From $100 sales to $1m sales

[Thomas Smale]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum, but not the online world. Seems like some intelligent conversation going on around here so figured I'd join in.

For those who don't know me, I was the broker on Tavin's million dollar sale: https://www.buildersociety.com/threads/sold-a-million-dollar-website-ama.437/

You may have also read my articles around the web or worked with my company FE International.

I started out with nothing selling websites for a few hundred dollars back in 2010. Since then, I've built a profitable business that has grown each year.

Some lessons I've learned going from a few hundred bucks to 7 figures:

1) Build something sustainable. Whilst one time big pay days might be great, if you want to be successful in business in the long run, you have to build something sustainable. Even if it's boring. Of course, you can still hustle on the side to keep the income rolling, but focus on something that will still be around in 5+ years time.

2) Be honest. There's a lot to be said for honesty. Whilst being honest will certainly lose you business (vs. a company/person who over-promises), I've found that over time it will bring more repeat business and more referrals. Lying will catch up with you eventually.

3) Build systems and processes (asap). I learned this one the hard way. When you work by yourself, if you have ADD like me, it's unlikely you'll have systems or processes. You know what you are doing but not how. If you want to hire people (I have a team of 10 now), you absolutely must have systems and processes in place. A lot of people skimp on systems - I've invested hundreds of thousands over the years and continue to do so. There are many areas worth saving money on in business (do you really need that extra bottle of Champagne?) but systems isn't one of them.

I'll hopefully be around here regularly assuming you all want to keep me

 

[built]

Awesome!

I'm actually building a fitness brand/magazine so thanks for the tips.

 

[BrownSugar]

@Thomas Smale Its great to see you on BuSo.

Since your business is selling websites, you see real time what type of sites are trending and what buyers are looking for when acquiring an asset. Any advice on what to focus on if I am starting a project today that will make it valuable for a buyer 6 months from now?

 

[Thomas Smale]

@Thomas Smale Its great to see you on BuSo.

Since your business is selling websites, you see real time what type of sites are trending and what buyers are looking for when acquiring an asset. Any advice on what to focus on if I am starting a project today that will make it valuable for a buyer 6 months from now?

Thanks for the warm welcome!

I tend to avoid trends. Buyers (for years) look for online businesses that are sustainable. That's really key. You do see some places selling sites that have been built on paid links, are 6 months old and sell for a low multiple of annual profit, but that's just a waste of effort, unless you need short term cash.

Focus on doing things right and not cutting corners. I see too many people who build a site and then spam links at it - might work well short term but in a year/two it will be dead. Invest time (or cash) upfront to do things right. It will take more time than cutting corners (great content and links are never easy) but in the long run it will be far more profitable and sellable. I would rather spend a week one on 5000 word post and build 5 really solid whitehat links than publish 20,000 words of unreadable nonsense and build 500 links from a PBN or other BH sources.

 

[built]

You mentioned in your article that this wasn't your first idea. What kind of businesses did you try before?

 

[OshiBelfort]

Hey Thomas, we used few talk On msn messenger a few years ago a lot, glad to see since you graduated university you've been doing well and kicked that old shitty partner to the curb and had gotten a better one. I saw yalls launch on bhw. Cool to see you here too.

 

[Ryuzaki]

This man said:

• 1) Build something sustainable.
• 2) Be honest.
• 3) Build systems and processes (asap).
• I would rather spend a week one on 5000 word post and build 5 really solid whitehat links than publish 20,000 words of unreadable nonsense and build 500 links from a PBN or other BH sources.

These are the kind of statements new guys will just gloss over. The sentences are short and yet you could write tomes of knowledge on each point. So much wisdom and experience is packed in those four points. We all need to consider each very deeply, constantly. They'll keep us on true path.

 

[Court Jester]

From Paul Graham:

"In practice "sufficiently expert" doesn't require one to be recognized as an expert—which is a trailing indicator in any case. In many fields a year of focused work plus caring a lot would be enough."
http://paulgraham.com/ecw.html
​

 

[Thomas Smale]

You mentioned in your article that this wasn't your first idea. What kind of businesses did you try before?

I tried a bunch of stuff on eBay - wasn't very good at that!
Tried Craigslist/affiliate marketing - wasn't very good at that!

Buying/selling (and ultimately brokering) sites is the only area I've consistently made money.

Hey Thomas, we used few talk On msn messenger a few years ago a lot, glad to see since you graduated university you've been doing well and kicked that old shitty partner to the curb and had gotten a better one. I saw yalls launch on bhw. Cool to see you here too.

Hello! I don't recognise your username so you must have changed identity

 

[stackcash]

Hey Thomas,

Congrats on the successful business. I'm assuming that you have some sort of team in place that supports your systems and helps you scale. I'm wondering at what you point you knew it was time to start hiring, if you chose traditional employees or VAs, and how you managed to go from the guy that did it all to someone giving up some control to an employee. Thanks!

This man said:
These are the kind of statements new guys will just gloss over. The sentences are short and yet you could write tomes of knowledge on each point. So much wisdom and experience is packed in those four points. We all need to consider each very deeply, constantly. They'll keep us on true path.

Shhhhhhhh! Let them gloss over it.

 

[Thomas Smale]

Hey Thomas,

Congrats on the successful business. I'm assuming that you have some sort of team in place that supports your systems and helps you scale. I'm wondering at what you point you knew it was time to start hiring, if you chose traditional employees or VAs, and how you managed to go from the guy that did it all to someone giving up some control to an employee. Thanks!

For me, I started hiring (full-time employees) once I had proven my business model multiple times over. Don't hire as soon as you get your first payment. Repeat it first, so you know it's sustainable. Remember, people you hire are relying on you for income that might be needed for a mortgage/kids etc. so don't mess around hiring as an experiment.

Personally, never had much luck with freelancers/contractors so opened an office and hired people there. I'm naturally quite a disorganised person so took me time to build systems (most of the time it required my team to get the info out of me themselves!) so having them in an office is important. Some businesses may work fine with a virtual team, especially if you're organised/processes are easy to follow. My business is quite complex so requires intelligent people in a central location.

 

[NormCharlton]

Brokering website deals is an interesting and sounds like a pretty exciting business.

It seems like it would be heavily reliant on your ability to network. Not just anyone can buy million dollar web properties and be confident that they'll make their money back. Did you get into the business because you already had those connections, or was that something you had to foster over time?

 

[Thomas Smale]

Brokering website deals is an interesting and sounds like a pretty exciting business.

It seems like it would be heavily reliant on your ability to network. Not just anyone can buy million dollar web properties and be confident that they'll make their money back. Did you get into the business because you already had those connections, or was that something you had to foster over time?

Certainly is exciting (albeit very hard work!).

When I started out, I had zero contacts. Literally none. Took years of hard work, consistent delivery on my promises and a ongoing reputation of honesty to get to the stage where I (we) can sell 5/6/7 figure websites on a regular basis. Not to mention trying to improve every day. Never stand still.