In talk with Bojan Bernik

The author of the first Croatian ebook on the topic of sponsored and native articles. It is written in Croatian language and was downloaded by 2.000 marketing professionals.

His main focus is brand development, marketing communications planning, content marketing and digital platforms.

Tell us about yourself 

I am Bojan Bernik from Zagreb, Croatia.
I am a serial entrepreneur who enjoys traveling and creating new businesses.
I am a founder and co-founder of 3 companies;
Morgan Grey marketing agency.
Morgan Code software development company
Alter Advoco sales outsource company

How many hours a day do you work on average?
It depends, because during winter when it’s cold and dark I usually work around 10 hours per day and during summer months I work four hours per day and spend most of my time outside.

Can you describe/outline your typical day?
My typical day is composed of a few hours of emails and calls, an hour of meetings, face to face and a few hours of exploring new ideas and creating stuff.

How has being an entrepreneur affected your family life?
I have been an entrepreneur for the last 13 years, so my family is Accustomed to this way of life.

What motivates you?
I love the freedom that I have as an entrepreneur, and I love to create something from nothing.

How do you generate new ideas?
I read a lot. Whenever I see a problem I see it as a possibility to solve it and create a new business from it.

What is your greatest fear, and how do you manage fear?
My biggest fear is that’s my company will fail. I think that is the biggest fear of any entrepreneur.

How did you come up with the name for your company?
Since I have a few companies, I can say it’s always a challenge to think of a name. My last company is Alter Advoco, it means a “second phone call”, or a follow up call. Because we do majority of sales over the phone.

How did you raise funding for your venture?
I am funding my businesses by myself, bootstrapping.

How do you build a successful customer base?
If you give people what they want, an experience they will love, then you have them forever as your loyal customers.

How does someone get you excited and willing to commit?
Something that will help millions of people solve a problem and make their life a little bit better.

As a serial entrepreneur, how do you see the market is growing in your country?
In Croatia there are more and more IT companies every day. I would like to focus on the international market because in Croatia there are only 4 million people.

How do you advertise your product/service?
We get the majority of our business through recommendations and Word of mouth. I believe that a marketing agency should only advertise through content marketing, and that is what we are doing.

To what do you attribute your success?
I am a very persistent and stubborn person. If you tell me something is impossible, I will do it.

What was the reason to start an IT company? Are you from the same background?
And since I have a few web portals I know a lot about web and web development. We want to create software that is niche and unique in solving problems and helping people and companies do thing more efficiently.

What do you look for in an employee?

The most important thing to us is that they fit into our corporate culture!
For me the most important thing for an employee is that he is honest and loyal and that he wants to be here and he finds joy in the work we are doing.

What made you choose your current location?
I love living in Zagreb because it’s a nice small city with only 1 million residents. From here to other major city in Europe is just two hours by plane so it is the best possible location in the world.

Do you work locally or internationally?
I work locally and internationally because Croatia is too small for our big ideas.

What’s your company’s goals?
Our goal is that our clients love to work with us and that our customers whoever they are love our products and services.

What are your responsibilities as the business owner?
I need to make sure that everyone in the company is happy and that they have everything they need to do their job the best possible way. Also I am responsible for the end products and everything the company is doing.

Does your company help the community where it is located?
We try to do our best to help the community and support charities.

Have you ever turned down a client?
Every other client we turn down because it is not the best fit for us. If I cannot give you the best service either because a you or some other factors, I will not work with you. The honesty and fairness come first.

If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?

Don’t try to fix what already works, try to fix stuff that doesn’t. Focus on niche problems, not the obvious ones that everyone is trying to solve. Of course you cannot beat Google. You can try, but the odds are not in your favour.

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