Interviews with successful businessmen. How I Became an Entrepreneur
What simple action can save you from many mistakes in business? How to delegate financial reports and why should marketers be fired for creative work? All this in conversation. And for those who do not know, I will present:
Alex Sukhov- Entrepreneur, in business since 1993. Owner of businesses in Germany and Switzerland working in the areas of Mobile development, IT Security, Penetration testing.
P: I want to talk to you about the stages of development of an entrepreneur and understanding business in numbers. You think there are three such steps, right?
A: Indeed, there are such conditional three stages that we all go through, but many do not reach the third stage. They don't even get to the second one. This is due to the fact that when you start a business, then at that moment you don’t even have the thought of some sort of well-established management accounting. And all because you do not know what will happen at each next step.
That is, any movement forward at the beginning of the business, any next step can give a different development of the situation, and all previous calculations turn out to be incorrect.
Therefore, 99.9% of the business plans with which some businesses begin, in the end, turn out to be far from reality.
Not because they were stupid, but because the next - the second, third, fourth steps - each time brought new information.
Therefore, it is not surprising that many entrepreneurs at the first stage have a completely understandable attitude towards compiling financial model: Well, what is there to consider if we do not know what will happen tomorrow. "Fuck these numbers - first things need to be done."
P: And they can be understood.
A: Perhaps this is a completely justified approach to doing business at the start. But a year, two, three passes, business processes are being adjusted. However, no accounting is kept. This period may take a long time.
Someone after 10 years begins to understand that it would be nice to start counting. This usually happens when there is some kind of cash gap. When there seems to be income, customers pay, but there is no money.
For example, you buy goods from the manufacturer for money right now. And you give to buyers with a deferred payment. There are different types of delays. You give someone a delay for a week, someone for 2 months. Somewhere the margin is higher, somewhere less, somewhere you work almost to zero. And then there are the fun times. When you realize that the business seems to be developing, everything is cool, but you have no money. And it is not clear when they will. And this is where you start counting.
I know many people who started counting and got really sick. Because they understood that, say, for the last six months they have been working at a loss. Here they are covered in full. There is a question: how so?! Everything was fine! And it wasn't okay. It was "how to".
A: There comes a time when the business has already taken shape, it is already clear, it is predictable, and at least here you need to start counting before it's too late. And this step, as a rule, everyone tries to delay, postpone. Perhaps because "it's not interesting at all."
Although, in my opinion, knowing the numbers of your business is very interesting. And moreover, I will say that here we are not just talking about the final financial indicators. After all, for example, marketing is also numbers.
When you understand exactly how much a client costs you, how much a client costs for each of the advertising channels, this is not some abstract financial report. It's about the viability of your business. And it's super interesting.
The same applies to the calculation of marginality, and the analysis of real profit from each transaction ( not as many people naively believe: the sale price minus the purchase price is equal to my profit :)) etc.
This is the second stage, when an entrepreneur begins to count, when he tries to introduce, well, at least the basics of some management accounting. It is managerial, when you can make decisions based on these figures.
P: That is, accounting is not an end in itself. The goal is control.
A: Yes. That is, you understand where you are, how much money you have, how much money will come to you, how much and when you need to give. And this is a more “sighted business”. And many believe that this second stage is the last one.
Actually, because “well, what else can be done? “I didn’t count before, now I think, so everything is in order.” Now I'm going to say something, a little strange, I guess.
In my opinion, too immersed in these figures is also harmful.
Source: @freepik P: Why?
The fact is that business is not only statistics. If you had an increase in turnover there, for example, or in profit the year before last by 10%, last year by 10%, this does not mean that this year will also be 10%.
It would be strange to transpose some results of the past into the future. Everything is changing: the market is changing, the needs of the client are changing, some economic disasters happen, some competitor starts doing new actions that no one has done before, some new trends appear.
The needs of the client have changed, and everything that you produced or supplied and sold yesterday is no longer needed by anyone today. Lots of things are happening. And this is a problem for a lot of people.
