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Glamping Start-Up In Ukraine With Mala Richka #063

camping summer

What inspires a family to start a glamping business while their country is at war, they are faced with a pandemic, and have 5 young children?

glamping business startup

We all deal with challenges in different ways. I know that when I’m struggling, all I need to do is listen to the inspirational stories of others to get motivated again.

My mind was blown by what Ulyana and her husband Andrii have achieved in Ukraine, and despite all their challenges, they knew they were building more than a business. They were building a dream!

So get ready to be inspired by the Mala Richka story!

If you’re ready to take the plunge into the luxury outdoor accommodation industry, then this is for you. With expert tips and advice, you can create a successful and profitable glamping business that provides your customers with the perfect balance of luxury and nature and you with the perfect lifestyle business.

Learn what it takes to launch a glamping business here: https://www.inspiredcoursesvip.com/

Join the Start Up And Grow Club here: https://www.inspiredcoursesvip.com/club

Take part in the Masterclasses here: https://www.inspiredcoursesvip.com/masterclasses

Contact Ulyana and Andrii at Mama Richka here.

Follow them on Instagram.

Find them on the map.


The Glamping Business Podcast Shownotes

Additional Resources And Links Mentioned

Listen to the podcast here:

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If you have something inspiring to offer the world of Glamping and Unique Holiday Rentals then get in touch with Sarah Riley and share it on the Podcast. For more information contact Sarah here.

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THE GLAMPING BUSINESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Sarah Riley: We all deal with challenges in different ways. We all perceive things differently and find it difficult to see a way forward. Occasionally. My way of overcoming this is to be inspired by the stories of others. I have to say, my mind was absolutely blown when I’ve interviewed Ana. She and her husband Andrea, are based in the Ukraine. They had five children, one pandemic and one war to deal with when they launched their glamping business. But they were determined, and as she told me, they weren’t to building a business. They were building a dream. Get ready to be inspired. This is episode 63. Glamping and unique holiday rentals are surging in popularity with the growing desire of customers to book holidays that deliver an experience. They are also the new business of choice for those wanting to improve their work-life balance. So how do you build a strong business like this that gives you the life you need and a great investment I’m Sarah Riley, and I want to share what I’ve discovered after being in immersed in this industry for over 20 years to inspire you to find out more about what’s going on. Welcome. This is the business of glamping and unique holiday rentals.

Sarah Riley: Ulyana, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast. I have to say that I was really inspired by the fact you reached out to me to share your story, because your story is one which is quite epic, especially being based where you are. So before we go any further, let’s talk about that. Where are you based in the world Where is your glamping site based

Ulyana: our glamping and camping pitch is based in Ukraine, which is for now in most newsfeeds known as the place of war. luckily enough, Ukraine is very big . So we are located in the eastern, western part of, of the, of Ukraine, which is closer to Polish border, which means we are really far from the actual frontline. It’s like more than 1000 kilometers, but definitely as, as the whole world. And we especially are affected by the work. and the story today is like that we actually launched, the first season of our camping business. was started, during the war time, so it was like two months, after the actual war started here. but definitely the main, idea of, having us at the podcast, and I’m so excited that you have us, thank you for, for that opportunity is more to, to talk about Ukraine as a location, not only of the war as we, you know, most people wouldn’t know where Ukraine is.

Ulyana: Also, we’re a big country in, in the middle of Europe, but now a lot of people know, about Ukraine, but know because of the negative effect, right Because of war. and I wanted to like maybe push a bit on the positive side saying that, hey, even during such difficult times, good things can happen. so my story would be kind of more inspiring people. So there’s like no perfect time to start your dream, right so good things can happen, even if it’s a, it’s a worst day of your life. and also maybe to, to talk about Ukraine as a, as a big country, as a country rich of, natural resources. We have, nice mountains. we have, welcoming people. So maybe the day when the war would end, and we’ll live our normal lives. someone would consider coming to Ukraine, so can consider investing in Ukraine, buying property here, starting a camping business here. So I think that , that’s like my main story, not just to share, where we at and to, to talk about Ukraine as a war time, but to talk about Ukraine, in, in the future state as an evolving country, and as a nice and trendy market for, for camping and glamping business.

