Inspiring story - 17 yr old girl makes $70,000/mo online
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Digg comments:
EPIC LULZ
damn so many ppl hating on u just because u called som1 fat.... y iz it such a bad thing??? itz juzt a type of body structure... kall me skinny... i wont kry.....
EPIC LULZ
Best quote ever: "i hope your whole family dies in a fire and you have to bury them."
How is that possibly a reasonable response to calling someone fat?!?!? HA HA HA. Really amazed at the comments on that digg. Lively. I think we've struck a nerve in the Digg community: perhaps "fat" hits a little close to home to some diggers?
How is that possibly a reasonable response to calling someone fat?!?!? HA HA HA. Really amazed at the comments on that digg. Lively. I think we've struck a nerve in the Digg community: perhaps "fat" hits a little close to home to some diggers?
hmm should i make another digg article on a blog that says:
"Consensus Reached: Most Diggers Are Overweight & Angry"
and then use that digg and comments as the basis for my article?
LMFAO
"Consensus Reached: Most Diggers Are Overweight & Angry"
and then use that digg and comments as the basis for my article?
LMFAO
This is about as inspiration as when Revenue Magazine covered Harrison in their last issue. It's a total joke.
Sure, this girl makes bank with a myspace profile site. Big woop. What happens when she outgrows the demographic? What's she going to do then? Make Myspace profiles for the 18-34 yr old female demographic? Oh yeah, there's a huuuuuuuge moneymaker, sure thing.
Same thing goes with Harrison. Here's a kid who ripped someone else's source code for a myspace spammer app and then sold it as his own and got caught and sued. How come that wasn't mentioned in the Revenue mag expose? Ohhhh because then it would make him look like the idiot child that he is. Not to mention he's also ratted on TONS of people in the industry. I was laughing so hard when they wrote that he constantly talks to industry people like aff managers when he's in school. Really? Wanna know what he really talks about? How about that I've had more female affiliate managers complain about how annoying he is and how he constantly tries to hit on them and act like a dick, and never stops bugging them, but drives ZERO business to them. What does he do now after the myspace spam shit caught up with him??? NOTHING. Rich my ass. He's 14 or 15 and one of the dumbest kids around, not to mention one of THE most irritating. He used to IM me 23452356624563456 times a fucking day, even after I told him to only msg me if it's important.
Sorry for going off at this, but back in the dotcom round 1.0 in the late 90's there were SO many of these "brilliant kids" and now NONE of them are around. Wanna know why? Because it was all hype. In fact I just went off on one of them that would brag about the fact that he was in some magazines for his advertising agency. Yeah well, after the crash, he went to college, and now, he still brags about shit that he did SEVEN+ years ago, even though his company folded like the rest of them, and he also dicked me for over $10k because it was all hype from the start.
Same deal with Alex Tew the million dollar home page kid. He took a dumb idea, got popular, rode the wave, and then dropped out of school. People like that SHOULD be going to school, because they don't have what it takes to make it big without schooling. He drops out... and then starts a v2.0 of his original idea. Wow Alex, you sure proved that you really are a one hit wonder.
All of these kids have one thing in common... They are all young and riding on ONE idea that brought them fame and some fortune. They are like musicians with one hit and nothing great ever again. So because fame only lasts for so long for them, they are constantly trying to get back into the limelight to where they once were by playing the "do you know who I am" or "do you know what I did 20 years ago" card, and it's FUCKING PATHETIC.
There is absolutely nothing inspirational about this story or any of the ones I mentioned. Inspiration comes from someone who works their ass off doing the impossible, fails, and continues to keep at it no matter what. Someone who never gives up. Someone who defies all of the critics and beats all of the odds to do something that helps other people and themselves.
This shit is so similar to how quick people are to call someone else who dies a hero. All these kids are some of the most selfish and retarded ones around. None of them have done a damn thing to help anyone in the world or society, except make some cash or get their picture in a magazine and given a big head. The real heroes and the real inspirations are the ones who don't demand the attention. The ones who don't want it. The modest ones. Those are the ones who people should learn from and follow, not these stupid kids who do absolutely nothing and expect to be respected.
The only type of respect I'll ever grace any of these kids with is a kick in the ass to wake up and realize that they are just kids with one dumb idea or a fluke of a chance that took off for a quick minute. Wake the fuck up.
Sure, this girl makes bank with a myspace profile site. Big woop. What happens when she outgrows the demographic? What's she going to do then? Make Myspace profiles for the 18-34 yr old female demographic? Oh yeah, there's a huuuuuuuge moneymaker, sure thing.
