Section 1: About me. Dossier.
«Moved to the United States»
Maksym Smovzh
Insights from private meetings and member stories are in our Telegram channel.
Join the clubSection 2. About the business. Dossier.
Section 3: Biography.
«If we had been born in America with the brains we have, we’d be sitting in a warm office on Wall Street. Instead, grab a shovel and dig»—my partner said this to me once, and since then it has become my work mantra. It captures the whole truth of my journey.
I’m Maksym Smovzh, an émigré from Minsk who won a green card 20+ years ago, moved to Philadelphia, and built «an unglamorous» but highly profitable cellular tower maintenance business—Northeast Union Inc.
I worked my way up from the bottom rung of satellite dish installation to retail, restaurants, and development. I often made mistakes and sometimes lost money, but I always earned from my core business to fund my experiments.
Today, I’m an entrepreneur with operational discipline, straightforward rules of the game, and an investment strategy that buys me time in advance. I consciously choose freedom as my primary currency, mentor entrepreneurs, and speak candidly about how «dirty» work creates clean capital.
If you value pragmatic decisions without illusions, we definitely have something to talk about. I never chased glamorous industries. On the contrary, I went into niches that few people want to enter. Climbing icy towers in Iowa in winter isn’t an Instagram-worthy picture. But that’s exactly why the margins are good and the economics are transparent. «Three mediocre tower-climbing installers in a pickup truck generated more annual revenue than a restaurant with 16 employees, and they actually made a profit, unlike the restaurant» That contrast taught me a valuable lesson—the market pays for what few people want to do. At my peak, I had 15 crews working for me; today, around five. The model is simple, but there are no rose-colored glasses: quick onboarding, strict safety standards, first shifts «on the ground», then tower climbs at the foreman’s discretion. Turnover is enormous, competition is fierce, but demand is steady. There’s a paradox I’ve come to understand well over my years in the United States: in «dirty» industries, you’re not competing with the people you knew at university. You’re competing with those who didn’t get into university. And it’s easy to win that competition.
My partner and I deliberately bet on motivated immigrants with good education but without the language or knowledge of the market—«good people for bad jobs». This gave us an advantage in speed, discipline, and quality. My view of money is simple and cold. I believe success isn’t about how much you earn at your peak, but how many years you can maintain your standard of living if your income stops tomorrow.
That’s why my main goal – isn’t a Ferrari or a yacht, but capital that gives me the freedom not to depend on day-to-day operations. «The basic strategy is simple: save consistently and invest passively in the broad market» S&P 500 is what I call my «user manual for life»: 10–12% average annual returns over the long term, plus reinvested interest, does the job. There’s an example I often share with the people I mentor: it’s better to invest $1000 a month for 20 years than to spend it on «gear and flash». The result is about a million, of which $240 000 is your own money, and everything else is the result of compounding.
And most importantly, – it’s about peace of mind. One long-term strategy takes away the daily hysteria of “buy/sell.” I don’t try to predict a sunny summer by buying shares in sunglasses and selling shares in umbrella manufacturers. I simply own the entire market and sleep soundly. My partner and I once reached a strange stage of growing up. We looked at all our businesses and asked ourselves: «Why do we need all this?» I focused on one area. To be honest, the industry is gradually dying, but I have enough now. I don’t want to load myself up with new companies; I’ve finally allowed myself to live. Sculpture, travel, learning, TED talks, flying a paramotor over the pyramids of Giza, exhibitions in Miami.
In Kyiv, people know me as «an American sculptor». Money works; – time is mine. Why isn’t my story about luck? Because my story – is about consistency. About unremarkable but market-essential services. About small bets on new ideas. About strict exit rules. About honesty with money. About simple, long-term investing. About regular «mental maintenance». And above all, – it’s about the right to choose. To work or create. To drive to a job site or fly over a desert. When money stops being a problem, a more difficult task emerges—filling time with meaning. I choose to keep learning: dance, music, the stage, one-on-one mentoring.
"I bought myself time—and now every day I decide how to make the most of it"
It came from my personal journey from worker to entrepreneur and working in niches that locals don’t want to enter.
Our stable core business allowed us to try other niches and, if something failed, calmly close unprofitable businesses.
Investing in a construction project that turned out to be unprofitable. I learned my lesson: – if you want to try something new, invest at least the minimum amount first. If it works – great; if not – your losses will be minimal.
Section 4: How can I be useful? Experience I can share.
I can be helpful thanks to my experience in the telecommunications business, which I’m happy to share. I’m also a fun and open-minded companion for sports and various events.
If a business model does not allow for exponential scaling at an early stage, it is worth questioning its viability. The greatest growth opportunities are often found in niches that others avoid. Mass-market, saturated markets, such as restaurants or beauty salons, usually have limited scaling potential. Instead, consider highly specialized or very unpleasant niches. Things others cannot or do not want to do. People are willing to pay for that.
Section 5: Club value
