If a thing is not suitable for the goal, try another goal.

(Laozi)

Like most entrepreneurs, Viktor Rogov often fell in love with some idea, thought over it daily and nightly, purchased equipment, started production, but then abandoned it equally as quickly due to circumstances or of boredom. As all production men, he hated the whole sales process, which inhibited the development, and easily passed from one activity to another. As many in the early 90s, he started with hitting the road on his father’s ancient Zaporozhets, which is now getting rusty on the mother-in-law’s dacha.

After two years of gathering the start-up budget of 328 000 rubles, he switched to replication of pirate CDs. He soon understood that this market is huge and spent all the money on computers with CD writers and blank CDs. His business went uphill. Gorbushka sold his pirate products worth of 656 000 rubles per month. All the profit gained over the first two months he reinvested and bought 40 more PCs. In a year he was planning to expand the production and enter the regional market, when a misfortune came with the anti-piracy campaign, and Viktor, not being a risky person, decided to wind up his dodgy enterprise. He did not manage to sell the computers, as a new worthwhile deal came by.

Dimka, a partner of Viktor, offered him to start manufacturing barbecues and other forged metal products for outdoor recreation. “Everyone loves shashliks in our country,” Dimka said. “A barbecue for each family!” No problem, they rented premises, bought stainless steel and equipment, hired Moldovans and the business boomed. They concluded agreements with appliance and sports stores, and the turnovers went off scale. For the first year alone each of them earned 3 300 000 rubles, but even this holiday was over when dozens of competitors started appearing. The business was stuck. The guys decided to drop it, though the warehouses were full with unsold barbecues and other scraps, worth of almost 980 thousands rubles. It was like a suitcase without a handle, hard to carry and pity to throw away, so this all gathered dust at a warehouse in Mytishchi.

And this would have been going on the same way, and Viktor would have calmly work for his new prefab windows company, if not for his wife Lyudmila, who spent away half of their earnings for travels. They were in all nooks of the world, and Lyudmila’s biggest dream was to open her own travel agency to travel throughout the world for free. How could he find a place for his wife where she would bring money instead of sitting on her butt at home or spending all the money on traveling? The answer was obvious – a business is a great gift! But where to get money? To open an agency requires at least 1.5 to 2 million rubles!!! “How can I sell all my illiquid stuff,” thought Viktor when he ran across an article in Kommersant about the Open Barter System. The next day he put out all of his old computers, barbecues and even the old Zaporozhets to the system, and two days later received the first business offers. The first batch of barbecues was bought with B2B Money by a company building furnaces for saunas and fireplaces. It is unknown whether they required them for own needs or sold them, but the fact is that in 2 months they bought out the whole stock of Viktor and signed a contract for delivery of 100 more items within a year. Other system members also bought barbecues from time to time. Viktor’s business found a new life. The computers were bought out by a PC repair shop (what for, no one knows), which paid 328 000 B2B Money for 50 PCs. From time to time members order window units from Viktor’s new business.

So what about the agency and employment dreams of his wife?

Viktor spent the earned B2B Money to buy office furniture and dividers (492 000 BM), carry out cosmetic repair (98 000 BM), organize a computer and phone network and connect it to the Internet (unlimited one-year contract, 131 000 BM). Then he registered the company using services of a law firm (33 000 BM), hired web designers, who developed and promoted his website (187 000 BM). A recruitment agency hired 5 employees for him (82 000 BM). His account costs him another 26 000 BM a month. Coffee, water, chocolates for customers – 33 000 BM per month. But the most expensive part was to develop the company image, print out advertising materials, business cards, questionnaires, leaflets and buy advertising in glossy magazines, which cost 656 000 BM in total, but then again, this was not from his pocket, but from what he wasn’t ever hoping to sell. Courier services, office cleaning, pizza for employees every Friday – all with B2B Money. So here is the money from the non-liquid assets, in total 2 100 000 rubles for startup of the family project!
In the meanwhile, Lyudmila already negotiates with European hotels, the load of which is 80% in peak season, to service the customers of her agency for B2B Money in return for equally valued Moscow hotels provisioned by the Open Barter System. Of course, Viktor knows that she is caring first and foremost about herself and not the customers. 

An inquisitive reader will ask, what happened to the Zaporozhets, who the hell needs it? We answer. It was bought for 32 810 B2B Money by a downtown car wash, which painted it hot-pink, parked off the road near the drive-in and put a sign reading “Wash up you hog” (cheap and entertaining). Viktor likes driving in on the way to work and get his car washed for B2B Money. Light gains make heavy purses! Besides, it’s always fun to remember old times and the girls he rode on the “Zapor.” :)

(с) B2B.RU 2009