How I decided to start my business from scratch. I’ll tell you about how I quit what I was doing for many years, that is, I quit going to work and started trying to make a living not by working for someone, but by working for myself. It was a long time ago, almost a year has passed and a lot has certainly changed, but I will start the story from the very beginning of my story. Well, along the way, you will share various useful information and your own insights.

The solution...is the starting point.

Starting your own business is the same as starting new life .

Everything is changing dramatically, the familiar world is being transformed. At first, it was a generally unusual feeling, the work was very stressful for me, I didn’t like it, it took a lot of energy, and I also had to move around the country, live in some rented huts or it’s not clear where at all. These are all the reasons why I decided to quit my job for the illusory opportunity to start my own business and become financially independent ( well, or in case of failure, look for new job ). Therefore, at first there was just a buzz, a feeling of freedom, as if an unbearable weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

Making life-changing decisions is a difficult thing. You can be where you don’t want to be for years, do what you don’t like, but don’t dare... life goes on and on in circles, you get used to it, and then where to go? It's always the unknown. Over the years, this ability to rush forward is lost, it is replaced stability. That’s exactly how this word appears in life, life becomes sort of stable. But this is self-deception. At any moment you can be fired, your job itself can be closed, a crisis like a wave can wash you overboard. So any stability in this world is mostly illusory.

Owning your own business requires more responsibility.

Such a simple thought did not reach me right away. You need to take full responsibility on yourself, no one will come to help, no one is responsible for me except myself. It’s not enough to go with the flow, you need to set a sail and catch a fair wind, and if there is none, then grab the oars and row. In life, as a rule, there is not enough responsibility, not that we rely on others. The point is that you often attribute the reason for failures to someone, some insurmountable events or your own shortcomings. It makes it a little easier, life just happens... it's time to end it.

To start your own business, you need much more self-discipline than I had when I worked at uncle. I was at work extrinsic motivation, various incentives and work is an organized system where everyone has their own role, superiors and subordinates. And when you start working for yourself, there is no longer any motivation from outside, you need to generate it yourself, there is no system, you need to create it. There is no demand from you, and this is very relaxing; you need to learn to ask yourself.

Many people argue Well, it’s your business... you need money, the idea of ​​this very business, luck, knowledge, experience...

Well, that's pretty much what I thought. I prepared, saved some money, solved the housing issue, found a couple of ideas that will be discussed later, and found several training courses. Well, actually I didn’t have anything else.

But I forgot the most important thing, I didn’t even plan it, didn’t think it through and didn’t take it into account.

How to become this same businessman?

And start your own business.

Most people have probably read these books about business, where gurus of various stripes share their experiences. When you read these books, you agree, but the information received remains somewhere in the back of your memory, without turning into action. But in vain...

The understanding of this came to me after about six months, it could have been earlier if I had been smarter, but alas. Moreover, I knew all this, but did not realize it and did not use it.

It's about about a way of thinking, a way of solving problems and self-organization. The main thing is to restructure your thinking. If this is not done, everything else becomes meaningless.

This is what happens if you ignore the above:

Not doing.

I have already said that I decided to start an Internet business. As preparatory stage, I decided to study several video courses on marketing to learn how to promote a product. Seems logical. Fortunately, these courses are like uncut dogs. A dime a dozen. And you don’t need to buy anything, the main thing is to find the right forum where they give it all away for free. Of course, by doing this I encourage piracy, but when you see the price tag of an information product at 40 thousand, and you planned to take more than one course or two, then you stop being scrupulous.

And this is what the situation turned out to be, I studied, prepared, started taking notes, but nothing changed in my life, just like I didn’t have a business and I never had any income. Another month passed, and the cart is still there.

And what happened was that I did something all day, worked on the computer, studied. But at the end of the day I could hardly say what exactly I did; you look back on the past day, and it’s like a fog. And there was still not enough time to do everything.

I called this state not by doing.

I studied courses, consumed a lot of information and did nothing else, I was just getting ready to take action. But I never started , I’ll take one more course and then I’ll definitely start earning money with a shovel, but this did not happen. I was marking time. Then I took a closer look at those who, just as they downloaded tons of courses, they were for the most part in the same trap. We talked in correspondence about being crammed with useful information. HDD, were looking for something fresh, but in terms of achievements they were at complete zero.

In general, it’s a sad situation, the cure for it is not just another motivational course, but doing.

You have to do it stupidly.

A simple recipe, but how difficult it is to execute, try it and you’ll understand what I’m talking about. After all, it’s so comfortable not to do it, study, plan, prepare, wait for better conditions... Throw it out of your head, if you want to start your own business, go change your life, start just doing it, right or wrong is the second question, the main thing is to develop it in yourself, acquire it the skill of doing (this will be discussed in another article).

But that is not all…

I found two global thinking errors in myself that jeopardized all my plans.

Firstly I noticed that when I plan a project (for example, quit my job and start my own business on the Internet), I miss a lot of details. The analysis of the situation and prospects comes out superficial and too positive, as if with a blindfold. And when it subsides, it’s already too late, you’re already halfway there. So I didn’t take into account a whole bunch of nuances, I didn’t detail all the options, I decided based on superficial data. This terrible mistake. Success is in the little things that are not noticeable at first glance, magic is at your fingertips.

Secondly. There are people who leave their jobs to gain independence and independence in finance, they have ideas and projects. But time passes and they return to what they abandoned; nothing worked out. They refer to global injustice, fate, high competition, lack of money and a hundred other reasons, shifting responsibility from themselves. But in some cases the reason is different. It's that fucking business mentality again.

I came to this formula for success as a result of my mistakes. But it took a long time to get this formula going. Change is hard. Of course, you also need emotional endurance, sometimes after a series of failures a feeling of hopelessness and a spark of despair comes over you, but I have learned to fight back. This is a difficult path, but it is worth it, I hope I will go through it, which I will later write about on the pages of this blog.

In conclusion, I summarized the main thoughts that will certainly help you on your path to your goal.

A short checklist.

If you have decided to go to work and start your own business or have set yourself a serious goal, then first of all format your thinking, along with time, this is our main resource.

Look for strong motivation, develop self-discipline, how to do this effectively, read the following articles ( you can't write everything at once).

Assess your resources, don’t plan superficially, think through every little detail, every detail matters. Success lies in these very little things that we did not take into account. The world is too competitive for you to achieve success without working out the little things.

Learn to act, apply the information, remember: if you know and do not apply, then it is equivalent to the fact that you know nothing. There is no point in simply accumulating knowledge.

That's all... In the next article, I will talk about my first attempts to make money on the Internet. or join my

Many people want to open their own business, but the fear of failure prevents them from realizing their dream: little money, no premises, no money to buy equipment, corruption... The stories of those who have achieved success show that even in difficult times you can make a profit. Their secret is in development interesting ideas, hard work, development orientation, cost reduction and building strong relationships with clients and partners.

 

Anna is the owner of the “My Carrot” Magic Workshop, which not only produces unique souvenirs for a small shop, but also organizes master classes for everyone.

Friends came up with the idea to turn a hobby into a business, and Alena registered an individual entrepreneur with finished project, while winning a grant from the Government Nizhny Novgorod region for 300 thousand rubles, which became the starting capital for the acquisition sewing machine, other equipment, fabrics and accessories.

What is the secret of success?

• The service is in demand - people want to escape from difficulties, and a creative atmosphere contributes to this
• In a flexible pricing policy: during the crisis, Anna lowered prices for master classes and her products
• In using the program to support entrepreneurs: winning a grant and providing preferential terms premises in a business incubator made it possible to start a business from scratch
• IN varied choice creative activities: in Anna’s “Workshop” you can learn watercolor painting, decoupage, knitting, doll sewing, etc. The craftswoman herself studies a new direction every month and shares it with her students.
• In the absence of advertising costs: the most effective channel for promoting her business is word of mouth, a group on social networks and business cards in the store
• A competitive advantage - on-site master classes in schools and kindergartens

In 2013, Anna Ustinova won the “Entrepreneur of the Year” competition and received a grant from the Orthodox Initiative organization. Now her plans are to develop a store and studio.

Story 5. “Adventurers’ Harbor” for children’s talents

In Nizhny Novgorod there is the Adventurers' Pier, an unusual children's development center of Anna Movshevich and Dmitry Zotikov. As part of the project, there is a unique school of carpenters, in which boys are taught how to use tools and create wood products.

The initial investment is 400 thousand rubles (mainly for renting premises and paying teachers).

Payback period - 5 months.

What is the secret of success?

