The story of Tulpa is the story of my personal growth. I made all the mistakes of a person who grows with borrowed money. But in the end, it was thanks to Tulpa that I became interested in marketing and wanted to figure it out. For the first six months of WebSarafan’s life, I simply blogged and asked experts I was interested in about marketing. All this time I invested my money, created an audience, and then started trying to monetize it somehow. I tried doing webinars. I tried to organize an offline event, which was attended by 15 people. I went to a conference in America and interviewed marketers there, but it didn’t go well either. The only thing that was moderately successful was webinars. A lot of people began to gather there. They brought the first income: I decided to sell webinar recordings, and the audience was ready to pay for them.

Why did you end up choosing such an unusual format as podcasts for your experts? Not the most popular format in Russia.

Believe it or not, I just love podcasts. I listen to them quite a lot myself, they help me find the information I need, and it’s logical that I chose this particular format. It's impossible to do something that doesn't excite you. At some point you will quit anyway.

Also, before podcasts, we tried a lot of things: I blogged, we did webinars, we did videos, we promoted it all. But in real life neither one nor the other took root. And I chose podcasts as a format that is understandable and convenient for me personally. I send the nanny and the children outside in the morning, I already have an appointment, I have questions ready. All I do is sit in front of the computer and write down what the person tells me. I just love it, and it’s convenient for me to do it while sitting in sweatpants in front of the computer.

And finally, what is especially nice: we have . The market is empty. There are 10 or 20 business podcasts, but given the potential size and market capacity, that doesn't count.

Listen, there are recognized stars in the field of marketing - Igor Mann, Alexander Levitas, Inna Alekseeva, Oleg Barmin... Why aren’t they on your podcasts or at events?

I interviewed Mann, but for the blog. But in general, I don’t really like talking to stars. I'm looking for new ones interesting people, which have not yet acquired layers of fame and conceit.

In addition, my audience is new and small companies. And I want people to associate themselves with the people I talk to. And so that it would be close to them. So that the guest’s experience can be transferred to your own experience, your business, and run inspired to do something further.

How do you choose podcast characters?

I take those people who are interesting to me personally. Speakers come to me, I like them, and I record podcasts. Dasha Manelova makes an Instagram account for us. Vitaly Pronin was our FB expert. I am curious, I am interested in communicating with them, and I want to tell others about them.

Who are you reading right now and who is useful in your daily work?

I Lately I read a little, I listen a lot more. I listen to Western podcasts. I select them for my specific tasks. Yesterday the team asked the question “how to keep participants on the platform.” I have this question itching, so I go to the Internet, look for someone who talks about this topic and find useful instructions about retention. That’s why I read almost nothing random or fictional. Just what I need to solve my problems.

How did Sarafan get its summits? As a separate product or to promote other products?

We started selling webinars, and it turned out that it worked. But here we came up against quality. The speaker has a bad light, he has a refrigerator in the background, or he himself is in a wrinkled shirt and sleepy. Should I sell this? Respond with your reputation?

And then I dragged the speakers “to me.” More precisely, I began to gather several speakers, rent a hall, equipment - and that’s how summits appeared. People are already trying to copy our format, but most of the conversion of such events into sales is only 3-4%, while ours is much higher. Simply because we have experience and great amount chips that we came up with. The project plan for the summit has a minimum of 150 points - things that we will definitely do.

I want specifics. Tell me any five things that need to be done for a successful event?

Every time it's something new. For example, we used to be shy, but now we started asking for phone numbers of those who subscribe to the summit. A reminder about the event was sent by phone an hour before the start. This allowed us to increase attendance by 30%! And it did not cause any rejection, which we were so afraid of.

Or we created a sales system via e-mail. It seems like everyone has been able to do this for a long time and knows that sales are made through mailings, but it didn’t work for me. I went to study with Pyotr Ponomarev. And he told me how to make sales chains of letters. Together we figured out names, logic, transitions. And our sales have increased. Instantly.

Plus the hosting of the event itself. My questions, inclusion, energy - this is our feature that others do not have. We're not having a conference, we're having a radio show. We read comments from the chat, engage, and play with the audience. All this makes us unique, this is our differentiation, if in a smart way (I’ve learned it now, I know a lot of marketing words!)

You have a lot of work. How did you manage to assemble a team around these ideas?