Sarah Riley: It’s really interesting because in my time working with lots of different businesses, business owners like yourself, helping them set up and, and go through that whole process, all the steps that are needed to set the business up. I’ve always talked to them about what’s been your biggest challenge so far. What’s been your biggest barriers so far And I have to say, I’ve never, ever come across somebody that war is one of the biggest challenges. But it absolutely amazing that you still persevered. You continued regardless. You had your dream. You knew what you wanted for your family, and you’ve carried on. And I think it’s, you’ve raised a really good point there about that a country does need to promote itself and to look at the positive side of what it does. And to say that we, we can’t just be defined by what’s going on in one part of our country.

Sarah Riley: We do need to continue with business as normal. That’s how the economy continues. That’s how people continue to enjoy, you know, time and their lives. And that’s important as well. I know this, it’s terrible what’s going on with the war. but that’s not what we’re here to talk about. I wanted to talk to you because you have a very large family, don’t you You have a family of five, right So that must have been a challenge in itself, but what, what was that part of the reason that you wanted to set, set up your business is because of your children

Ulyana: well, first of all, the, the, the year we launched, the campaign and the war started, I just gave birth to my third, daughter . So she was actually two months old when we started. and yeah, this is a big family. this is, well, we have my husband. We don’t call it a business, right We call it a dream. And that’s actually what it is. And I think this is how, how it started, and that’s why we kind of keep going it no matter what, because we initially decided that we’ll be flexible with this decision, and like it’s just two of us with no extra investments. We have, both full-time jobs because we know that this project, is not yet at the stage we will be fully able to, leave our jobs. but anyways, yes, this is kind of a dream come true, because we believe that, camping business and actually being outside our doors is a healing part of, our daily routine.

Ulyana: we, we met with my husband, as we were in the scouting, organization. It’s like, in Ukraine, it’s called, called Plat. It’s a very kind of, it’s a national wide organization, but it also promotes this, like living in nature, being able to cope, in any situation, being, being able to live in a, in a tent and make a fire and also all this kind of bonding together and, and, and be a friendly person, et cetera. So this is kind of like where it started, but also my parents, were both an alpinist and, we were also raised as a kids that we were usually having our best time outside. So we were biking, we were going to mountains, we were hiking, we were skiing. And this is the life, life approach that we share with our kids.

Ulyana: So they also go to the ski school, and we usually go to ski. They have bikes and, as as, as they grow up, with all the technologies and all the, you know, online world, it’s very important for us as a parents to show them that there’s a lot of world outside of o online. and I know that there is a time that they, they will stick to cartoons and we need that silent time too. But also I do enjoy, the idea than when we are out. Like they’re busy all the time. They have their sticks, , I don’t know. They’re, they’re dirty, but they’re happy and they’re tired. and when, when we were younger and there were no kids, we usually traveled with my husband, abroad as, as I’m saying, there are not much campings, in Ukraine.

Ulyana: And we kind of discovered, for us that, there’s a lot of comfort that you can have, living in a tent outside with a lot of infrastructure, but having the same idea that you’re out, right and, and for us it was kind of, mind blowing, like, oh, okay, so you can, you can have a rest with the comfort, not just like, you know, with no bathroom to go to, and you know, like, this is what the first one idea came, so that’s nice. and, and that’s kind of extended the limits because usually when, young parents have kids, they need like more of comfort. They travel with more luggage and more things they need kind of more, but that’s, that’s the way of adult thinking that their kids need more. that’s not the case. Kids don’t need more.

Ulyana: They need like clothes to change. They need water to, to wash their hands, but they need happy parents as well. And that’s when we, we decided, okay, so we can travel with kids. it’s not that easy to hike with them because you need to, to carry them on except of the backpack. But, but you can travel because you have, you have a place where you can take a shower when you can, cook food, not just on fire, but also use a fire. And that’s when we understood that for us, it’s even easier to travel and stay in camping or, some kind of facilities than in hotels. Because in hotel you have this all kind of, you have a lot of stuff, you need to check in and check out. And that’s, that’s the long process. And then when you go into your room, it’s usually a small room.

