In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews Kamran (Cameron) Akbarzadeh, founder of Dream Achievers Academy and Web Services Academy and author of Leadership Soup and Get What You Want. Kamran shares a pivotal story from his early career as a chemical engineer where a project‑management mistake prompted deep self‑questioning, leading him to leave the oil‑and‑gas industry and start his own coaching business focused on helping people discover purpose and achieve their dreams. He emphasizes the importance of believing in oneself—"be the pilot of your own life"—and advises entrepreneurs to automate their businesses so the business works for them. He tells his younger self to start now and avoid procrastination. Kamran defines happiness as inner satisfaction derived from knowing one’s passion, adding value to others, and maintaining peace of mind through practices like meditation. He cites The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy as a key book, highlighting the power of small daily habits. His favorite quotes are Gandhi’s "Be the change you want to see in the world" and a Rumi poem about innate potential. Finally, he directs listeners to three websites—dreamachieversacademy.com, getwhatyouwantfast.com, and webservicesacademy.com—as well as his LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google presence for more resources.
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Welcome to the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode. Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner, and today I have Cameron Akbarzadeh with us, and he's the founder of Dream Achievers Academy and Web Services Academy and the author of two books, Leadership Soup and Get What You Want. So welcome to the show, Cameron.
Thank you very much, Tyler.
Of course. Thanks for joining us, and we'll dive in. The first question that I have for you is, what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Thanks, Tyler, for the question. Actually, when I got my PhD in chemical engineering back in 2002, then I found a job in 2005 at a big oil and gas company. In Canada. I started there and it was just a few months into the job that something happened. I was project manager managing project and then I made a mistake in one of the reports to client and my— our center manager in front of other project managers and the directors, he blamed me for what had happened and that really incident made me to go very down in emotion and I started blaming him back on that day. But eventually it took me to a path and I started asking questions from myself and said, is this really something that I want to do for the rest of my life? And what I want to do? How I want to serve others? So these questions came to me and I started searching for the answers and Fast forward a few years later, I started my own business, Dream Achievers Academy, and I started coaching and training others so that they can achieve their dreams, they can find their purpose, they can find their direction and passions. The underlying message for this story is that we really need to be true to ourselves and pursue our dreams and passions, and we shouldn't really procrastinate because when we start, there is always this force that wants to hold us back, but we have to really overcome that and pursue the dream and great things will happen.
And what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
The one of the valuable piece of information I can say is that Be the pilot, be the captain of your own life. You have all the answers within. The problem is that we don't believe in that, and I want everyone to believe in themselves, to believe that you can get what you want, and success is inevitable, whether it's in your personal life or it's in your business.
And what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry specific.
So the overall business advice I have, especially for those who have a business, is that yes, at the beginning it could be hard and you have to spend more time, but over time you really need to think of how you can automate your business. So business automation is something that I, I help people with, and that's something that you, you build your business in a way that it starts working for you, not you work for your business, and that increases your productivity, frees some time, and you can do other things that you're passionate about.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Just to start now. If not now, then never. Don't procrastinate. If you really want to go after something, go get it and don't wait for others to give it to you. You have all the potential to go forward.
And in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?
So the key to happiness to me is inner satisfaction. So how does inner satisfaction come into our life? Like We are satisfied internally. One thing is that we have to know our passion and purpose. So what we really like to do and what is that mission that we have in our lives. The other thing is add value to others. When we add value to others, we have that sense of satisfaction, inner satisfaction that gives us happiness. And the third thing is have peace of mind. Because that really gives us that, again, satisfaction and contentment. And meditation, silence practices, these things really can help us with the peace of mind.
And what's the best book that you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Actually, Tyler, I've read really many great books, but the recent one that I can say one of the best recent books that I've read is The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. And the number thing that I learned from this book is that little everyday decisions will either take us to the life we desire or to disaster by default. So it's really all about the choices that we make every day and the habits, no matter how small those actions are, the habits that we make. If we make positive habits and work on them, we end up in a great place, and if we don't, then that could be a disaster.
And what's your favorite quote and why?
The favorite quote— I have two favorite quotes. One is very short, but it's by Gandhi, and I'm sure you know that. It's, "Be the change you want to see in the world." That's how I say, if we just change ourselves, we can really change the world around us. The second one is a, I would say, poem by Rumi, famous poet Rumi. He says, "You were born with potential. You were born with goodness and trust. You were born with ideals and dreams. You were born with greatness. You were born with wings. Learn to use them and fly." Hmm, I love that, man.
Thank you so much for coming on. The last question I have for you before we let you go is, where's the best place for people to find find you online?
So there are 3 ways that people can find me. One is through websites. So I have 3 major websites that I introduce here. One is the dreamachieversacademy.com. That's my major website helping people achieve their dreams. The second one is about the recent book that I have written, getwhatyouwantfast.com. So it's about Get What You Want book. And the third one is especially for the business owners, the ones that want to take business, their business to the next level, and they want to do business automation. And that's webservicesacademy.com. The other way is just through LinkedIn, Facebook, and even Google search. You can find information about me.
Awesome, man. Thank you again for coming on. We really appreciate it.
Thanks a lot, Tyler Wagner.
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