From failed businesses to Avazona
Most of what is on this list failed or was taken away. Each failure left behind one specific lesson, and together they became the way Avazona works.
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Age 16 Failed
The pay-per-click scheme
My first attempt at making money online was a pay-per-click scheme that turned out to be a scam.
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The blog years Failed100,000 visits
A health blog that earned a few dollars a month
The traffic was real. The income wasn't.
LessonTraffic without a strategy is worthless. -
YouTube Shut down12 channels
Every one of them shut down by the platform
One after another, the channels I built were taken down. I kept starting again.
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E-commerce Tested25+ products
Tested across several Shopify stores before one worked
Most of them flopped. One finally took off.
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Overnight Lost$130,000 store
Then a $50,000 ad account was suspended without warning
I had built the entire business on a platform I didn't own, and it disappeared like someone had flipped a switch. That was the moment I stopped trusting any single channel as infrastructure.
LessonDon't build on a platform you don't own. -
The rebuild Rebuilt$1,200 → ~$100K/mo
Six months to rebuild, then COVID hit
Using every lesson so far, I grew from a $1,200 month to nearly $100,000 a month within six months. Then COVID stranded a shipment at a US port and that business collapsed too. I rebuilt again, this time as an agency instead of another store.
LessonTreat failure as data, not a verdict. -
Performance marketing Skill
Performance marketing for other people's brands
I ran performance marketing campaigns for e-commerce brands, then for real estate coaches through a Singapore agency during the pandemic. I got good at one specific thing: getting attention that converts.
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The realization Turning point
Paid attention disappears. Earned credibility doesn't.
Ads and boosted posts stopped working the instant clients stopped paying. But when a client landed real press coverage, that attention kept working for them months and years later. That gap was the whole business idea.
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Avazona Ltd Founded3,000+
Client articles placed across paid and earned outlets
No funding round, no big launch. I started doing the work that had already proven itself for clients, under my own name. Avazona now helps founders and executives get press features, podcast placements and earned media that holds up when someone checks it.
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Author Today
The Founders in Focus book series
A series that brings together entrepreneurs from around the world to tell the setbacks, decisions and game plans behind their success, told straight and without the padding.