Scott S.

Hi Andrew. Do you still have your M6? I'm not sure if you remember, but I made an offer for $60k cash back in May 2007 and wasn't sure if you were still interested. Please see this page for reference: http://web.archive.org/web/20070527182440/http://...

I took your advice and migrated from Plesk to a custom control panel and wow what a difference it made in business. Customers preferred the specialized interface. We are now a major player in the Greek hosting industry and expanding internationally at a rapid pace. I am now a millionaire thanks to you my friend. Take care and best of luck in your ventures.

Travis Brown

I haven't been keeping up with the posts lately, but I plan on reading them after I get some sleep (4am here in NY). This was a good read, and I'm glad you've been working hard to reach your goals. I've been checking for updates on Drivable since early 2007, but instead I see updates on something just as ambitious. It's never easy starting from scratch and working to get to the top, and I'm sure you know that better than most people.

I know you worked your ass off when you did the MySpace stuff, and this time around, after many lessons learned, that same success is possible. I feel the same way about life at the moment, right now I'm also at my lowest point in life in terms of some of what society considers successful. It's funny, I still see ages 17-18 as my highest point in life when it came to overall success. It's the type of success that few get a taste of when they're young, and once it's gone you do almost everything you can to get it back.

On the bright side, many lessons were learned. Many of the same mistakes I made a couple of years ago will never be repeated again, and it's bittersweet to learn this sooner rather than later in life. All of this is just fuel to the fire.

You say you've lost everything; translate this to more motivation (you already have). I wish you great luck in everything you decide to do. As humans, we all just want to succeed in some way whether it's financially, having a family, being social, being a loner, getting what you've wanted, helping others, or being known for doing something great.

I've been checking out beModel since you launched the site a couple of months ago. I do have advice and some suggestions, but I'm not sure if they reflect the thought of the overall population.

Travis Brown

Some suggestions:

First up, I think beModel should have more of it's own identity. It already does, but to an extent. I think it can be taken a step further. An identity that separates itself from the other social networking sites but doesn't stray too far away from what the site is intended for. Sure, there's a site logo, the web icon, and the unique features on the profile pages that separates beModel from sites like Myspace.

It's just that specific things on the site make me feel like I'm on a site influenced by Myspace (design-wise). You are beModel, and you are better than MySpace. They along with Facebook set the bar for what social networking sites should look like. You have the power to raise it.

These are all very small observations on my end, but another suggestion would be more consistency when it comes to the graphics on the site. The site icon is black and green, while the icon on the site is orange and white (the black used in the site icon is understandable). Buttons on the site such as the 'go' button for search, the 'search' button on the browse page, the forum buttons, and 'post comment' feel like they need a refresh with cleaner fonts (on the graphic). The Online Now icon should also get a refresh to stay away from the Myspace influence.

Unlike Myspace and Facebook, beModel seems to be targeted at people in he creative media business. Models, photographers, assistant, make-up artists, set designers, directors, and more. Since you're not specifically targeting people who want to socialize with friends, this gives you a tighter and more focused grip on what the site should offer to such professionals.

The first time I visited beModel, I assumed it was only a site for people who model. The tag-line is "meet and network with other artists", but the homepage doesn't give enough information to make people aware of just what type of artists are on the site. Are there musicians? painters? photographers? clothing designers? models? graffiti artists? I'm thinking that a great solution to this would be a box on the homepage with a list of the supported professions (clicking on one would take you to a profession-specific page) along with the number of people signed up for each one (this would be text only).

The events page can also use a refresh. What's already there is great, but it can definitely be expanded upon. Right now you can find events, but there aren't any options to narrow down your search. You can search by country, state, and date. Adding event categories would make the events page an even better destination. Narrowing your searches down by activities, music, nightlife/clubs, parties, model auditions, and more. Now for some design suggestions: I think there's too much whitespace. The table for event info/descriptions should be much larger (at least 50%), and the event thumbnails should all be the same width (if zoomed).

Think it's time for bed, but but one final suggestion would be to do some search engine optimization on beModel. You want to be #1-3 on Google if someone searches for "find xxxxxx". This means spicing up the metadata and doing everything that SEO entails. Overall, the site is great and I'm sure it will succeed. I have a few more suggestions but not enough juice to post em right now. Feel free to contact me online or telly (on Facebook) if you want anymore suggestions.