Failure as a path to success

Reflections and lessons from a former student who became a "mattress influencer" and found out that the real master's degree starts when things get complicated.

Not so long ago, I was exactly where you are right now. Sitting in the classrooms of the Sarriko Faculty of Economics and Business, trying to figure out where I wanted to take my professional future. Today I'm 30 and, looking back, the path has been anything but linear.

I chose to study Marketing because, among business subjects, it seemed the most subjective and the most vital to any company's success. While accounting, taxation, business administration, HR or engineering follow absolute 'A, B and C' formulas or rules, marketing is the magic that really makes everything work. What I never imagined is that I'd end up becoming a "mattress influencer", reaching hundreds of thousands of euros in revenue, only to watch it all blow up and have to rebuild myself from scratch.

After the talk I gave at the faculty last September 28, I want to share, with some perspective, what this journey of entrepreneurship, falls and resilience has taught me.

1. The first lab: from the daily special to web rankings

When I left university, my first contact with the working world wasn't a corporate office but hospitality: I started out as a waiter. Soon after, my girlfriend at the time and her father were going through a critical financial situation at their family restaurant.

Far from seeing it as someone else's problem, I decided to take it on as my real testing lab for applying marketing in real life. We tried absolutely everything:

• · Local flyering and mailbox drops (flyers).
• · Daily menu posts on social media.
• · Google My Business listing optimisation and upselling at the table.
• · Gift card vouchers, a website and Google Ads campaigns.

The result? Customer numbers went up spectacularly. But the biggest discovery was that the best-performing channel, with continuous returns, was organic search engine ranking (SEO) through the website.

Key lesson: You don't need years of prior experience or million-euro budgets to start making an impact. Proactivity and the ability to make quick decisions open doors that theory alone will never open for you.

2. The birth of Alsobre: the art of the "sleep influencer"

The restaurant experience gave me the push I needed to take the leap and found my own company with my business partner: Alsobre, an affiliate marketing agency focused on the sleep sector.

Our model was based on generating qualified traffic from Google (SEO) and YouTube to recommend sleep products through Amazon affiliation and direct deals.

The evolution of the business perfectly reflected what it means to start up:

• · 2018 (€1,000): A whole year working for free in the evenings while keeping my job as a waiter. I learned to build a high tolerance for failure and not to be afraid of looking ridiculous.
• · 2019 (€8,000): First steady income and our first collaboration with a brand. We understood that our real customer was the brands in the sector, not just the end user.
• · 2020 (€35,000): The lockdown accelerated e-commerce and our model grew exponentially.
• · 2021 (€240,000): We hit our peak revenue. From the outside it looked like absolute success, but behind the scenes the two biggest problems of my business life were starting to brew.

3. The perfect storm: lawsuits, seizures and algorithm shifts

Success attracts attention, and not always friendly. Right at peak revenue, we received a legal notice that turned into a lawsuit for alleged unfair competition filed by a major brand in the sector. On top of that came unsustainable tension with my partner.

In 2023 the ruling became public: we had to pay 1.8 million euros.

Faced with that magnitude, my partner resigned. The accounts were left at zero and we suffered an asset seizure. I had two options: give up and close, or face it. I decided to stay. After months of complex negotiations, I managed to close a deal to halt the seizure in exchange for providing free advertising services for four years. I managed to get the company back on its feet, cover the court costs and stabilise the accounts.

However, in the digital world there's no truce. In 2024, a major Google algorithm update hit affiliate sites hard worldwide. I tried to pivot to paid acquisition on Google Ads, but the margins couldn't support the structure. In 2025, responsibly and maturely, I accepted that the situation was unsustainable and closed the company through insolvency proceedings.

Key lesson: In nature and in business, chaos is the norm; order is the exception. Failure isn't the opposite of success, but a necessary phase of the process to adjust your strategy and gain perspective.

4. The rebirth: building the present

Going through a storm like that didn't weaken me; it gave me a mental clarity and strength that no textbook can provide. With all the knowledge I'd built up in web development, analytics and organic traffic strategy, the transition was natural.

Today I run my own project specialised in strategic consulting and search engine rankings: La Policía del SEO. I also share my thoughts on digital strategy, business and personal development on my website albertjuera.com.

Lessons to carry in your backpack

If I could sit back down at a desk in Sarriko and give my 20-year-old self one piece of advice, it would be this: