Today, on ‘Expert Speaks‘, we have Victor Gozhyi, COO at TemplateMonster.com Marketplace.
Victor has been engaged with web commerce and digital marketing for almost 10 years.
In this conversation, Victor shares his thoughts on WordPress hosting, how he manages his journey of excellence, and his work in general.
You would definitely love reading his insightful answers, Here it goes…
Hello, Victor; Welcome to LearnWoo! From working as a Lecturer to the COO of TemplateMonster, how has this journey been for you?
It was a bumpy road full of amazing stories, challenges, and acquaintances. TemplateMonster marketplace is a team of hundreds of web professionals I know personally. When I was hired as a project manager, aka Scrum Master, I helped our HR department find talented people and fill in the gaps cause then I was an undergraduate and knew many people at my university. So I can say that I laid my hand on the recruitment of the major share of our team.
Can you share an example of how you might pacify an unhappy employee as a COO without undermining company goals?
TemplateMonster has been in business for almost 20 years, and we’ve created an actionable scheme to help resolve or avoid such situations.
Based on our experience, we can distinguish several groups of people:
- Group #1: These employees are in their place, clearly know what they are doing, and they are doing it well. When working with such colleagues, you need to listen as much as possible, take advice, and possibly ask for clarification on some aspects of the company’s work that you did not fully understand.
- Group #2: These employees know what they are doing but are tired of their routine. When working with such employees, you must understand what has caused the dissatisfaction. People enjoy what they are doing but would like to move to a different department or learn something new. Or a person has not had a pay review or career growth for a long period. Such cases are completely solvable, and if a compromise is reached, these people will begin working even more actively, helping the company get back on its feet.
- Group #3: These people are sick and tired of what they do. Those are often ex-corporate rock stars who have reached a glass ceiling and don’t want to move on because there is nowhere to go. So when a new rock star appears, they may start behaving as toxic personalities stirring up trouble inside the team. To resolve such situations, we may offer them relocation to a different office, and if this doesn’t work out, we may say goodbye to them.
As soon as the team’s work is well-established, and the whole team is looking in the same direction, it becomes much easier to deal with any problems since this is already teamwork and not efforts alone.
How do you manage to remain motivated in this role?
Being extremely motivated is my inborn trait. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always been engaged in various activities. In my childhood, my parents helped to funnel my abilities, so I trained myself to perform all my duties effectively. It doesn’t mean that I don’t experience procrastination attacks.
I’m using a trick that helps me reduce them to a bare minimum; here it comes: when I feel that my mind is preparing me for a ‘procrastination session,’ I’m taking a coffee break or a 10-minute walk. Walking helps gather your thoughts and clear your mind from the toxin of procrastination. As a rule, a 10-minute walk is enough for me to continue a productive work session.
Can you please share with us a story that highlights what makes your organization unique?
I don’t know about stories, but the thing that makes us unique is the number of families that appeared in our company. Dozens of people have found love in neighboring departments, got married, and had kids. This made us call ourselves a TemplateMonster family, and we’re calling our kids little Monsters, jokingly.
What is the number one aspect that you look for as a trait in all your employees when bringing them onto the team?
It’s not like we were doing it on purpose, but it turned out that all people on our team were peaceful and life-affirming. This makes our team extremely supportive and self-sufficient.
Where is the company today versus where you thought it would have been 5 years ago?
Five years ago, our ‘marketplace goals’ were a set of wireframes and tasks to research and develop this goal. Since then, we’ve managed to build something amazing. We’ve collected a huge collection of products and developed the most feature-rich and usable author account.
One of our latest developments for authors is a “Product suggestion tool” with its help, our authors can discover the hottest niche topics and fill them with their items. We’re always researching opportunities to develop new tools and features for our authors that will help them earn more by making less effort.
Any tips for handling rejections?
In the face of rejection, I usually consider if there is anything I can improve. When I think about my goals and skills in relation to them, it’s OK to consider whether there is room for improvement.
It may be necessary to work on my efforts, productivity, some other technique, or whatever else I may need to improve my chances next time. We all can make the most of the rejection by improving ourselves.
Rejection, as a rule, is a harsh reality check. By approaching it the right way, we might be able to shape our careers or personal affairs in a way that fits our talents, personalities, and everything that makes us unique.
Can you tell us your typical daily tasks? Also, how do you prioritize?
One of the easiest ways to let yourself relax and unwind is to work productively. After all the necessary tasks have been completed and the day has been productive, it is much easier to allow yourself to relax fully and with a clear conscience. The main thing is:
- to get 7+ hours of sleep;
- set and accomplish major 2-3 goals per day;
I stick to the principle of “eat that frog,” so I try to complete the most important, difficult, or tiresome tasks first.
The tools that help me organize myself and be aware of what is happening in the company are Bitrix, Jira, and Skype. They help me organize tasks correctly without worrying that something has slipped out of my head or got lost in the notebook. However, if you want to relax, I advise you to turn off all instant messengers and leave only voice communications for emergencies.
What’s your decision-making style? Can you give an example of a situation where you had to make a quick decision?
The scariest situation that made me make a quick decision was on February 24, when the sounds of explosions woke us up. There was nothing left for my family and me but to pack up, jump into the car and drive in the west direction as far as we could. We didn’t want to leave our country, so we rented a flat in one of our western regions and settled there.
Outside of work, what keeps you occupied?
Being one of those who spend most of their time in the office, engaging in physical exercises and outdoor activities is extremely important.
For me, it’s spearfishing. When I dive underwater in complete silence, I can completely forget about all the worries, anxieties, and risks and give myself a rest.
Also, lately, I’ve started doing CrossFit workouts; they help me switch and unload the brain by changing to physical activities.
I recommend everyone to choose at least one day every month for active rest and turn it into a regular activity. Additionally, if your mind gets more rest, you’ll cope easier with your work duties.
Where do you see the company after 5 years? What could be the biggest challenges to reaching there?
TemplateMonster will complete its transformational phase and become the world’s largest digital product marketplace.
The main idea behind the marketplace is not to make more sales; it’s about people. We aim to create the largest community of digital product makers worldwide.
Lately, we’ve managed to change the company’s image, and we’ve managed to create an enormous collection of digital products, and I hope in 5 years, it will be enlarged tenfold.
All in all, I hope that in 5 years, any person who’s asked where to download a high-quality digital product will instantly respond that it is the TemplateMonster marketplace.
Apart from our product and marketing goals, we’re deeply engaged in humanitarian activities. Each fall, we offer paid internships to a group of students from our local university. The representatives of different departments of our company give lectures on various subjects and explain in a simple form those things that will be needed if they decide to join an IT company after graduation.
Also, we are helping our local humanitarian fund, “Peoples project,” which collects money for defense and humanitarian needs.
What was the path you took to get to where you are today? Any advice or words you really want to share with those who want to follow your path?
I don’t know why anyone would want to follow my path. Every person has their abilities, desires, and capabilities. All of these influence their lifestyle, their job, and eventually their level of income. Even though I’m not a lifestyle coach, I can’t share universal advice anyone can use. This worked for lots of people from my surroundings and me.
So here it comes – you need to find something that you’re good at; for example, I’m good at socialization and communication.
This helped me become the way I am:
- If you’re good at arts, you find some narrow niche in arts that you can fill in;
- If you’re fit and agile, then you should consider professional athletics.
I hope you got the point.