Ulyana: And then it’s so difficult to get those kids out because they have comfort, they have a TV and it’s cetera. And it’s all about, a long period that you’re inside. and we are kind of parents when we usually have a long trip just for the weekend, and we kinda have a lot of spots to visit, but we have like two days. So time, time is, you know, is important for us. And that’s when the idea came is like, Hey, having rest with kids outside is the best option you can give to them. And kind of, we find it very, emotionally important for us to be outside. especially as I mentioned, nowadays we have a lot of stress, right work deadlines, budgets, war, right and this, year, this summer proved for us good that you need a place to go to where you kind of a bit switch off. There was a period during this, this year when we were like constantly online and just sweeping the newsfeeds because you kind of need to know what’s happening. But when you go to the mountains, there is some, some, at some point you kind of let it go , right Because, you know, you have a sun, you have a nature, you have a, you place where sleep and, and this is the, the, a very important place when you kind of feel safe, right In all kind of meanings.

Sarah Riley: Absolutely. And, and also you are switching off, aren’t you And you are making memories for your children the same way as your parents helped. You have these amazing memories of being out in nature, and you are helping them have the same, so they’re, they’re not just hearing the negative news all the time. They’re actually having these amazing memories and seeing that their parents are continuing to live a good life and to try and, you know, persevere and be strong. And I think showing by example is always so, so important. And so these are really fantastic reasons that you just charged ahead regardless, it, I cannot quite believe that you did with the amount of children and all of the other challenges you’ve had. But tell me a little bit about your business. What’s your business is, what have you set up so far

Ulyana: Okay, so that’s actually, a small pitch, 100 kilometers from, a big city, which is the city of . this is a local, center, in the western, part of Ukraine. the, the page, we actually found the page via internet , which is strange enough, but we saw the photo, we’d come to the page and we’ve seen the, the view and the scenery, and it was like, fantastic. We thought, okay, so that’s it. Whatever we do here, that’s the view we, we wanna have. and that’s actually has the view for the, mountain, which is called Parashah, which is one of the, highest mountains in our region. It’s not the highest in Ukraine, but it’s, it’s pretty high. so the location is, is pretty attractive because we have a nice waterfall nearby, which is like five kilometers, a nice easy walk with kids.

Ulyana: you can go hiking for that, for that mountain, which is a longer and a more difficult, trip. But also if, if adults or maybe some teenager, more grownup kids, it’s possible. and also we have some rocks, and nice woods around. And we have a small river running just, near the beach, which is called Small River. And in Ukraine it’s Maka. And that’s how our camping is called Maka, because we wanted to, to stick to the location. It was important for us. we have an amazing community cuz we are located near village. and our main idea was kind of to attract the people that live in that village, to give them work and kind of share our vision of that business, and have them believe in that. because most of people, they work in the nearby, bigger cities.

Ulyana: they’re not much farmers anymore in small villages. they usually, have maybe not much cattle, so like one cow and few chickens. and we wanna kind of promote them not to go for work for big cities, and they spend like two hours drive or three hours drive, to the city, but have something locally. and all the staff that works with us are local people. our administrators are two boys, and like 20 year old , but they’re amazing. They, they love what they do. they’re helping us around. and actually, the people that built, the, the building we have, on site are locals. and that was a best, choice and best idea because they, they really feel like it’s, it’s, it’s theirs, right So like, they, they belong to it. It’s not like they’re just employees, but they feel a part of it.

Ulyana: And, that this is something I really enjoy because I see that they like working there and they throw up ideas, how to improve something or what sh what should we build next in there or where should we build it We just like, me and Andre just saying like, okay, maybe we’ll do something there. Wait for it, wait for it. We have an idea, we’ll do it. No worries at all. and that’s, that’s amazing. so the site is pretty small. we have a safari tent. just the tents, there are no, actual cabins or buildings, maybe sometime later, but for now it’s just tent. we have, two, two beds, a tent, and some have an extra foldable bed. and also the, the pitch is allowed that you can, bring your own tent and just stay.

Ulyana: we have like, one big, building, which has a cafe, and, and kitchen. and also, like self, self-service, kitchen, when you can cook, yourself, there’s a stove and there’s the big fridge, some of the kitchen you can use. there’s also showers with hot water, and, bathrooms. So showers, male and female separate. Same with bathrooms. we have some storage rooms and, like laundry, small laundry. so that, that’s basically it. So there’s like just one big, barn like structure. And mostly, those are just the tents. So some of this big safari tents have, have the deck. So, because the pitch is like, on the, on the hill, so it goes like, in, in levels.

