Andy

God is not an appendage of my life, He is my foundation. The translation of this book was carried out during the full�scale military invasion of Ukraine by Russia. The company Enjoy the Wood fully experienced the aggression and unmotivated hatred of the Russian invaders: the office in Irpin and the production facility in Borodyanka were destroyed, and the production premises in Bucha and Irpin were damaged. But we did not give up. We did not cease operations but quickly restored the business. We continue to work actively, but now in the west of the country. Our products still delight customers all over the world. This is our contribution to the glory of Ukraine. By this, we also prove that our homeland is unbreakable and strong, and no enemy will ever be able to conquer it. Igor Fostenko The WAY from Street Kid To Millionaire The Real Story of a Man Who Never Gives Up Table of Contents Foreword...............................................................................................9 Part 1. Personality Formation Chapter 1. I Was Destined to Become Nobody.........................................14 Chapter 2. The Scars of the Unsweet Childhood......................................19 Chapter 3. When a Beloved Soul Leaves ...................................................24 Chapter 4. A Place Where You Don't Belong............................................29 Chapter 5. Street Life Scenes........................................................................34 Chapter 6. Daily Life in the Orphanage.....................................................39 Chapter 7. The Person Who has Changed Everything.............................44 Chapter 8. The Beginning of My Spiritual Path........................................50 Part 2. The Entrepreneur's Path Chapter 9. Introduction to Business.........................................................58 Chapter 10. Empire of Wood or Life's Work.............................................65 Chapter 11. Business Philosophy................................................................72 Chapter 12. Peculiarities of Team Management........................................78 Chapter 13. Financial Ideology....................................................................85 Chapter 14. Ups and Downs........................................................................91 7 Chapter 15. Winning Mindset.....................................................................98 Chapter 16. Success: What’s Behind It?......................................................104 Chapter 17. DNA of a Brilliant Business....................................................110 Part 3. Family Values Chapter 18. How Love was Born.................................................................120 Chapter 19. Family as a Single System........................................................127 Chapter 20. Rules of a Strong Marriage......................................................133 Chapter 21. Raising Children, Raising Myself...........................................139 Chapter 22. The ABC's of Personal Productivity......................................146 Chapter 23. Meaningful Traveling..............................................................151 Chapter 24. About Happiness, Dreams, and Good Deeds.......................157 Chapter 25. My 33 Conclusions in 33 Years..............................................162 Acknowledgments.........................................................................................165 8 Foreword Having been born into a very poor family, witnessing the death of a loved person at a very early age, and having spent several years living in a toxic street environment, I always hoped for the best and did not restrict myself in my dreams. An ordinary boy from a small town overcame a long distance, full of trials and mistakes, which led to astounding success. My path is a path from a homeless man to a millionaire, from an absolute lack of moral compass to inner harmony, from one Chinese wood-burning machine to a large-scale business that conquers the world and brings joy to people. I found the true meaning of my life through my faith in God. I explore the world, raise children and work on my personal development every day. I am doing what I love and I am proud of the team that works with me. Today, I know for sure that each of us is capable of doing more than he thinks. That poverty is not a sentence, but a great motivation to move forward. That experience of failure is the best teacher, and painful loss will be healed by time. That a strong person distinguishes from a weak by his ability to get back on his feet after a crushing knockout. And, finally, the most important thing is to never give up! We cannot change how we start, but we can influence how we finish! My story is a vivid confirmation. On the pages of this book, I will tell you honestly and in full about the struggle with myself and my circumstances. A struggle that proves that nothing is impossible in this world for a person with a powerful inner strength. This book is not about how to get rich quick. This is a 9 collection of motivational episodes from the life of a person who, despite all external obstacles, has learned to believe in himself and achieve his goal. In this book, you will find a lot of practical advice on building and developing business, managing finances and the most valuable resource–time. I will reveal to you the philosophy of the winner's mindset, share the secrets of personal productivity, and the secret to a long lasting strong marriage. I believe that my story–the story of the transformation of a homeless person into a millionaire–will fascinate you, inspire you, and make you look at your own reality from a slightly different angle. The valuable recommendations presented in this book will help you restructure your thinking, set an ambitious goal and do everything to achieve it. And, on the road to the summit of triumph, do it in such a way that you do not lose your spiritual values and do not betray yourself and your loved ones. I also believe that if you encounter seemingly insurmountable difficulties in your life, after reading this book, you will remember the story of a boy who was homeless in the past, who withstood circumstances with dignity, overcame himself, and achieved great success. By remembering me, you will move on, knowing that you will definitely succeed! 