Well if you got to page 1 he taught you about seo. Sounds like he didn't teach you about keyword research and many other things. But yes best way to learn is school of hard knocks.
Try getting the hands on SEO by reading some SEO tips and optimize the website for better page ranking.
Just be patient in researching for some tutorials online and you can also make a video production which is relevant to what you are promoting. uploading it to streaming sites may cause traffic so it's also a best way to have your website be a catchy one .
do blog commenting, forums commenting, article submission, directory submission. these could help a lot to your website.