Author: borilbogoev@gmail.com

  • Lady Shoppington

    Lady Shoppington

    The Online Shopping Coincierge

    Lady Shoppington is a skilled online shopping concierge (one of the most useful {AI}MPLOYEES. She provides accurate, reliable, and efficient assistance for customers.

    Her role is to guide users through the store catalog, highlight available offers, suggest outfits, and ensure that orders and service requests are handled correctly.

    COMMUNICATION STYLEPRINCIPLES
    Stick to facts and official company data.Clear, concise, and professional.
    Warm but not informal.Protect customer privacy at all times.
    Focused on solutions, not explanations.Communicate in short, polite, and precise phrases.
    Escalates cases to the right human colleague when required.Ensure consistency across chat, email, and social media.

    What Lady Shoppington Is Capable Of?

    • Handling Inquiries (leads). No inquiry/lead is left behind. She engages in conversation immediately and intends to convert the lead or immediately notifies the sales team (if this is the instruction).
    • Product Information. Answers questions about items, brands, sizes, and availability.
    • Offers and Promotions. Provides up-to-date details on bundles, discounts, and seasonal deals.
    • Orders. Assists with placing, tracking, updating, and managing orders.
    • Returns and Exchanges. Supports customers in line with company policies.
    • Refunds. Explains eligibility and guides the refund process.
    • Client Records. Helps maintain accurate customer information during and after each interaction.

    Enter: Shoppington Sisters

    Lady Shoppington is not alone. Her 10 daughters are very well trained and specialize in helping online retail businesses in 10 different niches.

    GEMMINA
    Jewelry & Luxury Goods

    Lady Gemmina is elegance embodied. She guides clients through gifting choices, explains care, and encourages higher-value purchases. Her presence turns hesitation into confident luxury sales.
    GLAMMA
    Fashion & Apparel

    Lady Glamma is your customers’ personal stylist. She helps shoppers pick outfits, suggests matching items, and reduces returns. With her flair for fashion, she turns browsing into buying and raises average cart size with ease.
    TEKKA
    Electronics & Gadgets

    Lady Tekka knows every spec and feature. She compares models, explains compatibility, and recommends add-ons that make sense. She removes purchase hesitation and boosts accessory sales in the process.
    HOMELIA
    Furniture & Home Décor

    Lady Homelia makes home shopping simple. She guides clients through measurements, style matching, and practical choices. With her help, buyers feel confident and convert faster on big-ticket items.
    GLOWRIA
    Beauty & Skincare

    Lady Glowria is a radiant beauty consultant. She explains ingredients, suggests routines, and ensures customers find the right product for their skin. Her touch turns trial into loyalty and repeat orders.
    SAVORA
    Food Delivery & Meal Kits

    Lady Savora is a tasteful meal concierge. She suggests dishes, tracks dietary needs, and prevents order mistakes. With her help, customers discover more and add bundles to their orders.
    VOYELLA
    Travel & Hospitality

    Lady Voyella is the perfect travel host. She helps guests book, plan, and explore — while offering upgrades and experiences. Available 24/7, she makes each trip smoother and more profitable.
    TUTORINA
    Online Education & Courses

    Lady Tutorina is a smart academic guide. She explains course options, helps with onboarding, and promotes renewals. With her at hand, students stay engaged and schools increase enrollment.
    VITALIA
    Health & Wellness Products

    Lady Vitalia brings clarity to wellness. She explains supplements, answers delicate health-related FAQs, and suggests bundles. She builds trust while boosting sales of packages and repeat purchases.
    VROOMINA
    Automotive & Accessories

    Lady Vroomina is the automotive expert every showroom dreams of. She helps buyers pick the right model or part, reassures them about compatibility, and suggests accessories. She speeds up decisions and grows order value.

    Shoppington Sisters’ Technical Specification

    Build Architecturen8n workflows, multiple input channels, multiple output channels, multiple knowledge storage platforms, fully customizable.
    Input ChannelsEmbedded chat, WhatsApp, Telegram, Email, Landing page.
    Output ChannelsEmbedded chat, WhatsApp, Telegram, Email, Google Docs/Sheets, Notion, Airtable.
    Data and Knowledge Storage OptionsNative n8n tables, File folders, Google Sheets, Notion Databases, Airtable Databases, Pinecone/Supabase Vector Databases.
    IdentityLady Shoppington is just the original identity. It can be adjusted or completely changed according to the client’s brand, process and preferences.
    Main Service DomainsThe main e-commerce areas, supported are leads/inquiries handling, shopping assistance, orders management, troubleshooting and escalation, complaints processing, assisting with refunds/returns/exchange.
    Deployment TimelineThe time of deployment depends on the level of customization requested by the client. If Lady Shoppington is deployed “as-is” with minumum adjustments, the process can take from 2 to 5 business days.

  • The {AI}UGMENTIC Process

    The {AI}UGMENTIC Process

    Building AI agents is the most prominent trend in the AI and business world right now. Every business – from solopreneurs to the big corporations want to onboard AI employees. They expect to save time and money and even make more money. 

    AI agents appear as solution for all the problems of the modern business environment.

    95% of the AI Projects Fail

    However, a recent MIT study found out that 95% of the AI implementation projects actually fail to achieve their goals. Here are some of the reasons for those failures, which the study identified:

    1. Lack of organizational readiness.
    2. Poor problem selection.
    3. Data quality and access.
    4. Skill and alignment gaps.
    5. Mismanaged expectations.
    6. Business and workflow integration issues.
    7. Technology mismatch.

