I’m sure you’ve heard a lot of stories of entrepreneurs who rose from the ground up and are now making a name and creating a legacy for themselves and their families. But you’ll probably find the story of this American-Norwegian tech entrepreneur a life-changing read.
The story of Sigurd Vedal, a renowned serial entrepreneur, investor and business and relationship coach comes with a heavy dose of rare gems. What good is a story without powerful life lessons that you’ll find valuable, right?
Vedal is the founder of Vedal Media Group, a multimillion-euro company and several prominent brands. Aside from his other successful international businesses he also built for himself a popular brand thus making him a well-known online personality. His life is one that you’d like to put on a vision board.
Before you go ahead and do that, I want to share with you three powerful lessons you can learn from Vedal’s story.
Pain brings out the best in you (if you know how to use it right)
Without a doubt Vedal is living the dream life. But it wasn’t always that nice and rosy in his world. A quick flashback to his past will make you realize that his life was no different from ours. He wasn’t born with a silver spoon in his mouth and had to do a lot of things the hard way.
Yes, Vedal owns thriving businesses but everything he now knows about running those businesses he learned on his own. He had to go through the school of hard knocks, going through challenges and move forward after suffering setbacks just like everybody else – and sometimes even worse.
In 1996 Vedal established Clockwork Recordings, a music studio, located in Oslo, Norway at the time. That was his first taste of entrepreneurship. He ran this business while he was holding up a 9-to-5 job. It was tough juggling 2 jobs but he got by nevertheless.
Sadly, 4 years later Vedal’s world came crashing down right before his very eyes. Clockwork Recordings went bankrupt and he also lost his day job during that period. Just when he thought it couldn’t get any worse, his long-term girlfriend dumped him because it was too much for her to bear. So, Vedal was left to face that difficult time on his own.
But from all that pain and disappointment came the realization that there are people who have much less, thus his drive and commitment to helping people in underdeveloped countries by providing tools, resources and education to give them the needed boost in life.
Use your strengths to expand your horizon
A careful look into his life will let you know that he was quite strategic with his career and business choices. Of course, he ventured in a whole lot of different businesses but one thing was certain: He started expanding from his area of strength.
Vedal studied in the Norwegian Institute of Recorded Sound. That’s why it was not a surprise that his first business was a recording studio. From there he branched off into radio and television and kept growing until he went full into media.
He used the skills he acquired along the way to expand his scope of business. Growth happens when you leverage on your strengths and put your all into it. Nothing ever comes out from dwelling on your weaknesses or debating about why you don’t have the same skills that the big shots in the industry have.
Sigurd Vedal
No matter what life throws at you stay grateful
Every successful person I know has one thing in common: They’re always grateful. And Vedal was no different. His words, “…think about what you appreciate such as ‘I’m alive’, ‘I’m not sick!’, and ‘I am fortunate’” make it clear that there’s power in actively looking for something to be grateful for. In fact, research shows that being grateful can improve your chances of being successful. And Vedal is a living testament of how powerful gratitude is.
Grateful people tend to perform tasks a lot better than those who don’t practice gratitude. Aside from that grateful people are a lot healthier, have a higher self-esteem and generally positive.
Let’s sum it up
Vedal’s life’s not just a story you read to stay inspired – it’s one that teaches. If you’re a good life student you’ll know that consistently applying the lessons from Vedal’s life will help you get closer to replicating his success in your life as well.
Transforming pain as a tool to bring out the best in you, leveraging on your strengths rather than dwelling on your weaknesses and staying grateful no matter what life may throw at you, are the 3 keys to living that successful life that Vedal’s currently living.
If you haven’t noticed by now those 3 valuable lessons aren’t so difficult to apply. Yes, you will face some challenges. Yes, it will be tough. And yes, you will want to give up. But whenever you feel like you do, remember Vedal’s story.
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