From Losing Her Dream Job to Owning Her Own Marketing Agency — Liv Romanow
Liv’s journey into marketing started unexpectedly. After dropping out of university, she became the manager of a local café that was on the verge of closing. “The cafe was going to go bust basically, so I had to figure out what marketing was so we could keep the cafe open,” she says. Learning how to save the business sparked something deeper. “That’s when I realised I’ve got a real passion for it,” she explains, a passion strong enough to take her back to university to study marketing properly.
“I secured my dream job working at Steven Bartlett’s marketing agency, Social Chain,” she says, a role that felt like proof she had finally found where she belonged. But losing it was a devastating moment for her. “It was genuinely the worst moment of my life,” she admits. Signed off for health reasons, she begged her doctor to clear her to return, but they wouldn’t. When her workplace called her in, she had a feeling that the worst was about to come. “My manager was crying, I was crying… I just felt completely hopeless. I thought if I’ve failed at the first hurdle because of my health, then there’s absolutely no hope for me.”
But in the quiet aftermath of that loss, something else began to take shape. While applying for jobs, Liv refused to fall behind. “I wanted to keep learning, so I started marketing for free for some really small brands,” she says. What began as practice quickly became momentum. “I got a lot of interest I did not expect,” she explains. Her connection to the LGBTQ+ community resonated strongly with clients looking for more genuine representation. “I thought… is there a way I can turn this into the dream agency I never had?” Passion became the foundation. “If I only had like 90% of the passion I’ve got, it wouldn’t work.”
During this period, she was also investing heavily in her skills. “I did loads of online courses: Skillshare, Google Analytics, Google Ads, HubSpot SEO,” she says. At first, it was about confidence after dropping out twice. But soon it transformed into real expertise. “I thought I already knew about Google Ads, but I learned so much. That knowledge opened up more conversations.”
Her first clients arrived quickly. “I did free work for maybe a month, and then somehow the paying clients came in.” Still, she kept her hours intentionally low at first. “I didn’t want to scale too fast or just become a busy freelancer,” she says. Instead, she focused on building the agency from the inside out the processes, systems, and vision. Within months she had higher paying clients and hired her first assistant.
Her biggest challenge wasn’t finding clients, it was finding balance. “Because I love what I do so much, I thought I didn’t need balance,” she says. She would wake up, grab her laptop, and work until she fell asleep. Burnout hit hard. “I adored the work, so I was confused about how I burned out.” Learning to step away from lunch breaks, trashy TV, and time with friends changed everything. “It actually benefited my work. I get more excited to reach for my laptop every morning.”
Today, she knows exactly what she’d tell someone trying to land their first client. “Use your connections if you've got any,” she says. “And don’t be afraid to put yourself out there on your personal social accounts like, does anyone need marketing? I can do it.” Confidence, she believes, is everything. “Have real confidence in yourself and your craft. Don’t be shy. Don’t be like, it might go well, it might not. Just be confident in what you know and what you don’t know, just learn. Put the work in so you can get that confidence. You don’t need to fake it till you make it. You can truly believe that you are capable.”
From losing her dream job in tears to building an agency rooted in creativity, values, and self belief. Liv’s journey is a reminder that when one door closes another one opens, but passion remains a necessity.
