Conversations with Dozhd CEO Natalya Sindeeva, the authors of the Telegram channel “Ruthless PR Man,” former managing director of Alfa Bank Alexey Marey and other heroes.

To bookmarks

1. “We found ourselves in hell and lost 80% of our viewers in a day.”

General Director of the Dozhd TV channel Natalya Sindeeva on how the editorial office managed to survive the 2014 crisis. Then the TV channel published a scandalous survey about the siege of Leningrad, and cable operators refused to broadcast it.

Disgraced oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky offered to help Dozhd, but the team refused his money and focused on monetization through subscriptions. However, when the crisis ended, the editors had internal problems.

We dealt with all the problems, restructured our work, and moved to a new studio in the Flacon design factory. When we all took a breath and reorganized our work, an internal crisis occurred.

This happens when people return home after a war and cannot rebuild themselves to live in peacetime. We experienced the same thing: there is no need to defend ourselves, we need to work. At this moment, a difficult process of reflection begins, because the team begins to disintegrate. Some people can’t find themselves, some are exhausted, burned out, and can’t do anything.

This was the most difficult moment: it was necessary to rebuild the work of the editorial office. And not all people were able to settle into their new life. Stagnation began, indicators fell, and the situation worsened.

2. “We earn about a million rubles a month on social networks”

The founder of Podslushano, one of the largest communities on VKontakte, where people anonymously share stories from their lives.

It belongs to an administrator named Vladimir Ogurtsov (not his real name), as well as three other partners, one of whom is the CEO of the media company Tigermilk Media, Arseniy Ashomko.

The community appeared in 2012. Over the course of five years, the authors developed their own mobile application, and the total audience of the project exceeded 9 million people. The team earns more than a million rubles a month on social networks.

Ogurtsov spoke about the inner workings - how many people work in the team, how editors select secrets and why he is not against plagiarism.

3. “What works for a small business won’t work for a business with 30 million customers.”

In October 2017, the founder of the Teremok restaurant chain, Mikhail Goncharov, complained on Twitter that due to falling purchasing power, it would be possible to close in “a year or two.”

In an interview with the Goncharov website, he went too far: his company does have problems, but they are not so critical. The difficulties stem from the fact that he is not ready to change suppliers and save on the quality of products, but since price is more important for many buyers, they prefer to eat at fast food chain restaurants.

If some kind of failure occurs in Russia, the company begins to be criticized. This fashion was introduced by Artemy Lebedev and Ilya Varlamov - they didn’t give you a card: write to technical support, why insult? I'm offended by this.

The West also makes mistakes. There is no need to think that here we are all kind of hunchbacked, and there we are all correct and efficient.

4. “The only thing a manager cannot delegate is questions of strategy.”

Shortly before leaving the post of managing director of Alfa Bank, Alexey Marey wrote a website about the secrets of productivity, his business rules, and sources of inspiration.

When my eldest son was four or five years old, he kindergarten nicknamed "Mr. Why". He pestered everyone with questions “Why?”

In 2008, I got into business school. And at the first lecture, the professor who taught our class asked who had children four or five years old. Since the people were all about the same age, a number of people raised their hands.

He asked: “Didn’t hesitate to answer the question ‘why?’” I was delighted: “Someone understands me.” And he said it's the same in business. There is a “five whys” principle: if you ask a person five “why” questions, then in 95 cases out of a hundred you can get to the root of the problem.

Therefore, you should never limit yourself to the first answer. This is an example that shows what a child can teach you - you just need to be ready to learn.

5. How films, games and TV series are translated

Co-owner of the RuFilms company Alexey Kozulyaev about the work of audiovisual translators: how content localization is prepared, how much time and money it takes to adapt one film or episode of a series, and what common mistakes authors make.

I always demand that translators move away from “cultural rednecks.” When the translator begins to “figure out” pounds, feet, inches, and so on, this is either his inability to translate the meanings into international system units, or disdain for the viewer.

Because of this, the meaning may be lost. What does the phrase “220 square foot luxury apartment” tell you?

Nothing.

Sounds like the size of a large apartment and that's it, right? And if you convert feet to meters, you get a little more than 20 m², that is, the word “luxurious” in this case takes on an ironic connotation.

The same applies to temperature units. Children who are brought into the hospital emergency room with a fever of 104 degrees always scare me. As well as the 40-degree bone-chilling wind and handsome men standing six feet six inches tall.

This is a very important element of a translator’s work - he must always understand for whom he is translating.

6. “We will get to the point where MDK becomes a champion for content creators.”

