Who to be?

Turning processes in the politics and economics of the 90s forced many people to change their occupation. Then the doctor could become a “shuttle”, an engineer - to open a cooperative tent. For some, this shift seemed a gambling adventure, for someone-a painful breaking of himself for the sake of survival. The people who went through this talked with us about the change of professions.

Vladislav: "Then there were such times that if you have an idea-money somehow will be found"

In the early 90s, I only entered Baumansky on an internal combustion engineer. When the union fell apart, many of my teachers were at a loss, it was not clear what and how would happen next. At that time, my parents lived in another city, I was an independent person. Somehow he reached the fifth year and decided that there was no desire or meaning to write a diploma for another year.

I had older acquaintances, 26-27 years old. They were helped to take a loan at a commercial bank. With this money, they created a company, rented trucks and began to carry all imports from abroad: Smirnoff vodka, cigarettes Ma R Lboro , More , some kind of consumer goods. I was on their selection, at first we ran like a mad - searched for sales places. At that time, the demand still greatly exceeded the proposal, so things went well. Pretty quickly the guys became millionaires, although initially the ideas about commerce were very superficial.

A mandatory sign of time is guests in tracksuits, with thick gold chains around the neck and naive conviction that they have everything under control.

Then there were such times that if you have an idea-there will be money somehow. In 1992, my friends and I planned to open a night club in Matveevsky. The building belonged to one institute. What it was! So many people came to our opening, for everyone it was something new. Sometimes there were queues, there were no places, and dollars dumped me to go inside. The margin of bars was from 500 percent, for New Year's Eve I could earn one and a half thousand dollars, and with this money it was possible to live a whole year. But we were not able to work in this format for a very long time, the war began for the building, the revenue, in general, all the joys of the showdown. Times were quite tough, but, as a rule, it was possible to agree on a lot. It didn’t come to my extremely conflict situations, but my partner in business once put a barrel on the head. Night club, lights are burning, vodka invigorates. A mandatory sign of time is guests in tracksuits, with thick gold chains around the neck and naive conviction that they have everything under control.

And then, in 1995, my friend and I decided to do the modeling business. In fact, it was a school of fashion models and acting for those who want to do themselves, or even make a career. In the Ostankino television center, the room was rented, everything was done through some acquaintances and only for cash, there was a small scene, professional light and such an attractive atmosphere of proximity to star Olympus (this is Ostankino!). They collected good teachers, gave an announcement about admission, set acceptable prices (something about $ 90 a month). There were enough people who wanted to do, mostly young girls, of course. And although most of the students were not suitable for a professional career, it was useful and many helped many to see themselves differently and look better than before. The stylist worked with them, taught them to dress, paint, there were classes with actors, they taught girls to stay on stage, work with a camera, and speak publicly. Nearby was constantly going on, and often our girls participated in the mass. And sometimes they worked in clubs, on the dance floor, posed for photo shoots.

They lived then on the principle of "it came easily - it was easy to go."

About a year we worked like that, but it was already boring, and the costs grew. After all, there it was necessary to solve something all the time, to unfasten someone.

There were still many episodes of petty commerce of varying degrees of success. I did not accumulate a lot of money, then we lived on the principle of "it came easily - it was easy." Later I had to sell the car, take something, buy an apartment.

All this activity bored me, and I undertook to publish a magazine about mobile communications. Then, in 1996-1997, it was heard, I made four numbers with popular information about communication types, mobile devices plus a little analytics, in general, it was interesting myself. After that, I was invited to work in a large company, and it was already a different life, a little more closely, but simpler - whatever do, but at the end of the month the salary will come ...

I have pleasant memories. Of course, I remember that not all my friends experienced these years - in the literal sense. But so many events took place, "life was ahead of the dream." Or is it all from my optimism - I do not regret anything, and there is something to remember.

Svetlan: "The 90s was a plague process, some endless party"

I was a therapist at the medical center at the factory in Saratov. In perestroika, I earned my 120 rubles, my husband also worked, and at that time we lived well: a car and even my own apartment, which was a rather rare occurrence. My friend went to Poland for clothes, and once I decided to go with her, but not for the sake of making money, but just to wear parents, husband and daughter-there was nothing to wear, the shops stood empty. Someone was doing this for survival, but I did not.