I know entrepreneurs who, carried away by the introduction of budgeting and management accounting (that is, absolutely the right things), stopped seeing the surrounding opportunities.
We started to think only within the framework of the current business model.
On the one hand, they know the current situation, but on the other hand, they reduce the chances of coming up with something completely different, because these numbers become an unshakable picture of the world for them.
It begins to subconsciously seem that since so much money comes to us, it cannot come anymore. It turns out that their marketing component dies a little at this moment, while the accounting component grows.
In fact, no matter how bold it may sound, at any moment there is an opportunity to either double sales, or enter new markets, or even change the business model and get a fundamentally different level of income. But for this you need to stop doing what you are doing now. Go beyond the usual model.
P: For example?
A: For example, in one of our businesses a month ago we did one action that increased our advertising budget by 3 times.
Moreover, we invested in only one channel, which is not very obvious. But we earned 2 times more than we invested. It just needed to change the usual order of things. And these actions, of course, cannot be seen in management reporting.
That is, it is important, when looking at your management reporting, to remember that this is not some kind of constant. That this data is just a cast of today. And they only show how the scheme that you are working on now works.
But tomorrow depends on you. And no one bothers you as an entrepreneur to change everything at all, rebuild everything and get generally different results.
P: So, it turns out that at the first stage you do not count anything, because you think that somehow “everything will work” on intuition. At the second stage, you begin to count, make some decisions more meaningfully. And on the third?
A: And at the third stage, when the financial management system is built, you begin to see strong solutions that you would never have thought of before.
Source: @freepik P: I want to add a little about the first stage. Many times I have come across the fact that even a simple estimate in just 15 minutes, at least at the extreme points of some economic process, can unmistakably show that it is not viable in principle.
A: Well, yes, initially unprofitable business. By the way, it's good that you added, because from what I said, many could imagine a picture of a painful transition to some kind of calculations, some kind of long-term implementation of something.
But in fact, sometimes just 15-20 minutes is enough to figure it out, to look. This may not be enough to launch a business, but this is at least the first balanced look, which already clarifies a lot.
P: Yes. And as for the third stage... Once, back in 1992, I myself was faced with the need to keep records, at least accounting. And then all the accountants were socialist, and they did not understand anything at all in commercial accounting. I was forced to do this myself, mastered accounting. And I got the opinion that in fact, an entrepreneur, a business owner, has a slightly different need for accounting, not the same as they teach in ordinary accounting courses or courses for financial directors.
A: Well, it seems to me that it’s not that different, but it’s all about different things.
Dossier: Volodymyr Kolodyuk was born on April 22, 1975, in a poor Kiev family. He earned his first money at the age of thirteen, and at the age of 16 he became financially independent selling Donald Duck gum and Rimbaud posters. In 1999 he graduated from the Kyiv economic institute management, majoring in management in the non-productive sphere. In 2002, he received a master's degree in psychology from Interregional Academy personnel management.
Volodymyr Kolodyuk is the founder and head of the holding "Unitrade Group" The structure of which includes the retail brands "Unitrade", "City.com", "melofon", "Samobyt", wholesale company Udicom, development company commercial real estate"TRE'n'D", service company"Service Master", training company "B.Zone". The holding manufactures products under its own brand "Ixtone". The number of employees is 2500 people.
One of the hallmarks of a businessman is saving. He can afford everything, but he still counts money. Since 2005, recognized as one of the the best businessmen Ukraine.
In his free time, he enjoys volleyball, football, water polo, swimming and prefers outdoor activities: diving, hunting, fishing, traveling.
Interview with Vladimir Kolodyuk:
- Do you feel like a wealthy person?
Yes, I do.
- What do you think are the signs of this condition?
It's very subjective... I have enough money to meet all my basic needs. I don't feel uncomfortable that I'm missing something. Perhaps this is the feeling of a wealthy person.
- For you, is there a difference between the concepts of "wealthy" and "rich"?
