Ever felt like life just threw you a curveball? Well, that was me last Friday. I took on the challenge to build a startup aimed at creating a community for marketers. We were all set, 💥 beta launched last month, and then... Bam! I got let go. Why? We just couldn't grow sales fast enough. Talk about a punch to the gut, right? But let me rewind a bit. When I started this journey 6 months ago, I was handed a domain name and a lot of ideas. So, I rolled up my sleeves and got to work. First things first, I started with the homepage, then layered in landing pages. We used AI to supercharge our content creation, iteratively adding copy based on the keywords driving the most traffic. Our primary focus was our audience and product. I developed a messaging framework covering: ▶ Value props ▶ Pains, needs, and desires ▶ Voice and tone ▶ Campaign framework There's an irony in building a startup for startup marketers. Their pains, needs, and desires mirrored my own. To bridge gaps in resources, budgets, and skills, I tapped into my experience with automation. I designed systems leveraging AI that could do the work of five marketers. From my agency days, I continued leveraging AI tools like @OpenAI , @perplexity_ai , @KapwingApp and @midjourney to create content with a consistent voice and tone: ▶ Articles ▶ Content repurposing ▶ Web copy ▶ Guides, playbooks ▶ Podcast outlines, summaries, promotions ▶ Emails ▶ Social posts, carousel images ▶ Video clips ▶ Social updates ▶ Transcriptions ▶ Intake enrichment from forms Despite the progress, the growth just wasn't fast enough. And that's when I got the news. It's been a wild ride, filled with ups and downs, but in 6 months I was able to do so many things. I built new systems that allowed a team of contractors to create a website, a Mighty Networks community, 20+ videos, 70+ articles, and recorded 10 podcast episodes... 6 months to do what I think would have taken me a year or more on my own typically. What's keeping me going? The lessons learned, the connections made, and the sheer determination to turn those lemons 🍋 into the best damn lemonade stand the world has ever seen. Cheers to resilience. I'm on the hunt again. This time with some new experience and a few more tricks up my sleeve 🤖 . 🛑 If you're hiring or know someone that is looking for a marketer with my background, leave a comment or a DM. I appreciate my network and how you've connected me with new opportunities over the years.