2015 was the year I graduated from California State University Channel Islands  (CSUCI). “Finding a job will be a breeze!” However, the truth would soon prevail. I took quite an undertaking trying to find employment that would suite me and my needs. Months go by and still nothing. Meanwhile, my dog Marley and I are volunteering at a local retirement home in Ventura, CA.

And then…

One day Marley and I were walking to our job. Marley loves to play in the leaves! She was jumping and making all the piles of leaves explode. Then I spot something. I get closer and realize it is a wallet. All of its contents had fallen out and scattered from all of Marley’s joyous jumping.

To keep it, or not to keep it…

After 30 minutes of scouring the area, I find a total of $300 in cash, 5 credit cards, AAA member card, AARP member card and a drivers license that read “Sal.” He lived in Ventura, CA too. He was nearly 90-years-old and this wallet is loaded with a small fortune. I thought to myself, “I better get this back to him as soon as possible!”

I rushed home…

Sal had a small sized card tucked in his wallet with a few names and phone numbers. Remember, I had his I.D. and just a few first names and phone numbers to the side of them. I called all 5 numbers and only one person answered. The man on the other end of the line was very careless of the situation, and come to find out I was speaking to Sal’s oldest son. Who would have known?

A few hours later…

I finally get in touch with Sal, who is hard of hearing, talking on a flip-phone on a bicycle. He couldn’t hear me give him my address- so I told him I would text him. Old people understand technology, like young people understand Morris Code.

I finally meet Sal…

A bright yellow & neon green man pulls up on a bicycle. I run out and handed him his wallet. He tells me that he must’ve lost his wallet earlier today when he was riding his bicycle to the Kimball Community Pool. Which made sense to me because of where I had found it.

Then things got weird…

He asked me if I wanted a reward, and I refused. I started walking towards the house and he shouts something and hands me all of the cash inside the wallet. I laughed and said, “I don’t need money, I need a job.” Then headed inside.

A few hours later…

You know that feeling when you just know someone is going to call you? I had this exact feeling for the whole rest of the day. I was in the kitchen cooking dinner when my phone rings. I answer it and Sal says, “Meet Chuck at Antiques Adventures 10:00 AM. Bring your resume.” “…okay!”

Things get even more weird…

The next morning I woke up chipper. I couldn’t believe the recent turn of events. When I walk into Antique Adventures, I feel instantly in love. It is an antique mall! “I love antiques! I’m going to spend all my paychecks here.” I also see a lot of potential marketing that can be done. The weird part of this story was that no one knew who Sal was. Nor did they know how Sal knew that they needed my marketing services. So I got the job and I went straight to work.

The creative Juices started to flow…

Here are the marketing tools I used:

1. YouTube (The Antique Adventures Show): This YouTube channel showcased each vendor of the antique mall and their booth. These vendors went all out in decorating their space. Walking around this antique mall was not just like walking around a museum, but also like walking around a competition for interior designers. Customers of Antique Adventures would often pose for pictures in vendor booths.
   1. Videography Service
2. Instagram & Facebook: This was a platform for many beautiful & silly photos taken at Antique Adventures. Likes & Followers were not hard to find. Within a week of starting the feeds on our social media platforms, we gained over 1600 Followers and a total of 100+ Likes. As the Marketing Specialist and Website Designer, I also used this marketing tool to engage our growing audience and to gain traffic on the floor.
   1. Social Media Management 
3. SEO & WordPress Install (AntiqueAdventuresLLC.com): With this marketing tool, many others tagged along with it. WordPress is by the best website platform to build on. Not only did I design the site, I packed it full of SEO tools. SEO is the best marketing tool. It is also the slowest marketing tool.
   1. Search Engine Optimization
   2. WordPress Website Development & Design
4. Event Planning (Memorial Day Weekend & 4TH of July): This was the best part of my job. I had finally convinced the President and the General Manager to throw a party! (of sorts.) We racked in over 30k in just 2 weeks and that didn’t even include the 80 vendor rents.
   1. Event Planning
5. Email Marketing: Antique Adventures, a mall composed of 80 vendor booths and a small personal collection of antiques being sold by the owner- had a massive marketing tool staring them in the face. People. Not just any people, 80 people who also have feverish intentions for the antique mall to thrive. The vendors. 80 vendors. It is said that each person on  this planet has an average of 100 network connections. 80 vendors x 100 network connections= 8,000 strong, organic “Buzz.” That is what marketing is. Marketing is just “buzz.” A whole bunch of people communicating in various ways- about your company.
   1. Email Marketing 
6. Promotional Merchandise Design: Antique Adventures gained quite a fan base. So, naturally we wanted to capitalize on that. I created and produced promotional merchandise branding the antique mall with all its glory. When people would purchase furniture or were interested, we would provide them with a tape measure that had our logo and phone number on it. Soon after “Free Stuff” was advertised on our favorite advertising platforms- customers would ask us about our tape measures as they were checking out. A few more things were designed and sold at the antique mall: T-shirts, Brochures, Mugs, Bottled Soda, Old-Fashioned Candy and a Photo Booth.
   1. Promotional Merchandise Design
   2. Promotional Print Design
7. Logo Design: Chuck Ackerman used his Great Grandfather’s photo  to represent what he envisioned his antique mall to feel like. An old-fashioned adventure that the whole family can enjoy.
   1. Logo Design

Thanks For Reading!