Same thing goes with Harrison. Here's a kid who ripped someone else's source code for a myspace spammer app and then sold it as his own and got caught and sued. How come that wasn't mentioned in the Revenue mag expose? Ohhhh because then it would make him look like the idiot child that he is. Not to mention he's also ratted on TONS of people in the industry. I was laughing so hard when they wrote that he constantly talks to industry people like aff managers when he's in school. Really? Wanna know what he really talks about? How about that I've had more female affiliate managers complain about how annoying he is and how he constantly tries to hit on them and act like a dick, and never stops bugging them, but drives ZERO business to them. What does he do now after the myspace spam shit caught up with him??? NOTHING. Rich my ass. He's 14 or 15 and one of the dumbest kids around, not to mention one of THE most irritating. He used to IM me 23452356624563456 times a fucking day, even after I told him to only msg me if it's important.
Sorry for going off at this, but back in the dotcom round 1.0 in the late 90's there were SO many of these "brilliant kids" and now NONE of them are around. Wanna know why? Because it was all hype. In fact I just went off on one of them that would brag about the fact that he was in some magazines for his advertising agency. Yeah well, after the crash, he went to college, and now, he still brags about shit that he did SEVEN+ years ago, even though his company folded like the rest of them, and he also dicked me for over $10k because it was all hype from the start.
Same deal with Alex Tew the million dollar home page kid. He took a dumb idea, got popular, rode the wave, and then dropped out of school. People like that SHOULD be going to school, because they don't have what it takes to make it big without schooling. He drops out... and then starts a v2.0 of his original idea. Wow Alex, you sure proved that you really are a one hit wonder.
All of these kids have one thing in common... They are all young and riding on ONE idea that brought them fame and some fortune. They are like musicians with one hit and nothing great ever again. So because fame only lasts for so long for them, they are constantly trying to get back into the limelight to where they once were by playing the "do you know who I am" or "do you know what I did 20 years ago" card, and it's FUCKING PATHETIC.
There is absolutely nothing inspirational about this story or any of the ones I mentioned. Inspiration comes from someone who works their ass off doing the impossible, fails, and continues to keep at it no matter what. Someone who never gives up. Someone who defies all of the critics and beats all of the odds to do something that helps other people and themselves.
This shit is so similar to how quick people are to call someone else who dies a hero. All these kids are some of the most selfish and retarded ones around. None of them have done a damn thing to help anyone in the world or society, except make some cash or get their picture in a magazine and given a big head. The real heroes and the real inspirations are the ones who don't demand the attention. The ones who don't want it. The modest ones. Those are the ones who people should learn from and follow, not these stupid kids who do absolutely nothing and expect to be respected.
The only type of respect I'll ever grace any of these kids with is a kick in the ass to wake up and realize that they are just kids with one dumb idea or a fluke of a chance that took off for a quick minute. Wake the fuck up.
I've never heard of this Harrison kid, but his "affiliate website" looks like a free template pos to me, leaderclicks.com. That said, let's not group all young kids in with these two.
I agree with you on the resemblance to Pre-2001 dotcom era hype. I was working @ a dot com until '99, when I decided to get some tangible skills (aka sales) and go to college. Sure enough, I watched a couple buddies move down to the valley and make bank for about 2 years (although they were almost all living beyond their means because the whole market was oversaturated) and then BOOOOOOOM back living @ home with mom and dad driving an 87 civic because they couldn't make their 5-Series payments and apparently stock options are only worth something if someone actually wants to buy them!
I also wish Fast Company and Revenue (don't get me started on Revenue magazine though, it's garbage) wouldn't try to make these kids out to be something they're not. These aren't web-protoges. They're just kids.
Probably the only realistic exception to that rule might be the facebook kid nowadays, but even he's in his mid 20's and was going to college when everything started coming together.
I also wish Fast Company and Revenue (don't get me started on Revenue magazine though, it's garbage) wouldn't try to make these kids out to be something they're not. These aren't web-protoges. They're just kids.
Probably the only realistic exception to that rule might be the facebook kid nowadays, but even he's in his mid 20's and was going to college when everything started coming together.
If you get a userbase going (even with the simplest idea) you can make mad bank. This girl is doing that. I personally think she got lucky to make her site so popular, but I think she's intelligent, cause she's banking on it like mad and she has ideas for expansion. If she surrounds herself with the right people (from the article it sounds like she is), then they will advise her how to capitalize on having a large userbase and she will eventually move away from simply making MySpace layouts and into creating her own functioning business/ideas. She has cellphone backgrounds in the works, and even hints at starting her own social network. I don't think this girl is dumb at all and I think she could be very successful even if MySpace goes belly up.
I agree with Dave and Jon, these kids are just hype, and the hypebeasts are Revenue Mag and Fast Company having nothing else to write about.
By the way, that Harrison kid probably makes proxy sites. Really inspirational. :repuke:
By the way, that Harrison kid probably makes proxy sites. Really inspirational. :repuke:
I still don't understand why some are so focused on the "what is she going to do later" angle. She is 17 and a millionaire. She can easily invest that money and live off the interest alone without ever touching the million $$ if she had to and still make more than the average American worker. The social network isn't just going to die off within a few years so I'm sure she will do fine.
