Should I continue with my web projects?

[rogercbryan]

So here is the deal. I've been working on web projects now since 2007. I have about 100+ sites up and running with maybe 10 real projects. The problem is that they don't make any real money. I have two successful real businesses which between the two have revenues in excess of US$2M annually. I make a good living yet I'm not comfortable (well... I never will be). My web projects have sort of been side projects that I've kept around hoping to hit it big with one or two some day. After reviewing the numbers it looks like I'm loosing money each month (if they were a stand alone business).

What I mean is if I did not have my two companies covering most of the basics - servers, phones, cell phones, 800#s, fax services, and office space; then my 'web company' could be loosing a little over $1000 a month. This is not what I'm used too!

I have a meeting tomorrow with my head developer to go over all of my current projects (to include those for my 'real companies' as well as my projects). The goal is to sit down and make a decision - should I close shop, pick the two with the best opportunities and continue, or should I spend a little more and get everything working?

One of my biggest problems (as well as most peoples) is that I over invest on development. I get a site functional yet I still want more. I've taken $500 projects and turn them into $5000 money pits with out ever really launching the site. I have so many ideas that its scary. I feel like half of them could be big money makers if I just stuck to that single project and nothing else.

Last month I put out an advertisement looking for a web project manager. I was ready to hire someone full time to manage all my online projects. After reviewing 20+ applications and doing three phone interviews I decided that no one is going to do it the way I want.

I'm stuck. I spend 10-20 hours a week on all this and countless dollars. If I stopped now I'd be out about $40k yet I'd free up 10+ hours a week and I'd stop the bleeding. With that being said I'd always wonder if I was just one step away from making a ton of money. I'm good at making money when the site is attached to a brick and mortar service or product. What I haven't been able to do is to get a site making money and then maintaining the income when its strictly internet based (no BnR service or product).

I'd like some opinions here. I'd even consider giving away or taking on a partner on some of these projects if I choose not to go it alone. I have a 5 step process to launch a site with a handful of sites being in stages 3 & 4.

My flight is at 8am tomorrow and my meeting is at 10am with my developer. While half the meeting is about my profitable companies the other half is going to be about deciding what to do with the rest of these side projects.

Any advice would be helpful!

R

[Mega B]

It must be frustrating but is it the sheer amount of websites that is the problem,if you decide to get rid of some of the sites i could well be interested in some of them ie the image hosting and i think you have some adult sites i could be wrong on the latter.If you could send me over a list of the sites either i could maybe help as most of my sites are up and running at long last and i am looking for some new projects.

If you could PM with a list that would be great

[rogercbryan]

It must be frustrating but is it the sheer amount of websites that is the problem,if you decide to get rid of some of the sites i could well be interested in some of them ie the image hosting and i think you have some adult sites i could be wrong on the latter.If you could send me over a list of the sites either i could maybe help as most of my sites are up and running at long last and i am looking for some new projects.

If you could PM with a list that would be great

I'll let you know after tomorrow. If I was to keep two sites I would keep the adult site but would get rid of the image site. I have $2500 invested in development on that site while seeing the traffic drop steadily over the past year as I tried to make it more legitimate. I made more money with the site when people posted porn to it! The flip side of that is I've never got my porn site to make as much... very frustrating. I'll give you first dibs on the img site if we can work out a deal.

[Parvaze]

With all due respect, $40K is a drop in the bucket if it going to free up 10 hours per week that could be spent on existing ventures that are profitable. Within my company, we have five very distinct, yet interrelated, areas that generate revenue, each has to stand alone as a profit center however (minus the shared overhead expenses)

Like you I've sunk significant time and dollars (in some cases well over $200K before calling it quits) to add other sources of revenue, and ended up making the mistake of being married to the idea spending more and more money and effort trying to make it work when all the signs were there that the idea should have been dropped. I've since learned to have very clear objectives and timelines for any new project and walking away if they are not being met.

Being that "cut & dried" enables me to spend far more time on those projects that are going in the right direction. Hope this helps.

[rogercbryan]

With all due respect, $40K is a drop in the bucket if it going to free up 10 hours per week that could be spent on existing ventures that are profitable. Within my company, we have five very distinct, yet interrelated, areas that generate revenue, each has to stand alone as a profit center however (minus the shared overhead expenses)

Like you I've sunk significant time and dollars (in some cases well over $200K before calling it quits) to add other sources of revenue, and ended up making the mistake of being married to the idea spending more and more money and effort trying to make it work when all the signs were there that the idea should have been dropped. I've since learned to have very clear objectives and timelines for any new project and walking away if they are not being met.

Being that "cut & dried" enables me to spend far more time on those projects that are going in the right direction. Hope this helps.

It sounds like your in the web development business.. correct? I'm not.. I maybe should have mentioned that. I make my money from a vehicle brokerage company and an online bookstore. The amount of money invested is relative to the person that invest it. There are people on here who would kill to have $2500 to invest in a project. Let alone the $200k you are talking about.

I appreciate your post... I'm just trying to decipher what you are trying to say or what advice you are trying to give.

[Carlos™]

I would also like to know the list...of sites. You need to cut the fat and focus on your core passion and the ones that make you the most money.

[rogercbryan]

I would also like to know the list...of sites. You need to cut the fat and focus on your core passion and the ones that make you the most money.

