About
Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer, doctor, accountant, or what not. Any kind of advice I give is my opinion. Always get the advice of a professional before utilizing my advice.
Reviews: The reviews on this site are my opinion. Some may be paid reviews, some might not be, but whether or not someone pays me to take the time to review their site it will be based on the same experience and judgement. So please don't offer to pay me to review your site if you think that means I'll just rave about it.
Memory: The account below may not be accurate. I have a foggy memory and didn't think to write it all down as life happened.
It all started back in 2001.. Actually, before that, but my first paid gig was in 2001. It started out as being fun, learning to program so I could keep track of games in AOL chat rooms. Those were the days.. See who could unscramble a word into the chatroom the fastest..
Somehow I ended up making a banner exchange script, and then one day I was asked to build a hit exchange. They wanted to start a site called HitPulse. It sounded pretty simple, (back then it was), so I did it for a low fee. But I was intrigued by the idea and said I wanted to be able to use the code later on. That was the beginning of StartXchange.
It didn't take long before other people were asking about it. I don't remember the order, but I remember ILoveHits, TrafficRoundup, MysticalMaze, AdvertisingKnowhow, MaxTrafficPro, and VirtualTrafficJam just to name a few. It got to the point where I was re-writing the same things over and over, so I decided to write a traffic exchange script.
Countless exchanges later, I sold that script to Paul Kinder & Tim Rash. I wasn't interested in continuing the script. Too many exchanges, and I felt torn - every time I created something new on my exchange, everyone using the script wanted it too. How could I be directly helping my competition?
I was getting ready to graduate high school so there wouldn't be as much time anymore either. Oh wait, did I forget to mention when this all started I was 15? Yeah, that was fun.
Up until this point I saw this all as a hobby. A way to pay for my computer, and something to do. It wasn't until I got married that I realized I should run it as a business. I had to get a job putting together grills and delivering appliances. I hated that when I loved programming.
So that's when things really changed. I started paying attention to tips being given. People like Jon Olson, Soren Jordansen, Paul Kinder, and Robert Puddy. They spewed out tips and tid bits all the time.
At some point in here I started this blog. Originally it was for friends, and it started becoming more business oriented. It wasn't until about 2008 that I realized there was money in the list, and that I could make a list surrounding my blog. I got the best of both worlds: SEO, and a list. Wow.
Time went on and I realized I had a unique way of writing, testing, and engaging with my readers. I decided that the blog was going to be a real reflection of me. Not something fake, but really what I'm actually learning about, getting results with, and things I thought that needed to changed in the industry.
Now here I am closing in on 10,000 subscribers. I continue to write, and thoroughly enjoy teaching people what I know. I haven't mastered it, but I continue to think about ways to teach my readers how to get better results. I'm also starting to try different advertising methods and ways of monetizing my blog.
This whole internet adventure has really made my lifestyle unique. I work from home, have a wife with two kids, a house and a car, and work when I want to. It's also allowed me to be active in my church, running a children's ministry and helping where needed. It's pretty cool, because most people are too busy to do that.
It's also pretty cool that I'm able to stop everything and bring my kids to the park. I'm usually the only guy there because most guys are at work.
That's the real fun in all this, and hopefully by reading my blog you'll be in the same situation. I probably won't teach you everything, but I'm hoping to teach you enough to make it worth your time. My biggest tip is to keep going. You won't know everything right away, nor will you do it the right way, but keep going. That's how I got here, I try to do my best every day and when it doesn't work out there's always tomorrow.
