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Skillionaires Podcast – Episode 21

Sammy Gharieni

[Sammy Gharieni]

Go back to my childhood. I was 13 years, I was always playing with electronics and I was building my amplifiers and put my name on top. I was dreaming of having my own company.

I worked for one time in my life for a Japanese company and I thought, this is not my place and I have to do my own thing. And I started collaborating with a company from Clearwater beach and I entered the beauty industry with some facial toning machine back at the day. After two, three years, I started building my beds at super high end.

And this is how everything started. We always sold in total 140 countries. People, so between manufacturing and sales team, we are around 200, 240.

I think I would go back to one specific moment where I think when, when your vision is to, to grow the business. I remember my first shows, trade shows I'd done, all the money I got, I put it there and I was like, oops, it's getting almost to zero. You, as an entrepreneur, you find a way and smart people know how to learn from mistake that you have, you think, oh my God, maybe I want to stop.

You are entrepreneur not to handle kindergarten. Oh my God, I, I don't want to do that anymore. No end of the year, there will be two, 3% people stealing, etc.

I took the pallet that was supposed to go to Austria and the other one that was supposed to go to Mexico, small mistake costed us at least 15,000 Euro.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

Welcome to Skill United podcast, where you explore with me innovations and leaderships, people who have already been scaling and a real journey behind them that lasts in the global brand. And here we have today a guest that represents over 35 years of German engineering excellency in innovation and combining this in the wellness industry, spa and medical industry. And as a founder of Garieni Group, he built a premium global brand, knowing for high quality in medical spa and wellness equipment and for pioneering what is now called MindBody verified wellness technology.

And we have here Sammy Garieni with StoryStatStick and StrategyStatScale. I'm so happy to have you here. We know already for some of a while, and it was such a big pleasure to pick your brain today, how did it start, all of it, and where did you make the decision of being an entrepreneur?

[Sammy Gharieni]

First of all, thank you for the introduction. I thought to myself, that's a perfect introduction. I cannot add anything to that.

Only the 35 year story, which so you want to know exactly when I started. So very, very simple. I think if I go back to my childhood, I was 13 years, I was always playing with electronics and I was building my amplifiers and put my name on top.

I was dreaming of having my own company. It was a dream. And then I did my engineering studies, et cetera.

And then I met some, I worked for one time in my life for a Japanese company. After one and a half year, I got bored and I thought, this is not my place. I cannot work with someone.

I have to do my own thing. And I started collaborating with a company from Clearwater Beach in Florida. And I entered the beauty industry with some facial toning machine back at the day and the kind of ultrasound.

And then, yes, I was excited. And then I always had my childhood dream of building my own brand. So after two, three years, I started building my beds and chairs, aesthetic chairs back at the day.

And they were super high end. And this is how everything started. I made the long story really very short.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

Very short. Yes, very short. I wanted to know.

And today you are actually, for me, very fascinating when it comes to branding. You have it on a high level everywhere. Your name actually involved in your accessoires and all of these.

Has it been rooted back in the days where you scribbled everywhere your name on? Has it been rooted on back in the days where you scribbled your own name on the little inventions that you had?

[Sammy Gharieni]

I think, oh my God, you know, when you look back to your childhood, everything starts there. I think all entrepreneurs had something in their childhood that happened where it will come out later on. I feel like I had another experience of my life where they told me, because I don't remember, I was so young.

My dad was looking for me and I said, where is Sammy? And I was, I think, five years old. And I took my toys to the school and I was selling them to others.

So I had this mindset of of doing business and making money. And then it's a mix of this creativity of building some devices for back at the day. It was hi-fi.

So it was amplifiers, lights, stroboscopes, et cetera. And some I think in me, I was rooted in me this kind of entrepreneurship which was selling the the the toys, you know, and then after was the stamps, which was my hobby, number two. And then back at the day, you know, you're not born.

There were stamps on there and then there were collections. So I was buying them and putting them according to themes and then selling them again. And I was excited.

And I was I was wanting to make money and then not for money, just just making out of my passion money. I think this is this is what I can say until now. That's my business is my passion.