• In the absence of competitors, not a single development center offers training in working professions
• The audience is interested in the areas presented in “Adventurers’ Landing”: creative workshops, intellectual quests, carpenter’s school, etc.
• To help parents: a psychologist is present in classes, observes the children, then talks with parents about how the children behave, what fears and complexes they have identified, and gives recommendations on education
• At affordable prices: at a carpentry school the cost of 1 hour of classes is 350 rubles

Now the center has approximately 60 regular students and the same number of visitors to quests and other events. The planned profitability assumes 100-200 families willing to pay for their children to attend classes. The founder of the enterprise, D. Zotikov, says that the center has great potential. There are immediate plans to create a franchise.

Story 6. Second-hand bookstore

Contrary to the belief that during a crisis people save on books, they can be used to organize a profitable business; an example is the second-hand bookstore “Khodasevich” in Nizhny Novgorod. Its owner S. Gaivoronsky considers his project very successful.

Initial investment: 190 thousand rubles (and this is a lot, as the businessman admits, it could have been done with less).

What is the secret of success?

• In a successful location of the store in the most “passable” place Nizhny Novgorod- Bolshaya Pokrovskaya street, which provided access to it target audience: schoolchildren, students, connoisseurs of rare publications
• Low prices for the most popular works of school classics, books from small publishers (from 20 rubles)
• In the absence of high initial costs for the store's assortment: “Several years ago, because of the good life, the population began to throw books in the trash. I couldn’t tolerate this and collected books from trash cans” (S. Gaivoronsky)
• Selling the rarest and most valuable books through an online store
• Using booksharing (free exchange of books) to attract new potential buyers

In the near future there are plans to launch affiliate program with softer conditions than for a franchise for opening Khodasevich bookstores in other cities.

Conclusion

In a crisis, you can create a business from scratch, without the help of your “uncle.” All successful projects are united by the bold ideas of their creators, vision of prospects, understanding of the target audience, choice of directions that do not require significant initial investments, focus on further development. This helps you avoid problems that become obstacles for indecisive people and become stronger than your competitors.

I would like to talk about how I started.

They say 90% of all startups fail within the first year. So, I was right in that 90% :) Now I understand perfectly why this happened. And perhaps my experience will help you avoid some mistakes.

I consider myself an expert in karate-do, in the ability to develop and strengthen a person’s character through martial arts

I worked in the sports section and periodically suggested something to someone, it was interesting to me. Then the coach noticed this and invited me to lead the group under his leadership, to which I happily agreed)))

The essence of the project is our own karate school with instructors who conduct classes with children and teenagers, where I manage the school and prepare athletes more high level, as well as individual lessons. This is also the promotion of the school in the martial arts market in the region, and in the future the expansion of the school by scaling to other regions. Creating your own brand. As well as a combination of sports and health aspects (massage) for the improvement of the nation.

When I started, 19 years ago, there were no such goals. There was a burning desire to learn the secrets of martial arts from the best Japanese and domestic specialists, as well as a desire to try my hand at teaching.

To achieve my goals, I simply spent time in the gym and during additional training sessions, studying all available materials (photocopies Bad quality, incomprehensible photographs, listened to what those who were more experienced said, even copied films from Hong Kong in their training

The first 2 years - nothing. I coached, there were people, but I didn’t consider it as the main source of income. Then I became more attentive to what I was doing. The highlight came in September 1995. Then I posted advertisements around the area at night so that no one would see me - I was afraid that they would recognize me. My wife supported me - they put it up together. And it bore fruit - I had 90 people in the hall))) and this was only in one group). There was a surge of interest and Karate-do came out of the basements. Then I learned to see sources of additional income in karate. Met some very successful icemen. And so and

Let's go. But there were recessions, losses and default. But this is all nonsense - you just have to move forward!!!

During the default in 98, I couldn’t recruit a group for 3 months. And during the epidemics, I sat without any money for 2 weeks. I remember the first exams of my students in karate, the first black belt (mine and my children), the first victories and defeats, slander against me, doubts in one’s abilities, disappointment in the chosen path, the desire to quit everything and start new project, as well as revitalization, the feeling that I am doing a very important thing.

My school will be 19 years old in 2009. Key points- this is a transition from blindly waving my legs to the understanding that this is how I will earn my bread. This is 4-5 years after the start.

Money is earned from attracting clients to the gyms, from subscriptions (monthly), as well as from holding competitions, seminars, trainings, and individual lessons.

The most important thing is not to stick out in front of clients. It doesn’t matter to them whether you’re a tough guy or a champion. What matters is what you teach my child. To do this you need to burn yourself.

I watch cartoons, children's films, listen to music, the kind that teenagers listen to. I communicate with them and find topics that are interesting to both of us. And with clients, I have constant contact with the parents, I call if I haven’t seen the child for more than a week, I congratulate them on their birthdays, happy holidays, and I actively ask the parents about the child’s success. I share what has changed in my child.

I made a lot of mistakes - incorrect training methods, disdain for clients (I’m already great - let them call me), and showing off in front of colleagues, and unnecessary displays, and unfulfilled promises, and a trial.

You need to be more attentive with clients. Listen to what they say. Help them solve their problems.

The main thing is not to retreat! If you have an idea, do it. You need to make a lot of mistakes, but make them and move on.

Carnegie, and Napoleon Hill, and Osho, and Nietzsche, and children's fairy tales, and stories from the world of martial arts, and conversations with colleagues, especially from related martial arts.

Where to begin?! Decide that you want to do this and go to the nearest gym, negotiate a rental (if you have been in martial arts for a couple of years)

I thank many people, but especially my enemies - they help me constantly grow above myself))

Commercial Director of the vending company "Northern Palmira" General Director of the company "New Line" (LLC "New Dine Projects")

I consider myself a strong, confident and fairly flexible person, a person who can make a million-dollar business without starting capital. For me, money is not the most important thing in life, money is a tool that can help achieve the main goal.

The first such business was the “Useful Phones” project. We launched it together with Alya Nikandrova. The essence of the idea is to produce and issue cards, like calendars measuring 7 by 10 cm, in which one side is non-commercial and contains all the necessary and useful telephone numbers of the area, such as housing office, police department, etc., and on the other side there are advertising lines . The cards are classified according to Moscow districts and distributed among the population free of charge.

The money comes from the sale of advertising lines. The monthly turnover of the project at the very beginning was about 560 thousand rubles. Minus taxes, card production costs and operating expenses. This is what we earned. My percentage was 20% of turnover.

There were no difficulties with the implementation of the “Useful Phones” project itself. What we stumbled upon is the lack of knowledge related to running a legal business. But then we naturally filled this gap.

This project is still being implemented today, not only in Moscow, but also in other regions of Russia.

The second business that I launched without starting capital was a project for children's medical records. It was implemented in regions of Russia, cities such as Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Perm, etc. This is a very serious project, the decision on it was made at the government level. We negotiated with heads of health departments and brand advertisers.

The essence of the project is that the state today does not provide municipal clinics in Russia with children’s medical records for maintaining a medical history “History of Child Development”. There are even cases when in some medical institutions, when registering a newborn, they are asked to bring a notebook as such a card. Then they paste in the 1956 forms...

We proposed the following to the regional health departments: we produce these cards of a unified model, taking into account modern pediatric requirements and distribute them in clinics free of charge. In return, we place advertising information on the specified pages. The advertisers in this project, of course, are serious companies such as Gillette, Johnson & Johnson, Nutricia, Procter & Gamble, banks, large shopping centers and so on.

In addition to children's medical cards, they began to issue exchange and notification cards necessary for pregnant women. The scheme is the same: delivery to medical institutions is free from our side, the money comes from advertising.

According to preliminary calculations, in Moscow the profit rate should have been 70 thousand dollars, and in the regions 15-20 thousand dollars per issue. As a rule, the order is made once a year, in some regions sometimes 2 times.

Today, if we take this project together and everything that has been attached to it, we get a figure of about 30-40 thousand dollars in income per month. My royalty rate here is also 20%.

The most difficult moment in implementing this business was the lack of experience in negotiating with officials. As it turns out, they are very different from negotiations with businessmen, and this difference lies in the position taken by government officials. It can be voiced something like this: “Everyone owes me. I have 100 people like you a day, try to convince me.” Moreover, they have a pronounced position: “You are businessmen, and we are civil servants, you make millions, and we earn pennies.” Another difficulty is that officials demand large kickbacks. In Moscow, we failed the negotiations, we couldn’t convince, but it became a good experience, and when we went to other regions of Russia, we had already prepared thoroughly, wrote specific negotiation scenarios and practiced them.

Another project is rose petals in registry offices. The bottom line is this: in every flower nursery and flower shops, as a rule, there are quite a lot of unnecessary withered rose petals left. We came up with the idea of ​​selling them to newlyweds at registry offices. I went and held negotiations at the main office of the registry office in the Moscow region and at the same time in two nurseries, from where we exported rose petals for free.

The profitability of this project was from 3.5 to 4 thousand dollars per month. Deadlines

My wife was in charge of it. When she gave birth to my wonderful son, we suspended the project.

