Philipp Brinkmann: An “aficionado” of entrepreneurship
Probably most of you know him as the CEO of Tripsta, an online travel agency that started from Greece and made it big, but this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Philipp is currently very successful but this didn’t happen overnight. He started working when he was just a teenager. He did a lot of things, from distributing newspapers to working for a catering business.
When he turned 17, he moved to Greece for 3 years in order to enroll at the German School of Athens and life started to change. He started meeting very ambitious young people and it was obvious to him, that the bar had been raised.
He started thinking that he wanted to do something greater with his life and the first sparks of entrepreneurship started to flow through his mind.
After that, he went on to study at the Munich Business School. By then, he had decided he was going to start a business. Even most of his classes were about developing business plans and writing case studies.
While being there, he met his cofounder, Kristof Kiem, or as we know him, Stofi.
After a lot of hardships and many iterations, a company selling ferry tickets in Greece was born, which later transformed into Tripsta.
Philipp is remarkable in many ways, but I am personally envious of his success while still being young. He hired me at his company while he was still 32, and the company had already around 50 employees.
I admit I was lucky to find my first real job, in a company with such great founders. Not to mention, the company had already attracted great talent. In my first 6 months I learned so much from my colleagues while at the same time I was having the time of my life.
One thing I can’t really forget, is that one time when were out for drinks and Philipp mentioned to me, the book “Four hour body” by Tim Ferris, since he knew I was always into fitness stuff. Up until that point I was ignorant of the value in book reading. Like many people, I thought of books as “door stoppers”.
So among other things, Philipp and my other colleagues, introduced me into self improvement. The amazing thing is they didn’t really do it consciously and that’s what made it stick even more.
I am not going to drag this about my time in Tripsta, I will probably keep it for another post.
So what about the golden nuggets of wisdom I got from my first employer?
Be ambitious as hell
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be ordinary. But since you are reading this post, chances are you are an outlier. You’d like to make an impact and make something of yourself. Well dreams are a mandatory step for greatness.
Philipp started seeing this in his fellow students in the German School of Athens. He thought he had to meet some bigger expectations for himself.
So be a little delusional, start thinking irrationally and believe that you are someone of great value.
If you work hard on yourself, things will start unfolding before you. Success will be attracted to you just like it happened for so many others in the past.
Have a routine
Philipp has a morning routine that includes 3 things:
- Checking up his long term goals
- Working out
- Working on tasks in a batch for a 2h streak
My routine includes:
- Reading for 30’
- Yoga for 20'
- Cold shower for 5'
So what’s the reason for being so compulsive in the morning?
Having a proper structure keeps you in the loop. Not all days are going to be good. You might get bored or might feel a little sick. These things will definitely not put you in the mood for being productive with your work.
So what’s the solution? Having a routine.
The routine puts you in your regular “Modus operandi”. In this way, you raise the chances of getting into “flow” and produce some of your most rewarding accomplishments.
Communicate
I probably have mentioned it so many times, but we are all “salesmen” in some way.
When you want to go after a job, you are “selling” yourself and your skills for it
When you want to hire someone, you are “selling” the vision of your company.
When you want to get something done by someone, you are “selling” the win-win scenario of anyone involved.
So who’s the better salesman? The best communicator.
You need to have the appropriate words for each occasion and use them wisely. You need to be empathetic towards the other person and truly connect with his state of mind. Only then, are you able to really help him understand your own point of view.
Don’t be afraid to say what’s on your mind, but always make a priority to listen to the other person. After all, there’s always a chance to learn something new from someone else, take advantage of that 😉
Keep net-working
If you still believe you are able to accomplish everything on your own, good luck.
We need other people for every single thing. We need others to:
- contribute to
- exchanges ideas with
- learn from
- admire
- teach
- collaborate with
So if you’re the ambitious type, you need to find the best people for the task at hand.
You want to start a business? Find the best entrepreneurs close to you.
You need to domarketing? Find the best marketeers.
It’s pretty straight forward.
But what are the ways to keep meeting interesting people?
Philipp is taking part in many business associations here in Athens and is also trying to do various activities within those organizations. For example, last year he attended some courses at Harvard. Needless to say, he met a ton of successful people which made him even more ambitious.
Be motivated by money
Philipp believes that entrepreneurs are divided among those who are motivated by:
- fame
- or money
He also believes that the latter tend to be more successful, even though he believes he is more motivated by other things than money.
Although many would disagree, my personal opinion is hell yes.
Having a bigger net worth, puts you in a better position to help other people, ergo preferring to make less money is egotistical.
We have so many great paradigms worldwide that have built gigantic net worth and they are giving a large chunk of it to charity. In my vocabulary, this is the definition of inspiration, achievement, and posthumous fame.
I hope I have left you with some thinking to do.
Tripsta is a well-funded and large company that is employing around 300 people. If you want to be a part of it and raise the bar for yourself, this is the company to be in. Take a look at their jobs page and see if there’s a fit for you.
