Or that you're a 17 year-old, not a 40 year-old doing great things on your website. And making loads of cash.
Of course I'm talking about Ashley Qualls, the teen who transformed her hobby of designing MySpace layouts into a boomingly lucrative online business.
I mean, what did it take her? US$8, to be precise.
Yeah, $8 to buy a dot.com and she is a millionnaire to boot.
You see. These days you don't need to have dreams. When Ashley set up her Whateverlife website, she was not thinking about being rich. Nor did she go out of her way to be a millionnaire.
It just happened.
Her cool, hip and hugely popular website attracted an online marketing guy.
And the rest ---- was, of course, history.
But it helped that Ashley is an Internet professional. Within two years of creating Whateverlife, she dropped out of high school.
She bought a house. And yes, she was the one who helped launch the pop career of British singer Lily Allen to fame and fortune.
Yep, Ashley bears testimony to meritocracy on the Internet where greeenhorns can run money-spinning companies irrespective of funding, location, size, or experience.
And oh, doesn't she remind you that "ingenuity is ageless".
She's recruited her mum to be her manager and a few close friends to work for her after-school hours.
According to an article on Ashley:
"Her MySpace page layouts are available for the bargain price of...nothing. They're free for the taking. Her only significant source of revenue so far is advertising.According to Google Analytics, Whateverlife attracts more than 7 million individuals and 60 million page views a month. That's a larger audience than the circulations of Seventeen, Teen Vogue, and CosmoGirl! magazines combined. Although Web-site rankings vary with the methodology, Quantcast, a popular source among advertisers, ranked Whateverlife.com a staggering No. 349 in mid-July out of more than 20 million sites. Among the sites in its rearview mirror: Britannica.com, AmericanIdol.com, FDA .gov, and CBS.com.
And one more, which Ashley can't quite believe herself: "I'm ahead of Oprah!" (Oprah.com: No. 469.) Sure, Ashley is a long way from having Oprah's clout, but she is establishing a platform of her own. "I have this audience of so many people, I can say anything I want to," she says. "I can say, "Check out this movie or this artist.' It's, like, a rush. I never thought I'd be an influencer."
Well. All I can say is...YOU GO GIRL!
And now... how do I make an online fortune out of my passion for Harleys...
7 comments:
Eva,
It was that easy to for 17 year old Ashley to make money eh? Why didn't we think of something when we were her age? I guess its being at the right time and doing the right thing here. I wish her well even though she doesnt need it anymore.
Nick Habgood advised me to ask my children to reserve dot.com company using their names as an investment. He got one resembling my daughters name Azini.
Thanks Eva for sharing this.
zawi,
we must all believe that we can make the world our oyster.
in this century a nobody can be a somebody....
the internet makes dreams a reality and sometimes we surpise even ouirselves for the huge success we have achieved.
have a wonderful day....
in fact have a wonderful life, zawi.
and remember.....the heart must be good, literally and figuratively.
Never mind her net worth, AQ being ahead of Oprah has got to be priceless.
Now back to you, Peaches.
Set up a Harley DIY website for customizing and/or repairs with you posting daily/weekly articles together your pics, of course, handling the relevant parts, tools, etc. Suggested name for website - Howtoharleybyababe. And...
Whoa...hang on. Was that a rhetorical question at the end?
ooh my honeybunch Shar,
yeah, hons...AQ, I'll bet, is still pinching herself.
That girl's a real winner.
Now, about my Harley...
you're so cute that your suggestion is cuter, sweets.
Howtoharleybyababe....hmmm..
rhetorical? who cares, honeybunch
Very inspirational hon..got me thinking how I can use my skills to make me a gazzillionaire.
What u can do? u can start designing Harley-inspired skins, clip art, wallpaper, Avatars and a whole lot of online commodities.
These ideas occured to be as I typed them...heheh...hope it helps.
Tell me when u succeed, then I can blog abt u too. Gud Luck!
hey, galadriel,
thanks for the great ideas. Move over, online-millionaires....here comes EVA.
Hmmm...Oprah may just want to interview me..
Hey, Galadriel, I've been to your blog. Good stuff there. Go, girl, go!
Thanks for visiting. And when I've arrived, I'll tell ya!
Thanks for the article!
Writing a dissertation on the impact of the internet on young people of today, greatcase study! Thanks!
Post a Comment