For those running their own SMMA…
Do you think its important get a career in the digital marketing industry from the bottom and learn your way up, or is this something you can learn from picking up an online course and experiment things yourself?
How did you initially get started, and what were the mistakes that you’ve learnt from along the way?
How hard is it to make a living from doing this?
I dont think a career in the field is very important at all. If you know exactly what you want to do, or set a very specific goal you can find all the information you need to get started right here…
Online courses only get you so far considering most of the information or methods will become outdated fairly quickly… That being said when I got started, courses gave me motivation and drive to actually do something about my goals to make money online.
Since then I’ve found pure hard work and forums were enough to get my business of the ground and successfully scale with the times.
I got started in college selling websites by posting adds on craigslist…
I then connected with a guy that imported stainless sinks and was selling these sinks to contractors and pitching my websites and marketing services as a bonus.
I eventually bottlenecked after quiting my job and not having enough clients. I then got another day job and went back to the drawingboard to really figure this instagram marketing out and scaling it.
1 year later and hell of a lot of late nights, tedious work in csv files and staring at Jarvee dumbfounded, I managed to start acquiring clients through cold emails.
Its very difficult my friend… You need to have a good work ethic and make alot of sacrafices, have tough skin, work consistently even though your friends want you to go out, realize you’ll be sitting at a computer desk most of the time, doing tedious tasks… Basically grinding it out until you can actually create a service thats worth selling… then you have to pitch it taking on clients for cheap (at first) all while keeping a day job… Eventually you’ll have systems in place maybe a few VA’s and you’ll be able to take small steps back slowly as you grow… Its a full time job but can be very rewarding…
Hi Jov
It all depends on where you want to take “digital marketing” and which services you are planning to provide.
I personally entered this industry without any degree or knowledge, just equipped with courses/books/online resources. So far, it’s been working for me, however, I am only exploring a small niche such as automation/ads. Super saturated area right now but results=testimonials=clients.
On the other hand, my beautiful partner has a degree in marketing (general), and doing another one for digital marketing. She is in a corporate world and progressing steadily. She has ample of resources working for a company in a certain niche, getting connections and working with multiple brands. As you can see going this way gets you a lot of exposure, and opportunities.
And if we both apply for a marketing position, if they look at my resume vs hers, she will definitely have the upper hand.
But to answer the question; do you need one to start now? Nah, not really
Is it an easy market to enter? Yep, hence why we have hundreds of marketers, trying to be one after reading a forum
Is it hard? Absolutely, it is like a gold rush. Everyone is going to a place where there is hype, digging everywhere without having the skills/resources hoping to find gold
Good luck
Thanks for sharing your experience guys!! Much appreciated.
I am hating my job and wanting to leave (that’s why we’re all here right?), and I really enjoy doing what I learnt from this forum. I was on the fence about getting a career in the industry first, but I’ve had no previous experience and they only want to hire experienced people in job listings. I am not young enough to join some grad program neither.
But hey it’s really enlightening to see that it IS possible to do it without relying on job experience. That’s pretty much what I needed to hear.
Thanks again for your input!
like @nieco says it really does depends on what service you want to provide. If you want to go black hat and create growth hacking services, I wouldn’t recommend getting an internship or the ladder.
I see a potential synergy between you and your partner. @Nieco She can be the whitehat backbone and you can be the black hat icing on the cake… 