Wow, what a roller coaster. I’m sure if any of you have a product you’ve been trying to release, but you just can’t get it perfect, so you keep delaying it, you probably know what I’m going through. You see I had this brilliant vision for BEMODEL, at least I thought so. I wanted to stomp my competitor for the social networking space, and so I’ve been on this fucking mission day and night with designers and developers trying to put together this website. I’ve probably told this story a few times, so I’ll keep this one short and quick.
If anyone recalls BM V1, it was done by a company I hired from India in November 2008, and launched probably around May of 2009. The launch went okay, except for the fact that the programming team we hired sucked, and we got hacked due to SQL Injection. $20k down the drain.
Then I got three investors in January of 2010 to build BM V2 which didn’t go as planned, the functionality nor the design was there, so we didn’t market or try to sell the product, why would we market a told we think sucks? Launched in May 2010 I think. The team we hired fucking sucked AGAIN. So now I’m out of all the investors cash right? What do I do? $150k spent on the wrong people, man if only I could rewind time, but it doesn’t work that way, lessons learned. I’ve been through so much hiring people for jobs, that I feel I have an entire new 2-3 chapters to add to my damn book.
I find a new programmer off Elance for $32.40 per hour, and he’s amazing, I hired him in May of 2011, and we got the initial V3 beta ready in October of 2011. It’s now December 2011, almost 2012. I have been paying this programmer out of my own pocket, I’ve been paying a series of designers, iPhone guys, short-term CSS guys, etc… BM V3 was almost there, the functionally of a social network is there, and it worked great, the design was … okay … When does aesthetics and user experience come into play, how important is it? When do I let go, and say fuck it, it’s good enough, let’s just launch already. My problem is that, I can never just say fuck it, I want it to be perfect. I didn’t like the design we had, because the design was lacking something. I know there is a point and time where you have to realize that hey, my product is good enough, and people want it, you need to get it out there, or else you will NEVER get it out there, and you will just keep procrastinating. But I DO NOT feel like that YET.
But now I do. I have finally discovered, and finally found “purpose” for BEMODEL. I was at a Tony Robbins event, and he said something brilliant to me. I can’t quote him exactly, but it was something like this:
“If your product or service isn’t working in this recession/depression/current economic crisis, maybe you need to rethink what your business can do for customers. Come up with a NEW service or NEW product.”
That’s exactly what I went for. Fuck the old business plan of social networking, fuck it completely. It’s still going to be there, but that’s just the fucking surface. I spoke with some respected photographers, did a shit load of research, and just thought to myself 24/7 about what the fuck can I do, to turn this around. Now, that’s no exaggeration when I say 24/7, I’m sick in the head. I care more about business, and fixing my debts with my investors and delivering what I promised than I do life itself, more than anything… I could easily pay them off with my own cash from Email marketing I have on autopilot now, I’m only making 30k a month, but within 6-12 months, I could pay them off. But I am FUCKING determined to make BEMODEL work.
So I hired a new designer, haha. I’d still like to consider this BM V3 since I’m still using the same programmer and we’re only in the beta stages. A designer for the iPhone App, and the website. That’s right, an iPhone App finally. Expected launch date is 3 months from now. I say that conservatively, so hopefully sooner, but I hate giving timeframes now, because it’s always one thing or another with the teams I hire, and nothing is really ever done when you want it to be, so we’ll see.
As far as what I have coming with BEMODEL is so simple, but exactly what will turn this around. I probably spend an average of 2 – 6k a month on BEMODEL. I can’t even save fucking money because I keep spending it on BEMODEL, because I am either A) that fucking stupid, or B) that fucking determined. Last month looks like this for business:
Some updates on me
For the curious ones, here is how I’ve been doing:
* A lot of you have been asking what have I’ve been doing, a lot of it is email marketing and some search marketing, the majority is email. As far as products, my own e-books, and pushing finance ads.
