"An entrepreneur is someone who is so bothered by something in the system or her/his surroundings that she or he decide to just do that thing herself/himself."
Meet Ilya Cheremnikh – an entrepreneur with a passion for marketing and extensive experience in China. In 2008, he packed a bag and moved to China. What was supposed to be a six-month stay became 13 years (and counting) of love and fascination for the country.
He is fluent in Mandarin and his full-time gig is running Culture Yard – an online Chinese language school, employing dozens of teachers in China and teaching students from all over the world. His biggest passions though lie in marketing and starting up – he loves helping people build something from the ground up, telling compelling stories, and making sure that everyone hears them.
Check out more interviews with entrepreneurs here.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET FEATURED?
All interviews are 100% FREE OF CHARGE
Table of Contents
Thank you so much for giving us your time! Before we begin, could you introduce yourself to our readers and take us through what exactly your company does and what your vision is for its future?
Ilya Cheremnikh: My name is Ilya, I am originally from Israel and for the last 13 years living in China. I run a company called Culture Yard (www.cultureyard.net) which is an online language school for Mandarin Chinese.
We have a team of teachers in China and we teach online via Zoom to students from more than 20 different countries. Previously Culture Yard was a physical school in Beijing but due to Covid we have completely pivoted our business to an online model and are now (2 years later) doing even better than we did before.
In the future, we are planning to extend our offerings to offer also pre-recorded, self-study courses and reach additional geographic markets we are not currently in, especially in Asia, Latin America, and Africa.
NO child ever says I want to be a CEO/entrepreneur when I grow up. What did you want to be and how did you get where you are today?
Ilya Cheremnikh: My parents are doctors so I thought to be a doctor as well. Later I studied economics and thought to get an MBA. But I also studied Mandarin Chinese and after a visit to China in 2006, completely fell in love with the country and moved here in 2008.
Culture Yard started out of my own frustration with the traditional teaching methods of Mandarin Chinese as I have experienced them studying in China.
At the same time, I was always somewhat entrepreneurial and my first “venture” was in middle school selling cold sodas during my summer break.
Tell us something about yourself that others in your organization might be surprised to know.
Ilya Cheremnikh: I always wanted to learn how to play piano and finally at the prime age of 39 I found a teacher and started taking my first classes.
Many readers may wonder how to become an entrepreneur but what is an entrepreneur? How would you define it?
Ilya Cheremnikh: An entrepreneur is someone who is so bothered by something in the system or her/his surroundings that she or he decides to just do that thing herself/himself.
What is the importance of having a supportive and inclusive culture?
Ilya Cheremnikh: There is nothing more important to long-term success in a business than having a supportive and inclusive company culture! You might start at the beginning without it but you will soon burn out unless you are surrounded by a team that truly enjoys working together. And the only way for people to be able to enjoy working together in the long-term is when every team member feels validated, heard, and appreciated.
How can a leader be disruptive in the post covid world?
Ilya Cheremnikh: Covid has brought a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make big changes to company structures and the business world. For example, our company has gone completely remote – and we now can hire people from anywhere in the world as long as they have a good internet connection. That has vastly increased the talent pool we can choose from and every leader nowadays must take that into consideration. If you don’t offer that flexibility, someone else might and you might lose your best talent.
In addition, the amount of great off-the-shelf technology tools is allowing many companies to go through a quick digital transformation without having to invest in writing their own code. In our company, we are using more than 5 different ready-to-use platforms for class booking, asynchronous courses, quizzing, and payments.
The leader of the post covid world needs to learn how to utilize existing technology to streamline processes, save costs, and serve clients better.
If a 5-year-old asked you to describe your job, what would you tell them?
Ilya Cheremnikh: I am a leader and a friend to a great group of people working on exciting projects together.
Share with us one of the most difficult decisions you had to make for your company that benefited your employees or customers. What made this decision so difficult and what were the positive impacts?
Ilya Cheremnikh: In August this year we decided to give up completely on our physical school location in Beijing. It was a difficult decision as we have lost some clients and I had to convince some of my colleagues that that was a good decision for the company and for them. Luckily it worked out well for us!
Leaders are usually asked about their most useful qualities but let’s change things up a bit. What is your most useless talent?
Ilya Cheremnikh: I can talk non-stop and spin a bucket hat on two fingers.
Thank you so much for your time but before we finish things off, we do have one more question. If you wrote a book about your life until today, what would the title be?
Ilya Cheremnikh: “The Russian-Israeli guy who can never sit still”
Mike Weiss, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Ilya Cheremnikh for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Ilya Cheremnikh or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
Disclaimer: The ValiantCEO Community welcomes voices from many spheres on our open platform. We publish pieces as written by outside contributors with a wide range of opinions, which don’t necessarily reflect our own. Community stories are not commissioned by our editorial team and must meet our guidelines prior to being published.
