A good laugh and no longer smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. It prolongs life.
Ana Georgieva Zlatkova was a relative newcomer to Sweden in her mid-10s - working a backbreaking job in a meat factory, chain-smoking and feeling generally miserable. Today, she has swapped cigarettes for e-cigs and runs the company "Min vape" with two shops in two different cities.
Ana came to Sweden from Bulgaria with her son 12 years ago. She doesn't want to go into too much of the old boring stuff, like how and why it happened, but to cut a long story short: in the mid-2010s, Ana found herself in Borås, with a rather grueling job at a meat factory.
Chain smoking - two packs a day
Ana, who had studied international economics at university back home in Bulgaria and briefly ran a small home furnishing business, faced headwinds on several levels. A friend had recommended Sweden as a good country to raise children. She received tips on both jobs and accommodation. So far, so good. But the work at the meat factory was downright soul-destroying, Ana says. She soon longed for something else.
- It was so incredibly stressful that I ended up smoking two packs a day. It was so disgusting. I felt extremely tired and almost sick. I couldn't walk up the stairs without getting exhausted," says Ana over the counter in the small shop in Borås. The conversation takes place in intervals of customers coming and going on various errands.
Mixing many flavors
The starting point for a new life, in so many different ways, came with a friend who was visiting, she says.
- He introduced vejpning, e-cigarettes, to me. But he was at the level that he was already mixing juices himself and building his own coils. It was quite advanced and I skipped all the simpler variants and went straight to the more complicated ones," says Ana.
And she was hooked, to say the least. Within a year of its introduction, she was spinning her own coils, the heating element in the e-cigarette, like an old veteran. And she was mixing e-juices and flavors like crazy.
- I bought so many essences! I probably had 300 different flavors that I didn't even like," Ana says with a big laugh.
Easy to quit smoking
She hasn't smoked a single cigarette since the day her friend introduced e-cigarettes.
- I remember sitting in the armchair at home with a cup of coffee, and I had coffee flavor even in my vejp. I hadn't smoked the day before and not this day either. But I'm sitting there puffing and I think it's so, so good! I don't think a bit about lighting a cigarette with the coffee but just sit there and puff and puff and puff, haha. So it was actually super easy to quit smoking for me.
Coffee flavor was the key
Her own taste changed over time, she says. But she owes much to the steamy taste of coffee.
- I had it for several months after I quit smoking. It was the one that helped me, but now I don't like it so much anymore. Now I just want fruit and menthol. I want it to feel as fresh as possible, and I want it to ice up my throat a bit.
Wanted to help others
She admits that she is a person who easily goes "all in" on things. But in this case, it was a good education, which she could actually benefit from later.
- When I realized that I could mix juices at a really good level, I thought I had to try to do something more with it. To sort of pass on everything I had learned myself and help others to quit smoking. Something that actually works for people.
Two cabinets and a bank loan
Ana knew she could make good juices, which were appreciated by those who tasted them. But from there to doing business, it's a bigger step.
- "I started with a sole proprietorship, a 60,000 loan from the bank, two cabinets and my first line of flavors," she says.
Ana Georgieva Zlatkova laughs often and well. Here in memory of an elderly lady who was an early customer of hers. She said Ana offered great service, but a pretty lousy selection. It's hard to fit a gigantic selection into two display cabinets.
Vejp and tattoo studio
But the two lockers became more, the first own line was expanded and then things have kind of rolled on. The first small shop changed to a larger one offering the somewhat odd combination of vejp and tattooing in the same space. That duo stayed together until just a few years ago, and Ana is now in a medium-sized shop in the same area in Borås instead. But without the tattoo then.
Expanded to Gothenburg
She has also expanded to Gothenburg, and a second shop. There, vejp and barbershop are offered under the same roof - and it's usually Ana's boyfriend Sanchez behind the counter.
- My partner in life. We have changed the concept a bit and now have shaving instead of tattooing," says Ana with another laugh. "He is the force behind the shop in Gothenburg and also my own driving force. When I feel down, he's always there to "kick me back up" so I don't give up. For the first time in my life, I'm lucky enough to work with someone who is so driven," she continues.
Customer contact is most important
Despite her early nerdiness for essences, coils and everything else in the vejp world, it is the customer meetings that Ana puts first. She says that chatting, making recommendations and giving help is what she enjoys most. This is underlined by another lady who stops by the store this Wednesday afternoon. She can't get the new coils Ana recently sold her to work. But this time the solution is as simple as her missing the fact that they come with a protective plastic film on the underside, which Ana quickly locates.
- It's often the little things that people like. For example, I always offer to mix the nicotine into the juice here on the spot when someone is shopping. It's quick, I have a bottle opener, "bam, bam", Ana gestures.
- But that's what customers appreciate and don't seem to get elsewhere. And it is for them that I am here.
Facts: Ana Georgieva Zlatkova / My Vape
- Age: 38 years
- Family: Two sons and special friend Sanchez.
- Does: Owner of "Min vape" which is available as a physical store in Borås and Gothenburg, and online with its own range. The company was previously called RA Elixir.
