-This man and his team can completely overturn your idea of classical business. Yes, and the framework of ideas about business will expand unequivocally. Business is for the soul. Although the word “business” in this company do not like. But closer to the point. On the non-standard approach to entrepreneurship, although the case is quite profitable and profitable, will tell its owner, Dmitry Voloshin, the hero of our program. Watch, it will be interesting.
Dmitri Voloshin was born in Ukraine in 1974. At the age of 15 he moved to Chisinau. After graduating from the Polytechnic University in Moldova, he realized several internet projects – 3D-graphic advertisements and animated films. In 2002, Voloshin founded the Simpals company. He is married and the father of two children.
I want to become a millionaire.
-After graduating from Polytechnic University, Dmitry Voloshin had the idea of creating the website GSM.md. Together with his university colleague, he opened an Internet site for news about mobile operators. The project was soon closed, and Dmitry decided not to stop there. “Not for the sake of business,” he claims.
About Business.
-Tan, I generally want to say that I am not an entrepreneur and not a businessman. That’s the way life has turned out. I never had a goal to be successful, rich, famous entrepreneur, businessman, millionaire, never thought about it. But as it turned out, the cards were turned out in such a way that I was running a business.
I don’t like the word “business”, I like to gather like-minded people, a team, and everybody doing something they love. That is not a division of work and personal life, but we try to blur that line so that a person could live a simple and interesting life.
– That’s how the business came about in passing. After the failure of GSM.md, the nationally famous “999” appeared.
About the starting successful project.
-When we launched the “999” site, we had one competitor in the Internet, it was a project of “Relsoft”, there was such a provider, it was called “Ptichka”.Because I studied at Polytechnic, we were also buying and selling computers, we thought it was inconveniently made, so we made our own website “999”. And we promoted it this way: we simply wrote on the “Bird” site that there was a “999” site, it was better, more convenient, more functional, etc. And indeed it was. And then six months or a year later we overtook the “Bird” in attendance, and after two or three years, it even closed, and we stayed.
-But Voloshin’s journey as a non-businessman began even earlier. After university, Dmitri earned money producing promotional videos. He mastered the 3D graphics program at home and in conditions of a big deficit of such specialists on the Moldovan market he satisfied the nascent demand for 3D-MAX advertising. At first he worked on his own, then he had helpers. Voloshin opened a production studio.
On the Shift of Emphasis.
-That’s when websites came along, already a second echelon. And website production was terribly unprofitable. Because we were hiring programmers and designers, and she was dragging our flimsy ship to the bottom, because there was no money from the Internet. And only after about 5 years, somewhere in 2003-2004, the market began to improve. That is the Internet began to bring more money than the studio.
Now the situation is quite the opposite. Now the terrible losses in animation. That is, we gave up advertising, we no longer produce advertising, we do our own projects with cartoons, and they gobble up a lot of money. But thank God we have a second leg, the Internet, which gives us money for the first one.
– “We don’t work for money,” Voloshin keeps saying. And there is no doubt in his words. Well, except for one question.
About recruitment.
– Dmitry, how do you convince a person who comes to work for you that he should not work for the money in our country?
– Thank God we don’t have to do that anymore. We already had a stage where we had to explain this, but now it’s the opposite, people come and say: we know who you are and what we are, we want to work for you not because you have big salaries. You know, there is such a concept of format, that is, not everyone can work for us. He has to have certain qualities, character traits, and only then he reveals himself here and can build his career here. And people who feel this format, they want to be bright, they don’t want to set some templates, they don’t want to live in fear, in tension, in stress. They want to enjoy life to the fullest and feel natural. That doesn’t mean that we have people getting pennies here. People get serious salaries here, big salaries.
-And indeed, there is a relaxed atmosphere here. It’s hard to even call these people employees.
They’re all caught up in ideas in the first place. Creative people. And when you look at their projects, you understand – it’s not for the money.
About the inspiring projects.
-The latest project is one of a series, which is not made for the money, but just to spend money, not to make money. We want to make our city more beautiful, brighter, more interesting. We want tourists, when they visit our city, to post photos on the Internet saying what wonderful things they have seen here that they haven’t seen anywhere else. It has been done for the citizens of Chisinau, so that any Chisinau resident could take part in the project and suggest a beautiful place, a well-known one, to change it. Our artists would draw it, and then, with the help of the mayor’s office, they would bring it to life.
Again, because we are not doing business, we are willing to spend part of our resources for nothing, just to give them away, like, for example, the cartoon or this project with Chisinau. We are willing to spend our time and money to make other people happier, to make them interested.
About profitable projects for the benefit of the costly
-What does the company make money on?
– “999,” for example. We have five or six projects that make money. And there are 10-15 projects that are shitting them out. How do you explain?
-How do you explain it? -How do you explain it?
-For example, a cartoon. One cartoon costs as much as a three-room apartment.
– Simpals employs over 100 people, creative people with a special approach to work. But according to Voloshin, most of them create unusual, interesting projects that don’t make a profit, just spend it.
About People-Simpals.
– You can fire 50 people easily. Fire 50 people and nothing will change. But profits will increase dramatically. So we have 50 people doing… I don’t even know what they do. They’re fun guys, you know?
-Generators of ideas.
– Idea generators, yeah, they’re having fun. How do you know about us? Because of these 50 people. Not the ones who make money, but the ones who spend it. That’s what’s important to us: enjoying life, not just saving money to make money. So ask me about a business plan – I don’t have a business plan.
-No business plan and there was no business plan. No goal to make money and get rich. No long-term strategies to increase my capital. Even investment as such in all the years of development of the project was not required.
