Do you feel that you are ready to leave work, independently control your day, fight for a client and work only on interesting tasks? It's time to try your hand at freelancing. It is not easy at all, and more often than not, it is more difficult than the office routine. In order not to be disappointed in the choice of the format of work, arrange a test drive for yourself - on holidays or on weekends. We have collected sites where you will find tasks to your liking.

For those who have been in the subject for a long time // The largest and most visited

Weblancer.net- a large exchange for remote work. After registration, be sure to fill out the portfolio - it will help you get more orders.

Freelance.ru is one of the largest freelance exchanges. It was originally a forum.

FL.ru- an exchange for freelancers of various specializations. To effectively promote your services, you need to buy a PRO account.

Freelancehunt.com- a labor exchange for programmers, designers, copywriters, and other specialists.

FreelanceJob.ru- positioned as an exchange for professional freelancers with a good portfolio.

printf ("hello, world"); // For developers

1clancer.ru- remote work for 1C specialists. Lots of assignments with good budgets.

Devhuman.com- service for developers, startups and IT companies. You can quickly assemble a team of any specialists to carry out any IT project.

Modber.ru- another exchange for 1C developers.

Freelansim.ru- an exchange for developers with a lot of interesting tasks and projects. We are sure that the Khabrovites are well acquainted with her.

FreelanceWebmarket- overseas site for developers.

Toptal- a closed area, to get started you need to pass a selection consisting of four stages: checking the level of English proficiency, an online coding test, a technical interview with a screen display and a test project. After that, the freelancer signs a contract and becomes one of the developers of Toptal, who looks for projects for him and tries to load with work. It is the exchange, not the client, that pays the developers to work on projects.

Play With Fonts // For Designers & Illustrators

Illustrators.ru- work for illustrators, new projects almost every day.

99designs- to receive each order, a competition is held, where participants send their solutions to the problem (an example of a logo or a site layout). The winner is chosen by the customer. The winner receives a predetermined fee, transfers the rights to the project to the client and becomes the priority executor of subsequent orders of this employer.

Crowd Spring- a tremendous platform for designers and illustrators. Works on the principle of the service above.

Coroflot- there is a list of vacancies and projects for designers to apply for. Coroflot does not charge a commission from any of the parties, but it does not give any guarantees either.

Krop- a lot of tasks for web designers.

Designcrowd- freelancers offer the client a quote, after which the client chooses a contractor and pays for the services. Then work on the project starts.

LogoMyWay- orders for logo creators. To receive an order, you need to win a competition.

Shutterstock.com- exchange of images, illustrations.

Istockphoto.com- exchange of images, illustrations. There are entrance exams on the photo stock. You need to provide three photos and pass a theoretical test.

Anything different // Platforms with different types of tasks and useful services

Programmer Meet Designer- the site helps designers and programmers find each other to work together on projects.

Workzilla- orders are very different: from video editing to the creation of one-page sites. The customer forms the task, the performers respond and name their terms and price, after which the customer chooses the performer.

How can a marketing agency break into the market and find foreign clients? What about the millennial generation when old marketing gimmicks don't work? What is banner blindness? What is more important when hiring employees - experience or burning eyes? Is participation in exhibitions a waste of time or a must-have? China's tempting marketing market - what to fear? How to behave at foreign exhibitions in order to "skim the cream"?

Snezhanna Kulinskaya, Development Director of Qmobi, a mobile marketing agency, whose clients include such giants as AliExpress, Badoo, Yandex and MegaFon, shares her experience, advice and business hacks.

Tell us how the agency started, how did it present itself on the market, what is the company's mission?

The agency started with a small media buying team. 3-4 people bought mobile traffic for owners of mobile applications. It was a service company that provided services. After a while, the guys came to the idea that they needed to create a brand, develop it, and attend conferences. Then the name Qmobi appeared, under which the company continues to develop.

What is the specificity of your company? How is mobile marketing different from live marketing?

What helped your company to enter the market and find foreign clients?

The main thing is the team. At the start, you need to hire only highly motivated and, if possible, “universal” people who do not shy away from performing completely different tasks, work with their heads and hands, connect all resources, look for answers to questions. Such a person can talk to a customer on the phone, see the code in the front-end, and participate in a pricing brainstorming session. At the start, you need people with experience, and only then you can take people with burning eyes and finish their education.

How did you get your first clients? When did you start targeting foreign markets?

Orientation to foreign markets existed even when the company was just conceived. Russian mobile is a small piece of the world. Large clients with huge marketing budgets are located abroad, but they are ready to buy Russian users for their product. We provide services to them both in foreign and Russian markets. Qmobi's first customers were both from Russia and abroad. We hired a team with experience, and the employees already had their own pool of clients. Today our main clients are Russia and China.

How do our clients differ from Chinese ones?

