I\u2019m trying to develop the Affiliate Network, specifically improving the product, increasing the conversion rates, and entering the foreign markets. Besides strategic planning and setting targets for developers, together with managers I answer the questions asked through Technical Support, attract new partners and communicate with advertisers.<\/p>\n
In the past I\u2019ve already been engaged in the Internet activities, to be specific, Affiliate Programs, mostly foreign. A friend of mine once \u00abbrought\u00bb me to the Internet, gave a link to an online money making forum and said \u00abRead this\u00bb. So, I started reading, gradually turning the accumulated knowledge into money. In other words, I was a regular affiliate member of different Affiliate Programs. Somewhere I\u2019ve managed to get into the top, somewhere I haven\u2019t.<\/p>\n
I took part in creation and promotion of several Affiliate Programs, almost all of them are already closed as they exhausted themselves.<\/p>\n
But my own project, which I myself initially launched, is still alive and it\u2019s related to foreign offers promotion. Then I found a partner and we started to grow and hire people. Now our team consists of 43 designers, copywriters, developers, and SEO<\/acronym> experts. All of them work remotely. They are mostly from the CIS, but we also have a teammate, for example, from Puerto Rico. I gave up the major part of the action and delegated all the operational activities to my partner, with me engaged in making strategic decisions only. In brief, we have a network of websites, blogs, and forums that attracts a lot of traffic, which is then sold to advertisers like Amazon and eBay.<\/p>\n As I\u2019ve already said, for my own project I do strategic planning only. On average, I spare like 1\u20131.5 hours a day on it and sometimes I don\u2019t for a couple days. By the way, we don\u2019t try to get in travel related business to exclude the competitive interests. In other words, doing my own business don\u2019t interfere with my main job in Travelpayouts.<\/p>\n I get up between 7 and 8 am, answer my email and browse statistics. Then I have breakfast and go to the gym. After doing sports I head to the office and then get back to the gym in the evening. Sometimes I skip my evening workouts. Before going to sleep, when at home, I check my email, Skype, and Facebook again. Well, this is my everyday routine.<\/p>\n My mind winds down very well while I\u2019m in the gym. Possibly those are the only hours when I really don\u2019t think about my work at all. Anyway, for me, doing sports is another proof showing that everything is possible. You know, I\u2019m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but being stubborn and working persistently on reaching the goal may result in growing muscles and bringing success in business. The main thing is not to draw back and breathe easy.<\/p>\n Over time my mind becomes apathetic, cause the island lifestyle is really slow paced and laid-back. In a word, it\u2019s like living in a countryside.<\/p>\n So that\u2019s when I call for some impulse. To get that impulse, for me it\u2019s just enough to get out for a weekend to some neighbor Asian megalopolis \u2014 Singapore or Hong Kong \u2014 where I can get charged with an \u00abenergy of a city\u00bb. This charge is quite enough for a month of life on the island. That\u2019s why I try to travel somewhere every month. All in all, I am satisfied with my life in Thailand.<\/p>\n Phuket is a perfect place to live with your family and raise your kids. Sun, sea, fresh air and fruits all the year around. Here you need fewer clothes \u2014 no need to buy furs, boots and hats. It\u2019s always summer here. Besides, there\u2019s multilingual surrounding here, so since their birth, children communicate with same-age foreigners speaking English, Ukrainian, Russian, Thai or Chinese. In future they will become tolerant individuals perfectly speaking several languages. Sure. First of all, it\u2019s a closed community. Your colleagues, who are also your friends, you work together in the office and spend your weekends together as well. Many girlfriends or wives who come to the island with our fellows have no job and suffer because of this. It\u2019s a great luck if your lady-love already has some remote job or a kid to dedicated all her time to, otherwise a guy will have a lot to bear. It\u2019s difficult to get a legal job in Thailand and for sure it will be a low-paid one. That\u2019s why we had a couple of situations when guys had to return back home, start working remotely or even quit.<\/p>\n Secondly, there are a lot of things that you get used to when living in Tomsk but you don\u2019t have them here. For example, for girls there\u2019s no place to wear high-heels or evening dress, no place to have a walk except of shopping centers. You can\u2019t even have a walk on the street cause there\u2019re no sidewalks and the weather is too hot.<\/p>\n First time I came to Phuket for wintering far back in 2008 with my friends. I liked the island a lot, though I had almost nothing to compare with. Before I took a batch tour to Hurghada and been to Montenegro as an independent tourist. After that wintering I started to go to Phuket every winter.<\/p>\n To the point, I met Kostya Kalinov (founder of Aviasales) during my first wintering. I moved for permanent residence here 4 years ago and have been working in Aviasales already for 3,5 years. Kostya offered me to join him several times but I had my own business that brought me nice profit, so I didn\u2019t want to burden myself with some extra work and what is moreover go to the office (!!!). I\u2019ve never done that before in my life. But all in all it happened that I considered all pros and cons, thought about it and decided to give a try.<\/p>\n When I came to the company, there were about 10 thousand affiliates there and the Travelpayouts team was just formed, so it was decided to separate the Affiliate Program itself into a single project, because formerly it was just an Aviasales Affiliate Program.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t miss motherland and go there rarely. For instance, last September I\u2019ve been to a conference in Kazan for 3\u20134 days. This year I will be travelling to my native Tomsk, Staryi Oskol to see my grandma, and Moscow to attend my friend\u2019s wedding, but not longer than for 6 days.<\/p>\n Currently our team counts 16 people: developers, managers, designers. We also reach out to freelance illustrators, translators or developers for help. I am very proud of all of our guys. Our team is probably the most solid among all those teams from Aviasales.<\/p>\n In our office we have a big TV and all the remote part of team is connected to us by Skype all the time, in other words, we all see each other during the whole working day and can discuss issues anytime. Yes, many of us are scattered all over the world and have different time zones. For instance, recently we had: Bali, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Khabarovsk, Samara, Barnaul, Kazan, Izhevsk, Phuket, London. Of course, it\u2019s difficult for some of us to get up at 8 am Moscow time, because every day at 9 we have a standup meeting which everyone should attend. But remoteness doesn\u2019t affect us doing our jobs well. All of us cope with it and can plan our time.<\/p>\nHow do you manage to balance your business with your main job?<\/h2>\n
How Would You Describe Your Workday?<\/h2>\n
Alright, and when do you relax then?<\/h2>\n
What do you think are the advantages of living in Phuket?<\/h2>\n
\nThere are almost no traffic jams. Even if there is, they usually happen at around 8\u20139 am or 5\u20137 pm. And our office hours are 12 am till 9 pm Thai time, so we don\u2019t get into local congestion.<\/p>\n
\nBut to be honest, when children born, I\u2019d try to move to the USA to get education, but only after they are 5\u20136 years old.<\/p>\nFor sure, the Bounty Island has its negatives, isn\u2019t it?<\/h2>\n
How did you get to Phuket and settled in Aviasales?<\/h2>\n
So you\u2019re 4 years abroad. Do you miss your home?<\/h2>\n
Tell Us About Travelpayouts Team. Some of Your Teammates Work Distantly. How Do You Communicate?<\/h2>\n
Are you the one to hire new team members?<\/h2>\n