About Investment.
-We never needed investment, and we never took money from anyone. We don’t need money now either. In the beginning, our income increased from “999” – everything, we could afford a better office, we earned money on advertising – we bought ourselves furniture. So we never had the situation where we went to the bank saying: “Give me EUR 1 million, I will pay you back in five years.
– You do not take out a loan?
Dmitry Voloshin: Yes, we take such overdrafts for a month or two or three months if something happens. But such large investments to boost the business… Once again, I’m telling you because this is not a business.
About Failed Projects
– …Failed and…
-Failures were a lot.
-that you might regret. Or don’t you regret anything?
– No, I don’t regret anything. But there were a lot of failures, that’s perfectly normal. It’s the natural way of any person in life in general. You must have had failures of some kind, too.
-Some financial, maybe so costly?
-There are a lot of them now, too. Play.md, you know that site?
-Yes.
-It’s terribly unprofitable, just terribly. Because we’re copying the YouTube model, and YouTube belongs to Google, and there’s a lot of money there. We don’t have that much money. YouTube is also loss-making, but Google is behind you, and we are behind you here. That is why our Play.md eats up so many resources, and we don’t get practically anything from it, except problems. It eats up both time and money.
-Despite his non-entrepreneurial attitude to business, as much as Dmitry dislikes this word, his company generates a steady, good income.
About profitability
– Simpals is a profitable company. It is constantly growing every year, and everything is fine. All the same, basically this growth allows us to run our business a little more relaxed, not to tighten the screws everywhere, not to fire people, not to reduce salaries and take such unpleasant measures. We can afford to dabble.
About the “interesting offer.”
– “The Niners wanted to buy.
-For how much? Well, how much did you want to buy them for?
-It’s expensive. They said: “Sell it. I said, “So what’s the point of your offer? Offer me something. No, name a price.
Well, I named the price, so that he lost interest immediately. Because, again, I do not make projects in order to sell it. Because I am interested in doing it. I will not sell my “nine” cars, and I will not sell them for a billion. What will I do with a billion? Where am I going to bury it?
– Indeed, what to do with a billion, when so many plans ahead?
About the plans
– We expect to enter the neighboring markets with the Nines – Ukraine, Russia, Romania. We’re going to grow our screenwriters here, make a small school of screenwriting. We’re still working on a script for a feature film, a cartoon. I hope to finish it no matter what. I’ve been working on it for I don’t know how long, three or four years.
About my partner.
Yes, my partner recently became my right-hand man, Roman Fedorovich. He has worked shoulder to shoulder with me for 10 years. And I was ready to share our business with him. I’m a top manager, I’m the head of the company, Roman deals with the division, everything concerning the Internet.
Contradictions? Come on, let’s have a drink. It’s very simple. He and I are both friends and almost relatives, so… And we fight, sometimes. But the kind of “I said, and that’s it,” “no, I will not do,” “no, you will” – this does not happen.
About the future.
-Dmitry, you’re 20 or 30 years from now.
-I live in a forest somewhere or somewhere outside the city far away. I have my own piece of land there. I do yoga, and also run. I don’t do much business. I have a lot of friends in different parts of the world. I travel. My children are already grown up, they do not even live in Moldova, but somewhere abroad, I guess, and sometimes come to visit me and my wife.
Blitz Survey
-The quality that characterizes a successful businessman.
-Actuality of purpose.
– Are you a gambling man?
-No.
– Do you take risks easily?
-Yes.
– The largest amount of money you’ve lost.
– I think tens of thousands of euros, maybe even hundreds.
-Are you quick to make decisions?
-I guess not.
– Do you have an unfulfilled dream?
-Of course.
– What is it?
-Running a marathon at the North Pole.
-Is business always tied to politics in this country? -No.
-No.
-What do you prefer, modern technology, computers, gadgets, or there are still moments when you prefer notebooks, notebooks, proven over the years?
-Modern technology unequivocally. No notepads or notebooks.
– Successful business from scratch – is that a myth or reality?
-Reality, of course.
-Favorite literature.
– Lately sports literature. For instance, I’m currently reading a book on free diving.
-You have an idol? If so, who is it?
-No.
-If not Moldova, then…
– That’s a good question. It’s complicated. I’ve decided for myself that I won’t leave Moldova, I’ll live here. But there are many cities in the world where I feel comfortable. For example, San Francisco, Barcelona.
– If a new specialty, then…
– Probably a woodworker. I like to work with wood.
-Your credo in life.
-All the time!
– And finally, a word of advice to aspiring or prospective businessmen.
-The main thing in business – is not to stop and go to your goal no matter what. You do not need brains, or money, or skills, or your charm. The main thing you have to go and chisel until you reach your goal. The rest is all nonsense, huskies.
I want to be a millionaire.
– A unique businessman. Here love his money, he knows how to be friends with them without becoming their slave. And the team? Voloshin and his team often go on vacation, including trips outside the country. And it is quite obvious that Simpals people are very motivated to work in the company of such a man.
He has recently become seriously interested in sports. This summer Voloshin represented our country as an amateur athlete at the world’s most prestigious triathlon competition. The amateur athlete has conquered a marathon in Paris, a half-marathon in Barcelona and the Bosphorus Strait to his credit. Challenges like this, as Dmitry Voloshin says, fill his life with spice. Look for yourself. Find your own ways to spice up life. And don’t miss out on the opportunity to make money, because that’s what gives you the freedom to choose.
That was the television project “I want to be a millionaire.” Stay tuned to MBC, we’ll see you in a week.
