Enjoy this 638-word “Micro-Interview” with the founder of Zero to Marketing, Andrea Bosoni.
Thanks, Andrea.
Let’s get started:
"Do you have a work routine?”
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Not really. I stopped doing that when I left my corporate job. But I do have a morning routine. I keep my phone off for an hour after I get up. Then I go for a walk and get at least 2-3k steps in the park. I find a bench and catch up on the news. Then I check my email and social media. After that I head back home and focus on deep work. The rest of the day varies depending on what I have to do.
"What do you wish you'd known about your work when you first started?”
I didn't start working in marketing right after college but in finance. I was fascinated by marketing, but I thought it was only for extroverts. And I'm an introvert. But I was wrong. It turns out introverts are great at marketing because they listen more than they talk and pay attention to details. If I had known this maybe I would have chosen marketing from the beginning.
“What did your biggest professional failure teach you?”
I've had my share of failures. I tried a lot of side projects that didn't turn out the way I hoped. Some were successful but most of them flopped. One time it was especially hard because it was a physical product and I lost some money on the production costs. But every failure taught me a valuable marketing skill. Whether it was how to rank a website on Google or how to run paid ads on Facebook. It was all about experimenting, failing, figuring out why it didn't work, and making it work. That's how I learned most of what I know today.
“Has anything helped you shorten your craft's learning curve?”
Despite what many people tell you you don’t need to stop consuming and start creating. I consumed (and still consume) a lot of content. But I don’t stop there. When I see something interesting I try to get in touch with the person who created it and learn from their experience. We have only 24 hours in a day and there are only so many things we can do in first person. Networking with other peers to share our learnings definitely accelerated everything.
“Do you have a book recommendation?”
I don’t read a lot of marketing books to be honest but a few months ago I read Scientific Advertising by Claude Hopkins. Want to know something fun? This book was written exactly 100 years ago! I read it after hearing that David Ogilvy said that nobody should be allowed to have anything to do with advertising until he has read this book seven times. Although I don’t agree with everything he said, there were a lot of timeless principles still true today. A good reminder that marketing doesn’t change as fast as people think.
“Any parting piece of advice?”
One of the best things you can do for your career is to write online every day. It doesn't matter if you're just starting out or if you have a lot of experience. Share your ideas, your insights, and your projects with the world. Social media, newsletter, blog… anything can work. If you're too busy to write every day do it 1-2 times a week. Just make sure it’s not zero. I've been writing online consistently for only two years and it has opened more doors for me than the previous 10 years combined. I wish I had started sooner.
