Last week I started a ongoing blog post series explaining the ins and outs of starting my own digital marketing agency. This week’s post will focus on the months leading up to deciding on what kind of company I was going to start and why I chose Digital Marketing. I left off last weeks blog post rambling on about how much my life has changed over the past couple of years after starting my own business. I have continued from last week below. If you need to play ketchup then click this link.

After talking to my brother that day I went home and thought hard about what type of business I would start. I had experience with event promotion, cd/dvd disc duplication, custom t-shirt printing, and some graphic design. Out of all of those I had the most experience with Event Promotions.

So, I started researching on how I could get started in the event promotion business. I was once a local Hip Hop artist in a group called The Taste Emcees(thats a whole different post) but, through me being involved and still active in the Hip Hop community in Milwaukee I could utilize those relationships to get me started. It was perfect I could use my connects to get me into the clubs the artists were performing in and I was golden.

After a couple of days I realized just how saturated Milwaukee is with promoters. I didn’t want to have to compete, so I dove deeper into what type of work an event promoter would do or what they needed to be successful. Most promoters are graphic designers by nature, they have to be able to put together a flyer for the event or at least know someone who does graphic design. Which lead me to discover that my design skills sucked at the time. I started to read blog articles about photoshop and watching a few tutorials. I wasn’t interested to say the least. I would much rather pay someone for the flyer as oppose to designing graphics myself. I started to get discouraged thinking that maybe owning my own event promotion company wasn’t a good idea. I started Googling those type of companies to learn more about the services they offered and voila one of those companies offered Web Design as a service. When I read that they offered web design it immediately stuck. The old saying a light bulb turned on in my head. That was it I was going to start a Web Design agency.

When I woke up the next day I remember being so excited and enthusiastic about my decision to becoming Milwaukee Premier Creative Web Design Agency. I called my bro and told him what I came up with and he was pumped as well. He said, now you have to DO THE KNOWLEDGE in other terms I would have to educate myself on everything web design. He also mentioned to me that I should possibly look for internships or try to find a mentor. I went home that evening and started looking into companies that help disabled workers find the training and skills they need to get back into the workforce. I found the Department of Workforce Development. I contacted them and set up a consultation to see if I could enroll into the program. The case worker told me what I needed to bring and I started getting prepared for my interview/enrollment.

The day came for my interview with the Department of Workforce Development and I was so nervous. This was my opportunity to get my new career started. I knew this was something I wanted because I felt that desire to learn again.  I wanted to try something new. I wanted to obtain financial freedom. I wanted to make a better life for my children and grandchildren to come. Almost as if this was my last shot to becoming successful.

When I finished the meeting and was told that I had been accepted into the program and I should start looking for companies that may be looking for interns in the field of Web Design. Some may call it fate, but the same brother that told me to start my own business who’s a serial entrepreneur himself  was working on a project that required some help making websites for his customers. He was working with a web developer who needed help to crank the sites out at a fast rate. I spoke to my brother and told him that the State would pay my salary if I could come in and learn. He agreed to give me the chance.

To this day I am extremely grateful and honored to have been given such an opportunity. Check back next week for the next chapter of my entrepreneurial journey. I’ll begin talking about the tools I used to learn Web Design and Development. Have a productive week and remember to NEVER QUIT!