Their photos collect hundreds of likes, and the number of friends and fans is in the thousands. Who are they - the most popular girls in Kursk in in social networks and what is their secret?
Alena Nahalena
Subscribers: 15 421
Friends: 7075
Zodiac sign: Capricorn.
What is your occupation: marketing director.
Hobby: landscape design.
Favorite book: The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown.
Favorite movie:"Best offer".
Favorite place in the city: my house.
Major achievements in life: in the profession - completed tasks and projects. In his personal life - a strong family.
By herself!
I never thought about it. And I definitely have no secret. I am not a model, but I love the process of photography. Many people like my photos. They often ask about photographers, ask for advice on which of them to choose.
Ekaterina Komarova
Subscribers: 7 315 people
Friends: 61
Zodiac sign: Virgo.
What is your occupation: graduated from RFEI with a degree in management. At the moment, a housewife, I am raising a 4-year-old daughter.
Hobby: I go in for sports, I really like to cook. I grow flowers, in the summer I always have a lush flower bed.
Favorite book:"The Pianist" and "Avarice" by Elfrida Jelinek.
Favorite movie: I love thrillers with an exciting and intense plot and an intricate ending.
Favorite place in the city: where there is more entertainment for children - Manege, Lukomorye, Baskin Robbins.
Major achievements in life: the birth of my daughter Vasilisa.
A real woman should be able to be different. In the morning it smells fresh, in the afternoon - delicious pies, and in the evening - expensive perfume. Every day she falls in love with her man.
What is the secret of your online popularity: I have been "VKontakte" since the first days of its appearance. I posted my photos from my life, kept an album with funny messages that guys wrote to me for the purpose of dating. I also had my own group with the uncomplicated name "Blondes of the city of Kursk", which was very popular with both girls and guys.
Milena Rayskaya
Subscribers: 5,893
Friends: 145
Zodiac sign: Scorpion.
Field of activity: I am getting a law degree.
Hobby: singing.
Favorite books: Osho.
Favorite movie:"Diary".
Favorite place in the city: hard to single out, I love Kursk.
Major achievement in life: I'm going to my goal, I want to open my own business.
A real woman should be queen in society. And of course, modest.
I am always different. It gets attention.
Marina Goncharova
Subscribers: 2 679
Friends: 1628
Zodiac sign: Virgo.
Field of activity: photographer.
Hobby: cooking.
Favorite book: The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger.
Favorite movie:"I am the beginning."
Favorite place in the city: Boevka.
Major achievement in life: family.
A real woman should be loving: family, business, yourself. And happy. For me, happiness is a daily discovery. Every day there is something new: new emotions, places, books, people.
What is the secret of your online popularity? I do not know. I don't do anything specifically for this.
Anastasia Kurpitko
Subscribers: 3 123
Friends: 183
Zodiac sign: Capricorn
Field of activity: I study at KSU, 3rd year, journalism department.
Hobby: I like to sing, write poems and stories that I don't show to anyone, read books.
Favorite books: I am a connoisseur of J.K. Rowling, Paulo Coelho.
Favorite movie: TV series based on the novel by Leo Tolstoy "War and Peace", "Interstellar".
Favorite place in the city: gym "Venets GOLD", because it helps to remove the burden of the day.
Major achievement in life: I have everything ahead!
A real woman should be feminine, well-groomed and loved!
What do you think - work related to children, because this is every mother's dream? When there is an opportunity to combine spending time with your child and the job of your dreams. One of these ways is to open a children's club. Today we talked with Victoria Boeva and Tatyana Amaryan about the club they created English Preschool « Discovery , and also that any brave mother in her city can open it. How to do it? Read in the interview.
Good day! Tell us about yourself, how did you come up with the idea to open English Kindergarten?
