6 anti-crisis stories from entrepreneurs who were able to rebuild and save their business

1. The story of hummus certificates

Zhenya Tsyupko and Galya Nikolaeva

The owners of the DIZENGOF99 cafe.

Before the quarantine, our Israeli cuisine cafe operated only on site and delivered food using delivery services.

After the introduction of the self-isolation regime, we closed the cafe. The number of orders for delivery has increased - now we receive from 30 to 80 orders per day. Therefore, from March 28, we launched our own delivery. We deliver ourselves: waiters and Zhenya. It turns out not always promptly, but we deliver food throughout Moscow and even to the region.

The menu was reduced in some places, they refused expensive and complex dishes, as well as those that could not be delivered in good condition (seafood in marinara or shakshuka sauce). But at the same time, new positions were introduced: hummus, bowls, chicken cutlets. Actually, every week we add something new and launch special weekend deals.

We also made three certificates. One - for 10 hummus, you can use it even now. And two certificates "for the future": for 3,000 and for 7,500 rubles. When we open, they can be spent equivalent to 4,000 and 10,000 rubles, respectively.

2. The story about Zoom-photo shoots

Yana Lukyanova

Business photographer, blogger.

The idea to move my work online came to me when I heard the news about a photographer from Europe who takes pictures of girls via FaceTime. But I use Zoom for filming. Having tested this application with my friends, I got down to business. I put a budget price tag - 2 thousand rubles for an hour-long shooting and 10 photos in the same style.

Online photo sessions have their advantages: you don't have to go anywhere, there is an element of creativity, you don't need super equipment, and then the skin is so blurred during processing that you don't need to cover up pimples.

But there are also disadvantages. It's a hell of a job. You need to convey your idea to the person on the set, to regulate his body position. Many listen but do not hear. Most of the houses also have torn wallpaper and old furniture - it is very difficult to achieve something in the slightest degree “Instagram”. Always help out a white shirt, red lips and pictures by the window on the windowsill.

Compared to the pre-crisis income, the income decreased: it fell from 120 thousand to 10-30 thousand rubles. I don't make much money on online filming, it's fun and the practice of communicating with clients.

Additional income is brought in by shooting food for delivery services: boxes are brought to me, I organize a workspace at home and shoot everything as quickly as possible, until the dishes lose their appearance. Then I feed it to my relatives. I also do remote shooting for expert photo content. The client sends portraits from some past photo session, and at home I shoot interior, object photos, which he can mix in his account.

3. Story about a school for dog owners

Anastasia Bobkova

Dog Behavior and Mental Health Specialist, BO.big School.

I do applied dog training and behavior correction. I work with dog owners: I go to consultations, gather training groups, conduct seminars and master classes.

For eight years, I was a co-owner of the Pi. Bo ". But just before the start of the self-isolation regime, I had to leave this business and start my own business from scratch. There was no opportunity to conduct face-to-face classes for obvious reasons. Then I remembered that I wanted to engage in education.

A bit of background. In 2019, together with the second co-owner of Pi. Bo "and with the help of my permanent editor Katya Pronina wrote a book about raising dogs" Glad, love, praise ". It sold out almost 20,000 copies. This success led me to believe that there is a demand for education among dog owners. And they have practically nowhere to get reliable information.

And now, in quarantine, my team and I launched the bobig.ru project, which is precisely focused on giving people the knowledge they lack.

Now I am writing texts, recording videos for the YouTube channel, talking with the audience. Plus, I conduct online consultations, and I also launched a paid course "Foster Dog School". It is aimed at ensuring that people come to the dog's establishment with the necessary knowledge. And if they have any problems with the animals already living, they could solve them on their own. Well, specialists, for example, me, were contacted only in the most difficult cases.

For those who do not financially support the Foster Dog School, I conduct free webinars and live broadcasts.

The first webinar, which I ran under my own brand, was attended by about 260 people. And this is a fantastic indicator, given that the project is only a month and a half and not all clients know that I left the previous one.

The B2B format is also great - I work with pet store chains and pet product manufacturers. Their employees also want to receive information from a practitioner in order to give the right advice on the choice of harnesses, toys and other accessories for dogs.

4. A story about bicycles for rent

Oleg Rudakov

Founder of the Rock the Cycle cycling studio.