    If you look deeper, you can see that the root causes for all these issues are related not so much to the complexity of the AI technology but due to three main factors:

    • Failure factor No. 1: Lack of proper planning and design of the AI implementation.
    • Failure factor No. 2: Lack of organization’s preparation for the implementation.
    • Failure factor No. 3: Poor communication within the organization.

    The study’s insights are very important because it shows not that the AI technology is bad or not developed enough. It shows the failure of humans to manage their expectations, process and work and do the job properly.

    So, if we ask ourselves: What is the first factor for success of an AI implementation project, the answers will inevitably be: 

    The proper planning.

    …and the planning starts with the process.

    Here is the 7-step process which I use every time when designing, building, deploying and onboarding an AI employee:

    Here are the steps, explained in brief:

    Step 1: W{AI}KEUP

    We need to talk first. 

    What do you know about AI and automation? What do you think about it? Do you think you need it? Do you want it? Do you hate it? Are you scared of it? What are your expectations? What do you want to achieve with AI? What are the top of mind bottlenecks and problems? Are you doing something about AI adoption and AI employees onboarding? How do you think I can help you?

    This conversation is extremely important. It sets the baseline. Without it, we are not going to be on the same page. At all.

    Step 2: {AI}UDIT

    Next, we need to dig deeper.

    Depending on your organization structure and processes/team complexity, the AI transformation audit can take from a few hours to a few days.

    Th goal is to study in detail and understand the following:

    • Your organization’s structure and infrastructure.
    • Your organization’s processes and SOPs.
    • Your organization teams’ dynamics.
    • Your tech stack.
    • Your current level of AI adoption.
    • Your bottlenecks and problems.
    • Your vision and goals.
    • And much more…

    With all that studied and analyzed, we get to the real work.

    Step 3: ORGCH{AI}RT

    I know that your time (and mine as well) is a very valuable resource and I don’t want to waste it. For this reason, I approach the concept of AI automation and AI agents from a very practical perspective.

    I don’t care what is trendy and hot. I care only about three things – what kind of solution will:

    • Save time to my clients.
    • Save money.
    • Make money and produce growth.

    Also, I would like to speak my clients’ language and provide solutions that fit their needs, structure and process, not just the latest gimmick of OpenAI.

    So, I always start with the orgchart of the client. Here is a fragment of a Marketing Department orgchart:

    My goals is to see what we have and how can we augment it, making their teams more powerful and productive with less stress and friction.

    I discuss with you and analyze the orgchart and we mark the roles there with three type of tags:

    • Tag 1: “To be Assisted by AI employee(s)“.
    • Tag 2: “To be Augmented by AI employee(s)“.
    • Tag 3: “To be Annihilated by AI employee(s)“.

    “Assisted” means that we are planning to provide the humans in those selected roles with proper AI tools and training in order to help them do their job better, faster, smarter, more efficiently and gracefully.

    “Augmented” is used in the sense of providing AI employee(s) to the selected role which can execute expert tasks not only to help the human on this position, but to multiply their creativity, productivity, speed and efficiency.

    “Annihilated” sounds creepy, but it actually means that the particular role (or part of it) is so well structured and so inefficient for a human to do it, that it is better to be done 80-100% by an AI employee (with a mandatory human in the loop).

    Those tags mark the milestones of our AI transformation and AI employees onboarding roadmap. Based on it, we prioritize which roles to start with (which ones have greatest positive impact and are faster and easier to create AI employees for.

    When we select our top 3 roles/responsibilities to transform with AI, we pick one, only one, to start with.

    Step 4: R3 DEFINITION

    For the selected role or responsibility, we analyze in detail the three “R”:

    • Role’s job description – key qualifications, responsibilities, requirements, tools.
    • The Responsibilities which are part of this role.
    • All the Routines that define the responsibilities.

    Why is that important?

    Following the {AI}UGMENTIC signature, state-of-the art methodology, a Role from the orgchart roughly corresponds to a Director AI employee, whic manages a team of AI employees.

    Each of the Responsibilities corresponds to one operative AI employee – {AI}der, Consult{AI}nt or {AI}xpert.

    The Routines of each responsibilities define how this responsibility should be executed. Those are the clear instructions for the respective AI employee to follow.

    Step 5: PL{AI}TFORM

    When we are clear about the AI employee and its definition, we need to discuss and decide on the tech stack, the platform.

    There is no use of an AI employee which is developed so it to be easy for the AI automation developer to do the job. 

    The tech stack on/with which the AI employee is built, should cover several important requirements:

    1. Matching the budget of the client (or clearly justify the higher investment, if required).
    2. Matching the tech stack of the client (or requiring minimal adjustments).
    3. Matching the workflow of the client (or requiring minimal adjustments).
    4. Allowing us to develop the AI employee and deploy it as requested by the client.
    5. Built-in scalability, continuity, performance and security.

    Designing the right platform is crucial. Changing it significantly later is going to be a very expensive and labor-intensive exercise.

    Step 6: {AI}MPLOYEE

    After all those preparatio, the time for the fun stuff has come. We follow the requirements (job description, responsibilities, routines) and build the AI employee using the approved tech stack.

    The stages in development are:

    • Alpha – we develop and test in detail.
    • Beta – second iteration, improved, tested by the client and a limited group of users.
    • Production – the AI employee is deployed on the real platform and available for use.

