Dr Dovlet Agayev went to a presentation in the summer of 2017 because a friend invited him.
He invested in the product that same day.
What he did not have was anything that usually predicts success in business. He was a doctoral student in his second year, with no commercial experience, selling a high-ticket product to a network made up largely of other immigrant students on student visas.
Trying to do both
For the next two years, Dovlet’s business ran a distant second to his studies.
He made some sales. He is honest that he was not taking it seriously, and that the conditions were against it anyway. A high-ticket product is a hard thing to sell when you have no sales skills and your network has no money.
He went full time a month before the pandemic hit, around the time he graduated. The timing was not his choice.
The first year was hard, and the rejections came early and often.
The book that changed the question
What turned it was not a tactic. It was Simon Sinek’s Start With Why, which Dovlet picked up at the point where he had lost his direction entirely.
He credits it with saving his business. What it gave him was not a method for selling. It was an answer to why he was doing any of this, at a moment when he was getting no results to justify continuing.
Other books built on that. Go Pro. The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino. Think and Grow Rich. The Power of the Subconscious Mind. How to Win Friends and Influence People. Dovlet reads widely and treats it as part of the work rather than a break from it.
The deeper shift was about responsibility. He stopped looking for someone to blame when things went badly and started taking full ownership of his life and his business. He calls it moving from a victim mindset to a winner’s mindset. The circumstances did not change. What he did inside them did.
Okinawa
Dovlet set himself a deadline. He wanted to reach his company’s top rank in time for a specific event.
In May 2024, he hit 6A. The following month the company marked its fiftieth anniversary in Okinawa, Japan, where it was founded, and Dovlet collected his certificate on stage in front of 7,000 people.
He describes it as surreal. He also draws a lesson from it that he clearly believes. When you want something badly enough and put a date on it, things start moving in your direction.
How he works now
Dovlet lectures part time in business studies to undergraduates and runs his business the rest of the week.
His business is built almost entirely on social media. He posts constantly and runs live presentations on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and Zoom, alongside in-person events.
It suits how he started. With no network and no capital, visibility was the only asset he could build himself.
What he wants next
Dovlet is open about the fact that his team is small.
Building one is now his main focus, and he is specific about what that means. He wants to develop leaders and watch them rank up, and he counts their progress as his own.
His reason for choosing this over conventional employment is short. Working for yourself, doing something that makes your soul feel alive, beats a nine-to-five every time.
Connect with Dr Dovlet Agayev
Dovlet Agayev is an independent Enagic distributor and the founder of Hydration Empire. Find him on Instagram and at hydrationempire.com. He uses the handle @dovletaga across his other platforms.
Disclaimer: Testimonials in this article reflect personal experiences and aren’t guaranteed. Results vary based on effort, experience, and commitment.