Sarah Riley: Yeah. So is that mainly to make the most of the views that you’ve got right, as well Yes. Yeah. So tell me a little bit about the industry over there and, the, the customer, I suppose the guest. How is the industry now Is it growing Is it a new trend Is it, has it been around for a long time Tell me a little bit about that.

Ulyana: So, as I said, the mar the market is really just emerging. there’s no, not much, glamping sides. we were, as we were discovering, all the items that are here in Ukraine, it’s like maybe five to seven, newly established glamping sides. They have like one or two seasons, the demand is, is great. And, definitely, since a lot of our emerging just year by year, we had like a fully packed, pitch, during last summer, which is amazing because we, we didn’t do any advertising at the time. we barely, switched everything like the hot water, just June 1st. And we, our had our first guest, we didn’t had an electricity yet because all the bureaucracy you can imagine, it’s a, it’s a difficult, stuff, without war going on.

Ulyana: But with war, we had a contract like for a year, but it was, it was just delayed. but we had solar, panels and a diesel generator. And practically with that, we were functioning that, that help us with the electricity for, for fridges and, mostly just, for water. but that was pretty much enough. so yeah, I think, people are really interested in that kind of experience. we had a lot of question about, whether there’s any, possibility to go with the caravan. And I was pretty surprised because definitely in Ukraine it’s not a very, often item you can see caravans, they’re pretty expensive, and there is no much accommodation for that. we do have a camper , surprisingly. Yeah, because we are a traveling family. We do, we have a, a, a caravan, and it’s actually parked, on our page, outside the building.

Ulyana: And we live in it during the summer. and, and we know how, how, how broad the infrastructure is in, in UK for, for caravans and like the, the whole family, raised raised in caravans during the summer. And I think another, like a new emerging market would be kind of a pitch for, for caravans. it would be interesting as well. so yeah, as I said, with no advertisement is just like word of the mouth. we got, at some point in, in July, we realized that we need to limit number of people that we wanna see on the pitch, just to ensure we are not overcrowded and still have this comfort. we have a site with, so we’ve asked that anyone who wanna come, even with his own, his her own attend would need to book.

Ulyana: And if, if we see at this point that we are like, pretty packed, we say, sorry, you’d need to visit our next week because we, we are, we are packed. so yeah, I think this is a very trending, sphere. there’s a lot of things you can try on, a lot of options in terms of, sleeping accommodation, like tense and, bubbles, right all this kind of stuff. so that’s, as I said, Eastern Europe is, is really a place where they just started starting to get, the speed on. and there are no, like big infrastructures, so far. so that, that’s a good start.

Sarah Riley: So is there any one particular structure that you think is the most popular amongst guests Or is this just such an emerging market that people will be interested in Anything that’s a little bit different

Ulyana: I think for now, you can, you can pick so the people will be surprised and interested. And I know that there are a lot of, like cabins, right now that they are like being launched from here and there. But, but the cabin is a big of investment, right It’s much bigger than having any, sort of intent or infrastructure. but it’s difficult to say if something is more attractive than the other. I think the whole idea of, glamping, camping and outside, kind of living outside where sleepover outside is so interesting and new that like, now this is the place where you can pick, pick and it would be a hit, the treehouses or, or whatever that. And

Sarah Riley: What, what about materials though Are you finding it struggle to get the materials that you need for building And are you able to access the tent structures that you want How, how does that work in the Ukraine at the moment

Ulyana: we mostly, in our patriot, mostly build, build everything of wood. so, and this is local wood, as you would imagine, it’s not difficult to, well, it’s, it’s a bit of expensive. I thought it, it wouldn’t be much cheaper. but the price of food, for the last two years actually raised a lot. but also there are few companies in Ukraine that already can build, you, tent. we have the, like a wooden structure, solid wooden structure. They like, with the canvas. So there are already companies that, just launched and they can, they can build you anything. So I don’t think there’s any problem with materials.