Without start-up capital, I created a project called City of Success, where we came up with and implemented business projects without start-up capital. City of Success is a company that was engaged in turning students into merchants and businessmen. People took Serezhin’s training, he left, but they needed motivation, they needed to apply the knowledge they had acquired somewhere, they needed like-minded people. The city of success was the link where they did it all, they went from the very simple projects, to complex. In addition to participating in projects, they also studied here and were trained in my personal effectiveness program.

My function from the very beginning was that I thought through the project, calculated it, wrote out all the scenarios, began to implement it, launched it and then handed it over to others, roughly speaking, I managed the projects.

After the City of Success, projects such as Anatoly Karpov’s website “Minimumprice. ru", Moscow small service household repairs“Husband for an Hour” by Sergei Zakharov, design studio for website production by Viktor Abramov, etc. In general, I work according to the scheme: I launch projects, set up a business and pass it on to people, and then I just receive my royalties.

My most important principle is honesty, the second is the usefulness and relevance of the goods and products that you deal with. I operate on the principle “If you talk about it, you should do it.” And one more principle or, rather, even an axiom: “There are no impossible negotiations.” I believe that there are no people with whom it is impossible to come to an agreement.

I have a million dollar idea. This is a recruitment company in which I train sales professionals (free of charge for them) for a month (a week - training, 3 weeks - a workshop in my own projects). In the HR services market, the average price for employing an Actual Salesperson is from 60,000 rubles to.... Well, then do the math for yourself: monthly groups of 25 participants with an average selling price of 3,000 euros each. According to my calculations, it takes a little more than 13 months to receive 1,000,000 euros.

General Director of Agency LLC creative solutions»

I am a pain in the ass. I consider myself an active, enterprising, creative, energetic person.

The first project I implemented was a reminder for newlyweds in registry offices Leningrad region. When a couple comes to the registry office to apply for marriage registration, they are told about the rules for holding a wedding ceremony. As a rule, young people don’t remember anything, everything flies out of their heads when the registration itself begins, they confuse everything all the time, the organizers get nervous, and so on. We decided to streamline this whole matter and came up with a colorful booklet that contains the text of the rules for holding the ceremony. The registry offices received these booklets for free, and in return we placed advertisements in them for related products and services, all kinds of limousines, rings, toastmasters, shops wedding dresses etc. Based on the memo for newlyweds, we made another business project - this is a memo for newborns. The essence is the same - reminders with the necessary information and advertising are given to parents when they come to register a newborn.

From one registry office, the turnover of money was 100,000 rubles per year, of which expenses were 50 percent, and profits, accordingly, were also 50%, that is, 50 thousand rubles per year. There were about a dozen cities, and in general, for the year the working capital from this project was about a million rubles a year, and the profit was 500 thousand rubles.

The project lasted more than a year, but now I’m moving away from it, handing it over to a partner and doing other things. The reason is that this business idea is of course elegant, convenient, and if a similar project were implemented in St. Petersburg itself, then there would be a different scale, different money, but for a number of reasons I could not get it through with the registry office administration St. Petersburg. But just for the region - this is not enough.

Another implemented business idea was advertising on a network of dry toilets. Traffic there is about 600 thousand people a month, the numbers are good, but the project did not take off because many advertisers were not ready to work in this format, there is no point in advertising for small offices, and working with brands is difficult, because they are mostly all in Moscow .

We didn’t make much money, but we didn’t lose it either. The idea itself has been tested, a couple of companies are doing this in Moscow, but I didn’t bother.

There was a project - a folder for agencies. I have entered into agreements with 4 of the largest real estate agencies in St. Petersburg. We made folders for them in which they put a package of documents for their clients. Agencies received them from us for free, and in return, we placed advertisements there for housewarming-related goods and services, such as repairs, windows, doors, furniture, etc. We did this thing once, and the project was closed. Why? Because the advertising didn't work.

Advertising in folders was not effective for the advertisers themselves, and this contradicted one of my key principles - business should be environmentally friendly. It seems that the carrier is the same as in the registry offices, only here is a wedding, there is a housewarming, but only in the first case it worked, but not with real estate agencies. Although, of course, you could first place company A, in the second edition - company B, then company C, and at the same time understand that none of them would work with you later.

Now I’m pushing everything away from myself, leaving only the organization of Azimov’s trainings. It turned out that in parallel with the fact that I was implementing all sorts of projects, I was also selling Sergei’s trainings. For myself, I realized and felt that this is what I prefer to do. A fairly simple way - organizing trainings, business without start-up capital, it has its own tasks and from the point of view of self-realization and prospects, it is much more interesting than the things that I did, and there is more money there.

The main difficulty for me after Sergei Azimov’s training was that I am not a systems person. I can come up with ideas, and there were no problems with them, there were no problems with money, because they were not needed, personally, my problem is that I can come up with a lot of things, inspire, organize, but as soon as it comes to systematicity, reporting Everything is starting to fall apart for me. I needed a system partner to support the business processes I had built, but I didn’t have one; it’s very difficult with people and personnel in general today. It is very difficult to find adequate people, from a partner to an office manager.

The first principle is that what I do should be a thrill, as soon as I catch myself that it has begun to stress me, I move away from it. This is precisely why I gave up on most of the ideas. There is an idea and we need to do it consistently, but I know myself that even if the business is successful, even if it brings in money, if it gets boring, I will move out of it.

My second principle is that business should be environmentally friendly. I say these things not because I attended Asimov’s training, but because I really think so. I have already talked about the business with folders in real estate agencies.

I caught myself that I won’t work with many of the ideas that I came up with, because they have a tight connection with administrative resources at the level of kickbacks, bribes, etc., this is not for me.

Something I caught myself not too long ago: the amount of money is not a goal for me. I know that I will earn enough to live and feel comfortable, this could happen at 200 thousand dollars, at 50, at a million dollars, I don’t know, but it will happen regardless of the amount, there will just be an income at which I will be comfortable, but how much - I don’t know.

My company is called “Editorial Publishing Center”, and we specialize in outsourcing services for newspapers and magazines (we develop designs for print media and publish corporate periodicals). I created it in November 2006. Before that, I spent 13 years designing newspapers and magazines, and I always liked to come up with something new. However, when you work for a regular newspaper, you come up with a design concept once, and then you just support it. Boring. Besides, I always liked to do several things at once. different projects- I always took some extra work as a freelancer.

I was planning to open my own business for several years, but decided overnight. Having received the next salary for last job, wrote a letter of resignation of my own free will and began to draw up documents for the tax office... I was prompted, oddly enough, by a nonsense reason - it became very difficult to move around Moscow, I was stuck in traffic jams for four hours a day, and one day I decided that these The watch will be useful to me for more enjoyable activities.

I didn’t have a penny of savings, and I basically didn’t want outside investment. There was a desire to do everything on my own and be a full-fledged owner of my business.

On the one hand, it did not require any special investments. I had an excellent working tool (computer), I was going to work at home, and I even had two regular customers (though with a small amount of work). Duty and authorized capital 10 thousand rubles - that’s all my initial investment. However, the costs of doing business appeared immediately. Firstly, I needed an office phone - I decided to buy a direct “beautiful” mobile number so that it would look like a “real office” one. Secondly, I needed a website - and I wanted to make it good right away, and besides, I had to invest in a little promotion. Thirdly, it was necessary to do accounting - I bought the 1C program (to understand this a little myself) and became a service provider at a company that provided outsourcing accounting services. After the first month of work, I already had to pay taxes and an official salary. I remember my first salary was 15 thousand rubles - and I was more happy about it than the 2 and a half thousand dollars that I was paid at my last job.

When you do something unusual, there is always a huge crowd of people who want to advise you on something. In my circle, I was the only person who started my own business, but advice poured in from all sides. Every second person told me how I should hide from taxes. And what a fool I am that I’m going to pay them all honestly - every first one. After I purchased licensed software (very expensive), some people began to look at me as if I was crazy. But it was my business, and I'm sure I did everything right. I don’t know how my life will turn out and what I want to do in 5 years - maybe I’ll want to sell the business. And it is better to sell a company that is “clean” and has a good reputation.

For quite a long time I remained the only full-time employee of the company. Although, of course, I did not do all the work alone, being of the opinion that you need to trust the professionals. Let's say I'm a literate person, but a proofreader should do the proofreading. I'm good at layout, but I'd rather hire a specialist than waste my expensive director's time. We worked (and work) with all hired employees under official contract agreements and pay them money, taking into account all taxes.

Today there are already three of us on staff - I have a personal assistant and a designer. He also works part-time as an accountant. We, of course, continue to conclude contract agreements - the specificity of working on corporate publications is that they are published quite rarely (usually 4-6 times a year) and it is extremely unprofitable to employ full-time specialists for them. We have about 10 contract employees with whom we work constantly, and many more in reserve.