I began to take vacations at my own expense and dangle to Poland, then to Yugoslavia, brought things for the family and for sale, and my friend, also a doctor, went to the bazaar with this. I could not cross myself and go out to sell it, but she adored it. So I did not earn almost anything on this, but I paid for my trips and purchases.

At that time, my aunt went to live in Israel, and she had a difficult period: she did not know the language, there was no normal work. She was offered to engage in “Herbalife” - then he was positioned as a means for losing weight. In Russia, they did not hear about this at all then, but in Israel everything just began.

My aunt was supposed to redeem a certain amount of product for sale in order to get a discount on the next batch. The system was like this: it was necessary to start using it himself in order to understand what it was. Aunt decided on this - she took money, bought the cans and began to sell. She dangled all day, told everyone about Herbalife, offered everyone, her mentor taught how it is better to do, how to communicate with people. She still does this and has reached a very high position in this system.

I will never forget how our friend in a cruise recorded a video message as a keepsake and shouted to the whole deck: “So that I live like that every day! So that I live like that every day! "

And at the end of 1992, my brother came from Israel to Saratov to rest, and at the same time help aunt with distribution. He brought a package of products, and he went for a walk, meet with friends, have fun. And when he left, the package remained in our apartment. My husband and I had no choice but to buy it ourselves.

My husband was interested in Herbalife as a business. We gave me a cocktail to one friend who was very thick. He was colossally lost weight before my eyes, and it impressed me. And my husband was well cooked in the sense of distribution, he had many acquaintances, and he was looking for partners among them in order to sell not one bank, but to sell the business itself. Someone entered, bought out a large number, distributed; So the organization was built.

When we started, I flew to Israel, where the founder of Herbalife Mark Hughes spoke in front of us, he said that if we reach a certain number of sales, then we were waiting for a vacation paid by the company, some kind of magical cruise on the Caribbean. I wanted to go there so, it was an incredible motivation! We have reached the so -called club of millionaires with mighty steps over the year. This meant that we reached a turnover of at least 80 thousand dollars per month. We lived on the interest that we received from this turn. We grew up and conducted schools for beginners, helped distributors, went to Samara, Yalta, Sochi, Moscow, to Ukraine - we already had our own people everywhere.

And yes, we got into several cruises, it was a paid vacation from the company, we rested with colleagues from around the world. We visited the Caribbean, Bagams, Hawaii, in Mexico. I will never forget how our friend in a cruise recorded a video message as a keepsake and shouted to the whole deck: “So that I live like that every day! So that I live like that every day! "

I could not cross myself and go out to sell it, but she adored it.

In August1998, when the crisis began, we were on the next vacation, and we had a feast during the plague. At first, the crisis did not affect us in any way, but soon the turnover decreased, the receipts became smaller, we had a disagreement in our family, and this also interfered with the matter. At that time I was like a squeezed lemon.

Then everything became more complicated. Everything went successfully in the wake of novelty, and then difficulties began: many misunderstood this business, ruined it by the fact that they were incorrectly distributed products, and a bad reputation turned out. Already in the late 90s, we decided to leave for Germany, and the business continues, but without us.

Maybe I’m such a person by nature, but I only remember the good, and our life in the 90s, and “Herbalife”. But at a certain stage, goals change. Yes, in the 90s this success was in my hands, and in the 2000s in Germany I taught German, confirmed my medical diploma, studied again, worked for days in the hospital to pass all the exams and have the right to my private practice.

The 90s was a plague process, some endless party. And I still use “Herbalife” sometimes, some kind of cosmetics, a cocktail. Not everyone we knew, coped with new times, someone began to drink. I came to the conclusion that those who were able to change themselves, become a different person-they were able to achieve something.

Pavel: “At some point, our owner was tired of releasing records, and he moved back to tights, because it was more profitable”

Perestroika and the 90s-these were the best years! I returned from the army, and the first thing I heard from my friends was Yeltsin-Eltsin. Who is Yeltsin? How do you not know? This is our new head of Moscow. He is for democracy, he argues with Gorbachev, he is for changes.