Probably, there is, because a rich person is most likely wealthy, but a wealthy person is not always rich.
- Is there a difference between the lifestyle of wealthy people in Ukraine and in other countries?
Of course I have. Our people are much more wasteful than in the West. We are ahead of the rest in this “sport”… No, the Russians are even more wasteful.
- When did you earn your first money?
At the age of 13, in the village in the summer, he threw grain at the elevator.
- How much did you earn then?
I was supposed to earn 100-120 rubles, but they deceived me and paid either 40 or 60 rubles. I have already forgotten this story, although ... I would return to the village and find this bad person.
- And when did you first feel secure?
At the age of 15-16, I was already financially independent from my parents. Then trips to Poland began, there was more money than was necessary to meet my current needs. Appeared, so to speak, working capital. Of course, insignificant by today's standards - a couple of thousand dollars. I managed to lose this capital several times, earn it and lose it again.
- How did you move from that business to where you are now?
Gradually. Indeed, in the beginning I was engaged in many directions. But there was always a feeling that it was temporary, as well as a way to earn start-up capital. I lost my initial capital several times, and started earning again. In the end, our main business - Unitrade - started from scratch, with almost no money. I clearly understood that I would not go to Poland, Moscow or China all my life and earn money on the resale of certain things ... I, like any guy, was drawn to electronics. When it became possible to deal with phones and cameras, I was already 18 years old. Besides, I really liked it.
- In how many business areas are you currently a shareholder?
In all members of the AVentures Group holding.
- And besides the holding?
- I have another project that is not connected with either the holding company or the IT industry. This is show business. I believe that it is necessary to be a shareholder only in the business to which I am related in management. The desire to be a pure owner has not yet formed in me, I am not yet ready to invest the accumulated money in some business, and then sit and wait for it to work for me. I'm young and I don't have extra money to invest in another business. My own "eats" just everything. I'm so consumed existing business that there is not even a desire to look around - at least cope with this.
- Do you have partners in your business?
Of course, all the same with which we started. In addition to me, there is also my own brother and one companion.
- Do you prefer to manage your business yourself?
How is it myself?! With the team. In the role of general manager, but certainly not himself.
- Do you want to personally make all the decisions?
No, I only make decisions that are within my authority. Let's put it this way: I rather want all the responsibility for the business.
- Who can you trust to manage?
The business is built in such a way that each of the divisions is managed by a top manager. That is, I do not de facto manage all areas: in any case, directly. I clearly separate the role of the owner and the role of the manager. In this variant, of course, it is difficult to assess yourself. I may be a good manager, but I'm still waiting for someone to be ready to "eat" my place. I intend to retire from operations in the near future.
- Leave where?
I intend to devote more time not to operational activities, but to important long-term matters. Now I combine two positions: president and CEO, or executive director. This is operational work. Basically, I would like to transfer the position of CEO to one of the existing executives and focus on strategic issues business and representative function.
- Do other shareholders manage the holding's businesses?
No. We clearly separate the functions of shareholder and manager. But now it turned out that one of the divisions is managed by another shareholder, but this, in fact, is a management crisis - a temporary situation.
When the business was small, each of the three shareholders was responsible for his "piece", but at a certain point the situation became confusing and complicated, so we leveled it by separating the shareholders from the managers.
- And why are the other two shareholders not involved in management now?
It's tight for us. AT organizational structure there are no shareholders, there are managers who work for the benefit of shareholders. It doesn't matter if you are a shareholder or not. In fact, it's bad that I'm both a shareholder and a manager.
- Why bad?
Firstly, this is a matter of self-esteem, and secondly, for the long term, this is a temporary solution. Now it justifies itself, but in general, no.
When you go to long term planning will have more free time. What will you spend it on?
- Free time is unlikely to appear, as I will begin to deal more deeply with the same business strategy. And if there is still more time, well, I’ll do self-education and finally get some sleep.
- How do you choose projects for investment?
