Today we’d like to introduce you to Peter Roesler.
Hi Peter, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I was working as Chef in fancy Orlando restaurants for several years. I was making good money and enjoyed it, but I was working 6-7 days a week from 8am-10pm. I never had any time to do anything but work. So I decided it was time for a change and went to community college to make a change. Thing was I had no idea what to do, but I stuck with it and got my AA degree while working 6 days a week 12+ hour days. That part of my life is a blur. I didn’t sleep much at all.
It took 2 years, but I did it. I graduated. So I quit my job to take a couple of months off. I spent most of my days going to the beach and surfing. I hadn’t surfed much while working, since all I did was work. Man I missed the water. I needed to surf, it calmed me. I thought to myself there has to be a better way. So there I was no job, little money, and a general AA degree. What was I going to do? No clue. So I started looking for a college to go to get my BA degree and I figure while I am getting it I will just be a chef again. But where? I needed the ocean it was calling me. After looking at all the schools in Florida, I decided UNF in Jacksonville was the best. I would be close to the beach and the waves were decent in Jax. So off I went. I found a place by the beach, got a job as a chef and started school.
Thing was I still had absolutely no idea what I was going to do. I didn’t know what degree to get. I loved art. I loved to draw. So I thought why not get a degree in art and go from there. No idea what I would do with an art degree, but anything seemed better then working in restaurants and I loved to learn so college was super fun for me. My first art class and I was hooked. We had an assignment where we were supposed to draw a chair. We had 10 minutes. I thought the chair was boring so I drew everything around it and left space where the chair was. I meant to draw it in after but ran out of time. After we were done everyone was told to hang up their drawings. I though to myself, oh shit, I didn’t follow instructions, I failed. The teacher asked who’s was the best and everyone pointed at 3 drawings that had the chair drawn perfectly. Really good drawings. And everyone agreed they were the best. Then the teacher walks to mine and points at it and says what about this one. Everyone said I didn’t follow instructions and it wasn’t a chair. She asked who drew it. I told her it was me. She asked me why I drew it this way and I said chairs are boring I wanted to make it more fun. Everyone laughed. Then she said something that changed my entire outlook on life. She looked at me and said you are the only artist in the class. You have potential. Stick with it. That hit me hard. I knew I was on the right path.
When I was in art school, Google was just starting to come out and computers were getting bigger. The school started offering digital classes with the graphic design classes. I started taking these classes and really liked them. It was fun. One day in class I was playing on a computer and found this program called Flash. You could animate your drawings in Flash, I was hooked. I played with this program all day and all night. I taught myself how to code through trial and error. People in my school liked what I was doing and word got around and people were asking to see my work, I decided to build a website so people could see what I was doing. Very few people could build websites back then. Then one day someone reached out to me and asked if I could build them a website, they would pay me for it. I realized at that moment that there’s opportunity here and I started building sites on the side. I was able to make just enough money to quit my job in the restaurant and focus on school and building sites. Well I made enough to pay rent, buy books, and get to school. I didn’t always have money for food. Some days I didn’t eat at all, but I didn’t care I was having fun.
I graduated UNF with high honors. Yes, I was stoked I finally finished and with high honors. I remember thinking to myself I am going to get a high paying job in a week. Well it didn’t work that way. No one would hire me. I finally ended up getting a job for minimum wage. I went to school, graduated high honors and ended up getting paid minimum wage. That sucked, but I knew I needed more experience. So I bit the bullet and worked for next to nothing. Even worse was the guy that ran the business would nickel and dime me on hours and try to find ways to pay me less. I was still getting side jobs and one side job that would take me a few hours was paying more than a weeks worth of work with him. So I quit. I started looking for jobs around Jax and couldn’t get one so I decided to go to South Florida to a bigger market and see what I could do.
After 6 months of looking for work I didn’t find anything. Finally a friend of a friend said they knew someone hiring. I went to downtown Miami to this fancy ad agency. I aced the interview and got the job, the catch was it was an UNPAID internship. Crap, no money. I needed money. I was broke. I went into credit card debt just paying for gas and tolls to get to work. I didn’t get to eat much. This went on for 3 months. I was hungry and tired. I couldn’t do this anymore so I went to my boss and told him I was quitting and explained the situation. He offered me $10 an hour to stay. So I stayed. I was able to eat most days, although money was tight I got by. 3 months of this and I decided this wasn’t enough. I wanted more. So I updated my resume and began the job search to my surprise people were really interested in my work. I was one of a small handful of people in Florida that actually knew Flash. I was in demand. So I found a better job and I quit.