Shortly before the ICO of the entertainment platform MDK with the founder of the community Roberto Panchvidze about his business. The entrepreneur owns 22 communities and accounts on VKontakte, Twitter and Telegram, as well as his own creative agency.

Panchvidze told the story of the emergence of his “media empire.”

In 2011, the public page was more like a hobby for me: I had time to work, study, and something else. Back then I only needed to make five posts a day.

In 2012, the hobby began to bring in money. But that was not the main thing - I liked the attention. And as a psychologist, observe the psychology of the masses. And this was an experiment for me. I guess this was my way of stroking my vanity. It slowly began to drag me in.

7. “An anonymous channel is a padre who sits behind a screen in a booth.”

With the founders of the popular Telegram channel about PR specialists, marketing and media “Ruthless PR Man”.

They talked about how the idea for the project came about, the advantages of the format and plans for monetizing the channel.

It all started as a joke or an experiment. But then we got excited. We were very interested in the Telegram format as a new type of media broadcast directly to the brain.

In addition, we are tired of the atmosphere of hypocrisy and grotesque narcissism that reigned in the PR industry at the beginning of 2017. Now this is clearly less, and this is our merit. Yes, this thesis is also narcissistic, but we are the flesh of our industry.

In general, we initially created a channel with memes, but at some point a mission grew on us - people began to draw our attention to various egregious cases, tell jokes and confess in mail.

We have taken over the function of Rospyarnadzor.

And sometimes even a drinking buddy. We even tried to reconcile one of our readers with a girl. We're sorry it didn't work out.

8. How does an analyst work for a large investment fund?

Another anonymous one. This time - with an employee of the investment division of “one of the largest Russian oligarchic groups.”

He talked about how he started his career, the specifics of the work of Russian funds and the level of salaries.

Transactions for the sale of most companies in Russia are often opaque and sometimes only partially comply with legal standards. Also, when managing companies, controversial situations often arise between owners, which is why large funds usually have their own lawyers. Lawyers participate in the courts, but employees of the investment division also need to understand Russian and English law.

So far, drones cannot even recognize road signs by 50%. It is clear that the status of such a car is also not determined. What is it, what will be the responsibility if he gets into an accident.

How will he drive on roads where there are no markings? We are not as developed as in Europe or the United States, so the roads leave much to be desired in many regions. So, I think that the legal status of an unmanned vehicle will not be formalized in Russia any time soon.

Someday, yes, we will all walk around in silver suits and communicate without words at the level of telepathy, within ten years we will have all sorts of built-in technologies. Drivers will also be replaced, of course, but not soon.

10. “We have become so big that not many companies can buy us.”

And we felt that it was not profitable for us. We had no problems with bank financing.

We needed money mainly for the purchase of other businesses or for large construction, for example, to create the same data center. And transactions with funds somehow didn’t work out, and then we decided that there was no point in wasting time on this. We will develop ourselves, since everything is still growing.

During my journalistic career, I have conducted more than 3,000 interviews with a variety of people: from Alla Pugacheva and Roman Viktyuk to Ivan Urgant and Keanu Reeves. Also, as part of our “TALK Business” section, I interview the best businessmen in Russia.

1. Give yourself plenty of time to prepare.

Many people think that interview questions can be sorted out as they go along. However, this is not the case. If you don't prepare for the interview, then most likely it will be a failure. I usually spend about 4 hours preparing. The first three hours I study the materials, and the next hour I prepare questions.

So, the preparation must be thorough. Besides studying professional activity interviewee, be sure to review the following materials:

Biography and official website, if available.

Latest news from the life of the interviewee. This is very important because something very serious may happen in his life, for example, the death of a spouse. If you don’t know about this, although it has been written about in many places, then the question “How is your husband doing?” could be the most awkward thing of your life.

Interviews he gave for Lately. This is necessary in order to understand what he was most often asked about, and not ask similar questions.

Video of his performances.

Evgeny Demin and I during an interview

2. An interview is not a conversation.

The second rule is short: remember that an interview is not a conversation. In a conversation, both people have equal rights, but in an interview, you ask, and your interlocutor answers.

3. Set a goal for the interview

In Alice in Wonderland there was a very interesting dialogue between Alice and the Cheshire Cat. Alice asked the Cheshire Cat:

Where should I go from here?

Where do you want to go?

I don’t care... I just want to get somewhere.

Then it doesn’t matter where you go. You will definitely end up somewhere.

It's the same with interviews. Without a goal, you can come somewhere, but it is not clear where.

What is the purpose of your interview? Tell your readers about this person, his life story? Find out the secrets of his success in his professional activities? Find out more about his new project?

The interview must have a purpose, otherwise it will not work.

