Describe your first sale as an entrepreneur!

[Andy Black]

Bump. Anyone had a first sale of a new product or service recently?

 

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[Itizn]

What’s the story of your first sale?

• How did you feel in that moment? Finally!!!
• What changed from that moment onwards? I realized business is about making other peoples lives easier, so even if it doesn't lead to a direct payment, whenever I come across something that can help those on my clientele list (or those I hope to add to the list) I share without expectations.
• What has it lead to? The confidence knowing I can play this game called entrepreneurship.

In hindsight:

• What would you have done LESS of? Trying to appease people who don't reciprocate
• What would you have done MORE of? Focusing on people who were responsive to my offers and services
• What one piece of advice would you give someone about making that first sale? Don't be afraid to ask for money. Either they say no (or "disappear) and you'll receive "closure", or they'll say yes and you get paid.

 

[Deleted85763]

I love reading stories of how people got started, especially the turning point where people make their first sale and get hooked.

Let’s see if we can inspire other forum members to make their first sale.


What’s the story of your first sale?

• How did you feel in that moment?
• What changed from that moment onwards?
• What has it lead to?

In hindsight:

• What would you have done LESS of?
• What would you have done MORE of?
• What one piece of advice would you give someone about making that first sale?

Got laid off. Was depressed as can be. Left home with just a suitcase. Got on a bus and I didn't know where I would end up! Called former customer than called former supplier. Put a deal together. Hurray! I moved into a place in an incredibly beautiful location right by the ocean. I was ecstatic!

Went home to family that Christmas with presents galore. Within a time a did some deals with a billionaire. Still doing deals but I'm looking for something else than selling business to business services and goods. I want to do something good for society like - getting the culture to stop drinking alcohol. Helping people in underdeveloped countries "get in the game". Stopping the mindset of hate and violence. Making people aware of the ways to keep trim and fit. And earning a profit doing it!

I would have done less of wasting time on small deals. I would have done more, a lot more, on large deals.

My advice on the first sale (and every one after)? Look at value. Give the best value you can. Only then can you can earn big profits.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Funny I remember them both...

For web dev: A limo company in NY... I redeveloped their website and it gave me one month of rent! They liked our service online and wanted us to do theirs. The sale came via phone.

For my web service: A limo company in FL, even remember her name, Julie. (I think this is mentioned in TGRRE ). The sale came via my website.

 

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[Ing]

When I let make a bike gasket for my son’s bike, I gave 2 gaskets in order.
I made a photo with our project s logo in the background.
1 year later someone saw that picture anywhere in the internet. With the logo, he found my hp and asked me for a gasket. he got the second one.
Meanwhile I have sold some more gaskets. I gave a new order for them.

A fine feeling, though there’s no future due to the lack of need.

 

[Vasili27]

My first sale as a entrepreneur is kinda funny tbh. I started off at 16 and decided to open up a drop shipping store and sold dog products like custom harness, leashes and all that. My first ever sale made online was when I finished working out I went up stairs and I went to the bathroom and as I was in I made $60 in literally less then 30 seconds, at my first job it took me almost 8 hours to make $60 so looking back now even though the store didn't work. I now realize the power of being an entrepreneur and its a memory I will remember and be able to look back at and laugh when I become successful

 

[BizyDad]

3rd grade. I read a book on how to fold stunt airplanes. I made one in class, the girl who sat next to me wanted me to make one for her. I asked her what's in it for me? She asked me what I want? I said a nickel. The next day she brought in a nickel and I made her one.

Then everybody wanted one. By the time I sold my fourth one I raised my prices to a quarter.

I tried raising my prices to 50 cents, but nobody wanted to pay that so 3 hours later I lowered it back down to a quarter.

After a few days, or maybe a week, people started asking for refunds. I told them it's not my problem that it's a paper airplane and they stepped on it. Stunt planes are supposed to crash into things.

After 2 weeks I got tired of the hassle. Plus teachers didn't like the planes being left all over the classrooms. But I made something like 20 bucks.

 

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[Nick perry01]

I love reading stories of how people got started, especially the turning point where people make their first sale and get hooked.

Let’s see if we can inspire other forum members to make their first sale.


What’s the story of your first sale?

• How did you feel in that moment?
• What changed from that moment onwards?
• What has it lead to?

In hindsight:

• What would you have done LESS of?
• What would you have done MORE of?
• What one piece of advice would you give someone about making that first sale?

