Nazar Blonskyi

My name is Nazar Blonskyi, and today I am a co-owner and operational entrepreneur in a transport and logistics business in Poland. Our main work is cooperation with couriers for food delivery services, as well as support with legalization, employment, and recruitment for this field. I live in Warsaw, and the business was built literally in the field: through daily work with clients, documents, operations, and support. A key part of this path was constantly proving to the market that we were not a temporary project, but a stable company planning to work long-term.

My start in entrepreneurship was not connected to ideal conditions or special preparation. I had my first earning experience at 14 in a village, working on a tractor during seasonal work. At 18, I went to the United States through Work & Travel. I set a simple goal: earn money. In five months of intense work, I achieved it.

After returning, my brother and I invested all the money we had earned into cars, but the project failed and the funds ran out in about half a year. That episode became a valuable lesson in risk, responsibility, and understanding that mistakes are an inevitable part of entrepreneurship.

I decided to fully enter business with my brother at 20-21. One of the key turning points was moving to Poland. This is where the business model we work with today began to form. In the new environment, there were always opportunities for work, income, and useful professional connections in our field.

How did the business idea come to you?

The idea and initial business model came through my brother. He already had a partner business in the taxi field, essentially a model of working with drivers, similar to the one we now use with couriers.

When my brother's partner decided to leave the business, I effectively took over his share. By that time, I was already deeply involved in operations: working with people from scratch, explaining how to start, handling documents, legalization, connections to services, support, and client communication.

My brother handled processes connected with the Polish language and local specifics: accounting, company formation, licensing, and other legal-administrative issues that require understanding of the Polish business environment.

What key skills helped you launch the business?

The foundation of our growth was not classic sales technique, but openness and honesty with people.

We work with an audience that does a lot of physical work and often has distrust because of previous negative employer experiences. From the start, it was important for us to speak directly: how much one can realistically earn, what is needed, what timelines and working conditions apply.

We did not build communication on scripts for short-term check growth. Instead, we bet on sincerity. That position attracted people and gradually formed trust, which became one of the key assets of the business.

What were the three hardest challenges in the first years?

1. Opening the first office after a fully online model. We immediately made an ambitious move: rented a large two-floor office, renovated it, and divided it into five rooms for different departments. At the time, it was a decision for future growth, maybe even beyond our real capacity, but it set an internal scale bar.

2. Rebuilding the business during COVID. The pandemic essentially destroyed the taxi direction because demand fell sharply. Food delivery, however, started growing rapidly. We had to quickly decide and fully focus on courier logistics, abandoning taxi. It was difficult, but it allowed us not to spread limited resources.

3. Partnership with PowerRent. We decided to collaborate with the courier bicycle rental company PowerRent. This was difficult because we had negative partnership experience before and tried to build everything ourselves. But the new shared-office model proved effective and pushed scaling forward.

What crises did your business face and how did you overcome them?

The first major crisis was COVID-19 and the collapse of the taxi direction. It forced us to quickly change focus and fully move into courier logistics.

The second crisis was strong competitive pressure. There were players on the market with much more experience and resources. For a long time, we had to demonstrate results beyond our real team and financial capacity.

In practice, we worked in a "fake it till you make it" mode: taking on more responsibility, working overtime, and trying to look more stable and stronger than the market perceived us. Over time, this allowed us to establish ourselves and become a full player that others had to consider.

Which decisions were most effective for company growth?

Two types of decisions had the biggest effect.

The first was strategic focus. We left taxi at the right time and concentrated all resources on couriers. This allowed us not to disperse energy and to grow expertise faster in one direction.

The second was scaling through a partnership model with RowerRent. Shared offices allowed us to open new points with minimal investments and do it quickly, essentially every quarter.

The cooperation was based not only on a formal agreement but on value compatibility. Our approaches to client work, communication, and business development matched. This created synergy and positively affected market perception of the company.

Which mistake do you now consider your most valuable experience?

My most valuable experience was underestimating the risks of wrong partnerships.

Before Sami Group, we cooperated with different people, including partners with significant industry experience. On the surface, the model looked logical: we worked with Ukrainian-speaking audiences and handled operations, while the Polish partner handled local connections and administrative issues.

But over time, it became clear that our visions and approaches to business development were very different. As a result, we parted ways.

The main conclusion for me is that critical elements of the business must depend as much as possible on the company itself, not on one person or narrow partner through whom the business can lose opportunities or even stop.

How did you earn your first $100?

If with humor, as a child I earned it through Christmas caroling and New Year caroling. But it was my first experience of understanding that money appears as a result of activity.

How did you earn your first $1,000?

At 14, in the village. In one summer, I earned about $1,000 working on a tractor. For a teenager, it was a very strong experience of responsibility and labor.

How did you earn your first $10,000?

At 18, during Work & Travel in the United States. In a relatively short period of intensive work, I managed to earn that amount.

How did you earn your first $100,000?

I reached my first $100K financial result in this business.

How did you earn your first $1,000,000?

That is still ahead.

My practical experience is building a service business from the ground up. I went from fully operational work, including connecting clients, support, communication, documents, and legalization, to creating a company structure with departments, roles, and a motivation system.

I understand how to work with an audience that does not react to beautiful words but makes decisions based on specifics and honesty. I also have experience forming trust in a company under pressure from stronger competitors through stability, transparency, and real results.

I can also share approaches to scaling through partner synergies, where cooperation allows new locations to open faster with lower investments, but only if values and rules of interaction align.

Your experience: how to systematize a business?

For me, business systematization does not begin with scripts or tables. First you must answer: what exactly are we systematizing?

The base comes first: the product or service, workflow, and key team. In our case, the core team consisted of four people, including my brother and me. This team has worked together for many years. We motivated them financially, but the key factor was belief in the project and readiness to work for results before clear instructions existed.

At early stages, many processes are imperfect. You simply show by example how to speak with clients, answer calls, and communicate. This gives speed and flexibility, but as the team grows, chaos gradually appears: blurred responsibilities, duplicated tasks, and misunderstandings.

When we felt that limit, we brought in EpicSale for an audit. They helped break down each employee's actual tasks, compare the views of management and team, and describe roles, responsibilities, and job descriptions.

After that, we tied a motivation system to the structure: not only a base salary for functions, but bonuses for meeting and exceeding indicators. That became the transition from manual management to a controlled system.

Your experience: how to grow 2x in a year?

To double in a year, I rely on two key things.

The first is the owner's role as a leader, not just a manager. The team senses the owner's mood and tone very subtly. Even in difficult moments, the owner must bring energy into the system.

The second is a strong motivation system combining moral and material incentives. In a field where the team constantly works with clients, people quickly burn out and can lose interest.

We solve this through a cascading management model: owner -> heads -> senior managers -> managers. It allows energy, standards, and focus on results to be transferred without losing quality.

We also use internal challenges and competitions to maintain team drive and prevent work from turning into routine. In the financial model, about 60% of income is base pay for functions, and about 40% is result bonuses, sometimes even more.