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…
I used to be a financial advisor. I cold called 1,000 numbers. I got 1 to a meeting (0.1%), never became a client. Idk how many doors I knocked on, I got 2 meetings, neither of them clients. Every client I got was someone I already knew. Just kinda what going off on your own is like.
Was there any skill you actually enjoyed doing? Is there a way to get a job somewhere to build experience as like a trainee before going off on your own?? I’m kind of in a similar situation, except I’m eyeing up bookkeeping. I’m good at math, it’s potentially fully remote, no degree required, no regulatory board/exams to pass/ low regulation. The downside is that it can be hard to break into because of the low barriers to entry and anybody can just call themselves a bookkeeper so it’s a little oversaturated. .
I’m going to self study, learn bookkeeping software, then start applying for jobs like “junior bookkeeper”, “accounts payable clerk”, “assistant bookkeeper” etc just to try and get my foot in the door and see where it goes.
“accounts payable clerk”
My wife started at a company as relief receptionist. They realized she was a smarty-pants and put her in as Accounts Receivable Clerk as soon as one opened. Now she’s managing the A-R team of 8, makes decent bank and they pay a great bonus and fund training every year – e.g her two-year designation recently. Her boss is a nepo hire with actual talent, so it’s glass ceiling, and she’s okay with that.
People who are driven enough to self-employ will often thrive in a good spot where the barrier can appear low but excellence stands out. I think A-P and A-R clerks are examples of this.
Additionally, working for The Man means you don’t have to find the work, get the insurance, do the complex taxes and worry about the market as much. Also she gets a fantastic yearly bonus.
She makes more than my day job, if we remember it’s unionized and we remove standby and call-outs. It’s not yacht money, but we’re okay.
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.
Networking. You need to find poeple who are doing the career that you want. Forums Facebook groups, Discord chats, LinkedIn, wherever your poeple are that’s where you go. Join a group and see how other poeple are making this work.
I succeeded in my freelancing career by finding and working under some very good mentors. They gave me advice and when my skills developed enough, started tossing me some work and clients. It’s possible, but it’s work and requires a lot of soft skills.
What do you mean learned those skills? Did you watch couple YouTube videos? Did you read 2-books on the topic? Did you attend a school? A weekend seminar?
And when people say learn a skill - they don’t mean learn a visual art.Being an artist who is good is one thing, you will need a really hard skill: selling yourself and your product - and that skill is really hard to get.
When people tell you learn a skill is: skill as: ac repair, plumbing, cleaning, wood working, electrician, exterminator. These skills need 1-2 year active learning and training. And they don’t need a skill to sell yourself. Peope will need you no matter what.
People don’t need logos, or social media presence - but when they lock themselves out of their car they will need a locksmith.
Not disagreeing with you, but to become an electrician in Canada it’s a 4 year apprenticeship. Same with plumbing. The rest in your list though, I don’t know enough about, though sounds kinda right maybe
I believe it is different for every country. In my list some are 1 yr schools, some of them are 2 yr - some of them can be learned fast like cleaning or cooking also.
But that doesn’t take away from the skill - they need to be attentive and actually do the work.
@sandhu — 1% reply rate feels low because it is. But when we A/B’d cold emails for dev tools, the real bottleneck was price anchoring: ‘I’ll do X for $0’ vs ‘I’ll audit this page for free.’ The latter got replies from tire-kickers, the former from buyers. Try leading with a micro-scope (e.g. ‘SEO audit for your homepage in 24h’) and price it at $0 only if they commit to a call afterward. We saw a 3x reply→conversion lift when we did this https://cxgo.ai/l/KGWrFFz . Painful truth: rejection often means you were solving the wrong problem first.
What do you mean by “tried” and “skills”?
Those “skills” you listed are full careers.
If you didn’t spend half a decade learning, studying, and practicing each one, you haven’t “tried” anything.1% reply rate on cold outreach is totally normal. You are basically spamming people. Do you reply to spam?
