I’m going to write an ebook on this one day, because it’s really my entire philosophy when it comes to business, design, or work of any kind.

This will seem really broad and general to you I’m sure, but it’s late and I felt like sharing the secret to my modest successes.

It’s not about having the next greatest idea in the world.

It’s not even about being unique, if you wait around for a completely unique idea you won’t get anywhere.

It’s about 3 things:

Being good at something

Putting time/effort into that thing.

Keep putting time/effort into that thing.

This may sound very simple, but I’m shocked every day at how many people break these rules. Your average ‘make money fast’ blogger knows jack all about what they’re writing about. They just aren’t good enough to make a success of their blog.

I’m going to use my new website PSDFAN.com as an example here. There are thousands of tutorial sites out there, but most don’t get anywhere. The main reason for this is because people aren’t good enough at Photoshop to write good quality tutorials. I’m doing PSDFAN because I am good enough. That isn’t to say I’m amazing, or even great, but I’m good enough… There are tonnes of people better than me at Photoshop, and a lot more that are worse I’m sure. So there we have it, point number 1 - I AM good enough at Photoshop to write tutorials that have the potential to make a successful tutorial site. And I know that without a doubt, I’m being realistic. Most people just don’t think realistically, they start an idea because everyone else is doing it, or because it’s the in thing, or because they want to try something knew. YOU HAVE TO KNOW WITHOUT A DOUBT THAT YOU HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO BE SUCCESSFUL!

So point number 2… I have the time to put into writing tutorials and promoting the site. I also have the effort, and I’m willing to work hard doing these two things. So great! I’m writing good tutorials and people are reading them.

Step 3 - keep doing it. This is the hardest point for me. It’s not hard yet, but what about when I’m back at university? what if I get bored? and so on… This is what will put me either in with the big boys or with everyone else.

My points here are… to be realistic with yourselves, and do what you’re good at. To work hard, and not expect an easy ride. To keep at it, and not give up too soon. Remember, don’t do what you think you should be doing, do what you are good at doing.

What’s the worst thing that can happen to me right now given all the client design work and online stuff I have happening? That’s right - my internet seems to have taken on a mind of it’s own. If I log into msn long enough to start up a chat with someone I’m quickly told that I’ve ‘lost my internet connection’. If I try responding to an email the same thing happens. If I try to get some work done I have to wait a few hours until it stops messing up. Without the internet my laptop becomes an annoying object taking up space on my desk.

Hope a new router later this week will fix things…

Apologies to anyone who’s having trouble hearing from me or if I’ve sounded a little exasperated in my emails.

Some of you may have noticed the shiny new 125X125 ads in my sidebar. They are the result of upgrading my ads system to BuySellAds.com. The website has yet to prove itself (as I’ve just signed up), but looks very promising and takes all of the work out of managing my ads manually. It basically allows to advertisers to purchase an ad through their website which will automatically be shown on my site for 1 month. I’ve set the initial price at $25 to try and attract earlier advertisers. If you’re interested in purchasing an ad spot then simply click on one of the blank ads in my sidebar.

My traffic’s still at 15,000+ uniques per month, and my Alexa has now dropped to 160k. However, I also realize that I’ve neglected the blog a little in recent weeks. I say ‘neglect’, but as you all know I’ve been hectically busy with final exams. Thankfully these are nearly over, and with summer starting I’ll be able to update the blog regularly and see traffic levels creep up above 20k per month again! Either way it’s pretty great value for advertisers!

More updates will be posted soon, but I can tell you that DiscoverUnsigned.com is getting a complete facelift for the June debut album launch. I’m quite excited about this as I’ve rethought the website/business plan and it should be a whole lot better.

PSDFan.com is coming soon (I just need to design it!). I really can’t wait to launch this project as I predict big things for it. I’ve actually challenged Michael Dunlop (from Retireat21.com) to a little contest. He owns his own tutorials/webmaster website called WebDesignDev.com. You may remember that I wrote a tutorial for him a few weeks ago. Anyway, we’ve agreed to compete against each other as motivation to who can grow their site bigger. I realize that his site has search rankings that are years old, and is achieving nearly 1000 uniques per day already. However, I’m confident that I can grow psdfan past this point as soon as I’m on summer!

Other than that in the works I have a turnkey website, a Wordpress themes shop with a difference, a coding tutorials site, and a lot of offline events to do with Discover Unsigned. As you can see it’s going to be a busy summer, especially combining these projects with my web design work which I’m planning on dedicating myself too also.

Check back soon for updates, and wish me luck for my final exam :).

This is going to be quite a quick update as it’s gone 3am and I have a full day of revision tomorrow for my Thursday exams :(.

I just thought that I would update you with sites and how they’re progressing.

Psdfan.com will soon get designed.

DiscoverUnsigned is taking a back-seat to exams, BUT will undergo a full redesign/rethink in the next week or so. If this seems erratic after launch, especially given the site’s immediate success I don’t feel that it is. I get this with every project that I launch, but inevitably it is only after launching that I see how I should have done things!

With DiscoverUnsigned I was thinking about how the site will make money, and rather than through lame Google ads or affiliate programs the main idea was selling our monthly unsigned album. That’s great, a good business model that isn’t being done everywhere, and interest in the album by many people prior to launching. However, when I looked at the site I realized that to the new visitor it just looks like a blog, a regular old music blog. The main business venture is hidden about 3 pages into the site, only to be accessed via some crappy subpage.

That is just not good business, and it’s a stupid way to try and make money, as well as promote unsigned talent. After reading one of my favourite ebooks (written by 37signals) I decided to rethink the website, and to gear it more towards selling albums. After all, that is what will pay the bills, and is also what will help unsigned artist’s more than a simple blog post. I don’t know why this aspect of the site took such a back seat, it’s ludicrous. This is the concept that has excited me the most from day 1, and I’ve hardly put any emphasis on it!

In keeping with the 37 signals ‘Getting Real’ ebook I’ve decided to strip the site down to it’s bare bones in an effort to focus the business. The new site (coming soon) will have a homepage with album cover, track previews and an option to buy it - simple as that. This will generate far more product awareness and overall sales than hiding the album away on a blog subpage.

I will still be updating the music blog, but not 3 times a day, leaving FAR more time to promote the album and give more worthwhile help to artists through this medium.

My advice in closing is:

> Keep your business as small as possible, it allows you to change things far easier.
> Take away everything that is not vital to your business model
> You may know what your site is all about, but new visitors won’t, view your website from their perspective!
> Always push the parts of your business that set you apart, and are the most marketable.
> Follow your passion, get involved in something that you can’t stop thinking about!
> Aim for something that isn’t time consuming - you’ll have more time for promotion or other projects. Sometimes the more profitable websites involve less work, less updating and less hassle, just come up with a simplistic concept that you can leave to earn for you.

I hope these pointers were helpful, as they really define my business thinking. Apologies if there are any typos, but you’ll have to put up with my unprofessionalism for one day (I’m SO tired from exams I’m shocking myself by writing this update).

More updates soon, and possibly rejoicing when summer officially starts.