A1 Diesel CEO Aldis Ozols on How to Succeed After Losing Everything

A1 Diesel Limited Founder and CEO, Aldis Ozols, has outlined four key principles for overcoming professional and financial ruin, drawing from his own experience of losing a €17 million real estate empire and rebuilding his life in Ghana.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Personality Profile with Lexis Bill on Thursday, December 11, 2025, Ozols, author of the new book “Win Life, Lose Millions”, emphasized that failure is not an end, but a crucial learning phase.

Take Control and Full Responsibility

Ozols’ first principle centers on accepting complete responsibility for setbacks, regardless of external factors. “First of all, take the steering. Take control. When you take control, when you take responsibility for whatever happened, even if you know exactly that someone did that or this, study what was wrong from your side, how that happened,” he stated.

He believes this self-assessment is vital to prevent repeating mistakes. “Then any next time when you will be in a similar situation, you will be much smarter; you’ll be more advanced, and nobody can put you in the same sack a second time,” Ozols explained.

The Winner Stands Up One More Time

According to Ozols, the defining characteristic of a winner isn’t avoiding failure, but persisting despite it. “I say the winner is just the same loser who decides to stand up one more time. The loser is the one who decides, ‘Okay, I’m done. That’s it.’ That is a loser,” he asserted.

He encouraged leveraging past experiences, adding, “But the difference between a loser and a winner is when you still say no, I will try one more time based on what I know.”

Knowledge Accelerates Rebuilding

For those who have already built and lost a career, Ozols offered a message of hope. He argued that rebuilding is significantly faster than the initial construction, thanks to accumulated knowledge. “There are many who are now already 50 years old and suddenly lost everything, and they think, ‘my God, I built this for 20 years; it will take me again 20 years to build.’ That is not true. Now he knows. The same empire, he can build in two years because he knows a lot; if he is truly the one who did that before, he can start from any point and build it faster.”

For the Young: Explore, Fail, and Discover

Ozols advised young people to embrace diverse experiences and view failure as a valuable educational tool. “And for young men, I can say do more. Do more. Don’t be afraid to fail. Do more. Fail fast. Fail in many, many places. Do many, many jobs and learn at least what you can stand and, most importantly, learn what you hate.”

He stressed the importance of identifying dislikes, stating that knowing what you *don’t* want is as crucial as knowing what you do. “The goal is to avoid the things you hate and master the things you can tolerate and excel at.”

Ozols’ own journey, which included selling his wife’s jewellery to launch A1 Diesel in Ghana, serves as a powerful illustration of these principles, demonstrating how resilience can transform devastating setbacks into foundations for future success.

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