Now let's move on to the rules for composing questions.

4. Start with a warm-up

An interview is also an acquaintance. Don't immediately ask very deep or provocative questions. It's better to approach this gradually.

Start with warm-up questions. This technique is otherwise called “ice breaking,” which means “melt the ice,” and is used, for example, in negotiations.

Your task is to get the person talking and defuse the tense situation. For example, you could ask, “What were you doing before we talked?” or “What do you plan to do after?” You can start with a compliment. Let’s say: “I see you have such interesting paintings in your office. Did you choose it yourself?”

That is, first you need to ask 1-2 fairly easy questions that will not make you think too much.

During an interview with one of the best entrepreneurs in Russia Andrey Krivenko

5. Down with trivial questions

The list of the most boring questions looks like this:

Tell us about yourself or your business. This question can be asked to a person who is not yet known to anyone and is just starting his career, but not famous person. Just imagine starting an interview with Donald Trump with the question, “Tell me about yourself.”

How did your company/your book/your project come about? Imagine you are interviewing IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad. The company is over 70 years old and you ask him the question: “How did your company appear?”

Most likely, your question will remain unanswered. Can you imagine how many times he has already heard this question? Millions. Here you need to reformulate the question so that it sounds interesting. Let’s say: “Invar, how does it feel that you created a company that survived the Soviet Union?”

What are your plans? Another question that is not very popular. Of course, the topic is interesting, but the question itself is boring. You can reformulate it like this: “Which of the goals facing you in the near future inspire you most?” or like this: “What victories can we still expect from you in the coming year?”

My advice is not to ask questions that are too hard or too vague.

For example, “What is the meaning of life?” It is better to ask a simpler question that characterizes a person: “What is the most important thing in life for you?”

Or here’s another strange question: “What do you dream about?” In my experience as a journalist, this is a question that baffles almost everyone.

7. The interview should have integrity.

I used to make this mistake very often: I made a chaotic list of witty questions when preparing for an interview. The interview in this case turned out to be entertaining, but aimless. Each interview should have its own dramaturgy and its own integrity. First, you introduce readers to the interviewee, then you begin to ask questions related to the purpose of the interview.

Remember: 70% of the questions should be designed to achieve the purpose of the interview.

8. Ask questions that you are interested in hearing answers to.

When I prepare questions, I always proceed from what questions are of particular interest to me.

Of course, the questions should not be very narrow. For example, I don’t ask what color your kitchen towel is, even if I really want to.

My Teacher once said a great thing: “The right question is a question whose answer will give you something.”

I suggest starting from what you and I are doing. smart interviews. And so when you prepare questions, ask yourself: “How will the answer to this question change my life?”

9. Be sure to coordinate the interview

After you have completed the interview, you must send it to the interviewee for approval and warn you when it will be published. Don't forget to agree not only on the text, but also on the photographs you will use.

By the way, my favorite interview.

10. Organize a quick survey

This is not really a rule, just an addition to interviews that I often use myself. I conduct a quick survey at the end of the interview. Usually these are 5 questions in the style of “The best book for a businessman?”, “What are you willing to spend your last money on?” and so on.

You can come up with your own questions for the blitz. The main thing is that it is interesting and useful.

That's all. I wish you good and interesting interviews!

1) informational - when a person is asked what he saw or heard;
2) interview-comments - when a person is asked for his opinion;
3) interview-portrait.

Rules for writing an interview

Prepare carefully for the conversation. Contact will not work if you do not understand who you are talking to and what you are talking about. You need to spend several hours studying a person: look through his blog, find out what they write about him on the Internet, etc. Only in this case will you understand why your character is interesting.

Be sure to read previous interviews with this person and do not ask questions that have already been asked. When you are asked for the tenth time about the origin of your pseudonym, it gets annoying.

For the same reason, do not ask questions whose answers can easily be found on the Internet.

Ask about things that interest you personally. Routine questions lead to routine answers.

How to arrange an interview

Try to illustrate the text with photographs whenever possible. Visualization of the image is very important.

If you are given a written interview, try not to edit the text.

Once again: the text can be shortened and re-edited only in exceptional cases when it comes to an obvious error.

Never publish an interview without agreeing on the final version.

We have collected for you several good long interviews that were relatively recently released by various publications. Texts in this genre often needlessly fall out of sight - for example, because the name of the hero does not mean anything to the reader or because there was no time to read at the time the interview was published.

We have selected different topics - if you read Newtonew, then at least some of this will probably be of interest to you. If you want to recommend any other interesting recent interviews, leave links in the comments.

