My first paid marketing job grew out of promoting music. A local business asked me to help with a concert and its Facebook presence. After that, I started Anthony Polanco Consulting and went looking for more businesses that needed the same kind of help.
I searched Craigslist for people hiring a social media assistant, a website person, or a marketing employee. I offered to do the work as a service for a fixed amount. A few said yes. Referrals followed, and I had the beginning of a small customer base.
I built my own website in WordPress, then started working on customer sites. I agreed to an edit, learned how to make it, and took on the next problem. Over time, those problems led me into email systems, content management, customer portals, application development, and automation.
Learning what the business could carry
From 2017 through 2023, I tried different versions of being a freelancer, consultant, and small agency. At times, I had more work than I could handle. At others, I had built capacity I couldn’t keep busy. There was plenty of trial and error.
In 2020, customers pulled back on advertising while I had overhead built for growth, including virtual assistants. The business contracted sharply. I released the assistants and took care of the customers who remained myself.
That changed how I think about capacity. I keep work in my own hands until the repeatable parts are ready to become a system. I bring in contractors when their judgment or craft adds something useful. More capacity has to improve the operation without weakening the customer relationship.
The name caught up with the work
In 2024, I renamed Anthony Polanco Consulting as Polanco Advertising. It was the same business. By then, I had become clearer about the work I wanted to keep doing, and I concentrated on a website offer that customers could understand and buy.
Today, websites remain the primary service. A relationship can grow into social media, automation, or an application when there’s a reason for it. For one photography studio, I adapted my own customer-login system into a file-delivery and support portal. That’s still my preferred progression: make a system useful in my operation, then adapt it to somebody else’s problem.
I’m the only employee, supported by contractors, collaborators, and AI tools when needed. Customers can reach the person responsible for the work. I’ve put my name on the business because I intend to stay involved.
This is my account of the business’s history. The business began in 2015; the Polanco Advertising name followed in 2024. My current business profile describes the work I do today.