There is a huge difference in business processes. The Russian mentality is closer to the European one. Discussion of projects proceeds according to the principle “chairs in the morning, money in the evening”. First, the terms of delivery, terms, price are discussed. If everyone is happy with everything, we signed a contract and start working. For the Chinese, the coordination process is structured differently, it is longer, and personal contacts are important. The start is possible only after a live meeting. Cold selling doesn't work - the Chinese need to see that you are a living person who can be trusted.

Do you have clients from other countries? What is their specificity?

Yes, from Europe and America. It's a little hard for them to start working with a Russian company. If the company is completely foreign, there are no Russian managers as points of contact, then Russia looks like a “big scary bear” for them. They may be afraid of procedural things, problems with banks, crises, fear that the payment will not arrive, or you will simply disappear. However, after a successful experience, and especially after a live meeting, the contact grows together.

In addition, the Russian IT market has high quality services and products.

How do you look for overseas clients?

Our sales are built in several stages. There are cold sales, sample cold calls, and first letters. Then, with a 90% probability, we go to a foreign event, to an exhibition, forum or conference, and there we already make appointments with companies. The sale and the conclusion of the contract takes place at a live meeting. This is how we get overseas clients - from live events. Participation in them shows the company to be reputable and successful. If you are constantly seen at international events, then you are perceived as an expert. We started going to exhibitions two years ago, and since then there has been a huge increase in profits.

Are you traveling already prepared, with a list of warm contacts?

Yes, conferences publish lists of participants in advance, or there is a list of last year's participants available. You already represent the pool of companies, who will be there. We use LinkedIn as one of the main communication channels with foreign clients, we make an appointment in advance. Also, most large conferences have the functionality of making appointments at the event itself. You can send inquiries to companies of interest, receive responses, appoint a meeting place and discuss cooperation.

Do you attend many Chinese events?

On an annual basis - no, but in terms of profitability they differ significantly. In Europe, a huge number of mobile events take place - individual game conferences, general events, where applications aimed at both nb B2B and B2C are demonstrated. But according to the results that we bring, while China is working out the hardest. In Europe, the number of agencies per client is off the charts, and clients are spammed with offers. They communicate carefully, reject. When you come to a Chinese event, there are not too many companies there. The event is not cheap, so not everyone can afford to participate. And the Chinese perceive people who are able to travel as far as experts, they communicate with them in a different way.

How reliable is a Chinese customer?

There is a communication risk. It is very easy to ruin a good relationship with the Chinese if you misbehave in your personal interactions. It is necessary to take into account the peculiarity of business culture, speech interaction. The Chinese do not say "no" directly, replacing it with the phrases "let's talk about this tomorrow", "let's come back to this later." It is important to anticipate, literally read the eyes, and ask leading questions. “Do you need a recommendation from our Chinese clients? Need more information? How can I help you?" In terms of payments, the Chinese are reliable, but they delay payments - this, I think, everyone knows. The contract stipulates payment in 30 days, but in fact it occurs after 60, or even 90. Europe and the United States are different in this regard: for them a word written on paper is law.

What other nuances are there when looking for clients abroad?

You must have a foreign legal entity and an account in a foreign bank. Everything should be in order with the documents. Americans, Germans and others will never contact those who do not pay taxes, do not have certification documents, etc.

Do your payments go through a Russian or foreign legal entity? How easy is it? In what currency?

And so and so. Calculations are always in dollars.

Is your relationship with the client one-off or long-term?

90% of our clients are regular. There is a win with winners strategy, which is very relevant for service companies. If you provide services to companies for which everything is already working, "the locomotive is on its way," just service this "locomotive" in a timely manner and with high quality, then you will be fine too.

What's in your line of services?

Full scope of mobile marketing services: mobile app promotion and analytics of this promotion. What traffic we received, how long users stay in the application, what actions they take, what can be improved in the application to increase user activity.

Are foreign users different from Russian ones?

Of course, the price for the acquisition of both is different. The most paying users in B2C are English-speaking countries, Japan, France, Germany. And only then comes Russia and developing countries. Russian users prefer the free to play model, when they are given a try for free, or a trial period is given, or the application is completely free, and separate functionality can be purchased.

What's more difficult to promote: B2B apps or B2C apps?

In China, are there more applications in English or Chinese?

In China, successful businesses are copied very successfully and, in a good sense of the word, are aggressively trying to gnaw off a piece of the new market for themselves. We saw a cool business model, copied it, localized it, multiplied it, immediately hired a staff of programmers, altered it a bit, adapted it for the Asian market. If they see that it works, they make money on it - they immediately hire a team and translate it into English.

Are there language-related difficulties in your work?

Yes, there is a firewall in China, which closes the Chinese Internet from the whole world. They have their own search engines, their own services, social networks - everything is in Chinese. Perhaps that is why they do not have an urgent need to learn English. It's hard to interact with them. In the summer we went to a huge game exhibition in China, and 70 percent of the booths - no one speaks English. You ask: "Do you speak English?" Answer: "A little". But in fact it's not even little. Because of the language barrier, cold sales are difficult. How to break through the secretary's barrier if the secretary does not understand you? Therefore, we recommend having a specialist who speaks Chinese when entering the Chinese market.