Tatyana Amaryan: “It all started 5 years ago, when Viktoria Boeva and I gave birth to our second children and began to take them to different development centers. At that time, the older daughters needed a kindergarten. And as it happens, we were missing something everywhere. Either the qualifications of the staff and the content of the program, or the atmosphere. Then we decided to open our own kids club. At the moment, our project has been fully implemented, two English kindergartens have been launched. Since the kindergarten was created for their children, our clients always feel it and talk about it. We are very demanding in all matters, from the choice of the teacher and the quality of food, to the finishing materials that we use when opening.
But why not just a kindergarten, but English?
As we said, the garden was open to its children. And I wanted to invest as much as possible in them. Now language has ceased to be a privilege, but has become a necessity! And when children from an early age study with a native speaker, they already have a completely different pronunciation, the fear of communicating with foreigners absolutely disappears. Americans and British have completely different attitudes and learning requirements. We want children to study according to international standards.
Do you have any special training? Have you been in business before?
V past life Boeva Victoria was the CFO in a large state-owned company, Tatyana Amaryan worked in marketing in the largest investment company... We graduated from the Plekhanov Academy. Having accumulated the necessary experience, professionalism and business knowledge, we decided to try ourselves in private business. Moreover, this was accompanied by the birth of second children and there was no longer the energy and time to work in the office from 9 am to 9 pm. I wanted to do my own business, but not as trivial as a beauty salon or a cozy cafe, but socially significant, in order to benefit society, my children, influence the education and development of future generations. No matter how pompous it may sound, but the development of a person as a person, as a future citizen, begins in kindergarten and what talents you will discover in it at this age, what skills you will develop, how you will love and educate - this will be the key to the future, to the further success and growth of a person. Initially, understanding little in this area of activity, we entered the franchise of one well-known network of children's clubs. But, having worked for more than 3 years, we figured out all the intricacies of the business, changed the profile of activities from developing groups to English kindergartens, and began to position our own trade mark- Discovery.
After more than 6 years of work in this field, we understand that this is the ideal business when you bring joy to people and realize that you are changing future generations! At the same time, your children are with you! Also, planning your schedule on your own, you manage to redo thousands of cases in a day, which would not have been possible if you were a hired manager in an office. In our opinion, this best business for a young mother with children ”.
How does your nursery differ from other similar projects?
English Preschool "Discovery" is an intelligent space with a high level of teaching and a home atmosphere for anyone looking for the best way to teach English to children. The purpose of English Preschool "Discovery" is to help children learn to think in English language, to feel the foreign language as native. Classes are based on intuitive learning. Our motto is "Do not learn the language, but think in it." Children from the children's club English Preschool "Discovery" easily continue to study in foreign schools both in Russia and abroad.
Our project was tested on our own children, we asked them what they like and what they don't, what teacher is their favorite, what kind of food is delicious. The opinion of a small person can differ sharply from that of an adult, therefore it is important to take into account children's interests when planning work in kindergarten. In addition, we ourselves, as demanding mothers, tried to select all the best for our children - the best teachers, the best methods, and educational aids. Over time, this has grown into a quality standard that we maintain on a daily basis. Maybe our reputational things do not allow us to really save in our business, but they provide our high level of education and service and keep us in high positions.
Now there are many different opinions - is it worth teaching a child? foreign language from early childhood. What are your observations?
Our experience 100 percent confirms that it is worth it or not - this is a wrong judgment, it is necessary! any kid. To date, a wealth of experience of scientists and psychologists has been accumulated regarding the development of bilingual children. In short, bilingual children adapt better in any conditions, communicate better with other people, they have fewer fears in new ones. non-standard situations, they are better at concentrating and remembering information. And this is only superficial information, not to mention the scientific point of view, the formation of the thinking and behavioral abilities of these children. Therefore, our advice is to teach as much as possible. more languages since childhood, the future belongs to this! But to everyone educational process you need to be approached wisely, do not forget to take into account the individual psychological characteristics of each child. Any training should be beneficial, not harmful.
From what age are there programs in the garden?
