Eight Stereotypes of Dot Com Owners
I just got back (last night) from another vacation and I was thinking about how great it is to own a dot com company. Sure I worked my ass off the first year or two to build my online business up but now it’s a great life. When I was on vacation a few people had asked me what I do. This is never a simple answer (if you are a dot com owner you know) but I try to pawn off my favorite saying “we own a few dot com companies.” Why is this never a simple answer? People want to dig and find out what domains you own, how you make money and most of the time they even want a crash course so they can go do the same. I often feel stereotyped by people so here are the stereotypes and what really happens.
Eight Stereotypes of a Dot Com Owners:
1) Dot com owners have to be smart to think of a way to make money online.
2) Dot com owners must have taken classes on HTML and PHP from a local college.
3) Dot com owners where Atari t-shirts and work in their boxers all day.
4) Dot com owners can make tons of cash through the Internet.
5) Dot com owners work all the time and can never take vacations.
6) Dot com owners all have some kind of PORN sites.
7) Dot com owners start their business in their basement or garage.
8) Dot com owners have money to buy websites or money to create their own.
The actual truth:
1) I not dumb but I’m far away from smart… I just spent tons of hours reading the different ways to make money online.
2) I’ve never taken a class on HTML or PHP… I can do some very basic stuff in both but most of my sites are done by my great programmer Matt and a few web designers.
3) This one is true… I work in my boxers often and love it! I get up in the morning, put a t-shirt on and go downstairs to check sales for the day. The best part is I don’t have to set an alarm clock.
4) I know of some people in the business that after 2-3 years are only making $1200 per month. I also know of others making seven figures per month. How much you make online depends on so many things but most of my industry friends are in the $20K++ per month bracket.
5) I know of a few that run online stores and they have to be available to take orders and answer phones… but only a few. The others have websites that only need checking on every few days or as little as once per week. I have a handful of sites that I haven’t visited in numerous weeks and they still continue to make money… every day.
6) Not true! We don’t own *any* PORN sites. The last time I cashed a check at the bank this was the bank tellers 2nd question. Here is how the conversation went.
bank teller: WOW! Nice check… what does your company do?
me: We own a few dot com’s.
bank teller: Cool! Do you have any porn sites?
me: (head down low and shaking) No… we don’t.
7) OK… this is close. I started working out of an extra bedroom that I turned into an office. Then four months into working I had to move my stuff to the living room… when my step-son moved back home. Today I work out of my home office of my new house.
8) I started my first website with less than $600.00. My wife and I had about $550.00 saved up and we agreed to start our own business. From that original $600.00 investment I was able to more than triple my income at my day job. I spent the first year reinvesting most ALL of the profits to grow my online portfolio.