What’s a Blog?
I’m often asked at work (by my much younger counterparts) , “What do you do on your days off?”. I tell them I blog. Some look at me like I’m some sort of alien. You’re like, old, and you blog? I first remind them that 46 years young, is NOT old - thank you very much, and yes, I am a blogger. Others ask me, “What’s a blog? You make money from your blog? How is that working?” I tell them to go look up Ashley Qualls.
Just 4 years ago, Ashley became interested in graphic design. This was the time when social networking was becoming very popular. Ashley noticed her friends were customizing their myspace layouts, so she began designing her own. She used bright colors, lots of hearts, and quotes from her favorite songs. Her layouts were so popular among her friends, she borrowed eight dollars from her mother and created a website, whateverlife.com, so she could give them away to anyone. She was 14.
Whateverlife.com
Thanks to Ashley’s strong work ethic and marketing savvy, Whateverlife began pulling in more teenage girls than a Justin Timberlake concert - about a million hits a day.
With that big of an audience, the site started to attract advertisers, lots of them. Ashley’s first check was for $2,700. The next was for $5,000, the third for $10,000. Today, just 4 years later, her website receives more web traffic than the circulations for Seventeen, Teen Vogue, and CosmoGirl! magazines………….combined.
The one bedroom apartment she shared with her mother and younger sister has now been replaced by a brand new 4 bedroom house. The website is reported to bring in over $70,000 - per month, and she turned down a purchase offer for $1.5 million. All before she turned 18.
When asked what she does with all her money, Ashley replied,
“I don’t even know how to put this, but it’s just kind of like the shiny feeling that when you have this money, it kind of goes away after a while. It gets old, you know. (uh, no - I don’t know 
) Yeah, I can go out and buy you know something really cool. But at the same time I mean I don’t really need too much. I like to invest it back into the business.”
With that kind of money smarts, Ashlee will go far.
I posted this under blogging, but also under inspirational. Because this young lady is inspirational, to me. If a 14 yr old girl can create a million dollar website, then anyone should be able to. All it takes is hard work, focus, and belief. Good luck Ashley, and thanks for the inspiration.
Lessons Learned
- Follow your passion - do something you love to do.
- Become an expert at what you do.
- Recognize opportunities to turn your passion into profit, and follow through on them.
- Choose good advisors, and take their advice.
- Be yourself.
- Always, always believe in yourself.
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Comments
I had quite the head start on Ashley when it came to graphics design and website building (self taught just like her), yet I have not made any money from it, much less millions. I have put ALOT of work into what I did, but it has not translated into dollars no matter how hard I tried and worked. I cant stand success stories like these. Honestly, I WISH I could pump my fist in the air, and say something like “Yeah! Good for you Ashley!”, but I cant. If my life was any good, if I was content, if I had some money in the bank, if I had a decent roof over my head, if I had a good satisfying life, I could. But I cant.
When you’re a failure in life, when no matter how long and hard you work, how hard you try, you’re still living in poverty, you’re still living a lousy life, when you’re a COMPLETE AND TOTAL LOSER, its hard, very hard, to read success stories like Ashley’s and not have thoughts of putting a gun in my mouth and pulling the trigger.
Damn it, I had quite a few years head start ahead of Ashley (more than half her young lifetime), and out of the blue she starts her own website, and just a scant few months later begins collecting checks worth thousands of dollars month after month. As I understand it, she now earns more money in one month than I have in the past ten years (and probably will in the next ten).
Where was I a few years back when Ashley got started at 14? I was working in an office building as a janitor, scrubbing toilets and urinals (among other equally disgusting and degrading janitorial duties), for not much above minimum wage. Where am I now? I lost that job, and am on food stamps. All the while, I tried (God knows I’ve TRIED!) to make just a few bucks at the very least over the internet, but it all came to nothing.