Shukhrat Mitalipov - about genetic diseases and the possibility of their treatment

One of the leading experts on genetic engineering in the world, Shukhrat Mitalipov, spoke in this interview about the latest scientific achievements in the field of cloning and gene reprogramming. Mitalipov explains that humanity has a real prospect of entering a world without hereditary diseases. Moreover, the interview raises an important question about the ethics of genetic experiments.

Shukhrat Mitalipov

I think research on embryos is ethical. To develop treatments for diseases, it is simply necessary to work with embryos. Otherwise we will never learn anything. It would be unethical to just sit and do nothing. If I hadn't done our experiments, how would we know how to deal with genetic mutations? Sooner or later, all this will become a purely medical procedure. Yes, at times we are very much criticized and asked - why are we messing with embryos and not treating children who have already been born with this disease? But the whole point is that once the mutant gene has already multiplied, it is difficult or simply too late to fight it. For example, in the case of cardiomyopathy, you can change all the genes, but the heart is already damaged. All diseases must be prevented - this is the most effective solution. I think that sooner or later the same thing will happen with genome editing that happened before with other medical procedures - they were first criticized, and then they got used to it and appreciated their benefits.

Lyudmila Petranovskaya - about children's aggression and violence in schools

Talk with teacher Lyudmila Petranovskaya, winner of the Presidential Prize in Education, about what to do with school bullying and outbreaks of violence among minors. Petranovskaya explains why it is impossible to reduce the level of violence in schools through prohibitions and strict discipline, and how adults, through their actions, fuel children's aggression.

Lyudmila Petranovskaya

teacher, psychologist

If we talk about primary school, in 80% of cases bullying is inspired by the teacher. Not always consciously, he just doesn’t like a particular child. He gives many signals about this - verbal and non-verbal. Children at this age are very loyal to the teacher; for them, an adult is the leader of the pack. They immediately pick up and begin to bully the one who is “creating problems for our teacher.” I know of cases when the teacher simply changed or it was possible to convey to him what was happening with the child. He began (maybe also unconsciously) to give other signals to the children. And everything stopped literally in a matter of days.

Ekaterina Shulman - about modern youth and a brave new world

Big Andinterview with political scientist Ekaterina Shulman - a cure for alarmist sentiments about the fact that children now are somehow not the same as before, and the world is heading to an unknown place. Shulman explains why children are not at all hopeless, and the world is heading in the right direction.

Ekaterina Shulman

Political scientist

We are witnessing the very slow death of initiation practices that assumed that at the age of puberty the entire pool of youth is exposed to something that not everyone experiences. Someone dropped out, but those who survived are already part of the tribe with battle scars and are considered a full-fledged hunter, breadwinner, and have the right to sex, property and autonomy. These practices are very deeply rooted in our consciousness; they are the plot of a significant number of fairy tales and most works of art about growing up. Now, in order to become a man, you no longer have to kill your own kind. Situations when you have to be beaten and you have to survive it, or you have to beat someone and, accordingly, survive it, are gradually disappearing. We will not say now what the consequences will be and how these practices will be replaced, we are simply recording this fact. Our tolerance for violence is getting lower and lower, so facts that no one paid attention to before become the subject of discussion and indignation - besides, thanks to technical means, everything is captured and published. One gets the impression that there is monstrous cruelty in the world - the girls beat another girl and posted the footage on the Internet. Tell me a class where girls or boys didn't hit another girl or boy! It’s just that no one had phones with a camera before.

Maxim Krongauz - about what is happening with the modern Russian language

Talk with linguist Maxim Krongauz about the modern language situation: how the language is enriched by memes and how to interest children of the Internet era in books written in literary language actually a bygone era.

Maxim Krongauz

linguist

Generations that grew up before actively using the Internet read books. And the generation that grew up during the fashion for the “language of bastards”, the fashion for distorting spelling, read from the screen no less than from paper. These people have not formed the correct graphic appearance of words. After all, we write correctly not because we learned the rule at school, but simply because we are accustomed to seeing the word this way and not otherwise. A literate person, in the vast majority of cases, cannot formulate a rule, but still knows exactly how to write. And for children who grew up in the Internet era, “author” in the correct spelling and “author” in Padonkov’s, in general, are almost equal. Today people do not check themselves: if a missing letter or comma does not interfere with understanding the message, then fine. The fashion for special distortion of words has already passed, but communication is still more important, not spelling. I must say that people in general have begun to treat spelling more simply. In Soviet times, if a person made a mistake, he was terribly ashamed. It was a shame and made writing psychologically difficult. In the Internet era, a fundamental question has arisen: either you write, but make mistakes (the vast majority of even literate people still make mistakes because they don’t double-check what they’ve written), or you continue to be ashamed, but don’t write anything. And then it turned out that communication is more important than language. People communicate with the level of literacy they have.

