How professionals work. Marina Rozhkova, founder and director of the branding agency of the same name
And again, a highly qualified specialist in the domestic information industry shares work habits within the framework of the section “How Professionals Work” . The story of Marina Rozhkova begins in Kazakhstan in 1984 and continues in Moscow since 2001.
In 2008, with a partner, Mikhail Fadeev, Marina founded her own agency: Marina Rozhkova Information and Analytical Agency. The main focus of the company is in the information support of second-tier consumer electronics brands.
Marina is not embarrassed that she is considered the most controversial PR man of modern Russia.
Current location:
Moscow
Current location: IAA
Branding Agency Marina Rozhkova, in which we are engaged in an aggressive and effective promotion of young brands in the field of IT-Telecom.
One word that best describes how you work:
In a word I can’t do it - I like the French term “total Bérézina”. If you simply translate into Russian, it means "complete n *** c."
How many hours a day do you work?
From eight to sixteen hours. In general, I believe that a person closer to 30 years or older can effectively and successfully work his head only if he sleeps at least eight hours a day. There are situations when for several days in a row you are forced to sleep for five hours or less. But then the head begins to refuse - to think normally and make adequate decisions becomes extremely problematic.
I do not like people who proudly declare in every interview - they say, I turn the mountains non-stop and I can spend a maximum of three to four hours sleeping all week. This is a complete lie! The subtext of such statements is obvious, sleeping more is the destiny of weak-willed weaklings, but I'm not like that, such a successful mega-busy specialist in great demand. Nobody will check such intimate information, and few will resist the chance to publicly caress oneself of a loved one.
Current mobile device:
I use iPhone 5S. I am often reproached for promoting Android smartphones, tablets and other gadgets of second-tier brands, and I go with Apple products myself. Basically, such reproaches come from some particularly "reputable" representatives of the telecom industry. Unfortunately, such critics are poorly versed in marketing and do not understand that it is one thing to promote a product, and another to use it as a consumer. For successful promotion, you need to feel and understand the goals, needs and capabilities of the target audience well. It is not necessary to be a representative of this audience yourself. Judge for yourself - I am actively promoting smartphones with high-capacity batteries. But I myself will never buy a similar model for myself - I simply do not have such a need.
Or another example - remember the director of the legendary children's animated series “Well, wait a minute!”, Comrade Kotyonochkin. If you look at his photo, you will see a stern smoked man. Which filmed brilliant children's cartoons. As I understand it, in life Kotyonochkin spent most of his time at work, in the company of adults, and did not master the profession of a child psychologist and did not nurse children in the kindergarten. But you yourself are well aware of the result.
Current computer:
MacBook Air and iPad Mini. I tried to use Android and Windows. But at heart I’m still a fan of Apple devices and systems, it’s really the coolest computer product. And I have no serious financial restrictions to deny myself the purchase of Apple devices. A completely opposite example is my business partner, co-founder of the agency. We bought him a MacBook, on which he installed Windows and plugged in Microsoft's proprietary red mouse. A person is simply allergic to Mac OS. In the end, he gave me a MacBook and bought a regular Dell laptop with Windows, which is immensely pleased.
What applications, programs, utilities can you live without?
Since I'm in the telecom business, my main tools are Gmail, Microsoft Office, and Mozilla Firefox. On a smartphone, I actively use Viber and WhatsApp. I actively communicate on Facebook, and indeed social networks, sometimes I look in Instagram. I read a lot of books on the iPhone through iBooks. From time to time, I launch Find My Friends to track family and friends. I actively use the program "Public Services" - it is very convenient to watch fines, pay utilities and much more. A great tool for a person in a modern metropolis. Finally, driving a car through huge Moscow without a navigator is often impossible, it is easy to get lost. My choice is Yandex.Navigator.
What kind of life hack helps you save time?
Firstly, I always keep in mind the ultimate goal of any process that I am currently engaged in, whether it is a phone call or an email. Secondly, it is the ability brought up over the years to put this goal in the first place, above momentary emotions and distractions. Although you can hardly call the above listed a life hack, these are more likely qualities obtained through many years of experience. And also - the ability to always think of a person on the other end of the wire helps me. If I write a letter, I immediately evaluate - what I want to convey, and how the interlocutor can react. I put myself in the place of the interlocutor and predict whether I will achieve what I need or not. The ability to put yourself in the place of a contractor, counterparty, your own employee, with whom you are communicating at the moment, a client, an end user is a very valuable, but extremely rare quality in the modern generation.
Which to-do manager do you use?
I have three to-do managers, Notepad, Google Calendar and Gmail. I believe that complex time management systems are from the evil one. All that a small business needs, which I represent as my agency, is Word, Excel, and email. Basic ownership of these programs allows you to replace any to-do and project manager. After all, we do not have global processes in which hundreds of departments and contractors are involved, we simply do not need all these complex systems. The cost of introducing, maintaining and forcing them to use all is more than the add value in our business of such systems.
