If you asked me a while ago:
“How did you get into marketing?”
I’d say: completely by accident… and in a pretty weird way.
I was working as a barista alongside college, and I saw the job as a temporary phase until I graduated.
The funny part?
I actually got a “Pass” in my Marketing course at college.
So yeah… there was literally nothing suggesting that I’d end up pursuing marketing.
Until one day, one of the partners at the café told me:
“We’re looking for a Media Buyer.”
And I confidently asked:
“Media Buyer? What’s that? A new coffee machine?”
Turns out it was about running ads.
I went home that same day, opened YouTube, and started several courses…
Each one was around 10 hours long.
And I stayed up all night studying.
Not because I had planned to become a marketer.
But because, for the first time, I felt like I actually understood what I was learning.
The next day, I went to work having basically applied what I had learned.
I hadn’t slept since.
I told my manager that I had learned some things and that they were looking for someone to handle the ads.
He laughed at me and said:
“Go finish your work, Mohamed.”
So I decided to leave the café at the end of that month.
I started working as a barista again somewhere else.
But this time, I started studying at work, on my commute, and basically whenever I had free time.
Then I started working freelance in Media Buying.
After a while, I started feeling that Media Buying alone wasn’t enough.
I wanted to understand:
Why does one ad work?
Why does another one fail?
What actually makes someone care about an ad in the first place?
That’s when I got into Creative Strategy.
After that, I started focusing more on Content, especially Content Writing, and trying to understand how Content, Creative, and Marketing work together instead of seeing them as separate things.
Then I joined an agency as a trainee for 3 months.
And if I had to say the most important thing I learned during those first 3 months, it would probably be:
Patience.
Because those 3 months turned into a full year.
I worked with them, learned, experimented, worked on real projects, and saw how different the industry can be from what you learn on your own.
Until the partners disagreed…
And the agency shut down.
Suddenly, I found myself back home again.
And right now, I’m in a phase I can only describe as:
Rebuilding.
I have experience in Media Buying,
a strong interest in Creative Strategy,
and I’m trying to develop myself further in Content Writing.
But I’m still trying to turn all these things into a clear path.
And that’s probably the biggest challenge I’m facing right now:
How do I turn a collection of skills and experiences that I built somewhat unintentionally into a clear and specialized professional identity?
So, if I had to introduce myself briefly:
My main specialization: Content & Creative Strategy
My actual experience: Around 1.5 years of real-world experience across Freelancing and Agency work
My biggest challenge: Turning multiple skills and experiences that I built without a clear plan into a focused career path.
And I think that’s exactly why I’m here.
Not to say that I’ve made it.
I’m here to see where I can get if I keep learning, writing, experimenting, and intentionally building myself this time.