10 Part 1 Personality Formation "You'll never accomplish anything! You belong in jail! You've got nothing on your mind! Fatherless bastard!" Chapter 1 I Was Destined to Become Nobody As a child, I was "immunized" with shame and poverty. When our kindergarten organized a New Year's Eve costume party, the best thing I could count on was a costume made by my mother out of a white sheet. When my school peers rushed to the candy table, my sister and I stood aside, knowing that candies were an unaffordable luxury. Our family simply could not afford them. I vividly remember the piercing feeling of shame, a feeling shaking my whole body to the bone and making me see myself as inferior. It made me believe that life—with all its opportunities and joys—was intended for others, while I had to be content with little. Later, I managed to cope with feelings of shame and inferiority, and make myself a decent environment thanks to throwing all the toxic people out of my 14 life. I accepted the life's circumstances as a challenge, and I never regretted it. It was abject poverty that became the starting point of my personal growth, transformed my thinking, taught me to prioritize, and never give up. Step by step, I was able to build a new reality, realizing that human happiness in no way depends on material wealth. Having had fantastic adventures, today I'm satisfied with what keeps me busy every day: the business I enjoy, my wonderful family, spiritual growth, and traveling. I love and am loved. I enjoy watching my daughters grow up. I am scaling up a business that is already conquering the world. I have built a spiritual connection with God enabling me to know myself and everything around me. But sometimes I think back to my childhood when I had to go through a lot of bullying. The way people viewed me and my family was, to put it mildly, disparaging. My peers' parents mostly did not want their children to be friends with me. Apparently, they considered it beneath their dignity to have any contacts with poor people. I faced mockery, ridicule, and rudeness on a daily basis. But thanks to my inner strength, my backbone, and my confident attitude I was always able to fight back. In addition, I have a defender instinct in my DNA. As soon as I see a clear injustice, my emotions boil inside, and I immediately want to tackle the situation, and make sure that the good prevails. On many occasions, issues had to be resolved by force. I was often seen in my school backyard, taking part in fights. I remember my classmates in a school in Kyiv often calling me a bum. The bullying was led by a certain boy, the informal leader of the class. Ironically, the "gang leader" was weaker than me, both physically and morally. We both knew this. One day, a very revealing incident happened. My opponent confessed that his classmates had asked him to fight me. For the fear of being defeated in a fight and losing authority in the team, my classmate wanted me to give in to him. His request only made me smile. Predictably, I won the fight, and the "leader" just burst into tears. My peers didn't stop teasing me after that, but kept the bullying in check, since they saw my determination and strength of character. That situation taught me a very important life lesson: if you are being humiliated and insulted in any way, identify the main toxic person in the bunch of bullies and fight back against that specific person. More than once I have asked myself the question, "Why can children be so mean and cruel?" Most likely, the answer lies in the teachers' personal qualities and the school system at large. 15 When teachers treat a child as a person, the child wants to learn, to try hard, to walk the proverbial extra mile. In my case, however, school was not a nice and quiet place in which one wants to grow, make friends, and learn about the world. For me, the school was a battlefield. Let me share a couple of vivid flashbacks from the school days, a couple of incidents with my teachers. Since the first day I joined an "academic class" (an advanced class with many excellent students), I faced with the teacher's negative reaction. "What have you brought me?!" she asked the headmaster, pointing at my sister and me. She feared that we would drag down the overall performance of the class. The teacher identified us as "what" rather than "who". She absolutely did not believe in our ability to learn, thus branding us as failures. On more than one occasion, the teacher defiantly reprimanded and humiliated us before the entire class. She believed that we were by default worse than the other children. We were worse because we were poor, and therefore deserved to be punished and reprimanded. Even then I understood and experienced what social and class injustice was. I protested against that from the bottom of my heart, defending my own honor and that of my sister. One day, when school was over, my classmates hid my backpack. That day, my sister and I were in a hurry to catch a train (we commuted to school), and every minute mattered. My sister asked the after school care teacher to intervene and help find the backpack. The teacher was quick to respond, "Serves him right!" At first I was taken aback by these words. I guess you know how it feels to get stabbed in the back by someone you trust. Next, I experienced a rush of anger. I approached the teacher and used some foul language to express my rage, transforming the entire gamut of my emotions into curse words. But the next