Failed Online Marketing

You know how it is you read all these ads you visit all these websites, and they tell you it’s so easy ….well, is it really that easy?

I'm not so sure about that. I've certainly had my ups and downs with online marketing, and I continue to learn, but I still remain optimistic. Believe me, it's been a complete roller coaster ride, and I've had some great difficulty and I've had some very small successes, and I'm finally getting to the point where I can see a possible light at the end of the tunnel. Not to say there isn’t a great deal of work left to do, but I've had my own failed online marketing experiences and from these failures I've made great strides in my learning. I'm sure you've heard it before. You learn more from your failures.

When I look back on my own experience, I had a very conventional business in my past. I owned an outfit called Mobilator Van Service in Hoboken New Jersey. I started the operation completely from scratch with absolutely no experience whatsoever. I started with a Ford van and my initial target market was rock 'n roll bands. I was taking them to and from gigs. I was an aspiring musician myself and I reckoned this was a great way for me to create some income and stay on a rock 'n roll schedule. Working a traditional day job was nearly impossible.

As time went on, I began to realize that the rock 'n roll market and bands were highly unreliable as a source of income. Quite frankly, they were certainly just as broke as I was.

In retrospect, I didn't have a clue as to what I was doing and if anyone had told me, (like I would have listened), what would be required to build an actual business I would have puked.

As time went by people asked me to do other things because they knew I was available. Here I was in a vacuum, and the demand filled it. More and more my little Ford van and I turned into a business. People were asking me to move their apartments other small businesses didn’t want to keep a vehicle in the city, so as long as I could do it I would often get the job.

I remember my first non-rock-n-roll band gig.

A guy hired me that had a cast-iron stove he wanted to sell to someone in Brooklyn. I was excited to have this “legitimate” courier delivery from Hoboken to Brooklyn. My rate was $15 an hour. I figured by the time I got back from Brooklyn I would easily be in the range of $75 and this was all I needed to survive at the time. Little did I know he was going to depend on the sale of the cast-iron stove as a means to pay the freight?

We got to Brooklyn and the prospective buyer looked over the stove and decided he was no longer interested. Slowly I began to realize that this cat was about to start working me over. $30.00 bucks is all I got. Maybe I made around $6/hour. My time- My vehicle-My fuel. Can you say “failed online Marketing”?

This can hardly be considered a successful exchange of goods and services.

Did I give up? No. I didn't give up, I just stuck it out. Maybe I didn't know any better, but if I had really stopped to think about it I would have quit out of frustration. I would've concluded there was no way that I could make a living driving a van carting peoples stuff around, but I was so wrong and I was wrong, because of things I didn't even understand. Not only was I completely naïve, but I really didn't have any other alternatives. I had no other real skills. I only had a high school education and my real focus was playing music so I considered working or having a job is something which was a necessary evil. And as long as I could make the minimum to pay my rent and put food in my mouth then I was good.

And you know what? Through trial and error that business grew into a couple of trucks with employees totally legitimate with insurance licensing and all necessary assessorial nonsense that any qualified business would have. In its final days Mobilator Van Service was supporting me my wife my child and a couple other folks too.

I had to fail for a while to make that business work. And I figure I'm going to have to deal with failed online marketing efforts as well. Such is the price we have to pay.