And how does one really outgrow a demographic anyway? If you know your business well and stay on top of trends you'll do fine. Myspace's CEO, Richard Rosenblatt wasn't exactly in the age bracket (35) to be running and growing Myspace at the time.
There are tons of successful businesses run everyday by people not in their demographic.
I'll bet anyone $10k that she has A LOT of social, family and financial issues in 5 years or less.
Her family is in a shitty cash situation, and she's mixing business and family financials together already. Bad idea.
She dropped out of high school. I can understand not going to college, but high school is not just for schooling purposes, it also plays a HUGE part on the social development of kids, and without it, she's going to become an adult really quickly and it will come back to her later in life and do some serious damage to her. Her social skills in general will also be VERY limited. I'm not saying she won't be able to carry on a conversation or use big vocab words like "thank you", but she will sound like a kid for a long time or give off a very childish vibe that may not be noticable now, but it will later.
She's letting her friends work for her. Bad idea again. Not because her friends can't do what she needs them to do, but because as soon as you involve outside friends into your company or project, they are no longer friends, and are now employees, and you need to treat them like that in the office but act differently outside of it. Plus these girls aren't going to not go to college so that they can help her during the school year. I'll bet she loses most of her friends because of this.
She's hired her mother. Very very very very bad idea. Especially because of the money issues. There are plenty of people who have their families working for or with them and things go well. But here she has a lot getting to her head, and she's pretending to be modest, when I highly doubt it will stay that way for very long. She does not have the business or social skills yet, or even the maturity level to boss her mother around, unless her mother is some loser woman who has zero control over her daughter, then it's a total dominant/submissive relationship, which isn't all that healthy anyhow.
She's also never failed at business or lost a big investment. I know it's a shitty thing to say, but I say it all the time because I'm a firm believer that some of the greatest lessons you can learn is from failing and losing money, friends, loyalty, respect, etc. It's those types of losses that really wake you up and show you what the real business world is like, and you are forced to think quickly and make your decisions on the fly. Not to mention you take SO much experience and lessons for business and life itself from it for the future.
Some people see others who have never failed as someone who is really good at what they do, but I get really nervous when we are doing a potential deal or project with someone like that, because they have never been put into a situation that can get really bad and ugly really quickly, so they don't know how to handle it or react to it. Those are also the people that see nothing more than millions of dollar signs for every new business idea or venture they come up with.
To me, cash is just a major perk of doing a damn good job with a business or project. I no longer focus solely on "how much this can make" but rather "can we really do this, and if so, what's the best way about going through with it" or "is the cost worth it?". These are questions you never hear people who don't have a clue asking. All they assume is "we are going to be rich" or "who cares how much it costs, we are going to be millionaires in 2 months from doing nothing!". If I hear that, I end any negotiations and let them be on their way to a really tough road ahead of them.
Because I've been there myself. I know what it's like from experience to be making a TON of cash and not being old enough to spend it or flaunt it. I went through that whole damn stage, and while it was a lot of fun in the beginning, I was forced to grow up quickly and realize that things change, markets change, people change and worst of all, the internet is VERY volatile. One thing that is going well for years, can crash and crumble beneath you the next. You can't put all of your eggs/investments into one market or site. You'll just be setting yourself up for failure and a lot of heartache years later.
Also, don't forget, regardless of your age, $1M is not as much as you think it is. It can only take you so far, and you can only survive on it for so long. Don't forget about TAXES and business costs, etc. She may think she doesn't need much cash for her lifestyle now, but she's a teenager now, and she won't be able to avoid the flaunting bug, I will guarantee it. When you make a ton of cash and none of your friends from school do, a lot of really bad shit comes along with it, and it can be really stressful on someone who catches it early or completely self destructive for someone who doesn't think it will happen to them.
Are you kidding me?
Think back to when you were 15. To the movies you saw, and your lifestyle and what you considered FUN or funny, or interesting. Compare it to life at the age of even 25 or 26. MUCH different. Your maturity level is higher too (or should be). By comparing Myspace's CEO to this is just stupid. He HAS experience with marketing and business in general for this demographic. He also has a shitload of research and resources to turn to, when it comes to deciding what direction to take something. Why do you think the sports marketing or sneaker industry spends tens of millions of dollars trying to figure out what kids like or what makes them choose one pair of sneakers over another? They've been a kid before. They know what worked for them at that point in time. They have also been in the industry for decades, and yet, they still pay for all of this research and data trends? Why?? Because it's not like they are BFF on their buddylist with a bunch of 15 yr old kids to shoot the shit with about their daily gossip shit and find out what they would buy and what they wouldn't. Things change. Markets change. People grow up and change. Industries change. Marketing changes. Nothing stays the same. That's why.
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