Development programs start with 8-month-old babies. These groups allow children to adapt to the kindergarten and give an initial level of learning mathematics, language, and develop their creative abilities. Classes directly in kindergarten begin at the age of 2.5. We have 3 different age groups of the garden: 2.5-3.5, 3.5-4.5, 4.5-6 years. For each group, an author's program is prescribed in English, broken down for every day, which includes the all-round development of the child: preparation for school, music, physical culture, choreography, chess, classes with a psychologist and speech therapist.
Tell us about the team? I went to the site, all the faces are young. What is the reason for this? Maybe young people get along better with children?
We try to take young teachers full of strength and enthusiasm for the work. They themselves have recently been children and are on the same wavelength with their pupils! We also believe that it is better to fill out a blank sheet of paper, through redoing a written book. We take guys who love to create, come up with all sorts of experiments and many other interesting things who know how to keep the child's interest and at the same time know how to play with him, jump and run. Children are always drawn to young people. Our teachers are "on the same wavelength" with children! Such employees, of course, are very difficult to find, so our selection is: 1 out of 30-50 candidates. Of course, we sometimes face difficulties in terms of age composition. But in the process of work, everything falls into place.
Now you have two English kindergartens, what are your plans for the future?
In the future, we plan to develop our network through the sale of franchises for organizing English Discovery kindergartens.At present, we already have several potential buyers, most of whom are our clients, see how our business is built and operate, see what progress their children have (many already freely communicate and play in the language). Our clients trust us, and this is the most important thing for us, because it is impossible to work without trust.
On the site you have the opportunity to open a kindergarten for a franchise. Tell us in more detail what do you offer? Mom in any city can open such a club?
We plan to open no more than 5 franchised clubs in Moscow, and are also ready to work with other cities and countries. We set ourselves a goal - not to lose quality, and to accomplish this, you cannot open 200 clubs, because control is automatically lost and each club lives its own life. Also, we want every franchise club to be successful and profitable, we have specially developed a financial model for this. It is not important for us to just sell the franchise, it is important for us to sell the franchise to a special person, our like-minded person. We must trust a potential partner, his managerial skills, so as not to disappoint him in his expectations. For this, we are ready to help our partners around the clock, starting from business organization and ending with current daily activities.
What advice can you give a future entrepreneur, and part-time mom?
Advice to a future entrepreneur and mom - not to be afraid of difficulties, not to be afraid of financial losses, to go forward, to develop and believe in yourself. You can, after all, sit at home or in the office all your life, close yourself from new projects, not try anything new! Is this the meaning of life? Think about it, stop being afraid and go! You know, there is such a good saying: "If you want to evaluate your life, think about what they will write in your obituary."
What can you wish our readers?
Not to be afraid of anything and be able to take risks. Our common sense is always trying to stop us and find loopholes. Starting from small things at work and ending with global issues! You need to enjoy everything you do!
Tatiana Amaryan and Victoria Boeva
And who will bring up the children?
Doing business for a young mom often seems like a daunting task. Some give up work entirely in favor of raising children, while others wait until the child goes to school. Even 10 years ago, the thought of their own business seemed wild to mothers: who will raise the children?
Now the situation has changed, and we are sure that a child is by no means a hindrance, but... Coming up with your own business from scratch, even if you are raising two small children, is quite possible.
5 years ago, when our second daughters were only 6 months old, we opened our first kindergarten. They began their journey with the acquisition of the franchise of a popular children's club, but they quickly became disillusioned with someone else's concept and decided to come up with their own. This is how our English Discovery kindergarten was born.
The project turned out to be successful, and without thinking twice, we decided to develop our own franchise. Now in Moscow there are already 5 kindergartens operating under our brand, and we are just beginning to expand our network.
How do you create a product that everyone wants to buy?
The success of a project is, on the one hand, a matter of luck, on the other hand, it is the result of labor, a long journey of trial and error. In fact, there are simply no universal rules, and no one knows the perfect recipe.
Concept
Any successful project starts with a good idea. Very often, those products that were created artificially, and did not arise from the natural needs of society or the market, turn out to be unsuccessful.