Sarah Riley: It’s interesting, your, your comments there about the wood. this is something that we’ve had everywhere, that the material prices have gone up, crazy prices, , and literally some projects have had their costs double, which is insane, really. but unfortunately it’s a sign of the times at the moment. But you were talking there about your structures and, and how you laid out your site. Do you, what kind of additional, activities or leisure activities or leisure facilities do you provide Do you provide hot tubs Do you have, streams and rivers where people can swim, you know, what happens there Do you, do you put, playgrounds up or do you just say it’s all natural, just use the natural resources How, how do you do that

Ulyana: okay, so we have a lot of ideas as, as you imagine, the war , stopped a lot of it. definitely when, when we launched, last year, it was a big of a struggle because at my end, I had a more perfect vision when, like, the point when we are ready to invite guests. but this was the question to negotiate, and we are like, okay, so this is an mvp, right We’re, we’ll run it just for tests, , we’ll say that, okay, we’re partially open, come and visit us. So, yes, there are a lot of ideas that still need to be, developed. for now we don’t have much on the pitch. And during the last summer, it all was like structure work here and there. we have some bikes, for end. we do invite guests to go for a walk, to go for the waterfall or to the rocks.

Ulyana: We have this small river just, like two stairway steps, of our pitch, but also, a bigger river, which is called straight river when you can actually swim. but that’s like more of a 40 minutes, walk. this year will be establishing a playground. we have, like hammocks, along the, the page. and like, like those kind of chairs, you can, you can have a rest. And so, kind of a hammock between a hammock and the chair, which is actually like hung on, on the, on, on the tree. so this kind of stuff, we have backpacks, for rent, and especially those where you can carry on kids, like the backpack for the kids. we have an idea of some kind of, more, not a hot tub, but maybe a sauna, which is more, more to promote when there is a bad weather.

Ulyana: so that’s pretty much an idea for, for the, this year and the next year, at least, a a and then we will see, we were definitely discussing the pool, but that then we thought that this is kind of doesn’t meet, with our idea of a more of a natural rest, right Because with the pool, you need to have a lot of chemicals to get it clean. you, you need a, a machine for, moving the water, the sound with the sound. And we thought, okay, there definitely are plenty of places with a nice big pool where people just wanna go for a pool, and maybe we wanna attract people not just for the pool, but maybe for the, the whole experience. maybe for a fireplace, maybe for just, running around with your dogs. And well, another point, there’s not much place, for now in Ukraine when you can go with, with, with your pets, especially if you have a bigger dock, like a shepherd or something, or Labrador.

Ulyana: and, we were really surprised when a lot of guests came with, with their dogs, and we like, okay, finally I have a place where to go for the weekend with my dog because I, I, I don’t, I cannot have it in the hotel. so yeah, so that would be just a place for chi to chill, , and to enjoy yourself. and maybe we’ll definitely be evolving with some kind of activities, for this year. you will invite a person to do some kind of, masterclass, to, to make, something, with kids. we have a really nice summer holiday, which is Ivana al. It’s kind of a mix of religious and before the religious times, but it’s all about summer. It’s all about making a huge fire. it’s all about, bonding with nature. we, we make, those, from, from grass, I, I don’t know how it’s called, like,

Sarah Riley: Like a grass crown or something, right

Ulyana: Right. So you make this grass crown and, and the end of the evening you, you put those, crowns, on the river and they should, like swim off. So there’s a lot of, traditional mixes in there, but that’s a really beautiful holiday. And, I, I, I really wanted to make it last year, but that was not a good time. But this year I definitely wanna show my kids, this holiday because that, that, that’s really beautiful. So definitely all the activities we thought that we’ll have on our pitch, were, would be more, closer to nature. So maybe something doing with your hands, maybe some kind of pottery. so not, not the usual, activities you have on the, I don’t know, Trade center or something where you go with the kids. So there’s a lot of ideas that need a lot of maybe investments, but we kind of see it like, let’s take one step at a time. And if we have people that visited us last year and they come this year as well, that would be a huge win for us. And if you can surprise them with at least minor improvements during, the time that we, they were not visiting us, that’s, that’s already a the point for us in the circumstances we that you’re now.

