Aussie mum reveals how she made $25million in five years by following three secrets to success
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Sonia Majkic, pictured with youngest child Millie, runs a multi-million dollar marketing company
A busy mom of three has revealed how she built a $25 million marketing empire from scratch after refusing to continue the cycle of poverty she grew up in.
Sonia Majkic, 41, came to Australia with her family from Serbia when she was nine months old, and watched her mother and father work long hours on the factory floor making ends meet.
Speaking to FEMAIL, the marketing manager revealed that she knew she wanted more from an early age and adopted their work ethic to get it.
“My parents have done well for themselves, they have a house and savings, but they worked so hard for it,” she said.
“They came to the country in search of a better life. It was tough, they didn’t speak the language, didn’t understand the culture and left everyone they knew behind.’
While Sonia always appreciated how hard her parents worked for everything they had, she knew she wanted more for her own family.
‘As a child I was always curious about marketing and sales. I started my first business when I was 12 years old and I sold craft products to my neighbors. I would design the packaging, draw logos and make tags for my products,” she said.
But her journey to the top would not be easy. She never thrived in school, and by seventeen she had had enough. She retired at the beginning of Year 12 to chase a paycheck.
Sonia’s parents, pictured, came from Serbia when she was only nine months old. They worked in factories in Melbourne to make ends meet, but Sonia ‘wanted more’
Sonia started her marketing agency seven years ago when her middle child was two, and would take care of clients all night long – she is pictured with business partner Tamara Alaveras
But her love for sales and marketing continued to grow.
She was hired as a junior employee at a local company, and within months she was redesigning her employee’s marketing strategy, improving their logos and updating their online presence.
“I built my first website when I was 18, I was in a sales position, but my skills always leaned toward marketing,” she said.
Then, seven years ago, the dynamic mom decided she wanted to go out on her own, so she poured her savings into her business – 3 Phase Marketing.
“I started my business when my middle son was two, my friends and family thought I was crazy,” she said.
“It’s like they saw it as an ultimatum, being a businesswoman or a mother. But I knew I wanted both.’
Sonia put on a brave face and just pretended her company was much bigger than it was in those early days.
“I would take each client on board, work on the implementation, and juggle my toddler day and night with the strategies for 27 Facebook accounts,” she said.
Her partner Michael Caine is a stay at home dad and runs after Xavier, far right, Orlando, left and Millie dropping them between school and all their activities
“My clients didn’t know I was the one doing all the messaging. I actually look back now and wonder how I did it.’
She worked from 7:30 p.m. to midnight before calling it a night to repeat the process the next day.
“I don’t like to glorify it because I was exhausted and overworked,” she said.
But she knew she was laying the foundations for her business and wanted it done right.
And it had to work – she had risked her entire future with her perseverance and determination to pull her through.
“I put my savings into the company and would dive into my mortgage,” she said.
“Every time I looked at my partner and promised him it would be okay.
Sonia says she risked everything to give her children a better future and the gamble paid off
“I was scared, but I think in the end I knew that my parents had come to this country with nothing, I knew what it was like to have nothing and that we could rebuild.”
She will never forget the moment when she no longer had to rely on the mortgage account.
“My first paycheck was $60,000,” she said.
In 2019, four years after starting her business, Sonia was doing so well that she and her partner decided they could have another child and complete their family.
Sonia’s partner Michael Caine left his job as an electrician to become a stay-at-home dad so she could continue to thrive at the head of her marketing agency.
Her youngest was born in April 2020 and it felt like the timing couldn’t have been worse.
Her partner has always been a support and quit his job as an electrician to stay home with the kids – after they decided to try for a third child
Covid had struck weeks earlier, and by the time baby number three arrived, Sonia’s business seemed to be in serious trouble.
Its most trusted customers, including brands like Mercedes, had to close their showrooms and remove their ads.
“I lost more than 50 percent of my clients at once,” she said.
But the determined mother wasn’t about to let a global pandemic and unprecedented market uncertainty ruin everything she’d worked so hard for.
“We responded very quickly, I took the opportunity to retrain my staff and we became e-commerce pros,” she said.
The Melbourne-based company then won a ‘pitch’ for Prahran Market and when they successfully completed it, they were again a hot item.
They went on to work for market spaces in the city, as well as in Adelaide and Sydney.
“We picked up the phones and we found companies that needed help with e-commerce and it saved us,” she said.
‘We were flexible and because our team is relatively small, we were able to retrain and switch quickly. Then we can help other companies to invest in technology and to continue trading.’
Sonia now has 31 staff members, meaning she no longer has to stay up until midnight to schedule Facebook posts herself.
She works remotely from Kingscliff in northern NSW, where she and her family live in a huge house on the beach.
Moving from Melbourne meant moving away from her very supportive parents and in-laws.
“Luckily for us they are retired and one or the other always seems to be here. I’m not sure if they’re here for the kids or the lifestyle,’ she laughed.
The mother of three says she succeeded because of her iron will, but also because of the constant support and trust her loved ones, especially her partner, have shown.
“He’s an electrician by trade, but loves being there for the kids. He is there for them when they get off the bus every day and takes them to all their activities,” she said.
“I think an important thing to note is that yes, you can be a mother and you can be a businesswoman, but you have to have the support around you.
She is pictured here taking her kids on holiday abroad – something her parents could only dream of
“My kids always have a parent there, but only because my partner was happy to take on that role.”
Despite her massive success, there are still days when she wonders if she did the right thing.
“I think it’s that impostor syndrome again. I think as an entrepreneur you always think you haven’t done enough. You achieve goals, but forget to celebrate them because you already have new ones,” she said.
Sonia believes anyone can succeed and wants people to take the plunge and follow their dreams if they are willing to put in the effort to make them come true.
Sonia co-owns her marketing agency with Tamara Alaveras.