Safety comes first. One of the basic human needs in Maslow's pyramid is the need for security. This issue is especially acute when it comes to child safety. It is necessary to teach children correct, safe behavior from a very early age. The founder of the Stop Threat security school Liya Sharova told the BIBOSS portal about the idea of \u200b\u200bcreating children's trainings and how important it is for a business to bring tangible benefits to people and self-satisfaction.
How it all began
Imagine yourself as a seventh grader. Six lessons are coming to an end, homework and a tutor are waiting at home, not to mention a bunch of their own, much more interesting things, and then they tell you: today, guys, you have an extra-curricular hour. Your aunt will come and talk to you about internet safety. Have you presented? You are interested? Most likely not very much. But then this very aunt comes, and after 45 minutes you do not want to run home, you and the whole class stay for another half hour to talk, tell a story, ask a question and thank.
I am that aunt, and I will tell the story of this miracle that I see every day for four years now in a variety of classes and in a wide variety of groups of children and adolescents.
This is a story about how one mother tried to solve a problem, familiar to every parent to the gray temples. We all go through this period of constant fear for our children, because we understand perfectly well that when we are not around, the child may not understand the danger that threatens him, for example, from an unfamiliar adult, may not react as needed, but may be confused. call for help and many, many others "what if?"
So I was faced with a feeling of absolute helplessness when my then 13-year-old daughter Dasha forgot to write me the “duty” SMS “I'm at school”, turned off the sound in my mobile phone and calmly sat in the classroom while my anxious brain slipped me creepy scenarios of possible problems. I realized that none of the parental advice, none of the prohibitions, none of our “don't go anywhere” and “don't talk to anyone” are ineffective and completely useless. And I began to solve this problem so that the result would completely satisfy me.
To do this, I had to shovel mountains of literature, mostly not translated into Russian, look through children's safety programs in Europe and the United States, and just use common sense, so that in the end I got a technique, following which I could make a conversation about safe behavior on the street , on the Internet or in your class, not boring, not useless, but interesting and really changing the child's mind and behavior.
And if at first it seemed to me that it would be enough just to consolidate a number of skills in practice, teach me to give moral rebuff, interrupt a conversation with an adult, shout effective phrases that attract the attention of passers-by, then it became clear that all this was not enough.
That you need to talk with children in a completely different way, you really need to know how they live on social networks, what bloggers they watch, what problems they face.
That practically no parent does this even once in their life.
And that children, as a result, are left completely alone face to face with the same problems on the Internet, because parents are not able to do anything but prohibit or panic individually and in groups in response to the next waves of publications from the series "Blue Whales" or "Maniac in our city".
The secret of the Stop Threats technique is that children listen. And my main task and difficulty was to make sure that this secret could be passed on to other teachers and psychologists by teaching them to be "cool adults." And not everyone can be a "cool adult", no matter what experience they have. It's simple: if you don't make a small revolution in the mind of a child in one single lesson, then you will not be heard, nothing will change. And for this revolution to happen, you need not just know how and when to say or what to ask, you also need to sincerely understand the interests, needs and language of those small or already quite adult training participants who a few minutes ago looked at you bored or sat in their smartphones.
I do not hide these secrets, I tell them to all parents at webinars and lectures, our trainers conduct free classes with both teachers and social workers - and we see the result. After each parental lecture, we hear such sincere "Thank you!" from moms, dads and teachers, which, of course, charges no less than the constant return from children.
Now about business
Like many startups, at first Stop Threat was one person - me. The site "on my knees", the content that I wrote myself, posts in social networks, word of mouth that brought orders for the next trainings. I wrote a book for parents, in which I tried to structure the most important things without unnecessary water, in parallel with this, a line of trainings for children of different ages was determined. The dangers on the street, on the Internet, in a team - they are, of course, completely different at every age, and you need to teach in completely different ways so that there is not a single minute to get bored or to turn your attention to something else.
In Moscow, after six months of work (mostly orders came from parents organizing trainings in schools), I stopped coping with the volume of tasks, working almost 12-16 hours a day. And, of course, the question arose of how to make a large-scale project out of this cool idea, a network of safety schools not only in all cities of Russia, but also abroad.
I myself did not understand the rules of business a little, but I am just one of those who believe that it is a shame to "push" something, that if the idea is good and the business is useful, then it will sprout by itself, and that if the benefits and efficiency are obvious, then you can count on support and understanding, especially in such a difficult and necessary matter as the education of safe behavior in children.
But for the correct business conduct, knowledgeable people are needed, so I got a business partner Alexei Anisimov, who has effective experience in selling franchises for children's projects. As a result, in a year and a half since the sale of the first franchise, more than sixty Stop Threats branches are already operating in Russia alone, we have opened in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Belarus, and will soon start working in other countries.
Stop Threat is a real business - noble and profitable at the same time. Opening a branch in your city is quite simple - you do not need to purchase equipment, materials and rent premises. There are practically no fixed costs, and work on the project can be combined with other activities.
One of the main ways to promote safety school training at the outset is by holding free information meetings for parents and educators, as well as conducting trial training for children. In order to prepare the trainer for meetings with teachers and parents, we have developed appropriate teaching materials, tested them in practice, and regularly receive thanks from teachers, school administrators and parents throughout Russia. In many cities, local governments recommend Stop Threat trainings for schools and kindergartens.
The market for training in safe behavior for children is huge, because safety is one of the basic human needs. However, in order to reach this market without a powerful administrative or media resource, Stop Threats managers and trainers need to be patient and devote their efforts to explaining the essence of trainings - what effect they give, and why it works. You also need to accumulate positive reviews in the region and find partners. How to find partners and what to negotiate with them is described in detail in the instructions for doing business in the franchise package.
More and more often, industrial enterprises and banks with a developed network of branches become the customers of trainings. We conduct trainings according to an agreed targeted program throughout Russia.
Difficulties and challenges in the work of a Stop Threats trainer are present every day - the main challenge is to gain the confidence of children and make them think and seek solutions. Fortunately, overcoming this difficulty is quickly rewarded, and after 45 minutes of the lesson, the children surround the coach, ask questions and ask to come more often.
Does Stop Threats have competitors? In some cities there are public organizations whose activities are partly consonant with ours, and we are very happy about this, because there is never too much security. We recommend using all the opportunities - both free volunteer lectures and paid trainings by experienced teachers and psychologists. The main thing is the result!
What trainings do we provide? The complete list of security school trainings includes 6 topics for children (Protection from the kidnapper "(5-7, 8-9, 10-12 years old)," Protection from trouble "(13-17 years old)," Girls are safe "(13- 17 years old), “Safe Internet” (9-16 years old), “Stop-drug” (14-17 years old), “Emotional Aikido” (10-17 years old), 1 seminar for parents and 1 seminar for teachers.
For all four years, I have not had the slightest reason to doubt the demand for trainings. Satisfied parents, motivated and educated children, a good reputation, very promising opportunities for development, a huge market, inexhaustible relevance of the product - all this gives me the opportunity to constantly burn with my work and think about its development.
