Hello! Who are you and what remote business did you start?
Hi, I am Ilija, co-founder and partner at marketing & technology agency Kontra. I co-founded this company in 2011. with my partner Petar, and today we are a marketing agency that provides three basic services for our clients: Communications, Performance Marketing and Website Development.
What’s your personal history and the inspiration for your business?
I don’t have a marketing background – I am a Master of Computer Science. But during my studies here in Croatia, I started working as a community manager for the most famous (at the time) Croatian startup, and that’s how I started learning more about social media marketing.
Describe the process of launching your remote business.
After I graduated, I met Petar who was also working as a community manager and had two clients. We decided to join forces and start working together. We didn’t know much about the market, and how agencies really work, but we had this dream about creating a leading social media marketing agency in Croatia and we started working 70-80 hours every week to make that dream come true. As we didn’t have much money initially, we couldn’t afford an office space, so we started working remotely.
What has worked to attract customers and earn their loyalty?
In the first few years, we focused a lot on content marketing. We needed to educate our potential customers on how social media marketing can help them. That proved to be a really great way to attract them as some of them hired us to do digital marketing for them. We created many ebooks which also helped us generate thousands of leads.
Knowing what you know now, are there things you would have done differently when first starting out?
I would find out who the most successful agency owners are and start asking them for advice on how to run an agency.
What has been the best part of starting a remote business?
We are not 100% remote; some employees are, and others work hybrid. But still, the best part of starting a business is freedom to create our own story.
What platform/tools do you use for your business?
- Productive for task/project management
- Pipedrive for sales
- Office365 as a collaboration platform
- WordPress + Woocommerce for website/webshop development.
What have been the most influential books, networking groups, podcasts, or other resources you’ve found?
I love reading books, so here are a couple that really influenced me:
- Good to great
- No rules rules
- Shoe dog
- Beyond entrepreneurship 2.0
- Profit first
- Good strategy, bad strategy
- Rich dad, poor dad
- The 5am club
Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to build a remote business of their dreams?
Don’t wait for the perfect opportunity to start your business. It will never be easy but start with a vision and slowly build from there.
Are there any positions or internships you’re hiring for right now?
We are not hiring new employees, but I hope that will change soon.
Where can we go to learn more?
-Website: https://kontra.agency
-Ebooks: https://kontra.agency/ebooks
