11 descoperiri pe drumul de la hobby la afaceri

Dmitry Cherednikov is 34 years old. He is a successful and experienced marketer, in his portfolio there are many projects of various sizes — filling the content of a well-known job search site, promoting luxury furniture, the post of head of the marketing department in a large construction corporation. Almost a year ago, he finally said goodbye to the work of a hired employee: after there were no prospects in the last place for him, he stood at a crossroads — either to look for a position with a guaranteed income in a foreign company again, or to create something of his own, not counting at first for a permanent income.

The choice is not easy, you see. And he remembered how at the age of 16 he dreamed of his own business. In what particular area — it was not so important, the main thing — your own. And then suddenly, after the dismissal, the stars formed just like that — it’s time.

His business started with sewing a leather wallet, but the first pancake turned out to be lumpy. It would be possible to give up immediately and not try again. But our hero sewed the second one, and the buyer was satisfied. Now Dmitry has six active business lines, and, apparently, this figure is not the final one. He is a master of leather accessories, a leather workshop presenter, an author and presenter of marketing courses, a tea ceremony leader and a supplier of unique Chinese teas, he and his wife have a company in landscaping and creating watering systems in private homes, he is a photographer and participant in immersive shows.

And Dmitry is convinced that many such projects can be created in different areas: he relies on knowledge and experience in marketing, and perceives any activity, any event in life as a school where he learns something. Nothing in this life is in vain, Dmitry is sure. What did he have to face in himself and his environment, what discoveries did he make?

Discovery No. 1. If you decide to choose your own path, the outside world will resist

When a person gets on his way, the outside world tries its best to bring him back. 99% of people live according to the standard scheme — in the system. It’s like all football players play football, but only 1% do it at the world level. Who are they? Lucky ones? Unique? Talented people? And if you ask them how they became that 1 percent, they will say that there were a huge number of obstacles in their way.

At the moment when I decided to go my own way, I often heard: “Old man, why do you need this, you have a cool position!” or «It’s so hard, you can’t do it.» And I began to get rid of such people nearby. I also noticed: when you have a lot of creative energy, many people have a desire to use it. “And do this for me!” Or they strive to sit on the neck and settle down. But when you come out of the Matrix, especially with an interesting finished project or idea, suddenly there is a lot of free energy.

There are so many things in the world that can get you sidetracked, including sticky fear, harmful substances, and contacts. The path to yourself begins through effort, which trains you, and as a result, even more action occurs. «Can I run a marathon?» But you start running, increasing the load gradually. First 10 minutes. Tomorrow — 20. A year later, you can do marathon distances.

The difference between beginner and seasoned is washed away by the third month of learning to run. And you can apply this technique to any activity. You always become a master at something. But all masters started small.

Discovery No. 2. You need to believe in yourself, but also create an airbag

Having left the office, I believed in my strength, I was not afraid that I would not have a roof over my head, that I would starve. I could always go back to the office. But before I left, I was well prepared: I studied intensively marketing, I did it in any free time. I am deeply convinced that the formula «economics + marketing» is the main thing that works in the world.

By economics, I mean a complete understanding of the processes in which you can actually do something legitimately and get the same result for less effort (material, temporary, energy).

Marketing is the tool to achieve this. I created an airbag: by that time, about 350 thousand rubles had accumulated in my account, which would be enough for my wife and me for several months, taking into account our expenses, paying for a rented apartment and starting investments in our business. It is also important to have the support of a close circle. My wife Rita is my main ally. We work together on our projects.

Discovery No. 3. You can’t start a business on credit

Loans, debts — this is a detour, a scam, when you fraudulently try to attract something that does not belong to you. Some people resort to major fraud — they kill, blackmail, seize business, property. If you buy an apartment or a car on credit, this is zeroing the energy, you are just throwing it away for nothing.

According to my statistics, people who take a detour end up not getting what they originally wanted, and live unhappily. Reality is good at balancing the balance, and in the end the «swindler» will not achieve the goal that he set. Debts and loans can be taken only in case of health problems — for an operation, for example. When a person recovers, the energy will return 125 times more than the expended.

What do you mean no bypass? This is when you clearly understand where to start so that things move forward naturally, from the available resources — your time, energy, brains, and your own efforts.

Discovery #4: To experience something the hard way is to invest in yourself.

Every streak in my life is neither white nor black. It’s new. And I would not be what I am now without them. I am grateful for every situation because they taught me incredible things. When a person moves in different directions, tries something new, experiences in his own skin — this is an experience that will definitely come in handy. This is an investment in yourself.

During the crisis of 2009, I even worked as a courier. Once, the top management of the company sent me to a responsible task (as I later understood, to deliver salaries to employees). And suddenly they tell me that I’m fired. I analyzed the situation for a long time, trying to understand what was the reason. I did everything perfectly, no punctures. And I realized that these were some kind of internal games within the company: my immediate boss did not allow the higher authorities to dispose of me (I was called without her knowledge).

And when a similar thing happened in another company, I was already taught and had time to play it safe. Seeing lessons even in trouble is also an experience and an investment in yourself. You move into an unknown environment for you — and new skills come. That is why I am constantly learning and doing a lot myself in those situations where it would be possible to hire third-party specialists. But in the early stages of your business, this is not affordable. Therefore, for example, I learned how to create sites myself and saved about 100 thousand rubles only on the design of my site. And so it is in many other areas.