We still don’t have an office - all information flows to me, I “work with my hands” less and less and manage processes more and more, which I really like. As a result, it turns out funny: we both provide outsourcing services and are their customers ourselves. This is the “” business. However, the clients are the real ones. They also come through the same site that I didn’t regret visiting at the beginning. And - “along the chain” (our clients recommend us to their partners). We do not look for clients, do not advertise, and almost never participate in tenders. We do not interrupt customers from competitors - in a word, we behave non-aggressively in the market. Work finds us on its own! And the structure of our company allows us to increase the volume of work to almost any level - for new projects we hire new specialists under a contract, and that’s it. True, we have a clear idea of ​​what we can handle and never take on anything we can’t handle. For example, we would not undertake to create a monthly glossy magazine - for such work it is more profitable to hire full-time specialists, and a staff of several people means renting an office, purchasing additional equipment and other expenses. And all this, in my opinion, leads to less mobility. We like to be flexible, offer clients personalized solutions, and get involved in everything that interests us.

Of course, not everything was smooth and smooth. And now it doesn’t happen from month to month - sometimes you work around the clock, sometimes there’s a lull. There were times when I was four months in arrears with myself. But then within a month and a half we managed to pay it off. But it was always more important to me that the business was in order, and that I would not die of hunger.

In general, one of the main discoveries was that running your own business is not for the sake of getting rich, but for the sake of doing something YOURSELF. So that this YOURSELF lives, breathes, grows and develops. And the main thing that my business gave me was an incomparable feeling of freedom. I know that I can live on any amount of money, even on 5 thousand rubles a month, but a stable salary is not a reason to sell myself into office slavery. When you are responsible for yourself and those around you, managing your time and your life, doing what you love, money seems like something completely unimportant. It's like gasoline in a car, like consumables. The main thing is to do what you love in life. And I love absolutely everything about my business - the director’s papers, the creative flight of the designer, my employees, and our clients.

AND It sometimes happens that you read a book, an article, or someone's story and notice a striking resemblance to own worldview, past or other life circumstances, this is exactly what happened this time and I decided to post the heart-warming story of a programmer who decided to become a businessman.

If you are just about to open your own business or you are simply interested in the topic, I recommend reading this life story

Crisis of Ambition (May 2010)

By May 2010, I had a clear idea that all of my latest goals and dreams went beyond my current profession. For the last eight years, I have worked as a programmer in a private and successful company N, which was engaged in software development. High white salary, social security, loyal attitude to working time. It would seem that what else is needed for happiness - buy a car on credit, an apartment with a mortgage, have children and enjoy life. This is where it all went - my wife and I were thinking about a child with the prospect of buying an apartment with a mortgage (we still live in a 1-room apartment), and while we were weighing options with a mortgage, we decided to change the car. It’s very nice to choose a new car, drive to showrooms, and enjoy the anticipation. Loans, money, obligations - standard components of modern life - make us happy. If you don't look to the future. Recently my sluggish happy life began to meet resistance.

Figuratively, impulses in consciousness can be represented as a room filled with bright light in which you turn off the light bulb for a split second, turn it on and off, and everything comes back on. And the more often on and off happens, the better you begin to understand that in addition to light - momentary joy, there is darkness - the absence of a future.

Having visited all the showrooms, we chose a car - it was a handsome Ford Mondeo, new, large and spacious. A couple of days later we became happy expectants of our future car, for which we made an advance payment. My brain once again clicked on and off and I decided to sit down and calculate my monthly losses from buying a car - I was going to take it on credit. The result was an average of 26 thousand rubles. per month for FIVE years. This was half of my salary. For what? For the joy of two months? To say that I saw the light would be ignorance; rather, a series of events brought me to the wall into which I rested my forehead. And I really want to go further and really need to. With all their understandings, my thoughts only became drunk, but one thing was clear - I couldn’t live like this any longer. I stopped seeing the future. How can you live without a future, satisfying only “bestial needs”? And I stopped. I took a down payment for a car that was not yet mine, but to which I was already very attached. I sold old car to create a financial cushion. I closed all my loans and made perhaps the most important decision of my financial life. I decided to quit.

Dismissal (summer 2010)

I continued to work at company N, but all my thoughts were about one thing. Soon my slave labor will end and a new life will begin - what kind - I did not yet know and did not even guess. For obvious reasons, it was not easy to quit - friendly team, eight years successful work and the most frightening thing is the lack of any directions for developing your business. Consciousness required stability, and all thoughts about one’s business found hundreds of negative sides.

The book “Rich Dad and Poor Dad” played a big role in my decision. It was not by chance that the book came to me - my brain required informational support and after reading it, I was strengthened in the correctness of my decision. My calculations showed that current work I would not be able to achieve my goals and quitting, a choice I had already made, was my only chance to change my life. I didn’t have any plans, I didn’t know what I was aiming for, I just wanted to break out of the vicious circle. Breaking the stereotypes of a stable life is very difficult, and I broke it to give myself a chance.

Having worked for the last month - from September 1 - a significant date since school - I breathed deeply, as it seemed to me, of freedom. Behind us are many years lost for business - emptiness lies ahead. A blank sheet from which you begin to write your new story.

Franchise (September 2010)

The first days of independence. When you don’t have to get up early, when you don’t have to ask for time off in order to have time to go to the store, when you go to the movies, when it’s convenient. This is great. But there is one thing - you need to earn money, and I’m just now stressed about this. According to my calculations, I can survive for three months, which means that in the near future I need to find something to do that will feed me. Smart books say - you need to do what you like and what you understand. But I am an application programmer who works with databases and did not see even a small opportunity to start something of my own in this direction.

I was always drawn to the Internet and new technologies, but I devoted too much energy and time to my main job to gain additional knowledge in Internet programming - here I remained a layman. If you believe the statistics, starting your own business with a franchise means increasing the likelihood of success of your endeavor. I decided to explore all the offers currently available. There were many of them, but they were all similar. Children's toy stores - profits are small and difficult to predict. Fashionable clothes and restaurants - large expenses - disappear. Just like after selling a car, you want to get into a new one as quickly as possible - after my dismissal, I wanted to start my own business as soon as possible. But nothing stuck.

And then one day, once again flipping through the pages of the Internet, I came across About the blog "target="_blank">blog, which contained a link to one interesting proposal. A proposal to open a car station from scratch with services aimed at the beauty of cars. This was not direct franchise, but its indirect features were present. I had to pay Nth amount, in response they supplied me with everything necessary equipment, printed advertisements, trained staff and advised on all matters of running a business. Since the headquarters was located in the city of N, which is 3 hours away, without hesitation I phoned and went to negotiations - time is now in my hands.

Meeting with partners

The meeting in the city of N with my future partners was fruitful. I couldn’t fall asleep until five in the morning - not because I couldn’t sleep, but because thoughts about future prospects simply blew my mind. The services that I would have to promote were highly profitable and the first calculations promised me huge profits. I couldn’t pass it up and agreed on the same day. I won’t lie – cars were my weakness, but not yet a hobby. I had to combine business with pleasure and therefore my head ceased to belong to me. All that was left was to find the money to buy a franchise - this is the first thing I will have to do upon arriving home. And my thoughts were already far ahead.

Money (October 2010)

Within a month, I was able to raise all the money needed to pay for the franchise. I didn’t even think that there were options that allow you to get a lot of money at a small percentage. Spinning around in your little world, you don’t know and don’t notice a lot of things. The boundaries of my perception were slowly and surely moving forward and I was happy to move forward. I would like to point out my first gross mistake, which can ruin not only a business. I am sure that businessmen are not born, but made, and I had many more mistakes to make. The essence of my mistake is simple - I gave money for the franchise without signing any documents. Everything was initially built on mutual trust and, as it seemed to me, it was not necessary to sign any documents. It’s scary to imagine what could have happened if my partners had been scammers. Of course, before giving the money, I carefully studied all the available information and minimized the risks, but the very fact of transferring money without documentary evidence is still an example of a complete lack of business skills. And I continued to learn from my mistakes.

Start of business (November 2010)

After paying the "franchise" I received several instructions. First, I have to find a room of about 200 m2 with drainage water and heat. In the center. I didn’t think it would be so difficult, since I haven’t been able to find anything suitable for a month now. At the moment, there are two options - one complete mess, the building looks like it was after a bombing, no water, no electricity, the hostess looks strange, she offered to do all this after check-in - well, well. This is the first experience of entrepreneurial activity when you stop believing everyone, and start thinking about everything with your own head. The second option is more suitable, but in addition to the main premises there were also a bunch of unnecessary barracks for rent - they wanted 100 thousand rubles a month for it - this was a lot by all standards.

And I began to cultivate one of the main traits of an entrepreneur - don’t think about the bad until the time comes. This means don't panic about the "what ifs" until the "if" happens. The second instruction was recruiting workers, this was much more fun and over the past three weeks I had an impressive list of applicants. I sent the list to the city of N and in response received recommendations on who should be called for an interview.