While working on my first project, I learned how to hire people. At first I hired people and didn’t understand what I expected from them. After all, in the large companies where I worked before, they hire them for you, and you command what you have. Only at the end of my work in Tulpa did I realize that my work format was unusual and not suitable for Russia. Therefore, the team often included people who did not fit into the company. And there were problems that no one solved. In general, it was hard.

I'm not a micromanager. I'm not saying what to do. I hire a person to do what I can’t do. Let him be cooler than me. But don’t let him turn to look at me after every step. As a result, I developed my own management style: I realized that I set goals, we discuss together how we will go towards them, and once a week we meet and discuss how we are going and where we have come. The employee must think for himself. And now I select people for myself who are satisfied with this.

My current team came to the project not just looking for work, but to come to me personally.

I would say that they came to me first, and to the project second.

Personal branding helped me. I write quite a lot on the Internet, and from my posts it is clear what kind of leader I am and what my values ​​are. There are people who understand that they will not work with me. And there are those who, on the contrary, fall in love, and they only want to work with me. Therefore, if I need a person, now I just write about it on Facebook, and in 2 days I receive from 50 to 100 resumes.

Quite a lot... How to stand out from the crowd? How to impress you?

I take people of my blood. When I was looking for an editor, I received a lot of resumes. At some point I got tired of reading them and only read teasers. I read a letter from a girl from MIF, who somewhere saw Fyodor Konyukhov’s rowing boat (on which he circumnavigated the world alone), was impressed, wrote to him, and together they wrote a book and published his diary. I immediately realized that I needed such a person. And we’ve been working with her for a year and a half now. There are some stories that help you get to know people and understand that you belong together and work together.

Do you think ideas that don’t give the inspirer anything financially have a right to life?

In my family, I mean my parents’ family, it was once believed that only such ideas had the right to life. That you should work for joy, not for money, and so on. My dad is a climber, he has been going to the mountains for many years, all this hiking romance of the 80s, I think, is understandable. what are his ideals... I for a long time I thought the same. The main thing is to do what you like. And now I understand that money is the lifeblood of any project. Money gives you freedom, time and strength to experiment. Money gives life. They give you new contacts, new people, new stories. There will be no development for a project that has no money at all. Just as any organism will die without blood, so will the most best idea It will die and wither away if you don’t come up with a decent monetization for it.

You implement the most daring ideas so brightly and in front of everyone, try different formats... Is there anything that scares you and makes you doubt yourself?

The scary thing is that summits are not a permanent income. That is, if we didn’t do the summit or did it unsuccessfully, then we simply won’t have anything to eat. It is necessary to create some kind of permanent platform that will cover basic costs. I want a constant, predictable income. We are working on it, and we have launched the first test group.

Own show in America. The goal you recently announced is very ambitious. Do you believe that “if I could do it here, I can do it there too?” Or are you taking a more careful approach somehow?

I just really want to do it. I believe that I can do this. Yes, our own show in America. Can. And I will do it. I don’t think “I could - I couldn’t”, I don’t compare. I once read from Jobs that you need to live every day as if this day were your last. And this is how I live. I choose what is important to me and do it. One American billionaire answered the question “What takes to make money?” said Courage. It takes courage to make money. I agree. It's so hard just doing something different from what you usually do.

I just allow myself to try. Well, it won't work. But I got so much out of my failed projects that I would never give them up! A mistake is still luck because it gives us experience and moves us to a new point. There we can try again.

You recently published almost nude photos of yourself on Facebook. Where is the acceptable limit of outrageousness for you?

Of course, there is a border, but it is inside me. I have become much bolder in terms of provocations and in terms of my openness to feedback than it was before Sarafan. But I'm still cautious. I wouldn't publish any nudity. But to excite and attract attention to myself, yes, I can tease.

Recently Olga Yurkovskaya was received very hostilely in the group. How did you feel, as the owner of the site, looking at what was happening?

Yes, there was a lot of negativity surrounding her post. I don't like negativity. And I don’t care who the author of the post is or why this negativity suddenly appeared on my blog. In general, I don’t like it when people talk nasty things about each other. I can be removed from the group for personal insults. I can delete offensive comments. But in in this case The advertiser (Olga) was happy with everything, and she believed that this was normal promotion - in this way she was filtering out her target audience. Therefore, the post remained.

You need to understand that from the moment the number of people in the group reached 10,000, the community gained influence. And of course, as in any society, in our group there is a struggle for attention, jealousy, and aggression. But I try to have as little negativity as possible and more constructiveness. But even my mentor confirmed to me that it is impossible to be completely without aggression in such a group.

