Everyone’s talking about “learn a skill” like it’s some magic fix. I’ve tried, and nothing has stuck. What am I doing wrong?

Over the past while I’ve actually tried: copywriting, logo design, tutoring, SEO, social media management. Not just thought about them, actually tried them. I even reached out to businesses directly for each one, emailed a genuinely large number of people, and maybe 1% ever replied, and even then it was usually just “we don’t need this right now” before the conversation closed. And every single one, I quit before it went anywhere.

I don’t think it’s because these skills don’t work, plenty of people clearly make money from all of them. I think something in how I’m approaching this is off, and I want to actually understand what before I pick up something new and repeat the same pattern for the sixth time.

So instead of just asking “what skill should I learn,” I want to ask something more specific:

For people who actually stuck with a skill long enough to see results, how long did it take before you saw any real payoff? I have a feeling I’ve been quitting before the “boring middle part” even ends.

Did you struggle with switching between different skills before one finally clicked, or did you commit hard to one thing from the start?

Is a 1% reply rate on cold outreach actually normal, or is that a sign my pitch, targeting, or approach itself needs fixing before I even think about the skill?

If you were in my position right now, tried five different things with nothing to show for it, what would you actually do differently, a new skill, or the same list with more patience?

I’m not opposed to learning something new, but I’d rather fix whatever’s actually broken in my approach than just add a sixth failed attempt to the list…

  • MuttMutt@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    6 hours ago

    If you are sending things via email 99% of it is going to hit the spam folder. If I register a domain name I get no less than 6 emails selling my web site designs, logos, seo, hosting and other stuff I neither want nor need. Figure out of the rest you will get less than 10 percent interaction.

    Build a website, create 20 mock logos, write some articles, then head to local businesses to give them a chance to take a look. When you get a few locals that you can get on board and have some links on your site that show you have real customers with real locations.

    Use your SEO skills and people will make it to your site and inquire about your services.

    Without all of that if I received an email randomly in my spam I wouldn’t even look. Some rando sending me an email for a service is no different than the ShinyHunters hacking group junk I get saying I’ve been hacked and send them 2000 in crypto, the German guy sending me a notice that I have money they are holding for me, or the junk saying thank you for your Microsoft 365 purchase that I didn’t make.

    I know it sounds harsh but pulling punches isn’t going to help you here. Also randomly starting something then quitting because you are not successful then doing it again on something else and wondering what the problem is… well they say the perfect definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. It sounds like you are changing the wrong variables. If you really want this to work you need to put in more effort than watching a few videos, making minimal effort, sending random emails, then moving on when it didn’t work. When you can walk in to an established business in your preferred field and get a job doing what you are trying to randomly sell then you can start a real business and be successful.