Ariya Behjat is a Dubai Born and raised professional entrepreneur, photographer, and Industrial Designer with a particular interest in branding and marketing. Growing up during Dubai’s climatic design changes and development, Ariya got the inspiration to pursue Architecture and Industrial Design. While still in college in the Bay Area, he was already working with notable record labels and international music artists. Halfway through, Silicon Valley top tech and athletic companies hired Ariya to design and develop products for them. That led to him dropping out.
In early 2015, Ariya and his friend Lewk co-founded Axenic, a creative agency that provides branding and marketing solutions to first-tier businesses around the globe. With only 16 employees and offices in Los Angeles, Monte Carlo, and Millan, Axenic delivers first-class services and creative products. Among his clients include Lamborghini, Dolby Audio, Dj Snake, Uber, and more. Ariya shared his tips for achieving success at a young age, and here are some of the best ones.
Progress Over Perfection
It is never too soon or too late to start working on a promising idea that brings an improved solution to the market. No matter how small the change, realize that it could lead to a lot more opportunities.
Many who consider starting a new or improved business and-or product tend to find themselves not launching their ideas due to some imperfections. Despite the possible fact that your current idea may already be better than what is already out there, do not fear that the public will not take them seriously. There seems to be a superstition that you must not stop until you achieve perfection, whatever that means.
While that philosophy is inspiring, it will handicap your agility in growing fast and staying ahead of the current market. It is crucial to understand that the price of perfection is time. With every step of progress, your standards of “perfection” will have a parallel growth, making it equally hard to achieve perfection no matter where you are in your progress until you settle. That said, it is crucial to believe in perfection and do your best to get close to it, but it is much more important to reward your practical goals.
Purpose Over Position
It is your purpose that identifies your next steps and end goal, not the position in which you are. After identifying the mission and identity of the business, most people become attached to their posts. Whether it is someone who works a 9 to 5 at a bank, a failed entrepreneur or a fulltime student, people find themselves clouded by the titles on their email signatures.
With that perspective, you see your potential in empowering business through a narrow tunnel vision. That leads one to lose motivation and drive, resulting in being less effective in your work practices. The negative influence this has on the rest of the workforce, especially in a smaller entity, is hazardous to the internal culture of any business. And for someone independent, this could be self-destructing, as they would find themselves working many hard hours and seeing little to no results. It is critical to identify the purpose of your role. How it helps your business or idea, and if it aligns with your interest.
Happiness Over Success
Success comes from happiness; happiness does not come from success. Most entrepreneurs believe to depend on success to be happy. Forgetting that their standards grow in parallel with their accomplishments – leading them to chase a shadow when the light is behind them. Similar to having progress over perfection, it is vital to enjoy the journey and appreciate the moment. Such an attitude lights the rooms you attend. Remind yourself and everyone around you how crucial and exciting a particular moment may be.
Success without happiness is a success on paper and nowhere else. For real joy to be most achievable, you must attend to your health. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “The first wealth is health.” Without proper nourishment, sleep, and -especially- excellent emotional support, you become sensitive and reactive to the smallest inconveniences. Not to mention that when an actual failure presents itself, you find yourself starting to shut off your logic and emotions.
Everyone has experienced failures that stop their world. And the lesser you have previously invested in your health, the higher the damages you suffer. Most entrepreneurs with depending contractors and partners believe in masking their emotional status, and later exhaling their emotions to themselves – or worse – to their loved ones at home. No matter how large your success, a lifestyle of this nature with no happiness makes you nothing more than a machine. Invest in your happiness to enjoy your successes, acknowledge your daily progress, and define your purpose.
Persistence
Last but not least, it is essential to put persistence in your foreground. It is persistence that makes all of the above possible. If you fail, you must remind yourself that it is all right, and it is time to do it all over again with the same level of abstinence as you have once started. If you lost all your clients, you must remind yourself to start looking for new ones again. If you have lost the investment, know that you will only get one when you bolt through as many presentations, pitch decks, and improvements as it takes. Without persistence, it is practically impossible to win.
