I launched this internet marketing business in 2011.

For three and a half years prior, I wasn’t working. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life.

But I had all of these friends who owned small businesses and I felt like there must be a way I can help them generate business via the internet.

One day in December of 2010, I woke up with a question that needed an answer: How does Google rank websites?

I didn’t know that this business niche even had a name. Later, I learned it was called SEO – short for search engine optimization.

I immediately placed an ad on Craigslist seeking someone to train me on how Google ranks websites.

Of the many responses, two stood out.

I interviewed both guys and chose to hire an experienced online marketer from South Carolina to teach me the basics of SEO.

Starting January 4, 2011, we spent 1-2 hours on Skype each day, five days a week.

By the end of March, the trainer said, “Well, I don’t know what else there is I can show you. I think you need to launch your site and start getting some business.”

That’s what I did.

But the website didn’t produce leads right away.

In fact, my first lead came from email marketing.

I sent an email to everyone I knew – friends, business associates, family – telling them about my new business and asking them for help.

One response came from an unlikely source, a former co-worker who was into P90X body building.

She had a friend who was a P90X coach who’s business was growing.

She suggested my service might help him and he became my first client, paying $300/month for SEO services to help him generate more leads for people searching Google for things like “P90X,” “P90X coach” and other related phrases.

For a while, I used tools and tricks to shortcut the system, which helped me generate a slough of leads for business owners searching Google for “small business SEO.”

But that was short-lived and landed my site in Google’s penalty box.

Languishing on page four, my site no longer generated leads.

I had to start over, doing things the way Google wanted them done.

In time, the SEO business grew and expanded to include affordable reputation management services.

That led to further niching down into specific services such as Google Autocomplete repair and Google related searches repair.

From there, an interesting thing happened – SEO and online reputation management agencies started contacting me.

I never expected that.

So, instead of dealing with end-user clients, now I was working with agencies who had their own roster of clients.

That’s when things really took off.

Today, almost all of my clients are agencies.

I provide them with niche services that solves their problems and they do the same for me.

Together, everybody wins and clients receive service from the best experts in the field, from people I trust.

Background

This business is my third career.

My first was as a computer technician. From 1986 – 1992, I learned from the ground up how to install and fix personal computers.

By the time that career ended, I was installing and troubleshooting networks.

But I no longer enjoyed the work.

In February of 1993, I started working part time as a telemarketer for the Baltimore Orioles Double-A affiliate, the Bowie Baysox.

The job was highly sales driven and by 1996, I was named the team’s assistant general manager.

In 2003, I became general manager, but after 2004, I’d had enough and wanted a change.

I moved to Portland, Oregon for a job at the Rose Garden Arena.

While I was happy for a change of scenery, I never enjoyed the job.

After 2 1/2 years, I was thankfully laid off and entered the mid-life crisis period, having no idea what I wanted to do next.

The only things I knew for sure were that I didn’t want to work in corporate America anymore, nor did I want to push someone else’s product.

It took 3 1/2 years of experimenting, thought- an honestly, depression – before I awoke with that idea in December 2010.

Personal

I do a ton of self-help work and my latest venture is trying to write a memoir about my adoption.

I’m active at the gym and play racquetball, squash, and pretty much anything with a racquet.