And I tell always to people, it's like don't take my my passion away. It means I would never stop working because I love what I'm doing. It's like I compare myself when I was a child playing with my Legos.

After 12 hours, my my parents were upset. I cannot give up something I love. And this is how it's a passion that started in early age.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

Yes, I can feel this so much resonates with me because I don't call my work a job. Yes, I call it as it's really also my passion. And people sometimes do not understand the amount of hours that somebody who's following the the the passion is working.

You also it's hard to catch you sometimes. I think you could have even played in that movie. Try to catch me because because you if you won one day here the next day, you are on a plane on another panel and spread the word because you love it so much.

You never feel like it is a work, isn't it?

[Sammy Gharieni]

True. It's I think traveling is one of the key, key points that helped me a lot. And again, I go back always to my childhood.

I feel like I never talked so much about my childhood. It's I remember after I built my amplifiers and put my I look for the letters to put Gary Annie on top, which is my family name. I I was every time I go to bed, I was dreaming about traveling around the globe and and being doing my business.

And that it was I remember it was 13, 14 years old. And it was always a dream to travel because back of the day, travel is not like now. Now it's you know, you can travel easily with 50, 20 euros or dollars.

And back of the day was traveling was more luxury. And I was always thinking that the business has to be done in a way that it's global. So I was always thinking about a global business, not a local business.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

Very good. Very good. You you nevertheless had entered into an employment first.

You said you was in a Japanese employment or company. And I already know the answer, I suppose. But please tell our audience what made you realize this is no way I can work for somebody.

What were the key factors that you missed out on working for somebody? And comparing to working for yourself?

[Sammy Gharieni]

Yeah, I think which I didn't mention after I finished my engineering studies in Germany, I did one half year preparing for my PhD because I thought it would be cool being Dr. Semigarayeni. But after one half year, again, I had to have a job, which the job was working at the assistant of the professor. And I felt like I think it was too academic.

I was six years in the university, plus already one half year. I thought to myself, I don't want to continue there. So I thought the reason why working for a company in Japan, for Japan and in Japan was to to get out from the from the academic world, because I thought I was too long there.

But then, as I told you, I started again and and I realized it was not the academic thing. It was literally being guided. And for me, it was the most frustrating having great ideas, bringing innovation and someone else is using it.

It's not me. It's you sell yourself to another person. And on top of that, for the Japanese company, they are very strict in hierarchy.

They demotivated me. They told me, you know, Sammy, I was dreaming of being already CEO of the company. And they told me, no, slow down.

We are not an American company. Everything happens. But you have to be patient.

Before you go one level higher, it will take you seven years. And then one level higher, 10 years. I thought to myself, I'll be 150 years until I want I want to get there.

Now, this was just simply not really feeling that you can you can live your dream and your your creativity.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

Yeah. The cut off of creativity, the forecast of not being able to spread your wings is something that I imagine must have been your biggest, your biggest motivation to leave this.

[Sammy Gharieni]

And to and I think sorry, just to add, I think why I went on to on this employment work, which is working as a product manager for some technologies back at the day was because I listening to I was listening to my parents. My parents were both working. So, you know, you have to be the what their parents tell you.

And I think this is a big problem of all parents. And they want to make their kids being a doctor or whatever. Then they are good.

Because I remember when they when they heard I stopped working and I went on my own in the beauty industry, they were they were ashamed. Almost they say how this person can leave a job as an engineer and go and start by zero doing something with lipsticks. This is how they saw it.

OK, now you can imagine after I have proven that I was somehow successful. They thought, OK, that was not a bad idea.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

Yeah, that that we have and that we can see. So give us, please, for the audience a little bit of an overview in how many countries you are and how many people are working for you.

[Sammy Gharieni]

So first of all, we we sell with or we sold in total for in 140 countries, more or less. Some of the countries in Africa, you sell just one time because there is the market is way too small. And it's not about the numbers on.

It's also about the the markets that we serve. So we've been selling, first of all, just, let's say, aesthetic chairs and then furniture and some steamers back at the day that we manufacture ourselves. This is 20 years ago, and now it's more getting more to more high tech product.

