The founder of Great.com and Catena Media, Erik Bergman, is one individual who takes philanthropy to a whole new level.
Having made €50million before the age of 30, he’s achieved what most people only dream of doing. One peculiar thing about Erik is that he isn’t keeping the money to himself or investing it in other businesses, Instead, he’s giving it way.
I spoke with Erik the other day and we had a fun and insightful conversation, Here’s our chat;
1. Tell me a little about yourself
My name Is Erik Bergman and I’m the founder of Catena Media and Great.com. I’m very passionate about building things. It doesn’t really matter if it is personal development, companies, or LEGO. I just want to see the things I create grow.
As a kid, all I did was play in the sand, but today all my focus goes into building Great.com which is a casino driven charity.
Yes! I know the casino industry is generally associated with a bad name, but I’m working on using it for something that would have a positive impact on society.
Our goal at Great.com is to donate all profit made to the environment, that way we’ll use one of humanity’s problems (casinos and gambling) to solve the earth’s problems.
2. What inspired your philanthropic journey?
I grew up in a very philanthropic family. For a long time, I stepped away from their path and ventured into business. My only focus was making money for myself.
Somewhere along the way, I found myself questioning life. A while later, I visited Africa and had an eye-opening experience, since then I’ve found my way back to my family’s philanthropic values.
3. What values and principles have led to your success?
Happiness is my driving force. I love having fun in everything I do. This means that I try out a lot of different things and I constantly ask myself this question;
“What can make me enjoy doing this?”
When I find the answer to this question, I can keep up with that task for a long time without burning out or losing motivation. It’s also a lot easier to get others to join the journey if they feel that I’m enjoying the ride.
4. Give words of advice to anyone who’s experiencing struggles in their life right now.
Always ask for help…
This is one of the things that led to my success, asking others for help. I think a common misconception is that the people asking for help are weak and that others don’t want to help.
I would say it’s the opposite, the people asking for help are strong and self-aware, and people want to help others because I believe helping others is a human drive that sits in our DNA.
So it’s okay to ask others for help, no matter the struggle you’ll always find help.
You can reach Erik on his socials;