How to prepare for your trip to China?

Most of the Chinese events are large-scale, there will be many pavilions, one person physically will not have time to process them, so you need to take several people with you. People at the stands get very tired, because an incredible number of people come up to them, so we would recommend doing all the important things on the first day. If the exhibition runs for 2-3 days, then there is a risk that on the second day after 15:00 you will not find anyone. People get very tired and fold their stands. In addition, you need to take a person who speaks Chinese with you, because without him, even your movement around the city will be difficult. Taxi drivers do not speak English - the same as ours. Check in at the hotel, buy a SIM card - you need Chinese for this. Important appointments should be made in advance, and not trying to find someone only at the stands. Office meetings work well in China. Since you are already getting this far, then schedule another 2-3 days after the event for personal meetings.

Is it better to bring a translator from Russia or look for it on the spot?

We hire our own person from Russia who understands the topic of mobile marketing. And for everyday needs like calling a taxi, you can use the services of a local translator provided by the organizing company.

Is there your agent in the Chinese market, or do you work with clients remotely?

We work remotely and we have a representative office in Thailand. Thais can fly to China - it is closer and more convenient for them.

What should be the stand - necessarily large and noticeable?

Of course, a big beautiful booth works better. What is the point of taking a tiny stand in the corner of the hall, if in a huge pavilion you simply cannot be reached? If you declare yourself that you are a cool international company, then book a cool stand. If this event is target for you, and you understand that there will be many clients, therefore, you are bringing a good staff who knows how to work at international exhibitions, then it is better to spend money on a passable place. Conferences pay off if the right people go to them.

Which exhibitions pay off well?

In China - ChinaJoy, in other regions - CasualConnect, Mobile World. Recently, the White Nights conference has been developing, which is organized by the St. Petersburg company Nevosoft. The last conference was held in Moscow at the international level. Now you can go there not only for the sake of clients, but also for the sake of the content part - there is something to listen to.

Are foreign companies ordering marketing promotion in their market looking for a “native” company or are they ready to consider a foreign one?

Depends on the region. Companies in the US and Europe don't care who they work with. They care about the price, the level of service and the order in the documents. For the Chinese, due to the language barrier and the level of trust, it is preferable to work with compatriots. Because as soon as a Chinese company thought of ordering a service, another Chinese company immediately appeared, ready to provide it.

In what language do you draw up contracts with the Chinese side?

In English.

What business hack could you share with someone who wants to learn from you?

If you feel like you're ready to showcase your product, go and get live customer feedback. You will not hear better from anyone about your product or service than from the end consumers. At international events, one can hear industry trends, learn new things and understand that before that he "cooked" in his own pot, and not in the realities of the market. If you work with certain regions, it is better to have your own representative there so that he is constantly on the market and can drive up for live interaction.

Western customers provide Russian freelancers with a stable piece of bread, and it is very convenient to work with them, says Fedor Virin, founder of Data Insight agency. If a freelancer works well, then orders come one after another, and earnings are comparable to regular salaries. On average, according to the research, a Russian freelancer receives 6 foreign orders per month versus 7.3 orders from Russian clients; on one single order from foreigners, he can earn up to 13,813 rubles. against RUB 5788 for an order from a Russian company. But the most difficult thing is to get these orders.

According to the research, 33% of Russian freelancers have been working with foreign clients for less than a year and only 14% for more than five years. At the same time, 26% of freelancers received one-time assignments, 49% received a repeated order from a client, and 26% of the lucky ones received regular orders from abroad.

Do not sell too cheap

In order to form a worthy portfolio of completed work and get a high rating, freelancers at the start agree to fulfill prestigious orders for small fees or for free, hoping that they will earn good money on the next orders, says Anastasia Khovrina, manager of the Russian Internet platform Freelansim.

RUB 60 697 per month

on average, a freelance worker earns on standing orders from foreign clients. When working for a Russian customer, the freelancer's income is lower - 53,273 rubles.
39% of freelancers working with Russian clients receive orders through personal connections. Among freelance workers targeting foreign clients, this share is lower - 16%

And this is a mistake, says Perstov. To earn a reputation among foreign customers, he first took small orders of $ 50-200, but only in developed countries such as the United States and for a high fee, to show that he is a professional and not inclined to work for a penny just to get an order. He posted his first works in a portfolio on the Upwork exchange and collected customer reviews in order to increase the rating on the freelance exchange (the rating is based on customer reviews). Large customers appeared in about a year, Perstov recalls.

Russian programmers are most in demand on the international market, says Khovrina. They are highly qualified, and almost everyone knows at least a little English, this is a prerequisite for communicating with foreign customers. But the competition is fierce, as there are many good specialists from developing countries on foreign exchanges who are content with low fees, she notes.

