Where ShoeMoney makes his money…

I often wondered what businesses Jeremy Shoemaker (aka ShoeMoney) runs, as I’ve heard him mention having up to 5 distinct businesses. I decided to search and found an interview he did with SEOMOZ:

Ringtones WAS the sickest way to make money… I mean, I was throwing nickels to make $12-$22 conversions… AND converting at 10-15%. That is damn good ROI. I do have many other sites. I also do a lot with software and other stuff. I have sites (like dropload.com) which have over 4 million users. Also, we launched dropcash.com 2 years ago and it did really well right off the bat.

I also do software. I just launched a new product called SpaceLook, which is a application that handles all messaging and stuff with MySpace in a nice gui windows-based app.

I also own a company that does nothing but resell computers.

I also own a company that deals in importing exporting data cables for wireless phones.

So ya, I do more than ringtones It’s just when something is really hot and SO EASY to make money from you can’t look the other way. Also, being I am a 3 person operation–1) business manager 1) shoemoney 1) dillsmack - my badass coder–we really have to focus.

10 Places to Buy a Profitable Web Site

So you think you can dance?!  Well, building an online business can take a TON of work. If you know how to sniff out the good deals from the bad, it may be better to buy an existing online business. Here are 10 places you can explore.

Sitepoint’s Sell Your Site Marketplace
Digitalpoint’s Buy, Sell, Trade Sites Section
Namepros Developed Sites for Sale
Geek Village Website for Sale
DN Forum Developed Websites
Ebay Internet Businesses and Websites
Webmaster Talk Websites for Sale
Search Engine Forums I Want to Sell My Website
BizBuySell Internet Businesses
Webhostingtalk Other Offers and Requests

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The Carnival of Entrepreneurship stops @ YolkSmoke

Carnival is a riot of fantasy in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil that puts Mardi Gras in New Orleans to shame… but I’m afraid my mind has run wild again. We’re here to host the Carnival of Entrepreneurship, which is a traveling weekly blog carnival featuring the best of the entrepreneurial blogosphere.

Float #1 - Top 10 Rocketboom Business Notions

I’m not exactly sure what Rocketboom means, but it’s something good, because this article is full of wonderful insights on entrepreneurial business in 2.0 land.

Float #2 - 10 Ways to Increase Your Website Conversion Rate

Just about every online entrepreneur stands to gain from this article, should they choose to implement the changes suggested which are aimed at making the shopper’s life easier and their experience more efficient.

Float #3 - The 3 Perils of Afilliate Marketing

Thank God, someone is inspiring young entrepreneurs to think bigger than afilliate marketing. I don’t want to spoil this article, because it is a bit short, but I’m hopeful it will save newbies some wasted energy, and inspire the mass market of online entrepreneurs to ditch infomercials.

Float #4 - 7 Tasty Tips to Market Your Small Business OFFLINE

Why should your marketing plan exclusively focus on how to build your brand and presence online?! Yaro strikes again, with this great article.

Float #5 - Starting an e-Biz - Part 1 - Planning Your Business [ Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 ]

This five part series serves up some tasty advice on getting going with your online business. Read 1, read 2, heck… read them all!?

Float #6 - 26 Most Facinating EntrepreneursMy Mom used to always tell me, “You are are who hang out with son.” Well, if I can’t hang out with Richard Branson and Martha Stewart, it doesn’t mean I can’t learn from them. Study the pro’s!

Float #7 - 10 Smart Moves to Improve Your BusinessDerek Featherstone (what a name) offers up some excellent common sense for small business, such as stay small, close email, and raise your prices every year. Sounds simple, and it is. Problem is. the simple things often get overlooked.

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Promote the carnival! Host or submit and article to the Carnival of Entrepreneurship right now!

BEWARE of Sitepoint’s Fraud Auctions!

Sitepoint ruined my day today in a very big way.

