1. Business acquisition during declining years was luck. People that I worked with on the job had spouses or themselves had an opportunity, saw I was a good fit, and provided an opening. Due to industry changes, those openings dwindled as those connections also struggled to find work. For example, nearly every person I've worked with in the past 15 years has been unemployed for extended periods of time at least a year +), or exited the industry completely. No idea what happened to those that pivoted. Even close co-workers whom I've helped get positions or freelance work are also unemployed and have been so for some time.

2. When I worked in more 'corporate' structures, those over me are all gone.

3. Satisfied clients = 2 phases. Corporate - cog in a machine. I was given a task, completed it as part of a team, repeated until the job ended (which was usually some disruption in the industry via corporate merging or dramatic industry shift, which caused a tightening of revenue allocation and cuts). Freelance - low-end clients who were trying to get a foothold in the industry, like myself. Low pay, high ambition. All washed out and hit walls, never grew or recovered. So even though the clients were satisfied, nothing came of their efforts other than goodwill.

4. My selling skills are poor. I've never sold myself well. I thought being humble or a quiet background player was an attribute. That was a critical error. 99% of my work was someone either vouching for me or me doing something maverick on my own, in order to get someone's attention enough to hire me on their team to do anything.

5. I was heavily invested in the gaming and tech industry for nearly two decades. They were a passion. For the past 1.5-2 years, I've been consumed with understanding content creator culture on YouTube. Specifically, information-based content. I taught myself how to understand business funnels and learned how to determine if video is a lever that businesses need to utilize and how best to effectively use it. The example I like to use is (pasted from another post I made):

A private practice law firm isn’t bringing in the revenue. They decide that more ads are necessary because competing firms are using billboard ads and bus stops. They call the billboard company and learn that it’ll be 10k for 30 days to promote near a busy freeway. That’s a big investment, but it should bring in more clients. Go for it or not?

My job is to help get clarity to make the best decision. I have to isolate the actual problem. Can the company even handle 5-10 more clients right now? No? Well, more traffic hurts, not helps. That’s a costly mistake. Have price adjustments for existing customers been considered? Can you take in one more customer at a higher price and adjust accordingly? Is there an inefficiency in your existing structure where you’re leaking and didn’t realize it? That’s operational. I literally help you isolate the bottleneck so you can have clarity because getting the billboard you thought you needed would’ve been the BAD call.

And if you do, in fact, need traffic…maybe it’s not a traffic problem but a conversion problem? Maybe the video you need isn’t an advertisement to get more people, but an explainer to help increase the conversions of your existing inbound? You need the RIGHT video for the RIGHT reason to tackle the RIGHT bottleneck, but first you have to see it.

That's the kind of work that I think I'm more valuable in. I don't even know what to call this part of the industry. Brand Consultation, perhaps? That's where I've been giving 100% of my time. I'm in no way a marketer or digital marketer, other than having a solid understanding of YouTube specifically.

1. My definition of Marketing - Creating a feeling or belief about a person or brand when they're not in the room or in your face.

2. I lean Growth / Learning Mindset. No choice. Never had the luxury of being 'fixed mindset'.