Starting in November, I began to repay the loan I took out to open a business, and every day of delay had a negative impact on my budget.

Premises (December 2010)

While I was considering the option for 100 thousand rubles. appeared new option, which turned out to be cheaper and better at the same time. 180 m2, water, warmth, light and center. And all for 70 thousand rubles. I stopped there, reminding myself that everything is being done for the better. The loan is already pouring in, a list of employees has been drawn up, premises have been found, but the opening is delayed. Firstly, the room has only one entrance through a small door and work has begun on demolishing part of the wall and installing automatic gates. Secondly, I still have not received the equipment that is necessary for my work. Of course, my money still lasts for two months, but it was a protective cache, and I began to eat through it.

One year after dismissal

I must say that the year has made me more stress-resistant. His character became coarser, his outlook on life began to change. The attitude towards money has changed, partly because there never was any. Very often I experienced a flow state (euphoria) from seemingly ordinary things. I learned not to waste time on trifles and not to bother my head with events that have not yet happened. I became an entrepreneur

New Year - the start has been given!

I spent the New Year in no way. There was no equipment yet, the gates were made, but there were still problems with entry. There was only one month of money left and I periodically felt a sense of panic. Here I must make a retreat and say a huge thank you to my wife. This is not even the wife of the Decembrist, but her beloved, who said: “I will be there and support you, no matter what you do.” By this point, I had already stopped sponsoring my wife, which happened naturally, and the moral support for my actions was a breath of air in a seething stream.

By mid-January I could breathe easy - everything was resolved with the gate, almost all the equipment had arrived and I started an advertising campaign, which consisted of delivering booklets to expensive cars. So, starting in mid-January, we delivered daily a large number of booklets, but there was silence. I was ready for this and waited. My landlord brought the first car in for processing with our advanced service at the end of January, I think to maintain my start - for which I especially thank him.
The start has been given, gentlemen!

First pancake (February 2011)

The advertising was not in vain. February started with a flood of calls. Since the service was, as they say, “ new technology“- the bulk of those interested remained on the sidelines. I understood that it would not be easy for a programmer to communicate with clients due to a complete lack of communication experience, and my understanding was confirmed in the form of widespread errors in telephone conversations. I didn’t convince, I just mumbled into the phone about an excellent service for a lot of money. But we couldn't afford a manager. It should be said that from the very beginning, my own business began to bring surprises. Everything rested on me - an ordinary worker who imagined himself to be a businessman. The first car that arrived for the new service is a new Mercedes E class. The owner of the car simply gave me the keys and drove away, which I was incredibly happy about - he would take it as he gave it to me. Oh, how wrong I was.

When the client came to pick up his Mercedes, he came not alone, but with madam. Right out of the gate they asked me for a document for the work performed. Yes, yes, I started working without any sales receipts, cash registers or work orders. I did everything myself, and accordingly I did NOT do something myself for one simple reason - for me it was a dark forest, and my partners helped me after the fact - rather confirming my experience than filling it. In general, I said that there are no documents yet, but they will be soon, to which I received an answer - then the money will come later. The first client and immediately stupor. I can't let him go without the money that was important to me. As a result, we were able to agree on half the amount immediately, half after the documents. I hastily put the documents in order and three days later I received the rest of the amount. It's a mountain to shoulder, the first experience is behind us. And although everything is done for the better, stress became an everyday occurrence for me.

Endless work (March-April-May-June-August 2011)

A long period and at the same time one moment. Since March, I have been so bogged down in my car service that all events have mixed up into one continuous routine. I will highlight the most striking moments. There was little work. We could sit for a week and do nothing. I was just sitting in a dark box - after a bright, clean office, a dirty, dark garage put pressure on me and drove me into depression. All the money had long since dried up and I could hardly imagine what I could afford to eat and where to get rent. There was that rare moment in my life when I came home and wanted to cry. I couldn’t run away from problems - quit or leave. I was powerless against so many problems. One problem gave way to another.

I must say about my employees who have been with me from day one. There were two of them, one - on whom everything rested - was the main master and his knowledge made it possible to satisfy any need of the client. But this man had his own service. Since I had practically no work, we agreed that most of the time he worked in his service, and when I got work, he came to me. Once again a client came to me to paint a wing. Good man in a Porsche Cayenne - if only all businessmen were like this. He left the key on the table and told me what needed to be done. All. No haggling, no questions about cost. This was complete trust and I valued such clients. Once again he came in, left the key and left. My master arrived at lunchtime and said that he would no longer work for me. The person who could do everything, knew everything and did everything, the only one who was trained in the city N left. I was in shock.

The psychology of a programmer cannot adequately perceive a problem of this level. By a happy coincidence, the other day a man called me for a vacancy as a painter and I immediately called him to my place. It would be better not to call. We painted the wing of my best client on a Porsche Cayenne so much that I couldn’t imagine how I could redo it all. To make it clear what we are talking about, imagine the front wing of the car, mentally divide it in half. Firstly, half of the wing became a different color, and secondly, the paint on this half was lifted in many places and it became like chewed foil. Of course, later I redid everything using the first wizard, the problem was solved, but it seems I have added gray hair. Then I had another painter, then a fourth, a fifth, and I learned not to get attached to the workers, although it is difficult when it depends on each worker whether you can exist or not. I was forced to transfer the loans onto the shoulders of a loved one, since I physically could not pay. Despite the change of employees, I managed to maintain my brand and build a reputation for quality service. Firstly: I accepted the work myself and if someone did something bad, I forced them to redo it before the client saw it. Secondly: I used quality materials, since quality was placed above profit - I was sure that short-term gain could ruin the entire business. And thirdly: I always turned my face to the clients - any issues were resolved in favor of the clients, although sometimes there was abuse.

With all the problems, I gained experience and moved towards my goal - to create a profitable business. Values ​​change, so does character. I was becoming different. I must say that I did not receive support from my partners, the profits were not enough even to eat, and the feeling of success of my business began to slowly but surely leave me.

No sales (September-October 2011)

The premises were still not even 30% occupied. For a rental of 70 thousand rubles. we couldn't work like that. I began to consider options for expansion in order to load the premises and increase revenue. There is no need to go far - the constant question “on electrical” hinted at the clear need for this direction. I started looking for an auto electrician. We almost didn’t do any advertising anymore—we spent everything we could, with whomever we could—we worked through barter. It’s a difficult time when there is no constant flow of clients, no money for development, or quality employees. Every day is like a work shift to solve problems. That’s when I decided to hire a sales manager - I was not well suited for this role. Communication experience taught me to competently explain services to people, but not to “sell” them in the good sense of the word. Manager. A manager is urgently needed.

Things are moving forward (November 2011)

A fruitful month. We now have an auto electrician and a manager. And if everything was clear with an auto electrician - the person knew how to not only install equipment in a car, but also repair complex mechanisms. Things weren't so clear with the manager. I was looking for someone who could increase sales - without cash injections. I wanted creative solutions. Of all those who came for a vacancy in the best possible way a girl approached who had experience working in a car service center. I must admit, our working conditions were not the best - smells, colors, dirt - gloomy and dull. I put the manager in my place and, on the one hand, I had time, on the other hand, I was slightly disarmed, since my workplace It was busy, but there was no money to buy a separate desk with a computer. I must admit, November was one of those rare months when it seemed to me that everything would only be fine.

Such a wonderful month that I forgot to mention another dismissal. I had two people doing the main service, the service that brought in the most money. At the beginning of November, the guys came to me and told me that I wasn’t paying enough and they were leaving. They will work for themselves. One of them was the last one to work from the very beginning. It was a low blow. I learned to do some of the work myself, which I had to use during a difficult period. Very quickly, the new manager began to perform the functions of an administrator - this was not part of my plans - the administrator does not bring profit, but only eats up food, but given the growth in income and the freed up time, this suited me. In view of the appearance of the manager-administrator, it was decided to build a client area where the manager could receive people, and the person could wait for the car. Now the client immediately got into work area, forming the image of a garage service.

No sooner said than done and by the end of the month the client room was built. The second step was to order the development of a website - something that I had long wanted and that our high-tech car service was so lacking. Having hired a manager, I lost my daily calculations and cost plans. At the end of the month, I sat down and summed up the results and was in slight shock - the construction of the room and the manager’s salary ate up all the profit. What should have been used for advertising was used for construction. The room remained unfinished, the client area was empty, and there was no money left, as usual.

Electrician (December 2011)

The manager persistently asked for money for advertising. But there was no money. We did our best - printed leaflets on plain paper, looked for advertisers with low prices and the possibility of barter. The holidays are ahead, which means we will have a recession. In general, the work was quite active, especially with the electrician, and once again I was glad to see the new friendly team. Until a funny thing happened.

