Michał's statement, the CEO and founder of Jet Line, was originally published on the Nowy Marketing portal in the series “How I founded my agency” on December 5, 2019, on the eve of the company's 25th birthday.
Within the company, we celebrated Jet Line's 25 years on the 25th day of each month throughout the entire year. Still in good spirits, we are slowly starting the next one and wish ourselves and you an equally successful time!

When and what was the impulse to start your own business?

The idea of starting my own business had been germinating in my mind earlier, but the direct impulse to go out on my own was the changes in the company where I was working at that time. My boss then was leaving the company and starting his own business - that inspired and encouraged me. I thought to myself: if not now, then when?
I was 27 years old, it was December 1994, and I decided that from the New Year I would be my own helm, sailor, and ship. It's been 25 years since then.

How long did it take you to establish the agency from the time the idea first emerged?

A moment, seriously. I told a friend over beer that I was founding Jet Line, and shortly after we were brainstorming the name. The next day I visited the Ochota District office, filled out forms, paid a 300,000 zloty fee, then visited the tax office to get a tax ID - and I had a certificate of business registration in my hand. It's possible that emotions carried me away and it wasn't actually that simple, but I certainly don't remember the process as something very difficult or burdensome.

What were the biggest challenges in getting the business off the ground?

From one day to the next, I stopped going to work, which made me a bit lazy. My office was at home - consisting of a phone and fax. I remember days when at noon I was still in my pajamas, although supposedly at work. The biggest challenge was therefore to discipline myself.

What are the costs associated with starting your own business?

In addition to the mentioned 300 thousand zlotys and the purchase of a fax machine, printing business cards, making stamps, etc., there were also costs in the form of increasingly shrinking free time. I quickly realized that I was at work 24 hours a day. Basically, this hasn't changed to this day.

How long did it take to acquire your first client?

I was fortunate to acquire my first clients right from the start. I convinced the first people to work with me thanks to relationships developed in my previous workplace. I am enormously grateful and will never forget that they trusted me then. Thanks to this, the company could immediately catch wind in its sails.

What advice would you give to someone who is considering starting their own agency?

Today the situation is completely different, I perceive many things as quite complicated, and knowing what I know now, I probably wouldn't dare... I think it's very important not to decide on a completely blind leap. Before starting a business, it's good to learn as much as possible about the industry in which we want to operate, develop contacts, check if we would have a chance for contracts, and ensure minimal financial security for the initial period of operation.

What are the strangest/funniest situations that happened to you during the development of your own business?

I had a dramatic blunder right at the beginning - with my first big order. The task was to print large advertising graphics for Coca-Cola's backlit media. We went with the client to Ireland because this type of large format printing technology wasn't available in Poland yet.

The day before the presentation of the first print, the graphics producer took us to a pub, where he kept buying us rounds of Guinness, assuring us that the print job was perfect and we could celebrate.

The next day we go to the production hall and a graphic with the Coca-Cola logo appears before our eyes. My knees buckled, my client turned pale. Instead of intense red, we saw something like tomato soup heavily diluted with cream. It turned out that the ink jet printing technology that the company had at that time was not suitable for producing backlit graphics.

Fortunately, everything ended well.

The manufacturer proposed a different technology, we used large format screen printing, and the new graphics came out perfectly. I immediately drew conclusions from the tomato soup production, although various unexpected, terrible, and funny situations happened to us many more times.

What do you think determines success in running your own business?

These are very different factors. Probably in each case it's something a bit different. What works for us is a cohesive team, a pro-client approach, consistency in action, flexibility, and humility.

What would you do differently looking from a time perspective?

I said earlier that today I don't know if I would be so brave. And yet I wouldn't change anything. As my partner says, quoting Voltaire, "perfect is the enemy of good."

What qualities are especially useful for people starting their own agency?

Courage, consistency in action, creative thinking, sense of humor - these are always useful.

What are your further plans for developing the agency?

We are currently developing a new digital out of home network, the MORE screen network (City Advertising Windows) addressed to residents of the largest cities in Poland who move around the city using public transportation, on foot, bicycles, and scooters. It's an amazing adventure. By building MORE, we're changing the rules of the game in outdoor advertising a bit. Not only are we introducing new technology, communication language, or rules for buying advertising campaigns, but we also have the opportunity for the first time to build channels containing informational and entertainment content, and we're building our own editorial department.