The chance of sneaking through the window of opportunities at Russian Pointe.

On the path to success we are all looking for inspiring role models. On Thursday, July 16^th we definitely met one: Aleksandra Efimova! She was born in Russia, moved to the United Sates as a teenager and started her own business at the age of 20 during college. Russian Pointe.

Along the metaphor of the path to success I was wondering how success is defined. And how do you recognize it while you are walking the path.

Aleksandra shared one of her favorite quotes from John A. Sheed with us: “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” Russian Pointe was thinking of expanding to Europe for a long time, but this year, they are finally taking this step. So now the ship is leaving the harbor. Even though she started locally, she always had on her mind to expand someday. 

For this step it is necessary to have a stable and strong culture. Wait, not only stable and strong, what Russian Pointe definitely is, but everybody must also live and feel the culture of Russian Pointe. It is not just about knowing, you have to feel it and stand behind the vision of this business! Aleksandra is a person who I am certain is definitely doing this! If you listen to her you can sense that this is all about her dream and she will never give up on her dream.

17 years ago Aleksandra said that her own company was a “window of opportunity".

Her first employee was her roommate in college and I do not doubt that Aleksandra made her feel and implement the business’s vision into her life. For Aleksandra it is the most important thing that all employees fully understand what they are doing at Russian Pointe and why they are doing the work. 

Nevertheless, back then she did not have a structured mission or vision like she has now (do not misunderstand that, she absolutely had a vision, but there were some business aspects missing which are important for this endeavor). Aleksandra sold her ballet shoes on the phone and while she is now standing in front of a very well prepared PowerPoint presentation with everything thought through, for example the Corporate Identity, she then says: “Back then, the yellow pages were my marketing strategy.” The first phrases she said during her phone calls were that she wanted to sell ballet shoes, that you must buy her shoes because of the good quality of Russian ballet shoes.  

Purple - what a nice corporate identity

But she had that dream and with the time she learned a lot about the habit of successful people. That probably did not happen on purpose. While I was listening I was able to catch a lot of phrases which people use, who are successful. For example: I did, I am, I can. What Aleksandra never said was: I won’t, I can’t and I don’t know how. 

She is always creative. Just look at her slogan: Inspiring performance, anytime, anywhere! 

This slogan is a combination of the mission and the vision of Russian Pointe. There are a lot of definitions of mission and vision, Aleksandra defines it that a mission is a one-sentence statement describing the reasons why a company exists. It is a big job and Russian Pointe’s mission is the following: “Our mission is to provide elegant dance products and inspire dancers to lead extraordinary lives.” Wow, that is powerful! It leads us to the message’s credibility. Do you believe in that? I do, and I tell you why: Because how Aleksandra said it, you would never question it! When I read between the lines I can see that she is working with passion and commitment, she is learning from mistakes, she tracks progress, she definitely knows the purpose why she is doing the work, she talks about ideas, she embraces change, she has burning desire, and so on and so forth. There is a long list, but I think you get the point. These are all habits of successful people. 

To close the circle, this is her written vision: “To inspire and support dancers, by offering innovative products of the highest quality and superior customer service.”

The importance is the clear direction, the over-communication of that and that there are always decisions that need to be made! 

Who should create this vision? A leader, a successful person who sets clear goals and priorities, who communicates and shows passion for what they do, and that exactly is Aleksandra Efimova.

Bear in mind that all of these essential key facts are defining not just your company, the quality of your work and finally who you are. 

Our project, our little baby, StreetTube is all about street music and art. What struck my mind was the idea of combining ballet dancing with street music. Like “Red Bull” did it with the project “Flying Bach”. It is pretty much the same idea, only the other way around. They are producing a link between classical music and street dance. Let yourself be inspired by this amazing work and what they have created. Clip 1 & Clip 2

What lingers in my memory is what Aleksandra said: “Listen to the story of successful people and go after them.” 

That is what I did last Thursday. Thank you Aleksandra, thank you Valerie for this opportunity!