Personal connections

Business contacts and personal connections help to establish a constant flow of orders. According to the study, this is the main tool for obtaining Russian orders, and the third most popular tool for finding foreign customers. Freelance IT project manager Yulia Sevruk previously worked in the representative office of an international IT company in Russia. After the dismissal, she retained the client base and continued to do projects for them, connecting a team of former colleagues. Now she has two main international customers, with one she has been working for five years, with the other for three years. On average, she manages to earn about 60,000 rubles a month. If she realizes that this month she will earn less, then she immediately starts looking for smaller customers for software development and rigidly plans the schedule.

Sevruk admits that freelancing with foreigners is troublesome, but foreigners pay extra for overwork, do not distract on weekends and set real deadlines. By this, says Sevruk, they differ from Russian customers, who always have all projects on fire, and their first phrase in communication with the contractor is “it should have been done yesterday”.

Discipline and bureaucracy

However, Western customers require execution discipline - they include intermediate deadlines in the terms of reference, and if the freelancer is a little late or hasn't done something, he is immediately thrown out of the project and taken on another performer, since the international market is full of Chinese, Indian and Vietnamese freelancers who are productive and almost all speak passable English, adds Anton Mazhirin, co-founder of the Russian stock exchange fl.ru.

Excessive bureaucracy makes life difficult for Russian freelancers; there is much more of it in foreign companies than in Russian, says Mazhirin. For each project, Western customers draw up many documents and so-called briefs, which describe all stages and terms of work. Then these documents are approved by the management of the customer company, they are amended, which also need to be approved. And then, when the freelancer's deadlines are already running out, says Mazhirin, it may turn out that some little thing has remained uncoordinated and needs to be reconciled.

How do they pay

People are often afraid that unfamiliar foreign customers will cheat with payment. Sometimes it does. In this, Sevruk believes, the performers themselves are most often to blame, because they did not ask about the customer's reputation, did not check the reviews or did not agree in advance on the terms of payment.

On the online exchange for freelancers Upwork, through which Perstov is looking for new clients, the following rules for payment of orders apply: the ordering company usually transfers the entire prepaid amount to the exchange account, this money is frozen on the exchange account, the contractor sees in his personal account that the company is his work paid, but gets access to money only when the work is fully completed and the customer has accepted it. In cases where the execution of the order is divided into stages, the customer can transfer payment in installments - for example, the contractor is promised $ 200 after the first part of the work is completed, this money is immediately credited to the account and the contractor can withdraw it when the first stage of work on the order is completed. After that, the client immediately charges the amount that the contractor will receive for completing the second part of the work. According to Perstov, this system is designed specifically to insure the contractor, who not only does not personally know his customers, but is also in another country. But in direct interaction with foreign customers, with whom he already had to work, Perstov issues an invoice after the fact, without receiving any advances. “Only stars can demand a 100% prepayment,” he explains.

How can a company get its first overseas customers? Nikita Vaschenko, Director of Lodoss Team, answers this question and explains how to start entering the Western market.

Why go to the West?

Our company was founded 10 years ago, in 2008. At that time, we understood that expensive large-scale projects, advanced and loyal customers, are located in the West. Therefore, we were initially focused on working with Western clients.

For ten years we have come a long way: we grew up, got bumps and gained invaluable experience. Now our portfolio includes dozens of large non-standard projects for foreign customers. In this article, we will tell you how to get the first foreign clients and put this work on stream.

What tasks have we set

If you are small from the provinces, then it is very difficult for you to enter the western software development market directly by physically opening a representative office of the company abroad. It's expensive, and without a good portfolio, it's simply pointless. Therefore, we began to look for opportunities and tools for remote work with foreign customers.

The first thing they paid attention to was freelance exchanges. The co-founders of the company had experience working with the oDesk exchange, at that time it was the most serious resource on the Internet. We decided to start looking for orders on it.

At the time of the start, we were faced with several important tasks.

Understand the mentality and specifics of orders from foreign customers

Based on our experience of working with foreign clients, we can draw such a general portrait. The client knows what he wants, understands the importance of the preparatory stages, such as analytics and the creation of project documentation, is ready to pay for them.

In Europe and the States, they think about the final result, and not about the opportunity to save money here and now. They understand that any work on a project should be paid.

Boost technical competence

Foreign clients love to use new HYIP technologies in their projects, and this spurred us to be at the forefront of technical progress.

We started using the Node.js development language in commercial projects. A client came to us with the Koding.com project. Rotating in the thick of the western IT crowd, he said that it is possible to write in javascript not only on the client, but also on the server. This miracle at that time was the Node.js language, we began to write in it from version 0.0.4.

Build a portfolio

At first glance, it seems obvious - you need to take on large and serious projects. It is also advisable to take into account such a moment as the possibility of quick implementation. If you take on a cool but long-term project, you will be able to add it to your portfolio in a year or a couple of years, and new clients are needed here and now.