Wow, you have a mentor! And who is it? How did you find him?

And this is such an American theme. Your income level is equal to the average level of the people you interact with. If you don’t like your income level, you need to change your environment. And of course, if you set yourself a difficult task, raise the bar high, then you need a mentor. I thought for a long time, who should I go to? And how is this even done? You need to come up and ask “will you be my mentor?” For what? I myself would not be ready to waste my time on someone, and I don’t understand why someone should waste theirs on me.

Therefore, I act like this: I have a specific problem and I have an understanding of who is well versed in this problem. I come to him and ask practical question: “Listen, I have a problem here - tell me how to do it.....”. And this is how communication begins.

At the same time, I try not to strain the person. I will arrive when it is convenient and where it is convenient, I will not bother you with conversations about the eternal or excessive attention. And I am very grateful to everyone who helps me in solving my problems.

Do you think Websarafan is possible without Kudashkina? Do you want to sell it someday?

Is business youth possible without its leaders? Obviously not. Same with WebSarafan. Although this is not a community named after Taya Kudashkina. I don’t consider or call it a personal project, and I think that at some point it will grow into independence.

For now it is impossible without me, but I believe that we will grow and develop, we will fine-tune operational processes, we will find responsible people for different directions and at this moment it will be possible to step aside. Then, of course, I'll sell it. I know for sure that I cannot work on one project for 15 years, like Zuckerberg. At some point I will definitely get bored. I love the beginning. When from scratch to a high goal.

How do you feel in your body, at your age?

I feel great about my age and body because I made my own lifestyle. By the age I have already reached, girls have an amazing advantage - you begin to understand what you personally need.

You choose not what is fashionable, but what you want at this particular moment. For example, everyone is doing yoga, and you are running, jumping on a trampoline, or just stretching. You understand yourself so well and you don’t care so much about the opinions of others that you can change your occupation at any time.

In childhood, adolescence, and adolescence, we had the attitude that you need to finish what you started. At my age, it doesn’t matter at all: who started what and when. You can allow yourself to do what you are most comfortable with, what actually gives you pleasure and benefit, what makes you happy.

I can ski and then change my mind and start swimming in the middle of the year. This doesn’t bother me at all - circumstances have changed, a swimming pool has appeared, I have less time, and I’m radically changing my hobbies. It suits me.

At this age you don't depend on anyone. And it's just gorgeous. You don’t owe anyone anything, you don’t explain anything to anyone, you don’t prove anything to anyone. Usually by my age a woman already has everything, so she can just do what she wants.

What in your life gives you the greatest pleasure?

Three things: family, environment and business. I adore my schoolchildren. I am incredibly glad that I live in Sochi, I can walk, look at the sea, smell flowers in February. All this gives me pleasure.

I build a business myself, create it for myself, do what I like, listen carefully to myself and constantly ask myself questions: “Is this what you want? Is this what you like? Are you even going there or not?” That's why business gives me the greatest pleasure in life.

What do you do that is mandatory for yourself, despite being very busy?

I spend time with children. When I'm in Sochi, it doesn't matter to me what's happening around me, even an earthquake. I have things that I make sure to do with my kids every day. I may cancel an appointment, leave the dishes until the morning (or tomorrow), and not clean up the mess at home in order to be with the kids.

For the third or fourth year in a row, we have been filling out success diaries together. It’s so touching to open your daughter’s diary and read what she considered successes when she was 3 years old. We read books before bed and I chat with my kids separately. We part ways, and I ask everyone how their day was. These simple rituals give me joy and the realization that I am not living my life in vain.

Remember yourself at 20 years old. What would you wish for yourself, what would you advise, what would you warn against?

It seems to me that the period of turbulence from 18 to 27 years is the most difficult in the life of any woman, because she still does not understand herself well. So we jumped out from under our parents’ wing, but at the same time we haven’t found ourselves yet. We women are very flexible, and it’s easy for us to adapt to circumstances, convince ourselves that we need it, or forget about ourselves and not hear our own inner urges, stop being the real one who you are inside

I would caution against falling under the influence strong man. If at the age of 20 you fell under the influence of a man like mine ex-husband, then you begin to lose your identity. Remember how in “Runaway Bride”, when she was asked what kind of scrambled eggs she liked, she said: “I don’t know.” With each new boyfriend, she liked a new type of scrambled egg or omelet. The main difficulty of a woman at 20 is that she does not understand what is important to her, she is able to adapt, and she is not aware of herself

Your guilty pleasure? What “harmful” things do you allow yourself, and does it make you feel good?

