Militsa (Mila) Chervenkova

The Women in Marketing – Bulgaria team had the pleasure and privilege to ask Mila some questions about her career, thoughts on the marketing industry, and herself. Here’s what she replied.

How did you start your career in marketing?

My career in marketing began after I realized that I didn’t want to have a standard day working for someone else. After a little research on how to make money online, I came across Gary Vaynerchuk, read every article he wrote, watched every video he made, and decided we could get along in marketing.

What advice would you give to women who are just starting a career in marketing in Bulgaria?

Boldly start creating their own assets. If they start Social Media Marketing, let them make one account and try to grow it. If they do SEO, let them make a content website and organically apply their knowledge to grow traffic. If they do email marketing, then creating and developing a newsletter is a must for them. This is the best way to achieve a complete cycle of learning and applying knowledge in their practice.

Where do you find inspiration to be who you are professionally?

From my thirst for freedom and spending more time on activities that above all build my soul and personality.

What are the marketing resources and tools you can’t live without?

I work with several marketing tools every day. Most often these are traffic, link and keyword research tools like Ahrefs. As well as AI tools that help me create content, summarize complex information and data, create marketing models and visualize business ideas.

Is there a change you would like to see in the marketing industry in Bulgaria?

I certainly want Bulgarian companies to start putting more resources into hiring better paid marketing specialists. My feeling is that marketing in Bulgaria is very limited and is seen as something that the company can do without on its own. Or as a department where everyone can be a marketer. Or also – the part of the business, which does not make the money, but only spends it. Which is an incredibly misconception. I have never met a company that would give up free traffic through SEO. But this requires highly motivated specialists who are highly paid everywhere in the world. In Bulgaria, this is not the case and it is time to change.

What has been the most challenging aspect of your career so far and how did you overcome it?

To explain to people exactly what I do. Especially to my parents, who to this day do not understand why if someone clicks on a link from my website, I should receive money (commission).

What has been the most successful moment, project or achievement of your career so far and how did you achieve it?

Being able to slow life down by focusing on my own projects and writing more.

Have you had a mentor who played a crucial role in your career? How did they influence your professional development?

Yes, I have and still have. This is Dimitar Karaivanov (Mitaka), co-founder of a great Bulgarian company Businessmap (formerly Kanbanize). Mitaka and I met when Businessmap was Kanbanize and he had an idea for a new startup. After several meetings with him and his business partners (Hristo and Biser) they invited me to take the position of marketing lead in their startup (Flow-e). I agreed and so began to soak up everything Mitaka was sharing with us. However, they had already gone down this “startup” path with Businessmap (Kanbanize).

To this day, I wonder how they trusted me with such a startup in such a saturated and competitive niche. I really learned a lot from all three co-founders of Businessmap. We keep in touch, work together on different projects and constantly talk about new business ideas together. Thanks Mitak! 🙂

Why did you become part of Women in Marketing – Bulgaria and how do you see your contribution to the mission of the community?

I have always wondered how I can connect with other women who are involved in marketing in Bulgaria. Lazarina told me about the community and invited me to join, which I immediately did. We must be better and share our knowledge and difficulties. The wheel of goodness must turn and we should think more about “pass on.” I think this community is the right place for that.

What industry trends or developments do you find most exciting or challenging right now?

Certainly to me this is the AI ​​movement in marketing right now.

What advice do you have for young professionals who aspire to be better marketers? What does it take for one to succeed in this industry?

The most important thing is that they do NOT put half-hearted efforts into the things they do. Nothing beautiful and meaningful in this world happens with half-hearted efforts. The next most important thing is to have their own projects to apply their knowledge and experiment. Marketing is a field in which there is no success without experiments.

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How do you envision your role in the future?

The same as that of a slow solopreneur at the moment. I’m a simple woman. 🙂

How would you like to be remembered in the industry?

As a person who is an evangelist of good work. It may happen more slowly, but it is qualitative and reaps results. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

Outside of work, what hobbies or activities bring you joy and recharge your creativity?

Outside of work, I rock puds, run, read, and spend a lot of time outside with my dog, as well as time in nature trekking.

Is there a lesson you’ve learned so far that has impacted you both personally and professionally?

Yes. This was the moment when 7-8 years ago I deactivated and permanently deleted my Facebook account as well as Messenger without warning anyone. At some point, I realized that if there wasn’t a green dot with an online status next to my profile picture, I wasn’t missed by many people. A great experiment that I follow to this day. Real friends are easy to spot like that.

What are the key moments in your career that have contributed to your success?

Certainly that early on I started experimenting with making different content websites that I was growing through SEO and trying to monetize in different ways.

Is there a person, concept, or lesson that has influenced you to become a better marketing leader? 

Rather, what made me a better person also made me a better marketing leader. It’s a deeper study of psychology (to understand who you are), studying Stoicism as a philosophy (to understand why you are), and applying the concept of minimalism and slow living (to understand when enough is enough).

Anything else you’d like to add?

I want to encourage people to be better. Let’s create more beautiful work and not let half-hearted efforts dictate our lives.

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It was an absolute pleasure getting to know Mila better, and welcoming her as a Community Member, and also one of the Speakers to our Plovdiv Networking Dinner that took place in September 2024!

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