And where where I really started putting technology into beds, I thought, why why the bed that we manufacture reach already the limit of what you can do? So what can you do more? Bring in experience and added value.

And this gave the company a new, totally a new a new wave of innovation. And and it's just the beginning. So I think I forgot the question, but I was on the path to explain this.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

No, no problem. The question was actually how many people are working for you?

[Sammy Gharieni]

The number of people. So between manufacturing and sales team, we are around 200, 240. Yes.

And yes. But we have a big part in manufacturing as we we have manufacturing sites. The main one is in Germany, and then we have in the Netherlands manufacturing site and in Tunisia manufacturing.

So it depends on that all related to each other. And sometimes we there is a brand which is Benton, which is the company I bought, which is 45 years on the market. We manufacture in Netherlands.

Gary, any metal is in Germany and Gary, any more regular products? We we we assemble in Tunisia. So it's a mix.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

It's a mix. Yeah. Well, this is a worldwide company.

And that only speaks for you as an entrepreneur to place every in every country what is senseful and intelligent to put there. You never put your eggs in one basket, isn't it?

[Sammy Gharieni]

Yes.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

So, yeah. Let me just please understand when you had this struggle, the judgment of your parents to go ahead with your own company to become what you are today. There has been something in between.

There has been a sort of expansion. When was for you the time when you realized, aha, I need people. I don't need only a secretary.

I maybe need more than a handful because I wanted to make this big. What has been in your mind to develop that? And tell us about this sphere of your of your path.

[Sammy Gharieni]

OK. So I think I would go back to one specific moment where I was in my apartment in Germany after I started my business. So just by zero, I had there was back at the day the fax machine and the desk that that was it.

And then I realized I cannot do big things. I need someone somehow to be with me. And this guy whose name is Klaus Fink, I don't have contact with him anymore, but he's still alive.

I heard he joined me and he was super enthusiastic. So I gave him I passed him. I gave him my my passion.

So he kind of being there was very enthusiastic. And then I gave him some shares in the business. I said, you know what, you give you 10 percent.

And then because I couldn't pay big, big, big money and you are part of it. So and then this is this allowed me to just travel and then have someone else. This is how I started with first first employee.

And then suddenly you generate more and more business. And then you need maybe someone picking up the phone and writing quotation. And and honestly, I don't remember all of the steps before.

One of the people that I started with 35 years ago. No more. They are still in my company.

They are still working.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

Yes.

[Sammy Gharieni]

Like there is a guy, Vincenzo Giorgio, our accountant is still in the company. Ralf Hammerschmidt is still in the company from day one from day like the first phase in in the company. Yeah, it's it's automatic.

And then it happens automatic when when your vision is to to grow the business then and you adapt to the situation. And I remember my first shows, trade shows I've done. I put all my money, like you said, in one basket.

And I did not really, but kind of. I did three shows at the same at the same two weekends. It was I remember back in the day, Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.

It in every every weekend I had another show. So all the money I got, I put it there and I thought I would I would be successful. And then the problem is it takes time.

And I realized, oops, it's getting almost getting to zero.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

And it was it was it was tough. Yeah.

[Sammy Gharieni]

But anyway, you as an entrepreneur, you find a way. It's like the water that flowed down. There is always a way how it flows down.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

And and I think also some of these learnings you have to gather on along your way in order to learn out of it to.

[Sammy Gharieni]

Yes. Yes.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

To make it actually happen better the next time or different. Yeah, it is always important to have such happenings. Some some low, low seasons like that.

[Sammy Gharieni]

So that makes you strong.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

[Sammy Gharieni]

True. This is I think for every entrepreneur knows when when you you do a wrong decision, you will see the impact when the impact is not bad, that you really get it to the the fatal thing. Then then you learn from it and you know, OK, next time.

I mean, smart people know how to learn from mistakes.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And I don't I don't think that as an entrepreneur, you succeed much far if you have a policy in house which are really punish for the mistakes. But if you have a culture of celebrating mistakes and make everybody learn out of it, that's something very intelligent to do. So I had one time an employee who did a mistake that cost a lot of money and she already came with her resignation.

