TO LEAVE THE ARBITRATION WORLD: MYTH OR REALITY?

Vita: Oooh, where to start 😅 In fact, quitting my stable job and plunging into complete obscurity was one of the best and at the same time one of the most difficult decisions of my life!

Behind this were doubts, fears, love, big dreams and ambitions. That's why my little confession is for your attention.

Vita: It all started with the fact that I came to this market without having any idea what affiliate, traffic, verticals, and gambling were. It was a dark forest for me. I accidentally came across a vacancy for an SMM manager and decided to give it a try. I had 6 years of experience in different, dissimilar jobs and a 100$ SMM course that I bought during Covid to change my life😂. Oh, and a marketing degree, which I have never been asked for).

I've always been an idea person, so a small salary didn't scare me - the main thing was to have the opportunity to learn and grow in a new field. They believed in me (or I convinced myself 😅), and as a result, I was hired for a project that had just launched and was actively developing. My own growth occurred simultaneously with the project's growth.

Over time, I came to understand the stereotypes that money is flowing here and that this is a fairly developed and charged area in the CIS space. But a good picture does not come by itself. To achieve something, we needed the EBU. And given that the project was quite young, we had to be a universal soldier and work for three people. I don't know why, but from the very beginning, there was no desire to dive too deep into the market. It was always more appealing to be behind the scenes, but to raise the project and realize career ambitions. Perhaps because somewhere inside I felt that this broadcast lifestyle was not quite my thing.

I immersed myself in the processes - at some point, this work became my whole life. My social circle, topics, tasks - everything was somehow related to work, displacing my own preferences and dreams that made me me. Over time, I became a team leader, was helped with relocation (for which I am grateful separately, as it was a life-changing move), and raised my salary. It seemed that I had achieved everything I wanted. But there was a constant feeling of dissatisfaction inside.

Vita: In fact, my first thoughts came during an English class. What is the connection, you may ask. Once, in one of the classes, the teacher asked a trivial question: "What would you do if money didn't matter?"

And I answered without a shred of doubt: "I would travel the world, make videos about it and show them to people. And at the end of my life, I would make a big autobiographical movie in which I would try to convey how important it is to listen to yourself and live your life the way you want to, not the way it was imposed on you." When I left the office, I realized that I was not living the life I dreamed of. It sounds a bit pretentious, yes, hahaha. But I realized that I was at work solely for the money, although I have always been and remain an ideological person. So I made a decision to be myself and not change my principles.

Yes, I was actively developing in this area, and I could most likely have reached great heights. I had money and recognition. But did this success make me me? At the age of 25 (perhaps it was an age crisis), I began to think more and more often that I was not following my soul's call and doing something wrong. The business Olympus no longer attracted me, and climbing the career ladder turned into a grueling cardio workout.

All these deep reflections on life were greatly influenced by the war and then the move.

At that time, I had already lived in Warsaw for six months. As I said above, the move was life-changing for me. Hearing my thoughts, whether the universe helped me or it was just a banal coincidence, it was at that moment that I met my future boyfriend, who began to broadcast to me that work is work, it should not be the meaning of your life. And we met him, by the way, at work (ahahaha, and this is another reason why I'm grateful to her). At first, I was skeptical, convincing him that he needed to run, reach the top, make more money, more money, and then more money. And then I thought - money and success are all great, but ask representatives of the field what, behind all these daily checks of wealth and office work, made them childishly happy the last time, and I'm sure most of them will not be able to answer this question.

So I quit my job. By the way, there's a little story behind that, too. My boyfriend persuaded me to quit because he was quite traditional and my career ambitions did not impress him. But I, being "strong and independent," was afraid to depend on a man and said that I would not quit until I had saved a certain amount of money. I gave myself six months to do it. But it was not to be. One evening, he took a glass of wine for himself and handed me another, and made a toast: "To your release!". At my surprised expression, he showed me my Binance, which had the amount I had announced 😂 Under his "well, you promised", I wrote to my manager about my resignation.

Before that, we each had a pool of countries visited, and we realized that this was our common passion, which we wanted to spend the coming years on and which we could monetize. By the way, he eventually quit his job as well. So, taking our pillows, we started traveling the world.

Vita: Absolutely not. On the contrary, I am grateful to myself for it. Now we are completely absorbed in traveling. We try to choose the most remote and least touristy parts of the world. The very thought that we are making our own dreams come true gives us goosebumps and makes us ecstatic. Constant adventures, trials, interesting acquaintances with completely different cultures and people, exoticism and asceticism - all this has become the rhythm of our life.

We have already completed a two-week ocean kayaking trip on the Raja Ampat Islands, explored green oases in the heart of Oman, conquered the mountain peaks of Georgia, and visited many more interesting places that would not be enough for an article. By the way, we are currently on an expedition in Africa. We are going to ride around the continent on a motorcycle in 365 days. This is the confirmation of the right choice for me personally.

Here, somewhere not always in comfortable conditions on different parts of the world, I feel truly and unquestionably happy. I want to experience these emotions here and now, to memorize and engrave every moment in my memory. You can feel life here.

Vita: In fact, this is probably the question I hear most often. Yes, in practice, things are not as simple as I described above. Unfortunately, money does not fall from the sky like tropical rains)

Now we are traveling on the capital of a guy who has been saving it since he was 18. As for me, I'm not sitting still either. And now there will be an answer to the question whether it is possible to leave the arbitration world forever 😂

In the spring, Kostia, whom I met at my previous job, approached me with a proposal to use my marketing skills and help launch the project. The concept of media really appealed to me. But with my lifestyle, it was difficult to promise anything. We agreed that I would launch the project, take care of all the operational processes, and then transfer the media into safe hands. But it didn't happen as expected. I got sucked in 😂.

But with the only difference being that now I'm prioritizing my life correctly. And as I wrote above, I'm an ideological person, and HWYD is an unrealistically soulful media outlet, just like the idea to create it. That's why it's a pleasure to manage the operational processes here. I've recruited a great team that works like clockwork. And now we are developing a story together, in the success of which I believe as much as anyone else. Well, except for Kostya)

So, nice to meet you, I'm Vita - COO at HWYD.

Is it difficult to combine everything? Yes, it is. But I love my life very much now and what is happening in it. I am sure that in my old age I will definitely have no regrets. If I live, of course, because in Africa, you know how much danger there is...

I also have an incredible amount of support. So, most likely, after some time, when I can let go of HWYD, I will pass it on to good hands. But for now, I'm here.

In the meantime, subscribe to Instagram and witness my new story.