Facebook Advertising, Marginal Success

After running just over ten dollars in Facebook advertisements, I was able to get a couple responses. Since my ads were directed towards a specific demographic, engineers and computer scientists, I received semi-qualified applicants. The most interesting of which, was a computer science major with a high GPA at Cornell. I sat with him to discuss some ideas. Although he was fully capable of writing code, his Linux administration skills lacked severely. So much, that I was not comfortable hiring him. This is surprisingly common among C.S. majors. It would be difficult for me to pay for his advancement along the Linux / Web Development curve. Plus, I was not looking for a position of mentorship. Either way, I learned that my interview skills lack and I should be more prepared before talking with potential business partners. In the end, I made contact with a student who will no doubt, become a successful programmer.

Facebook Marketplace, Failed

In order to start pushing forward some of my ideas, I decided to step it up, get some help. Ideally this help will come through hiring a part time college student. I figure I can pay comparable wages to that of the schools library (about $10 or $11 an hour). There are many ways I can go about hiring such a student, but I figured I would start with Facebook marketplace.

I posted an add on Facebook marketplace looking for students willing to work 10 hours a week for $10 an hour. I figured this would be a fair price and hours for a student taking courses and looking for work on the side. Also, if the student works too much in the week I will not be able to keep up with delegating tasks.

Well, it has now been over a week and I estimate a hundred people saw the ad, at best. Most of which probably have no interest in the type of work I am looking for. There could be multiple reasons for this failed attempt: Many students leave or have full time jobs during the summer, the pay is too low, and most likely, no one saw my post.

I have to say that this attempt was a bust, but having put little or no effort into finding anyone I am not surprised. The next step will include flyers and / or paid facebook advertisement.

First goals of this blog

Blogs are the obvious first step to becoming an active member of the internet community. As such, I decided I needed a blog. It also establishes a source of web traffic and linking which can be used to promote search engine page ranks. Most importantly it is an excuse to write and share ideas. Both of which I enjoy.

The next step is choosing the purpose of my blog. I started this blog as an outlet for my ideas, observations, and entrepreneurial experimentation. With greater academic aspirations, becoming an entrepreneur is most likely not possible. From what I hear, starting a business is a full time job, or thats what I believe. None the less, I like projects and pursuing ideas, regardless of their utility. This blog aims to share my experiences.