Sergey Popov - about mysterious radio bursts in space

Astrophysicist and popularizer of science Sergei Popov in this interview explains what is known about the cosmic phenomenon of fast radio bursts and how it was discovered. There are several hypotheses about what it is, there is even a version about extraterrestrial civilizations. Today, fast radio bursts are one of the main mysteries for astrophysicists.

Sergey Popov

Astrophysicist

In 1963, when quasars were identified (and they were discovered even earlier), hardly anyone would have said that in a few decades the entire orientation system would be based on them (without knowing it, in life we ​​navigate precisely by them ). Therefore, we do not know why fast radio bursts are needed, if only because their nature is unknown. Here we can draw an analogy with underground nuclear explosions, which were of great benefit to science. After all, what is an underground nuclear explosion? This is a very short energy release at a well-known point, from which a seismic wave runs throughout the planet. Thanks to this, you can study the depths of the Earth. Short radio bursts, if they occur at a distance of billions of light years, illuminate the entire Universe. Therefore, this is a very powerful tool for studying it; they will be needed to test many fundamental laws.

Andrey Rostovtsev - about the present and future of Russian science

Interview with one of the leading Russian physicists Andrei Rostovtsev, he touches on many interesting topics: he explains why fundamental science can only be international, and not Russian; comments on the reform of the Academy of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the work of the Dissernet project; explains the difference between the work of a scientist in Russia and abroad.

Andrey Rostovtsev

“...the Russian experience is the experience of reinventing the wheel, with a certain touch of maximalism. In fact, there is nothing wrong with a professor teaching part of the time and doing research part of the time. But! Let's say we had a joint experiment with a professor at the University of Chicago. His teaching activity is 200 hours per year. 200 hours! For Russia, where up to 900 hours are reached, and less than 500 is considered the lot of slackers, this is simply unthinkable. In addition, this professor has grants, which he spends on taking on graduate students who work in his project, and he discusses their work with them a lot, he passes on his knowledge and experience to them, they write articles together. He has time for this. So this is purely Russian - just take and squeeze everything you can out of a person. And what comes of it – well, that means that’s what will happen. Why not look at the experience of those countries where it works successfully? Every rector of ours optimizes the fund wages at your university. This means firing half of the part-time and part-time teachers, and forcing the remaining ones - those who are full-time - to work for three. You can’t do this, you need to approach everything with common sense.”

Hi all!

Today our guests are our old friends, like-minded people and just good people- Tanya and Vanya. We decided to torment them with questions and extract the invaluable experience of becoming two freelance travelers.

After all, every thing heard or read real story about how people realize their dreams brings us closer to understanding - everything is possible and everything is in our hands.

And now I suggest you get comfortable, pour some tea and get to know two very creative and very brave people.

1. A little about myself. What are you doing now and what were you doing before you started traveling?

T: I'm studying psychological counseling , graphology And photography, and various hobbies and projects periodically appear and disappear. Before I began my travels, I tried myself in many areas of activity - I worked in design, illustrations, handmade work, and writing articles, worked as a psychologist in a government agency and as an administrator in a photo studio. On our first six-month journey, I made money from photography (on-site) and design (freelance, remotely), and also drew pictures for a children’s website. Later she went into photography, and then into psychology - her main specialty.

IN: I'm working on it now music(writing, performing) and making exotic musical instruments, hapi drum.
Before that I worked as a programmer in the office, after that I worked as a web designer freelance and remotely.

2. How did it all start? What inspired you to travel?

T: We don't like winter :)
I personally was most inspired by your example with Syoma. I was working as an administrator in a photography studio when you went on your first six-month trip. Blog entries about palm trees, the sea and sunny India were a breath of fresh air, freedom, and adventure for me.

I looked forward to each new post and made plans for the next winter, especially after our short “test” holiday in Goa. At the same time, I read the stories of the same travelers - more precisely, travellers. It seems that there is still no adequate name for this way of living :) Also reinforced my intention and received a dose of inspiration from the book “Downshifting” by Sofia Makeeva. Then - the transition to freelancing and...

IN: One winter I took a vacation and we bought a 14-day tour to Goa. This was our first trip abroad, not counting Belarus and Ukraine.

And at that time our friends were spending the winter in Goa for the first time - in fact, you and Syoma =) You didn’t let us get bored, helped us rent a scooter and took us from boring Candolim to cheerful Arambol, which we immediately fell in love with. Actually, you have become our travel gurus, role models and inspirations, no less =)

When I returned, I could no longer live as before. After some time, I quit my job and wished that we would spend the next winter in India. By the way, I was so inspired by Syoma’s example that I also started creating websites and web design, and began to try my hand at freelancing.

