Who is Vojin?

What did my Path look like?

I encountered work very early. A long time ago now, at the age of 14, I found my first job. My school friend’s father was the owner of a lathe and I asked him if he would hire me during the summer vacation. That summer, I discovered for the first time that I had something VALUABLE to charge – my back :)…

During high school, my friend Stefan and I learned to cash in on our “value” in different ways – we carried sacks and moved furniture to earn pocket money. We considered ourselves more mature by earning the money we spend ourselves. At 19, I decided to become independent and started paying for a roof over my head for the first time (And again felt more mature – I think you’re spotting the pattern ;)). I worked at a car wash, a printing press, a furniture factory – more or less anything that could support my independent life… It took me a while until I retired my back and got my head working.

I enrolled at the University of Kragujevac and obtained a B.Sc. Informatics engineer, and before graduating, I got a job in a software company as a programmer.

This time, I had something more valuable to offer , but I also began to value other things… Although this was a well-paid job, I lacked a sense of progress… I wanted to do something more .

I worked overtime, took courses, tried to always give my best. However, it always seemed to me that, although I was getting an “ok” salary, I wasn’t getting what was important to me .

…I watched other colleagues get more serious assignments, travel often, get better positions and… well, not negligible higher earnings. I wasn’t sure if it was because they were “doing it ” better or because someone favored them…but I knew they were doing and understanding SOMETHING that I just wasn’t registering. I wanted to learn more about business. I didn’t know where I was going to start, but I knew one thing – if I understood how business works, I would also understand how to achieve my goals .

As a developer, I thought it was the manager who knew something about business (after all, he is the one who implements the project, communicates with clients and upper management – I guess he knows how and why he does it). This gave me the motivation to retrain as a manager and lead my first team.

Although this helped me learn something new, I was FAR from understanding how business works – I only understood my project. I was still plagued by the same questions…

I then determined that I would go as far as it took until I learned everything I could about the business. As my understanding grew, I climbed the “corporate ladder”. Project manager, business analyst, product manager, salesperson, business development manager , business unit manager … until I reached my current position – VP (Vice President) Travel Sector . Each new ladder allowed me to see further, and gaps in knowledge were filled. I worked for some of the most successful companies (from banks, airlines, pharmaceutical companies, IT companies…), gathering and applying practical business skills . I got my own sales and marketing team, as well as the development and finance teams, and I have been successfully running the business unit for several years. I also lectured at various conferences . All this time, I have been methodically gathering information about the business and how it works .

After 15 years, I put the puzzle together – I learned how the universal principles of business work .