09/03/2021 – Tokeportal’s own content

Our fourth mentor who answers our questions after Miklós Somogyi is none other, than Éva Vitkóczi, incubation and big enterprise expert. Éva’s speciality includes marketing, communication, business development, project management and she has significant experience in brand building and market entry strategy.

There is plenty of success tips available if you want to be a successful leader, if you are self-actualising or just looking for happiness. They help you to know what to think, how to feel. My experience is that you need openness, courage and work (in any order) to make progress. Openness to new things, courage to undertake something you don’t know or haven’t succeeded at yet, and a lot of hard work, because success rarely falls into your lap, although it would certainly be very comfortable to become successful from your armchair. Then what is not so trivial, but certainly important – and is closer to life management advices – is setting goals. If we have a big goal, break it down into smaller, achievable tasks, actions. Whatever you call it, it shouldn’t be out of reach, but it should be a little bit of a frown to get there. These help us to stay on track in everyday life. They give us fixed points that we can grab and adjust to even when there is chaos around us. And what is holding you back from success? Constriction and fatigue. So it’s important to take time for yourself, for your balance and for rest. After the big sprints, take time to cool down and relax. The brain also works like a muscle, it needs the right balance of rest and exercise to perform well.

The pandemic must have caused a bit of a slowdown by reducing face-to-face meetings, networking opportunities and moving them online. But the digital skills of people working in this field are already at the level where they have adapted quickly. The loss of the ground was more visible among younger people leaving school, who find it much easier to gain work experienceif it is accompanied by personal encounters. The lack of offline conferences and events abroad did not help either.

The entrepreneurial or investment appetite is essentially influenced by the attitude and risk-taking propensity of the person or organisation concerned. Uncertainty and changes in the economy may prompt caution among the more cautious. But finding an investor has not been impossible over the past year and half. But adapting quickly, rethinking and adapting our strategies has been essential in recent times, whether we are talking about startups, investors or people living paycheck to paycheck.

In any case. It makes a difference what we are marketing and to whom. For startups, I think the biggest challenge is to build trust, which is not a problem if you have a good strategy and your image supports your message. We can use different tools to gain the trust of our investors or even our customers. In addition to appearance, calm, honest communication always goes a long way. Creditibility is a very important keyword, regardless of size, the creation of this is the first step. It can be achieved through small, consistent steps and it is a precious treasure, because it is much harder to restore than to maintain.

I was born in Miskolc, I grew up in Tatabánya and I also live here. I graduated from a secondary school of economics, then I got a degree in communication at the University of Szeged. I started working for a typical Hungarian small enterprise that is a publisher of a business magazine. I went from salesman to marketing manager, then to publishing manager, and the magazine went from a county publication to a regional one during the eight years I spent there. From there I moved to the world of multinationals and spent four years in the Innovation Directorate at Telekom. As a business development manager, I was responsible for the development and the market introduction of innovative services for Telekom and the coordination of its communication. After my children were born, I started working for Antenna Hungária as a senior project manager, in the area of business development like before. My work also includes the communication of the AHa!Brainstore Startup Program. Throughout my life, I’ve had the opportunity to work with people from who I was able to learn many virtues that are important in the world of work. They have taught me for humanity among others.

If you want to know more about Éva, visit her mentor profile.