I got an email from a former friend of mine who came across the
web site that I built, www.Food-Safety-and-You.com. I’m not going to print the entire email here,
but I thought I’d share parts of it.
“Hey Matt,
"Can’t believe you got that site together! I remember you and I talking about the idea
years ago, and here you are making a HUGE web site that does exactly what you
were talking about! Awesome… One of the things that I’m impressed with is
how you tried to take off your professional hat and make it real for people
[and, he had some negative comments here that I’m working on]…
“What I think is amazing is that you have made a business
here that will grow…
“Great job, bud.
“-Darrell”
OK, so I’m editing out the negative and personal jokes he
threw at me, but it got me thinking: Things that I have learned about building
a web business... so I thought I would
share some of these with you…
1 – There is no such thing as a “quick fix” in business: you
hear a lot about how to make money easily on the web, and I’m ashamed to say
that I’ve been there, done that. I tried
a lot of things and while I learned a lot, I also found I lost more money that
I ever made. When I received this
opportunity, I made it a point to spend the time to get this web site
done. It was a ton of hours that I squeezed
in, and my wife, bless her, agreed to let me lock myself in my office whenever
I could. I also had some great support
from other family members, but this wasn’t an easy road… and it’s not over yet.
2 – Web sites can be a good business if you do it smart:
That’s a loaded statement and I know that… but it’s can be true. In a conventional business, you must “open for
business” every day (or at least your scheduled hours) to bring retail
customers or clients in. A part time
contractor has to find clients or work.
A writer, even part time or freelance, has to do the writing to get
paid. The web is different. I got really busy the last two weeks with
some catering jobs and family stuff, and my web site still attracted about 60
people a day to the web site. And it
became more popular by Alexa, the internet ranking system (as of today, I’m
about 1,200,000 out of the millions and millions of web sites out there – not where
I want to be, but I’m getting there!). I
wrote two pages that I’m going to be putting up Thanksgiving day, but other
than that, I didn’t get much work done – if this had been a “conventional”
business, I wouldn’t have anything happening.
3 –Do your homework:
I picked a topic for my business that I know a lot about, but I still
found that I should do more checking and background on certain topics. I spent a lot of time checking and making
sure that I had my facts straight – in doing so, I was also able to approach
things from different angles. When you start
out on any business venture, keep with your plans, but look out for other
angles and info.
4 – Take the step! If
you need to make more money, want to start a new business, or just want to do
something that you’ve always to (i.e. this web site that I talked out with
Darrell years ago). I had the
opportunity to get this web site up – and I appreciate it… but it was something that I was going to do
down the road when I had the dough to start up with.
Other developments in the web site… I’ve found a few other
SBI sites to link to who have linked to my site as well – check them out if you’re
on my site – one of them is a chef who’s got some great recipes, and the other
one is an expert in nutritional supplements which can help you decide how to
help keep yourself healthy.
I’ll keep you up to date on how things are going… going to
start working on more of the fun pages about roaches and flies soon…
Thanks Dollar Strecher and SBI…