Discovery No. 5. What brings pleasure brings results

How to understand that the chosen path is right, exactly yours? Very simple: if what you do brings you pleasure, then it is yours. Everyone has some kind of passion, hobby. But how can you make a business out of it? In general, the names «hobby» and «business» were invented by those who are trying to choose between two states — when you earn or do not earn. But these names and division are conditional.

We have personal resources that we can invest, and they work on a certain traction. We are making an effort. Passion is love for what you do. Nothing will work without her. Only then does the result come. Sometimes people start one thing and find themselves in another. You start doing something, understand the mechanism of work, feel whether it brings you pleasure. Add marketing tools And one day you notice what pleasure other people get from what you create.

Service is something that in any country will help you compete in the market. This is how you lovingly sold your quality service and product. To ensure that the client is always satisfied a little more than expected.

Discovery No. 6. When you choose your path, you meet the right people.

When you are on the right path, the right people are bound to show up at the right time. Real magic happens, you can not believe in it, but it’s true. One guy I know wanted to record the sounds of the desert and for this he was going to take an expensive station on a trip, but it didn’t work out. And so he comes to the desert and tells his story to the first person he comes across. And he says: “And I just brought such a musical installation.” I don’t know how this mechanism works, but it definitely exists.

When I started doing tea ceremonies, I really wanted to get certain teapots. I accidentally found them on Avito, bought them for 1200-1500 rubles in total, although each of them individually would cost much more. And various tea artifacts began to “fly” to me by themselves (for example, a portable shepherd from a master with 10 years of experience).

Discovery #7

But how not to drown in a huge number of tasks that grow with the advent of each new direction? In my marketing courses, I talk about how to solve problems in a batch way: I compose similar ones and distribute these “packages” throughout the day, lining up and allocating a certain time for them. And the same for a week, a month, and so on.

Being engaged in one package, I am not distracted by another. For example, I do not constantly look through mail or instant messengers — I have dedicated time for this (for example, 30 minutes a day). Thanks to this approach, a huge amount of energy is saved, and I feel great even with an abundance of things to do.

Discovery No. 8. Everything that is written in the diary must be done.

When you have a big, grandiose goal, it is difficult to achieve it — there is no excitement, no buzz. It is better to set small short-term goals and be sure to achieve them. My rule: everything that is written in the diary must be done. And for this you need to write down realistic smart goals: they must be understandable, measurable, clear (in the form of a specific number or image) and feasible over time.

If you plan to buy an apple today, you must by all means do it. If you want some exotic fruit from Malaysia, you calculate the algorithm for obtaining it, enter it into your diary and complete this step. If there is a big goal (for example, to run Instagram (an extremist organization banned in Russia) and build up a clientele), I break it down into small understandable tasks, calculating resources, strength, health, time, money — to publish one post a day, for example . Now I manage to do so many things in a calm mode, because of which I used to be in hellish time pressure.

Discovery #9

But our physical and emotional resources are not unlimited. What the brain and body are capable of is impossible to know until you test it empirically. Start doing and then adjust. There was a moment when I thought that I would break down so that I would not get up again. He reached a state where he could lose consciousness at any second due to fatigue. To fulfill an important order, I spent 5 days at work with irregular sleep for 3-4 hours.

My wife and I were in the same space, but there was no time to even say a few words to each other. I had a plan: I calculated that it would take another two days to complete this order, and then I must rest. It was a very difficult experience. But thanks to him, I found out how to stay in a state of activity and cheerfulness longer.

The body-mind connection is key. To start the mind first, then the body — there is a special set of exercises for this. In general, keeping the body in good shape with our modern sedentary lifestyle is extremely important. Be sure to exercise during the day.

My sports past helps me (I was a professional dancer), now I am passionate about Brazilian jiu-jitsu. If there is an opportunity to ride a skateboard or run, I will do it, and not sit in public transport or a car. Proper nutrition, good sleep, the absence of harmful substances in life, the load on the body — this allows you to quickly turn on the mind-body connection and maintain working capacity for a long time.

Discovery #10. Ask yourself questions and the answers will come by themselves.

There is such a technique: we write questions — 100, 200, at least 500, which we must answer ourselves. In fact, we send «search requests» to ourselves, and answers come from space. There is a game that many probably remember from childhood. The conditional name is “Girl with a headscarf”. I remember how we sat on the street with a group of guys and agreed: whoever sees the girl with a headscarf first, everyone will chip in for ice cream. The most attentive does not constantly focus on the image of the girl.

It’s just that our subconscious mind works like a computer. We receive information through the «interface» — ears, eyes, nose, mouth, hands, feet. This information is captured unconsciously and processed very quickly. The answer arrives in the form of thoughts, opinions, insights. When we ask ourselves a question, our subconscious mind begins to snatch from the entire flow of information exactly what suits our request. We think it’s magic. But in fact, you just observe the space, people, and your brain will give the right data at the right time.

Sometimes this is a casual acquaintance with a person. Your intuition reads it in a split second and tells you — get to know each other. You don’t really understand why you should do this, but you go and get to know each other. And then it turns out that this acquaintance pulls you to a completely different level.

Discovery No. 11. Balancing between pleasure and the temptation to earn a lot

If you lovingly give your work a lot of positive energy, catch a buzz, come home tired and understand: “Wow! Today was such a day, and tomorrow will be a new one — even more interesting!” It means you are going in the right direction.

But finding the way is part of the success. It is important to stay in the moment when you understand: I can go to another level and earn even more money. But at the same time, it seems as if you will give in to something important for yourself — getting pleasure. At each stage, it is worth checking yourself: am I getting high from what I am doing, or am I chasing money again?