I Started Over
MY STORY
I traded my science degree for struggling-artisthood.
I'm Tavea Sanderson - a marketing maven, innovator, data-driven stan and graphic artist.
Before there was a creative, free-spirited artist there was an eager people pleasing grad student. I took all of the right steps:
- Chose a challenging science degree
- Graduated from college on time with a Bachelor of Science
- Aced every class in grad school. Just shy of a 4.0
- Marriage. Baby. Oh, sh*t.
Having my son helped me to dream. To believe that my talents could make me money.
I dropped out with 5 credits left
After taking my share of "leaves" from grad school, I officially dropped out. I was scared. I only had a few credits left and a stack of loans.
I learned everything I knew from a podcast
My aunt needed help with her business. She was struggling to keep up with enrollment in her daycare and fighting cancer head-on. I noticed she wasn't doing much with her Facebook page and I convinced her to let me help. That turned into building a website and tons of research. This experience gave me the confidence I needed to market myself to other local business owners.
Now more than ever, I was reading for dummies books about HTML, watching YouTube videos about Adobe Illustrator and listening to loads of digital marketing podcasts — learning in real-time and firsthand what was working and what was not.
I still do.
I raked up on the clients
Working as a marketing and web consultant is a lot of work. I missed my free time, my son and my sleep. I was always okay with it becoming a career with someone else. Honestly, it was validation. It was evidence that I was worthy. I was a legit marketer and graphic designer.
I landed a job that I loved.
But, i'm an artist!
I color outside of the lines
Now, I'm turning my website into a blog, a resource, and a community. I read the books, attend the conferences and try the techniques, and report back my wins and fails. I help people in my position to get organized and stay up on what's working in online marketing. Every now and again, I talk about my feelings as a professional, my fears and how I'm moving forward to reach my goals. Join me on my journey!
I learned everything I knew from a podcast
My aunt needed help with her business. She was struggling to keep up with enrollment in her daycare and fighting cancer head-on. I noticed she wasn't doing much with her Facebook page and I convinced her to let me help. That turned into building a website and tons of research. This experience gave me the confidence I needed to market myself to other local business owners.
Now more than ever, I was reading for dummies books about HTML, watching youtube videos about adobe illustrator, and listening to loads of podcasts about digital marketing.
I still do.
I racked up on the clients
Working as a marketing and web consultant is a lot of work. I missed my free time, my son and my sleep. I was always okay with it becoming a career with someone else. Honestly, it was validation. It was evidence that I was worthy. That I was a legit marketer and graphic designer.
I landed a job that I love.
But, i'm an artist!
I color outside of the lines
Now my website is a blog, a resource, and a community. I read the books, attend the conferences and try the techniques and report back my wins and fails. I help people in my position to get organized and stay up on what's working in online marketing. Every now and again, I talk about my feelings as a professional, my fears and how I'm moving forward to reach my goals. Join me on my journey!
Live For It, Die For it:
Powerful Resources
Download One of My Valuable Cheat Sheets and Create Time for the Work That Matters.
My goal is to live a simple life. Organization has been my solution. Start here and lighten your load.
SAVE TIME AND BUILD VALUE AT WORK
20 Game-changing Marketing Tools: The Masterlist