I lived in the USA for 5 years and have a very positive attitude towards Coca-Cola. I worked in large offices where there were soda fountains on every corner and bottles in every refrigerator. Since then, I have been so brainwashed by this brand that the fizzing bottle itself has become the personification of playful joy. That’s why I sometimes buy Coca-Cola and can’t imagine going to the movies without it and popcorn. I also brought this habit from the USA. There, people go to the movies with a big can of buttered popcorn and Coca-Cola. For me, this story is almost the second most important after the film. If the movie theater doesn't sell popcorn and soda, then I'll stop going there, because the whole ambience is important to me. Stupid, but where to go?

What is your favorite place in the house and why?

I love the bed. By my age, I realized that the best first aid in any situation is to go to sleep. If you feel that you feel bad, if you think that everything in business is collapsing, if your children suddenly start to irritate you, then you urgently need to go to sleep. In 95% of cases, when everything goes wrong, it’s the result of you being tired, not getting enough sleep, overeating or being nervous. All this is removed by sleep. That's why I love my bed so much . Now she is standing next to the window, into which the endless sun is pouring and the birds are singing. I lie down during the day and think: “Lord, what a blessing that today I can afford to go to sleep at one o’clock in the afternoon, because I’m so cool, I have my own business, I manage my own time and sleep when I want.”

Self-care: what is your must-do every month?

Every month I make sure to get a pedicure. By the way, it's interesting that I don't get a manicure, but I do get a pedicure because I like the condition of my feet after it. I also make sure to take breaks when I feel like nothing can get into me anymore. Then I drop everything and go for a walk alone or with the children.

A book, a film, a play, a concert, music – what has made an impression lately?

I liked the movie "Three Billboards on the Road." Although in general I rarely like films, I rarely go to the cinema, I don’t have a TV. I don’t understand anything at all about torrents and movies. I'm very behind in this sense.

What interesting things are you doing this week?

I'm fundraising for my new project. This is amazing condition! I was already in it six years ago, when I raised money for my first business. Only now I’m doing this from a completely different position: I have business experience and a very strong partner. But I can’t help but feel that I’m doing something that within 3-5 months will give birth to a new venture, a new global project, a new living being that will really change the world for the better.

On Wednesday, April 25th, I will take you through and tell you how our main product works from the inside. If you want to take part, you need to register, as we do not plan to give out the recording. After registration, you will receive a useful tool - a “Business Self-Diagnostics” checklist, which will help you identify “bottlenecks” in your company and start working on them right now.

We're raising a lot of money and the story in my head is very big. It’s cool to see how my partner and I are slowly building in small steps what we were just chatting about just recently. We made a description of the project in Russian, then in English, made a website and social networks, started going to conferences, I started talking privately with investors and organized an event for them. And it’s very cool to just stand next to it and see this birth of a new business adventure. I’m incredibly delighted and I think I’ll be doing this all summer and enjoying it.

In 5 years: what would you want for yourself and your family?

In 5 years I will have teenage children, and I want to live with them in the same harmony as now. I don't want to change anything: they are charming, smart and the best. I always thank God that I got them exactly the way I got them. They are very different, but my children are exactly what I dreamed of. The son is a tough thinker and a nerd. The daughter is a bundle of energy and desire to live. I want everything in our relationship to remain exactly the same as it is now. So that we could be so sensitive, hug, cuddle, caress, hear, listen to each other, spend time together and get smart with each other. I just want us to maintain the same level of mutual understanding and feeling.

For my family, I want to have more financial freedom. I want to show my children the whole beautiful, stunning and bewitching world, and for this I need 10 times more resources than I have now. I am slowly moving towards this.

Photos courtesy of Taisiya Kudashkina

Editorial opinion may not reflect the views of the author.
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In order for there to be content, it needs to be written. You won't learn to write

until you start writing

Taisiya Kudashkina. Who is she:

From the Author

The first time I heard the name Kudashkina was from our Yana Ruleva. Kudashkina this, Kudashkina that, but Kudashkina records podcasts, but Kudashkina does summits... Podcasts - what is this all of a sudden? Summits - are there enough of them around? Okay, let's listen and see. And now I'm already in Group . I joined, I read, I follow. Subscribed myself. I also read and follow. Tynts-tynts: a notification clicks in the upper corner at least twice a day - something new has been posted, there is movement, a discussion.

Then Yana invited Taisiya to speak at our online conference with the topic “Recognition cannot be created.” How to look for yourself and move forward, even if you are bursting at the seams. That was the first time I heard her live. How much fire there is in it! Some kind of otherworldly energy and certainly not St. Petersburg drive. Then I didn’t know yet: in fact, she is not a St. Petersburg, but a Californian young lady, at the age of 33 she was included in the Forbes list of the top 100 young entrepreneurs in Europe. But a blog and a community are not entertainment, it’s a business that should feed and provide a springboard for experiments.

Then our Yana appeared on her podcast. She told us about our experience of organizing a remote team and the rhythm of planning meetings according to Harnish Verne. The day after recording the podcast, Taisiya took and implemented the rules of planning meetings in her team. So I realized that she doesn’t just listen and communicate, she absorbs and implements.

In August 2016, we met live in St. Petersburg at the WebSarafan summit. Six months later they became neighbors: Taisiya moved to Sochi with her children and cat. Why put off life until later, when it’s a thrill to wake up with a view of the sea andadmiring roses in your own garden?Now we communicate more often. And, I’ll tell you, living Kudashkina is not fire. This is a whole Firebird.

They say about such people that thanks to them the earth turns. Children, project, moving, movement, summits, podcasts. From the outside it seems easy. From the conversation you understand - it’s not sweet. She's just like Olympic champions, plows until the result. And then she stands on a pedestal, albeit with tears in her eyes, like that Irina Rodnina, who defended the honor of the great Soviet country, although the capitalists did not allow her to go abroad and cut off the music on the triple Axel. But she did become a champion. And she won everyone.

Kudashkina is also, in a sense, a champion in spite of herself. Now she defends the honor of a country open to small business, because she is read and listened to in Russian from all corners of the world. Her audience is self-taught entrepreneurs with a turnover of hundreds of thousands to a couple of million rubles. Same as her in spirit and values. Mostly online, 80% women. Through the mouth of its founder, WebSarafan conveys the idea that it is possible, it is possible! combine dream and business. You don't have to choose, you have to do it. Releasing the proverbial pig into the world. And then the world itself will answer whether it needs it or not.

How did you get there

For me personally, Facebook entrepreneurial is divided into two eras: BW and AW (before WebSarafan / after WebSarafan). Previously, we didn't have the opportunity to learn concrete and practical things about online marketing and content every day. Well, there were some publications, there were interest groups, we went to offline parties. But so that every day and from the most recent experience - this has not happened before. Chips, life hacks, useful things, all this came into our everyday life from the Sarafan dictionary. Consulting, sharing, trying, learning has become the new code of communication in our entrepreneurial field.

Blog WebSarafan

So what was BW? Before WebSarafan. In his interviews from 2010 to 2013. Taisiya is the same fiery blonde, but without her signature red lipstick and bright dresses. And most importantly, without experience of mistakes and failures. Then she, a recent corporate data analyst in Silicon Valley, decided to try her hand at own business. The idea is a copycat of the American review site yelp.com, which we happily use when traveling around America. She held a round of negotiations with an investor with two-month-old Klasha in her arms. She asked for a ten-minute biopause and went out into the corridor to feed. They gave money, Russian tulp.ru started working in 2010. We spent another year finalizing the platform and building communities in cities. A team of 25 people was formed, a famous marketer was invited for a salary of 250 thousand rubles. Everyone was transported to St. Petersburg as a place more convenient for PR and promotion than her native Omsk. She moved there with her children herself.

Everything is great, 700 thousand unique visitors per month, 50 cities covered, interviews for the media and a place in the ranking of the top 100 successful entrepreneurs of the European Forbes. Everyday life of a startuper on the rise of the 2010s. But then... then real life business began. Failure to fulfill obligations on the part of the investor, farewell to the team and complete zero of own funds.

“The history of Tulp.ru is the story of my personal growth. I made all the mistakes of a person who grows with borrowed money. But in the end, it was thanks to him that I became interested in marketing and wanted to figure out how it’s done.”

How to start life from scratch...

when you're 30, have two kids and debt? First, do something. WebSarafan started as a usefulness blog.First three articlesTaisiya composed and designed it herself. But somehow it immediately became clear: writing was not her format. Despite the fact that she writes well, fluently and inspiringly well. There was no desire to devote much time to texts, and there is no desire now. The solution was to hire an editor. This is how the first employee appeared, and the WebSarafan project was ordered to live in the literal sense of the word in order to somehow pay his salary. To gain primary traffic, we set a goal: post one new article every day.

Now the daily attendance is 3-5 thousand people, but then in 2015 the first six months passed without much response.It was necessary to look for ways of monetization as soon as possible, any way at that. As a startup, Taisiya followed the traditional lean approach: trying and tweaking as she goes. I held an offline event - 15 people came, went to a conference in America to interview marketers there - there were no more views.

The only thing that was moderately successful was webinars. They brought the first income. Taisiya decided to sell recordings of webinars, not only her own, but also those of invited speakers. She perked up: it seemed like there was light at the end of the tunnel. But right thereThe bottleneck was the quality - either bad light from the speaker and a curtain in the background, or a wrinkled collar and extraneous sounds. And she is responsible for the product with her reputation.

« I’m a classic self-taught entrepreneur who had to learn everything from scratch and do several things at once.”

Then Kudashkina made a feint and decided to gather speakers at her place. This is how the idea of ​​summits with 150-item checklists that regulate the level of delivery and presentation emerged. Now the three main products of Sarafan are summits (sales of records and participation itself), online courses and participation in a business club. Everything is available online, the cost of the product is from 2999 rubles for a monthly subscription to 7999 on the day of the summit.

Didn't get it on the radio - do it yourself

Why does she attract others? Because she herself combines her dream and business. I always dreamed of hosting my own show and performing on the radio. They didn't take it! I had to become a radio myself.

“I didn’t understand how I could develop my business in terms of promotion. There is a lot of information around, it is constantly changing, I did not have time to navigate it and did not know where to “throw” for the result. Where to go? On social networks? And which ones exactly? Internet advertising? Which one and where? How much money to spend on this? Is it possible to do this yourself or is it impossible to do without specialists?”

For advice, Kudashkina went to marketing experts, who seemed to her then like celestial beings. I came up with a spectacular move: record interviews with them in podcast format, and during the interview get to know each other, learn life hacks, and ask them directly how it turned out. I didn’t even really come up with it, I just spied it.

“The idea of ​​what to do came quite suddenly: it was suggested to me by the experience of creating a blog for entrepreneurs mixergy.com - Andrew Warner He created a marketing blog, started asking experts and learning with readers.

Well, I can handle creating a blog, I thought. And in three days, my developer and I created websarafan.ru. This blog is specifically for entrepreneurs, for self-taught people like me, who are confused and confused. For those who want to grow their business, want to find new clients, want to grow and want to learn. The concept was very simple: I’m not an expert, but I can ask real experts how to do it.”

Podcast. It sounds easy, but in reality it’s quite preparatory work. Checklist for the speaker, checklist for yourself, studying your biography, preparing questions. All 82 episodes (as of June 2017) were recorded and conducted by Taisiya herself. With the exception of one, number five, which she gave to the invited journalist. The first podcast was an interview with Maxim Ilyakhov, which she said was “horrible” - very different from what she would do now. However, all releasesavailable now in audio format and text.

The content workshop inside Sarafan is structured like this: after the entry is made, it is processed by the editor. Sometimes you have to change parts of an interview so that the logic is not lost, cut out “ekaniya” and obvious fluff. During editing, a jingle is added - an introduction in Taisya’s cheerful voice and advertising inserts. Taisiya says that in America, podcasts are a saturated market, and the main monetization comes through corporate advertising. In our country, external advertising is still a long way off, but no one is stopping the author of a podcast from posting inserts of his paid products. This creates free incoming traffic.

The topics of the podcasts are extremely practical and formulated with the end result. This is what listeners like - now an average of 5 thousand people listen to WebSarafan podcasts.

1.Choose speakers that are not “washed up”.

The most popular podcast with Oleg Braginsky (17 thousand views), and her other star speakers were Radislav Gandapas, Mikhail Ivanov, Artyom Agabekov, Igor Mann.

Stars are rather an exception. Her approach is to pull out life hacks from practitioners, those who are less known in the public space, but no less effective in their field. This adds points: Gandapas and Mann, with all due respect to their work, are familiar faces, not online marketers and entrepreneurs known to the general public - those with whom Sarafan’s audience can associate themselves and therefore believe that they will succeed.