3. What were the difficulties during preparation and at the beginning of the journey?

T: It was necessary to resolve issues with housing, work and reassure my parents :) Well, I didn’t fully believe in all this until our plane touched the landing strip at Delhi airport. However, everything settled down quickly and the best way- The Universe always knows what is best;)

IN: Following the example of Sema, who inspired me to travel and freelance, I began making websites. More precisely, try to do them. At the beginning it was very difficult, it brought in little money, there was no experience, and laziness was strong =)
But nevertheless, by the time of my first independent long-term trip, I had already worked in this way for six months. But it was still a leap into the unknown.

4. Impressions from the start of travel. From the first country where we arrived.

T: The first country is India. Everything was new and very unusual: people, streets, houses, nature, smells, food, customs. Actually everything!

IN: The first country was India.. Mom India =) Actually, we have already been to this wonderful and controversial country, but only in Goa and for two weeks. And then we arrived in Delhi.. Only a person who has been there can understand what it is =) In one word - chaos. And of course, from the very first minutes, all the “helpers” we met, starting with the taxi driver, tried to scam us out of money in the most amazing and unpredictable ways. But we did not give in. Then we had the most terrible 6 hours in the entire history of our travels in a local bus, filled to capacity with Indians, constantly chewing something and throwing garbage under them and out the window.

Only when we got to Pushkar and met our experienced friends Ksyu and Sema there, we were finally able to relax. Well, then everything was fine =)

5. Where did you go after that? Where did you like it the most? Where do you want to return?

T: We traveled around half of India, including on our motorcycle, were in Nepal, lived in different parts of Thailand. in Indonesia (Bali), spent a couple of days in Malaysia, took a look at Singapore :) We also traveled around Russia a lot, both before and after our six-month travels.

Somehow, completely uncharacteristically for myself, I visited Turkey, Egypt, a day in Israel and Palestine, and a day in Jordan.
Not many countries yet, but with a fairly deep dive into some :)

I like everywhere we go. I was pleased to return to Bali again, to Pai (Thailand), and would also gladly live once again in Dharamsala in northern India, and in Pokhara (Nepal). And, of course, Arambol in Goa is a second home.
And at the same time, I understand that there is so much unexplored, but it is not yet possible to cover everything.

IN: In my personal rating, Arambol (Goa) is always in first place; I have never met a more native place. I love Pai in Thailand, Dharamsala in northern India, I like to periodically visit Rishikesh, Pushkar, Udaipur for a few days. Pokhara (Nepal), Ubud (Bali).

6. How did you choose new places to travel?

T: The places were chosen spontaneously. At some point, information began to come from everywhere - from friends, acquaintances, from the Internet. This is how you constantly hear the mention of some places and descriptions of how good it is there - and then rrrr, and you go there. Or you see some attractive picture and think - why not?

And, of course, a lot depends on the budget, work, air tickets. So, for example, we spent a couple of days in Kuala Lumpur, although we initially did not plan to fly there. However, such tickets turned up that it was more convenient and cheaper.

IN: Tanya usually does this; she likes to read forums and blogs about travel and be inspired by them. Of the two of us, she is more active in terms of travel. I am more often guided by my inner feelings and inspired by personal travel stories.

7. The most burning question is about money and earning money while traveling. How is it for you? What challenges/opportunities do travel and remote work provide?

T: Unfortunately, we don’t have savings, apartments for rent or other sources of income, so we earn money ourselves while traveling.
This is not so stable, it imposes certain restrictions (we constantly need the Internet, equipment for work, and if this is work on site, then the place must be quite popular and touristic, plus be constantly in touch), this slightly reduces the effectiveness of word of mouth (we now in one place, now in another, and clients also come and go).

But! For me, taking photographs, for example, is much more pleasant standing knee-deep in the ocean or climbing further into the jungle than in some Moscow studio.

If we talk in general about freelancing/your own business/private practice, it’s nice to know that everything depends on you. Your earnings, your schedule. No bosses, no obligations, no 9 to 18 hours.

I can’t help but note here, remembering myself 3-4 years ago: instead of “from 9 to 18,” I had from 10 to 23, without holidays and weekends. The photo shows exactly that period :) But this is already a matter of properly organizing your schedule, your boundaries and the ability to relax. At first, freelancing is not easy for everyone, especially if it suddenly turns out that you are a latent workaholic, but at the same time you cannot adequately evaluate your work :) Therefore, at first we traveled very sparingly, and sometimes we had to ask our parents for help.

