🎤 Never say never to poverty or prison

A familiar phrase, right? Many have heard it. Everyone understands the prison part, but what "poverty" means—not everyone can say. And why in 2026 this phrase is almost an instruction for an entrepreneur, not just a saying, I'll tell you in today's long post...

I'll start with the backstory. For over a year now, my friends and I have been organizing Bathhouse Thursday—I once talked about it on the channel. We used to go after work, but in recent months we've been exploring new locations in the Leningrad region and starting earlier. Some from the bathhouse chat call us semi-employed—like people who can dedicate a weekday to the bathhouse, and we don't understand what real busyness is 😄 But I think you can afford a Thursday of freedom precisely because you are responsible for everything yourself: for profit, for screw-ups, and sometimes, as it turns out, for your freedom in the most literal sense.

When we first started going to this bathhouse, there was a friend with us. He only managed to come once—and then he stopped showing up. He was imprisoned. Not because he did something himself—he was implicated "for company" with the main defendant. Without much guilt, but with all the consequences...

We didn't see him for more than a year and a half. And yesterday he returned to our ranks! He spent 9 months of that in pre-trial detention. During the day, the conversation naturally turned to his story. He talked about daily life, inspections, relationships between people there, hierarchy, and the thoughts that visited him at different moments. I won't retell the details—it's his story, not mine, and not everything is meant for the channel. But I'll say honestly: the meeting turned out to be very useful. Such nuances provide a completely different ground for reflection than anything you can read in the news or imagine from the outside, sitting in an office with a cup of coffee.

And here are the thoughts I was left with after this.

First—about people and character. The friend said that during this time he was promoted twice "in the cell" to senior. Simply because honesty and fairness are visible everywhere, and people are drawn to them—even where, in theory, it shouldn't matter... And then I thought: a person's character is not tested at all when everything is fine. It is tested when external circumstances are completely out of your hands, when you cannot control the place, the rules, or the people around you.

Second thought—heavier, about the system. In CIS countries, and in Russia in particular, the judicial system is closely tied to the investigation and prosecution. I read that this year the highest number of acquittals in a long time was recorded—sounds encouraging. But in reality, it's still significantly less than 1% of cases. That is, if you fall into the system—with a 99.9% probability, you will be convicted. It's already difficult for the investigation to admit its mistake: the work is "done," the case is assembled, people have spent time, reported upward—there's almost no turning back.

Hence the meaning of "never say never." Being an entrepreneur in 2026 is a risk not only to capital but also to freedom, and often a risk that does not depend at all on how honestly you conduct your own business. You can be as transparent as possible, pay taxes on time, not violate a single letter of the law—and still end up in the wrong place at the wrong time...

And here's the explanation of the phrase I started with: poverty is a beggar's bag, a symbol of loss of capital. An entrepreneur in our reality risks both at the same time...

And yes, I already suggested to my friend to organize a business breakfast so he could share this story with other entrepreneurs—with the same nuances. It seems to me this is far more useful than listening to another half-baked speaker about "implementing AI in your business"

p.s. I just remembered our Kyrgyz phrase—"ak iyilet, birok synbayt"—truth bends but does not break!
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