Harsh reality

Firstly, if your customer - unpleasant surprises may await you. A startup may never release a product or shut down a few months after release. As a result, you are left with useless pictures in your portfolio.

The year before last, we worked on an Android library for the Betcade platform, brought the product to the beta release. After that, the client began to have financial problems, and he turned everything down and dismissed the team. The product never came out of beta, which means that we cannot boast of the work done. Is it a shame? Still would.

The second major problem is long development without a release. If you failed to convince the customer to release the MVP, then you will not be able to demonstrate your work to new clients for a long time.

For more than three years we have been working with a client who created the social networking site Fearless Little. We recommended the customer to enter the market with ready-made current functionality, but he generated all new ideas and wanted to release a completely finished product. In the process of work, we greatly increased our competence in the issues of high-load distributed systems, but for a long time we could not confirm this experience by showing a working full-fledged product.

In order to regularly replenish our portfolio with new ones, we decided to work according to this scheme. While work is underway on large-scale projects, we cooperate with teams that have already launched their service or product, but they need some improvements. Yes, you cannot claim to have created the entire product from scratch, but by describing your contribution to the development of the project, revitalize your portfolio.

The main problems of working with exchanges

There are many resellers and intermediaries among customers

Intermediaries take over communication with clients. When the performer cannot interact directly with the customer, the effectiveness of communication is lost. The situation is complicated by the fact that the quality of the project is not particularly important to the intermediary, so he may deliberately filter your questions to the customer. In such conditions, it is difficult to release a worthy product.

Not all intermediaries work according to this scheme; there are also adequate companies that value their reputation. Working together with such, you can get a steady stream of customers.

How to distinguish one from the other? It's pretty easy to do this when communicating. If the intermediary does not delve into the project, this is one of the indicators that he does not care about the quality. We usually use this method. At the stage of coordinating the work, we indicate to the customer some problem of the project and look at his reaction. If the client is worried and is trying to figure out what will be best for the product, then that is good. If he says: “This is all nonsense! Do something to make it just work ”, it’s better not to cooperate with such an intermediary.

Really big projects rarely come across on exchanges.

Working as a team with small projects is difficult. You will not have enough tasks to load all participants evenly. It is not very good for a single specialist to work on a project. For example, you have many developers, but one person is engaged in the front-end. In this case, his team qualities develop poorly: he does not learn to communicate, solve problems together and be responsible to colleagues.

Usually, poor teamwork skills are revealed when such a specialist first gets on a large project. The person does not cope and slows down the entire development process.

Therefore, working with small projects did not allow us to pump the qualities of developers we needed.

Outstaff is often required, that is, only the developer himself is needed to the client's team

During outstaffing, the developer is physically located in our office, but in fact he works entirely in someone else's team and interacts little with the company. A problem similar to the previous one arises: if there are many such people in the company, then the word “team” becomes an empty phrase, and the office is more like a coworking space than an IT company.

All these problems associated with the specifics of work on exchanges negatively affect the development of the team. Once we realized that we were starting to mark time, and if we did not change anything, then degradation awaited us.

We wanted to develop towards turnkey product development with our team, and we had experience and technical competence in this. But in the Upwork market (as oDesk became known after the rebranding) there are few clients who needed such a wide range of services and a level of quality.

Office abroad vs direct contracts

In such conditions, we could go one of two ways.

Open a representative office of the company abroad and look for direct contracts for the development of a turnkey product

Representation is necessary in order to give you credibility in the eyes of your customers. We had a negative experience of concluding a direct contract with a foreign customer. As a result, we received only an advance payment, and he decided not to carry out the final payment. Our litigation costs would be commensurate with the final payment. So we thought we had paid for our bad experience.

You can take full prepayment only from your verified old clients. The risk of being left without final payment is high, because some clients understand that litigation from abroad is unlikely.

Try to work with direct contracts in the domestic market

We thought about it and settled on this option. Opening an office abroad is a crucial step. Therefore, we first decided to gain experience with direct contracts.

We found a domestic client and signed the first direct contract with him. In addition to the fact that all our previous experience of working on exchanges was useful to us in this project, we were finally able to fully include in the development process all the components that we wanted, but the specifics of Upwork did not always allow it.

For example, they began to conduct full-fledged retrospectives after sprints. We connected a full-time QA engineer to the process, instead of testing only some parts of the product: on the exchange, the client often does not want to conduct full-fledged testing or orders it from another contractor.

When working with direct contracts, problems appeared that we did not encounter on exchanges. For example, simple between sprints. Moreover, we did not immediately figure out how to minimize it.

Later, we came up with a solution in which after the completion of the current sprint and retrospective, the team immediately receives the next scoop and does not stand idle.

Additional risks appeared during the development, which we began to take into account and developed a systematic approach for this. There were also legal issues that had to be dealt with and drawn up their own version of the contract with the client.

We have recently begun work on a new direct contract. This project is an aggregator of news data on the blockchain. If everything goes smoothly there too, we will think about how to open an office abroad.