I look at different indicators - the market from the point of view of the uniqueness of the product, from the point of view of competitors. I look at the opportunities and resources that can be invested - this is money, people, and technology. Of course, I analyze what kind of return this business can give in the long run, I also look at its possible “capitalization” in the long run. Here are a number of criteria that determine whether a business should be or not be.
- What do you feel sorry for and do not feel sorry for spending money in tangible amounts?
I hate to waste money. I try to be an adherent of the value for money logic. If there is enough value and I understand it, then I spend money. Sometimes I feel some kind of inadequacy and, accordingly, I don’t spend. For example, I almost never fly in Ukraine in business class. I do not understand why. All the same, diesel fuel smells unpleasant both in business and in economy class. Five centimeters of distance in front of your feet or ten cannot be twice the price. Perhaps this is a trace of the past, associated with the fact that I was not born a rich man. I look at the prices in the restaurant, how much and for what I pay. It would seem that I could no longer watch, but simply order, but I still have such a habit.
I try to determine what I want and what I don't, and why it costs so much - this is the value for money in my understanding. Many people think that a wealthy person should not have such logic, but I have it.
- So you can save?
Easily. I generally try to save money if possible. Why not?!
- So what is not a pity?
You can spend money on a car - this is a useful thing. A car is a matter of safety, convenience, status.
- Cars are different. What do you have?
My car is good. SUV. I looked at exclusive cars. But I don't understand what to pay for. Probably not grown up yet.
- Do you save on business?
You also need to save on business, if possible. Now, when our business is in the stage of active growth, we pay more attention to the result than to the costs. We are still very far from real savings. I think that in the coming years a culture of savings in business will also appear, but for now it is still very neglected in this regard.
- What are your expensive hobbies?
I love water, so I have a boat. In addition to the boat - a boat for fishing and hunting. I love doing sports, such as diving.
- What about antiques?
No, no, no, for me - it's gone. Not of that age category, probably, and cultural group. I don't collect anything at all.
- Feel sorry for spending money on expensive clothes?
I try to spend according to my situation. I have to match my status - that's why I buy expensive embroidered suits. Those who make them say that some rich people buy 30-40 sets per season. Well, well done. Three is enough for me. Of course, 30-40 is also cool, but why? I think that for a normal business man, 10-12 sets in the wardrobe are more than enough.
- Love to give gifts?
Not really, that's always a problem for me. It is necessary to analyze: suitable - not suitable, like - not like. I don't like giving things I don't need.
- What about receiving?
Probably not. For the same reason as giving.
- Did you love gifts as a child?
As a child, of course, I loved gifts. As a child, any gift is cool. Then I dreamed of many things, but I had little of what I dreamed about. Any desires unfulfilled in childhood were realized at a more mature age. Absence railway sublimated into the first expensive car bought at the age of 19. Stupidity, probably, it was not necessary to do so then. There was a period, but I hope it has passed.
- When you have children, what attitude to money do you want to instill in them?
Children spoiled by money are definitely not about my children. We will educate in strictness. I am sure that a certain core of my performance was not spoiled in childhood.
- Do you separate business money and your personal money?
Of course, very accurately - these are different money. Money for business is not only my money, and my money is only my money. They have a different purpose: my money is needed in order to satisfy my needs, money for business - for its development.
- Are you investing your money in a business?
Of course, almost everything I earn. Moreover, I often borrow money intended for my own needs. And those that I earn - more expensive money - I invest in business.
- Who manages your personal money?
How is who? ME: And what are the options?
- For example, bankers.
No, I am. Accounting functions are performed by financiers.
- What does money mean to you personally?
Freedom.
- What is more important - the process of earning or the opportunity to receive benefits?
As long as the process is more important, I live more in the role of a manager, and not in the role of an owner. And
I spend as much as the manager in my position spends, not the owner.
- Did you expect to be so successful at a young age?
At the time I started doing business, I had no picture of the success that I would achieve, so now it’s hard for me to say “this or not this” success I expected to achieve. But for some reason I was always sure that I would have an apartment and a car at a very young age.
