Investment and finding my way in entrepreneurship

I was going to start some activity in the sphere of system administration. I worked as system engineer before. I was looking for jobs on headhunter.ru, and the jobs offered looked non-profitable or hard for me. I left this plan, decided to try an easier way of work - PC repair, and get the clients just from advertisements on dashboards. I did PC repair before.

I started distribute advertisements about repair. It was pasted up about 1500 ads. In total: 2 clients for repair and 1 eager for sex woman. As I don't do prostitution, I got just 2 orders.

It was needed to change the scheme of information sharing to my audience about my services. Outdoor advertising turned out to be low-effective for getting PC repair clients.

Possibly, it was needed to change the job itself. I looked then, I guess, oDesk, to know how much you get paid for what, and got horrified: offered tasks appeared to me difficult for low money.

Then I thought, why not to appeal funding resources for an IT company from outside? I made a preliminary calculation of the idea and started to post it on the web sites for requests and offers of investment. It was idea of IT outsourcing. In between I looked at business ideas of other people, and I considered them not valuable. Through couple weeks after posting business idea franchising's web site staff messaged me that there is opening new section with investment on the site, and offered me to post my idea on it, so that I on the section opening got more views of potential investors. So did I.

The opening of the section actually got quite a popularity of investors, which had known about my idea, and several people contacted me. Seeing the replies, I offered to couple of my ex-colleagues to participate in business planning, searching and meeting investors to work in future in our own company, but it wasn't interesting for them. One of investors was very interesting: in his 26 he was a director of computer science research institute, after fall of the USSR he got to printing industry. I augmented the idea to small business plan, sent it to the investor and went to meeting.

On the meeting businessman told about his business life. He graduated as economist, before USSR fall worked in computer science research institute, in 90's in the instituted there was nobody working, and Sergey went to work in the sphere of printing industry. Starting as entry-level employee, served until got the senior manager position, after that he also became an owner of printing firm, consisting of up to 6 workshops in Russia and Germany. On the moment of conversation there was 2 workshops, and facility of the 2nd workshop stood in the premise of 1st for economy. Sergey showed work of the whole workshop. The workshop's machines could print almost anything, lot of products I had seen 1st time in my life.

We discussed work of system engineers, sales managers and accounting of his two companies, thought about premise and combining accounting by Sergey's current accountant. We dealt the shares of the future company as next: 49% to me and 51% to Sergey, in prospect creating my company of IT outsourcing. We arranged start of works to near the end February. Solving all these questions, we took leave.

At that time I conversed with other investors. He was an office employee, other, I guess, wasn't an investor himself, but offered my project to investor and sent several links to investment funds, which I hadn't found with my search. The office employee hadn't interested me, the links I had saved for future.

In 20's numbers of February I messaged to Sergey about my readiness. Sergey replied that he can't start the project because financial difficulties: January turned out to be failed month, February didn't equal the hopes, so he is forced to delay the project. I wished Sergey good luck with improve the work of his firm.

It was unexpectedly to know that funding of IT outsourcing cancelled. On the meeting Sergey offered to start even on next day, possibly, if I didn't delay the start of works with him, today I could work with my own good projects. Or I could augment the business plan, offer it to new investment funds and start work on it. In case of reject of these investors, too, I would knew exactly that I've used all possibilities, and calmly work in IT sphere without investment, but with better understanding what I want. Instead, I just worked as freelancer for several month, episodically engaging assistants.

Through several months - and this is our current time - autumn 2018, after freelance I started to study entrepreneurship on the government's program. On it I finally got to know that it's possible to get subsidies and grant, and subsidies aren't difficult to get :). I intend to develop my own business, and on the moment my project in the process of selection in regional contest called "You are entrepreneur". Among finalists of the contest of previous years I saw project like PC and office machines repair, so I think I have a chance to win in it. I'll post when I get results.