«There's nobody to work, and the lack of light makes the situation unbearable.» The story of an entrepreneur from Mykolaiv who closed a 7-year-old carpentry business

The full-scale war brought many challenges for Ukrainian entrepreneurs. For more than two years, many of them were forced to work in extremely difficult conditions: under shelling, without electricity, in constant uncertainty. Some were able to stay afloat even in such conditions, but there are those who had to close their business, in which they invested years of work.

One of these stories is the path of Anastasia Marzipan, the owner of a carpentry workshop in Mykolaiv, which she successfully developed for 7 years. Her wooden photo backgrounds became popular among bloggers and photographers on Instagram back in 2017. The girl devoted 7 years to this business and made orders for her clients even when Mykolaiv was under constant fire from the Russian army.

NikVesti talked with the entrepreneur about the main problems at work and the reasons for closing the workshop.

How did it all begin?

Anastasia started her business by accident. In 2017, she asked her boyfriend to make a wooden photo backgrounds for her blog. The background caught the attention of followers, and this prompted her to start working with wood.

«We started this business once with my boyfriend. How did it start? I just asked him to make me a photo backgrounds for my weight loss blog. The blog was successful, but the weight loss was not very successful,» Anastasia jokingly recalls. «Never in my life did I dream of becoming a carpenter. The field is as new and unclear as possible for me. But there is a principle in life, whatever I do, I try to do it well. And it turned out, I want to tell you, really well.»

The first steps in the work of the workshop were not easy. Anastasia says that there are many nuances in working with wood that she knew nothing about. Dry and wet wood, sanding — these were all just unknown terms.

«We processed orders for our first customers about six months later, when we really understood what wood is. A very large number of clients came to us at that time, subject shooting was super popular. Restaurants, shops, photographers — everyone needs beautiful backgrounds. And for me, it is important that a person has a quality product in his hands,» says Anastasia.

An important step before starting your own business is market analysis, she says. At the moment when the Mykolaiv joinery was just starting to gain momentum, the owners realized that there were competitors in the niche, and there were many of them:

«For some reason, I came to this field at one time with the understanding that no one does this. But six months passed and I saw that we have competitors. And it's not just anyone, it's people with investments, they have advertising budgets, a marketing strategy. And we had nothing. We paid 1,000 hryvnias for the rent of the very first room, and it seemed that this was some incredibly crazy money. Then I borrowed money from my friend and bought an iPhone, because I needed a cool phone for advertising and high-quality shooting with beautiful pictures.»

The range of the workshop in those years consisted of the following items: photophones and trays. Later, cake tins and mouthpieces, made by Nastia's boyfriend, Stepan, appeared. The girl herself was engaged in painting products, marketing and creating content for their Instagram page. «Mother of everything,» Anastasiia jokingly called herself. Later, several other masters joined the team.

Business development and challenges during the pandemic

«Before the beginning of the invasion, we came with a pretty good team, but the period from the beginning of the coronavirus epidemic and the war was also very difficult for us. My boyfriend and I broke up at that time. It was a morally difficult period for me, but my team said: «Lie down, cry, we will do everything ourselves.» There were three places where they were taking orders, I just saw that money was coming in from customers,» recalls Nastia.

The pandemic has partially put the work of the workshop on hold. The main clients of the carpentry industry — confectioners, restaurants, and shops at the beginning of COVID-19 practically did not work and all sales completely fell and recovered only after a certain time.

«I remember how then I went out to the church with such a speech that difficulties are difficulties, but you yourself make the decision, whether you give up or not. That is, for example, if the target audience is confectioners, why did they stop working? People continue to celebrate birthdays and holidays. And people understood it quickly enough. They started working, respectively, they are working, we are working. Exactly the same situation was repeated with the advent of a full-scale war.»

The wooden products of the Mykolaiv entrepreneur can be seen today in the advertisements of the Garnier and Roshen brands. And a white cake tin decorated the packaging of the confectionery brand Tarta.

«It is difficult to track everything, because the client is a photographer, and the photographer already works for some brand. And I just, unfortunately, physically did not have enough time to track all this, because I always did everything myself. It happens that the photographer offers the brand, says that you can buy props. And the brand chooses, but you still communicate with the photographer,» says Nastia.

Over time, the workshop was divided into two areas — a sweet carpentry shop for confectioners and the Ministry of Carpentry, where the customer could purchase something for the home. Despite the difficult economic situation, even during the war, people continued to buy wooden decor. Anastasia says that at this time, the need for a «home» became more acute in most people.

As a result, new positions appeared, in particular the favorite of customers — the three-level shelf.