Source: business-investor.info
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In this issue Oscar Hartmann collected the most interesting parts from interviews with prominent Russian entrepreneurs. Today we watch and listen, and.
Watch the new video from the playlist "" on the Youtube channel about business:
What is business?
Business - this is a great creative game, inside which you can train whatever you want. But businessmen should follow some principles. For example, the more a person earns, the more modest he should behave. But many people don't follow it.
I often compare such people with representatives of the Papuan tribe from New Guinea. They wear holims - gourd bandages that are worn around the genitals of men. And the larger the size and shape of the holim, the cooler this person is.
In business, it's the same story. many heroes Russian business can be likened to these cannibals from the Papuan tribe. Because the quality of life does not change in any way with the help of a yacht, a plane or a villa. From this it follows that all these businessmen just want to stand out. All these are stupid toys that simply spoil the image of a businessman.
It often happens that aspiring entrepreneurs want to start businesses in different fields of activity. It is not right. For aspiring entrepreneurs who already have initial projects, it is better to concentrate on one thing, rather than take on all areas at once. Yes, I do. Yeah interesting. But everything will come with time.
How to succeed?
The eternal question that worries every aspiring entrepreneur is how to succeed. I often hear it from those who have started their own business. What should be done to achieve success? I think the main thing is building confidence in yourself because without faith you are unlikely to succeed.
How to do it? I'll tell you from experience that it's best to build confidence in yourself. through small victories. There is no need to set huge goals for yourself, for example: “I will earn a billion in a month, although now my earnings are several thousand.”
At this rate, you will most likely only reduce your self-confidence. Therefore, you need to set goals, but those that you can actually achieve. Belief in yourself is the main thing, and it is grown through small victories and personal achievements.
Remember, in order to be successful, you must always compare yourself past and present. And if advances and what is called development are visible, then you are on the right track.
We continue to publish a series of interviews with successful members of the business association. The heroes of the materials talk about how they started a business, what difficulties they faced, how they solved problems, what lessons they learned from mistakes, and much more.
The heroine of our material is Irina Spokoynaya, director of the network of salons "Parquet Ideas". Despite external fragility, Irina has a significant inner strength, which helps her overcome almost any obstacles that arise in her business path.
Over the 11 years of her entrepreneurial activity, Irina has faced various difficulties: both in working with clients and with suppliers, but optimism and love for business encourage her to move forward and successfully develop her business. To a large extent, the support of her husband helps her in this, with whom they conduct business in partnership and knowledge of psychology - in addition to the profile higher education obtained in Kharkov national university construction and architecture, Irina also has a degree in psychology.
Irina, tell us how and where did your entrepreneurial activity? Why did you decide to become an entrepreneur?
I decided to become an entrepreneur because it is interesting (laughs). But in fact, everything was like this: I worked as an administrator in a textile salon, it was just the beginning of 2007 - that is, the time of the crisis. Things in the salon did not go very well, and I got laid off. And since I already had experience working with people and knew the “kitchen”, my husband and I decided to continue working in this area. He taught me what I lacked knowledge in, and we launched our a joint project- "Parquet ideas". Why parquet? because my husband had experience with this product and he was familiar with it.
We started our work in 2007 from a small office located on Bursatsky Spusk. Moreover, the room was as much as 5 square meters. meters! J At that time we did not have the funds to rent a larger room, but a year later we moved to an office of 16 meters, and a few months later - to an office of 30 square meters. And in 2009 we opened our first salon on Plekhanovskaya street.
Were there cases when the fact that you were a woman helped in resolving issues or, on the contrary, interfered?
The fact that I am a woman always only helps me. In addition, the education of a psychologist helps me a lot to successfully negotiate with clients and suppliers, I try to adapt to the client. Therefore, I cannot say that I have one proven way to find a common language with clients and suppliers. Everyone is different and what works for one doesn't work for another.