And I said, no way that you resign now. You have to stay because otherwise this we cannot monetize this mistake. So something like that.

You have to always focus and take along with you. Becoming an employer suddenly in the young age for this with the vision in your backpack must have also created some doubts, fears or points where you said, I don't know if I'm on the right track. Can somebody pick me up or can somebody reflect me?

How was this and has this happened to you?

[Sammy Gharieni]

And it happened constantly. I mean, it happened regularly that you had you think, oh, my God, this was a mistake or you know what? Sometimes it happens to say, maybe I want to stop because it's just too much.

You know, for example, unfortunately in Europe now in Germany mainly, but also on the other land, situation is not not much more different. You have a big problem when employees when something is not working well with employees, employees that you cannot fire them. They can play the game and you get frustrated.

And then, you know, this is what frustrates you. You think, my God, you are entrepreneur not to handle to be a kindergarten person, but it's unfortunately it's part of the of the business. So you learn to live with it, even though it's a certain momentum, you think, oh, my God, I I don't want to do that anymore.

But I'm driven with that. And the alternative of not doing it is doing nothing. We're laying on the beach on an island after three, four days.

It's getting boring. So I think it's it's part of the business. And and to go back to the mistakes, every and every business, there are mistakes happening every business because we are humans and everyone does mistakes from day one until now and until tomorrow.

I'm sure there will be mistakes. But the overall picture should be in a way that the mistakes shouldn't be the the main the main part of the business. They should be just part of it.

And at least you say two to three percent of whatever my profit or revenue, whatever depends, a big difference. But anyway, it's it's money that I lost because of mistakes. But this is it's like when you go to a grocery and then they know end of the year there will be two, three percent people stealing, et cetera.

It's part part part of it. It's just you have to live with it.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

Yeah. You have to learn and calculate this in and learn from your mistakes. You learn more from the mistakes.

That is very smart of you.

[Sammy Gharieni]

You know, just an example. If this was maybe I don't maybe 10 years, eight years, 10 years ago, I heard that someone just took the pallet that was supposed to go to Austria and the other one was supposed to go to Mexico and just swap them. You know what happened?

This costs, first of all, people are waiting so long for getting their goods and they get the wrong goods, you know, frustrated clients. And plus this small mistake costed us at least 15,000 euro. And what can you do?

Can you can you with the employer, you know, what can you you can tell him, you know, next time you see the mistake. And the biggest problem is not this type of mistake. As you say, it's learning from mistake.

There is always another way they do. Yeah, there's always they find a way to find to make a mistake. And if it's not me making the mistake.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

Yeah. I one time had the pleasure to visit your factory in Germany. And I found this was so wow.

When you showed me this is going to Saudi, this is going to there. This is I was like, wow. I then only understand what big of a spectrum you are having, what big of a reach you have in the market.

That impressed me a lot. And also the dignity that your engineers are the people in the production have towards towards the products that all carry your energy. Very good.

Sammy, tell me something. I would like to know if you on these low moments that we call or those those moments when we don't see our own shadows by ourselves. Did you ever had a mentor that helped you to reflect things or to have somebody to speak things through?

How is that?

[Sammy Gharieni]

I think that's a brilliant question because no one thinks of things about it. I don't know how the other entrepreneurs are, but what I know that I always need someone to talk to. I had always from day one before I started my business.

I had my best friend, Remy Vincent, which was about 40 years when we were in the university. I was in the process to start my business. I was doubting, shall I start, you know, giving up my mind.

And I needed someone to talk to. And while you talk not to X, Y, Z, but you talk to someone you trust, someone that has some brain, you know. So always I always with every decision, I always need to talk to someone who is close to me, which I trust.

And and let me guide by after. OK, it's my own decision, for sure. But it's very important.

Sometimes I need to talk to two or three people to to to verify. This is something I would never go like bulldozer on one thing on my own. No, I think we do all we need.

We need opinions from others because sometimes or very often you are just in between. You are just in the balance to say, ah, if I take this decision, there is not black and white. There is this gray zone, which makes it difficult that you need.

