The feeling of swamp melancholy, greatly intensifying in autumn, has now become even more acute. Although in general, I rate my standard of living above average. Albeit a small, but growing business. Interesting projects at work. For example, I happened to be involved in the installation of a gps-tracking system for urban electric transport. Install a subscription manager system in an entertainment aqua complex with a restaurant and a hotel. Manage the creation of several websites (my career path began with a job in a small web studio as a project manager and part-time layout designer).
And a year after returning from Sri Lanka, the store began to bring the bulk of the income and demand most of the time. For this reason, it has become my main and only activity.
And then life became even more pleasant: I realized another dream! Bought my first Mercedes. Not new but it was great. Especially after my first car - Moskvich 412, which, however, I also somehow liked. I count myself among those who believe that there are two types of cars: Mercedes and all the rest. Silver w-210, with leather interior, full power accessories (even seats with memory), cruise and climate control. I wasn't looking for one just like this, the price was above my budget. But I was lucky at that time)..
So, just 10 minutes from home to office in a brand new car. Free schedule, a separate office with a leather armchair and a huge TV. A good team of mostly pretty girls store managers. The created system (the second version of the website of the online store with the really necessary elements of crm, accounting and analytics was developed according to the TOR compiled by me) allowed me to work productively with a minimum of intervention and control. The volume of their own warehouse increased every month due to the reinvestment of half of the profits. Advertising in Google Adwords and VKontakte with a good roi (but with a limited budget - when trying to spend more - the performance worsened). If someone is interested in learning more about the history of the store, here are some videos and some details.
I relaxed, everything was going well, it was possible to rest a little before something new. So it seemed to me.
But fate had a different plan...
Since politics at that time ceased to interest me, I deliberately omit discussions on the topic of what happened. The 2013 revolution brought a predictable economic result, and it became clear that the good times were over for our store as well. Perhaps my lack of experience or over-optimism, or perhaps my unwillingness to lose my brainchild, prevented me from selling the store before it was too late. And although I was sure that in the near future the situation would only get worse, a large stock of goods and being at the top of search engines would allow me to stay afloat for these 5 years. The calculations were generally correct - the store lasted so long ...
Trips to Istanbul in 2013, St. Petersburg and Crimea in 2014 only convinced me that travel is my passion, and in the winter of 2015 I was already planning to go to a new one.
Since the purchase of the car, it was possible to accumulate quite a bit, but since. the situation worsened, the opportunities for travel would only become less with time. Without thinking twice, we decided to return to the island. Only not for a week, but for the whole summer, but with the budget of a two-week tour. How did we do it? Read on for the next part.