I only made 1 sale with my game business(and it wasn't even a sale from a stranger, I just asked another game developer on discord with whom I met weeks earlier to check out my game), but that 1 sale felt amazing. It wasnt so much the money that made me happy(dontget me wrong, the money was amazing) but it was more of the sense that I'm on my way to earn freedom.

My first ever business(I guess you can call it that): I was still in school, and my father ought me a bag of skittles and a bunch of kitkats(yes, I did sell candy that my dad bought me and gave him no profits, not my proudest moment) and I just sold some kitkats to a teacher and the bag of skittles to a kid in my anatomy and physiology class. All in all, I think I made 2$ profit with the skittles and 15 cent profit on each kitkat

Key take away: Join discord servers with skills that you specialize in and just connect with people.....Oh, you meant my 10-grade candy business? Dont sell things youre parents buy for you and end up not giving them anything

 

[Andy Black]

I only made 1 sale with my game business(and it wasn't even a sale from a stranger, I just asked another game developer on discord with whom I met weeks earlier to check out my game), but that 1 sale felt amazing. It wasnt so much the money that made me happy(dontget me wrong, the money was amazing) but it was more of the sense that I'm on my way to earn freedom.

My first ever business(I guess you can call it that): I was still in school, and my father ought me a bag of skittles and a bunch of kitkats(yes, I did sell candy that my dad bought me and gave him no profits, not my proudest moment) and I just sold some kitkats to a teacher and the bag of skittles to a kid in my anatomy and physiology class. All in all, I think I made 2$ profit with the skittles and 15 cent profit on each kitkat

Key take away: Join discord servers with skills that you specialize in and just connect with people.....Oh, you meant my 10-grade candy business? Dont sell things youre parents buy for you and end up not giving them anything

Lol. Yeah, be nice to supportive parents.

Like your avatar btw! Makes me want to go back to my one where I pulled a funny face. Clients loved that one actually.

 

[keanoon8]

I love reading stories of how people got started, especially the turning point where people make their first sale and get hooked.

Let’s see if we can inspire other forum members to make their first sale.


What’s the story of your first sale?

• How did you feel in that moment?
• What changed from that moment onwards?
• What has it lead to?

In hindsight:

• What would you have done LESS of?
• What would you have done MORE of?
• What one piece of advice would you give someone about making that first sale?

I still remember 3 years ago i was still studying in university. I work part time in those retail store for almost a year to hit my saving target.

And at that time I have been thinking, how can I start increase my income without putting so much time and energy, since I have study and part time job that need me to cover.

So , I start looking around and I start my first e commerce business. It didnt hit. Until one day it come with an order of USD4 , in malaysia , it's around RM20.

I jump up and down and i feel the boost in my vein. It feel so great and make me believe that I can do it !

And since then, I have no worry on getting orders !

What I have done less is lack of leverage of time , I didnt hire people to do those work for me. All I do was solo, from customer service, to packaging to delivering..

This is the process. I am glad that I could learn this in early twenties.

I would said my piece of advice to those about making first sales, dont be afraid of not getting first sales. Refine your tune, and get better next time, first sales would definitely come

 

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[Andy Black]

I jump up and down and i feel the boost in my vein. It feel so great and make me believe that I can do it !

This is the beauty of that first sale - not just the excitement but also the sudden belief you can do it.

Great story, thanks for sharing.

 

[Eudaimonium]

First sale online ended in disaster:

I was 17 and lacked direction, when I visited a neighbour that repaired electronics. A small solo business run from his own basement. Not wealthy by any means, but he was his own boss. If he created a job for himself, why couldn't I? Inspired by him and seeing how he would sell computer parts on eBay etc, I got my hands on some broken game consoles, phones, laptops he did not have the time to fix. Being naive, stubborn and way too proud to ask for his help, I spent weeks in my room, only managing to fix one of the laptops. I then sold this laptop online for a few hundred $ (HUGE!).

Excited, I quickly packaged the laptop in a box and sent it with a shipping carrier... and the customer never received it. Instead I received the laptop in return, ten times more broken than before I fixed it, practically smashed, in a plastic bag, without the box I sent it in.

From the great feeling of making my first sale, I now had feelings of extreme rage, blaming this failure on the carrier, thinking they were incompetent + evil and had crushed my box or dropped it. Teenage hormones kicked in and I felt my view of the world change -- from opportunity, to being in an evil world where not just 'bad luck' haunted me, people were screwing me over intentionally. I felt crushed, lacking in control and maybe I should just focus on studying for the next test in school, where at least there I could change my future outcome and succeed. It's what my parents hinted at.

