Work is done with people. If we have good relations with them, whether they are partners, employees, stakeholders or clients, they inspire us, they support us, and interaction with them contributes to success.
Twenty years of experience in media, PR and digital communications industry. He is skilled in Digital Strategy, Social Media Management, and full digital communications.
He enjoys helping enterprises in the usage of digital communications in achieving their business goals and believes that digital communications give the same chance to middle and small enterprises to penetrate the global market as before the digital age only the largest companies could. Let’s do that together!
His creative digital agency team has successfully worked for one of the biggest brands like Nike, Coca-Cola Hellenic bottling company, Phillip Morris, Banca Intesa, AVON, Henkel, Holcim, Costa Coffee, Lesaffre, etc.
Accumulated knowledge and experience he with partners and employees successfully apply in cooperation with regional and local companies such as Atlantic Group, Victoria Group, Strauss Adriatic, Bambi, IVKO, Nectar, SAGA, Simpo, Simex, NorDent, Matijević, etc
Where did the idea for Homepage come from?
Creative digital-first marketing agency Homepage was created in 2012 when a programmer & manager, salesperson & manager, an internet promotion expert, and communications expert got together. The last one mentioned was me.
We realized that together we could do a lot in the field of digital marketing, and this came true. First, in Serbia, where we come from, and every year more and more globally.
Now we are located at Novi Sad and Belgrade, Serbia, southeastern Europe
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
I’m an early bird, and my day starts around 6 am. The time from 6.30 am to 9 am is the period during the day when I can write, read, prepare offers and think in peace. After 9 am, e-mails are starting to come, social networks are already alive, and meetings are down – one after the other. Taking the time in the morning to prepare documents to put the order on my workday and made me more productive.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I am in constant interaction with people, whether on social media or live. I observe how and what they communicate about, what they want, how to behave, and I connect this with the knowledge about the development of communication technology and exciting new services. I always observe communication strategically, and making digital strategies is my focus of work. From this, the ideas are being made and later checked in work.
What’s one trend that excites you?
“Digital first” for sure. The idea that today all the communication of brands, companies, and organizations can and should begin its journey through digital channels, two-way and in interaction with people and return to them as feedback from the real world, as user-generated content.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
I discovered the gym quite late, in my fifth decade. I go there and exercise with the trainer whenever my duties and the schedule allow me. Nothing cleans the brain loaded with business challenges as good as weight lifting and does help more to create new ideas. Some of them are made exactly in the gym. In addition, I do not really try to achieve a particular physical appearance, and mental relief and the secretion of positive hormones are the rewards I am aiming for.
What advice would you give your younger self?
“Become an entrepreneur, become independent”. I opened my first company at 45 years old. Before that, I was in a lot of partnerships and start-ups, but I was employed during that time.
Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
People will connect to the computer network via interferential currents in the brain and then also with each other. This will happen during my life, and so far it is being tested in labs.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?
I meet new people, different age, education, occupation, standards and I exchange with them. Much of this is completely irrelevant information and futile encounters and it seems that I’m wasting my time, but occasionally a great person comes whose ideas are inspiring. Often this is a person with whom I can make a business deal.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?
Networking. I believe in synergy and in the saying that everything is multiplied by division.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
Having confirmed that the agency as ours is needed and that it can successfully operate on the market where we were created, we have invested significant energy, time and money in attempts to achieve significant exports – through linking with marketing agencies in several markets we are targeting. We were sure that we could repeat the success of IT outsourcing companies which successfully operate in our environment. We did this by preparing materials and looking for contacts on websites, searching through LinkedIn and occasionally traveling, sending offers, negotiating … and all this time we were based in Serbia. Success was below expectations.
After this failure, we have realized that local presence in target markets is necessary and that all successful IT outsourcing companies that were our role models have their own partners in targeted markets, people who are part of the business ecosystem in these countries. We realized that we need to find them first. We are now negotiating with potential partners in some of the target markets. If you are interested in discussing this topic, please contact me.
What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
Invest in spaces in your environment that will be interesting and inspiring to digital nomads who move from country to country and do their jobs remotely. I am sure that every country and every place have interesting things that, with the necessary infrastructure, can be a bait for them to come to you, live there for a while, get to know interesting things and spend money they make online.
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
The first course of internet marketing that I attended in 2000.
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?
Google tools for creating and sharing documents such as Drive, Docs, Sheets, etc. All documents that are created and exchanged within Homepage are generated in this way, often in collaboration with clients. And this text of course.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
“Funky Business”, it’s the Bible of business in the 21st century.
What is your favorite quote?
“A good boxer is not the one who never falls on the floor but the one who gets up every time.”
Key Learnings:
● Work is done with people. If we have good relations with them, whether they are partners, employees, stakeholders or clients, they inspire us, they support us, and interaction with them contributes to success.
● The value is increased by sharing, and synergy is the main tool here. Do not hold everything for yourself, find partners who are different than you in knowledge, experience, temperament and get involved with them.
● Learn from someone else’s mistakes. Do not hesitate to ask how someone has succeeded in something that you would want for yourself.
● Adjust the maximum performance of your work to your rhythm and temperament while integrating with the people you work with.
● Do not forget the condition of your body. This is the most important place where your business is taking place. Practice it and relax yourself.
Connect:
Carlyn runs the day-to-day publishing operation here at ideamensch and interacts with our awesome customers and entrepreneurs. She is likely editing this with a cat on her lap.