2. Design your podcast like a show to make it interesting to listen to.

Introductory jingle, sidebars, summary within the podcast, conclusions. Pull useful things out of the speaker so that the listener has something left to digest and think to himself. Each Sarafan podcast is accompanied by lead magnets - free materials such as a checklist, mindmap, video lesson or guide, which the listener can download and receive in addition to the main story. In exchange for an email, of course.

3. Pull out your emotions and charge yourself!

The listener will read bare facts in any interview, but real stories and real emotions are unique.Quality content is the best sales funnel.

Now Sarafan is developing along the path of niche media. A team of 5 people, including a production editor and a marketer, creates content for all stages of the funnel. External leads come from podcasts, blogs, and Taisiya’s own Facebook followers. Then they become participants in groups and summits, also for free, receive a lead magnet by leaving an email, and then begin to “warm up” with useful things from the newsletter.

This model is universal. At each stage of the funnel, a new tool may appear or be replaced by another, more effective one; one thing is important: compliance of all content with the spirit of the project and multichannel nature. Some people prefer to listen, others to read. Some will be delighted with Taisiya's new video show, others are waiting for the printed book.

Websarafan sales funnel

WebSarafan is not a classic infobiz, although Taisiya often calls her brainchild that way. This is a growing media company, and very technologically advanced from a marketing point of view. Kudashkina is about to launch her own show on YouTube about the everyday life of entrepreneurs.

This year he wants to finally start writing his own book - fortunately, the content has already accumulated for ten books. In a couple of months, they will start publishing on Sarafan and attracting external authors, and so it will already become a competitor to online portals like VC.ru, ROEM, firrma, etc.

For now, it is impossible to imagine that the project exists without her. This is both social capital, and significant risks, because Kudashkina’s personal brand is inseparable from Sarafan. Of course, the ideal way out is to go out of business and sell it as a ready-made “media” with an established audience to a large media giant. But you have to grow up to this, and first of all, the audience.

We are at the beginning of a unique era of niche media, where anyone can become a media company on a topic they love. There is so much for this free features: conduct webinars, record podcasts, blog, form a group, write on your Facebook page. Even if you don’t yet understand what all this will become in a year or five years, start doing at least something. And then, perhaps someday this will become your business dream.

The story of Taisiya Kudashkina shows that any dream has a place when there is action. In interviews, she always gives the same advice to beginners: do it! Do it, and something will happen. Do it, and you will be able to combine business with your dream. And ideally, make them one word.

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Taisiya Kudashkina A very interesting person! :)

For dessert, an exclusive interview with Taisiya Kudashkina: 3 tips for content marketing.

Frank conversation with yourself...

“It’s different for everyone. I’ve been searching for myself all last year!

And I will also study this one - I found the direction, but I did not allow myself to take the right image. She didn’t exactly give it. To myself.
My education is in applied mathematics, and all my life I have been engaged in some “near applied” professions. Starting from a database analyst, then product management, business analyst, then my own projects, which are not creative, but tech-oriented.

Natural sciences rule, mathematics puts brains in their place, engineers are always valuable, intellectuals will find a profession. An engineer can do everything, a humanist can do something within the scope of his profession. These are the attitudes of my family/childhood/life.
And I strictly follow family covenants. I've been following for 31 years. I forget about passion, I’m afraid to admit to myself, and especially to those around me, that my profession is not brains. That my profession is chatter, conversations, and I need to work with my face, tongue, hands, body, beautiful face. I’m great at networking, I feel people, emotions and am full of empathy. I know how to tell stories and inspire people to move. I know how to listen. I'm curious. And it's unique. And only I have it.

And it is true. And these are all the thoughts of the last 365 days. Exactly in that order.

I started with a sundress. But how?

I can’t start filming right away? Host a show? To interview? What if I can’t? What if they laugh? I just started with a blog.

It seems that in my crowd writing blogs is normal, it’s possible. Then I started making podcasts. Still, there is a backup - there is no filming, not a face, there is behind a computer screen, and everything is corrected, everything is then processed, you can run away and not show it. At times I put myself in cold water - like coming to a conference and starting interviewing everyone I could get my hands on. Then I started hosting summits and moderating conferences. It was the summits that gave me the impetus - I have to host events, talk shows, and review what is happening. These summits give me energy and fill me with happiness.

