Barter if you're broke

I started a local business SEO consulting company... I was flat broke, didn't even have money for cigarettes... so broke I was fishing empty beer cans from the trash cans to turn in so I might squeeze out enough change to wash my clothes at the laundry mat.

You think you know what "Broke" is?

Try living in the local Homeless Shelter!

Picasa Web Albums - FrederickWebPromo... - Press Release...

I didn't have money on my credit card to buy domain names let alone web hosting.

I was recovering from Crack Cocaine Addiction (you don't know broke till you smoke crack)
Crack Cocaine Addiction Recovery

SO.... I pitched making websites for a local hotel I wanted to live at, I wanted to get out of the homeless shelter!

This hotel is more like a "boarding house", there is no lease, because they're operating under a hotel licence. It's a 'Weekly Rate Hotel'. Beats having to come up with:

$800 month rent
$800 securtity deposit
$30 non refundable credit check
30 days of pay check stubs showing that you can actually pay the rent.

If that sounds like a slum lord situation it's not:

• you don't have to pass a credit check

• if you're an addict, you have zero chance of passing one of those anyway

• Even though it's $200 week, you can come up with that figure in ONE weeks time

• how long do you think it'd take to come up with $1630 in the above scenario?

Ok, then... don't have a hosting account, so what do I do now?

"Hey, I've still got those blogs I started before I fell off the wagon, don't I?"

and... "I'm not completely without resources... I AM a Freakin Warrior at heart aren't I?

Name of Hotel:
Hurley Hilt'n Hotel
(you try getting an apostrophe listed in a url and get that url listed in Google... go ahead try)

So, Allen taught me didn't he?

Here goes nothing:

Frederick Weekly Rate Hotel is the keyword phrase I targeted:

Fredericks Best Weekly Rate Hotel- The "Hurley Hilt'n" Hotel

check out the local webmaster competition... hmm, two huge chain hotels, and they're Juggernaughts... fear not.

Econolodge and Travelodge both of which charge $300 a week for a room
well let's see... the Hurley Hilt'n charges $260 a week for it's biggest room, and I'm a marketer so let's see what I can do with this.

(keep in mind I just left a Homeless Shelter, in Frederick Maryland they call it an "Emergency Cold Weather Shelter", and 20 degrees is plenty cold to sleep in a car, escpecially if that car has bad tags on it, and you've got 4 suspensions on your CDL tractor trailer licence and you tested dirty for a pre employment drug screen, better not screw up again or...)

Fredericks Best Weekly Rate Hotel- The "Hurley Hilt'n" Hotel

You tell me, how'd I do?

I got my rent cut in half, used these results to get work from the local Cab Company, used those results to get the attention of a local 'portal' site:
Frederick County Maryland, Md. - Homepage

used those results to land several more local busineses and I'm now successful and have a roof over my head, and bartered with a local printer for my business cards/ brochures (that I didn't pay a dime for)

Pretty Good for a homeless recovering crack addict, ya think?