01Eight years working from an apartment
Elena Martsynenko started with a service she had first tried herself. She liked a hair removal treatment and asked the practitioner to teach her. The practitioner had not trained anyone before but agreed to take Elena as her first student.
Practice followed. Elena treated clients free or at half the usual price to develop her skills. Gradually, she built a base of regular clients, received referrals and ran her own VKontakte group.
For around eight years, she worked from her mother's three-room apartment. She was generally satisfied with her earnings, but tired of the routine: arriving in sportswear in the morning, finishing with clients in the evening and repeating it all the next day.
She wanted a different pace, meetings and events beyond her home treatment room. On trips into the city center, she imagined one day traveling there as the owner managing her business.
02The studio began with two practitioners and an empty space
Elena had a friend who also offered hair removal and manicures. After a separate personal development training, they decided to open a studio.
Neither had experience renting premises or organizing a company. They began researching, asking questions and meeting people who could help.
At first, the two of them worked alone in the rented space. Then one practitioner joined, followed by another. This happened before Business Code: Elena joined that program with an operating studio.
03Employees did the treatments, but the owners still answered the phone
Having employees did not mean the studio could run independently. There were no receptionists, so the owners managed appointments themselves.
Elena recalls calls and messages at ten or eleven at night. Even during training sessions, she and her partner kept being distracted by their phones and could not listen properly.
An outside perspective helped them notice a simple problem: nobody at the studio was responsible for bookings and client communication. After discussing it, they hired a receptionist.
Elena uses this example to show how easy it is to miss an obvious task when you are constantly immersed in your own business.
04From “nobody can do it better” to trusting the team
Elena had previously believed that she herself was best placed to do the work well. Stepping away from treating clients was difficult.
By the time of the interview, she had not worked as a practitioner for almost two years. Experienced practitioners trained new employees, while her own involvement in the studio mainly concerned finances.
This was a significant change in her role: from delivering a service every day to managing a business in which other people could do the work, too.
Wanting to develop the studio and explore franchising was one reason for further training. The interview does not, however, state that a franchise had already launched.
05A new direction began with diet-friendly desserts
At the same time, Elena became interested in another project. A personal interest in nutrition and a desire to offer desserts to women led her to a new product.
She says they launched desserts under the name Doctor Fitness during Business Code. A café appears later in the story.
Prompted by the program, the team began attending exhibitions. Elena says she had not previously considered this option. The trips introduced people to the project and, in her assessment, helped build its reputation.
She also expanded her knowledge of advertising. Previously, she had mainly felt confident using VKontakte; now she was learning about other tools and trying to apply them.
06Meeting a chef became part of the café launch
Elena places great value on the people she met during the training. Discussing ideas together generated more possibilities than working alone.
One connection led her to a chef. They found common ground and wanted to develop the project together.
Elena had not worked in hospitality before and knew it only as a customer. She describes the launch as a series of steps in which determination and support from others played a major role.
By the time of the interview, her life included meetings with the café manager. She also mentions being a co-founder of a trading and construction company with a separate manager. The conversation does not disclose the profitability of these projects.
07The changes continued after the program
The interview was recorded roughly two to two and a half years after the stage of training described. Elena compares her former life, treating clients until late in the evening, with meetings about several projects.
She connects this progress to wanting to change her life and being willing to bring other people into the work. She does not claim to have done everything herself.
Her habits changed, too. Elena began training regularly with a fitness coach, although she initially felt uncomfortable. This personal experience sits alongside the changes to her working day in her account.
When discussing why she wants to develop the café, she recalls a visitor thanking her for a dessert. Feedback like that remains one of her reasons to keep going.
«Business Code» is a program by Igor Graf. More member stories