    When we make sure that the AI employee works properly, comes the hardest part – onboarding the AI employee in the existing team.

    Step 7: H{AI}BRID TEAM

    The onboarding a “regular” human employee is a challenge. Doing it with an AI employee can cause way more stress than usual, for several reasons:

    • Humans have different skills and tech literacy.
    • They have opinions, fears, and insecurities.
    • They worry AI will replace them.
    • And often prefer fun over work.

    AI employees aren’t simple either:

    • They vary in complexity.
    • They’re not autonomous.
    • They look smart but aren’t.

    The first step is to make sure that the human part of the team is properly trained and are on the same page in regards of AI, AI employees and the particular AI which we are trying to onboard. Thios knowledge should cover three main elements:

    • General AI literacy for the team.
    • AI tools skillset.
    • AI employees touchpoints.

    To do the onboarding successfully, all the tream members should know and be aligned on:

    • How to communicate with the new AI employee.
    • What can they ask and expect from it.
    • What is clearly not part of this AI’s responsibilities.
    • What are AI employee’s key performance indicators, how and when are they being measured and analyzed.
    • What to do when a bug/issue with AI employee’s work is found and whom to communicate it with.

    –

    As you can see, the AI employee’s building and onboarding is a complex process. Or at least looks like one.

    Try to imagine the process of “developing” and onboarding a human employee, though:

    • Education: college, university, courses, certifications.
    • Sourcing: job ads, research, headhunting.
    • Interviews and assessments.
    • Offer and negotiations.
    • Onboarding.
    • Performance monitoring.
    • Regular evaluations.
    • Conflicts resolution.
    • Emotional meltdown and drama handling.
    • Vacations and sick days.
    • Stress, burnout, varying productivity.
    • Limited working hours.
    • Limited workload.
    • Expensive scalability (hiring more people).

    From this perspective, the AI employee building and onboarding process doesn’t seem so much complex and slow anymore?

    What do you think? Which AI employee would you onboard into your team first?

  • The Discomforts of Life

    The Discomforts of Life

    If you think about it, all of us dream about comfort.

    Happiness is comfort. Luxury is comfort. The perfect partner is comfort. Having wonderful kids is comfort. Everything we want from life is to give us some pleasure and/or peace (which are again a form of comfort).

    And what does life serve us?

    Problems. Adversity. Illness. Accidents. Hard work. Pressure. Stress. Naughty kids. Dominant parents. Heavy traffic. World hunger. Wars. Evening news. Belly fat. Hangovers. Sleepless nights.

    Discomfort at its finest.

    Apparently, we strive for comfort but most often than not we get some version of discomfort.

    So, what to do?

    Actually, you can do whatever you want. What I would do, though, is:

    Leverage Pain

    You will face a lot of pain in your life.

    Instead of trying to avoid it or heal it, or soften it, embrace it. Focus on it and dive in it, make it your friend, explore it. When you grab it, it shrinks but if you ignore it, it grows. All those problems are not going to solve by themselves. You need to face and handle them personally.

    Enjoy Uncertainty

    Nothing is certain in life, so don’t live in an illusion.

    Nobody knows what will happen next, though most of us are trying to plan and predict the far or near future. Keep your intentions about the future, but don’t expect that the Universe has the obligation to do as you have planned. Understand that the only certain thing you have is the uncertainty and approach the life as an adventure rather than a well-planned and smooth journey.

    Put the Effort

    You cannot achieve anything significant or meaningful without putting massive amount of effort.

    If you don’t believe me, just check the background story of any sports victory, any invention, any successful company or a bestselling author. Be ready to put extensive effort if you want to get the things you want in life (most of which, by the way, are probably related to comfort). If something appears “easy”, “quick”, “simple”, “only…”, it is most probably fake, scam or lacks real value.

    Accept the Limitations

    We are unlimited and immortal souls but we live in a limited world, we manage bodies packed with limitations and we definitely cannot achieve everything we want.

    The existence of limitations is not necessary a bad thing. If we want to focus on something, we need to cut everything else. If we believe in the unlimited opportunities, we will end up believing in impossible things which will lead us to indecision, daydreaming and dark disappointment.

    “But all that sounds so dark and depressing”, you might say.

    Not at all. (Or it does, but this is your problem as I think otherwise.)

    If you stop reacting for a while, and take a deep breath, you will start thinking. Here’s what might come to your mind…

    “All my life I am so afraid of pain in its different forms. What if I start liking it? What if we become friends? I will stop considering it as danger. It will look more like a signal or teacher. I can stop being afraid of it and this would let me do and achieve all the things I was afraid of doing. I would expand and grow. I will become more open and confident. I will become a braver and stronger version of myself.”

    or…

    “As uncertainty is all around me, if I learn how to feel comfortable in its presence, this means that I will be able to stay calm and confident while facing it. What does that mean? I will be able to operate smoothly and efficiently in situations when others freak out.”

    or…

    “Most of the people are lazy, distracted or both. If I am able to sustain significant amount of effort towards a meaningful goal, I will be able to outperform most of the people (if not all) and will make achieving the goal far more probable than while sitting on the sofa.”

    or…

    “It is comfortable to think that I can achieve everything I want. However, if I limit my options and select one thing, then enjoy the uncertainty, put the effort and embrace the pain of the mistakes, failures, criticism and adversity… My words and actions will have power and I will move forward, literally crafting my own destiny.”

    Of course, all of the above could be plain wrong. Maybe you think so.

