Coaching athletes has always been my passion, and it will always be. But it has never been the only the only that keeps me busy. I’d like to share with you a project that keeps me engaged.
The life of coach isn’t always easy, it is amongst all other things about being a guide in the development of young people.
Coaching an athlete can be a fantastic tool to develop young people, and too often our contribution is underestimated.
We are able to hurt an athlete and damage them mentally and physically, not keeping in mind what is important to them, but what is important to us… money, status, power, ego, etc.
And at the other hand we have the ability to educate and develop these youngsters in a positive way, teaching them what life is about.. and that is seldom about winning medals or breaking records only.
In the end.. ask them where those medals are, after their career is over… often given away or in a shoebox somewhere, collecting dust.
And those records, they most likely are broken by others, that’s what they are for. But what stays are the shared memories, the highs and the lows, the peaks and the valleys, the euphoric moments of victory or breaking a record, the frustration and the mental pain, the suffering in training, but making the impossible possible.
Emotions that leave a deep and lasting impression and creating a memory and valuable lesson for life after sports.
Yes, I have been try to manage this for more than 45 years. Each individual athlete was and still is a specific project for me, trying to make sure they reach their full potential, no matter if they run 10 seconds or 15 seconds.
But not only athletes I try to support. Unexpectedly I decided to support a young lady, whom I met by coincidence while working as a coach at a great indoor training facility in Oskemen, East-Kazakhstan. Look it up on the map.
To keep it short: some time after talking to her, I decided to support her in a completely different project: setting up her own cosmetics business. A challenge for me since this is different from training.
Two conditions: 1. you develop the products yourself 2. You do the design, marketing and sales yourself too. I will help whenever necessary.
At this very moment beginning of February 2025, she is ready to start selling.
The process so far consisted of making a business plan, developing the products, find a solid producer for the products and the packaging, develop the design and style, get the necessary paperwork done for import and sales in Kazakhstan, setting up a formal business and start the marketing preparation, social media account, making pictures and videos. And creating a brand.
Since she has no support and no previous experience, she has to figure everything out herself and learn from experience.
So far the most frustrating work was the legal paperwork for import, which took three months, mainly answering a never ending stream of bureaucratic questions and demands.
Here is the concept: six products for the skin with the idea to have the best possible quality products based on the latest developments in the cosmetics business. This combined with the traditional Kazakh design:
The beautiful Maral deer from East-Kazakhstan,
The mountains of the Altay,
And the moon, all in a minimalist design with blue and white.
Name……. Aiga Cosmetics, since her name is Aiganym, meaning according to Google: the name for very smart, wise and pretty woman. The meaning of this name is Queen of the moon.
Aiganym speaks 5 languages: Kazakh, Russian, Chinese (she is an official Chinese language teacher) Turkish, and English. I support her because everybody needs a chance in life and Aiganym put her heart, het soul and her spirit in this project, just like the best athletes, doing a great job developing into a real dedicated professional. See belove here some of the photos and videos she made.
If you are interested in supporting my protégé, contact her at Instagram: aiga.cosmetics
