I didn't try that hard...
My Digital Marketing Origin Story
Back in 2011…
I graduated college and majored in history. I wanted a career where I enjoyed “finding” things out. This led me to aim toward historical research in museums.
But when I graduated, I did one thing wrong:
I didn’t try hard enough to pursue that career.
I used excuses like the recession and museums weren’t hiring.
I landed up working as a camp counselor the summer after graduating.
At that time, I also worked part-time at my family’s business sending out hand-written postcards every week.
After the summer ended, I was offered an opportunity to take on more weekly hours in the family business.
I took the chance.
My brother (owner of the business) encouraged me at the time to find ways to make our company more money with our website.
I started calling local companies to tell them about the helpful information they could find on our website and explain our services to them.
One conversation changed my entire direction.
The woman was an owner of the business and started to mention that she liked our website. Then asked me one question:
“Have you ever heard of SEO?”
My answer was “no,” and she began to explain how keywords positioned on your website and specific links you share throughout the site help your website show up higher on Google.
I was immediately intrigued by this strategy and immersed myself in learning more.
I started using my research skills.
Our website started to take off and grow in traffic, but also we started seeing more customers at our doors.
Disclaimer: We are a service-based company, and no products are being sold.
We began writing more content on our websites to help answer and solve our customers’ questions and problems.
In March 2012, my big chance arrived.
A team member was leaving the company, who was in charge of the overarching marketing strategy for our brands.
My brother took me aside and said, “This is an opportunity to go full-time. Are you up for it?”
I remember that day so vividly. I took the chance and ran.
I started to explore the ideas around SEO, Google Ads, email marketing, and social media strategy.
I dove right into everything and anything around digital marketing.
This was when I realized that my efforts would have a resounding effect on the future of my career and the success of my family’s business.
My mentality of success and efforts changed forever.
Fast-forward to 2022; I’m still working in my family business, where I’m the marketing director for three brands (all around metal recycling).
I’m proud to be where I am today, knowing I didn’t squander another opportunity.
I tried harder.
My level of effort has reached a benchmark standard that I never knew was possible.
