You don’t need an education to be successful in business. Just ask this self-made millionaire

Sonia Majkic has no formal qualifications, yet she still managed to launch and grow her marketing agency into a $25 million success story in seven short years. She joined the First Act podcast to share her inspiring transformation from a high school dropout to one of Australia’s most successful entrepreneurs – and the lessons she’s learned about business along the way.

Sonia co-founded her award-winning digital marketing agency, 3 Phase Marketing, with friend Tamara Alaveras in 2015. The pair have since grown the business into one of Australia’s most successful marketing and branding agencies.

Serbian-born Sonia says watching her immigrant parents struggle with money was one reason she felt determined to be financially self-sufficient at a young age.

“As factory workers, my parents lived from pay-check to pay-check, and I observed the constant struggle around money,” the mother of three recalls. “They had no workplace flexibility whatsoever, and they missed out on so many critical moments for my brother and me through primary school. They were bound to the factory floor, working 10 to 12-hour shifts to make ends meet. That, I suppose, motivated me to have a completely different experience as an adult.”

“I found my calling”

Sonia wasted no time – kicking off her first business at age 12, selling ‘crafty things’ such as homemade potpourri to neighbours and friends, then scored a job at her local Coles supermarket at age 14. Though her decision to leave school at the start of year 12 left Sonia without formal education or qualifications, with her resume already packed with work experience and business skills, the 18-year-old quickly landed her first job in marketing with an appliance company. Here, she says she found her calling.

“They were very early in their entrepreneurial journey, and it was the best experience I’d ever had because I saw first-hand what was involved in launching a brand. I was part of that creative process; I built their website, designed brochures and had our first sale event. I planned the entire campaign, and they ended up selling $3 million worth of products in one weekend.

“After that role, I went on and did it for other businesses. I came into organisations and instinctively saw the gaps; then, I would implement the changes that needed to happen, and they would start to see sales results.

“When I reached my thirties, I was finally able to put a label on it. I realised I’m a marketing strategist! That’s what I am. I had found my calling,” Sonia says.

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Launching a dream

The decision to team up with her friend Tamara to start their marketing agency was a logical next step for Sonia, and 3 Phase Marketing was born. And while their phenomenal rise to success seems heady, Sonia says it took plenty of hard work and personal growth to make it happen.

“It took a lot of cold-calling and networking, and we did quite a bit of free work, in the beginning, to start building case studies and to get some reputable brands to work with us,” says Sonia. “Initially, to build up a business, it’s a whole lot of grinding and calling, and it’s a real hustle. It’s that unglamorous hustle you don’t get to see on Instagram; it was bloody tough. We were pounding the pavement and bashing down doors every day to get paid work through the door.”

Overcoming self-doubt was also a mindset shift Sonia says was necessary for her success.

“I would toss and turn at night thinking, ‘Oh my God, is this gonna work?’ But I kept reminding myself: ‘Do what you’ve always done. You’ve done it for every other brand, every other business; do what you know’. I had to work through and dissolve some of those self-limiting beliefs. I needed to do a lot of internal work, particularly in those early days.”

Building a client base from scratch

So, how did Sonia and Tamara build their business into a multi-million-dollar success story in seven short years? Sonia says the critical factor was their ability to move with the times and offer what businesses really needed in the ever-changing marketing world.

“Digital marketing is such a disruptive space; what worked in this space 12 months ago doesn’t work today. It’s moving at such intense speeds that one of the things we always maintain in our organisation is evolution and innovation. If there’s a new channel or better way to do things, we learn, adopt, test, and implement it as quickly as possible.

“When we started our organisation, digital was on the cusp – everyone was starting to realise they needed this in their business. So, we immediately engaged a Google Ads expert, a Facebook ads expert and content creators to work with our agency. We were offering services that businesses were looking for. The vision has always been the same – we want to give our clients a competitive advantage in a changing landscape.”

Strategic partnerships and personal marketing

For continued growth, Sonia urges business owners to remember their own personal marketing – this might be good old-fashioned networking, building strategic partnerships, or entering awards.

“I always say to my clients: Don’t engage a marketing agency that is not doing an excellent job at marketing themselves. It’s like working with a builder whose house is half-built or with a personal trainer who is not in premium condition. You need to emulate what you believe in and what your services are.

“Some less-obvious opportunities are things like strategic partnerships, where we plug ourselves into organisations that complement what we do but don’t offer the same services,” Sonia suggests. “I also think it’s essential to invest in relationships. I have a lot of great relationships with people in key areas of media organisations. I nurture those relationships; I invest in them. So, when they see an opportunity for us to support one of their clients, we get the call.”

Top tips for entering awards

“Awards create a perception of success,” says Sonia. “And that’s the power of marketing – it is about perception, and perception is reality. Awards have been an amazing way to get media coverage, win new clients, and elevate our perception in the marketplace.

“The number one advice I have for award applications is to engage a copywriter who has successfully written, applied for, and won awards for clients. I guarantee you that it doesn’t matter where you are in the business journey; sometimes, it takes an external person to observe what you’re doing to see the gift because you are so far in it. You are grinding and executing every day, and you may not even notice how fabulous things are for you until someone comes in and identifies that. Once you make one good application, you can copy and paste it into applications for the remainder of the year.

“Then, I would prepare a list of your industry’s awards and any business awards that have some synergy with your business. Once you collate that list, you’ll start to see how many opportunities exist out there. It’s a really inexpensive way to get your name out there.”

Sonia shares more insightful tidbits from her business journey in this inspiring episode of First Act. Listen to the whole ep now!

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