I’m Now A Millionnaire


Well, you’d think I was the way people have started asking for money since I announced the sale of Ensight. Specifically since I announced I wouldn’t be accepting any bids under 15,000$ (US).

I’ve had people approach me straight out asking for a hand out, wanting me to invest in their business, wanting me to give them money for free books, so they can take their wife to dinner… I’ve literally had more than 50 requests for money in the last week.

You’d think I’d sold it for a million dollars.

But I haven’t, thankfully (I think). I’ve sold it for a reasonable amount, and the full deal includes monthly compensation for me, which brings the total into that 15,000$ US range. I’ll be posting details of the deal later.

Edit: What does 15,000$ mean to me? Obviously it’s not enough to change my lifestyle. But it is enough to pay off my student loans and to take my wife on our honeymoon, as we never really got one when we got married 4.5 years ago. So, for our 5th anniversary we’re going somewhere nice, thanks to the sale of Ensight. That’s it.

Thankfully, this whole thing hasn’t been negative. I’ve talked to 3 other people who are now considering selling their blogs. The blogs are smaller, more targetted and actually have interested buyers. It seems I may have started something. As far as I’m aware, Ensight’ll be the first blog to be sold for anything beyond the domain name’s value (a couple of hundred bucks typically). It’ll be the first blog to be sold as and bought as a blog.

I was talking to one person on the phone last week and realised that someone could easily build a network of likeminded blogs simply through buying them. Likewise they could build a network of blogs simply by getting bloggers together. I mean, what’s to stop BusinessPundit, Business Evolutionist, The Occupational Adventure and Venturepreneur from teaming up and maximizing some ad dollars, clout and developing a blogging brand?

Off topic, I know.

Getting back to the topic of the sale…

Yes, it’s going through. No, I don’t have a timeline. Yes, ad contracts will either be honoured or refunded in full. Yes, I intend to post the full details of the deal here. Yes I am hoping this becomes big news so that it helps people realise that blogs have a real value proposition to bring to the table as something more than simply link farms. That blogs, as blogs, are a good business and can make money.

More details to come, including some thoughts that have been stirring in my head. Hopefully I’ll have a few related posts today. Maybe we’ll call it “Ensight Sale Day” or somesuch.

  1. #1 by Vinnie Garcia - September 22nd, 2004 at 08:40

    I’m glad the proceeds of the sale are going to a good cause. It will be good to drop the student loans, and I’m sure the wife will appreciate the honeymoon (my honeymoon was only 2 days long thanks to a lack of funds while saving up to buy a place).

  2. #2 by Rob - September 22nd, 2004 at 09:00

    Congratulations! Maybe I’ll work on that blog ring advertising thing you threw out.

  3. #3 by Jeremy C. Wright - September 22nd, 2004 at 09:07

    I figured you’d like that. If you need a hand, let me know. As I mentioned, I know a few folk who could be interested in this type of thing, myself included :)

  4. #4 by Olivier Travers - September 22nd, 2004 at 11:52

    We sold MarketingFix in June last year (now with a new owner and known as MarketingVox). I won’t disclose the amount but take my word for it that it was more than what you got for Ensight :-). But then we were five people doing it and the content and audience were (still are) very targeted.

  5. #5 by Jeremy C. Wright - September 22nd, 2004 at 12:08

    Olivier, yeah I’d known about that. I’d never really considered that a “blog” so much as a business delivery mechanism based on a blog.

    I’m sure that’s just me being technical though :)

  6. #6 by mariano - September 22nd, 2004 at 13:52

    congrats.. if you hace 15$ around i can sell you mine :P

  7. #7 by Ingoal - September 22nd, 2004 at 14:13

    Congrats Jeremy. Before this I never even thought about the possibility that a blog could be “a product” which can be sold…you’ve changed that…let’s see if any other “major blogs” are going to change hands too in the near future…

  8. #8 by Jay Solo - September 22nd, 2004 at 14:25

    Very cool!

    I can’t say the idea of a blog as a product hadn’t occured to me before. Corante comes to mind. As do the Denton properties. It’s just unusual for a more or less hobbyist blogger to move into a commercial situation, and I am not sure that has happened in the form of a “sale” of a blog.

    It makes me go “hmmmm…” in regard to the idea of focus and building a brand and audience for a blog of some topic or another.

    It also makes me ponder the future of memes like Carnival of the Capitalists if commercial blogs ever dominate.

  9. #9 by Trudy W. Schuett - September 22nd, 2004 at 14:25

    re: Blogging Brand — whatcha think I’m doing over here with my 7 blogs and an interest in three more? Uh, huh…

    Only I never quite thought of it in those terms before!

  10. #10 by Trader Mike - September 23rd, 2004 at 07:32

    That’s great news Jeremy! Congratulations and enjoy the honeymoon.

  11. #11 by Woo - September 26th, 2004 at 12:21

    Amazing…

  12. #12 by Gautam Ghosh - September 26th, 2004 at 21:55

    Congrats!

    Looking forward to how this shapes up in the coming weeks!

    regards
    Gautam

  13. #13 by Ahorre Marketing - September 27th, 2004 at 06:21

    Congrats, you now have broaden a new catgory in blogging. Geoffrey

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