Of course, a well-thought-out concept is equally important. and a detailed strategy for product implementation - without this, no idea will be implemented.
In the field of private preschool education original idea plays a large role, as it can sometimes bring tangible competitive advantage.
For example, the concept of the American Sylvan Preschool Center is based on tutoring (mentoring). Each child has a mentor who helps them to reach their potential and works with them individually.
It seems that this is exactly the approach parents were waiting for, since the club soon became extremely popular, and over the 30 years of its existence, the franchise has grown throughout America and Canada.
If we talk about our project, then we didn't want to open another kindergarten where it will be simple.
We strove to create a comprehensive learning system that would allow children, on the one hand, to fully immerse themselves in the language environment, and, on the other hand, to develop their other talents - logic, artistic and applied creativity, plasticity and acting. A place where children can prepare for further progress in life. It turned out that many parents want just such services.
Quality
A successful concept and its competent implementation are far from the only guarantee of success. It is equally important to ensure the quality of the product at all levels - from the selection of suppliers, equipment and materials to the qualifications of the personnel involved in the project.
This criterion seems obvious, but in reality, not everyone strives to set high standards. Someone wants to save money, someone is afraid that there will be no demand for an expensive product. We are sure that when developing a new project, quality is not the criterion on which to save money.
In our project, the quality of the equipment and training materials that we specially order from the USA became of fundamental importance for us. We also developed and patented our own method, which includes preparing children for the International Preschool Curriculum, created by specialists from Harvard University.
The target audience
You can come up with an ideal solution only when you know exactly for whom you are creating a product. The better you represent your client's portrait, the more likely you will hit the target. This is probably why the most successful projects in the field of preschool education were opened by parents who were looking for something special for their child, suitable for him.
For example, it was with the world-famous Kumon children's center - it was founded by a Japanese mathematician who wanted to instill in his son a love of learning and teach him what he will later need at school. The method turned out to be so effective and interesting to other parents that now children in 49 countries of the world are taught using it.
In our case, understanding the audience was also not difficult.... We ourselves are mothers with children preschool age, and therefore perfectly understood what our customers were waiting for.
Parents today don't just want to "house" their children during working hours. A stable group of clients has already formed on the market, who strive to receive an individual approach and unique services from the kindergarten, which are not available in an ordinary kindergarten. That is why we tried to create a “niche” product that would cover the unmet demand.
Know-how (methods, schemes and tools)
For a project to be successful, it is also important to develop a quality accompanying service and a set of practices and methods that will help you understand your product. If we talk about a franchise, then it should be a simple and useful toolkit to help you successfully start your own business.
We have gone through a difficult path of developing our own, and therefore knew exactly how important it is to accompany our franchisees at all stages.
That is why we provide advice on the selection of personnel, help in finding premises, creating a design project and purchasing equipment; we provide a specially designed advertising strategy, as well as Maintenance, we help to plan financial activities and train staff.
Control
To maintain the quality of the product, you need to think over a clear control system. Control should accompany the project at all stages of life and include planning, reporting systems, monitoring and analyzing the status of the project, as well as a thoughtful response scheme, if necessary.
Since the kindergarten design involves a lot of responsibility and attention to detail, control is paramount.
We carefully monitor safety, monitor the progress of educational work, conduct regular observations, interviews with children and teachers, and have developed several levels of reporting and questionnaires for parents. Our franchisees also go through several stages of checks and have their own reporting system. Such conditions are necessary to maintain the quality of the brand and product.
In this regard, the experience of the Sylvan center is interesting - they carry out control through electronic systems, and this applies to both work with children and with franchisees.
For example, they create personal websites for their students, which reflect the entire learning process and the child's progress. The very principle of a personal approach and online access is very modern and relevant for many areas of business.
Personal attitude
Perhaps the main secret successful project Is a personal relationship to a product. Love for your work, no matter how trite it may sound, is the very factor that always remains connecting and, possibly, determining. If you love your product, it will be much easier for you to "fall in love" with both employees and customers.
