How I Escaped Toxic Jobs and Got a Job in SEO
The air in that trucking company made your stomach drop the moment you walked in.
High school mentality. Bullying. Negativity so thick you could taste it. And two owners who did not give a shit.
I am not alone. Workplace bullying affects over 79 million U.S. workers. That is not a small problem.
I started frantically googling.
How to make money online.
I loved being online and wanted to work on computers, but I had no idea what I was doing.
The Learning Curve Behind a Career in SEO
I bought courses… lots of them. I spent around $5,000 a year for ten years.
My first course was about making money through blogging, so I started a Wix site about making money blogging. Then I paused and thought,
How can I write about this when I have not done it yet?
That is when I noticed something. Every single course had a section about SEO. All of them.
In 2013, the Yellow Pages stopped printing. My friend’s parents asked why their son-in-law’s work photos were showing up on Google Images. I did not know at the time, but I figured it out.
Search engine optimization.
That was the moment I connected entrepreneurship to search engines. Businesses needed help getting found online, and most had no clue how. That opened the door to my SEO career.
Gaining Practical Experience Before My First SEO Job
Here is the part most people skip when talking about how to get a job in SEO. I worked for free for three years.
I requested access to sites and social media logins. I used free SEO tools and focused on learning by doing.
I tried partnering with someone who sold websites. It did not work out. I am not a designer.
In my third year, someone launching a small marketing agency paid me to help. We bootstrapped everything. It was chaotic and imperfect, but it was my first SEO job.
During that time, I got fired from the towing company for yet another dumb reason. I promised myself I would never work in toxic conditions again.
How Cannabis Work Helped Fund My Search Engine Career
Eventually, I got hired at a legal cannabis facility after working in the grey edible market. I had bootstrapped an edibles business before that.
When the cannabis company took what I built and pushed me out, I knew it was time. I had to build my SEO career.
At first, I had a few small clients. Nothing consistent. Then I added “cannabis SEO” to my LinkedIn profile.
I had helped friends and family with their job search and LinkedIn for years. But I never thought to do it for myself.
Imposter syndrome held me back. SEO covers so many skills, from technical SEO and analytics to on-page SEO and content strategy. I did not think I was ready.
But adding those two words to my profile changed everything.
A connection reached out. He was building a cannabis SEO agency and had the skills I lacked, like public speaking and sales. I could do the tasks. We made a good team.
That same year, projections said the SEO industry would grow from $81 billion in 2024 to $171 billion by 2030. The job market was expanding.
Cannabis companies needed SEO because traditional ads were off-limits. I had something rare: industry experience and search engine knowledge.
SEO Knowledge You’ll Need to Start
If you want to land your first SEO job or become a skilled SEO professional, here is what you should learn:
- How search engines work
- Technical SEO concepts like crawlability and site speed
- WordPress or CMS basics
- Link building strategies
- Content creation with SEO best practices
- Reporting and analytics using tools like Google Analytics, SEMrush, and Ahrefs
- Project management and time tracking
- AI search changes and large language models
You do not need a degree to get a job in SEO (college drop out here!!). You do need hands-on experience.
SEO Tools to Get More Familiar With
Check out my SEO Tools I actually use on the Evergreen site!
Other Remote Marketing Roles Beyond the World of SEO
Search engine optimization is one path, but here are other remote roles in marketing that pay a salary and often require similar skills:
- Digital Marketing Manager
- Content Marketing Strategist
- Performance Marketing Manager
- Social Media Manager
- Email Marketing Specialist
- Marketing Data Analyst
- Influencer Marketing Specialist
- Creative Strategist
These roles show up often on job boards. They rely on skills you can learn from affordable SEO courses, marketing bootcamps, and online resources.
The Real Goal Was Never Just SEO
My goal was not to become an SEO expert. It was to escape the Sunday scaries and constant stress of working for people who made my life miserable.
Most bosses I had were awful. My real goal was to work for myself.
Getting there took three years of free SEO projects. I used cannabis work to fund my learning. I experienced betrayal and plenty of trial and error.
But it led to a career in SEO that fits me.
If you are stuck googling
“how to escape a toxic job,”
Here is what I would tell you:
Pick a skill. Learn by doing, not by waiting. Fund your learning with whatever work pays your bills. Be honest about the time it takes.
And use what you already know. Your insider knowledge could be the thing that gets you your first SEO job.
