When I started putting myself out there more on social media in February and talking about what I was creating alongside handball, of course I heard a few comments. “Look at Zapi again (Zapi is my nickname), messing around with something.” If you know me, you know that other people’s comments have never really bothered me. I’m more likely to say something back and laugh about it. But today, a few months later, something else is interesting. I come to a game, meet people from the handball world, and their first question is often no longer, “How is it in Hungary?” but, “How’s the business going?” And I’m proud of that. What makes me even prouder is that young handball players are reaching out to me and asking about AI, business and the opportunities they see in the market. They see that something is happening and start thinking about how they could try something themselves. If putting myself out there can give even one of them an idea or encourage them to start thinking more broadly, then everything I’m doing has even more meaning to me.
My way of thinking about social media actually didn’t start this year. Back in 2018, I met Jan Ternjak, who was the first person to show me how powerful social media could be if you didn’t just use it to consume other people’s content, but actually started using it to build your own personal brand. At the time, we started building my personal brand through his agency, Proelium. I began posting more handball content, showing parts of my personal life and, for the first time, really getting used to putting myself out there. Around 2020, I stopped doing it, but I learned a lot from that period. Most importantly, I lost that fear of what other people might think. When I started creating AI videos almost by accident in January this year, I got in touch with Jan again. His advice was very simple: “Use your followers.” I already had an audience, I had something new I wanted to build, I just had to show people what I was doing. And that’s how I started putting myself out there again.
I think most people don’t like putting themselves out there. I understand why. We think: “What will other people say? What if they laugh at me? What if I fail? What if I look stupid?” I was lucky enough to go through that process back in 2018. In a way, I also grew as a person because I realized something very freeing: it really doesn’t matter. If you’re doing something with passion, honestly and because you believe in it, why would you adjust your path based on what someone else might think about you? There will always be someone with something to say. If you do nothing, they’ll comment. If you try something, they’ll comment. If you succeed, they’ll comment again. So it makes much more sense to invest your energy into your own path than into the opinions of people who aren’t even walking it.
I definitely don’t want to tell young athletes that they should focus less on handball. Quite the opposite. If you want to become a professional, you have to be obsessed with your sport. I was too. Train, recover, take care of your body and do everything you can to become the best you can be. But the reality is that athletes, especially young athletes who don’t have families yet, also have a lot of free time. And if you spend hours every day on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube or gaming, ask yourself what would happen if you invested just a part of that time into yourself. Today, you basically have the knowledge of the entire world in your pocket. If you’re interested in AI, marketing, sales, investing, programming, video creation or online business, you can start today. You don’t need to know what you’ll be doing for the next 20 years. Just start exploring and trying things.
I increasingly look at life like a game. When we were younger, we spent countless hours playing FIFA. You create your own player and develop him. You play matches, gain experience, improve his strength, passing, speed and finishing, and slowly build a better version of your character. The same thing happens in GTA. You complete missions, you fail, you try again, unlock new things and upgrade your character. So why not look at real life the same way? You have your own character here too. Yourself. You can improve your knowledge, communication, finances, body, business, confidence and relationships. You can take on missions without having any idea whether you’ll succeed. And that’s exactly what has become fun for me. I used to spend hours playing games and developing a virtual player. Today, I can “play” in real life, try new things, sometimes make a fool of myself, fail, learn something and move on to the next level.
And believe me, I searched too. I tried working in insurance. It wasn’t for me. I tried being a fortune teller, I was a guest “expert” on nutritional supplements on a TV show, I moderated online chats and quickly realized that wasn’t what I wanted to do either. You could say I failed at all of those things. Today, I see it differently. Every attempt taught me something new about myself. Most importantly, I learned what I didn’t want. So I kept searching. Then I found AI video production. Something I can spend hours and hours doing, learning, creating and genuinely enjoying. I don’t know where it will take me in five or ten years. But I do know that I’ve found something I’m passionate about right now.
The biggest thing all of this has given me isn’t money or business at all. It has given me security and confidence. Less than a year ago, the idea of not being dependent on handball was almost unimaginable to me. Today, I know that if, God forbid, something happened tomorrow, there would be another path. In professional sport, you never know. An injury, a club, a coach, the market, a contract. I know many great players who, at some point, simply couldn’t find a club for one reason or another. And when your entire existence depends only on handball, that can be very difficult.
So I would tell young handball players just one thing: dream about handball and go all in. Try to go as far as you possibly can. But stay curious too. Instead of spending one hour scrolling every day, spend one hour upgrading your “character.” Learn something. Try creating something. Start something of your own. Make a mistake. Fail. Put yourself out there, even if someone laughs at you in the beginning. Maybe you’ll need five different attempts before you find something that truly excites you. So what? That’s part of the game too. I’m 33 years old, I’m still playing professional handball and I want to keep playing for as long as I can. But at the same time, every day I’m upgrading another player: myself outside of handball. Because one day, the final game will come. And my goal is that when it does, I won’t have to start a new game from level one.