In general, working for yourself, doing what you love - what could be better? :) This approach provides a lot of opportunities. For me, this issue has been resolved a long time ago, and my freedom is much more important to me than stability, guarantees and social packages. Every year everything gets better, I develop my skills and abilities, and there is still more to come :)
As for the crisis, we organized our income in such a way that now we practically do not care about the ruble exchange rate. We earn mainly in local currency and dollars, and are not tied to the ruble exchange rate.

In general, the problem of the presence/absence of money, in my opinion, is much more connected with internal attitudes, limiting beliefs, following one’s own or not one’s path and some karmic moments than with the external situation, the demand for a specialty, crisis, etc. Therefore, working on yourself, your attitudes and beliefs is everything to us :)

IN: This question has been the most difficult for a long time. Freelancing did not bring much income; I worked for one season as a web designer remotely with an average Moscow salary. There was enough money, but there was neither time nor satisfaction. Now we have found our ways, everything is getting better and better. I have enough money and I like the work. Although the word “WORK” is not very suitable here, it’s more like your own Business. I don’t want to describe in detail what I do, I’ll just say that I found my Path. Everyone has it, other people’s recipes will not help here, but will only confuse. So, at one time, I was doing something that wasn’t my own business and for a long time I couldn’t understand why it was so hard for me and I didn’t want to develop, why did it bring so little money?

8. Another pressing question for many is about things, backpacks and their quantity. Your experience, advice for beginners.

T: We usually travel with small (50 liters) backpacks, plus small (but heavy!) backpacks with equipment. By the end of our six-month trip, we have overgrown with things, and we have another backpack or bag, plus yoga mats. Not very convenient, of course.

On our current journey, we finally gave up and bought suitcases with wheels :) We have little experience using them yet, but I can already say that they have certain advantages. It’s especially valuable when you’re walking somewhere in the heat and looking for a place to live - your shoulders don’t fall off, things obediently follow you, beauty :)
There is only one piece of advice for beginners, and it is extremely banal: don’t take too much!

IN: When traveling, the fewer things you have, the better. But there are nuances =) The number of things is proportional to the number of hobbies. The deeper I dive into music, the more instruments and devices I acquire. Recently I had to travel from Goa to Thailand with 37 kg of luggage =)
At the same time, there is always a minimum of personal belongings and clothing. Clothing in Asia is cheap, there are usually pharmacies everywhere, and household cosmetics can also be bought locally. As a rule, you won't need half the things you take with you.

9. What is the strangest or most atypical thing you have done while traveling?

T: It’s already difficult to say what is atypical for me :) Traveling teaches flexibility, the ability to adapt to any situation. Before all the travel started, 90% of what I do now every day was probably atypical for me. Get on a scooter and go buy fruit for breakfast, run around all day on business in several Goan villages, take off your shoes when entering a store or temple, go to watch the sunset by the sea, meet and make friends with a large number of interesting people from different countries and cities, communicate in English - all this would have seemed so strange before, but it has become so firmly established in everyday life.

One of the most unexpected things is to spend a day walking around Mount Govardhan in Vrindavan while listening to Vedic lectures and chanting mantras; ride a scooter, dodging buckets of cold water and shooting back with a water pistol; being mistaken for Iranian spies in some small Indian town and having breakfast in the company of a pot-bellied policeman there.

And a little over a month ago, we separated, completely untypically for us, and I spent a month alone in Bali, and Vanya lived in Goa for a couple more weeks, and then moved to Thailand. This experience was very interesting and productive for us.

10. What was your most vivid impression during your travels?

T: It’s difficult to single out just one thing. In addition, the emotional significance of impressions is very subjective. I can completely forget about some sight I saw, but I remember, for example, one sunset that we saw on our bike trip on the way to Goa and which for some reason evoked a lot of emotions in me.

Of course, natural beauties leave vivid impressions - the Himalayas, the sky and nature of Bali, beaches on the islands in Thailand, an incredible canyon in Jordan. And such unique cities as Varanasi.
And many bright impressions were gained in the process of communicating with people you meet while traveling. And this is also not an obvious side of travel at first.

11. Why are you returning to Goa? To India?

T: This is our home:) We have found a place that is always pleasant to return to. This is the village of Arambol in Goa - a concentration of the energies of creativity and knowledge. It’s warm here, the sea, fruits, interesting creative people, various seminars and courses, practices, concerts. I like the atmosphere, there are all the conditions for life and self-development, self-realization. This is a catalyst for development.
And India as a whole somehow attracts us the most. There is a soul here.

