In short: Robert Nikic often talks about opening the doors he once found closed. Straight answers on what that means in hiring, mentoring, buying and policy.
Robert describes his mission as opening the doors he once found closed (robertnikic.com). People ask what that actually means, beyond a nice phrase. These are his answers.
Where does the phrase come from?
From my family's story. We came to the United States as refugees with very little. Everything that went right after that started with someone opening a door: a job, an apartment, a school, a customer, a chance.
And a lot of what went wrong started with a door that stayed closed. A rule nobody explained. A credit check we couldn't pass. A room we didn't know existed.
So when I talk about opening doors, I mean making sure the next person standing where we stood finds a few more of them open.
What counts as a door?
Anything that decides whether someone gets a fair shot. In business, the big ones are:
- A first job. Especially for young people, newcomers and people starting over.
- Credit. A loan, a credit line, payment terms from a supplier.
- A first customer. Someone willing to buy from an unknown company.
- An introduction. To an investor, a buyer, a mentor, a partner.
- Information. How the system actually works. Which forms matter. What the unwritten rules are.
- A market. The ability to sell beyond your own town or country.
- A room. A seat where decisions are made.
Isn't this just networking?
No. Networking is mostly about helping yourself. Opening doors is about helping someone else, often someone who can't help you back.
The test is simple. If the person you're helping has more power, money or connections than you, it's networking. If they have less, it might be opening a door.
What does it look like in hiring?
Looking past the résumé filter. Interviewing the candidate with the unusual path. Building entry-level roles with real training, instead of only hiring people who already have experience. Paying interns. Being willing to hire someone who's great at the work but still learning the language or the culture.
And once they're in, making sure they have a path up, not just a job.
In buying and partnerships?
Buying from small and new suppliers when you can. Paying them on time, since a late payment from a big customer can be a crisis for a small supplier. Giving them clear feedback so they can improve. Introducing good small suppliers to other buyers.
A purchase order from a respected customer can be the thing that gets a small company its first loan.
In mentoring?
Giving time to founders who don't already have a network. Answering the email from someone you don't know. Being honest, which is more useful than being encouraging. Making an introduction when you can vouch for someone.
The founders who need advice most are often the ones least likely to get it.
In policy?
That's what my work on SDG 8 and 9 is about. The biggest doors aren't opened one at a time. They're rules: who can get credit, how hard it is to register a business, what it costs to get paid across a border, whether the internet reaches a town.
When one of those rules changes, millions of doors open at once. Here's more on that work.
What does it look like in pricing and terms?
This one gets overlooked. Payment terms are a door.
A big company that pays small suppliers in 90 days is borrowing from the businesses least able to lend. A company that pays in 15 days is giving those suppliers room to grow. Same invoice. Very different effect.
Same for customers. Offering a small business customer a payment plan, or a smaller starting package, or a trial, can be the thing that lets them buy at all.
And in what you share?
Information is a door too. Most of the expensive mistakes I've seen founders make came down to something nobody told them: a tax rule, a contract clause, a pricing trap, a scam aimed at new sellers.
If you've learned something the hard way, write it down and share it. A clear explanation, posted publicly, can save hundreds of people from the same mistake. That's a big part of why I write.
What does it not mean?
It doesn't mean giving people things they haven't earned, or lowering the bar. The bar stays where it is. Opening a door means giving someone the chance to clear it, instead of deciding in advance that they can't.
It also doesn't mean rescuing people. A good door opener gives access, honesty and a fair shot. The person still has to walk through and do the work.
Don't you lose something by opening doors for others?
Rarely. It's not a zero-sum thing.
The person you hire becomes a loyal employee. The supplier you help becomes a reliable partner. The founder you mentor becomes a peer who sends opportunities back years later. The economy that gives more people a fair shot grows faster for everyone.
The costs are real but small: time, some risk, occasionally being wrong about someone. The returns are usually much bigger.
What if the person doesn't make the most of it?
It happens. Not every opened door gets walked through. That's fine.
You can't control what someone does with a chance. You can control whether they get one. And a second chance has to be earned after it's given. I've written about that half too. Second chances, given and earned.
What's a small thing anyone can do this week?
Pick one person who's where you used to be. Give them one hour, one introduction or one honest piece of advice. That's it.
If everyone who made it through did that once a month, a lot more people would make it through.
Why does this matter so much to you?
Because I'm a product of it. Every step in my life involved someone opening a door they didn't have to. I can't pay those people back. Most of them wouldn't even remember. The only way to repay it is forward.
Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, TEDx speaker and Advisory Council Chair at Reseated Councils (United Nations SDG 8 & 9). He writes about what he has seen build and break companies, and about the rules that decide whether small businesses get a fair shot. Read his writing on Medium, the Open Doors newsletter on LinkedIn and daily posts on X.