Now we believe that even after we fully enter into direct foreign contracts, we will still continue to work with Russian clients. Practice shows that here, too, we get projects that are interesting for us, both in terms of technology and from a financial point of view.

If you take the technical side of the issue, then it's worth starting with what you already have experience in, and you know for sure that you will pull such a project. In terms of the actual promotion abroad, you do not need to worry that customers of the level of Samsung do not immediately contact you. You can start working on exchanges, through affiliate programs or subcontracting.

Then everyone goes their own way. We decided that it was important for us to pump our technical expertise. Therefore, we try to take more and more complex and interesting projects. After working through the portfolio, building processes and testing them in battle, you can take the following steps. For us, this step is to establish ourselves as a company developing turnkey finished products.

What kind of work small Ukrainian companies are making their way in different industries, "Personal Account" asked entrepreneurs who crossed geographical and political boundaries with the quality of products and services.

Their experience perfectly demonstrates the global trends of apolitical consumer interests and “nationality” of money. To understand how global business is becoming every day is possible only in practice. Or, while remaining a theoretician who does not dare to even undertake a small business of his own, talk about the problems that novice businessmen have to face everywhere.

Then, when we are not expected

Ukrainians have long been accustomed to admire foreign service and quality, giving preference to foreign brands in literally everything. Even on your dining table, you can find two or three products from a non-Ukrainian manufacturer. Simply because it is brighter, more reliable, etc. It would seem that in this case it is possible to offer neighbors who have “greener grass”? How to present your product or service where everything has been working harmoniously for a long time according to established rules and according to completely different principles that we are used to?

Organizing his own business, Sergey Kogivchak, director of Unitrans LS Ltd, already had experience in a foreign logistics company. And although at first the new company was glad to any client, but nevertheless the beginning entrepreneur asked the foreign vector of development right away. “Firstly, it’s payment in foreign currency for the services provided,” says Sergey, “which allows you to avoid losses when the hryvnia exchange rate falls, as it was in 2014. Secondly, with all due respect to Ukrainian business, the principles of doing business, agreements, negotiating prices and mutual responsibility in European countries are at a higher level, in such conditions it is more pleasant and easier to work. Thirdly, foreigners are not used to changing partners because of the $ 10 difference and long-term reliable work is important for them. I understood that by working now, we are preparing the groundwork for the future. "

The task of entering a completely competitive market dominated by large global companies is not an easy one. “We had to compete mainly with other Ukrainian companies,” says Serhiy. - A foreign customer chooses a partner in Ukraine with whom he will carry out transportation. The criteria for choosing a partner are, of course, like everyone else: price, terms, reliability, level of service. And if we manage to satisfy the customer as much as possible, as a rule, we continue to work in the future on an ongoing basis. " As a Ukrainian company, one often has to deal with problems of various scales, ranging from the poor quality and level of services of contractors, including government agencies, to difficulties in currency regulation - sometimes it is easier to do the job than to get paid for it (currency control requirements, etc.) ...

This year, our hero's company has a goal - to increase the number of non-resident customers from 16% to 20%. To attract foreign clients, you have to work actively. The main ways to expand the client base: registration in industry and niche catalogs and sites; participation in exhibitions, forums and conferences abroad; regular visits to existing and potential partners; membership in international organizations and associations of freight forwarders; an English-language version of the site is required; and, of course, the employees have a sufficient level of foreign language (English must have). Dating and personal contacts are very important.

“Logistics https://blitz-logistics.kz/ has always been, is and will be an integral part of the business, so I think that it will always be interesting in one form or another. On the other hand, global trends towards automation of work, towards minimization of costs lead to the fact that the profitability of each individual job is steadily decreasing, therefore, the company's profit is formed by the number of works and the volume of transported goods. It is very difficult for a new enterprise to work in such conditions, ”Sergei Kogivchak is convinced.

The days when "apartment expeditions" worked with a computer and a printer are over. Now the market is divided among themselves by large players with foreign capital and offices around the world, or companies with a good background, independent partners in each country and an active position.

Where we don't add up our own worth

One has only to start a conversation about the fact that Ukrainian minds are so erudite that all gates abroad are open to them, as you will surely hear in response some example from the IT industry.

Artem Karyavka began his way in the IT business as a student, earning his first money at the age of 16. The project with the idea of ​​our hero LivaRava started ten years ago, and already in 2012 it began to generate significant income. This platform allows you to create corporate knowledge bases, save and manage information, build CMS, CRM, ERP systems. The company launches third-party projects with its own brands on all devices popular today, developing individual solutions for specific practical tasks of partners (customers).

Since then, a company of several people has grown into a large team of dozens of professionals, where there are specialists from different countries - Ukraine, France, Germany. Most work on a contract basis. “Everyone works in the project that he likes and brings the necessary income,” says Artem, “but in general in the IT business, any person, his talent, skills, knowledge and experience are the greatest value, like diamonds, each is unique in its own way” ...