Sarah Riley: Absolutely. And do you think that people are ready now to start celebrating those regular events that you would normally have celebrated before the war, but now, do you think they’re ready to start emerging from all of, I suppose a bit of the trauma of it all

Ulyana: This is such a difficult question to answer about the point of celebration. And this is something, we are struggling the, the, for the last year, the whole year, because there’s no time for celebration, right But at the other hand, there’s a lot of traditions that we wanna keep and we wanna show our kids. And, the thing that we are fighting for right now, it being able to speak our language, to have our traditions, and to, teach our kids the same that we were taught, right So this is, we are fighting for, this is our friends are dying right now on the frontline. and you know, you can say that, well, we can, we can, you know, stop celebrating Easter or start celebrating, some kind of events for, okay, let’s say two years, five years. But my middle daughter is five year old, so for her, a two year period is half of her life.

Ulyana: I cannot stop her life for two years. And this is, this is the idea why actually we keep going, right We, we, we keep working, we keep having, our daily routines and daily traditions because, because of our kids, because they deserve to have a normal life. and at, at my opinion, , or what’s my excuse for that I would say, that I’m doing this for my kids. I wanted them to remember this year or that summer, not by what happened to us. They, they will definitely remember, they will learn it in books, but also to have their memories of their own, that they had an Easter and they had a Christmas, and that they have a lot of their national holidays, they still keep having that in schools and, in kindergartens, they learn poems, right because that is important . That’s, that’s, that’s the life, they’re living. And I think that’s, if we understand that it’s not much of celebration, but that’s keeping off at tradition, then this is important and we need to stick to it.

Sarah Riley: Yeah. And I think that’s a really lovely way of explaining it. And I think that what you’re doing with your business and how you’ve set that up is amazing because you are opening up the potential for other people to do things that mean that they are creating, some level of normality for their family and to create those beautiful memories, lifetime memories that are so important for their children and everyone growing up. And as you said, for the very young ones, I mean, I’ve got young children as well, and the same thing, you know, a a couple of years go by and it’s a lot of their life, isn’t it And it’s very formative. And to be closed down and not to be going anywhere and not to be knowing what it’s like to enjoy nature and enjoy being nurtured by nature is right. Yeah. A a tricky one. And so the fact that you are opening it up to people and, and allowing them to access it, especially with their pets as well, is really fantastic. And so, what’s your hopes and dreams for your business for the next few years What are you hoping for What’s your vision

Ulyana: I think the main idea for us is kind of, step-by-step improvements. we are learning like every day. We are, we are not in, hospitality business. I’m in, in working in it, and my husband is in public relations. So for now, for us, this is like a daily education. but we need to, we, we wanted to have it step by step and see how we can improve. and a lot of, we learn by actually running it, right So we have a lot of feedback from our guests, what they would like, or like what their experience is or what they have seen. but what we also understand is that at least at the location that, our pitch is right now, we definitely see it as a, a small, small business. So for, for us, like a full, fully booked, pitch is like 60 to 80 people.

Ulyana: And, and that’s, that’s a, that’s a number we are okay, and we feel that everyone is comfortable with. but definitely if you wanna scale, or have, another, another business, that would be just in a different, location. So this is something we kind of understand day by day, but as I said, we wanna add some, improvements, some extra, alternatives to, to rest maybe, maybe a hot tub one day. Yeah. But maybe a sauna. maybe, I, I don’t know, some kind of a more extended pitch for, for kids, because initially when we were just launching, we thought as, as a more of retreat for couples, maybe for, for young couples or, or without kids. And, and, and our idea, completely transformed because from day one, we had people with kids, even if it was raining cats and dogs, we had kids, well, my kid, my younger was two months old, but we have, parents that came with the six months old, kids.

Ulyana: And we, we, we thought, and we understand that we were completely wrong, that people with kids need a place like that. so yeah, I think, the, the idea is here to stay flexible, to learn every day and kind of be able to absorb and hear back, what, what people actually want, because that’s the easiest way then, you know, build something up and then to understand that that’s completely something no one is needing. so we are pretty lucky enough, like, you know, in any other kind of business, you need to run analysis, you know, set some kind of metrics and then figure out what, what’s going on. And here, just the weekend, ended and you have a lot of feedback. You have, happy guests, you have requests for this food or other food, that’s easy, . So you have everything. It just do, do your work, , do your work, do work.