    Don’t believe everything you think! (The book with the same title is just gorgeous. Read it.)

    Have a wonderful day, full of adventure!

  • Marketers: Burn-Out or Burn-In?

    Marketers: Burn-Out or Burn-In?

    As marketers we have only two choices on the workplace:

    1/ Burn out; 2/ Burn in.

    Which one do you prefer?

    There is no use of a burned out, depressed and demotivated marketer.

    Such a person cannot create anything meaningful and turns into an office clerk, pulling reports and launching ads without giving them a second thought.

    Marketing is about creativity.

    Inspiration.

    Effective communication.

    Emotion.

    Beauty.

    Movement.

    Community.

    Even disruption (not always necessary).

    But it is hard to work and live this way, because there are…

    “Tight Deadlines”.

    “Challenging Targets”.

    “Performance Evaluation Sessions”.

    “Quarterly Reviews”.

    “Corporate Policies”.

    “Necessary Multitasking”.

    “Competitive Environment”.

    “Being a team player”.

    To be creative you need freedom and space.

    But you have pressure and exhaustion instead.

    How to manage staying sane and not burn out?

    You need to keep the fire within. To burn in and explode, instead of implode and burn out.

    Here are the steps:

    1. Recall, remember why are you a marketer.
    2. If you cannot recall a reason, find one.
    3. If you cannot find a reason, quit and start doing something else.
    4. But if you do remember why are you a marketer, collect all f*ckz you are ready to give for what other think about you and your work and offer those to your muse.
    5. Feel the wave of inspiration coming from within, and not from Teams calls.
    6. Create. Produce. Write. Share.
    7. Enjoy the process.

    Remember: You are a creator, not a clerk. Better burn in, than burning out.

    Have a great day!

  • My Professional Philosophy (and Why You Also Need One)

    My Professional Philosophy (and Why You Also Need One)

    We all know how important is the integrity in life and business.

    Sometimes, though, it is not very clear how to achieve it.

    Simple solution: You need a reference framework.

    If you act with integrity (as a person and/or as a brand) you feel good. Stress levels are lower. You can make decisions faster and follow a meaningful direction.

    How to get there?

    You need a reference framework. The process works like this:

    1. This is my reference framework which declares how I act in different situations.
    2. Here is a situation?
    3. If I act as I said in the reference framework, I demonstrate integrity and feel satisfied and even proud.
    4. If my actions don’t overlap with my framework, I feel bad, stressed and miserable.

    The Components

    This reference framework is personal, work or brand philosophy which usually includes three important elements:

    1. Values
    2. Beliefs
    3. Rules

    Even if you think you don’t have a philosophy, actually you have. It is just not documented yet. If you put it in writing, you will gain crystal clarity and a firm foundation for integrity and professionalism.

    My Work Philosophy

    Here is my work philosophy below. It evolved over the years (and will continue to evolve):

    1. Holistic approach. Everything is marketing and marketing is everything.
    2. Start with the foundations. Set the pillars right from the very beginning.
    3. Unshakeable infrastructure. Build to perform, last and scale.
    4. Leverage people. People are the elephant in the room. Select, train, maintain, develop, lead, inspire.
    5. Grow by upgrading, not by following. Plan, perform, progress, by building on your own achievements, not by comparing to others.
    6. Clients are human. Your clients are your community. They are not just rows and numbers in a spreadsheet.
    7. Problems, problems. Problems are everywhere and they are not obstacles but stepping stones to perfection. Solve them not in order of appearance but by the magnitude of their impact.
    8. Quick-easy-simple is a trap. There is no significant and meaningful success which is quick, easy and simple. The scam is.
    9. Be professional. Think well. Keep your promises. Stay calm. Do the work with grace and excellence.

    If you feel lost, spend some time alone or with your team and try to document your philosophy. Don’t just follow cliches or try to sound cool. Better dig deeper and find your unique reference framework.

    It helps to sleep better.

  • Leader’s DON’Ts List

    Leader’s DON’Ts List

    We all know what a leader should look like. Now, let’s spice the things up with some negativity. See what leaders should not do or be.

    —

    Being a leader is tough. Leaders aren’t appointed, they aren’t elected. Leaders inspire. They have power, but it’s not guaranteed. Becoming one of them is a challenging task, but they are the ones who change the world.

    Here are some insights on what the leaders should not do or be, which I hope will inspire you, even a little, to take the thorny path of leading yourself and others and making the world a better place.

    01: Don’t apologize

    No one cares what you’ve messed up. Accept the consequences and act with what you have, in the circumstances you find yourself in.

    02: Don’t explain yourself

    People don’t want to hear your excuses for why you can’t do something. Find a way and do it.

    03: Don’t show emotions

    You’re the leader. You control your emotions, they don’t control you.

    04: Don’t smile unnecessarily

    People don’t like to follow jokers and weaklings.

    05: Don’t show weakness

    The weak don’t lead, they only follow.

    06: Don’t show hesitation

    People need to be sure that you know what you’re doing.

    07: Don’t show insecurity

    You’re at the front. Stand firm, look brave, and don’t let your eyes or hands tremble.

    08: Don’t show indecisiveness

    Make decisions quickly and change them rarely. Not the other way around.

    09: Don’t be verbose

    Produce diamonds with your words, not junk.

    10: Don’t speak fast

    How will they follow you if they can’t keep up?

    11: Don’t speak unclearly

    How will they follow you if they can’t understand you?