Now the company is actively moving into the US market, looking for partners in marketing, PR, sales. “During our work, we have managed to implement many successful projects with companies from the Netherlands, Germany, France, Sweden, the USA and, of course, Ukraine,” says Artem Karyavka. - The only thing that stops the work is the fall of the market, which can even lead to the bankruptcy of partner companies. Sometimes we lose to powerful competitors - companies in which big capital is invested ”.

It also happens that a company sometimes has to refuse customers due to workload or lack of specialists. Interestingly, in the B2B sector, you don't need to put in a marketing effort to attract new customers. It turns out that completely different mechanisms work in this niche and there are many who want to cooperate. “Our advertising is a reputation, and personal acquaintances and recommendations usually bring success,” says Artem. He has already been abroad many times, since he is convinced that it is impossible to build a successful business without business travel. “The scenario in which you can sit in one place, and people will come to Ukraine with money, is extremely optimistic,” Artem is convinced.

Ukrainian IT companies, according to Artem Karyavka, are not unique. “On the contrary, the sooner we realize that we are competing in the global market, the better,” he confirms. - We are no better or more unique than others in our genetics, knowledge, skills and talents. Although, if you constantly develop, increase your efficiency and creativity, this will certainly allow you to take its rightful place in the world market. The best strategy is to constantly improve yourself and strive for superprofessionalism, such people and companies are appreciated anywhere in the world. "

In the West, they really pay more than here in Ukraine - both for the development of new products and for the banal creation of a website and its support on the Internet. This attracts almost everyone, without exception: both small companies and individually working IT specialists.

The company for the development of mobile native and cross-platform applications, created more than two years ago by Valentin Trizno, currently employs only seven specialists. “We were looking for work everywhere,” says Valentin, “but it is very difficult to find a serious customer in Ukraine, and almost 98% of the entire market works for a foreign partner”. More expensive is a product created in the high-level JAVA language (accordingly, specialists are expensive), while a Ukrainian customer is looking for a more budgetary option, more often orders simply to create a website, albeit using template solutions, rather than complex projects.

The task of entering a completely competitive market dominated by large global companies is not an easy one

The company's portfolio already includes multimedia projects made for customers from Kazakhstan, Canada, Germany, Poland, Russia, and the USA. Success in a fairly competitive environment brings, according to Valentin, a turnkey solution, which includes development: from design to backend, and specifically hybrid applications: "This significantly reduces the cost of the project, which is a priority in the development of business applications." Another competitive advantage that allows you to find a customer directly (and, accordingly, earn money not on the contractor's commission) is expertise: up to the development of a business strategy by using multimedia solutions (applications, websites, etc.). Now, as Valentin says, “it is very important to show oneself at the intersection of technologies, business strategies, processes, from development to project support”. During the work, the services of our hero's company have grown fivefold. "By offering a low price, it is impossible to earn enough to hire good specialists," Valentin is sure, "which means that it will be impossible to stay in a fairly mobile market." For a small fee, countrymen customers expect huge results, making high demands, not setting a clear functional task (due to their own low competence), and many IT companies simply do not work with customers from the CIS countries. Whereas foreign customers highly value expertise and are willing to pay for competence. "They live in a more stable economic system," says Valentin, "and they understand that it is important to create a good quality product, and then the investment will return." Unlike Ukrainians who live today and according to the principle “to be like others”, foreign customers have a strategy, plan income, and therefore can set a clear task and come to the desired result.

There is a huge amount of technologies, and it is unrealistic to gather specialists in each of them in one company. Therefore, competition in the IT market is rather arbitrary, it is rather cooperation and partnership. Large companies incur high overhead and costs, so it is not profitable for them to work with a number of orders. Small companies, like our heroes, are more flexible and can make money on small orders (which can also be received from large companies as contractors). It is more profitable to unite with other companies in projects than to advance independently. And for this it is important to have time to monitor information and communicate in various communities. “Foreign companies will not specifically hire Ukrainian developers - this is unrealistic,” says Valentin. "There is a lot of competition in the market and even expensive advertising will be ineffective." In addition, it is necessary to take into account unscrupulous competitors (as a rule, from Eastern countries). Valentin notes that in the market everyone values ​​their own reputation and tries to respect someone else's - this is the only way to hope for cooperation and partnership, and not confrontation.

Intensively developing technologies require no less speed from specialists and companies. In order not to be left without work, it is important to constantly study rapidly changing programming languages, master foreign languages, monitor market trends and be creative, because each task is individual, and each client expects an original, unique solution. “We have a high level of self-education,” says Valentin, “and a conscientious attitude to work, when compared with other market participants (for example, Indians are ready to work for $ 5 per hour, not always meeting the requirements, while Ukrainians earn $ 20-40 per hour, and specialists in the USA - $ 100-120). With a fairly good technical base, Ukrainian developers offer a very attractive price and are able to create a high-quality product, which promises good prospects. "

With what you are ready to brag

Many Ukrainian entrepreneurs see their goods abroad in the long term. And many remain with this dream. “One way or another, everything starts in Ukraine,” comments Anton Matiyash, head of the Kiev branch of the Business People's Club. “Although I have come across enough examples when a business was started with an expectation solely abroad and on the Ukrainian market the goods or services of such companies are not represented, for example, the production of clothes or IT outsourcing.”

