Future updates + some self-loathing

Earlier, I wrote about making myself do things. So I can have my own business in Russia. I need advice, bloody hell, lots of advice.

The problem is I am a lazy, self-dismotivated bastard. My wife wants me to quit my mother's business, but she wants me to do it for 14-year-old girl reasons, thouugh we are both 24.

Right. So, I havre these massage tools coming to the country and I expect the certificates soon afterwards. Now, my current problems are:

- I am the director general in a firm with little turnover from selling professional cosmetics, which I decided to make an online-selling range, rather than a saloon based one.
- I have to make my own money. No, I do get paid now, but as I said, my wife keeps telling me, she'd prefer 500 bucks a month with my mother at cannon shot distance.
- I don't have people to work with, as well as means to pay them. What this "company of mine" is now making just a bit more than my current salary.
- I only expect demand for the massage tools I am going to import.
- There is a chance, that if I follow my wife's demand and burn all the bridges, I'll find myself not making a living and choosing between selling the car to try to float for a couple more months or getting a job with a salary of $800 a month or even less.
- This mess also jeopardises my educational plans, as I am to start my Masters in global marketing online in August.

Well, what I want to share in the future:
- Problems of cosmetics market around the world
- How to turn creative management into a global crisis
- Democratic vs totalitarian market regulation system. Which is worse.

Stay tuned!

Kickstart: SMM, marketing or sales?

It turns out, I will most likely start with next to no starting captal and with next to no experience in venture capitalism. Shortly, sorry, bro, no money.

Well, here are some pre-business plan ideas. So I have found this supplier, who sells this simple equipment. I happen to know people, who will be looking forward to buy that from me quite quickly. So, clearly, the first steps will be about personal sales. Like, I get a batch, sell most of it, reinvest the funds, sell again.

The key elements for goods for this period:
- Not perishable. An item can be sold after a year in storage with no loss in value
- Light & compact. Cheaper transport fees, less storage space required
- Simple. No service support, no 50-page user manuals. The client knows what to do with the stuff

So, it crystalizes into:

- B2B
- Homogenious assortment
- Maximizing speed rather than quantity

Kick number 1

One of my first steps is to create a business plan for myself. This should include:

- A strategy of achieving my business goal
- Sheldued plan
- Opportunities and motivations for me & my future associates

Kick me!

Well, my life has been difficult over the past months. Now, I will have to switch from theory to practice. I also intend to use this blog as a "kick log" for myself.

So the situation is: I work for my mother's business and both me and my wife hate it. I tried to find a job, but with my current age and qualification, the situation looks quite hopeless. My top expectations were around $1000 a month, which is actualy higher than grads normally get.

Still, I want to go on my own, that is start and run my own business. So, here we go!

My options so far:

- Import and distribution of beauty industry supplies to Russia
- Cosmetics from the EU
- Massage rollers and stuff from China or the EU

My goals:

- Achieve a sizeable income by September
- Get free from my mom's grasp
- Use the money to: Fund my Master's and to purchase real estate in the EU\US\New Zealand by 2015.

I welcome any critical responses!

Gay rights in Russia

The world has been shocked by Russia’s new law, which effectively bans any public actions by St. Petersburg’s gay community. Many Westerners just can not understand, how a city, which claims to be the “gates of Europe” of the world’s largest country could pass a law, which seems so much against the modern idea of human rights.

Nevertheless, on March 7^th 2012, the law was signed by the Governor of St. Petersburg, which means, there are only a couple of days left, until it will be being enforced. So, how could this happen? In this article, we will try to answer this question from a political and language perspective.

Russian politics have always (for at least 200 years) been characterized as “acting despite the pressure”. Russia has always aimed at being a powerful player, somewhat, reinforcing its own independence by ignoring foreign advice and pressure. This was especially true in the soviet times, when the country was constantly preparing itself for confrontations with the West. We are using this to explain, why the parliament of St. Petersburg and the governor ignored international pressure. From their point of view, Western powers, always eager to spread their political influence, have been using international interest groups to pressure Russia. Russia, in its terms, has reacted to pressure as it always has: by ignoring it.

The entire concept of human rights has almost failed in modern-day Russia. It has failed politically after the 1990’s, when the so-called liberals and democrats promoted what is now called “the stealing, crushing and selling of our great country”. Millions lost their jobs and were pushed into a decade of poverty and uncertainty, crime flourished, population decreased. Anyway, for the majority of modern Russians, words like “liberalism” and “democracy” sound more like curses.

Finally, the popular attitude to gay people is quite negative. Decriminalization of 1993 did little to improve the situation. In particular, the Russian criminal culture places gay people into the lowest social position imaginable. In male prisons, gays must not be allowed to share food with fellow inmates, sleep on beds on which others sleep. There is no way to change this status, so a gay person in the Russian criminal culture is doomed. People are forced into being gay for serious offences, including rape of women and children. It is worth mentioning, that criminal culture is very influential in the modern Russian society.

The last, but not the least is that in modern Russian, pederasty and homosexuality are translated with just one word. So, it is clear, why the majority of population do not see any difference.

The new law is going to be popular. Similar initiatives have been proposed in several regions of Russia, as well as a federal law proposal. 

Foggy Dew - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Foggy Dew - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

'via Blog this'

Sanitary Control - continued

If you are importing something like cosmetics or foods to Russia, expect sanitary control issues.

We are abnormal people. We have like 350 positions in the invoice, which have 24 certificates, issued for groups of products.

The first reaction of the sanitary control people at the airport was "We can't check your invoice, way too big. Go to the central office (20 km into the city through heavy traffic)". I moaned, I ripped my hair and beat my head against the wall. They agreed and checked the invoice in 4 hours.

Next time I came, I had the boss of the department telling me, my cargo was too complex for the territorial office to check. I asked: "Cam I help?" The answer was, "Take the invoice and write the certificate number with a pencil for every position. Err, like put numbers like 1,2,3 on the certificates and err, put those numbers on the invoice".

I made a reference table, binding certificate numbers to item ref. numbers (excel rules). Printed the thing - this became a 30+ page document, but they agreed to work with it.

Now, we have an agreement: I will give them an offiicial invoice translation + a paper, with the invoice sorted by certificate number (the same as before). They say, it is going to take them an hour or so with such a table.

Looks like a guideline to fight bureaucracy.

Custom Clearance - Sanitary control

We live in a time of wonders. Now, receiving a cargo of cosmetics requires both customs clearance and sanitary control. the latter is supposed to be conducted 20 kilometers from the customs office, which does not accept declarations after 14-00. =)

Financial black holes...

Russia is exactly the place, where money seem to dissappear into the demon-hole. Call it risk management, call it common sense, the glowing fiery letters say "KEEP YOUR MONEY SAFE". I am currently into an example of such a black hole in personal finance. That's called marriage.

I grew with a mother, so I've hardly heard of marriage preparations. And what a nightmare that is!

- Cars + bus for the guests (WTF, can't they move on their own?!)- $400
- Banquet - 30 people - $2500 + drinks for $700
- Wedding organizer + DJ - $1100
- Wedding photographer - $800
- Clothing for the occasion: Bride $2500, me $600
- Hotel for the wedding night - $400

OMFG!