-
Mar2
17 CommentsJohns Wu – Founder, Developer, Sole Employee, and eventual Seller of Bankaholic.com
Posted in: Domain Names, Internet, What's Your M.O.?
Johns Wu Founder, Developer, Sole Employee, and eventual Seller of Bankaholic.com, a consumer banking portal, to Bankrate, Inc. October 2008. For nearly $15 Million. From his LinkedIn profile: “Retired Internet Marketer” Before his 23rd Birthday. If you’re an Internet entrepreneur or giving real thought to chasing that brass ring, the success achieved by Johns Wu, in less than 3 years, is the story that will keep you awake late into the night and get you up well before the sunrise. Sit back, relax, and enjoy this interview with one of the best Internet success stories you’re likely to read. However, if you’re anything like me, it will have you sitting straight up in your chair and will leave you super charged to take YOUR business to the next level. MO: You and I crossed paths a while ... -
Feb27
Pete Mayer FoamFit Tools FoamFitTools.com Custom designed organizers for your tools Intro: If you have the entrepreneur blood running through your veins, chances are at some point you have considered creating and manufacturing your own product to sell. By creating the product and producing it yourself, you have the opportunity to control quality, cost, pricing, and margins more than if you are acting as a “middle-man” selling the product of other companies. With OfficeSupply.com, we were fully integrated through Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) with the two biggest office supply wholesalers in the industry: SP Richards in Smyrna Georgia and United Stationers in Chicago. Those wholesalers warehouse office supply products from hundreds of manufacturers and then serve as the fulfillment partner to thousands of independent office supply dealers. Both are world-class companies that offered ...
-
Feb24
Jamie Stephens Founder of Bookd.com Based in Columbia, MO Bookd.com is an online system designed to help businesses, both big and small, market and book their services. Book’d aims to simplify these everyday processes. From the “About Us” section on bookd.com, Jamie also explains: “Book'd is more than just a Website for your services. It also has a powerful administration area that allows you to manage all your bookings, send online invoices, and track information about your customers. We have worked hard to make sure we cover all the right steps of managing your services and bookings.” MO: They say necessity is the mother of invention . . . was that your inspiration for Book’d? Were you finding a lack of online scheduling services available for local businesses and then decided that ...
-
Feb23
An article at CNET yesterday, interviewing the founder of Mint.com, put a smile on my face for the rest of the day... OK, I admit it. I tend to smile a lot, but nonetheless, it was a very interesting read. Aaron Patzer, who sold Mint.com for a reported $170 million last year to Intuit, about the importance of the name when for branding... in this instance in particular, the domain name Mint.com. Here's an excerpt of what Patzer had to say: "Choose something with meaning, even if it's expensive and difficult to acquire, rather based on domain name availability, because otherwise, you're going to kill word-of-mouth," he told CNET on Monday, a day before his scheduled keynote at the FOWA conference, called "How to Take Your Start-Up to the Next Level." He said ... -
Feb18
Scott Hastings – PrivateSuites.com
Posted in: Directories, Ecommerce, Internet, Social Media, Sports, What's Your M.O.?
Scott Hastings PrivateSuites.com MMATraining.com CrashMMA.com A person considering whether or not to start a business often hears advice from others to “follow your passion.” In many cases, the building of a business is itself the entrepreneur’s passion. However, there are those times when the passion to build a business can meet with other things an entrepreneur is passionate about. When I owned and operated GolfCourses.com and GolfResorts.com, I was in that position, experiencing the excitement of building a business around something I truly enjoy, golf. Now, truth be told, I golfed a lot more AFTER I sold those, but hey, it really was great immersing myself into the golf biz for that time. I mean, heck, I was in the position to go on golf trips and be able to ...
-
Feb10
Entrepreneur Ira Zoot – Founder of Ticketstub.com
Posted in: Domain Names, Ecommerce, Internet, What's Your M.O.?
What I have come to know in 46 years: Have a friend with a pool Have a friend with a boat Have a friend that can get good tickets! Meet my friend Ira from Ticketstub.com Entrepreneur Ira Zoot - Founder of Ticketstub.com The ticket industry looks pretty straightforward from the outside looking in, but spend some time trying to navigate the inner sanctum as you write your business plan and you may decide that sitting in a 6 by 8 cubicle at corporate headquarters ain’t so bad after all… But Ira Zoot has managed not only to learn the infrastructure of this enormous industry, but also to thrive with his website Ticketstub.com. If you’ve looked into purchasing tickets online in the past few years (who hasn’t?), chances are you have ...
-
Feb8
Jeff Edelman Student.com Based in New York Entrepreneur Jeff Edelman - Founder of Student.com If you want to read about the evolution of a great social website for students, be certain to check out the history of Student.com here: Student.com/history I think this is a great read on how something that started “very, very small, with not much content” can evolve into a website with 940,000 members. Folks, we’re talking about nearly a million members! MO.com only needs a million more members to hit that mark. About Student.com The site was founded by Jeff Edelman in 1995. I’d venture to guess many reading this interview were not yet even ON the Internet yet in that year, let alone founding a website. I’m not even sure I could spell “www” at that ...
-
Feb4
Bruce Marler – Show Me The Entrepreneur
Posted in: Blogging, Internet, Social Media, Web Design, What's Your M.O.?
Bruce Marler LocalTek, LLC Missouri.me BruceMarler.com HyperlocalSEO.com Show Me The Entrepreneur Spending most of my day online, I communicate with folks from all over the world via email and online forums. The Internet has truly made the world smaller by opening the lines of communication like never before. But every now and then... ya bump into someone online, that's essentially right in your own back yard (in Internet distance). Bruce Marler is a fellow “Show Me State” entrepreneur right here in MO, or Missouri, as he may like to call it (See: Missouri.me). I first came to know about Bruce by reading a story that he was the owner and developer of Missouri.me, which caught my interest. I'm proud of my ...
-
Feb2
Entrepreneur Raymond Troy – The Nuclear Entrepreneur
Posted in: Ecommerce, Internet, What's Your M.O.?
Raymond Troy Selling Sunglasses online at: Nine A Pair Based in Columbia, MO The Nuclear Entrepreneur When meeting a group of business minded people for the first time, you often get a sense of who in the group might have that super heated passion to launch, thrive, and succeed in business. I got that impression very quickly from Ray when listening to him at an entrepreneurs meet-up here in Columbia, MO. Only later did I discover he had a Masters Degree in Nuclear Engineering and he was starting his PhD program at Mizzou. I’m not really sure what Nuclear Engineering is, but it seemed a good match with someone of Ray’s energy and drive. His website NineAPair.com is one among several opportunities he is pursuing, so I expect ...
-
Feb1
Erick Arbé – Golf’s Entrepreneur
Posted in: Internet, Software, Sports, Web Design, What's Your M.O.?
Erick Arbé Golf Web Design SwingLoft Avenue Three Media Golf's Entrepreneur MO: Let me see: - Card-carrying member of the PGA of America - Software Designer - Founder of a Web Design company Any other skills we should be aware of? Erick Arbé: Well, not any that I can say in this interview. I would like to think my management and personal skills are strong points as I continue to grow my businesses. MO: When I first met you on the golf course in Myrtle Beach, I thought you were nothing more than a . . . damned good golfer. So I was a bit surprised to later discover you had created video software for golf swing analysis, specifically for the MAC, for golf professionals to use while providing golf instruction. Can you tell ...