timothy mcclain ⋅ Cary, NC MetLife ⋅ 10 years experience

In my experience, large companies are willing to partner with firms that specialize in a particular topic. Good example is establishing yourself as a firm that delivers top notch Disabilities Awareness training via social media and videos. Think in terms of how you would fill a need first, instead of selling yourself as a straight Social Media and Marketing company.

Kevin Hicks ⋅ Freehold, NY U.S. Army ⋅ 29 years experience

https://www.moaa.org/Content/Publications-and-Media/Features-and-Columns/Career-Features/7-Tips-for-Veterans-Who-Want-to-Start-Their-Own-Business.aspx

Justin Moodley ⋅ Columbus, OH LASANAN ⋅ 12 years experience

Michael,

Thank you for your service.

I manage a digital agency that primarily works with creative firms (website developers, content/social media teams, designers, videographers). It's something that I've done for ~3 years following several years of being a consultant.

Here are some responses to your post:
- It's great that you're following a passion. If it's something you love, chances are you'll continue learning about best practices and innovations - which is an enormously important part of digital marketing and production.
- Considering that you still have to meet the fiduciary responsibilities to your family (which manifests through a full-time job), finding a way to keep your commitments low on freelance work is a must. Most agencies are able to do this by commercializing their services the way a company would do for a physical product. Keep a clear focus on the scope of your work and the process in which you deliver it. In the marketing industry, not keeping that razor focus is how project work can become overwhelming.
- Business development and operational/project management can also eat up the time you'd spend delivering work (and therefore generating billings), so finding partners that you can sell services through is ideal. We primarily work with creative agencies since they have a pipeline of buisness leads that we can attach ourselves to, which allows us to deliver a better service to them in an area we're really specialized in.
- Finding a partner could also be key. The last thing you want to do is neglect anything in your life by spreading yourself too thin. There's no harm in putting feelers out there to freelancers and college students who also want to get into this work, and perhaps have more time to commit while you're managing all the other aspects of your life.

Hope that's helpful.

If you'd like to have a conversation sometime, please feel free to reach out.

Thanks!

Danielle Roberts ⋅ Hudson, WI U.S. Navy, Petty Officer Second Class ⋅ 6 years served

Hey, getting in Facebook groups will be a great way to connect with others! I highly suggest Living the Laptop Life.
Julie Stoian is an amazing teacher and mentor for building a business online. (That's her Facebook group) Look at Facebook ad training and SEO is huge. Videos - consider learning YouTube. SMM is hard right now with algorithms and not many business owners want to shove a ton of money at it. Let me know if you need any other referrals, I've got connections. You can find me at dmr@daniellemroberts.com

Michael Davis ⋅ Glen Burnie, MD U.S. Army National Guard, Staff Sergeant ⋅ 15 years served

Hazel Herber,

That website is AWESOME!!! Thank you so much.

I have thought about fully getting into digital marketing and not just social media. I'm just pacing myself because that's a lot more to learn. lol

I'm somewhat familar with SEO, but I definitely want to learn more about how to really make it work for me.

Thank you again. I may be reaching out through IM.

Michael Davis ⋅ Glen Burnie, MD U.S. Army National Guard, Staff Sergeant ⋅ 15 years served

Hey Kevin Hicks! Thanks so much for the links and advice.

Hazel Herber ⋅ WebProWriters ⋅ 8 years experience

Hello Michael and thank you for your service.

Your passion is putting you on the right track because now more than ever, anything online is ever gaining ground. Businesses are going into online presence and they all need how to be strong online - thus Social Media Marketing. I am into social media marketing (SMM) but it helps to learn the bigger picture also - digital marketing, of which SMM is a part.

You can start learning SMM online while you are still in the service,. There is a good website that offers these courses free and at your own pace. One of which is https://www.emarketinginstitute.org/. But it will also help you greatly if you know Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which is also a part of Digital Marketing and which you can also learn from that same site.

If that site might be overwhelming initially, I also wrote a simplified explanation of SEO, initially for my friends who are also retiring soon, just to get their feet wet on SEO and Digital Marketing as a whole. https://howtogetstartedonline.com though it is a working progress and will be posting about SMM soon.

Best of luck and feel free to message me if I may be of any assistance.

Kevin Hicks ⋅ Freehold, NY U.S. Army ⋅ 29 years experience

Thanks for serving! Consider contacting the Office of Veteran’s Business Development at the Small Business Administration (https://www.sba.gov/offices/headquarters/ovbd) for possible courses you might be eligible to take. Those courses could lead to potential SBA grants to start your business.

The Soldier For Life program is available to you to assist as well. The nearest. To Glen Bernie. Is probably Ft Meade: https://www.sfl-tap.army.mil/pages/sfl-tap_centers/sfl-tap-center.aspx?ID=3

Michael Davis ⋅ Glen Burnie, MD U.S. Army National Guard, Staff Sergeant ⋅ 15 years served

Hi Richard,

That definitely makes sense. I appreciate your advice.

Richard Filippi ⋅ Rye, NY Financial Industry Technical Services (plus various Global Banks) ⋅ 40 years experience

Thanks again for your service. Try reaching out to local media companies seeking advice. On LinkedIn.com you can connect with others in the field and obtain advice from those in the business. You can connect with various groups (Video, etc.) as well as former colleagues. I am conservative by nature so you may want to start out doing the work part time until you have a big enough book of business to do it full time.
Regards,

Michael Davis ⋅ Glen Burnie, MD U.S. Army National Guard, Staff Sergeant ⋅ 15 years served

Hi Jonathon. Very good information!

I actually found that info about small businesses in that same post and saved it in my Evernote. Thanks for sending that to me; it's definitely right in line with what I want to do.

I will also look more into those websites in books. I'm a lifetime learner and try my best to take advantage of nearly every resource.

I'm looking forward to watching that YouTube video as well. I just purchased his book.

Are you a filmmaker as well?

Michael Davis ⋅ Glen Burnie, MD U.S. Army National Guard, Staff Sergeant ⋅ 15 years served

Thanks for the advice, Justin! I would like to talk to you more about your business at some point over the phone. Thank you.