How I Started My First Business With $37.98 with No Experience, RetiredMy Husband From Stanford & Built Software Company

A Thread

In 2009, After being laid off with a background in Consumer Finance, I was unemployed and pregnant.

Since most people aren’t looking to hire very pregnant women, my husband and I moved to a more affordable area so we could live off of his salary.

Bored as hell, I needed something so I became a mom blogger.

I signed up for a free service called Blogspot. Learned a little HTML and designed it myself. This free hobby turned profitable after I started using social media.

I started building an audience by posting funny graphics on a FB page and motivational quotes on Twitter.

The more I posted on social, the bigger audience I had, the more traffic I drove to my site.

Sponsors started reaching out to get in front of my audience.

My first sponsor was a hair brush company, Spornette. It was a blog post in exchange for some products (which I still have)

More sponsors reached out and I started pitching companies daily. The larger the audience I had, the more sponsors I received.

This was influencer marketing before that was a thing.

Eventually I started getting actual money. I worked with Disney, Mattel, Walmart, to name a few.

Companies paid me to write about them, promote them on my blog AND social.
Social was a BIG part of this.

Fellow bloggers, friends, and business owners began asking me to do for them, what I was doing for my blog.

Here’s where it gets interesting

I said to my husband one night, “I think social media…is a JOB”

Then, I made the investment.

$11.99 for a domain
$6.99 / mo for hosting
$19 for a website theme

$37.98 total.

This investment changed my life.

I ended up learning wordpress, installed the theme myself and designed the website. It wasn’t pretty, but it worked.

I decided to offer social media services. Like any good hustler, I put an offer for my services on craigslist, advertising my blog & social media skills.

Within 48 hours, I had 4 clients signed.

I said yes to EVERY opportunity no matter the pay.

I did A LOT of free gigs because I needed the experience.

I was a baby making factory during these the services phase, and decided to go back to school to complete my BA degree.

I already had an AA in Business Software.

So to recap, I had too many clients, was doing tons of free work, 2 babies under 2 and was going to college full time at night.

I’d do work + homework during naps & short periods of time where mickey mouse clubhouse entertained the babies. At night I’d go to class from 6-10, and I’d do client work from 10:30 - whenever I was done.

I ended up graduating Summa Cum Laude with a Major in Psychology and a Minor in Bible & Theology.

Clients went from small businesses, startups, and bloggers to celebrities, pro athletes, best selling authors, even an NBC TV show.

After a while, services was killing me as a 1 person team and I was building an audience of people who wanted to know more about social media.

I eventually stopped offering services, pivoted to online education, built @mrktgsolved

I was able to retire my husband from his corporate career at Stanford, and together we built our software company, with zero outside funding @Get_Tassi

That's a story for another day.

I know people are struggling right now, especially financially so I wanted to post this to encourage them by showing how a small investment can make a really big impact.

Building businesses with social media has never been easier so if there's something you're good at...

Consider becoming a freelancer or an entrepreneur.

I have nothing to promote here, just wanted to share.

If you read this thread, THANK YOU! I'm here if you need anything.