Sarah Riley: Oh, that’s fantastic. So what would you say to other people, either in the Ukraine or in other parts of Europe, in other parts of the world, what would you say to inspire them having gone through it all yourself, and now that you’ve got your business up and running and you’ve got these big dreams for the future

Ulyana: I think that, I would say that don’t stop dreaming, right And there’s like no perfect time, to establish something. because you can, you can wait for that perfect time. It’ll never come. There’s always something that will stop you. some fears, some risks, whatever you name it. if, if you truly believe in what you want or what you think you want, just do it. just try, try, as much as you can and, and that will happen. And I think the main idea is here, to not to be a perfectionist, right because why I really admire the idea of camping and glamping, because this is kind of like maybe a bad analogy about the, an old bar, or, or a pub, right You, you cannot build it right away, with that atmosphere, right

Ulyana: This is something that comes with time, , the furniture is old and robbed and et cetera. And the same is here. You, you cannot set, where people will go or like, where’s the best place to put this table Or, or, or this hammock, this is something that comes with time because you need to see how the sun goes up and, and where people really enjoy, to having rest or they don’t like it, you’ll put something out there and no one sits in there. So this is, comes in time, don’t stress to make a perfect, scenery, because camping and glamping, I believe this is something that helps you evolve with time, right It’s like, you know, you’ll, you’ll put the tree and in, in five years, it’ll be a nice, shade, right So you need to invest that. So this is a place where you can start with small steps at a time. And this is also an, idea that is, pretty flexible enough that at some point you can completely transform because a tent, you can put a tent and then remove a tent, put something else in there, if a trend changes or, or you have an idea of new business. So that’s a kind, kinda a perfect canvas for your masterpiece. So just, just try it out.

Sarah Riley: Well, I think it’s really inspiration of what you’ve just said there. And I also noted down another thing that you said earlier, which is when you said, we don’t call it a business, we call it a dream. And I think that’s fantastic. And I think for anyone else who’s listening and thinking, oh, these challenges or these barriers in the way, I can’t do what I’m dreaming of doing. And you are showing us by your actions that actually you can, you can do those things. You just need to maybe approach it in a slightly different way, tweak and change, and evolve and develop over time. And I think that’s really inspiration, inspirational and also, you know, gives us all very valuable lessons to learn from. And so tell me, where can people go to get information about your site and where you are located What’s your web address

Ulyana: So it’s actually Ukraine near iv, and it’s, malka com, which is pretty difficult for English speaking people. but I believe you might put this information, at your, podcast, like, just a link.

Sarah Riley: Yes, I will absolutely add all of that into the show notes so anybody can see and in the description of the podcast as well. So anyone can see all the information and click it from there and go and have a little look at, at what you’ve done and to be inspired by you more. And I’m sure that people will reach out and we’ll get in touch with you because you’ve got obviously a lot of knowledge to share. And, and I really do appreciate it very much that you got in touch with me and wanted to share your story because this kind of thing I find incredibly enriching to my own life to understand and learn how people have used glamping as a way of improving not only their own family’s life, but the lives of other people around them who really do need it at times of challenge. And so I really do thank you very much for coming on the podcast today, and it’s been a great pleasure speaking with you.

Ulyana: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. And I must say that, your podcast and your, courses are a lot of inspiration for us as well, because we were studying a lot of information before actually jumping in that kind of business. and I would suggest to anyone who’s actually looking for, an extra information, this is a good start. So inspired courses gave me a lot of information to think of and to search for. so please as please study, please listen. And thank you for, for having us for responding. it was kind of a really surprise because, you know, it’s like, hey, teacher in the famous podcast. I’ll be listening to . but yeah, any, anything can happen. As I said, it just, it was just a try. ,

Sarah Riley: Absolutely. And you make your own future so often, often all you need to do is step outside of your comfort zone and actually write that email or pick up that telephone or get in touch in some way. That’s the way to do it. That’s you step outside of your comfort zone and that is where the most growth happens. So thank you so much again for coming today. It’s been a great pleasure.

Ulyana: Thank you. Thank you so much.

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