A typical day – a client brought his car in for wiring repairs. Since the electrician didn’t show up until lunch, I started calling him, but no one answered the phone. Considering that the day before he asked for time off due to his wife’s illness, I was not persistent. The next day the auto electrician again did not show up and again did not answer my calls. This was strange and I was forced to cancel all clients until the circumstances were clarified. There was a case when the possible reasons do not fit into the head. The man worked well - he received a large salary, did everything, helped - he built a client area with his own hands, for which I promised him a reward. If you want to leave, it is logical to first get the money you are owed. In general, the situation did not become clearer until Monday. On Monday morning, a client arrived from an open service center who stated that he was not satisfied with the quality of the auto electrical work and wanted a refund. Since the electrician was working with this client on the street, the employee brought in the money himself from the street. Exactly 2500 rub. For which I received a reprimand.

The client claimed that he paid 4,000 rubles and wanted to return it. And I felt uneasy. There could be more than one such client - our electrician also traveled on calls. This circumstance was doubly difficult due to the lack of any available funds. Now everything was logical - we won’t see the electrician anymore, we’ll have to deal with the current problems ourselves. That’s what we did, paying the person the amount according to the documents. I was not sure that the client was telling the truth, but at that moment it was easier to make a return than to find out the reason for the poor quality of work. I received an offer to contact the prosecutor's office to put the electrician in his place - but for certain reasons I did not do this. A couple of weeks later, the manager found his new phone number and I called his director and explained who works for him. At this point I forgot about who was one of the best workers in my service.

The dark streak was brightened up by news from the landlord - my rent was reduced. It's hard to believe, but the noose on my neck has loosened slightly. We approached the new year in a bad way financial condition, but I didn’t make a guess, hoping, as always, not for the best.

Dead January (January 2012)

First New Year which I spent away from my wife. I went to my parents. It’s funny to imagine that the trip was partly forced, because I had no money for the celebration or for any gifts. I was already used to being poor, but I still couldn’t be indifferent. The trip to my parents relieved a lot of problems and, in addition to saving money, I took a short break from business - a year of hard work without days off, under constant stress and emotional pressure - took its toll. January was terrible. It was catastrophic. I even borrowed from those close to me from whom I cannot and should not borrow. But I don’t see a way out - I only need to move forward - if I stop, everything will collapse. Not only will my time and efforts be ruined, the money that I invested in the business in the maximum possible quantities will disappear. And I moved, moved.

Don't stand still was my mantra. But I was on the edge - emotionally depressed, financially poor - this is the portrait of the owner of an advanced service auto repair shop. The circle closed - we need advertising to attract clients, we need clients to increase revenue, we need money for advertising. There was no one to borrow from, it was useless to attract an investor, and I pulled this barge with the moral support of my loved ones. I must say January was the first month when, despite the rent reduction, I was forced to ask for a deferment. What previously seemed unreal was now simply a vital necessity. At one time they made it clear to me that there would be no concessions on the part of the landlord. But impudence and inevitability are circumstances on two different planes.

Manager, dear manager (February 2012)

The manager did not meet my expectations, and I did not meet her expectations. A good relationship there were, but there was no love. The manager was sitting on percentages and it’s easy to imagine a decrease in salary after a rich November. There were clients who found us on the site - this makes us happy. February was not much different from January - holidays, snow, cold - everything was a barrier between the service and clients. And we couldn’t melt this wall. The position of an auto electrician remained open and I began to doubt its necessity. Judge for yourself, in order for a person to start working normally, it is necessary to invest money in advertising, which will yield benefits not immediately, but gradually. Until the advertising begins to take effect, it is not a fact that the electrician will still work - they were burned once, but they didn’t really want to do it a second time.

By the end of February, the manager asked for an estimate - the reason was the need to go to the hospital for a month. I don’t know if this is true or not, but I tend to trust people. I was partly pleased with the decision, since the manager still did not fulfill the semantic load that was inherent in this position, and even in the conditions of a stable financial crisis, reducing the salary fund was a good thing. And I again returned to those gray everyday life when you are forced to sit all day in a dark, dirty and smelly room. Sad. I remembered my office again, my workplace. Clean, bright - comfortable work on the computer. What did I exchange my comfort and good salary for?

Time for Crossroads (March 2012)

I was far from depressed, but not because everything was fine, but because I am, in principle, a positive person. Close person, to whom I owed a lot of money, asked me to give it back in the summer. How to give away what is not there? In March, I borrowed from the last person I could borrow from. Close people and friends were gone and I sat down to soberly assess the situation. There was only one way out - to sell the business and get a job. I didn’t see any way to pay off my current debts, but I’m not ready to admit bankruptcy. The car service works, even if it’s breaking even, it’s a business where workers receive a salary and clients receive high-tech services. A small profit no longer saves me and this circumstance became a turning point. My decision is not an attempt to avoid problems. My decision is an attempt to eliminate the problems that I created for my loved ones. I can declare myself bankrupt at the bank, but not to those close to me. I decided to sell the car service. My brainchild that withstood the most difficult times, a brainchild that was filled with effort, time and money. I will continue to develop the service until it finds a new owner, but the longer I remain without money, the more difficult it will be for me to justify myself to the people close to me.

I went to firm N, where I worked before starting the business, and talked about the possibility of returning to my place. In addition to the large amount that I needed to return to my loved ones, I had to repay the loan. I didn't see any other possibilities. At the same time, I put the business up for sale and began communicating with potential buyers. I didn’t consider my decision a return to the past, I had to move and not stand still, and I didn’t stand in the hope that company N would not just take me back, but would be able to give me tasks of a higher level. Company N took time to think.

Company N called me and said that they would not hire me. One of the reasons was that a person who went into business has different blood in his veins and he will not be able to return to the old one. Well, I’m glad that fate itself tells me: don’t stand still. I realized that I had grown. I became different, independent, resilient, balanced and whole. And I must not go out of my way. Before business, every problem was significant for you and only its solution allowed you to breathe easy. Business teaches you to live among problems - they never end. And now it’s difficult to say what will happen tomorrow, but I can say for sure that yesterday will never come. I went in search of additional directions about which I can say little so far. Advertising and quality did their job and by spring the car service in one direction was 100% loaded. If things go like this, I can hire a manager and free up time to look for big money.

Today we hung an advertisement on the main building, which is owned by my landlord. I did not want to invest in advertising, due to the sale of the business, but I could not refuse the offer to be among those five chosen ones who have advertising on the main building.

Once again I thought about the film covering service. There is demand, so you need to make an offer. Starting next week I will start moving in this direction. The sale of the business is still dead in the water. Everyone who came was lost.

Yesterday I was thinking about business all day. I have formed a backup plan - if the sale does not take place, I will be forced to lose something in order to find something. I have a person, the same employee who was with me from the very beginning and subsequently went back to his service, being its owner. He is the only one who knows all the technologies used at my station, the only one who can lead the work without my constant participation. I will gain time, but I will lose share. If we consider the advantages, there are quite a few: there will be a manager - a person who knows everything and does everything, will free time, there will be a constant income - I have already said that the problem of personnel in body repair is one of the most significant. But there are also disadvantages: I will not be able to make decisions alone, I will lose control over certain works and I will lose part of the profit. We need to weigh everything. I have accumulated projects in the IT field that I want to implement, and every day spent on routine at a car service slows down my development. Therefore, losing money to find time for future projects is not a bad option.

The official start of website development for my blog. “Don’t stand still” – this was the motto chosen for both the blog and the website.

Creating a separate website rather than a blog using existing resources is more of a tactical decision. Creating a website is an experience for learning web programming from the inside, which in turn will allow you to competently communicate with programmers when creating new projects.

There is nothing to say about the car service yet.

I continue to study PCP and manage a car service center. A sort of symbiosis of work and passion. Once again I am convinced that you need to do what you like - where your soul lies. Car service sales are not moving, but customers are already making appointments a month in advance, there is a queue. Once again you are thinking about hiring a director or manager. If it weren't for debts, it would be easier. On the other hand, I’m currently developing my blog site practically all day long. There are two more projects in line, in order of increasing complexity. I won't talk about them for now. Projects will be written about when their implementation begins. In the meantime, the car service gives me money and time to pursue my hobbies.

I started to think about the need to sell. More precisely about the lack of necessity. April directly moves business forward. Cars are moving, money is flowing, work is in full swing. What used to depress me - idleness at work in a car service - it’s difficult to sit when others are working nearby - has now turned into my joy, the joy of doing my Internet projects. Now everyone works, even me – and I could do it before, but problems, when you think about how to live tomorrow, narrow your perception so much that you become a slave to your fears. It is the fears of poverty, of collapse, of bankruptcy of not only your business, but also you as a person that, on the one hand, drive you into the ground, and on the other, allow you to move forward and see solutions that your brain would never have come up with in a comfortable environment. My site is nearing completion and needs to be posted soon, so that those who don’t want to stand still will definitely move forward!

