How I Closed My Web Studio in Russia and Transitioned to a Solo Business

I don't avoid hiring—I just look at it differently. In any hiring model (contract, full-time), I remain an independent player: I treat the employer as a "client" with clear goals, SLAs, and metrics. This approach disciplines both sides, reduces emotional expectations, and leaves room for professional freedom.

The studio did turnkey projects. The flow of tasks depended on a couple of large clients and my calendar. Each new project started from scratch, and accumulated practices were poorly capitalized. The result: lots of manual management, fluctuating margins, and team burnout.

By 2022, it became clear: the service model relied on me. If I left, sales dropped and deadlines were missed. Scaling this without losing quality wasn't working. A different work structure was needed, where the key value is my expertise and decision-making speed, not the number of people employed.

"Solo" for me is a product approach to my own practice. I have a design system, a library of solutions, checklists for research and validation, onboarding templates. I don't "draw screens"—I set a hypothesis, test it with metrics, document lessons, and transfer successful patterns to the next cases.

Instead of endless negotiations—short cycles: brief → hypothesis → prototype → metric → adjustment. I save time for myself and the "client" (including the employer) because it's clear upfront what we consider success and when we'll stop.

When I join a company, I treat it as a contract with a clear outcome: there are goals, horizons, constraints, and communication agreements. This removes mutual illusions. I don't sell "hours"—I sell changes in product metrics: activation, retention, conversion, release speed.

This format doesn't prevent me from being part of the team. On the contrary, it helps: less "heroism," more transparency. There's no role of an "indispensable savior"—there's a predictable process and accountability for results. If a transition to full-time is needed, the rules remain the same: measurability, autonomy, respect for focus.

I manage the task pipeline like a small product: backlog, prioritization by impact on metrics, regular demos, retros. I have ready-made blocks at hand: research scripts, design tokens, test templates, accessibility guides. This speeds up the "first mile" and improves quality.

The infrastructure is minimal: reliable tools for design, analytics, and version control. Where a team was previously required, automation and pre-prepared artifacts now help. When there's a need for reinforcement, I bring in specialists for a specific task without "bloating" costs.

The mistake—trying to transfer studio habits to "solo" without adaptation. In solo mode, unnecessary approvals and "long" briefs only slow things down. I had to simplify documents and radically shorten the decision-making cycle.

The insight—independence starts with transparent rules. When goals, metrics, and interaction formats are agreed upon in advance with the "client/employer," the number of conflicts tends to zero. Another conclusion: a "unit's" portfolio isn't "beautiful cases"—it's stories where you can see how the metrics changed.

I stopped measuring success by the number of people employed and hours worked. I look at impact: what problem did I solve, how did the metric change, how many iterations did it take. This approach is more flexible, gives more control over time, and allows deeper immersion in tasks.

At the same time, I'm open to hiring—as a form of work, not a "status." If goals align and conditions are transparent, the format doesn't matter. The main thing is not to lose autonomy of thinking and accountability for results.

• Close what depends on you personally. If a system doesn't work without your 24/7 involvement—it's not a system.
• Put the rules of the game in writing. Goals, metrics, deadlines, communication channels—before starting. Saves everyone's nerves.
• Think like a product, not a service. Document and reuse repeatable solutions—that's your capital.
• Hiring is a format, not an identity. When you join a company, treat it as a "client" and protect your focus.
• Count impact, not busyness. If an action doesn't move a metric, it's not valuable for the portfolio.
• Keep the pace with short cycles. Quick hypotheses and honest retros are more important than "perfect" releases.