But knowledge of psychology does not save from failures. Sometimes, you think that everything is OK, the purchase or the transaction will take place, but then the client changed his mind, and you have already invested your money. And I had to somehow get out, to solve this issue. The workflow is impossible without failures, it is normal if they happen periodically.
Have you attracted investors to start / expand your business (banks, relatives, friends)?
We have never attracted investors. And our starting capital in 2007 was 2000 hryvnia.
Since we did not attract third-party funds, the development was slow. Now I understand that opening an office of only 5 square meters was our mistake. Such a small office of people is alarming. And only when we moved to a room of 30 square meters, things went much more confidently. People do not trust if an enterprise, office, store, etc. there is no specific scope. But I understand this now, from the height of my 11 years of experience in doing business.
What other difficulties did you face on the way of launching and developing your business?
It was difficult to negotiate with suppliers, we were not taken seriously: “you only have 5 meters of space”, “you are nothing of yourself, “there is no big name”, etc. We then, indeed, had only ambitions, we had to achieve everything with a fight. But it was good for us that there was no need to store goods in a warehouse, this is due to the specifics of our group of goods. Everything we offer is made to order.
But I remember a case when we sold carpet to a billiard room to one client, and he did not pay the full amount. And I came with a truck with his order to pick up almost 50% of the amount. The client opens the car and says: "No, this is China, I will not pay." I answered him: “How is China? This is Belgium! And I had to go for a representative of the company from which we took the goods, and he confirmed that it was Belgium. I could not dismiss this situation, since we did not have money then. And in the end, I made him pay, but I had to run.
I would say that the team is already important at a more advanced level, not at the initial level. Now it is very important for us what kind of people work with us, it is important that we look in the same direction, it is important to know that you will not be let down. I believe that a properly selected team is even more than 50% of a company's success.
We had cases when at the interview stage we didn’t like a person at all, and the recruiter said “let’s try!”, and it turned out that the person is really cool. Therefore, I try not to attach importance to the first opinion. It often happens that a person sells himself coolly, but in reality turns out to be “empty”. You need to work shoulder to shoulder for 2-3 months to understand whether a person is set to work in a team or is set only for his own interests and benefits. We are team oriented. our goal is to give the client floors without worries. And the people who work for us must understand that they are selling emotion. The floor is the foundation of the house, an important part of the house. And the client must leave satisfied with the desire to come back for more products.
Think back to your biggest success and biggest failure in business.
Luckily, success is more common than failure. By the way, recently she was awarded a special distinction of the regional state administration, was given the title of "Entrepreneur of the Year".
What inspires you in business and in life?
In business and in life, people inspire, communication with friends, relatives, colleagues, books inspire.
Do you have any personal success secret that you are willing to share with entrepreneurs to achieve success?
The personal secret of success is an obsession with an idea. The main thing is to want to achieve a result, because, as you know, water does not flow under a lying stone. As soon as you relax - that's it, nothing will happen.
The business newspaper Vedomosti periodically publishes interviews with famous businessmen and entrepreneurs in its issues. Reading them is interesting and very useful, because this is the real experience of a real person whose ideas work in life. It is noteworthy that recently the publication has been compiling thematic collections from previously published TOP articles, and publishes them as a magazine app for the iPad called Vedomosti. Collection".
Each person has his own criteria for the quality of the information received. Your humble servant has long chosen for himself the only such criterion - the competence of the person who created this information on this particular issue. I don't want to hear lectures about business from a man who hasn't been successful in business himself. In this regard, one of the latest issues of Vedomosti. Collection”, released under the title “World Business Leaders”, is a real diamond for everyone who is interested in the thoughts and ideas of people who have achieved real heights and success in entrepreneurship.
This issue contains 10 of the best interviews with people whose position at least speaks of their ability to see beyond others and think differently than many. Agree, it is quite useful to listen to the chairman of the board of General Electric and the president of Ferrari.
In addition, the reader will be able to see world-class celebrities in a completely unusual light, namely, as successful entrepreneurs. It turns out that Robert De Niro achieved success not only as an actor.