Yesterday I bought a site. This was my first time dealing with such a purchase and sale, so I had to read the Internet and look for an agreement. Agreement is power. When you have a good agreement and the signature of the other party, you sleep peacefully. So, I accidentally saw on a forum a message board website for sale, the price was low, but the functionality was extensive, and the first thing I thought was that all the functionality of the site would be useful to me for my future projects. Then the second thought came, to start promoting the site. Many interesting ideas immediately appeared, which I plan to implement after completing all the purchase and sale operations. But more on that later. And here is the website itself: doskavtomske.ru.

Things are going well at the auto repair shop. As my elderly relative says – normal means nothing. That's probably true. I want to close half of the car service center responsible for body repairs. What conclusions did I draw for myself? The bodywork business is good, but limited. There are too many buts to bring this activity to perfection. Either the hands are crooked, or the clients are picky and there are a lot of such points. You can’t say just do this and it will be good. A smart specialist usually works for himself in a garage, while stupid ones wander from one service to another, fortunately the services are growing like mushrooms - everyone wants to be a businessman. I haven’t decided what to do with half of the premises yet – but it’s a matter of time.

Today I made a new decision for myself. I decided to find an investor. Actually, I decided to develop new directions in the areas of my car service center, the place is empty, and the rent eats up almost all the profit. I chose those areas where it is easy to train new employees and where I can, if necessary, do the work myself. I decided to open a tire shop, glass repair and oil change/suspension repair. Fresh funds are needed to purchase equipment and therefore the sale of a 50% share looks quite justified. Buy mine ready business no one wanted to, since few people have the desire to do everything themselves. Now the situation for the investor has improved - I am not leaving the post of director.

In my free time - and what else can I do while sitting in a car service center - I polish up the bulletin board I bought. I am gaining experience for my next project.

I re-read the last entry and smiled. How everything changes and collapses. I didn’t find an investor, although there were some who were interested – maybe that’s for the best. I decided to close the car service. There was a clear understanding in my head that there was no desire to continue developing the car service. The desire to do this whole routine disappeared once and for all. September is indicated as the deadline. If by that time I do not sell the car service for at least some value, I will be forced to close it. September is the turning point of my life.

It should be added that a personal problem was added to the general work problems. Changes have occurred with the person who always supported me and helped me in difficult times, with the person closest to me. This period is called a “relationship crisis.” The feeling of being crushed breaks me. Tramples into the floor. And it takes a lot of strength to get up. Faith, only faith remains. I believe that I will rise. I believe that after the hard times there will be an upswing. Faith, that's all I have now...

Sale of car service (August 23, 2012)
Yesterday I sold a car service. Significantly, exactly two years ago I quit my job to start a new life. Two years of deadly battle for survival. And again freedom. Much is behind us now. And before moving on, I want to look back and analyze my two-year life...

When I say that I sold a car service, everyone asks the same questions. The first one is why did you sell it? Second – what do you think you should do next? And if I’m tired of answering the first one, going through all the difficulties of the last two years of my life, then the second one bothers me with its emptiness. The emptiness that lies in the answer, since I cannot say what will happen tomorrow. I paused to relieve myself of tension first. I gave myself the opportunity to take a break after two years without vacations or days off. During this period, you first of all look back, a little later I will look forward, but for now - if I knew how to go into a trance - I would leave. Therefore, the answer to the second question is silence and not an ounce more.
New owners of the car service are joining very quickly, I won’t lie – this is partly my merit. The team and processes are united and united. I hope that everything will only improve for everyone.

find yourself

I wrote this post for over a week. But I couldn’t reflect everything that happened to me over the past month. In view of the fact that I decided to talk about what was done rather than reflect on what was not done, I will state the facts and nothing more. It's always nice to be surprised. So, in order. The most important thing that happened to me was that I broke down. No, no, I didn’t break in spirit, but I broke my perception of myself as a person.

It can be compared to a rotten tree that is broken and now it takes time for a new young and strong tree to grow in its place. There is no turning back. At one time, I thought that it was enough to throw yourself into stormy water and you would learn to swim, and you would start a business and immediately become a businessman. But when the current, pitfalls and “barrels” do not allow you to develop, you realize that not everything you learn quickly and not everything turns out smoothly. Detailed analysis my personality, the discussion of all work and personal problems gave me a shocking picture. And of course the answer, which I am not ready to voice yet.

Have you ever thought why one person succeeds in everything, no matter what he undertakes, while another has a lot of problems and his business collapses? Luck doesn’t count – luck is just a pleasant addition to your perseverance. So I identified my problems, which probably prevented me from not only building my business, but also being a good husband.

Problem 1. Fear of physical harm, pain and conflict.
Need I say what this problem leads to in business, where you are a leader and manager for many? Later, I will write about all the problems, the reasons for their occurrence and their solutions. If you see yourself, you can compare what you are doing to solve similar problems.

Problem 2. Lack of confidence in yourself and your abilities.
A leader must make decisions. If you always consult, if you are looking for someone to go to the gym with, instead of just going. If you can’t choose what’s best to do for a long time, if you’re worried that your girlfriend will leave you, you have problems. Don't let them control your life. You manage your life yourself. The facts will not keep you waiting.

Problem 3. Problems of personal relationships.
A very subtle problem that can stem from other problems, or can give rise to them. And the reasons can be so deep that understanding them will destroy your illusions. But one thing is certain - until there is comfort in the home, you should not expect the same in business.

Problem 4. Publicity.
You don't need to be born one to be a speaker. It takes hard work. Lack of public speaking skills is the last problem that separates me from victory. Victory over yourself. A victory that will make my personality strong and harmonious. And there is a lot of work here...

And in order to put an end to the History of “not success” and not continue to post here your About the blog" target="_blank">Blog, far from the section, I will say a few words.

Briefly about yourself. I recently moved to Yekaterinburg, got a job (I need to eat something), and divorced my wife. All this within the last two months. Thoughts about business have by no means disappeared. Moreover, I did not close the business, but sold it and it is now flourishing under the new owners. But I lost much more and this fact sets me back. The experience is enormous and it will come in handy.

As for the wife, this is not a problem, thank God we didn’t have time to give birth to children. One good story in the past, another - even better - in the future. I will quote the well-known words: “strong is not the one who does not fall, but the one who, having fallen, gets up and moves on”...

And with my story, I once again proved the common truths - don’t get into debt, do what you’re an expert in and water won’t flow under a lying stone.

And one piece of advice: never buy a business - buy equipment, valuables, materials, apartments,
but not BUSINESS. Business is you, and no one will sell themselves to you) Good luck in business and don’t stand still)

P.S. This is the story of a man under the nickname RushEZZ on the biznet.ru forum, which I accidentally found and read from beginning to end in one gulp. In my opinion, the story is very vital; it brings clarity and realism to novice entrepreneurs who initially look too positively and ambitiously towards their own business.

But, I would like to note that each story has its own uniqueness and its own end, so you should not lose hope and focus only on a single experience. I only encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others, and if it doesn’t work out, then at least know about them, because as they say, “familiarized is forearmed.” If you have your own story, tell us about it in the comments!

Today I want to tell you the stories of some of the richest people of our planet, who were able to earn more than a billion dollars thanks to their brilliant ideas, hard work and desire to get rich. What’s most interesting is that all these people did not inherit a huge fortune or win the lottery; they all started their business practically from scratch. Very interesting, read on.

Li Ka-shing – $26.5 billion

Li Ka-shing was born and lived in China until he left the country in 1940 and moved to Hong Kong. Due to the death of his father, he had to leave school at the age of 14 and go to earn money. His first job was in a company selling plastic products and he had to spend 16 hours there.
The first ten years, plus frugality, led to the opportunity to open my own business, Cheung Kong Industries. Like Ka-shing's previous place of work, it was engaged in plastics, but over time, it turned into the largest investment corporation in Hong Kong. Li Ka-shing himself is considered one of the richest Chinese.

Sheldon Adelson – $26 billion

Sheldon Adelson, the son of a taxi driver from Boston, began his entrepreneurial journey at age 12 by selling newspapers. After that, he was a court reporter, mortgage broker, investment advisor and financial consultant. There was a period when he tried to sell toiletries and charter tours.
But the organization of the computer exhibition COMDEX in 1979 was a serious success. In the next 2 decades, it was the leading exhibition in the computer field in the USA.
And in 1988, he and his partners acquired a casino and hotel in Las Vegas (Sands Hotel & Casino), after which he quickly began to get rich.

