Hi everyone, my name is Svetlana. I’m currently based in Moscow, Russia. English is not my native language, so I occasionally rely on translation tools when reading or expressing my thoughts.
I have a background in engineering and academia — I earned an engineering degree and spent about five years teaching at a university. I also pursued postgraduate studies with the intention of earning a Candidate of Technical Sciences degree.
In 2011, I left academia and moved into freelancing and entrepreneurship. I taught myself how to build e-commerce websites (OpenCart, forums, trial and error) and eventually ended up running my own online tea store. I started small — a $300 first batch, personally delivering orders around the city, I used only SEO without any advertising. And later expanded into wholesale and coffee shops using a consignment model. There were other entrepreneurial projects launched, some more successful, some not. One of my ventures led to financial obligations that I’m still responsibly managing.
In 2020, when marketplaces exploded in my region, my independent e-commerce sales dropped close to zero. I made the decision to fully shift my focus to marketplaces. In hindsight, this was a critical turning point — marketplaces taught me distribution and scale, but at the cost of ownership and control.
Over the past 3 years, I’ve built and scaled a private-label essential oils brand, selling around 50,000 units so far. The business is profitable, the product quality is high, but it is still fundamentally platform-dependent. I also run a smaller handcrafted jewelry business using natural stones.
I want to thank @MJ DeMarco from the bottom of my heart. Reading Unscripted , I clearly saw how my focus gradually shifted from creating value for clients to optimizing platform metrics — CR, CTR, margins, turnover, and ad ratios. Product quality is very important to me, but this metric is not enough to create value, and success on the platform does not equal ownership.
That realization is why I’m here.
I recently registered a U.S. LLC and am planning to rebuild my business around owned channels — content, direct customer relationships, and long-term assets — with plans to expand into the U.S. market through Amazon, social platforms, and eventually my own website. I continue to run my business operations in Russia while preparing for expansion in the U.S.
I’ve always been drawn to communities and business circles. While reading Unscripted, I realized how closely its philosophy aligns with my own view of entrepreneurship and its role in the world, and I believe being surrounded by like-minded people helps maintain direction, especially during challenging periods. I also hope that my experience and skills can be useful to other members of the forum.
I have a background in engineering and academia — I earned an engineering degree and spent about five years teaching at a university. I also pursued postgraduate studies with the intention of earning a Candidate of Technical Sciences degree.
In 2011, I left academia and moved into freelancing and entrepreneurship. I taught myself how to build e-commerce websites (OpenCart, forums, trial and error) and eventually ended up running my own online tea store. I started small — a $300 first batch, personally delivering orders around the city, I used only SEO without any advertising. And later expanded into wholesale and coffee shops using a consignment model. There were other entrepreneurial projects launched, some more successful, some not. One of my ventures led to financial obligations that I’m still responsibly managing.
In 2020, when marketplaces exploded in my region, my independent e-commerce sales dropped close to zero. I made the decision to fully shift my focus to marketplaces. In hindsight, this was a critical turning point — marketplaces taught me distribution and scale, but at the cost of ownership and control.
Over the past 3 years, I’ve built and scaled a private-label essential oils brand, selling around 50,000 units so far. The business is profitable, the product quality is high, but it is still fundamentally platform-dependent. I also run a smaller handcrafted jewelry business using natural stones.
I want to thank @MJ DeMarco from the bottom of my heart. Reading Unscripted , I clearly saw how my focus gradually shifted from creating value for clients to optimizing platform metrics — CR, CTR, margins, turnover, and ad ratios. Product quality is very important to me, but this metric is not enough to create value, and success on the platform does not equal ownership.
That realization is why I’m here.
I recently registered a U.S. LLC and am planning to rebuild my business around owned channels — content, direct customer relationships, and long-term assets — with plans to expand into the U.S. market through Amazon, social platforms, and eventually my own website. I continue to run my business operations in Russia while preparing for expansion in the U.S.
I’ve always been drawn to communities and business circles. While reading Unscripted, I realized how closely its philosophy aligns with my own view of entrepreneurship and its role in the world, and I believe being surrounded by like-minded people helps maintain direction, especially during challenging periods. I also hope that my experience and skills can be useful to other members of the forum.
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