Tatiana Amaryan and Victoria BoevaTatiana Amaryan and Victoria Boeva are not only friends and business partners, but also mothers - four charming daughters for two. It was the appearance of the younger ones, Margarita and Emilia, that radically changed their lives and helped them find their dream job. Tatiana and Victoria decided to open their own children's club - one that would be interesting for their own daughters to go to, and not simple, but English-speaking - by the way, the first in our country to receive the right to work under the preschool education program of Harvard University.
Marie Claire: Please tell us how and when it all started: where did the idea for a joint project come from?
Tatiana Amaryan: We have very interesting story acquaintance. Our husbands have known each other for a long time, but have never been close friends. In 2010, when our youngest daughter Emilia was born, the husband suddenly decided to call Vika's husband and tell about this wonderful event. It turned out that their second daughter was also due to be born in a week ...
Victoria Boeva: And also - that we live in the same house, our husbands are of the same nationality, my wedding day is September 15, and Tatiana's is September 14. And there are a lot of such incredible coincidences. We have common interests, our children are friends, we often travel together and have become almost inseparable - all the more so now that we are doing one thing, getting great pleasure from it every day. At first, we just thought about a joint business, because, having already two children, we didn't really want to return to the office rhythm ...
And why exactly a kids club, and not a beauty salon, for example?
Tatyana: At that moment, our youngest children were six months old. A variety of scenarios were considered, including the option with a beauty salon. But we were looking for something that would give us the opportunity to balance, devote enough time to both work and family - now we ourselves can plan our schedules. Moreover, our youngest daughters study in our kindergarten, so we are always with them, and the elders go to Discovery English Preschool for additional classes after school.
Victoria: In general, it was something like: "Let's open a kids club?" - "Lets do it!" Together we make decisions very easily and quickly. We had no experience in this area, so we acquired a franchise from a popular chain. We rented a large room on Barrikadnaya, and it started.
Five and a half years ago, when you opened your first kids club, what was the picture in this niche? What are the obvious disadvantages of private gardens in Moscow?
Tatyana: Then this segment of the market was almost not mastered, there were several gardens with an English bias - but with overpriced tuition fees there, while the demand for them was very high. Parents, having no alternative, were ready to pay any money, as long as their baby learns the language. But now the situation has changed, and clients began to understand this issue more deeply. Indeed, in addition to the fact that a native speaker will deal with the child, it is also important - in what atmosphere, according to what program, in what conditions of stay, etc. We tested our project on our own children, we wanted to create a kindergarten that would meet the highest standards - an intellectual space where our pupils could develop in an English-speaking environment.
You are the only ones in Russia who started working on the Harvard University's International Preschool Curriculum program. Why did you choose it, and how popular was the program?
Victoria: Starting a business, we were looking for a universal methodology with a very detailed schedule. But after some time we realized that it does not fully meet the demands of our clients, which are quite high. Two years ago, we prescribed our program for four years - with transparent and detailed reporting by teachers and a clear plan for each day. That is, any parent can immediately see what their child has learned today, what he has excelled at, what disciplines he will take in a month, six months, two years, etc. We retained the copyright and adapted this program to obtain an educational license.
Tatyana: Now we already have two clubs in Moscow, two more have acquired our franchise and are working on it. With three we are at the stage of negotiations, and in the near future we plan to enter the regions. We are now teaching teachers according to our own program. Building a good team is the key to success, and at the same time the most difficult task. To find one, you need to meet with 30-40 candidates. In addition to knowledge of the language and teacher education, it is important that the person is very positive and “charged” to work with children. Mostly young specialists work for us - their eyes are shining, and they want to change our future.
Besides English, what other bands are there in Discovery now?
Victoria: The main focus is considered to be in a group with a native speaker; we also offer a combined Russian-English program. At the same time, we have a large number of evening activities, such as robotics (creating robots from constructors), mental arithmetic, music lessons, drawing, etc. We also have a professional grandmaster in our team.