You need someone to to guide, to help you going more to this direction or this direction.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

Yes. Yeah, that's that's very beautiful. And I adore that you have somebody.

I didn't know if you had somebody, but that's also I find always some my handwriting to have somebody to to reflect with.

[Sammy Gharieni]

It's also my brother. My brother, he's also in the business in 30 years. My half brother, which is my brother.

And he's also like my my my brother, my best friend. And he's the CEO of the of the company in Tunisia. And I call him because I trust his his opinion, even though I know he's too conservative when I don't want to hear only the conservative opinion.

I call the other brother, which is the opposite. And then I take them. I'm in the middle.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

So, OK, OK, OK, that's very smart.

[Sammy Gharieni]

I cheat a little. Sorry.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

That's that's very smart. Always target what what your opinion would like, where you wanted to go and what direction. Speaking of family, semi high performance driven people like you entrepreneurs.

I wonder how they manage and if it's even manageable to take along your pathway, to take along your dignity to work, to your mission, the loved ones that you have around family, partner, wife, kids. How does it work in that? Because I only know my tempo and I'm thinking sometimes I'm losing out on people.

They don't want to come with me. It's too fast for them. And then I have to decide to sacrifice my own pathway or let people go.

And that is something that's really hard. And I would like to know how to do how you do this and how others do it.

[Sammy Gharieni]

I think when I said to other questions, brilliant. I would say it's complex, very complex, because it depends on the phase of your life. Depends on your love life.

Depends on your how you how you you deal with your life. What is your your passion? What is your guided by?

What exactly? If you have a love life, for sure, it will it will influence your your way of of working. That's clear, you know.

But in my case, I mean, I had one phase of my life. I was married. I have one son and two step sons.

And back at the day, I was super. It was another phase of my life. I was every every day home.

And there was the mom was taking care about the kids. And she was entrepreneur as well. It was working perfectly.

And now it's another phase of my life where I travel the world. And then and then my son and my stepson, two of them are already in the company. I'm happy with that.

And I had always family members in the company when I started. My dad, I took my dad was engineer in aviation, and he he retired and took him. I say when I opened the company in Tunisia, I told him, please, can you help me there because I cannot be here?

And then and then he worked for a year and they told me, Sammy, no, I'm I can't do that because I get my pension and then maybe I get troubles if I am CEO. So my brother finished this, finished the marketing, and then he put him immediately being the CEO. And then my other brother finished and he put him there.

So I have my two brothers. My ex-wife was in the business. My who else?

My son. Now, my son and my stepson are in the business. And I think there is some family members in the business, which which part of it.

I normally you say family and business doesn't work together. Depends on depends on families, depends on people and depends on how you handle it.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

How you handle it.

[Sammy Gharieni]

Very good. Yeah. OK, so it again to your point is that now it's the mission is not always being home and having the kids because they are they are now the kids are in the business.

So home is the business now. You know, that's very adorable.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

What do you want more?

[Sammy Gharieni]

That's why I don't have. But I manage in a certain way. Yeah, I want to say I don't have in terms of I'm not married anymore, but for sure, I have my personal life as well.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

Yeah, that's something wonderful that you say that your family is in the business. And that's why the business is somehow also a big structure of family.

[Sammy Gharieni]

I go to Netherlands. Manu is taking care about the Benelux, and he was also a little internationally involved, but now he's focusing on this part of the business because Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg is for us a very important market. And Bentlon, the the brand I brought is there.

So he's dealing with many millions of of business. Elias is involved with the team in Germany. He's more in Germany and now getting more international.

And my brothers are there. So there is always wherever I go is family. And when I go to the US, no, no, I don't have family members.

But who knows?

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

You never know.

[Sammy Gharieni]

You never know.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

Sami, when it comes to the era of AI, how do you combine this and see the development within your in your industry, within your product? I know you're doing a huge amount of development and you are one of the companies who master it out of my point of view so beautifully to smart integrate AI driven solutions for the wellness, beauty and health industry. Tell us a little bit more about this.