I can only thank God that I came to my senses the next day and realised that my own incompetence probably caused the issue. I did not know how to package any product safely, why insurance existed, or how postal carriers treat packages. Many naive beliefs and refusing to ask anyone for help.

Humbling experience that I persisted through at the time. That day honestly means more to me than any birthday, graduation etc. How to take ownership of my own mistakes, unhappy customer, risks etc. The next sale couldn't possibly feel worse.

 

[thechosen1]

First around 4th grade, I drew pictures and sold art to other students. They loved my drawings and I loved drawing. But I realized (at the age of 10) that it was hard to create a really good drawing, so I started copying them at home on the printer and labeling them (1/100, 2/100, 3/100) etc. I learned this from a grandparent who was an artist. Kids in class paid me $5 for a picture I drew of Jack Sparrow (the prints!!), but after a few sales, the teacher got angry and stopped it.

Then there were tech decks. 5th grade. They were all the rage - I figured out I could buy a pack of 4 for $10 and then sell them for $5 each to the kids at school. Skateboarding was a huge trend around 2007 or so and every kid wanted to have these miniature skateboards.

I went so far as to buy thin pieces of wood veneer at Hobby Lobby, super glue, and press them together in the garage with a clamp with tiny drilled holes to make my own higher quality "wooden fingerboards" like Tech Decks! I got the idea because I spent a lot of time on YT and saw some German people making their own wooden mini skateboards.

The 5th graders weren't into that though - it was a quick trend and it was over fast.

 

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[Deleted70138]

First around 4th grade, I drew pictures and sold art to other students.

I've read somewhere, that the greatest correlation with having a successful business is how early you've had your first entrepreneurial venture. Almost every billionaire seems to have done something 12 years old or younger.

 

[olli_23]

I still remember when I wanted to test out my idea of selling phone holders for the car online. (I had them in stock already as a family member had inventory)
To validate the idea I shared it on Facebook and my goal was to get 5 sales.

It actually worked and I sold 5 of them to friends. It felt amazing. It was a validation that people would actually pay for this. It's amazing how you remember those things.

Another memory I have a bit further down the road, is me walking to the post office with a box of 50 phone holders and getting it sent to Amazon FBA. It just felt weird and it just wasn't practical. I remember thinking there must be easier ways to handle logistics haha. It turned out there were better ways

 

[NaorAtt]

My first sale was 15 years ago when I was 11 years old.
I sold a website design for a basketball game community.

It was for something like $40 at the time but for me, it was so much money!

This is what set the motion for a career that lasts up till today.

 

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[Anon05554]

I love reading stories of how people got started, especially the turning point where people make their first sale and get hooked.

Let’s see if we can inspire other forum members to make their first sale.


What’s the story of your first sale?

• How did you feel in that moment?
• What changed from that moment onwards?
• What has it lead to?

In hindsight:

• What would you have done LESS of?
• What would you have done MORE of?
• What one piece of advice would you give someone about making that first sale?

 

[Anon05554]

First of all, thanks @Andy Black for this mother of all sales threads.

I have had many first sales in different ventures and I am still hopeful for a first sale that will change my life. Here are my first sales, insignificant though they may look.

For this sale, I had forgotten all about it until I read some of the replies here. In primary school, I was the smartest kid in class with the best handwriting in the whole school (I wish people could pay for handwritten articles!). I was also the youngest. The big girls had boyfriends in various secondary schools, but they were too dumb to write them letters in English. Who did they go to? Yours truly who was too young to have a boyfriend. For a piece of sugarcane, I would write and reply to love letters. God alone knows what promises I made to those boys. This stopped when I broke an unspoken promise and rattled on one of the girls to her mother.

My takeaway was that trust is very important in business dealings. Did I tell you the girl gave me the beating of my life?

My next sale came a few years ago and it was not deliberate. A former student wanted to give her guardian a personalized graduation card, so she got in touch with me. As I have lots of time on my hands, I asked her what she wished to say to her aunt. After passing it through the strainer that is my mind, this is what I came up with:

Aunt,
Yours has been
Love unparalleled,
Hard work unsurpassable,
Determination unequaled,
Selflessness unrivaled, and
Perseverance incomparable.