Modern children already at the age of three use smartphones and tablets to their full extent, however, there are many supporters of restricting them in every possible way from communicating with gadgets - so that children communicate more with their peers in real life... Do you agree with this position
Tatyana: Partly, of course. We use electronic whiteboards, and some parents had requests to use tablets in teaching, since now there are a lot of great educational programs, but we deliberately refused this - outside the garden, children, as you said, spend so much time with them ... In our family, for example, the use of tablets and phones is minimized - no more than 20 minutes a day. Our children like to play ordinary board games - when there are two sisters and they have a little difference, they always have something to do
Victoria: We also try to give children a phone for a maximum of an hour a day. The eldest daughter, she is 12 years old, mainly uses it for communication on social networks, and the youngest is six, and she enjoys developing creative blogs on how to make various crafts at home.
Every year more and more private children's clubs are opening, including those with a language bias. How do you manage to survive among competitors, what is your secret?
Tatyana: Now it's getting harder and harder to come up with something new, but without it you won't hit the market. There should be an idea, a belief that everything will work out, and consumer demand should be studied as much as possible. You need to understand what people want, how to make their life better and more comfortable, and offer them this. And yet - to do it the best. It took us five years to fully debug business processes, to come to the optimal financial model, register a franchise and sell it. At the same time, we try to maintain a very high level of qualifications of teachers, conduct training seminars for the whole team, and update methodological manuals. Now we are working on our own book on intuitive language learning at an early age - when a child learns to understand English in a natural environment, he perceives learning as an exciting game and progresses rapidly. Our goal is to help children learn to think in English, to feel a foreign language as their own, "absorbing" its rules on an intuitive level. We also pay special attention to food and safety - video surveillance and security, in addition to this, our specialists take Red Cross first aid courses, and each pupil has an insurance policy. We also maintain a very high level of service, our priority is an individual approach to each child and a quick response to all parental requests. Therefore, we can safely say that we know everything about our clients.
Victoria: The startup demanded full mobilization from us. To keep the bar, you need high degree organization, consistency, diligence, sociability, responsibility in decision-making. Starting something new is always stressful. When working in corporate structure you only risk your place of work, and having your own business, you are responsible for virtually everything and risk everything, from investments to relations with government agencies. Of course, it is important to love what you are doing, but at the same time you need to have great knowledge in this area, not be afraid to make a mistake, believe in yourself and go only forward.
How do you allocate areas of responsibility among yourself? Share your life hacks for successful coworking work?
Tatyana: With a partner, you need to agree on everything on the shore and share the functionality at once. If two financiers want to organize children's business, then they are unlikely to succeed. Rather, polar people who fully trust each other are more likely to work together. We are very lucky, each is responsible for their favorite part. Victoria graduated from the Academy. G.V. Plekhanov with a degree in Finance and Credit, so she is completely immersed in the “systematic nature” of our business - finance and budgeting. I am a marketer by education - I also have a diploma from the Plekhanov Academy, and in our business I am responsible for promotion, advertising and the methodological part. At the same time, I have mastered a new profession for myself - a room designer (having studied all the norms and requirements of the SES), and also I am engaged in the manufacture of all advertising layouts our network.
How do you spend your free time? Where are you looking for inspiration?
Victoria: As we said, we have many common interests. First of all, of course, travel. We love Rome and New York very much. We also often arrange family holidays and different themed parties... We graduated from sommelier school together, now we periodically go on wine tours. We also love to cook and dream of going on a gastronomic tour to Italy or France. By the way, all our clients are very interesting, they always inspire us to new ideas and achievements.
What are you dreaming about?
Tatyana: Globally - together with our team we want to change the world! Since we see the results: our pupils are completely different from their peers, they see no boundaries in communication, they are absolutely free and creative, they easily adapt in any conditions and successfully continue to study in foreign schools both in Russia and in the West. And in the next few years, we want to turn into a small family network and continue to work for those who share our values and want their children to develop comprehensively and qualitatively.