[Sammy Gharieni]

Yeah. So in terms of innovation in general, you have to go with what's coming. And we started already with one of the products, which is called the Augmented Massage Bed, where the therapist moves the hands.

And depending on the speed, on the level, we program it in a way that there is a kind of intelligence that it generates some sounds with certain movements. And it's already there since I think four or five years. So we started this type of implementing technologies.

We are developing a new product which will be launched in Inshallah if everything goes well in the FIBO show in Cologne. It's the biggest fitness show in the world. It will be a lot of AI embedded there because it will go to a next level from Gagliani will be a new cutting.

So I created a new company, which is called Cobotics Innovation. So you can guess in which direction it will go. And with the new CEO of that company.

So we go further and implement new technologies because our core business is still building beds and furniture and equipment for the spa and medical and wellness. But yeah, things evolve. And we know that robotics is going to be more and more used, artificial intelligence.

And yeah, that's the path. And there are so many things you can do, but we focus on what we do. So everything we do is related to some chairs and beds that we manufacture.

And we kind of combine and do the crazy things.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

Some years ago, we had a talk where you was saying something about the value chain of your business model because your beds are very high quality. They are standing in a store, in a spa for a good amount of years. And so you was thinking about changing a little bit the modalities of your business model.

And recently we had to talk. Then you said you didn't follow this up. Why is that?

It was like kind of having a part getting returning revenue. Maybe you wanted to talk a little bit about this.

[Sammy Gharieni]

Yeah. So every business has some plus and minus points. So the problem of our core business, which is selling the beds for the clinics, hotel spas or day spas or hospital as well, is that you sell them once and then normally, let's say, an average 10 years.

And then so there is in 10 years nothing to do. OK, as there is no maintenance, any servicing needed just if something breaks for sure, but there is no nothing you have to to to verify like like the oil in the car, you know. So the idea was to develop this new business part of the Garini Group, which is and which became its own brand Metawel.

Metawel are products that you can add anytime. So that means suddenly my client that I bought for for the next 10 years that in the average, they renew their beds in 10 years. Some of them maybe after I heard 20, 24 years, they use the same.

Some sometimes seven years depends. But let's say the average 10 years, then we can always we have new new technologies coming and anytime. So so it became something where the client is not only blocked for 10 years.

It became something new because we don't have consumables. So if we have consumables that you sell with, you sell equipment where after every use you have to to to buy something which is patented, etc. This is a great business model.

We don't have that. There is nothing that you have to buy to in order to use it. So you have to be creative.

And suddenly creativity means offering some new things that they they have to to take in order to be on time. And one of the examples I'm very proud to say in Dubai, when I go to the address downtown or the other address or some of the hotels, Jumairah, Alcazar and Talispa and some others, they implemented technologies. And why?

Because recovery became a big a new trend since two years. Nothing is new. Just it's it's social media.

It's a it's a new trend. And I'm I'm happy to say that, you know, these people don't need regular beds anymore, but they go with new technology. So you tell me, OK, then there is always and then and then, you know, and then I have always something new.

This year we are launching officially three new technologies, which is a lot because I have 10 in total metal. Well, there will be three more. So and innovation never stops.

So with one of these innovation, all of them, I can. Every client can use can use one of the new ones. So the path is just being innovative again.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

Innovation where you get this inspiration for innovation. So how is your process?

[Sammy Gharieni]

You are it's it's because you are always in. I think this is how it started. I remember when I saw the first time I met Andreas.

I mean, Andreas, he was 10 years in my company. You know, Andreas, I tried this this box with warm sand that he was selling to clinics in in Germany for back pain, you know, for arthritis, et cetera. And then I thought, wow, it would be brilliant to embed it into a bed and give to the spa in you just a new experience.

And yeah, people were the first years intrigued. What is it? I mean, it took a while that it starts and now it becomes a must have.

Every spa needs a room with with with the quartz bed, you know. And innovation is where where you travel, you see. And and you have your we we call it nose.

You you you feel I mean, I had ideas and then some of them maybe are good, good in marketing. Some of them are good in business. So you need a mix.

OK, I don't I don't want to say which one makes the most business. But I don't regret even though in my company, you say, you know what? This product we don't sell a lot.