Sitepoint has grown to become the internet’s largest marketplace for buying and selling web sites. In the last month or so, they’ve updated their forums, where the auctions take place, to conduct more formal auctions with “time remaining”, highest bidder, etc…

I’ve been frequenting Siteopoint for the past several months in hopes of purchasing an existing site that suits my interests and is already generating revenue. BAM.. I found it! It was a 14 day auction that ended this morning at 4AM. Well, it was supposed to. This is where I nearly lost my mind. With 30 seconds remaining on the auction, I posted the highest bid, and watched it count down to 0 seconds. I won! NOT. The “time remaining” counter suddenly reset to “Time Remaining: 3 hours, 59 minutes”. WTF?! Now it’s 4AM, I’ve stayed up all night, I should have won… and I have an ensuing bidding war on my hands. I decide to set my alarm for 3.5 hours and go to sleep. I then wake up to no functioning internet in my house. Brilliant! By the time I get that worked out the auction is over, and I got outbid.

The root of the problem is that the auctioneer decided in the final 12 hours or so, to add 4 hours to the auction, and Sitepoint allows you this control, which should NEVER happen in the final 24 hours… but that’s beside the point. The “time remaining” never got updated with the 4 more hours, until the existing clock counted down to zero, at which point… SURPRISE, the auction is really not over. I suspect they will code a fix to this ASAP, as web sites often sell for over $100,000 on Sitepoint, and let me tell you… if the site I bid on was a 6-figure site, I would be calling my attorney immediately.

Suckage for me is I’ve since contacted the auctioneer, who apologized and stated that the highest bidder immediately wired him payment via Paypal, and the domain transfer is already in process.

So, I’ve challenged Sitepoint on all of this, but since the ownership has already switched hands, I have little recourse at this point… other than to warn the 50,000 young entrepreneural visitors we get here at YolkSmoke about the “fraud auctions” at Sitepoint.

Am I bitter? Ummmm… yea. Very much so!

UPDATE: The 4 hour extension is actually an automated feature on Sitepoint?! I just got an email from them stating, “Because this bid was made within the last 4 hours of the auction, the auction end has been extended. This helps prevent bidders from being out-bid at the last minute.” Come on, four hours?! I can understand 10 minutes, but four hours? That’s a poor anti-sniping policy for auctions that end in the middle of the night.

10 Reasons to Fire Your Boss!

Are you having a hard time being an entrepreneur? Hitting walls… getting frustrated, feel like you’re not getting anywhere? We all have bad days, and some times considering the alternative can serve as a good motivation to keep pushing through.

Enter Steve Pavlina. He is here to tell us why NOT to work for the man, which I’ve interpreted as why to become an entrepreneur!

On a side note: A few years ago, I took this incredibly inspiring speech on Classical Enlightenment Thought that Noam Chomsky and mixed it over a song I wrote, which is right in line with this post… listen to it as you read.

…and now Steve Pavlina’s…

Top 10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job!

1. Income for dummies - you only get paid WHEN you work.

2. Limited Experience - employers prefer you stop learning and just do what you’re good at!?

3. Lifelong Domestication - learn how to be a good pet?!

4. Too many mouths to feed - you only end up being paid a fraction of the value you create.

5. Way Too Risky! - someone can turn off ALL your income by saying two words, “you’re fired!”

6. Having an Evil Bovine Master - When you run into an idiot in the corporate world, you have to turn around and say, “Sorry, boss.”

7. Begging for Money - When you want to increase your income, do you have to sit up and beg your master for more money?

8. An Inbred Social Life - If one of your co-slaves gets sold to another master, do you lose a friend?

9. Loss of Freedom - As part of their obedience training, employees must be taught how to dress, talk, move, and so on.

10. Becoming a Coward - It’s only a matter of time before you sacrifice the noblest parts of your humanity on the altar of fear: first courage… then honesty… then honor and integrity… and finally your independent will.

Steve goes on to offer some resources on HOW to make money online, which I’ve included below in case he takes his article off line. The full kickin’ corporate ass article is here.

• The Courage To Live Consciously (article on how to transition to more meaningful work)
• Podcast #006 - How to Make Money Without a Job (audio)
• Podcast #009 - Kick-start Your Own Business (audio)
• Podcast #014 - Embracing Your Passion (audio)
• 10 Stupid Mistakes Made by the Newly Self-Employed (article)
• How to Build a High-Traffic Web Site (or Blog) (article)
• How to Make Money From Your Blog (article)