moment, I regretted doing this, blaming myself for my lack of restraint. Guess what our homeroom teacher did when she found out about the incident? The moment she entered the class, without saying a single word, she slapped me in the face. The level of humiliation was beyond measure, my body was resisting what was happening, and my brain was crying out, "Run!" I stormed out of class and didn't come back to school for many days. While I sought solace in the street, my mother, my homeroom teacher, and the police were looking for me. I was so adept at hiding that it took them a month to find me. My relatives joined the bullying. For instance, my grandmother's sister lived by the motto, "A day without a nasty comment is a day wasted." She 16 would go around saying, "You'll never accomplish a thing!" You belong in a jail!", "You've got nothing on your mind!", "Fatherless bastard!" The social stigma was so strong as if everything around me shouted, "You are destined to be nobody!" However, even in the battle with a toxic environment, I had the distinct advantage of optimism and positive thinking. I did not react to outside triggers; I learned to separate myself from the destructive environment. I was teased, pushed, knocked down, and yet I smiled and moved on. Looking back at the experience of the past, I can confidently say that bullying, quite ironically, has had a positive impact on my formation and success. Being bullied as a child strengthened my character, helped me develop a strong inner core and a desire to always win in everything. Bullying taught me five important things: One - It is very difficult, almost impossible, to knock me out of a rut. Thanks to my background, I am able to transform any crisis into fuel for growth, and the phrase "Never give up!" has become my life motto. Two - It takes a lot to offend me, because I have developed a skill of not being offended by those around me. I have replaced my expectations from others with gratitude, and my emotional armor has become the perfect counterbalance to all the insults coming my way. Three - I build my life based on the principle: "Other people's opinions are nothing more than their opinions. Period." I've learned to live my life paying no attention to the toxic backdrop. Four - The only thing that matters is the opinion of the closest people who love and appreciate me no matter what. This is more than enough to achieve success. No matter what others may think, if my spouse says, "You're good! You can do it!" I will definitely give my idea a try. And nothing else matters. Five - You have to be able to stand up for yourself. Always. Think of it: the aggressive bullying stopped once I identified the most defiant guy in the class and showed him I was stronger. 17 If you, dear reader, happen to be a child or a teenager, I want to give you some very useful advice. It is a great fortune in life to find at least one significant person in your environment who will tell you the right words at the right time. Those words will be your point of reference in life. Find such a person, and you will be immune to bullying! In my childhood, my mother was such a significant person. These days, it's my wife. If you are a parent, I have an important message for you on how to prevent bullying of your child or minimize the harm. Think of me as your personal coach, question my words, analyze and criticize them—do whatever you want, but don't ignore the following advice: • Make sure that your children love other people and are capable of developing and showing empathy. In other words, raise your children in a paradigm whereby everyone deserves love and respect. • Teach your children to always look at other people through the lens of their own self, always thinking, "Would I want to be treated the way I treat them?" This seemingly simple question is a great tool to filter out toxic phrases and actions. • Build your child's self-esteem since the first days of their life. If parents daily let their child know that she or he is important and valuable, born into this world out of great love and worthy of much love in their life, the child is unlikely to believe the opposite. How does this work in practice? For instance, if some guy in school tells your daughter that she is ugly, she is highly unlikely to be hurt by those words. Why? Because her daddy tells her every day that she's beautiful. And the father's words are unwavering truth for the child. • Don't punish your children for their academic failures. Instead of scolding them for their school marks, focus on praising them for their efforts. • Set a good example for your children every day by carefully choosing your actions, words and even thoughts. You'll probably agree that if parents speak badly about others, use foul language, gossip, have bad habits and the like, their children quickly absorb this like sponges. They subconsciously copy their parents' behavior model, considering it normal. 18 "When you grow up, punch him in the face for me!" Chapter 2 The Scars of the Unsweet Childhood My family and I lived in a small pre-war house divided into two parts. The house, built in 1921, was made of clay and wood. I still remember us covering windows with film, which was our way to survive the bitter cold of winter. A small kitchen, veranda, and a tiny room were all we had at our disposal. Grandma slept in the kitchen, while my mother, sister, and I shared the room. Our living conditions were challenging, to put it mildly. And if you begin to feel sorry for me, please save that feeling for later. Despite the material difficulties, I was a happy child, and recall my childhood as a joyful time. I felt free and happy every day, at least before my mother died. You know, I often get asked the question, "Why are you telling your story? Do you want others to pity you?!" Not at all. Pity is a purely destructive emotion. The purpose of the candid account of my life's journey is to show and 19