For a small business manager, email replaces any to-do sheets. I leave unread all the letters that I need to process, respond. If I react, I transfer the task to the other side and mark the letter as read. As a result, I go through the list of unread emails several times a day, and then I look through all the mail about once a month in search of hanging branches. My business partner, who has been working in the portable gadget industry for almost 20 years, still writes all things on paper - not even on stickers. E-mail and paper is all he needs.
As one of our clients said back in the early 2000s, all sorts of to-do sheets and portable organizers allow an already organized person to become even more organized. If you are gouging and a simpleton in life, then no to-do manager will help you. And I am sure of this.
What do you listen to when you work?
Classical music. When you need to focus on documents or financial matters, I prefer complete silence so as not to be distracted and not to scatter attention. And my business partner, a consumer of musical slag, is dying in the Leningrad group and Enjoykin's work.
What are you reading now?
My daughter is already four years old, so I actively read books on parenting, child psychology. You will not believe it, but it helps in communicating with the employees of our agency. Often, relationships with employees resemble the “mother-child” model; often, it seems, adults do not hesitate to behave like children.
Which book of the last read was the most memorable?
“French children do not spit food” and “How to talk, so that children listen, and how to listen, so that children speak.” The first book is a very important reading on how to set and defend borders between people. People very often violate information and personal boundaries, which can even affect work and lead to unpleasant consequences.
On my example, I can say that in a small company, personal often interferes with the worker. And they, as a manager, begin to draw me into the solution of personal problems of employees. And the workers suddenly perceive me not only as a leader with certain goals and objectives, but also as a friend. A person who can complain about events from his personal life. As a result, such a “mess” in my head can interfere with employees and I can work normally. In addition, “French children do not spit food” is an excellent book for women who do not focus only on family, husband and children, household issues. In general, those who realize themselves professionally.
“How to talk so that children listen, and how to listen, so that children speak” - this is a real storehouse of tools in order to convey their own thoughts very quickly to people with maximum time savings. And say so that you are heard the first time. This is key at the moment in a company where at least 10-20 people work. If you can explain the essence of the question in five minutes, and each time you spend at least ten minutes on this, get ready for the fact that every day you will lose up to two or three extra hours for useless conversations.
Again, skepticism should not be given because it is a children's book. Believe me, what works effectively with children is also great for many seemingly adult people.
Do you use electronic readers or prefer paper books?
I prefer e-books, because paper options are trite uncomfortable to carry in a woman’s bag, where thousands of little things are huddled, and even an iPhone with an iPad Mini. Extra even a hundred grams - believe me, they are very strongly felt and add weight to my purse.
How much time do you sleep?
I already answered this question - about eight hours. Sleep is the best means of restoring brain activity for a person who is actively working with this very brain. A person who thinks a lot and sleeps a little is like a loader who eats little. Well, a person can not eat a little and at the same time have enough strength for intense hard physical work. So it is with us: the main tool is the brain, which needs to be fed with nutrients, give rest and recovery time.
Are you an owl or an early bird?
By nature, I am an early bird, but because of work I have to be an owl. Many things do not require delay and sometimes urgent tasks end at midnight. For example, I record this interview at 00:15. If I lived as I wanted, then for an hour I would have peacefully slept in bed. However, for a busy day you do not always have time to do everything you want, and all that is required. In addition, I like to do a number of things in the evening, when employees disappear from the information space and stop distracting me with “routine”, routine questions and deeds. This is the easiest way to focus on thinking about, say, strategic objectives.
How do you have breakfast?
Like my child, in the morning I prefer plain oatmeal with milk. However, my husband doesn’t understand such “quiet breakfasts” and therefore always gives me strong aromatic coffee so that I can quickly turn on. However, I myself sometimes like to treat myself to something unusual, like thermonuclear coffee with cardamom.
How do you spend time on the way to / from work?
As the owner of the company, I chose an office, which is located literally at two intersections from home. Even in the most severe traffic jams in the evening, my travel time does not exceed 15-20 minutes. So I spin the steering wheel, listen to the latest news on Business FM ... I can make a maximum of one or two calls, there’s simply no time left for anything else.
What advice have you ever been given you can pass on to others?
The higher you rise professionally and achieve success, the more people will criticize you and give “invaluable” advice. A standard, gray person cannot achieve major, notable success. Success is always an eccentricity, the ability to stand out from the crowd and do as you see fit, without paying attention to anyone around. We are not even talking about envious people; sometimes people are simply not able to understand the essence of what you are doing if you are doing new, non-standard, revolutionary things. To chew, to convince each counter-transverse - life is not enough. Long ago, the former chief of my partner voiced voiced the thought-advice (whatever) that helps a lot in life and which I can safely convey along the chain. It sounds like this: "Camels cf * t, and the caravan goes on."