Entrepreneurship is open to everyone! With that in mind, we had an interview with Milica Obrenović, a young entrepreneur and participant in several projects that we implement, in order to promote her business, but at the same time motivate and inform young people from the NEET group to start their first entrepreneurial steps.
What motivated you to start your own business, and why exactly the topic you are dealing with?
In high school I worked as a waitress and for those years I had a great salary. I realized that I don’t have time to spend it because, regardless of whether there is work or not, I have to be there for 8 or more hours, after which I don’t feel like doing anything except resting. That’s when I decided that I would find or create for myself an opportunity to work with flexible working hours.
A little later, I got acquainted with the topic of marketing and social networks. I researched, studied and found myself in it. The creative freedom, the opportunity to work from where I want and be free when I want, which this job provides me, is a perfect combination of what I like to do, what I am good at and what is profitable from the business side.
Let’s look back at the very beginning, what were the difficulties you faced and were there any positive surprises in your work?
The biggest difficulty I still face is that I am much younger than my colleagues. People easily say ‘you young people know those networks better’ until they have to pay someone young to teach them about it. Also, initially it was difficult to build credibility and gain people’s trust due to age, but at the end of the day, hard work gets noticed and appreciated. I was positively surprised by the female support I encountered when I embarked on the entrepreneurial path. Women who found my online profiles and came across my work gave me support, advice, ideas, guidance…I was lucky to come across them.
Did you have someone’s help or did you manage all the solutions and problems yourself? If so, what is the best advice you received on that occasion?
Most of the things I needed I learned on the fly and worked my way up until I got what I needed. Over time, I started investing in different educations about different branches of marketing. The best advice I received was not to learn about marketing but about communication. When I started working on my communication skills, I understood better what people need, how I can offer it to them and be a better salesperson. Thanks to that, my business progressed, and the idea I started with developed into an even better one.
How do you organize your time, do you use any tools or techniques for effective time management?
Tools for scheduling announcements, emails, reminders help me the most in organizing my time. I schedule everything possible. A big advantage is that all training and consultations are online, so communication with clients, preparation of materials, work itself is much easier. I mostly use Google calendar, Facebook creator studio and stickers that I stick above my desk.
You participated in one of our projects Academy of Youth Entrepreneurship – can you share your experience with us?
The Academy of Youth Entrepreneurship opened my horizons as far as my business idea actually reaches and through sessions with mentors gave me the wind at my back to go that way. The experience is truly invaluable. Most of the time we spend looking for something and finding our way, while at the Academy we received key information, skills and guidelines where to look for it all. It encouraged me not to give up and to continue developing the idea.
As someone who has been in entrepreneurial waters for some time, what advice would you give to someone who is just starting or planning to start their own business?
You can’t work on your business if you don’t work on yourself. Many people decide on entrepreneurship because they want to be their own boss and decide on everything. Entrepreneurship is exactly that – it depends on you how much you work and earn, what impression you leave, how much free time you have… You have no one to transfer responsibility to. It’s a constant learning process, and as much fun as it is tiring. That’s why working on yourself, your beliefs, habits, ambitions is the main link and without it I don’t think there is any business, neither small nor big.
The interview was created within the project ” Entrepreneurship 101 for young people from the NEET group ” supported by the European Union and the Ana and Vlada Divac Foundation.