This new job was cool. I had a ton of experience coding and building sites so I after a month I ended up managing the entire web development team. I was stoked. Finally I was making decent money. I was making my boss a ton of money, but he was an asshole and the work environment got pretty bad so I quit and found another job. Better pay plus I could work at home 2 days a week. I liked working at home it was way better for me. After a few months he let me work 100% from home and I loved it more. But I hated South Florida, it was hot, crowded, expensive, and the waves sucked.
So since I was working at home I decided to move back to Jacksonville. I liked Jax, good waves, good people, good weather. This is where I met my wife and we had our first son. After he was born I found out the company I was working for was going out of business. Crap, what would I do. So I started really pushing my own business again and I was getting by, but barely. We were spending more than we made. This couldn’t go on forever. So I put my resume out there and was offered a high paying cushy job within hours. I was stoked. I needed money. I was pumped up and helped him triple his business in the first year I was with him. But he was hard to work with. He didn’t appreciate me. He would dangle rewards in front of my face then take them away. He was an asshole. Are all bosses assholes?
So I quit this high paying cushy job to go out on my own. I did it at the worst possible time. I had just got married and my son was only a year old. It was a HUGE risk. Everyone told me I was an idiot. I had very limited back up funds and only a handful of customers. But I was bored. My job sucked. So, I quit and went out on my own. The owner ran his business poorly. He wasted tons of time and money. I was confident I could do better.
So here I was again working 6-7 days a week 12+ hours a day. What the hell was I thinking? I spent so much time in my office chair. My wife would come up stairs and find me sleeping in my chair all the time. I hustled. In a few months I grew enough to finally hire someone to help. That was the best thing I ever did. It took a huge load off my plate and allowed me to focus more on business and less on day to day work. Over the years I significantly scaled the business by offering a better product for less money then my competitors. How? Just by optimizing the processes and eliminating steps. I would automate and streamline everything I could. I made things simple. And I scaled. This mentality has gotten me to where I am today. Everyday I find a way to improve something in my business, my life, and my attitude. We can always improve. Growth is key.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
In business there are no smooth roads. You have to fail to succeed.
I’ve worked for free.
I’ve gone into debt.
I sold everything I had even my car.
I didn’t have a car for a year after graduating college and had to find a way to get to work. (unpaid)
I’ve not eaten for days.
I’ve worked 6-7 days a week for 12+ hours a day.
Quit high paying cushy jobs to go out on my own with no income.
I made it through covid.
I made it through IOS update.
I never give up, I always find a way. I think the struggles gave me strength. They gave me courage. They are my super power.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Small Business SEO is the best digital marketing company for small businesses.
Our approach promotes a mentality focused on boldness, execution and scale. We specialize in SEO, Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing, and Paid Ads. Don’t waste your time and money with digital marketing companies that suck. Unlock the ROI your business truly deserves with our game-changing digital solutions.
The quality of our work sets us apart. We do things more efficiently, better, and at a lower cost. Marketing shouldn’t be an expense. Good marketing shouldn’t cost you money. Good marketing should make you money.
Brand wise the Balls Out Marketing and Balls Out Philosophy is what I am most proud of. I even wrote a book on it you can grab it here – https://www.amazon.com/Balls-Out-Marketing-Boundaries-Potential-ebook/dp/B0CTHS9CD2
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
Always take risks. Failure is ok. Failure builds character. No risk, no reward. For example, during Covid when everyone else was pulling back ads and trying to survive. I said F it and went at it hard. We ramped up. It didn’t work at first, but after a few months we were back on track and growing again. Best part is I didn’t take a dime from the government. I didn’t fire anyone. We did the opposite of everyone else. I will always fight. If you knock me down I will get back up with a smile on my face.
Pricing:
- SEO – $299, $499, $999
- Google Ads – $499 plus ad spend
- Social Media Marketing – $699, $999, $1,499
- Content Marketing – $249, $399, $499
- Done for you Website – $499
Contact Info:
- Website: https://smallbusiness-seo.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/smallbizkickassseo
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smallbusinessseonow
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/small-biz-seo
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/KickAss_SEO
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@smallbusinessSEOsem
- Other: https://www.amazon.com/Balls-Out-Marketing-Boundaries-Potential-ebook/dp/B0CTHS9CD2