To enter the foreign market, as the expert notes, it is important to have, first of all, a high-quality product that meets the certificates of the state where it is supposed to be sold, well-established logistics, the presence of a legal entity registered in the required country. The latter is very important for consumers from the United States, attention to this "little detail" is explained by the ability to resolve controversial issues in a legal manner. And it goes without saying that business processes must be fine-tuned to ensure that there are sufficient quantities of goods to meet demand.

"In fact, everything is there"

How Ukrainian medium and small business can enter the foreign market and what difficulties await it there, says Sergey Prokhorov, representative of the Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists in Ukraine

Is it fair to say that interest in Ukraine is based on profitable cheap labor, while Ukrainian goods and services are not interesting to foreign consumers?

- There is no ethnic division in business. For some reason we decided that if we have a product and with it we come to Germany or Lithuania, waving the flag, then we should be accepted. Initially, focusing on your nationality, you can immediately lose the customer. Here it is more likely to say correctly whether this or that private entrepreneur will be able to sell his product abroad.

It is better to come to a foreign customer without a flag, and immediately talk about your service or product. Adequate people do not care where you are from. Those companies that are supported abroad by our consulting are presented as Ukrainian. Presenting each of them abroad, we show each specific product, say, wallpaper of such and such quality, from such and such raw materials, produced on such and such equipment - is it interesting or not?

In fact, goods labeled made in Ukraine have long been represented abroad: these are food products of well-known brands, and industrial goods. I can give real examples when shoes marked in small print made in Ukraine were bought in Switzerland. Large companies sell goods under their own Ukrainian brand. There are companies that create a separate brand for export, and some produce their products under someone else's brand (supermarket chains, for example).

Do foreign entrepreneurs have any prejudices against Ukrainian companies?

- Of course, due to the recent events in Ukraine, foreigners have some concerns about our companies. For example, Lithuanians who are friendly towards us, having seen the news about the hostilities, ask how we managed to fly to Lithuania, thinking that we have a war and the transport infrastructure has been destroyed. Therefore, it is more important to focus not on the fact that this is Ukraine, but on the quality of your product or service. If the customer is from Europe, try to pack the goods according to the European model, that is, Europeanize as much as possible. This is not a rule, but I would do it this way to avoid unwanted risks.

In what areas of business can Ukrainians be the most competitive?

“To achieve successful sales, our manufacturers need to put in a lot of effort. Sometimes it comes easy. But often a small enterprise, for example, producing jam, whose capacity is barely enough to supply several shops, suddenly tries to enter foreign markets, having heard that the price there is higher. But this opinion is based only on the fact that a person only went abroad a few times and bought one jar of jam. Or maybe this product was top-class, while other varieties are much lower. Another option is when they are trying to bring to the foreign market something that, it would seem, is not there. In fact, everything is there. But if you offer some interesting conditions for the sale of your product or a more interesting packaging design - who knows. Need to try.

There are successful examples when the production of children's clothing in Ukraine sells its products to Lithuania (via the Internet), and already the Lithuanians create their own online stores, where they offer this product.

Quite a lot of foreigners build their business in Ukraine, and the product is sold abroad. There are many such examples in the agricultural sector. But it is unrealistic for Ukrainian farmers to sell their product there directly. At the global level, it is quite difficult to get away from the services of traders.

The demand for design is growing now. The salaries of good engineers are equally high here and there. The difference in payment between us and in Germany, for example, may be, besides, life there is more expensive, but there is no difference with Poland or the Baltic states. But the design process is faster with us. Our engineers have a broader outlook, the intellectual component is better, and accordingly, it is possible to manufacture something faster and easier.

Construction companies have a prospect abroad, but not individual master builders. For example, our companies built houses in Dubai. High-quality building materials are also in demand, but not as a product in itself, but rather with the service of performing work. Thus, our construction companies, using domestic materials, can increase their earnings.

And, of course, the services of translators have always been and remain in demand.

And what prejudices of Ukrainians prevent them from moving to international markets?

- Representing the International Confederation of Lithuanian Industrialists in Ukraine, for three years of work, I saw a lot of requests for various goods from Ukraine (from sunflower oil to raw materials), which stopped almost immediately for one simple reason. Our entrepreneurs, hearing the word "Lithuania", immediately added another zero to the cost of the goods, believing that the European customer is richer. Although in Lithuania before the fall of the hryvnia, goods were cheaper than in Kiev. In addition, by raising prices for their export product, many do not take into account the cost of logistics and customs duties.