and would, you know, produce beautiful children with me. It's a very simple freaking dream. And I'm not in a rush to do all that. I know I have the time. That's why I take care of myself. I do everything I can in order to be successful, in order to be determined. And I know that she's out there and she will appreciate me. And you can have all that too. I know that a lot of you men out there, especially, that you go through so many hardships in your life. You go through so much pain. There's so much suffering that is not recognized by your employers, by your parents, unfortunately, as well, by your friends. By the society. I'm with you guys. I love you very much and I believe in you. Go freaking get it. And this video was specifically actually meant for that one girl that I met sitting in a restaurant and she shared with me her idea. I want you to know, I'm not gonna name her, but she knows because she watches this channel as well, that you've got this. I believe in you. And now is the time to start action, to take action, on your journey to transforming your life into the greatest dream that you thought was never possible. It's better do it and regret it than not do it, because you will have the experience, and next time you will do it better again and again and again and again. And you don't have to plan everything. You can be agile, or truly agile, adapting to changes but focusing on your happiness and yourself. God bless you guys. You've got this. May the true agile force be with you always. And if there's something I can do for you, let me know. My name is Coach Dre, Hire The Best LLC, your true agile partner in crime to your happiness and success in life. Take care.
