Meet Our CEO, Pavel Stepanov

Building a successful organization is impossible without effective communication and leadership. Good communication and management ensure that the business runs efficiently to avoid costly mistakes. Pavel Stepanov understands this all too well as he describes later in his interview, "Meet the CEO."

Over a decade as a real estate broker and a business owner, Pavel knows the challenges every organization faces. That’s why he continues to challenge himself and embrace the tools and best practices that can optimize his business processes.  

Pavel Stepanov is the CEO of Virtudesk, a subscription-based personnel solution for small and medium-sized businesses. He is a highly sought-after speaker, successful entrepreneur, and industry visionary. He is deeply passionate about helping new entrepreneurs kick start and improve their businesses through intuitive and innovative solutions. 

His engaging and authentic brand incorporates his practical knowledge and experience in the industry. With the help of Virtudesk’s virtual assistants, he has helped dozens of businesses realize positive business results. In a new monthly series powered by Virtudesk, “Meet the CEO”, we ask Pavel his tips on being a CEO and advice he has for other entrepreneurs. Below are his tips and advice.

Meet Our CEO: Here are Pavel’s Tips: 

How and why did you start Virtudesk? 

“Virtudesk was started because I saw the need for agents to be able to outsource a lot of tasks and to scale their businesses. That was the easiest and actually fastest way to scale a business is by outsourcing a lot of work to people we're actually skilled to do it and actually at a lower cost than you would to hire somebody in-house.”

“And that's why virtual desk was born to provide more jobs and also to ease the pain of solo [and growing] entrepreneurs.”

What were the top mistakes you made starting your business and what did you learn from it? 

“I made a lot of mistakes and I still make a lot of mistakes running a business. And frankly, if I don't make mistakes, I wouldn't be doing anything. I learned from it daily. They say, usually you either win or you learn.”

“So I win, I learned and mistakes can be anything. Sometimes, it's a wrong hire. Sometimes, it's a long strategy. But what you do [is] you just step back. Regroup and keep on doing, keep executing. And that's what you do.”

What’s one strategy you used when you started Virtudesk, and continue to use as your company grows?

“The strategy that I'm using the most when I started Virtudesk is basically hiring the right people in the right place.”

“We first need to identify the position that needs to be filled, what those positions would entail. And also going from there, you actually find people who would fit those positions. One of the best strategies is [to] hire the right people, that they will be at the right places and making sure they're both interconnected with each other. However, they [are] independently operating.”

What is one daily habit that helps you stay productive as a busy CEO who runs multiple companies?

“One of the daily habits that keeps me productive every morning. As an entrepreneur, I read up all the news, [the] business news in the morning. What I do with my morning coffee, I sit down, I read all my news. So as soon as I wake up, I see what's going on in the market. I see what's going on in the world.”

“I see what's going on with the economy within the business news. And basically that keeps me motivated because I see the other people [are] earning billions of dollars that keeps me motivated. It keeps me going and going. And so that's what I do.”

What’s your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs? 

“One of the best pieces of advice I can give to new and inspiring entrepreneurs is to keep doing, keep executing.”

“Sometimes, you want to think it over. Sometimes, you want to overthink and achieve perfection. Well guess what, you will never achieve perfection because in your mind, it's something's going to be missing. So the best way to just do it is actually to start doing it, then keep executing instead of actually thinking how to do it best.”

“Because if you take 10 steps and you make a mistake, you'll be thrown back a couple steps. You [are] still going to be ahead of the person who is still thinking about making the first step. So, the best piece of advice: keep doing. You have an idea; you start actually doing it. You start executing instead of thinking how to do it better.”

“That's just my best piece of advice to anybody.“

“Hi, guys. This is Pavel Stepanov. I am a CEO of Virtudesk, a premiere real estate virtual assistant provider. And I'm here with my daily CEO tips.”

Pavel has over a decade of experience in business and entrepreneurship holding various management positions across different industries from real estate to technology-based solutions. 

He is a law graduate from Seattle University School of Law and passed the bar. Then after, he discovered that real estate was more in tune with his entrepreneurial mode and became a real estate broker and successful business owner.

If you want to watch Pavel say these words himself, go to our YouTube channel to watch him share daily tips and insights that are incredibly useful to growing your business. 

Do you want to expand your rapidly growing business? Remember, the first step to success is to keep doing. Want to hear more from Pavel? Check out his previous interviews and talks to learn more about outsourcing via virtual assistants and his personal story and tips.  

If you found our new "Meet Our CEO" series interesting and want to learn more about our marketing, administrative, and prospecting services, or want to sign up, just fill out this online form.