Then, in perestroika, the speculation blossomed computers - everyone began to engage in resale, and I, too. I have never seen a computer in my life, and no one saw them, but everyone learned some phrases about the monitor, about the hard drive-no one understood what it means, but used as slang in conversations with customers. The creative intelligentsia was sitting at home on the phone as intermediaries. Once I went to a familiar musician, about whom it was known that he was an experienced intermediary-I needed his advice, how to sell two computers. And so we are sitting in the kitchen, his home phone calls every minute, and I hear - he says: "Yes, that's right, 10 helicopters, on Friday." That is, it was not important in general what to sell, from computers easily switched to helicopters.

In1990, my friend from Vilnius came up with the idea of ​​opening the first private final company. Just before this, he got rich on tights and decided to realize his youthful dream - to publish records. I made the covers and led the press process, was an art director. We managed to publish Shevchuk, Nautilus Pompilius, Nastya, Auktsyon, Mike Naumenko, Bashlacheva. In Soviet music and bookstores, our records grabbed for frantic money, almost 100 rubles. There were three records of us in the departments, but they looked like real “branded” ones, with chic covers, colored labels and from a real thick vinyl. They were sold out, and Pugachev, Leontiev and other Soviet products in the same covers in a flower stood on the shelves, no one took them.

It did not matter what to sell, from computers easily switched to helicopters.

With my friend there was a brilliant story: he managed either for nothing or a penny to buy a million defective plastic bags in France. This was the coveted dream of a Soviet man - to have a plastic bag, especially with an inscription in a foreign language. In Moscow, he sold them five rubles per package and was ozostal.

But at some point, our owner was tired of releasing the records, and he moved back to the tights, because it was more profitable. The first independent company of gram samples in the USSR closed, and I went to work in Felee . They sat on a hump. Feelee knew how to organize concerts and even learned to bring Western artists, but did not know how to make records, but I knew how to. They paid 300 dollars, and I had enough for everything: I traveled, bought something, I did not have any special overfit. Well, I could buy what I could not before-a bicycle, for example, or some kind of musical technique.

My friends, those who were in show business, creative people, artists and artists-all earned normally. It was happiness - to do your job and even be in demand. Many artists sold their works for a penny from the point of view of their current value, and collectors got out of them, but then even this money was large for them. Sometimes they paid with the boxes of vodka, and they were also happy.

But in the 98th, all this happy life was covered overnight when this boy Kiriyenko came and brought down the whole market in a huge country. Catastrophe. The show business was completely destroyed. Everything was covered, and it became unprofitable to produce a good level of the plate, we were defeated by the pirate market, where it was possible to stamp the disks of poor quality and sell them.

At some point, our owner was tired of releasing records, and he moved back to tights, because it was more profitable.

I am still a designer, and I started working in newspapers, magazines. For example, I received $ 1300 before the crisis, and after I had to go to work in Izvestia for 200. And the prices rose. Psychologically it was difficult to survive.

Previously, when I was asked what I needed for happiness, I sincerely replied that nothing, because I had everything that I could dream of: both love and my favorite work, there was no shortage of money, I rode around the world, hung out with musicians, I was surrounded by beautiful people, I did a great thing, the feeling was that the whole world is in your hands. It was absolute harmony when a person was lucky in life. The 90s was the only fully happy, meaningful moment of my life.

Ilya: “Pantyhose, chewing gum, buy!” - heard from all sides "

In the 90s I was 23 years old, I served in a submarine, in a distant garrison, where there are no roads, but you can only get by the sea or helicopter. Everything that happened on the Great Earth, we learned late. We had a unique atmosphere in Gremikha: the fleet headquarters was in the days of the path, so no one came to us, there were no inspections, there was no madness, we were regulated by all, we served, no one atrocities, lived in our souls.

We did not have any politicians at all, many confused Chubais with Vaucher and both of them with venture. Before the beginning of the 90s, we were paid regularly, and these were quite large amounts. Everything that happened in the country did not really worry: it is all in Moscow, on the Great Earth, and we have a steamer, there are responsibilities, we continue to fulfill them.

