How four sets of rims brought in the first 20 thousand hryvnias
How did you come up with the business idea?
The business started as a side hustle. One spring, I had a Ford and had managed to gather a few sets of rims. I sold them during the season and felt a significant difference between a salaried paycheck and the «buy - sell» model. When I sold four sets and earned around 20 thousand hryvnias, it felt like a lot of money compared with working for someone else. I decided to try starting my own business, even if at first it brought in only 100–200 dollars a month, while I also worked as a taxi driver.
To increase the volume, I borrowed a thousand dollars from a friend and bought about seven more sets of rims—and the small side hustle began to turn into a structured activity. Within just one–two years, the scale had changed considerably: about two hundred sets of rims, two garages for storing stock, and the first people joining the operation.
Three skills that work when you don’t yet have a team
What key skills helped you launch the business?
Sales and communication skills were the foundation of growth. The ability to talk calmly with people, be friendly, earn their trust, and connect easily translated directly into sales at the beginning, when there was no strong team or established processes. The second important skill is a willingness to test ideas in small steps: not committing all your money at once, testing the market, and gradually increasing volumes. The third is the ability to turn setbacks into organizational solutions—to avoid getting stuck in a panic and instead find people and resources to address the problem areas.
When hackers deleted a page with two hundred OLX listings
What were the 3 most difficult challenges you faced in the early years?
Moving from salaried employment into uncertainty. I had to psychologically accept losing a stable paycheck and living between side jobs, driving a taxi, and seasonal work. Limited resources at the outset and the need to turn money over quickly. The first expansions were funded by borrowing, purchasing additional stock, and gradually increasing volumes. Losing our main advertising channel. About a year and a half later, hackers deleted a page with around two hundred listings on OLX. I was effectively left without advertising or sales and had to either spend months restoring everything manually or quickly restructure processes by bringing people in.
I faced the war with a thousand dollars in my pocket—and recovered within a month
What crises has your business faced, and how did you overcome them?
I can’t say the business went through classic survival crises where everything came to a complete stop. It was more a matter of off-season fluctuations: sometimes there was more money, sometimes less, and sometimes we invested heavily in stock and expansion and temporarily found ourselves short on cash. The closest thing to a real crisis was the beginning of the full-scale war. We effectively did not work for about six months. I faced the war with a thousand dollars in my pocket and the need to evacuate my family and make decisions under intense stress. At the same time, the recovery was fairly quick: within a month, work began to pick up, and financially, the first year of the war was even easier because we bought and invested less, sold more of our remaining stock, and worked with a smaller team.
The hacker incident and the loss of our advertising were another crisis point. At the time, it looked like a catastrophe, but later it turned out to be a point of growth. That was when I brought people into the business, and one of them eventually became director. Together, we began actively developing the company.
From rims to a paint shop: the road to full service
Which decisions proved most effective for the company’s growth?
The biggest impact came not from one-off breakthroughs, but from consistent, incremental decisions. Delegation and hiring meant I was no longer the only person responsible for getting things done. Expanding our products and services—from rims to tires, tire fitting, and a paint shop—increased margins and created a full-service model. Expanding through new locations gave us a broader presence in Kyiv and made the business more resilient.
How losing our advertising ultimately strengthened the company
Which of your mistakes do you now consider your most valuable learning experience?
I can’t single out one specific mistake. Many situations that seemed like problems at the time eventually became learning experiences and even points of growth. Losing our advertising to hackers, for example, led us to bring people on board and strengthen the company. I haven’t had any store closures or failed partnerships that I would consider critical mistakes.
