Hi guys, I just thought i would say Hi on the occasion of my 10 years and 10 days anniversary on digitalpoint , i haven't been very active lately but i basically started my online business journey here on Digitalpoint, here is how i can sum up my journey: The good: - Started broke with 0 dollars and ended up making close to 7 figures online. - Was the first one to invent, and sell the linkwheel service (even wrote a custom software to automate it almost 10 years ago) i also invented many other services. - at the golden age of directories i owned 50 pr4 directories making almost a grand every day. - 3 People i met here on digitalpoint invited me to countries i never dreamed of visiting - I Worked, partnered, and become friends with people from all over the world, - Not one Day has passed without me studying, testing, and learning something new. - Worked in a multitude of business models and niches (from Selling services to creating mobile Apps, to Owning an e-commerce store and "some stuff that i am ashamed of" lol ) The bad: - Failed countless of times with countless of websites - Registered tons of domains that i ended up just dropping - Got scammed by at least a dozen people here. - Got banned from Adsense (can't blame them i had 370 MFA websites), amazon associates (believe me it was worth it ) and a couple other programs - i Started way too many websites for my own good, lots of wasted energy and time. - Missed a lifetime chance of signing a deal worth 22 Million dollars. - I lived a dog's life playing the cat and mouse with Google. - I Haven't made a sustainable or long term solid business yet, but i am working on it. - Working 12 hours a day for 10 years has seriously affected my health. Over all i am happy and blessed to have found this forum when i was just starting, it has been a wonderful journey and i am thankful for being a member of this community. My Advice to anyone just starting: Keep trying, it's a long journey, learn from your losses, work hard and take the time to learn, also STICK With a business model until you make it work, do not jump around from idea to idea, at least until you are sure that you have done your absolute BEST and it's just not working. One last advice: AIM VERY HIGH, SKY IS THE LIMIT
That's the only thing I saw. It's hard for me to say happy anniversary, but I will: Happy anniversary. How's your health today? Looks like a common tune for long-term IMers: "Been stressed for years. Can't sleep, can't function well while awake. I need drugs/alcohol to keep me going." Not sure if it's "worth it" if it comes at the cost of your own health. Some stress is OK, but the moment it starts killing you, whatever it is that you're doing is not "worth it". Not trying to lecture you, or anyone else. Too many good people died too young because of that damn "aim high" and the stress level that comes with it.
Congratulations on hitting the ten year mark on DP! Mine is about a month away, so we started pretty near the same time. For me, however, IM has been a part time activity. Had some successes and many failures, but continue along because the experiences always seem to help me with my day job which is as a sales/marketing senior executive for high tech companies. The online stuff complements my offline skills, so it has been a good fit for me. Have heard a lot of interesting ideas and learned quite a bit about the overall IM market via various discussions on DP. I still enjoy it, too.
thanks Thanks man, i am not bad, mainly eyes and lower back problems because of the very long hours i spend everyday sitting in front of a computer, i agree with you if something is killing you it's not worth it.. thankfully i haven't reached that point yet, and i definitely don't need drugs or alcohol to keep going, in fact, i have never drank alcohol or even smoked in my life.. that being said, i definitely can't go like that for another 10 years, i am starting to outsource more of my stuff and i am trying to not be sedentary as much as i can. About the aim HIGH thing, what i meant is not to stress one's self more, or to work more hours, what i meant is to aim and invest your time in high revenue ventures, i see so many newbies going for cheap ventures, why sell a product that is worth 20 dollars when you can sell something worth 200 dollars as easily, better yet, think of something worth 2000 dollars to you.. AIM high and invest in scalable business models.
Nice Jrbiz! thanks and congrats on approaching your 10 years mark too, and yea i always thought the biggest wealth from this journey was the learning experience.
Thanks man, yea 10 years is a long time.. hopefully we will start another thread in 10 more years.. (9 for you), unless we are all dead as per qwikad's predictions
Firstly, congrats and respect on your achievements. Nearly all your "bad" points, are same to my own personal journey. The "too many websites" is probly the biggest mistake I made as well, as I just got burnt out, was alot of wasted time and money invested that I never got back. What I hate is that when you try to take a day off, it can impact your business. I once lost a really important client as I was driving on holidays when he emailed me, and I was too slow to reply. Something is wrong when you cannot relax, take time off with your family. I do not know if this is possible for you, but I am a firm believe that in a "business", and only if it is profitable, that when you start dedicating 12+ hours daily, that it is time to consider hiring someone to work 6-8 hours to share the load. This is how many companies start. 1 person does everything, is overloaded, get someone in to share the load. Once both overloaded, get another, etc. Once you have someone to share even part of the burden, your health, both mental and physical will improve. Plus, you can then relax, take time off and still be able to earn. I hope at the next 10 year post, that we can hear that you can spend 12+ hours a day, enjoying life itself, and not chained up in front of the computer.