I am not a ba$tard

[mattymcg]

Hi everyone.

I thought I'd post a proper introduction. I know a few of the regular members here might have already formed the wrong idea about me, so here is my attempt to show a bit more about who I am and why I'm here. Riffing off Andy's intro, let me say unequivocally that I am not a ba$tard. Really.

If you read any of that first thread that I linked to, you'll know that I work for SitePoint. And while I enjoy my job and, as I've demonstrated, will stick up for any of my colleagues who I believe are copping a hard time unnecessarily, I don't define myself entirely by my employer.

• I'm married, and have a four year old daughter. I'm biased of course, but she's adorable.
• I cycle a lot. To work, on weekends... Melbourne is a great cycling city.
• I'm in the process of writing and illustrating a children's book in my spare time.
• I don't really post in forums on a regular basis. Never have. Don't know how people find the time. That includes the SitePoint Forums. I try to be engaged to a certain degree, as it's in my best interest for doing my job, but I'll probably never be a regular who is spending all day every day chatting about stuff. On any forum. It's just not my thing.

With all that said, one might ask why I'm here, other than to gallantly defend the honour of my co-workers ... well, truth be told I'd love to be in the web site investment/ownership game for myself. Seriously. I've edited articles on SitePoint about it, I once worked as a programmer and now work as a designer, so I feel like I have a good background for the logistics of maintaining/modifying sites. And I obviously have come to know the Flippa guys so have the inside intel on the marketplace. What's stopping me?

I don't really know. One, the fact that I don't feel like I'm driven by money. I love design, love the power of visual presentation, and love making stuff that people use and go "this is awesome". But when it comes to dealing with the $, I just don't get all that interested. It's the same reason that I'd sooner give something away than be bothered listing it on eBay. I wish it weren't the case, but it's true.

And so to my first question.

How does one get excited about buying and selling websites? What is it that drives you to want to get so involved in the practice of doing so? Why do you love it so much? I'd love to hear from you.

Being honest, with my heart on my sleeve here guys. Be gentle.

[Clinton]

Hi, mattymcg, and thanks for the intro post. I'm going to copy it. No, not the bit cycling. Or living in Melbourne. But I'm going to do a post like yours telling people who're new to the forum a bit about myself.

I may even nick your title and reword it: Looks can be deceiving, I really am a ba$tard (should help to frighten the spammers)

You got some stick in previous posts as you were representing SP and not everybody here is that happy with SP. But talk about buying and selling websites and I think you'll find this a pretty friendly crowd.

You and I have spoken before and, for those who don't know, you edited/trimmed/proofread the article I wrote for Sitepoint on website valuations a couple of years ago. It went back and forth between us a few times if I remember.

truth be told I'd love to be in the web site investment/ownership game for myself. Seriously.

Excellent. Join the party!

I'm a bit like you in that I'm not driven by money. It wasn't always so. I've had bad patches in my life, was homeless for a bit about 20 years ago and had to be very money-focused to fight my way back. But I'm very relaxed about money now.

To answer your questions, I try not to get excited about buying/selling websites. I treat them as business decisions. I don't buy sites because they're sites. I buy them only if I believe they'll generate a return for me. Revenue from my website portfolio is my family's only source of income and has been for several years.

I love it because of the freedom. Not only do I not have a boss, but I work when I want, where I want and only as much as I want. I've got three kids (7, 6, 4) and when they're on holiday, I'm on holiday. We're coming down to Australia for a couple of months later this year.

Making my living from websites has enabled me to attend every minor school function of theirs, take them camping or, as we did last week, build a castle in the garden out of a load of old cardboard boxes (compete with turrets and a drawbridge) in the middle of the week. When they're sick I can stay home. When they're all at school my wife and I sometimes head off for a picnic in the woods. It's half term now and I did a barbeque for the kids for lunch today - I tried my new cajun butterfly chicken. Wow, I'm a good cook! Because I don't have to work that many hours, I am involved in various charities from the PTA in the school to serving on the school's governing board to helping at a local hospice to taking an active role in the Rotary Club's charitable activities. My LinkedIn profile describes me as semi-retired.

Have I convinced you to kick da day job?

[hooperman]

Hi mattymcg

How does one get excited about buying and selling websites? What is it that drives you to want to get so involved in the practice of doing so? Why do you love it so much? I'd love to hear from you.

Personally, I like most aspects of buying + developing: the whole thing. I'm not that bothered about selling.

The long search for a site to buy that yields a veritable gem is a beautiful moment. I go all gooey. The search is bitter sweet: finding something special makes up for the hours of tedious searching. Once I have a new site, I see that site almost like a blank sheet of paper I can draw anything on. I can shape the content precisely how I want it - yes, yes, I'm a sculptor! I can research the areas I should write about to satisfy my hungry readers.

It's like an enjoyable game, really. The revenue a site generates is like the currency that allows you to keep playing the game of acquiring more sites to make successful. But the revenue is only one aspect. I'm a bit geeky and I like studying my traffic stats to improve a site's performance. It's a puzzle where you have to try and figure out what visitors want and then give it to them in the best way.

[mattymcg]

Thanks Clinton and hooperman. I definitely see the upside of focussing on investing in a business—regardless of the nature of the business—compared to relying completely on a salary. I guess I just need to give some considered thought about my priorities and whether I would want to consider spending all my time on such a thing. It's one thing to have that kind of freedom, but if it comes with doing stuff that I'm not passionate about, then that would be too high a price. I wouldn't be buying happiness, I'd be buying flexibility and unhappiness.

But that's getting ahead of myself, of course. I guess I just need to dip my toe in first.

[Clinton]

There's enough opportunity about for you to find one that gives both the freedom and the fun.

[Andy]

Gee Matty,

How can I not answer this thread after you admitted to RIPPING ME OFF! :-) Oh well... what is it they say? Imitation is the purest form of flattery? Is there a coquettish smiley anywhere about?

About your question, I'm not sure I am the one to answer as I've never bought or sold a website but I DID join this group.

Selling websites - I'd consider selling a site in a niche I was interested in developing at one time but no longer for one reason or another. I rather like the process of building a site so I wouldn't mind starting some and selling at a profit. The problem I'd have with that is I tend to put a lot of work to stuff and I'm not sure it would be worth my time trying to do this for a living. Like Christopher posted earlier - my time is far more valuable than money.

Buying websites - Here I'd like to take a marginally profitable website and improve it. With my background and the right situation, I think this could be very satisfying and fun. I suppose I could do the same with a wildly profitable website but I tend to avoid risky ventures and therefore I avoid putting large sums on the table.

About your "checkered past"... I really haven't paid that much attention. I started to read the hub-bub in the thread you linked to but all that doesn't really matter to me. Shoot straight with me and we'll get along fine.

Regards,

Andy