It looks great, and it is great, but with more income, comes more expenses, bigger bills, and more for me to spend on BEMODEL. So really I’m not doing the best job of saving, but I’m trying as hard as possible. For the negative nancies who are about to say I’m just as stupid as last time. I haven’t bought cars, houses, or much toys, it’s been all into one hell of a risky investment (BEMODEL). The higher the risk, the higher the return right? Fuck a 401k/SEP-IRA/Roth-IRA right now, I’m only 24. And at the current rate of income, I’m on track for about 30-40k/mo. Slowly building my way back up, but to be honest, I’m not fully satisfied, because the last three years of my life has been dedicated to BEMODEL, and I have, in my eyes, have let 3 investors down thus far.
Vegas is okay, it’s tough with no friends, but I have my beautiful Girlfriend who takes great care of me, and we’re both on the Vegan challenge together, and tomorrow marks exactly 30 days of no meat, dairy, eggs, etc… I’ve lost 19 pounds so far, my highest was 197 right before we started, and now I’m 178. Give or take a few fluctuating pounds, so about 17 pounds I’ve lost in reality. It’s insane really, how much weight I’ve lost from my face. I can go on and on about how much better I feel, and how much more sensitive my taste buds are to plant foods, and how great they taste now. But I’ll post another blog on this later.
We have only gone to the strip one time since I’ve been living here, and have only gone out once to the clubs. I’m not really a club guy unless I have a group of friends to hangout with, otherwise it’s boring as poop to me. Poop might be more fun actually. Well that’s just a little update on BEMODEL and myself. Leave comments or questions below, I reply to every single one!
Sorry, but real entrepreneurs ship. You’ve been touting a new Bemodel for 2 years now and still only have a homepage?
No, it’s done, and fully functional. Obviously you have not even tried applying for a membership.
You still have your business partner for BeModel?
Sure do.
The email marketing thing on”auto pilot” Do you care to explain a little bit more in a brief email how that works? Im more focused on getting a little money to help my parents out at this point,i’m 22, and 1/4th of that amount would do wonders. Keep up the good work.
I’ll try to write a blog detailed up on it.
Andrew, I adore what you do and how successful you’ve been on the internet (and not
). I also want to make a better than average living off the internet. I know it requires hard work and is by no means an easy route. My question to you is, where do you suggest I talk.
Depends on where you’re at now. I suggest you start reading books on how to program, or get into marketing, or just build a product/idea. =]
Andrew,
great post. Unrelated question, just curious, what is the program you are using to manage your income/expenses as illustrated above?
Mint.com it’s amazing!
“I’m only making 30k a month”
I don’t know what you’re talking about, but that’s a good stream of cash coming from an automated source.
You’re pretty insane man, can’t wait for your next post.
How much sleep do you get a night??
I wake up every morning at 7:30AM excited as fuck and ready to work. I fall asleep around 12-1AM, never later. This vegan diet changed my life. Literally.
How much of your day are you working? Do you work out or hit the xbox once in awhile?
All without caffeine.. that’s pretty good
I work on BM from dusk until dawn, literally, checking elance, emails, replying to people, thinking of ideas, talking with designers and programmers constantly all day every day.
I work on my email marketing about 10 hours a week.
I use to LIVE off caffeine, I LOVE COFFEE, but I was committed to testing Tony’s theories, and I seriously went completely Alkaline. No acidic foods or drinks, no alcohol, no caffeine. I don’t need anything to stay energized all day anymore, just water. It’s insane.
great stuff, keep on pushing for the launch!
Would be awesome if your next post could be about how you make that 30k a month!
You got it!
Hey dude, We have chatted before but i don’t think it was about BEMODEL. Either way i get all your emails.
The question to me as, at what point do you focus on the users as they need it? If you ever listen to mixergy interviews, most of the successful big time websites just launch and form as they get more and more users. Even facebook did this. You fill one hole where the market is open and get users in, as you start gaining traction you keep your head in the game and change with what your users want and need. This way your site is everything that people want it to be and tons of time isn’t wasted on what you perceive the market to want or need (pretty perfect graphics for instance)
I know you couldn’t launch the first since it was swiss cheese, but the site has to be good enough at this point to just focus on gaining users and traction vs site design. Why the fuck do you need an iphone app if you don’t have 100′s of thousands of users to download it. That shit is distracting your time and money for the main site. The main site isn’t even ready for an app. You know what i mean?