    12: Don’t slouch

    Straighten your back. A bent back is for cowards and weaklings.

    13: Don’t lower your head

    To no one and nothing.

    14: Don’t wander with your eyes

    Look straight at the target.

    15: Don’t avoid others’ gaze

    Your gaze reveals your soul and intentions. If you hide it, you show them that you’re lying, hiding something, or scared. These aren’t things a leader does.

    16: Don’t rush

    People rush when they’re chasing something or being chased. You move towards your goal, while people and circumstances chase you or run from you. Let them rush.

    17: Don’t show nervousness

    It’s a sign of lack of self-control. How will you lead others if you can’t even control yourself?

    18: Don’t show fear

    Be afraid. Secretly.

    19: Don’t dither

    Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

    —

    It is a not easy to be a leader.

  • 7 Priceless Lessons About Working From Home

    7 Priceless Lessons About Working From Home

    Workers on the corporate front have been tirelessly fighting for the “home office” for years. In large and modern companies, this has become a common practice. In more “conservative” ones, the mentality still prevails that “if you’re not within arm’s reach and I can’t see you, you’re not working.” In both cases, working from home is considered a privilege.

    I have always been a huge fan of working from home, from a café, from the park, from the beach, from the hotel lobby, or anywhere, as long as it’s not tied to fixed working hours and a specific place. With a few breaks, I spent many years working in my dream way.

    Over the years, it turned out that “working without a fixed workplace” has not only advantages but also some disadvantages. For me personally, the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages, but I can’t deny that the latter taught me a few invaluable and painful lessons.

    Here’s what I learned from many years of “working from home”:

    Lesson #1: If you work from just one place, it becomes “THE office”

    For me, the big advantage of “free work” is that I can “work on my computer” in various places and environments. I’ve tried working in co-working spaces, from home, and from select cafés. However, I notice every time that if I use the same location consecutively, it loses its “fun” potential for me and starts to feel like a regular office. I begin to feel an irresistible urge to find a new place to work.

    In this sense, the isolation imposed by the COVID-19 crisis turns working from home into the new “standard office” and, unfortunately, removes much of the charm of this work approach.

    Lesson #2: Working without a fixed workplace doesn’t eliminate the need for work discipline

    At first, working from home is great – you can wake up whenever you want, you can wear pajamas, you can go to the fridge 36 times a day… Soon, however, you realize that work remains unfinished, and the elastic on your pajamas stretches more and more.

    The same goes for working in cafés, so-called cofficing. At first, it’s fun – drinking coffee, eating cakes, ticking off tasks. At some point, however, you find that 60-70% of the time is spent standing in lines (or waiting for waiters), adding milk to coffee, eating cake, trying to connect to the café’s (or mall’s) Wi-Fi, looking for an outlet for your dying laptop battery, etc.

    Therefore, it’s important to once and for all clarify to ourselves – do we want to work and achieve results, or do we want to lounge around, eat meatballs, and drink coffee after coffee? If it’s the former, unfortunately, we need to maintain the same work discipline as in the office – defining tasks, writing emails, deep work, reports, backups, and everything else that’s part of the work process. Otherwise, the temptations outside the office are too many for someone with “weak nerves,” so to speak.

    Lesson #3: Remote work looks different in promotional videos than in reality

    If you watch ads for courses and books on working from home, online business, etc., you’ll notice happy guys and girls with laptops spread out on hammocks, sun loungers, poufs, kitchen tables, sofas, beds, and the like.

    When you start working remotely and try to do it for 6 hours from the sofa or bed, you find that your back turns into a pancake, and then you can’t stand up, walking like Mr. Bean. If you try working on the beach, you notice how your keyboard fills with sand, and your awesome glossy screen reflects every sunray, making the screen unreadable.

    Important conclusion: Find a comfortable chair. Adjust it so that your elbows are at the table’s level. Place all this in a quiet spot or wear noise-canceling headphones. Otherwise, you won’t get anything done and will develop musculoskeletal disorders.

    Lesson #4: If there are kids around, you won’t get any work done, don’t even try

    Trust me, I’ve been through it all, and I’m going through it now. There’s no way to do any meaningful work if kids of different calibers are screaming, rolling around, fighting, and pulling at you. Especially if they are under 6-7 years old.

    Don’t try to work while they are in the same room or awake. It just doesn’t work.

    What can you do? Work only when the kids are sleeping. If you have a grandmother or nanny, consider yourself very lucky – send them out with the kids, and then get to work.

    And how to proceed under COVID-19 home isolation, for example? There’s a way I call “transferring to an alternative space-time continuum.” In simpler terms, it means – go to another room, lock it, put on headphones, and play loud music. If possible, while the kids are sleeping.

    Lesson #5: If you don’t take care of your equipment, it won’t take care of you

    When working remotely, the most important thing for your success, apart from your professional skills and contacts, is your technological tools – computer, internet connection, data storage devices, mobile devices, etc.

    For better or worse, remote work (and online business in particular) requires us to be a bit more tech-savvy than “normal.”

    If you’re a soldier and don’t keep your weapon clean and loaded and go into battle, you won’t have good news. The same applies to the “battle” on the online front.

    Get to know your computer. Keep it clean. Don’t spill coffee or water on it. Don’t eat over it, dropping crumbs on the keyboard. Don’t hit or kick it. Ensure space around its fans for cooling.

    Get to know your operating system, whatever it is. How do you back up files? Is your hard drive full? How can you clean it? How to protect yourself from viruses? How to connect Bluetooth devices?