3 problems:
- I dont see you say anywhere that you have a portfolio. You need a portfolio to show off to potential employers what you can actually do in these fields.
- You say you quit in the boring middle part. Well… don’t. People who go to school for graphic design go to school for years - even if the schooling isnt perfect, it is better than kind of aimlessly tooling around for a few weeks.
- You don’t have any connections. Like you noticed, your cold outreach response rate is abysmal. Of course it is. If a random stranger walked up to you on the street and asked if you want to be friends, you would probably be quite hesitant. But if you meet through a mutual friend, at a party, or in a hobby club, you will be much more interested in meeting them. 80% of jobs are never posted on online job boards, because they are filled via informal social connections.
80% of jobs are never posted on online
Do you have a link to this stat?
Source: I read it once on the internet.
2 things, do you actually care about any of these skills you listed? Or is it like how I feel about accounting or wood carving?
Second thing is, have you tried slipping in the side? Get a job where you can move your career towards doing that?
quitting before the “boring middle part” even ends.
What is your plan?
You are talking about “a skill” as if it were some kind of magic key and then suddenly the world is saved. But nobody knows how you want to save the world once you got your magic key. How do you want to proceed with that skill? What is your plan?
I have a feeling that there is so much more where you possibly have made mistakes, and possibly could ask for advice, but you are asking just about that one oddly specific thing “a skill”.
I’m an SEO Specialist/Content Manager and I would never hire someone for SEO, copywriting or social media who doesn’t have a portfolio of work to show demonstrated experience for other brands. Plus most big companies outsource to agencies for contract type work, so I’m assuming you were reaching out to smaller businesses, but they would just get their marketing person to do it to save money.
Unrelated to the original topic, but how would people without experience build such a portfolio if every manager thinks this way?
Getting a job and building experience with training (especially in corp, they want people with specific skillsets). People that do contract work usually have years of industry experience after leaving their previous roles. Would you hire a person to fix your car if they had no experience but assured you they know what they’re doing?
Yes but that is my point. How would one get hired for their initial job if everyone requires them to have experience before hiring?
You get an entry level job and work your way up.
FOR CONTEXT: I’m talking about contract work like OP seems to be talking about
I don’t get it.
A magic fix for what exactly?
Responses to cold calling are a poor indicator of success. That’s just not how businesses obtain services.
How did you learn these skills? If someone told me they had learned logo design my first thought would be is that they have no idea about design because that’s not how people talk about it.
I was always a sport and hobby hopper growing up and rarely stuck with the same thing long enough to get good, just competent. The two exceptions are biking and dancing.
In dancing there’s a common story about getting good: When you are new, you know you are bad at it, and go to beginner classes. When you get better you start overestimating yourself and going to classes well above your skill level. When you get good… you know you suck and you go to your friend’s beginner classes.
The people I dance with tend to appreciate solid basics and good etiquette over perfect flashy moves. Never lose sight of the basics because the 1% that makes you stand out at something relies of the 99% foundation of becoming competent that you build by being a well rounded human being and putting in the time to get some experience.
Good luck!
I did lots of lead climbing (rock climbing up big walls with a rope). I never thought bouldering (rock climbing super short routes with pads under you and no rope) to be worth trying. I supplemented my lead climbing with bouldering just for the heck of it. I stuck with it for a few months which is what it took me to adapt my skills and learn new techniques required for bouldering. I messed around and had fun while bouldering until I started to feel what the new techniques were, then started watching videos on how to boulder and pieced it together now that it made sense. Bouldering has made me much more proficient at lead climbing and I’m glad I stuck with it. Now I find it enjoyable as something fun and challenging but ultimately still like lead climbing more.
Find something that somewhat suits your innate abilities first, rather than a completely random thing. Then look for that and stick with it to you gain the skills to move up and around.
I.e. I took art math and drafting in highschool, I found a placr looking for junior guys to move into engineering but first you had to do hands on shoo work to understand the business. It was 2 years on the shop floor and then 2 years nightlchool for relevent courses and 8000 hour apprenticeship for engineering. Nothing is instant.
