As a young man Žikić left his native Mavrovo and came to Belgrade where he worked as an innkeeper and a sheep herdsman. Already in 1787, he was conspiring with Austrian spies to open the gates of the Water Gate of Belgrade Fortress to Austrian soldiers. In the Austrian-Ottoman war of 1788-1791 he joined the Serbian Free Corps unit of Mihaljević and distinguished himself earning the rank of captain. After the war he escaped to Srem and lived in the village of Boljevci. He later took part in the Austrian-French war.