How A Young ZTM Student Started Their Own Web Dev Agency

When you talk about learning to code, a lot of people think about the major tech companies, like Facebook, Google, Amazon, Nvidia, and others, and what it would be like to work there.

Sure this is a great path and it's extremely lucrative, but it's not the only path available.

You can still make life-changing money even if you’re just working for smaller companies, or even for your own business.

Today I want to share the story of another ZTM member who did exactly that.

What I really like about this story is:

• He started before he was ready
• He got paid while still learning to code
• He hustled and did a scary thing
• And he leveraged the assets he had available to make it happen

You’ll see what I mean in just a second, but for now, let me pass you over to him…

Meet Bepo

Hi, my name is Bepo Antičević, I’m a 19 year old student and entrepreneur.

I’m currently getting a Computer Science degree at Algebra University in Zagreb, Croatia.

I also recently started my own Web Development agency, where I provide SEO and Web Development services to clients.

It’s still early days, but it’s going pretty well so far!

How did you start your Web Development agency?

I was really lucky in that I didn't have that much of a problem finding my first two clients.

Here’s how it happened:

During my summer breaks from University, I was working as a waiter at multiple locations - a hotel, a cafe, and a restaurant.

I had always wanted to be an entrepreneur and work for myself, so in my downtime during a shift, I would often ask the owners questions about starting a business, how they got started, managing people, pricing services, and everything else.

While back at University one day, I figured I could probably start getting paid for my dev skills now, before I even finished my degree. Anything I wasn’t sure of, I knew I could learn and apply.

I already knew some busy owners who might need my skills, so I just went to them and asked if they needed anything, such as a new website or a web app and they said yes!

And that was it. Two clients almost immediately, with upfront project fees and retainers.

Sidenote: I know I had an easier time with these two thanks to them knowing my degree and skills, and our previous conversations.

However, I’m pretty sure if I just went to other companies and asked what they needed help with, I could get more clients also without knowing them first.

How long have you been coding?

I got interested in programming back at my high school.

I had a Web Design class where I was introduced to HTML and CSS, and I was hooked right away. I think it’s because there was no boring command line, and I was actually seeing my code create something in real time on the screen.

I was also watching some YouTube videos on full-stack web development in my spare time, but I didn't feel like I was learning much because of the lack of real projects.

This ended up with me not really knowing how to implement anything that I was watching, and so I knew that I needed something better.

I decided I wanted to learn more about web development in general, so I googled ‘How to become a web developer’ and stumbled onto Andrei's Web Development course:

Even at that time (5 years ago if I'm not mistaken), it was the best-rated online course for learning web development.

I bought the course and my knowledge expanded much further and deeper into the topic of web development than both my high school class and YouTube series combined.

What was the goal or outcome you were hoping for from ZTM, and did you achieve it?

I wanted to escape the ‘tutorial hell’ phase of programming and actually gain the knowledge and skills to build real-world applications.

Editor’s note: Tutorial hell is a common term that’s used among self-taught programmers, where they get caught in a loop of just learning random unstructured content, with no clear roadmap of how to achieve their goal.

What should they learn? In what order should they learn it? When will they know enough to get hired? Are they even learning the right things for a job? Etc.

Anyways, back to Bepo’s story…

After going through all that struggle with random videos, finding Andrei's Web Development course was like finding the holy grail for me.

He explained everything nicely and encouraged me to push through the problems and obstacles I was facing and to learn by DOING (the most important thing), which was the main thing that got me to where I am.

I was finally able to implement what I was learning!

(ZTM is different from other platforms because of the strong emphasis on learning by doing - I can't stress this enough).

What was your learning experience like?

I didn’t start from scratch which definitely helped.

As I mentioned above, I knew some basic HTML and CSS before I started, however, when it came to JavaScript, it just didn’t make sense to me. Prior to taking the course anyway.

That being said, I still took a few months to finish the complete Web Developer course, because I wanted to get as much as possible from it as I could. This meant that I didn’t move forward unless I 100% understood a topic.

I’ve also taken a few other courses.

I took the ‘Master the Coding Interview’: Data Structures and Algorithms course, as this was actually really helpful for my college degree.

After that, I took the Junior to Senior Developer course to help me take my skills to the next level.

And then most recently I took the SEO Bootcamp course to improve my own site, and offer the services to clients.

What has been the biggest challenge in your journey from learning to code to opening your agency?

The biggest challenge for me was time management I guess.

Sure I only have 2 clients so far, but I’m still a student. This means I’m juggling university, studying, and working on big projects for those 2 local companies.

I have a really tight schedule but I manage to get through it.

Now that you have your new agency, how do you feel?

The feeling can't be described in words! hahahaha.

I am just so proud of myself that I managed to do it at such a young age. I am no longer an expense to my parents, and I can treat them with nice gifts now and then.

So it is just wow - it’s mind-blowing!

Is there a big difference in earnings from what you made before?

A huge difference!

As a waiter, I made around 1,000 euros per month, which is actually not bad at all in Croatia. In comparison though, for the first project I charged 3,000 euros plus a monthly retainer for maintenance, which is around the market price.

Obviously, I was charging what the product and service were worth, but the jump in earnings just felt insane. Not only that, but I completed it in 2 weeks and had the money in my account.

This meant that in half the time, I had made 3 times the money, doing something I was passionate about!

Not only that, but I was also putting the skills I had been learning to use 😁.

What advice would you give to other ZTM students?

There are 3 main things that I want to share:

• Never give up! Everybody can do what I did, you just need to push through all the problems and obstacles. Sure, there will always be setbacks, and new trends popping out everywhere, but just keep doing what you are doing
• Become ‘good enough’ at one thing and keep improving. Whatever you choose to learn and focus on, stick with it until you can leverage it. It’s very easy to get tempted by shiny objects and new programming languages, but if you switch it around before you get a level of competence, then you won't become a master of anything or able to do anything with it
• Ask for help! It can be friends, family, or community. The ZTM Discord was a major help for me, to ask advice on work or even general questions

So what are you waiting for? Be like Bepo and make your own dreams come true!

Thinking of starting a career in Web Development or even starting your own agency like Bepo did, but not sure where to start?

Well, why not take the exact same courses?

Once you join, you have access to every course in the Zero To Mastery Academy library, so that’s every course in this article and many more.

Not only that, but you’ll get access to the ZTM private Discord community, where you can ask questions from your course teachers, as well as chat with other students and working Web Development professionals and freelancers!

There’s nothing to lose and everything to gain.

You can start making money while you learn to code also. You just have to take the next step!