Sergey Brin – $24.9 billion

It's already new wave billionaires who began to earn money in the age of computerization and the Internet. Sergey Brin is the 40-year-old owner of Google and former Russian, was born in Moscow, and then moved to the USA with a family of mathematicians. He started working on search engines (that's the correct name for Google.com itself) at Stanford together with his classmate Larry Page. The system was tested at the university, and then they began to look for investors. The name Google is a mispronunciation of gugol, a word said during one of the project's presentations.
Brin and Page entered the list of billionaires in 2004, when they were 30 years old. Today, Brin is mainly involved in the development of new projects and areas, such as augmented reality glasses and an unmanned vehicle.

Larry Page – $24.9 billion

The co-founder and co-owner of Google has been leading the company itself since 2011 and is actually responsible for it. strategic development. In addition to Google, he is actively involved in the development of the clean energy sector, in particular, together with Brin, he invested in Tesla Motors, which produces high-level electric cars (this is a normal car that is powered by batteries).

Roman Abramovich – $23.5 billion

A widely known personality in narrow circles, Roman Abramovich, a billionaire, is an orphan who was raised by his grandparents. I went into business while still a student, creating a cooperative for the production of toys and various polymers. After this there were many other companies and cooperatives, both in production and trade.
But, as some sharp tongues say, Abramovich’s main talent is that he knows how to find himself in right time in the right place - thus, he was able to gain control of Sibneft, which allowed him to become a billionaire.

Amancio Ortega – $20.2 billion

Until I read who it was, the name meant absolutely nothing to me - Amancio Ortega. If we say that this is the founder and owner of Zara, then a lot will fall into place.
He started sewing his first suits in his living room with the help of 25 dollars and his wife. He opened his first clothing store in 1975, and after a while became the owner of the popular clothing chain Zara. In addition to the Zara chain, he has chains of clothing stores for children, for young girls, lingerie stores, etc. In total, Ortega has more than 3 thousand stores in 64 countries.

Mark Zuckerberg – $19 billion

29-year-old Mark Zuckerberg is an icon of the modern world. Young, lazy, creative and rich. The creator of the largest social network Facebook, which created a system for its university - Harvard - but in the end could not finish it, because... there was no time left. Helped in the creation of Chris Hughes, Dustin Moskowitz, plus Eduardo Saverin. The first major investment came from Peter Thiel, the founder of PayPal.
Now Facebook is a public company, which at first lost a lot in value, and then (in 2013) began to rise in price. Zuckerberg now has a 17% stake, making him the youngest billionaire in history.

Kirk Kerkorian – $16 billion

Now an elderly man aged 96 years old, he dropped out of school in the 8th grade for the sake of boxing. At that time, he achieved great success and even became the welterweight champion in the Pacific Non-Professional Boxing Championship. After the Second World War, he retired from the ring to the airfield and began flying airplanes, but in 1944 he ended up in Las Vegas, where he was stuck for 3 years. Having squandered a lot of money, he still said goodbye to gambling and bought the air transportation company Trans International Airlines for 60 thousand dollars. After some time, he was able to sell it for $104 million to Transamerica.
And since 1968, he went into Hollywood - he made money at MGM, United Artists, Columbia Pictures and 20th Century Fox.

Elon Musk – $6.7 billion

Elon Musk is one of those new rich people who are capturing the market with their brains, hands and business acumen. My first big deal was at the age of 12 - I wrote a program that I sold for $500 (at that age I only spent my pocket money on ice cream and buns). At the age of 25, together with his brother, he created a company dealing software for news companies, and after 4 years he was able to sell it at a price of 307 million. He invested this money in the creation of PayPal, which, in turn, sold to eBay for $1.5 billion.
Today he is involved in the Space X space program and has contracts from NASA. The aforementioned Tesla Motors is also involved.

Dustin Moskowitz – $5.2 billion

About this young man You could also say that he was in the right place at the right time. Dustin Moskowitz is Mark Zuckerberg's roommate and helped him create Facebook. On this moment he owns 5% of the shares and this is the basis of his fortune. Facebook is not his main project now - he is currently working on the Asana project. This is a web application for effective collaboration on projects. Among the interesting things - he rides a bicycle to work and participates in the Giving Pledge project (a philanthropic project from Bill Gates and Warren Buffett). The essence of the project is that half of the members’ wealth goes to charity.

Ken Griffin – $4.4 billion

It's not just computers that make billions. Ken Griffin is the owner of Citadel hedge funds. He had his first positive experience of playing on the stock exchange at the age of 18 and has not stopped working since then. He became one of the most famous specialists in his field. After 2008, the funds lost half their value, but are now gradually recovering.

John Arnold – $2.8 billion

Another successful stock market player, John Arnold, got his start at the now-deceased Enron. At age 27, he earned $1 billion for the company and received his $8 million bonus. It was this money that I used to invest for myself and leave the boring company.
In 2012, he surprised the whole world by announcing that he was leaving trading after 17 years of successful experience. Now he and his wife have a $1.4 billion charitable foundation, and he is also part of the Giving Pledge project, which we mentioned above.

Oprah Winfrey – $2.5 billion

Oprah Winfrey is a whole layer of American culture. This is the Cinderella of our days, who did not drop her shoe on the stairs, but plowed like a horse and used every opportunity. The beginning of life is harsh, you can’t say anything: a strict mother, she was first abused at the age of 9, at 14 she gave birth to a child who died in infancy. But when I was in school, I first got to work at a radio station. At the age of 19, she already hosted local news, then daytime talk shows. The next serious achievement is to promote a completely unpopular show so as to become a celebrity, and then, with experience and a name, create your own production company.
At 32, Oprah became a millionaire, and her show is a national treasure. Since 1994, it has become so popular that the check for the year exceeded 9-figure amounts. Oprah Winfrey became the first African-American woman to appear on the Forbes list.
Today, if you get on air with Oprah, you can become a celebrity in 1 day. For example, they did this to Robert Kiyosaki in 1997 (of course, we will not belittle the achievements of Robert himself).

Mikey Jagtiani – $2.5 billion

Mikey Jagtiani, a representative of the Middle East on our list of billionaires, was going to become an accountant, but his studies didn’t work out because... living in London turned out to be too expensive, plus exams were also not going smoothly. To survive, I had to work as a taxi driver and cleaner.
At the age of 21, Mikey Jagtiane ends up in Bahrain alone with 6 thousand dollars (that’s all the family had) and opens a children’s goods store with this money. And today it is a retail chain on the list of the most profitable in the Middle East.
A corporation called Landmark includes 280 stores throughout the Middle East and brings Mike Jagtiani up to 650 million in profit per year.

Michael Rubin – $2.3 billion

Another representative of modern billionaires, Michael Rubin, CEO Kynetic. He began his journey as an entrepreneur as a child and sold seeds to neighbors. At the age of 10, he already hired 5 guys to remove snow from neighbors’ lawns for money. At the age of 14, this future billionaire had already opened his first store, persuading his father to sign a lease agreement. At 23, he was already a director in a company with sales of $50 million.
But he saw his destiny in e-commerce, which was just beginning to develop. He invested about 80 million in his online store, but, despite increasing sales, he could not make this business sustainable. However, eBay came to the rescue and bought the company from Rubin for 2.4 billion. The price is much higher than the actual cost of this project, but eBay was behind in the race with Amazon, so they shelled out the money.
Today Rubin is involved in Fanatics clothing stores and websites of various types, in which he has already invested 500 million.

Eduardo Saverin – $2.2 billion

Another person who made a fortune on Facebook. Saverin was Zuckenberg's first investor and was commercial director. young project. But while Saverin was in New York practicing, Zuckerberg attracted new investors and artificially lowered his stake from 34% to 0.03%. Eduardo sued and regained his share to 5%.
This 5% allowed him to get on the list of billionaires. In addition, the man turned out to be reasonable and, before Facebook filed for an IPO, renounced his US citizenship and became a citizen of Brazil, which allowed him not to pay American taxes. And although his passport is Brazilian, he lives in Singapore and invests in online projects: an application that scans the barcode of a product and offers it at the lowest price on the Internet or online payments with a credit card using a webcam.

Sean Parker – $2 billion

Another co-owner of Facebook, Sean Parker, started out as a talented programmer and hacker. Already at the age of 16, he was arrested for hacking the websites of companies that were on the Forbes list. He also had a hand in creating the Internet resource Napster, through which one could exchange music. It was a breakthrough of sorts, although closed due to “some” friction with the law. At 24, he meets Zuckerberg and is the president of Facebook. True, then he is removed, which, however, does not prevent him from retaining 3% of the shares and becoming a billionaire.
Today he is engaged in his own startups.

Richard Desmond – $2 billion

Richard Desmond's life was also not pampering at first: his parents divorced, they lived together in a small apartment, he dropped out of school at the age of 14 to play the drums and help his mother earn money.
First real work he had a job at the Thomson Newspaper, but by the age of 21 he was the owner of two record stores. But the media experience also continued - in 1974, Desmond became the publisher of the International Musician and Recording World magazine.

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