    Get to know the software products you use and will need to use. What office suite do you have and how to use it most effectively? What online applications do you need to work with, and what are the access details for them?

    Delve into security. Learn how to protect your computer and key online profiles from breaches. Store your passwords securely, preferably using a password manager. Use complex passwords, different for each application. This is where the password manager helps. Enable two-factor authentication if not for all, at least for key accounts like Gmail, Dropbox, Facebook, and similar.

    As they say:
    “A good samurai is known by how he cares for his sword.”

    Lesson #6: Just because you’re far away doesn’t mean you don’t have problems

    When working remotely, there’s a “softened communication” effect. The boss or client is not right next to you, not yelling at you, not getting angry. You receive emails and messages, but they don’t have the same strong effect as someone chewing you out in person.

    This effect is somewhat pleasant and reduces stress, but on the other hand, it can mislead us. There are tasks and problems whose importance and urgency we can underestimate because we learn about them through “non-yelling” channels.

    Therefore, pay attention to online communication. It’s not an “unreal” world, just not banging on your desk. However, if you ignore your messages (because you can turn off notifications, for example), the real problem will hit you just as hard.

    To put it metaphorically, when we cover ourselves with a blanket, the killer won’t say:
    “Oh, this one is covered, I won’t kill him.”

    Lesson #7: Freedom and responsibility go hand in hand

    Most people don’t like working in an office, but it’s actually much easier than working from home. The office has rules – when to come, when to leave, how to dress, which room to do what, when to complete each task, etc. Someone else has already figured out and set everything for you. It’s annoying but – in most cases – quite easy to follow.

    When you work from home, you have absolute freedom, but also absolute responsibility to mobilize yourself, get the job done, take care of your health, and manage your time efficiently.

    If you’re at one extreme, you end up sleeping, visiting the fridge, watching movies, and lounging around. And deadlines loom heavier over your head.

    At the other extreme, you work to exhaustion for 18 hours a day, forget to eat and go to the bathroom, respond to emails at 3 a.m.

    As much as I hate to say it, the ideal option is to set yourself “working hours.” Divide your day into blocks, as if you are really going to work in an office. Set time for work, rest, meals, and exercise. Don’t mix them and focus on one activity at a time.

    —

    I’m sure there are many more than 7 things we can learn from remote work. I would love to hear your impressions, lessons, and how you tackle the challenges of the home office.

  • Influencers’ Guide to Marketing Directors

    Influencers’ Guide to Marketing Directors

    I remember one of my meetings with an influencer. The lady had called saying she wanted to talk, I agreed, and I was expecting her at the office. She arrived half an hour late but brought her manager with her. Let’s call her Natalie.

    We sat down to talk. She had her reasons for being confident – 400,000 followers on Instagram and her own TV show.

    I, on the other hand, was following my plans and needs. Our company needed to promote the brand, and I was interested in reaching a specific audience through influencers whose identity matched our brand. So, I started asking my questions.

    I asked Natalie to tell me more about her audience. She couldn’t identify and present specific personas.

    I asked for data on her Instagram account’s performance. She couldn’t provide detailed information. She said she would send it later. A day later, when she sent us a presentation with screenshots from Instagram Insights, it turned out that most of her followers were not in the country and were not of interest to us.

    Then I asked how she usually works with brands. She replied that she was flexible. Sometimes she took $2,000 per post/story, sometimes $6,000. She was indeed quite flexible. She couldn’t explain when she charged $2,000 and when $6,000.

    I told her we were interested in running campaigns and asked what she could offer. She looked surprised and mostly confused.

    I explained that most of our campaigns last between a week and a month, and we needed more than random stories and posts. We wanted coverage – blog posts, unfolding a story over a period, interaction with users… She seemed to have heard of such things but apparently didn’t do them.

    Then I suggested we work on a performance basis. Since she was confident in her audience’s activity and her influence (after all, “influencer” comes from the word “influence”), there shouldn’t be a problem. She replied that she didn’t do “such things.” It wasn’t dignified to work on commission. In her influencer circles, no one did that, and her reputation would suffer. I explained that she was already selling access to her audience by charging for posts. She didn’t react positively.

    It had long been clear that the meeting wasn’t going well and that there were no common points between my expectations and what she could offer. Still, I decided to finish my questions.

    I asked if she had other channels besides Instagram where she was strong and could promote our brand. She didn’t. Blog? No. Facebook? No. Community, group? No. Email newsletter? No.

    We parted politely with the clear understanding (on my side) that we wouldn’t see each other again. But the story wasn’t over yet.

    In the following days, while I was wondering how to decline her without my blunt thoughts showing in the email, we received a request from Natalie. To start working together, she wanted us to give her a sofa.

    Without hesitation, I said “no.” She, however, was ready with a counteroffer: then give her an iPhone 13 Pro Max, she liked it from our website (it had just been released).

    For understandable reasons, we didn’t start working with her. Nevertheless, she continued her (un)victorious march towards me. A few days later, she sent me a message filled with disappointment, saying how she was giving her all, but our unprofessionalism – mine and my entire team’s – had ruined the deal.

    To my greatest regret, Natalie wasn’t the only influencer who approached me (in my role as Chief Marketing Officer or Marketing Director) as if I was obliged to immediately shower them with money just because they showed me how many followers they had.

    I don’t want to be misunderstood. I know many influencers with a professional approach to their own activities and their clients. This article is not about them. It’s not about those convinced of their own greatness and the necessity for brands to chase after them either.

