What I meant was, talk to Brad. The man invented this place, loves it, knows how to make it work. I would, in their shoes. Otherwise, I am extremely sadly waving bye bye, in advance.
Because, seems to me, reading between the lines of what SI Bob wrote, not looking like he's about to strike it rich with this place and make it more than barely survive.
Before responding to the quoted text, wanted to say something about an earlier post mentioning ads for free members, no ads for paying members.
Most dotcoms, unless they're in retails sales, have exactly 1 revenue stream: Advertising. We are VERY fortunate to have 2. It's a beautiful business model.
Actually, I've stayed in contact with Brad since roughly forever. I think he and I are both in agreement that he and I both know how to make it work. That we both love it is a given.
No, I'm not about to strike it rich with the site, though it remains in the forecasts. The revenue isn't real bad. My income needs have been a real load but I've been reducing them, and it's helping. Nearly every month sees a revenue increase and usually a bit ahead of forecasts based on trailing moving averages.
That I'm but one person with too many hands on my time is unquestionably a bottleneck. Projects that would take a week if I could kick into OCD mode on them, completely ignoring everything else, and would result in substantial and relatively quick revenue increases take forever because I simply can't ignore everything else.
Financially, the site is not in any kind of imminent danger. It does alright. But barring a decent-sized no-cost workforce or days suddenly becoming 96 hours long, I have to scroll pretty far to the right on the spreadsheets to reach the "Have struck it rich" area.
Which is something I've been through before. And in the past (borne out by the forecasts as a likely scenario this time around, too), I've been able to afford hired hands as my need for them has finally diminished.
Keep in mind, though, that this time around I'm not going with the old business model of selling at a multiple, buying at a fraction. And though I wouldn't object to striking it rich, that doesn't particularly motivate me anymore. Been there, done that. Better to have good reason to get up in the morning. Climbing the mountain rather than getting bored with the view at the top.
Speaking of money and having been down this path numerous times, Monday starts a really interesting period until the end of the month. The end of the quarter and advertisers are frantically throwing their money at any publisher (ad-carrying website) who will take it so they can use up their budgets. Happens the last 2 weeks of every quarter.
What's changed this time is that January was way above forecasted and past performance and February somewhat so. I'm curious what impact that'll have on the quarterly spewing of money at websites. My guess is that January told us the ad buyers got substantial budget increases, and likely have more of that budget to use up before month-end than they have previously.
Anyway, you might want to hold off on the goodbyes. |
