This is why I don't think in terms of money buying happiness... it clearly doesn't... but it can rent it for a while.
It buys me happiness. I don't want to work for anyone besides myself and I now make enough money to do just this.
Make Money Online: Documenting 10 Years of Failure
141–150 of 173 posts
Re: Make Money Online: Documenting 10 Years of Failure
#142I'm not sure I'd regard making 100's of thousands of dollars complete failure. Now, it's obvious that he made money in ways that aren't overly useful to society, and promoted products that were less than stellar in spammy ways, but just having the goal of "Making Money Online" I'd consider that money to be pretty dang successful. The fact that he blew it all after the fact just makes him bad with money. It doesn't me…
Yes, I'd call that successful too. The expectations were too high, tough. I'm not sure why people are focusing so much on the fact that the money was obtained, but nothing useful was created. How different is it from, say, high frequency trading?
There is a very widespread idea that if you can get rich doing something, that alone makes it worth doing. Lotta people see dollar signs, and equate that with having done something good.
Re: Make Money Online: Documenting 10 Years of Failure
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
The credit limit was about fronting money to grow the business. Overall I think HN is being too harsh. This is a person taking a rather honest look at himself and giving us a glimpse into his life that also happens to capture an interesting history of the Internet.
I agree about the harshness here. I'm surprised and a bit disappointed. Affiliates are often very secretive because the barrier to entry is extremely low, and as such they don't want to reveal what they do or how. That he took that step, even in retrospect, to post it publicly is to be commended. Why not reveal the workings and the lessons he has learned? Let's value it for what it is.
Yea, he was honest! He wasn't hiding in denial. It was one of the better HN links I have read.
I welcome posts like this. What I have read too much of is success/fail stories that leave out the most important details; number one is daddy gave me the money to start my risky business(that business could be anything). Number two is ripping off someone's idea--blatantly(without any remorse, and continue to justify their slimy behavior until they die). It amazes me just how selfish/sadistic some people, even family and friends can be when it comes to money.
I have a successful sister who constantly wonders why her mother and brothers never call--it's beyond pathetic, and she doesn't have a clue to why there's no one left. Actually, she knows, but the denial is thick. We grew up poor, so I know that feeling of desperation, but screwing over people repeatedly--adds up.
I don't know this guy, but at least he was honest. To guy's who don't have a rich family, or a license to steal; if you make money--it seems like late 20's through your thirties, hang on to it. Don't throw it away on living like Rapper. It will eventually dry up for so many of us.
I know it's hard. You have hormones that literally shape your view of reality. Those hormones will go down. That woman you are so trying to impress will change. If you have a fear of death, that fear goes down as you age. I'm not giving advise. I just releate to this guy's financial journey.
Re: Make Money Online: Documenting 10 Years of Failure
#144>I apologize to all you forum owners for what I did in the past. Yeah, well you made hundreds of thousands of people spend hundreds of hours cleaning up after automated bots turn a site to crap. The underlying issue here is a lack of understanding on the difference between taking cash and creating value. A reader of this might think that all this stuff is in the past, but it's getting bigger and more sophisticated by…
I don't accept the apology. It isn't enough.
Both myself and volunteer moderators of a solid and truely valuable online forum worked many hours to deal with this very problem.
Hearing this guy has great memories from a visit to vegas is exactly what I'd expect was happening with the 'value' created. Shameful.
Re: Make Money Online: Documenting 10 Years of Failure
#145OP should PM grindstone for more motivation.
Re: Make Money Online: Documenting 10 Years of Failure
#146Clearly, this guy can write decently well.
Now imagine this: had he spent the time building a consumer-facing brand instead of hocking affiliate scams and other such bullshit, he'd actually be somewhere.
I've been down this road too, and could write a very similar story. At some point, though, shouldn't you learn the lesson instead of constantly making the same short-term mistake for ten years straight??
Re: Make Money Online: Documenting 10 Years of Failure
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree about the harshness here. I'm surprised and a bit disappointed. Affiliates are often very secretive because the barrier to entry is extremely low, and as such they don't want to reveal what they do or how. That he took that step, even in retrospect, to post it publicly is to be commended. Why not reveal the workings and the lessons he has learned? Let's value it for what it is.
Yea, he was honest! He wasn't hiding in denial. It was one of the better HN links I have read. I welcome posts like this. What I have read too much of is success/fail stories that leave out the most important details; number one is daddy gave me the money to start my risky business(that business could be anything). Number two is ripping off someone's idea--blatantly(without any remorse, and continue to justify their…
I wish I could vote up more than once, that was a solid comment, on par with the post!
Re: Make Money Online: Documenting 10 Years of Failure
#148What I got out of the post was what happens to a person who spends a decade trying to make money instead of building value. I'm not trying to make a judgment call but the emptiness of it almost hurt to read.
Interesting way to read it. Isn't that, however, what most people do (if you replace "trying to make money" with "trying to survive/pay the rent/etc")? How's the average "9-to-5" building value?
Re: Make Money Online: Documenting 10 Years of Failure
#14910 years to discover you have to create some kind of value to make money sustainably.... Otherwise, it's just gambling. Bit of a waste, spending that much time on get-rich-quick schemes.
Re: Make Money Online: Documenting 10 Years of Failure
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's funny? You can't talk about your business?
Why would I want to give anyone even a hint of my profitable niche? Many believe that ideas are worthless, but I don't. Especially on a business/startup forum. I really don't want the competition.
In that case, I really hope you got domain privacy in tact.