Zuzana Ruttkayova | Founder of Elysiumm.co

Zuzana Ruttkayova spent her early years in Slovakia, where many individuals migrated away from home to seek better futures.

If you wanted brighter horizons, you packed your belongings to find what those horizons held.

So she went. Denmark became home – not because she wanted to, but because she needed to. She studied for years, worked long hours in a warehouse, and took unpaid internships.

And as she did this, she built something. A mind that doesn’t quit.

A relentless mind.

Eventually, when schooling finished, she secured a job at a startup she really liked.

But then she transitioned to the corporate world – and realized she didn’t belong. At 26 years old, a doctor told her she was heading toward burnout.

A moment she couldn’t ignore. She resigned, hoping this would be her last plan at work. Then came the work – the harder work – to work on herself.

Her fears. Her self-doubts. She always dreamed of starting her own business… But she had bypassed the hard work.

The process. The ideas. Passive income. Passive enjoyment. Rapid success.

A course that advertised sunsets in Bali. And she came up empty-handed.  She overspent – not once, not twice, but countless times.

Until one day, she stopped chasing. She surrendered to what she loved the most: Marketing.

She declared, “Screw it.” And decided to take on freelance work. And self-doubt? It was blaring. Then everything changed. That spring, she flew to Spain; the Denmark was no longer a viable option for her.

By May – her inbox pinged. A potential client. An agency. A major contract. 

She only had to run her business. Easy? She was going to lose all guaranteed income. No contracts. No protection. But she believed in herself. With sweaty palms, a racing heart, Elysiumm.co was born.

She booked a flight back to Denmark.  June 1st, 2024.

Day 1. Did she have a signed contract? No.

Always. Sign the contract. 

When she arrived, the agency had downsized.

Not enough clients, not enough hours. Panic set in. She had two months. 

That was her runway. And she went all in.

She worked for free. Pitched, pitched, pitched. Leveraging her network, building trust the hard way.

Eventually… clients came. One by one, until she landed on her magic number… 5–8 clients, each of whom she completely enjoyed working with.

At present, she is writing with a full heart, a much fuller calendar, and a business at capacity.

Elysiumm became more than a business; it became evidence. Evidence that starting in fear can lead to courage in creation. 

Evidence that all you need is hard work, enthusiasm and the ability to take a chance on yourself.

And if she can, you can too! 💙

– As narrated by Zuzana Ruttkayova, penned by the Rolling Authors® Team. Visit us at www.rollingauthors.com for biography/memoir writing services.