You are my Rock,
My Pillar,
My Model.

You deserve this success
Plus a Long Happy Life.
I AM because YOU ARE.
Congratulations.

The girl was happy and sent me sh10000, the equivalent of $3.Though I had done the work on a friendly basis, that money meant much more to me than my monthly allowances. That sale validated me as a writer who provides value. I have since written a few poems for school magazines for zero pay.

The second first sale is ironically not a sale really as I can't access the payments. Early this year before I joined this forum, I set earning dollars as one of my goals. After tons of Google searches, I chose to become a reviewer with Online Bookclub. I have had two reviews published, earning $10 in the process. Though I can't access that money since Paypal payments are not enabled in this third-world sh*t hole I call my home, nothing beats the euphoria of knowing that I, Aura, from rural Uganda, whose village Is not on the national power grid, where piped water is something we only dream about, can earn not one, but ten dollars by reading books!

My most epic first sale came this year and is changing the economic landscape of not only my family but that of our close relatives as well. For the past fifteen years, my husband and I have been buying agricultural land in our village. Over the years, we have planted bananas and coffee. The sales have been trivial because the supervision was minimal as we stay in town and just drop there over the weekend to pick up food supplies for the coming week.

With the Covid lockdown, however, we stayed on the farm for close to two years, enjoying the food and physically supervising and participating in farm activities. When inflation hit and maize flour became very expensive, my hubby's headteacher contracted him to supply 20 bunches of bananas@$4.28 weekly. This amounted to $342.8 monthly. For the first time In our life, we were paid by cheque. And for the first time, our kids went to school with a big part of their school requirements! Remember, we each earn $240 monthly as Teachers of English.

This has given us the courage to give the farm more time as we look for ways of scaling production and adding value to our products to fetch higher prices

This sale has rekindled our hope that we shall soon retire early from public service and work for ourselves.

We now realise we should have given more time to our projects.

Thanks for reading through this.

 

[Andy Black]

First of all, thanks @Andy Black for this mother of all sales threads.

I have had many first sales in different ventures and I am still hopeful for a first sale that will change my life. Here are my first sales, insignificant though they may look.

For this sale, I had forgotten all about it until I read some of the replies here. In primary school, I was the smartest kid in class with the best handwriting in the whole school (I wish people could pay for handwritten articles!). I was also the youngest. The big girls had boyfriends in various secondary schools, but they were too dumb to write them letters in English. Who did they go to? Yours truly who was too young to have a boyfriend. For a piece of sugarcane, I would write and reply to love letters. God alone knows what promises I made to those boys. This stopped when I broke an unspoken promise and rattled on one of the girls to her mother.

My takeaway was that trust is very important in business dealings. Did I tell you the girl gave me the beating of my life?

My next sale came a few years ago and it was not deliberate. A former student wanted to give her guardian a personalized graduation card, so she got in touch with me. As I have lots of time on my hands, I asked her what she wished to say to her aunt. After passing it through the strainer that is my mind, this is what I came up with:

Aunt,
Yours has been
Love unparalleled,
Hard work unsurpassable,
Determination unequaled,
Selflessness unrivaled, and
Perseverance incomparable.

You are my Rock,
My Pillar,
My Model.

You deserve this success
Plus a Long Happy Life.
I AM because YOU ARE.
Congratulations.

The girl was happy and sent me sh10000, the equivalent of $3.Though I had done the work on a friendly basis, that money meant much more to me than my monthly allowances. That sale validated me as a writer who provides value. I have since written a few poems for school magazines for zero pay.

The second first sale is ironically not a sale really as I can't access the payments. Early this year before I joined this forum, I set earning dollars as one of my goals. After tons of Google searches, I chose to become a reviewer with Online Bookclub. I have had two reviews published, earning $10 in the process. Though I can't access that money since Paypal payments are not enabled in this third-world sh*t hole I call my home, nothing beats the euphoria of knowing that I, Aura, from rural Uganda, whose village Is not on the national power grid, where piped water is something we only dream about, can earn not one, but ten dollars by reading books!

My most epic first sale came this year and is changing the economic landscape of not only my family but that of our close relatives as well. For the past fifteen years, my husband and I have been buying agricultural land in our village. Over the years, we have planted bananas and coffee. The sales have been trivial because the supervision was minimal as we stay in town and just drop there over the weekend to pick up food supplies for the coming week.

