My time at Qualifa – by Vanya Gencheva

Hi, my name is Vanya and I have been an intern at Qualifa for the last 12 months.

Now, at what feels like the end of an era, I am sharing some of my thoughts on career, life and more of what I have learnt throughout this year.

Just Do It. What makes a great company (and great life) isn’t so much the inspiring idea as the flawless execution around the big idea. As Thomas Edison once said “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” Whenever people say your dream is impossible – just get the dream done. Be a man with a giant bias towards action and remember that the impossible is generally just the untried.

 At Qualifa our main goal wasn’t focused on being awarded as The Most Promising New Business in Sussex for 2012, however through our exceptional quality of work, customer service, expertise and belief that we are offering a unique experience, our local business community felt that we deserved this highly esteemed accolade. The recognition from the Sussex Business Awards judges, sponsors and members is proof that we are moving in the right direction to become a Global Provider of Multilingual Telemarketing services.

Be slow to criticize and fast to appreciate. Look in the mirror and you will realise that whenever we criticize someone, what we see in them is really what we see in ourselves. So make the habit of looking for and encouraging the talents and gifts of the others.
I have been surrounded by the amazing management team of Qualifa, who understands the beauty of uniqueness and knows how to discover the talent and delegate to it the most appropriate role, in order to simply shine.

Be Massively Independent. When Richard Branson was just four years old, his mother stopped her car and instructed him to find his own way home, over many miles. When he was about 12, she told him to cycle 100 miles to Bournemouth alone, to visit a relative. These childhood experiences were his mother’s way of growing his self-reliance. And building the invincible inner core that has served him so well as an entrepreneur.
What brought me to this idea is that it doesn’t matter if you are an intern or an entrepreneur at this very moment. What matters is to make small, steady steps towards independence. It is crucial to learn to manage your time, efforts and self-development. Don’t let yourself get bored – fill your time with tasks, exercises, learning and planning.

Lavish Praise on People. You know this: the bigger the dream, the more important the team. Every single one of best entrepreneurs in the world gets that you can’t do it alone. It’s beautiful to have a brave vision, but the real key is finding the genius-level talent to get that vision delivered into reality. And if all you know is how to surround yourself with mediocre people, you’re destined to experience mediocre results. Find the right people that bring the targets of opportunity to life. Once they are on your team – lavish them with praise.

Be a Radical Innovator. At Virgin Records Richard Branson recruited the Sex Pistols and reinvented a whole category of music. At Virgin Atlantic, he gave passengers massages on airplanes and dropped them home in limos. And with Virgin Galactic, he’ll be taking people into space.
At Qualifa we took telemarketing, upgraded it and offered it to the market as a new, multilingual, world class business service – and this all is operated from one single office. And I think this is absolutely fantastic.

Don’t Do It If It’s Not Fun. Wear a smile all the time. Laugh naturally. And radiate happiness. The lesson here: life’s just too short to be doing work that destroys your soul. Right now is the best time in the history of the world to become an entrepreneur. Find work you adore and get busy changing the world with it.

Be grateful. And I am thoroughly grateful for having the best mentors – James Burton, James Lewendon, Fiona Pritchard, Fabiana Macri, Michelle Clacher and Jean-Remy Le Gal. Thank you for believing in me and letting me learn, for your kindness and understanding and for your unconditional support.

Take care,

Vanya