We have two cycling studios, in Moscow and in St. Petersburg. Attendance at workouts is possible by prior reservation (conditionally, the system is like in a cinema): pay for a workout (or package), choose a time, book a specific cycle, come and do it pedals. In the gym, the coach encourages, all training statistics are displayed live on a projector, and the result can be monitored in our application.

Usually there were seven workouts a day. The flow of customers began to subside even before the introduction of the self-isolation regime: some did not come because they traveled to Europe, some simply did not want to take risks. On March 22, we closed our studio in Moscow, and a little later in St. Petersburg.

In order not to go broke, we decided to go online. The first step was to rent out the bikes to our customers so that they could continue to practice at home. Then we changed the entire booking system on the website: now you can sign up for online classes in Zoom there. They are paid so as not to leave coaches without a salary.

We also have free classes. We post bike workouts and functional workouts on the Rock the Cycle YouTube channel. May 22, together with partners, launched the country's first project on its own stream platform stream.rockthecycle.ru: there you can make donations and chat, vote for which track you want to play in training time. 102 people came to the first broadcast, we raised more than 12,000 rubles. And this is just the beginning! We plan to actively develop this very area and do 4 cycle streams per week.

We also sell certificates for offline training: you can buy them on more favorable terms now, and use them when the studios open. In general, of course, the level of revenue is not comparable to what it was before the quarantine. But something is better than nothing. Moreover, now we see a vast field for further development not only in the regions where our studios are open.

5. A story about online training in hand-to-hand combat

Leah Pantsalashvili

Founder of #femalemafia security studio for women, Krav Maga expert.

Before quarantine, I taught Krav Maga (this is a hand-to-hand combat system) in a hall that I subleased. She led five women's groups and conducted personal trainings for women and men. She worked five times a week.

After the introduction of the self-isolation regime, the number of practitioners fell sharply, by about 80%. It is difficult to adapt our system to the online format, since basically techniques are worked out in pairs: someone attacks, someone defends.

But in the end I succeeded. Now, in online classes, most of the techniques are practiced in the air and on shells. Plus, additional muscle strengthening exercises were added to the training program.

When the access control was introduced in Moscow, I delivered the shells to the students, on which they could practice their strikes, and additional equipment for comfortable workouts at home: dumbbells, elastic bands, rugs, boxing gloves.

I train in the paid version of Zoom so that I can train for more than 40 minutes without interruption. Now I have only one group, but instead of two workouts a week, as usual, we meet four times. I conduct personal classes at a time convenient for students.

6. Online bar story

Roman Rodin

Owner of Howard Loves Craft Bar.

Our bar opened on Tverskaya in 2016. We immediately decided to make an unusual, niche place that we ourselves would regularly go to. They set up many tables, made the music quiet so as not to interfere with the conversation, board games and books were laid out on the windowsills. We were even called "anti-cafe with beer" at first. In the spring of 2019, we moved - we opened under the same name at Krasny Oktyabr. There is more space, but the values ​​remain the same.

We regularly host live concerts, popular science lectures, meetings with brewers, and film screenings. An art exhibition was supposed to take place, but the plans were disrupted by quarantine.

The fact that this is not a story for a couple of weeks or a month, we realized even before the introduction of the regime. It was enough to look at what is happening in the same Italy. In quarantine, they were going to conquer YouTube with educational and entertainment videos about the bar life and the craft world. But making the video turned out to be more difficult than we thought. Manager Misha suggested starting with streams. And so they did.

We broadcast broadcasts on Twitch.tv. On average, a stream lasts three to four hours and during this time about a hundred different people come to it. We have three types of streams:

1. Bar talk show. The three of us (art director, manager and director) get together and chat with the audience. We are asked questions, we answer, we talk about the situation in the bar, about our plans. We invite guests, for example, the head brewer of Selfmade Brewery Sasha Gromova. Of course, we communicate with them through Zoom - except for the three of us, no one in the "studio" happens.
2. Art streams. They are led by our director, who painted all the decorations for the bar. Now he regularly creates new prints for T-shirts live on air.
3. World of Warcraft Streams. We love this game and there are many fans among our audience.

We have already raised 70,000 rubles on streams in a month and a half! This is not only financial support, but also moral - our guests do not forget us and are waiting for the bar to open again.

We also have certificates. You can buy them on the platform, which was organized by our guests - programmers from the offices on Red October. Everything works simply: now you make any contribution from fifty rubles and get crypto-tokens, which you can use to pay at the bar in the future. In gratitude, we charge 10% on top.