Since the beginning of the 90s, they stopped paying a salary, it was paid every three to four months, and suddenly, when no one expected. We were engaged in self -sufficiency - we went hunting, fishing, exchanged, had to live on a footstand, because in Gremikha there were no civil proceedings where it could be tapped.

When cooperative stalls opened, our hostel also appeared in our hostel, there was a credit book in it, it was possible to get products, enter them into a notebook, sign for them. Documents were not needed-there was nowhere to escape from Gremikha.

When the money came, we gave our debt to the store. But when there was no longer money for the repair of ships and they began to go out in a disrepair at sea, we realized that we had to prepare for the worst.

Many confused Chubais with Vucher and both of them with venture.

On the Great Earth we were surprised that we were not doing anything, we did not sell anything, because everyone was already busy in some commerce, and we are not in business. Not comme olfo!

We had such a Dima, an assistant commander. And there was a tobacco shortage. He wrote a letter to the tobacco factory of Uritsky with a request to allocate a batch of cigarettes for the needs of the Northern Fleet and went for goods. He was met in the factory with open arms, a brave sailor, well, he received a load, which he then sold for astronomical money. I received starting capital and wanted to continue to do something, but for this it was necessary to quit-it was impossible to combine military service and commerce. And no one gave him to quit, it was some kind of madness.

He wrote reports, wrote statements, they ignored, and, brought to despair, he imitated suicide. Once he entered the ship on duty, pulled out a gun and with the words "Surprise!" I pressed the trigger. He calculated everything so much so that the shot burned the skull. The bullet went to rickshaw on the piece of iron, everyone fell on the deck. Three days later, Dima was put on the ship to the wild.

It became hungry, we ended up in Gadzhieva, in the Murmansk region. There we went roofers and roofs to the whole village were winged at night. We did not know how to, but there was such a situation that we will stretch our legs, or we will quickly learn how to do it. А то не знаю, что бы было: уже ходили разговоры о том, чтобы сделать пиратский флаг и пойти на дело.

Не могу сказать, что все происходящее вызывало какую-то обиду, но было ощущение, что люди, которые принимают решения, не отдают себе отчета в том, что делают. Для нас это выглядело как диверсионная работа. Ходил анекдот, мол, сидят Ельцин с Чубайсом и обсуждают, что еще можно сделать для развала флота. И вот один другому говорит: а давай-ка сделаем платный вход на службу. Это вызывало горький смех.

На большой земле удивлялись, что мы ничем не занимаемся, ничего не продаем, ведь уже все были заняты в какой-нибудь коммерции, а мы не при делах. Не комильфо!

Уволился я со скандалом в 1996 году. Да и большая часть моего экипажа уволилась или перевелась. Мне же сказали, что мне нельзя уйти. Я был мичманом — это среднее положение между срочной службой и офицерством. Тогда я перестал ходить на службу в знак протеста, меня пытались убедить, напугать, но в итоге сказали — пиши про свои компрометирующие обстоятельства, я написал самодонос, и меня уволили. Я просто вставил «не» во все предыдущие свои характеристики, то есть «исполнительный» превратил в «неисполнительный» и далее по списку.

Я вернулся в Питер — по сравнению с Гремихой здесь кипела жизнь, что-то постоянно менялось. Это трудно передать. Каждый день в Питере появлялись новые виды деятельности, что-то открывалось, что-то закрывалось. Впечатление было, что строгий и торжественный город захватил какой-то цыганский базар. «Колготки, жвачка, покупай!» — слышалось со всех сторон, стояли палатки с турецкими спортивными костюмами, с шаурмой. Ну ничего, я потом и к этому привык. Я занялся полиграфией, делал листовки, ценники, бланки, визитки — тогда каждый уважающий себя специалист должен был иметь визитки. Мне хватало денег, но я не разбогател.

Я даже одно время работал в рекламном агентстве, мы делали наружную рекламу, все светящееся-крутящееся, я в основном делал макеты, то есть превратился в дизайнера. В 2000-е я чем только не занимался — я продолжал делать дизайн, но подрабатывал строителем, охранником, был бутафором в театре.

Я люблю вспоминать те времена в Гремихе, они самые теплые, а вот что касается службы на большой земле — у меня не проходит чувство какого-то безумия, которое там творилось.