With the Covid lockdown, however, we stayed on the farm for close to two years, enjoying the food and physically supervising and participating in farm activities. When inflation hit and maize flour became very expensive, my hubby's headteacher contracted him to supply 20 bunches of bananas@$4.28 weekly. This amounted to $342.8 monthly. For the first time In our life, we were paid by cheque. And for the first time, our kids went to school with a big part of their school requirements! Remember, we each earn $240 monthly as Teachers of English.

This has given us the courage to give the farm more time as we look for ways of scaling production and adding value to our products to fetch higher prices

This sale has rekindled our hope that we shall soon retire early from public service and work for ourselves.

We now realise we should have given more time to our projects.

Thanks for reading through this.

What a fabulous story. Thanks for sharing. Getting paid in sugarcane to write love letters for older girls in school. Love it.

Sorry to hear about the beating. I daren't think what beans you spilled.

You write well. Have you figured out how to get paid from writing clients yet?

Are you writing in the forum on a phone with an internet connection?

 

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[Anon05554]

What a fabulous story. Thanks for sharing. Getting paid in sugarcane to write love letters for older girls in school. Love it.

Sorry to hear about the beating. I daren't think what beans you spilled.

You write well. Have you figured out how to get paid from writing clients yet?

Are you writing in the forum on a phone with an internet connection?

Glad to know someone read my post and picked an interest.

Yes, I use a phone (an infinix hot 7) that I bought in 2019. I use it to write everything, even the book reviews I mentioned.

Thanks, @Andy Black for complimenting me on my writing. I am currently in the process of producing a newsletter for my school at zero pay. I will try and see if I can attach a copy.

I tried Upwork but the competition is crazy. By the time I pick a job to apply for, struggle to calculate the best price, and painstakingly type out my proposal, over fifty others have already sent in theirs! My strength is in proofreading and I usually catch myself mentally editing everything I read.That is something I would gladly do even for no pay.

My goal this November is to improve my computer knowledge so that I can at least refer to other threads on this forum in my posts.

By the way, I think this forum is responsible for the big improvement in my typing speed since it is the only one I belong to and occasionally participate in.

Once again, thanks for the interest @andy.

 

[Andy Black]

so that I can at least refer to other threads on this forum in my posts.

Copy the website address (URL) of the page you want to link to and then paste it into your post. Let me know if that doesn't make sense and I'll try and screenshot it.

 

[Anon05554]

Glad to know someone read my post and picked an interest.

Yes, I use a phone (an infinix hot 7) that I bought in 2019. I use it to write everything, even the book reviews I mentioned.

Thanks, @Andy Black for complimenting me on my writing. I am currently in the process of producing a newsletter for my school at zero pay. I will try and see if I can attach a copy.

I tried Upwork but the competition is crazy. By the time I pick a job to apply for, struggle to calculate the best price, and painstakingly type out my proposal, over fifty others have already sent in theirs! My strength is in proofreading and I usually catch myself mentally editing everything I read. That is something I would gladly do even for no pay.

My goal this November is to improve my computer knowledge so that I can at least refer to other threads on this forum in my posts.

By the way, I think this forum is responsible for the big improvement in my typing speed since it is the only one I belong to and occasionally participate in.

Once again, thanks for the interest @andy.

Copy the website address (URL) of the page you want to link to and then paste it into your post. Let me know if that doesn't make sense and I'll try and screenshot it.

My assignment for tomorrow.Thanks and good night. I hope it is night there too. Guess I will need to learn time zones as well.

 

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[Walter Hay]

Thanks for this thread @Andy Black. The responses have been very interesting and encouraging. I find it very interesting to see how many made their first sale as a child, which suggests that they were born entrepreneurs. I am another such.

The Story of My First Sale: Due to my Cystic Fibrosis and malnutrition, at the age of 8 I was about the size of a 5 year old, and extremely thin. I exploited my pathetic appearance when selling dressed rabbits door to door, and targeted little old ladies such as those who patted me on the head when they saw me in the shopping center. I was excited because I knew I was on a winner. My early understanding of the effect of emotions in selling resulted in a thriving business, and this has served me well ever since.

In Hindsight:
From That Moment Onwards: I became a hustler/ entrepreneur.

• What would you have done LESS of? Gutting rabbits. I would have paid another boy to do the dirty work.
• What would you have done MORE of? I would have borrowed a bicycle with basket so that I could get to knock on more doors and look pathetic as I raked in the cash.
• What one piece of advice would you give someone about making that first sale? Nike advice: JUST DO IT! Think about doing it and the great feeling you will get when you achieve the sale.