When I think of all the hours, all the years, of hard, back breaking, sweaty, dirty, disgusting labor I’ve done over the years just to keep my head above water financially while at the same time some little teenaged girl somewhere in this country is earning more money in one week then I will see all year (and buying herself a 4 bedroom HOUSE too), just by working in the comfort of her own home on her computer at her leisure, it makes me want to bang my head up against a wall and cry. (dont get me wrong. I dont think that Ashley shouldnt have her success. I just wish that kind of success would come to me just once in my life)
Have you ever seen the Mel Brooks 1968 comedy movie “The Producers” starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder? In that movie Mostel is a once successful Broadway Producer (Max), now a complete failure who romances little old ladies in order to trick them into investing their money in his failing plays. Gene Wilder is his accountant (Leo Bloom) who finds that Max raised more money, two thousand dollars, than it actually cost to produce his latest failure of a play. This amuses Leo who points out that under certain circumstances someone could make more money with a flop than a hit. The problem is that its completely illegal. (Raise a million dollars to produce a play, that in reality only costs around 60 thousand dollars to produce. Make sure that the play is a flop. It closes on opening night, making the investors think that since it was a one night flop, there are no profits to go around, and they lost their investment. The Producer keeps the remainder of the money in his pocket, 940 thousand dollars) Naturally, needing someone to juggle the books for him, Max tries to enlist Leo in this scheme. But at first Leo, being an honest man, is hesitant. So it takes a while for Max to convince Leo to be his partner. Max is talking to Leo:
Leo: But if we’re caught, we’ll go to prison.
Max: You dont think you’re in prison now? Living in a gray little room, going to a gray little job, leading a gray little life?
Leo: You know what? You’re right. I’m a nothing. I spend my life counting other people’s money. People I’m smarter than. Better than! Where’s my share? Where’s Leo Bloom’s share? I want…I want everything I’ve ever seen in the movies!
Now, I don’t claim to be smarter than or better than Ashley, but considering all the years of hard work I’ve put into graphics and website design, (among many other internet enterprises), and having nothing, not a cent, to show for it, I feel exactly like Leo when he cries out: “WHERE’S MY SHARE???? WHERE’S LEO BLOOM’S SHARE????”
I sure would like to know the answer to that question.
MRS. I am truly sorry for your situation. These are indeed hard times for many people. I had hoped these articles would inspire people to realize all they can become. I had no idea it may do the opposite. If I can give you any advice at all, and take it for whatever value you find in it, realize this:
First. Ashley DID do this. It IS possible. And if a 14 yr old girl can do this, then anyone can, including you.
"When you’re a failure in life", "you’re still living in poverty", "you’re still living a lousy life", "when you’re a COMPLETE AND TOTAL LOSER" . Do you HONESTLY believe that about yourself? Understand this, and this is the basic premise behind this entire website.......YOUR BELIEFS CREATE YOUR REALITY. Your life is a self fufilling prophecy. This is the life you are creating for yourself. Change your thoughts! change those beliefs! You're not a loser. You're not a failure. You have a family? You have friends? You obviously have a computer. You have the knowledge to create a website. You have MANY things that other people do not. Be thankful for the things you DO have, no matter how insignificant they may seem to be. Try making a list of 5 things you are grateful for every day. Read that list before you go to bed at night. Gratitude is a powerful way to start that internal shift. Be kind to yourself. Stop the limiting beliefs and replace them with positive, uplifting ones. You may be surprised as to what happens. Your life just may change.
Everything begins with a thought. And a belief is just a thought you think over and over. Change your thoughts, change your life. It really is that easy.
Well, thats exactly how I got started. I used to see other people creating their own graphics and posting them on the internet, and having somewhat of an artistic soul, I wanted to do that too. So I bought some graphic creating software, and pretty much taught myself how to use it. And I wasnt thinking of dollars at all. I was doing it for the sheer joy of doing it and for brightening up other peoples lives for at least a minute or two, and I did share my creations with others. I loved other peoples reactions when they loved and appreciated my work. It wasnt long before I was getting 5 or 6 requests a day to "do this" or "please do that graphic for me". And I never turned down a request. And I never asked for money. Years go by and basically the requests die down over time. And then Ashley Qualls comes around, and makes a fortune almost overnight at what I have been working at for years. NOW, when I read of a success story like Ashley Qualls, when I learn that she got rich basically doing the same thing I was doing, I do think of money. But back then when I was still doing graphics, I wasnt.