Doing business is fulfilling in many ways. We know how important it is to find a niche, focus on quality, improve marketing & sales, find talent, have clean and stable finances, be profitable, build a brand, have mission & vision and so on… But, the most beautiful thing about doing business is making friends.
Very often, members of your team, the ones you hire, become your friends. Some do not, but it does not mean that something is wrong. Likewise, it is always wonderful when you get to friendship level with your client. In some cases, it can lead to danger zone since every project challenge can initiate conflicts, affecting this relationship. Business decisions can become personal and personal decisions can have high impact on business.
How I met your mother? Pardon. Viacheslav and Ignacio.
I met Viacheslav from Atwix in Las Vegas at Imagine 2012 conference. This was the first one at M Resort. During this talk, I figured his company was previously called CRE Help and he still had some clients on CRE Loaded platform. I have been visiting his site many times in pre-Magento days since I also worked on a dozen CRE Loaded projects myself. It was obvious that Atwix and Inchoo have very much in common and that we share the same values. It was my first Imagine and I had a great time there.
Next year, I attended Meet Magento Germany in Leipzig. I loved the city. Viacheslav was my city guide and we had a great dinner at Auerbachs Keller restaurant. After a party, between two conference dates, Ignacio Riesco from Interactiv4 and I stayed on a few late beers. We were talking about challenges each of us had in our own companies. It was a great talk – one of those where you start to appreciate things you were taking for granted and also question some decisions and policies you set in your own business. Such talks are the most valuable ones to me at conferences.
Three of us stayed in contact and we try to find a small chunk of time at every conference to talk about business, families, politics, sports, travel and other stuff.
inchoo.com story
At the moment I founded Inchoo in May 2008, inchoo.com domain was free. But, I didn’t register it immediately because I decided to wait for approval for company name from our Commercial Court in Osijek, Croatia. I thought that nobody will register it for the next couple of days. I was wrong. Just two days after I got the legal statement that company was founded, domain was taken. Oh boy, was I upset.
I decided to go with inchoo.net for the start and contact the owner in a couple of months. Well, my first contact was in a few years. The owner asked for 3,000 USD at that time for the domain. I played a little. He didn’t lower the price and I decided to contact him later.
Last year he asked for higher price and I didn’t even try to negotiate this time. Inchoo.net domain was established and I didn’t push it for the time being. Of course, I was aware how important it is for Inchoo to have .com domain.
The Budapest
A few days after Developers Paradise in Opatija, Ignacio and Slava sent a message:
I wasn’t sure whether this invite had an extra reason except two birthdays, but it sounded like fun. Slava rented a place and we prepared our bags. When I arrived, Slava and Ignacio were already there. There was a present on the table, decorated with great care. The box was quite light. After I opened it, it took me a few seconds to figure out what was written on the paper. It was inchoo.com transfer code. My bros bought me inchoo.com domain for the Inchoos’ 8th birthday. How cool was that? It wasn’t easy to get it. They didn’t get it for free either. Thank you guys. This was the most amazing gift ever.
Afterwards, we had a fantastic day in Budapest with lots of great conversations.
I think we are quite blessed for having such a great community with fantastic people. I’m sure many of us have a great story to tell. Every similar story makes us richer, no matter the success we have in business.