    This article is for those individuals, leaders, influencers who have a loyal and active audience (regardless of whether it’s small or large), treat their business seriously, and want to secure more deals by helping brands while also adding value for their audience.

    Now that we’ve clarified who should continue reading and who should close the browser tab, let’s continue with…

    What do brands expect (from influencers)?

    Most companies or, let’s say, brands have relatively clear expectations from influencers:

    1. Quality of the Audience: The audience profile should match the one we want to reach; it should be active (engagement rate above 3-4% and enough comments and likes).
    2. Influencer Profile: The culture, behavior, and posts should align with the brand’s values; they should also be focused and show integrity. If you promote everything from yogurt to truck tires, I won’t include you in my communication plan, I promise.
    3. Results: Brands want to see results, and usually, these aren’t sales but reach, engagement, comments, user activity, and a visible increase in referral, direct, and organic search traffic.
    4. Reliability: Brands want to rely on influencers as a stable communication channel for promoting and engaging the brand. If they sense that you just want to take the money, post “something,” and disappear, they won’t hire you.

    Now let’s think about marketing directors/managers as representatives of the brand and the people who meet and negotiate with influencers. In other words, let’s talk about me and what I expect to greenlight a partnership…

    What do marketing directors expect from influencers?

    1. Approach: It’s important to me that you understand the nature of our relationship. You are offering me something I need (access to the right audience) and expect something in return (gifts, payment, commission). In this context, before hitting me with the price, you should show and prove to me that I can indeed get what I need.
    2. Professionalism: It’s important to me that you know your audience, your tools, your business. If you’re just someone who, due to a reality show appearance or another reason, has suddenly gained tens of thousands of followers and now wants to monetize them, I wish you luck. But if you don’t show me that you can be a quality and long-term partner, I personally don’t care about the number of your fans.
    3. Preparation: When coming to a meeting, be prepared. Bring a presentation, business cards. Open the tabs of your website and social networks on your tablet or laptop in advance, in case you can’t connect to the Internet at the office. Know your audience well (age, interests, location) and how they perform (reach, engagement). Prepare case studies from previous campaigns and the results you achieved with them. Research our brand and products in advance.
    4. Proposals: Be flexible, but not like Natalie. Offer ideas on how we can work together. Propose a creative scheme for long-term work. Propose a payment scheme that is OK for you and will allow me to better plan my budget.

    I could write much more on the topic, but these are the key things.

    Look, I have a problem: I want to reach my target audience creatively, grab their attention, and “outperform” the competition. If you can offer me a suitable solution to this problem that fits my budget, I won’t even hesitate and will hire you. (Well, I’ll think a little, but the decision will be easy.)

  • On Opitimism

    On Opitimism

    I’ve been reading books about so-called “positive thinking,” success, psychology, and the like for quite some time. Some of them are truly valuable and literally turned my life around. The rest just copy from the valuable ones. But one thing is clear from all of them—if you want to succeed and feel happy, you need to think positively. But why don’t we always manage to do that?

    Most people have heard of positive thinking, but Bulgaria seems to have the highest number of pessimists and grumblers per capita. I tried to explore the reasons for this and found a few, personally:

    • “The Pink Glasses Myth”
    • “The Curse of the Happy”
    • “The Hammer and Anvil Syndrome”
    • “The Misunderstanding of Optimism”

    Let’s look at them one by one.

    The Pink Glasses Myth

    For some reason, being grounded, balanced, practical, and stable is considered very valuable and good. But if you’re a dreamer, believe in yourself and your success, and aim to achieve a lot in life, that’s seen as bad and unproductive personally and family-wise. The prevailing opinion also says not to aim too high because you’ll fall hard, not to set big goals because they’re unrealistic and laughable, and not to strive for success because

    “You’re just an ordinary person in a messed-up country and can’t achieve much.”

    For the “normal” Bulgarian, “normal” goals “should” be not too ambitious, but meet certain standards:

    • a small but cozy home
    • a stable job with a decent salary
    • a not-too-ugly wife
    • healthy children
    • and a vacation at the sea for about 10 days almost every year.

    If you think about becoming famous or rich, or both, if you think about starting a successful business, marrying a foreigner, traveling the world, or achieving some record… That automatically makes you a flighty dreamer who

    “Was such a good and smart boy, but what nonsense got into his head.”

    Society tries to suppress development because mediocrity, like any “organism,” strives to reproduce and maintain its status quo. It has no interest in supporting rapid development and innovation of its individual members, as long as the rest maintain their mediocre, miserable existence. But of course, the individual social unit hardly realizes this. When they see a successful person, they more likely think:

    “What is he, that he should have more than me?!”

    People are annoyed by dreamers because those dreamers might actually achieve their dreams, and then

    “What will I do, who gave up on my dreams back in my childhood years, when I could have achieved them.”

    People are annoyed by the ambitious because they might achieve their goals, and then

    “I’m screwed again because I aimed so low when it could have been higher.”

    Mediocre people want to be surrounded by other mediocre people to feel comfortable and not get agitated.

    On the other hand, winners, positive and ambitious individuals like to be surrounded by similar individuals because the others suppress them and prevent them from feeling good. Unfortunately, however, the positive and progressive ones are too few. That’s why we need to support each other. The vast mass of gray units in society can crush us like nothing. We will always remain “the idiots with pink glasses”, and they will always be “grounded, sensible, critical, and responsible individuals”.