This is mine. Boltology of pure water!

Each new small step to the side gave a little more confidence and loosened the shackles of iron templates. I was treated cruelly as a child, why?

Etching is no longer an easy task.
And this year. This year, my main goal is to hold a huge business event in St. Petersburg (again, not because I want to be an event organizer, but because it will give me the opportunity to make 3-5 films/try myself as a director, host/moderate/chat huge event and save money) At NEW YORK FILM ACADEMY.

Take the children and leave, finally, to study what you have wanted for so long. Start doing your own talk show, doing your own interviews, and stop pretending that I’m an entrepreneur, or a geek, or that I like marketing, start-ups, SMM, or whatever else I picked up “seriously” along the way.

I like to talk, smile, show off, tell stories and evoke emotions. This is where I’ll put an end.

But about several mechanics that led me in that direction - in the article. But that doesn't matter anymore.

The important thing is that I told you all this and now I can’t get away with it.

We'll have to do/go/implement. Hold me by the scruff of the neck, comrades! "

Taisiya Kudashkina

60 thousand subscribers in the group
50 thousand e-mails in the mailing list
1.5 million rubles - turnover per month
Included in the TOP 100 women entrepreneurs in Europe according to Forbes.

Unlimited opportunities to travel, live anywhere in the world, spend time with children and family and at the same time manage what you love with mobile phone or laptop - an impossible dream or reality just steps away?

Today, the need for online educational services is growing like never before, which means that more and more people are concerned about developing their business. What stops many is that expertise in a particular area does not always coincide with related technical skills or availability starting capital. Fortunately, this is not at all necessary to start an online school or courses today. Business processes are easy to automate and...

The story of Taisiy Kudashkina, founder of the WebSarafan project, will help you gather your thoughts and take the first step. It is today she is the founder and CEO WebSarafan- a popular platform for entrepreneurs with an audience of 60 thousand subscribers.

But it was not always so.

Way to success

Taisiya is originally from Omsk, but began her career... right in Silicon Valley. However, Taisiya was unable to fit herself into the framework of a successful, highly paid corporate career as a data analyst. Too much energy, drive and desire to live by your own rules.

Thus was born the idea of ​​a promising startup - the review site tulp.ru, for the creation of which Taisiya, with her two-month-old daughter in her arms, managed to raise 50 million rubles. Moving to St. Petersburg, a team of the best developers, unique work in terms of SEO and content - it seemed that all the components of success were present, but the total result was not the same. The investor’s plans have changed, there are no sales, the need to pay salaries to a recruited team of 25 people and a complete lack of understanding of what to do next.

Out of my own “pain” and the desire to understand the jungle of marketing and PR, WebSarafan appeared. First as a blog, the first three articles in which Taisiya wrote herself. And then it dawned on her: why not ask the experts themselves how to build a business correctly, and record the conversation to share with others? This is how the format of podcasts with transcripts in the form of articles appeared.

The energy of live communication brought her real pleasure and drive. The podcasts and articles were emotional, unusual, and most importantly, useful. This is what attracted speakers and subscribers to the group. The popularity of the blog grew progressively, the number of subscribers increased. However, there was no way to monetize this project. On New Year's Eve 2015, even 700 rubles for a Christmas tree for children turned out to be an unaffordable expense.

When you have problems, you can give up and give up everything, or you can find a mentor

Taisiya found Peter Ponomarev, one of the best sales specialists in Russia, through an e-mail newsletter. He helped compose a chain of four letters and...the process began. It turns out that you can and should sell through the mailing list! In just one day, the first 80 thousand rubles appeared on Taisiya’s account. The newsletter became a selling tool, and thanks to this the project moved forward.

Taisiya tried to sell webinars with invited speakers, but it didn’t work out. She is a perfectionist and finds it difficult to accept the imperfections of others. Bad sound, unsightly background behind the speaker... she was not ready to answer for all this with her own reputation as a seller. They stopped selling webinars, but the idea of ​​summits appeared - offline events that are broadcast online to a Russian-speaking audience. High-quality installation of light and sound, rented premises, spectacular Taya as a presenter and still the most useful tricks and life hacks from the masters of their craft.

And remember that it is impossible to do effectively and for a long time what you don’t enjoy. In addition to financial motivation, you need an emotional level of charge and desire to do your business. That’s when that “wow” effect will happen, and your clients and subscribers will stay with you for many years.