«I always thought up all the products, focusing on myself. On yourself and how it will look in the frame. I came up with a triple shelf for cosmetics. I have a very small tub and many different jars. And I had nowhere to put them. And I invented such a thing. She came to her masters, showed them, explained how to do it, and they did it.»

«I covered the windows with photo backgrounds to protect myself from debris in the workshop»

Anastasia Marzipan met the beginning of the war in Mykolaiv. The girl blocked the windows in her own workshop with her photo backgrounds. From time to time, she spent the night in the basement, hauled tires from the local service station to the city roads when the authorities asked for it, and informed the army.

«And clients sent photos where our backgrounds are laid out in the basements, and children are sleeping on them, — the girl recalls. — Time passed, people returned to work one by one. And my whole team went. Our painter has a child. Of course, she will go. The master at that time was afraid to go to work. He was afraid of explosions. And I was left alone. I spent the night here in the basement, it was very scary. And it is absolutely unclear what will happen next.»

Today, only her assistant remained with Nastia. Other employees either left Mykolaiv or went to serve in the army.

«5 masters were taken from us to serve for the entire time. And a good master is very difficult to find. And every time I need to teach a person to work in this specific area. If a carpenter knows something, it does not mean that he will come and make you a folding table or shelf in a second. He needs to learn this. Then comes the stage of transition to speed. But as soon as we start working, a month or a half passes, the person is taken away. The customer asks when the order will be, and I say that it will be ready in three weeks, when the master learns, because we have a new master. Again. And at some point I gave up. There were also those whom I fired. But these are individual cases. Sometimes former employees send photos from the front, such as «Nastia, we are alive, we miss you.» I think this is an indicator that I am a good boss,» thinks the girl.

However, problems with power outages created additional problems. Despite the fact that the workshop purchased a generator, this did not solve the problem, but only increased production costs.

«I fought for almost three years to create a team. I created this team once, twice, three times. In the first lockdown, we worked while there was light. Well, the client, despite the fact that Ukraine's loyalty to certain moments has greatly increased, did not have this understanding, and he tells you, why should I wait? There were only 10 of them, but they were there, and they left negative comments. And we only have light for a couple of hours. What can we do? We installed a generator, but this increases the cost of production. And at this moment, when there was neither a stable master nor light, I began to doubt how the business could survive. And people also complain about generators,» adds Nastia.

What led to the closure?

Over the past six months, the entrepreneur changed four masters and until the last hoped that she would be able to overcome this stage and assemble a new team.

«I'm used to fighting, I don't know how to give up. For me, closing the workshop means publicly admitting that I couldn't, I'm a bad entrepreneur. Statistically, many small businesses are forced to close due to war and economic hardship, but I have never looked at this negative part of the enterprise in the country. Now I take a step to the right — the wall. Two steps to the left is a wall. It is morally very difficult. I am proud of those who hold on. But, as a rule, those who hold on are bigger, they have psychological and financial resources. I still have a micro-business. I thought about closing for 6 months and continued to work, I did not give up. And at some point, when we said goodbye to the last master, I said to myself — that's it. We collected everything that was ready, everything that can be sold. We sold it, counted how much we got. I paid taxes with this money, and there was something left,» says Anastasia.

From time to time, friends suggest that the girl apply for grant contests to attract donor funds, but for this there must be a stable team of professional craftsmen. Nastia says that she even looked for them among women, but no one responded to the vacancy even once.

The girl ironically compares the closing of the business with a divorce. «If you didn't love him very much, it becomes easier mentally when he is not with you,» says Nastia.

«The first thing I lost from the closure was a little faith in myself and a part of my personality. It's like having a very abusive partner. You still love him, you spent many years with him, there were good moments, but there were also bad ones. I'd like to say that I've lost my steady income, but the last three years and especially the last year and a half have been terrible financial swings. At times we took off, and we even reached the pre-war level. Then I could especially help the army. And sometimes you work in a solid red. We ran to stand still. And I chose peace. There is some disappointment in oneself, but at the same time human peace. I don't have to worry about anything,» says the girl.

However, Nastia says that this is not the end of her entrepreneurial career, but only a step into a new stage of life. Currently, she is focusing on her own mental health and growing her blog on social media. So, for example, more than 65 thousand people subscribe to her blog on TikTok.

In the conversation, she thinks that moving to another region could be a possible solution and continuation of the work of the carpentry workshop, but she is not ready and does not want to leave her native Mykolaiv at the moment.

«It's not about the difficulty of moving, transporting the workshop's belongings, finding a place. I don't think I want to leave here. I'm at home, I don't want to leave home. I don't want to lose the feeling of home for the sake of the workshop. I think it's about being true to yourself first and foremost. I will earn money, but psychological comfort is more important,» Anastasiia summarizes the conversation.

Alisa Melik-Adamian, NikVesti