    The Curse of the Happy

    Most people, not to say all, want to have a wonderful future, a good life, happy love, lots of money, and other similar blessings. But they want them secretly. They dare not ask for them loudly, high up, powerfully, irresistibly. They dare not share them with others!

    Because they are superstitious. Because they are afraid that things might not turn out as they dream. They are afraid to be positive, considering it bad luck. But actually, they are subconsciously afraid that their dreams might come true, because then – on one hand – they lose the cozy refuge of the once unattainable dream, where they can comfortably relax in the evening after a dull workday or drift into dreams before falling asleep.

    Secondly, people get nervous when there’s a chance their dream might actually come true. They start to worry and fear. What will I do now with all this? How do I keep from losing it? What if someone steals it? What about all that responsibility? What will others think? As if the masses of people are afraid to really dream because they lack the strength and courage to face their dreams realized! So when you ask someone,

    “How are you doing?” they reply:

    “Well, I’m getting by. I’m okay, more or less.”

    Most people dare not say:

    “I feel great! I’m happy and enjoying every second of life!”

    It’s almost indecent to demonstrate your positive attitude – as if you’re entering some sacred territory where superstition reigns, everything hangs by a thread, and you shouldn’t make waves on the perfectly smooth surface of mediocrity. It has become almost shameful to be happy and to look cheerfully at life with hope and faith in the future – people look at you sideways, they envy you, reproach you, laugh at you, declare you a fool and a naive person.

    Everywhere is full of people who have an opinion about everything, especially about how something can’t be done. Everyone knows dozens of ways about that. But if you try to find a way to make something happen and achieve success, you become an incredibly cheeky bastard who needs someone to show him his place.

    The Hammer and Anvil Syndrome

    It’s hard to look brightly and optimistically at life when you have nothing to eat or are wondering how to feed your few children. If you’re overwhelmed with work, problems, worries, enemies, an uncertain future, and no money, it’s nearly impossible to be optimistic and have faith in the future and a happy ending. Yes, it’s hard, but not impossible!

    Many people are quite free to discuss the topic of optimism and positive thinking and speak quite authoritatively and eruditely about it. But when they themselves are struck by problems or difficulties, they fall into a gloomy, hostile, negative mood, where even the hint of optimism makes them look at you with malice:

    “Don’t you see I have problems? And you’re talking to me about optimism and other nonsense!”

    When a person is in such a situation, they are indeed swallowed up by their problems and it takes exceptional faith and spiritual strength to look hopefully into the future, to mobilize, and to continue moving forward and upward, despite everything.

    Optimism is for the strong! It’s much easier to be weak, grumbling, and to give up in the face of difficulties and problems!

    But if you manage to overcome your negative attitude, if despite everything you break your negative worldview and see light in the long, greasy tunnel of joyless existence, then you are truly strong and deserve to see your dreams realized!

    When you find yourself between the hammer and the anvil – it’s a matter of situation, fate, or circumstances. But it’s up to you how you handle that hammer and anvil. You can passively let yourself be shaped and struck, acquiring a strange form, or you can spin around as you wish so that the hammer and anvil shape you according to your desires. Problems are problems – everyone has them.

    Each of us gets hit by life in one way or another, and most people have very little control over the overall situation. But what we do have full control over is our attitude towards life and ourselves.

    If we think of ourselves as victims and act like victims – we are already victims. If we think like winners and act like winners – then the hammer and anvil will only temper us and give us a more functional and combat-ready shape.

    When you find yourself between the hammer and anvil, strive to become a sword, not a horseshoe.

    The Misunderstanding About Optimism

    Not everyone knows what it means to be an optimist. Most people are negatively inclined towards this concept because they think being an optimist means believing in impossible things, thinking that everything is nice and beautiful, and living in your own unreal world of happiness and goodness. The innate pragmatism of people here howls and does not allow a word to be said in favor of optimism.

    But I think there’s a huge misunderstanding here. Being an optimist doesn’t mean seeing in pink and ignoring the problem. Optimism is more of an attitude towards things, a way of thinking, where a person sees not only the problem but also its solution.

    While negatively inclined personalities see mainly the problems and the culprits for them, positive ones acknowledge these factors but look for the solution. For them, it’s more important to develop and move forward, solving problems, rather than moaning and lamenting the presence of these problems.

    Being an optimist is an attitude – towards yourself and life!

    Looking positively at things means striving to achieve the best for yourself, growing by overcoming your problems, and fighting with all means for victory, success, and the realization of your dreams. If you think your past was filled with problems and misery, it’s not so. Nothing like that is there. There are only lessons that need to be learned and steps that lead upward, to the position where you are now.

    If your present is filled with problems – get glasses! It’s not so! Your present is filled with challenges, each of which for you is a chance to achieve more than in the previous moment and a chance to develop.

    If your future seems gloomy, know that you’ve bought the wrong glasses – those are sunglasses. Throw them away. Don’t put on the pink ones – just look into the future with your own eyes and heart. What’s there? There’s sun and joy, life and happiness.

    And the best part is that between these things and you there is a path, a road, a staircase, or even a red carpet. You just need to step on it and start the most interesting and fun adventure of your life, namely – its full and positive experience!

    The right direction is “forward and upward!” Start and continue – only forward and only upward! The path has no end, and the mentioned bonuses – happiness, joy, life, love – you receive along the way.

    Because happiness is not the endpoint of the journey, but the journey itself!