Think back to when you were a teenager and chances are you weren’t thinking of running a business across three different continents.
But for 18-year-old Nathan Testa, being a teenage entrepreneur is no big deal!
Dropping out of high school in 2015, Nathan realized the traditional educational pathway wasn’t for him. Nathan saw leaving school as an opportunity to showcase his talent to the business world.
With a passion for helping businesses grow in today’s digital world, Nathan launched Teko – an innovative and resourceful Australian-based digital development agency that provides website and app development, digital marketing and branding services to SME’s.
“Teko’s digital marketing and branding services are designed to help SME’s expand their digital footprint.” says Testa.
“I manage a development team of 25 highly skilled and creative individuals located in Australia, Asia and The United States. They bring with them years of experience and unparalleled knowledge in their respective fields that helps us implement innovative solutions for our clients.”
This often sees me staying up to the early hours of the morning to coordinate and manage my team which is scattered across different time zones around the globe.
Testa is part of a growing generation of kid bosses who see no reason to wait for graduation to launch a business, invent new products, or design apps.
Entrepreneurship started early for Nathan, teaching himself how to code and dabbling in website development at the age of 12. This laid the foundation to venture into the world of business by pursuing freelance work building custom websites for his father’s Accounting business clients whilst juggling school at the same time.
“The entrepreneurial gene certainly runs strong in my family.” says Testa
“My great grandparents, grandparents and parents all ran multiple businesses. I’m so lucky to grow up in a family where the culture of entrepreneurship and collaboration is strong.”
With a sound strategy and seamless execution, Teko ensures that businesses achieve a better return on investment from their marketing budget. Teko’s unique ROI based approach has enabled its clients to take control of their project budget without compromising on quality or quantity.
He talks about things that helped his business become more successful-
1. Client satisfaction is the utmost priority as it create customer value which ultimately helps develop and build the Teko brand. Satisfaction levels provide a great metric that has enabled Teko to manage and improve its service offerings i.e. building my business through my customers’ loyalty. Money comes and goes but I think loyalty is for a lifetime.
2. In my short time in business I have connected with many successful business builders/entrepreneurs who have encouraged me, but I would say my biggest inspiration and role models are my parents. They have always had an interest and shown support in what I have been building since the age of 12.
3. A website is a digital window into our clients’ business and needs to be respected. Our business model ensures that both Teko and our clients are on the same page. Our model can be best summed up in 4 steps:
1. Engagement
2. Strategies
3. Implementation
4. Monitor
Indeed, Nathan is an inspiration for thousands of teenagers and an example to follow.