Walter
P.S. NEVER GIVE UP

 

[Patryk.]

I started when I was eight years old and I was on the "green school" trip. I sold some paper cars for $1 and trucks for $2. I made them all by myself - before the trip I already made a few hundred of them for myself but I didn't knew I can sell them to others kids. Everyone wanted a personalized one - it took me max 30 min for one before sleep on the trip. I spent all the earned money on dumb things. I don't remember a lot of how I felt. I was just happy I can create something others kids wants.

Then the school, family and then friends molded me that I become weak and shy - it took me a decade to slowly understand the problem and being more confident with people.

Then I started construction equipment rental (with just one compactor - it was my dad compactor) - as my dad told me there is a ton of money. I setup a ad on OLX (popular buy/sell place in poland) and I got some calls.
Eureka, somebody wants that!

My first sell was eyes opening as I couldn't understood why a random dude pays me for nothing. Lol, everybody can just setup an ad and buy a compactor... I am not special I just rent my dad's dam compactor.
Just like MJ wrote I don't need any degree to sell something I just need to have something what others people needs or wants.

Marketing is as important as your product - if you can't market you won't earn anything even when your product is the best of the best.
Go where the need and your target market is.
If you need to print documents (ex. for the rental) don't buy the printers - you will lose time on unnecessary thinking about the best printer you can afford and later on which and were to buy the cartridge for it and how to maintain it. Go to a printing house instead. It will give you more time and money on thinking on what is important for the business - bigger ROI. Just delegate things.

 

[Walter Hay]

P.S. NEVER GIVE UP

I thought it might be helpful to some to learn about my first sale as a serious entrepreneur. (I extracted this from my Featured User thread.)

I started my industrial chemical business, confident that I could offer superior products in the Release Agent Chemical business, but survival depended on that first sale.

Having been very poorly paid I had accumulated only $47, so if I didn’t make a sale within a week, or two at the most, my children might go hungry.
I made that sale, and I so impressed the factory manager that he made sure I was paid within 7 days. It was a big sale, and that company became one of my best customers.
How I Made That Sale
Having persuaded the factory manager that I could fix the huge problem they had tolerated for years, I arrived at opening time, ready for work. I deliberately wore a suit and tie with a white shirt! When I removed my coat and tie, rolled up my sleeves, and joined in the hard grind in hot, dirty conditions, it wasn’t just the great performance of the product that I was demonstrating.
I worked there all day, although my demonstration quickly proved that I had the solution. I had coffee breaks and lunch with the men. I became one of them, and that recognition was as important as the fact that I had made their working lives easier on a daily basis from then on.
After that I rarely had to go through that process. My wife would have killed me if I had ruined a good shirt every time I made a sale, but I desperately needed that first sale.

Walter

 

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[Andy Black]

I deliberately wore a suit and tie with a white shirt! When I removed my coat and tie, rolled up my sleeves, and joined in the hard grind in hot, dirty conditions, it wasn’t just the great performance of the product that I was demonstrating.

I worked there all day, although my demonstration quickly proved that I had the solution. I had coffee breaks and lunch with the men. I became one of them, and that recognition was as important as the fact that I had made their working lives easier on a daily basis from then on.

Wow. Love this!

 

[phantombot]

I love reading stories of how people got started, especially the turning point where people make their first sale and get hooked.

Let’s see if we can inspire other forum members to make their first sale.


What’s the story of your first sale?

• How did you feel in that moment?
• What changed from that moment onwards?
• What has it lead to?

In hindsight:

• What would you have done LESS of?
• What would you have done MORE of?
• What one piece of advice would you give someone about making that first sale?

My first few entrepreneurial sales came from posting ads on Craigslist.

I used to find writing gigs/jobs on Craigslist.

So I decided to post services there to see what would "stick."

Nothing ever really "stuck," but I was able to make several hundred dollars sporadically selling:

- Web design (WordPress websites)
- Copywriting (articles/blogs/SEO content)

This eventually led me to specialize in writing advertising (direct-response sales copywriting)...

And now "tech" and "marketing/advertising" are some of the specializations/things I "bring to the table" whenever I work with other entrepreneurs/business people.

All the little skills, side-hustles, etc. multiply each other once you take the time to get good (or, at least, effective.)