Josh Buckley Internet Entrepreneur

Ever since i started this blog in January of 07, it’s been running at a loss. I decided not to monetize it. Although, that’s not a bad thing at all. I haven’t been running the blog for the money. It’s definitely helped me in other ways, such as branding, and getting industry contacts. However, now that this blog has been running for a year, i think it’s a good time to sell out. Whilst some may say it’s good to keep the blog “pure” from ads, we’re in this business to make money. As much as I love blogging, I also love money. Solution? Combine the two.

I will be selling 4 125 x 125px ad spots in the sidebar of the blog. I’ll be pricing these at $30/month to start with. At that price, i’m fairly confident that all ad spots will sell out pretty quickly (I have allready sold 2 of the 4 spots) as it is a very affordable price. As there is more demand for the ad spots, i may increase the price - or add more ad spots when the time comes that this blog gets a fresh new redesign.

Check out some of my stats.

Rss:

Traffic:

$30/month is very cheap for a blog of this traffic, if i say so myself.

Sorry about the lack of posts over christmas, but i’ll have my goals for ‘08 coming up soon

So, now school has ended for Christmas I’ve had much more time to work on my sites. In the last three days i have got so much more work done than i did when i was at school. It just shows how much more productive i can be when I’m working full time. My productivity has improved without a doubt.

It’s tough having so many projects going on at once. Thanks to everybody who has offered project collaboration ideas to me recently, but i’ve taken on too many projects. I’ve had to let go of a few collaborations, because i just don’t have the time to take on anything else. I currently have two main projects that i’m working on that are looking to be very profitable, and i’m getting very excited about They are:

• Dailybooth, my investment as a silent partner has really got me very excited. I don’t usually let myself get too excited about a project before things are completed, but i see so much potential in this one. Watch out for it.
• “Secret project” - This is one that i’ve been spending 99% of my time on lately. I have a whole team of people working on it right now, including me helping out with php/sql code. I’m hoping for this one to be the one that will be my job after 6th form at school (age 18)

Rss contest
I haven’t blogged much about it since the first post, but me and jon are still head to head at our rss challenge.
I’m currently at 155, jon’s at 115. Looks like i’ve taken a massive lead over jon now Expect to see a post for me on jon’s blog soon

Here’s some recent pics:

Enjoying life with friends and family:

Just some of the food (this picture doesn’t do it justice) there was more than double the amount seen in this pic:

Just over a week ago, my brother rang up after school with a spare ticket to see the verve. I didn’t really know any of their songs, but i’m not gonna pass up an opportunity like that It was at the o2 arena in london, the converted millenium dome. The place is amazing now. We didn’t get any good pics of the band playing, but here’s a pic from the bar before:

This post reminds me to get a camera of my own…

Merry christmas everybody

You don’t have to travel far in the blogsphere these days to hear about web 2.0 applications selling for millions of dollars. I’m sure that’s the not-so-horrible fate we’d all love our websites to endure. However, there has been some news travelling fast about digg hoping to sell for $300 million dollars. It was first posted by valleywag, ironically recieving around 2700 diggs (not good for pr). Then, earlier this week - a well reputed venture capital blog, venturebeat stated it had been confirmed by a reliable source. These rumours have been floating around for months, but it looks like things are starting to take shape now.

Do i think $300 million is worth it for such a popular, highly trafficked influential website? Definitely not. I’m all for the website, and wish Kevin and the shareholders a great sale. But, digg has been getting less popular lately. The site has tried to expand into new niches, yet forgot it’s former self. This, mixed with the other problems your site has results in lots of bad press.

I hate to be the pessimist, but this just strikes me as the people trying to offload this project. As mashable said, so much of the site needs addressing before they should even consider selling for $300 million ($77/user)

On the new major project i have been working on, “giving back” has been a a major image floating around in my mind. Being a firm believer in having to give to receive, now is the time for me to give something back.

After recieving so much success this year, i feel as though other people deserve something back from me. As i’m hoping for even more success in the up and coming year, I should give more and more.

Above is an image I’ve had created for my new main project in production. The image is pretty self explanatory, so i don’t think it needs any more description. Each month, 25% of profits from the website will be given to a charity, we’ve chosen oxfam right now (but that might change before we release the site).

I’m very confident in this new website of mine making many thousands of dollars each month. So this means, I’m losing $1,000 for each $4,000 made. Is this a good business decision? Let’s think about it:

• It is giving back to those in need - This is probably one of the most important ones. Try making an anonymous donation to something you care about, you will feel better about yourself. Through raising all this money for those in need, you will feel a much better person. $500 a month can pay for a cow for a dairy farmer in Malawi.
• You’re getting a better reputation - Let’s face it, everybody wants to be liked. Through donating a sum of your own money, which you could easily just treat yourself to a new mercedes with is a great way to portray what type of person you are.
• It is likely that there will be a chain effect of more revenue - The site i will be running relies on users for revenue to be generated. With a better reputation, it is likely that users will want to stay on your site for longer. They may trust you more and want to support the site through this. I doubt you will get anything near a 25% increase to cover the donations, but it will help. Everybody wins.

It’s something that i definitely advise you try with your projects. Of course, it really doesn’t matter whatever percentage or amount you give, as long as you are giving. If you have any plans for doing this with a project of yours, please feel free to use the image from above.

You really don’t even have to give anything away as big as money. You may not feel as good, but doing good deeds like teaching others your skills, or helping others that struggle to make money online can be a way of giving back. It may not be fun to explain at first, but when you see them making money alone, and becoming successful, it will make you feel successful.

I have always considered myself a hard working person. I’m willing to work a lot to get the results that count. However, there is one thing that i have noticed. My work effiency is terrible. Whenever i’m online, i generally tend to have irc, msn, skype and more online. Distractions are bound to come all the time. All these open msn conversations are bound to lead to procrastination.

I’ve noticed that whilst i’m online - i get only a fraction of the amount of work done that i expected i would. This is usually due to getting sidetracked from things that crop up/conversations with others. Although it may not be a bad thing, my business would greatly done if i were more productive.

So Josh, What’s the plan?
There are some obvious solutions, like turning off all chat applications whilst i should be working. I’m not sure how well i will cope with this, as i ususally have them open the whole time i am online. I read this great post at zenhabit, which outlines tips for not multitasking.

Over the next week or so, i will start testing this out. To see how my productivity improves through less use of chat applications, planning important tasks and managing my tasks so that i do them one by one. If i start to plan my days more, things may start to get more productive, and i may get work done much more quickly.

How do you guys feel about your own productivity? Do you turn off “leisure” programs when it’s time to get to work?