TEENBIZ Dea Poljaković i David Skrbin

Guest Dea Poljaković i David SkrbinHosted by Marina JurićMay 3, 2026

Dea Poljaković i David Skrbin

About this episode

What you'll hear in this conversation

Two entrepreneurs in their early twenties have built distinct, successful ventures by ignoring conventional wisdom and following their own rules. Dea Poljaković runs a thriving tattoo studio, a craft she discovered through pure curiosity and honed through months of solitary practice. David Skrbin commands an audience of over 1.7 million subscribers on YouTube, where he meticulously restores and builds intricate metal and wood projects, a pursuit he started in secret to avoid the skepticism of his peers. Their paths offer a rare look at the grit required to turn a personal fascination into a self-sustaining business. They reveal how initial lack of support can forge stronger conviction, and why, for some, the only acceptable boss is oneself. The conversation unpacks the quiet, often unglamorous work behind public success, and leaves you considering how much of your own "free time" you could be investing in a future you own.

Insights from the conversation

What to take from this episode

David deleted his first YouTube channel after friends "laughed at him" for making gaming videos. The earliest attempts at building something public often face ridicule, and the first instinct might be to retreat, but the conviction to try again, in silence, often yields the true path.

To avoid further mockery, David kept his second YouTube channel, featuring metal and wood projects, entirely secret until he reached 5,000 subscribers. Sometimes, the most effective way to protect a nascent project from external skepticism is to build it in quiet obscurity until it gains enough undeniable traction to speak for itself.

Dea practiced tattooing on artificial skin for eight months, daily, before ever putting a needle to human skin. Mastery of a new craft often demands a long, unglamorous period of solitary, deliberate practice before the first paying client ever appears.

Dea's second-ever tattoo client came directly from her first — her mother's hairdresser saw the work and asked for one herself. The first paying clients aren't always found through marketing; sometimes the most potent early growth comes from a trusted personal connection vouching for your work.

David notes that while foreign audiences readily offer support and positive comments, "Balkan people will find a flaw in the most perfect gem." When building a public-facing project, understanding the cultural disposition of your audience can shape where you find early encouragement and where you prepare for the sharpest scrutiny.

David warns aspiring YouTubers not to pursue it for money, but to "do it for free time." Approaching a creative endeavor as a productive way to use your spare hours, rather than a direct income stream, can be the counter-intuitive path to eventually earning from it.

David explains that his video projects would be "three times faster" if he didn't have to factor in filming and editing as a solo creator. The hidden cost of producing public content isn't just the time spent on creation, but the multi-fold increase in effort required to document, edit, and publish the work itself.

Both Dea and David agree they could only ever work in a multinational company "if they were leading it." For some entrepreneurs, the drive for autonomy and creative control is so fundamental that traditional corporate structures are only appealing if they can shape the entire direction.

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