I had to do the same when i was working on a new e-commerce framework. I was focusing on all this extra shit i wanted, then someone told me the same thing and i realized i needed to roll it out, and let the market change my product. I did just that, and conversion rate skyrocketed. What do you think?
BTW, interesting about the email marketing, I tried getting into that but was just lost about a year ago. I don’t even email my existing customer base for my stores. I don’t know why it seems so complex.
Hey Chris, you raise a lot of good points I have been struggling with, and that is exactly what you’re talking about, just letting go and letting the market change your product and give feedback. But it’s just so under developed and doesn’t feel fluid with the templates, it’s just not ready, and if you wanted to see it, email me and we can chat, and I’ll show you. You’re absolutely right about the iPhone App, that’s not the main focus, but it’s being worked on.
Thanks for the advice though!
For one reason or another I can’t find your email listed on here. Hit me on the one i listed for this comment. I’ll take a look. I say get a goal to a minimum level and roll it out and work on it as it grows, that’s how all the great sites have started out so don’t re-invent the wheel.
Andrew – don’t become discouraged. Hang in there, keep trying and it will all unfold as it should. Progress isn’t always forward. It sounds like your doing everything you can. You have the heart of a champion. Keep your morals intact and carry on.
Love your honest emails.
Can’t believe you got off caffeine. Wish I could. You’re an inspiration with that diet thing.
Also a pat on the back – I think you’ve accomplished a heck of a lot for being only 24!!! Good work!
Thank you! Caffeine was pretty tough, it was really the greasy food cravings in the first 10-15 days that was tough!
Why don’t you put your eMail list on this website to get more subscribers. Most blogs have a eMail subscription box. Your blog is way better than most blogs just because your an honest guy and tell your story as it is. I’ve learned a lot just by reading your articles and you answering my questions.
Where do you post your eMail subscription box? You got to post it somewhere online to get eMail subscriptions, right?
You say that you got most of your subscriptions from a few of your popular articles, but those people subscribes to you because of your internet marketing talent. Do they buy the Dating Products that you promote? Or do you promote more than just dating products.
Would you say that your eMail list is making you the most money or your Adwords campaign? 1-3 sales per 20-30 clicks is great. You must be doing something right to get such good results.
Are you thinking/planning on doing Article marketing on your Blog. I think it’s getting popular. And when BeModel hit it big in the Market your blog will get tons of visitors, making you a star.
Good point on the email box, just forgot, haha.
I got a good surge from all over the web, but really what got me going was connections I had in mailing. If it wasn’t for the connections with big mailing lists already, it would of been very hard to start. I do a lot of email, and progressing over to search as well.
What would you say make you the most money? Your eMail list? Or your Adwords campaign? Which of the two are you getting the most buyers from?
My email list for sure.
Please let me know how many subscribers you have on your mailing list to make this amount of money?
What niche/type of product are you promoting (money making, dating, etc.)? I know you might be selling products from different categories, but can you name a few?
And how many keywords do you usually use for your Adwords campaign? I usually use around 7-10 because I want to keep things tight to get better conversion.
hey andrew, check out some videos from Eric Reis about the Lean Startup movement. I think it might change the way you’ve been going about the launch fo BM.
The long and short of his idea is you can spend all the time and money developing something that you think is great and perfect but then nobody comes and you can’t get users, could you have discovered this for much less time and money? lots of vids on youtube or you can read his book the lean startup. check it out.
Thanks man, I’m going to check it out now.
Andrew,
How do you handle accounting stuff?
Not to well, need to work on that, hah!
If the bemodel concept doesn’t work, you could as a back up make it about BEing a role MODEL. A site for positive influence or a social platform (with FB and Twitter apps) for ballers who want to be the leader at something like: how to throw big parties, get into power circles, find investors, how to make a good YouTube video or music video, fixing a broken image with good PR, how to get attention, how to trick out a car, ballin on a budget, what’s in style ranking/rating system, how to dress cool/swag, bachelors (bachelorettes) code – of ethics, interior design tricks & trends for baller pads, cougar code, etc…
HAHA, that’s actually a great idea