IN: For me, in India, in Goa, in Arambol, the fastest development is happening, here is the largest concentration of inspiring, interesting and creative people. Well, my heart just calls me to come back every time.

12. A little about India on a motorcycle. How did you decide to go on a motorcycle trip? What difficulties were there with the purchase and operation? What pitfalls can await those who want to travel around India on their own?

IN: After traveling to Goa for a couple of seasons on rented bikes and going to Gokarna, we realized that it was cool and we could travel across the expanses of India. For the next season we planned to buy a bike in Delhi, tour the cities around Delhi and then move to Goa on our own.

The first time everything was gorgeous and perfect, there were no problems with the bike at all. Only once, after several hours of shaking on gravel, which according to the map should have been a road, one of our shock absorbers broke. But 30 Indians who don't understand English and 50 rupees solved the problem. That's all, I never even checked the oil.

The second time was more interesting. We flew to Delhi again, went to the same seller from whom we took the bike, and first took the Enfield from him.

We loaded it with things and ourselves, and had already driven 100 km from Delhi, when suddenly it began to rhythmically sway from side to side with increasing amplitude at a speed of 70 km/h. We laid down a ton of bricks, but I held the bike, carefully braked, we exhaled, recovered from the stress and decided to return.

In the evening we drove back, brought the bike to the seller, and asked: “What’s going on?” He replied, “I don’t know anything, you overloaded him.” Yeah, they overloaded it. Enfield. We weigh a total of 110 kg, luggage is another 30-40 kg, like no one goes to the mountains with things on it? But no, if you gave money in India, it is very unlikely that they will return it to you. Therefore, I had to pay extra and take an Avenger, the same as last time... But it’s not necessary once in a while.

At first it turned out that he had a crack in his crankcase. It turned out when all the oil leaked out and the engine completely stalled. It was funny to carry the bike in the back of a cargo rickshaw, in which it barely fit, to the nearest service station. And then there is the replacement of the piston and cylinder and other small parts. In fact, we repaired it in every city we stopped in. But it is worth noting that each time it broke down exactly at that moment and in the place where we could quickly get help.

T: So you need to keep in mind that anything can happen here, and be prepared to be delayed on the way or spend a few extra thousand rubles on repairs. But now even I understand the insides of the bike and know where to look and what to check, which has already helped me when renting a scooter :)

13. What myths about India did you debunk while getting to know the country?

T: I didn’t have any special ideas about India, so I probably won’t be able to say that they would debunk something directly. I heard that India is dirty, there are a lot of poor people, the food is spicy, but at the same time it is good there, there are many opportunities for spiritual development and beautiful nature - everything is so.

As for Goa, there are many myths about it. For example, that this is an expensive resort or, on the contrary, a very cheap hippie place. That this is a purely party place, where there is nothing else to do except go to parties and lie on the beach - and that here yogis sit on each other’s heads, and clean the chakras with half a turn :)

All this takes place, but life is multifaceted, and in Goa layers of reality simultaneously coexist, which sometimes do not intersect with each other.

If you came to relax, hang out and swim, then you won’t understand how in Goa you can work from morning to evening or learn something, develop, and self-realize. And vice versa.
And if you are used to eating in expensive restaurants, then it won’t occur to you that here you can have a very hearty and tasty meal for 30 rupees or even for free :)

Everyone sees some side of themselves, hence such conflicting ideas about Goa.

14. Traditional advice and wishes for beginners and thinkers: where to start, what to prepare for. Maybe there are some secrets about buying tickets/visas/accommodation that you are ready to reveal?

T: You need to prepare for the fact that traveling is not only about beautiful views, new places, vivid impressions. This is also deep work on yourself, which is not at all obvious at the beginning. Here you leave your comfort zone, and you have to solve a bunch of issues with housing, transport, and household things every day.

You learn to be flexible, not to get attached to food, rituals, habits. You have a minimum of things, a minimum of comfort. If you also work while traveling, then you learn to work in any conditions, adapting to the presence/absence of the Internet, electricity, sockets, desk, etc. In this regard, it’s easier if you live in one place for a long time, then the level of comfort increases sharply.

We don’t have any special secrets when it comes to buying tickets, obtaining visas and finding accommodation, and even here it’s difficult to give universal advice. The only advice would be to read thematic forums, blogs, and groups on social networks. Find out how things are with this in each specific country or city, and look for the latest information, because everything is changing quickly.
And of course, you need to be open and trust the world. Everything will work out)

All photographs in the article were provided by the heroes of the story - Tanya and Vanya.

Anahata Art Shop with Vanya glucophones and goods from India -