Roman Zrazhevskiy is a survivalist of a form. His firm, Mira Security, sells protecting gear for seemingly existential occasions akin to nuclear assaults or chemical warfare. He calls the specter of such occasions “pink alerts,” when geopolitical crises immediate worry into shoppers.
Zrazhevskiy first appeared on this podcast in 2021. In our current dialog, he shared the evolution of Mira Security, staffing methods, development plans, and extra.
Our total audio is embedded under. The transcript is edited for readability and size.
Eric Bandholz: Give us a rundown of your small business.
Roman Zrazhevskiy: I personal Mira Security. We deal with safety from chemical, organic, radiological, and nuclear assaults. We promote on to shoppers by ecommerce, providing merchandise like gasoline masks and hazmat fits. We additionally promote to authorities businesses and wholesale clients.
We launched Mira Security in 2018, however I’ve been within the trade since 2013 with Able to Go Survival, promoting respirators with out loads of preliminary success. Then the Ebola scare occurred in 2015. We name such occasions “pink alerts,” geopolitical points that lead individuals to purchase emergency tools. One other instance was in 2017 when tensions arose between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un of North Korea. That led to a surge of $50,000 in gross sales in only one week.
A pink alert creates a large uptick in demand. Extra not too long ago, the Ukraine warfare in 2022 was our greatest pink alert. Many thought the battle may broaden past Ukraine, probably resulting in a large-scale warfare between the East and West. Fortunately, that didn’t occur, but it surely sparked a wave of purchases.
Apparently, as these occasions occur, individuals turn out to be a bit extra jaded. There’s a way that every pink alert doesn’t fairly provoke the identical worry as earlier than. But when one thing catastrophic occurred, like Russia attacking Poland, we’d possible see one other huge spike in demand.
Bandholz: What you are promoting thrives when the world is in disaster. How do you deal with that?
Zrazhevskiy: I don’t wrestle with it. We offer life-saving merchandise. Our mission is to defend individuals, not damage them. We’re extra like an insurance coverage supplier. It’s a crucial service. We’re serving to individuals put together for the unimaginable, and I’m happy with that.
Bandholz: How do you handle between pink alerts?
Zrazhevskiy: We preserve issues lean, keep away from extreme spending, and preserve reserves in case of a downturn. My rule is to put aside at the least one 12 months’s working funds. Even when gross sales drop or a pink alert doesn’t happen for some time, we will nonetheless run the enterprise with out making drastic cuts.
I’m conservative in the case of debt. We don’t like borrowing cash and take dangers solely with stock and product launches. Our solely important debt is the mortgage on our headquarters constructing, and we plan to pay it off early.
Extra leverage can destroy a enterprise, so I keep away from it. I’ve seen many entrepreneurs go below as a result of they borrowed an excessive amount of and couldn’t get better when issues didn’t go as deliberate. I favor gradual, regular, bootstrapped development.
Bandholz: You’ve invested closely into your bodily office.
Zrazhevskiy: A powerful firm tradition is essential to us. We would like individuals to work in the identical constructing. Distant work has its benefits, however we’ve had points with it. So, we determined to have most of our staff in a single location. The facilities, like saunas and pink gentle remedy, are a part of our wellness philosophy.
When staff really feel good, they carry out higher. If our staff is glad, wholesome, and enjoys being right here, they’ll possible be extra productive and keep longer. Plus, I take pleasure in this stuff, and I need to share that with my staff.
Bandholz: What are your long-term targets for the enterprise?
Zrazhevskiy: Our mission is to guard individuals from the worst threats. That’s what drives us. We’re releasing extra merchandise, particularly for youngsters. There’s a scarcity of protecting tools for them. We’re one of some firms providing youngsters’s respirators. We offer safety for on a regular basis households.
We’re additionally bringing a respirator meeting to the U.S. That’s our subsequent large transfer. We’ve already ordered the machines, and as soon as we begin assembling right here, we’ll apply for the certification from the Nationwide Institute for Occupational Security and Well being. That may open doorways to extra authorities contracts and permit us to promote to non-public firms that require NIOSH-rated merchandise.
Planning for 5 years is difficult, particularly in a enterprise like this. I’m additionally nonetheless studying, particularly about manufacturing and management. There’s at all times room for enchancment.
Bandholz: The place can individuals purchase your merchandise?
Zrazhevskiy: Our website is MiraSafety.com. We’re on X, Instagram, and YouTube.