But you know why I say why? Because this product, it's it's a marketing. Instead of doing advertisement, when people see this technology, they say, wow, Guarini like Guarini is on the edge.

We cannot survive and live from only this type of product. It's a mix.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

Very good. To get inspiration like this and have this nose combining it, to bring it some kind of this entrepreneurial intelligence together is something that is yeah, that's in your genes and your means, obviously. And to get inspirations, I always use books and I love reading books.

[Sammy Gharieni]

And I hate reading books.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

Really? Oh, yeah. I never read books.

OK. Oh, you never you listen to books? No, no, no, not at all.

[Sammy Gharieni]

Not at all.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

So do you know there is an only books?

[Sammy Gharieni]

Sorry, I was reading in the past was for school. That's it. For school.

That's it.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

Really? Ah, because there is one library here in Dubai. And whenever I go in a new country, I always go in the library because I wanted to see how they are actually on the on the level of what kind of educational level they are.

And here in Dubai, there is a real estate. They build up a library in this real estate, which I found really interesting. And a lot of famous people took a book that they was recommending whenever they would fly to the moon, that this book they would take alongside with them and to place this in this library.

So this is the the library of thousand books. And I was wanted to ask you, which book would you take? But obviously, the answer you have it already.

[Sammy Gharieni]

No, for me, the books, I don't know why it's from when I was a child. When I read the book after the first page, my eyes are closed. And it's the best the most natural sleeping pill that you can get.

You read I start reading the first page. I can't I fall asleep. That's unfortunately this is something it's it's like this, but I don't care.

I read I read other stuff. I read when something is interesting now, for sure, using a lot of chat GPT because you you are curious about something and then you go there and you get all the analysis. I don't ask people anymore because people know just a little.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

I ask GPT.

[Sammy Gharieni]

But you have to say you have always to be careful with the answers. But I try to to use my common common sense and brain to just filter what I think.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

If somebody crosses path of yours today and tells you I wanted to be entrepreneur, what are the three advices that you would give them to have to look after, to have to do and what not to do? There are two things, two things.

[Sammy Gharieni]

Number one, to love what you are going to do. You have to it has to be your passion, whether it's programming or whatever. It should be something you love.

You love to do. This is what I think is super important. And not to do is just don't read books how to do it.

Just do it yourself. And also adding having a mentor is always a mentor doesn't mean it's not someone you have to pay. It's your best friend.

But someone that really you trust that he has also the brain to guide you when you are not sure. This is what I would say.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

And what not to do?

[Sammy Gharieni]

Not to do is just if you think you want to be entrepreneur. Don't stop doing it. Do it.

And then and the thing is, if you fail, it's it's not bad. It's not it's not not good for sure. But it's it's not the end of the world.

The problem is in Europe, for example, if you fail, all the you are blacklisted from all the banks. You are you are a bad you are bad. You are not good.

You are a loser in the US. It's different in the US. You know that people when you fail next time, they know that you learn from mistakes.

So just do it when you think. Yeah, I know. I know.

People ask me. I remember even here in Dubai, there was a guy server in breakfast. You know, he came to me and said, Sammy, I see you in social media.

I want to do to start my own business and catering, et cetera. But I don't know what you think. What should I do?

I think do what you want to do, what you love to do and start. And if you do a mistake, you learn from it. There is not one, two, three how to be successful.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

Yeah. Very. Thank you.

[Sammy Gharieni]

That's it.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

That's it.

[Sammy Gharieni]

Oh, my God. I start warming up now.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

OK, so let's continue. Part two. Oh, yeah.

Well, thank you for having you.

[Sammy Gharieni]

Sorry. What's that?

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

Ah, thank you for having you.

[Sammy Gharieni]

It's good. As I'm watching me myself there.

[Dr. Angela Thomas]

Yeah.

[Sammy Gharieni]

Thank you for you send me some photos that we did. OK, good. Thank you.

Oh, my God. Let's do a studio thing here. A studio selfie.

Wait. You stay there. I try to get everything on selfie.

But are you? Yeah. I need to.

OK.