We recently connected with Jelena Ostrovska and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jelena thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

I started my first business at 18 and still in high school, thanks to my parents who introduced me to network marketing. And even though I’m no longer active in that industry, the world of network marketing was a springboard into entrepreneurship for me. In the first year, I had no success (zero sales, had no idea what I was even doing) but my parents encouraged me to figure out how to build that business instead of going to college.

In 2014 I made a decision that I was going to learn everything I possibly could about growing a network marketing business and I found an education platform that I signed up for. Ended up skipping the traditional route of going to college, getting a job, buying a house, and all of that. Has it been risky? Absolutely! However, it’s been quite a rewarding journey of learning how to grow a business, how to build a personal brand online and become your boss instead of working for someone else. I’ll be forever grateful for my parents encouraging me to start a business and not chase the traditional route.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hey, I’m Jelena, a no-BS content marketing strategist and the founder of a content agency that supports coaches, service providers, and small business owners in developing effective social media marketing plans. However, my journey didn’t start with running an agency. In fact, when I was in my early 20’s, I said “I never want to run a marketing agency”. Never say never, right?

My entrepreneurial journey started when I was 18 years old and still in high school. Instead of following the traditional college route, I dove into the world of network marketing, thanks to my parents. From there, I ventured into affiliate marketing, earned a business certification, launched my own digital products, and even got to speak on stage in the United States in front of hundreds of people (that was pretty cool for someone as young as 22).

The one thing I stayed consistent with throughout all the businesses? Content marketing.

Over the years, I’ve built my reputation on consistency, strategy, and tangible results. Something I did early on that I’m still very proud of to this day (it’s also something that made a HUGE difference in my business and essentially gave it the momentum it needed) is completing a 90-day blogging challenge twice. The way it worked? I had to publish a blog post 5-7 times a week over the course of 3 months. And the overachiever in me decided I’d do it twice in a row. It was one of the hardest and most time-consuming challenges I’ve done, but it allowed me to build my personal brand like nothing else and become known in the digital marketing industry. If I had to start all over again in business, I’d definitely start with a similar challenge but do it on one social media platform and then branch out elsewhere.

So if you’re reading this right now and you either already have a business or just an idea, I highly suggest you pick a social media platform and start posting content (both written and video content).

Today, my agency empowers clients through bespoke social media strategies, content audits, and VIP experiences that are results-driven. My signature program, The Content Confidential, helps business owners refine their content strategy, create impactful posts, and unlock their confidence when showing up online. The program is perfect for business owners new to social media or those who want to level up their strategy and get better at content marketing.

What sets me apart? I don’t just give you a bunch of theory or teach you basic social media marketing tips, I help you decode the chaos and build clear and strategic marketing blueprints that bring relief and eliminate the overwhelm. Clients often describe me as a detective for their brand – I dig deep to uncover what’s missing, streamline their strategy, and help them like true CEOs of their business.

For anyone reading this and thinking about either starting an online business or becoming a content creator, I want to tell you one thing – content creation doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Yes, there are a lot of platforms you can publish on. New social media platforms are always going to be emerging. You just have to start with one. All it takes is one post to start your journey! And it’s always the hardest one. Overcome that, and you can achieve anything you want!

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Considering I was only 18 years old when I started in business and 19 when I got serious about publishing content on social media, I felt like an imposter. And on top of that, English is not my first language, which didn’t help the situation.

Why would anyone listen to a teenager?
Who does she think she is?
What can she possibly teach you?

These were all the questions that were running through my mind and probably the minds of other people.

When I tell you that I started building my business and my audience from ZERO, I mean it. The only people that were following me online were my classmates, friends, family, and teachers.

And when I started slowly building an audience, everybody I talked to, didn’t take me seriously because they were all older than me and more experienced with pretty much everything.

Coming to business straight out of high school made me think that the “teacher is supposed to be older than the student”. I mean, that’s how it is in school for everyone, right? So it was incredibly hard for me to move away from that mindset. Some people even told me that I shouldn’t put “young entrepreneur” in my social media bios because it takes away from my credibility. And these days you see teenagers make more money than their parents. How the times how changed!

So if you’re in the same boat I was ages ago, I encourage you to use your age as an advantage! The younger generation is incredibly smart with technology and learns a LOT quicker than anybody else. So that’s your edge!

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I started online with no audience besides my friends and family (no one became a customer or client), so I’ll give you some practical tips that will help you get started:

1) What’s your strength? Is it writing? Is it talking on camera? Is it talking in general but not so comfortable on camera yet? Are you good at graphics?

2) Choose the main social media platform you’re going to focus on for the next 6 months minimum.

3) Decide what your content is about (if you’re starting as a content creator without a business) or define your core content topics (if you already have a business).

4) Create a content plan and decide how often you will be publishing (I recommend starting with at least 3 posts a week depending on the platform, but in an ideal scenario – 5-7 posts a week).

5) Find top leaders with large audiences and communities who have your target audience (call it “audience hacking”), so you can spend time engaging with those communities and get their attention because just posting content online without actively participating in online conversations will take forever.

6) After 6 months, add another platform. I personally recommend YouTube or podcast because both platforms are long-term content ecosystems where your content can get found and fuel the growth of your core social media platform.

That’s exactly what I did when I first started online – I built my core audience organically on Facebook using my personal profile. All I did was publish content (I did it the crazy way – 3 posts a day), engage with leaders and their communities, as well as in Facebook groups, and add 20 new people to my friends list so I could build relationships with them via Messenger.

That’s the simplest plan you can follow if you’re a complete beginner!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jelenaostrovska.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jelenaostrovska/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OstrovskaJelena/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jelenaostrovska/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/jostrovska
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/jelenaostrovskacoach

Image Credits

Karina Aster