I'll post them after my meeting tomorrow. Many are auto-feed blogs that get a little traffic and make a little money. If I can't make $100 a month from an auto site then there is no need to have it.

[Parvaze]

My mistake, I should have read your post more carefully. I thought you were trying to add additional lines to an existing business.

As for me, no, I'm not in web development. I run a physician practice management company working with medical practices nationwide setting up and managing ancillary revenue streams, optimizing revenue cycle functions, adding new physicians etc .

The $200K example I gave was flushed trying to add a credentialing component to enhance our existing services to physicians. I thought it was a great idea and doggedly pursued it even though there were signs it wasn't going to be a stand alone revenue generator.

I was trying to convey that sometimes we entrepreneurs wed an idea and work it to death rather than knowing when to walk away and invest that time and effort into something else that would pay bigger dividends. Re-reading your post my advice doesn't seem as relevant to you so I retract it!

[Encrypted]

I kind of skimmed through the above posts.. but basically what I would do is sell off the bulk of the projects and focus your time and money on a few that you think have the most potential. 100 sites is wayyyy too many for someone to handle. I'd say 5 is the max.. and that's assuming they're established.

Send me a PM if you do plan on getting rid of anything. Maybe we can work out a deal on something.. or I could possibly run a few in return for a share of the profit.

[rogercbryan]

My mistake, I should have read your post more carefully. I thought you were trying to add additional lines to an existing business.

As for me, no, I'm not in web development. I run a physician practice management company working with medical practices nationwide setting up and managing ancillary revenue streams, optimizing revenue cycle functions, adding new physicians etc .

The $200K example I gave was flushed trying to add a credentialing component to enhance our existing services to physicians. I thought it was a great idea and doggedly pursued it even though there were signs it wasn't going to be a stand alone revenue generator.

I was trying to convey that sometimes we entrepreneurs wed an idea and work it to death rather than knowing when to walk away and invest that time and effort into something else that would pay bigger dividends. Re-reading your post my advice doesn't seem as relevant to you so I retract it!

Makes sense now... I appreciate your post. I agree with the fact that people all to often 'work them selves to death' on a project instead of knowing when to walk away. It's just so damn hard when you really believe that you are one step away from making it work. The problem is I've been one step away since 2008...

[rogercbryan]

I kind of skimmed through the above posts.. but basically what I would do is sell off the bulk of the projects and focus your time and money on a few that you think have the most potential. 100 sites is wayyyy too many for someone to handle. I'd say 5 is the max.. and that's assuming they're established.

Send me a PM if you do plan on getting rid of anything. Maybe we can work out a deal on something.. or I could possibly run a few in return for a share of the profit.

Hey... profit sharing would be great. I say that because I really do have some unique ideas that I've poured a ton of money into. It would be a shame to sell them off based on their current earnings. I'll make another post when I've created my list. This will let people know I'm ready to cut 90%+ of my inventory.

[Carlos™]

Hey, that isn't a bad idea - Running sites and sharing revenue. Nice suggestion Encrypted.

[Mark Atkinson]

Well. I don't intend to sound out of place here (though I suspect I might do just that). I am a 19 year old entrepreneur from South Africa. I'm absolutely fascinated by online business and marketing and I love to learn as much as I can about it all. We run our own small web development business and are getting better with each passing day.

Although we can't boast $2mil revenues, we do love to learn more and take on new challenges. If you perhaps have anything small (but promising) that you're looking at scrapping or sharing with somebody, we would be most delighted to take over with a little assistance.

I'm not sure if you have the time or inclination to share such information with younger, aspiring entrepreneurs but if you are, we are always ready to learn. For example, I'm really interested in your "5 step process to launch a site" and personally, I would love to learn more about it.

Anyway, just putting it out there!

As for the actual thread topic. I believe that there's a limit to what one man can manage. If you have a couple really successful ventures, stick to them and expand. Cut loose the less successful ventures that are costing you valuable time and, maybe not so much in your case, money. 10+ hours a week is a lot of time to be spending on ventures that you aren't even breaking even with.

Perhaps just take a timeout to re-assess the value of each venture to you, while concentrating on your two most successful money sources. I think it's best to build up one project completely (or at least until it is self-sustaining) before starting on the next.

I'll be interested to hear what your final decision(s) is.

[rogercbryan]

Well. I don't intend to sound out of place here (though I suspect I might do just that). I am a 19 year old entrepreneur from South Africa. I'm absolutely fascinated by online business and marketing and I love to learn as much as I can about it all. We run our own small web development business and are getting better with each passing day.

Although we can't boast $2mil revenues, we do love to learn more and take on new challenges. If you perhaps have anything small (but promising) that you're looking at scrapping or sharing with somebody, we would be most delighted to take over with a little assistance.

I'm not sure if you have the time or inclination to share such information with younger, aspiring entrepreneurs but if you are, we are always ready to learn. For example, I'm really interested in your "5 step process to launch a site" and personally, I would love to learn more about it.

Anyway, just putting it out there!

As for the actual thread topic. I believe that there's a limit to what one man can manage. If you have a couple really successful ventures, stick to them and expand. Cut loose the less successful ventures that are costing you valuable time and, maybe not so much in your case, money. 10+ hours a week is a lot of time to be spending on ventures that you aren't even breaking even with.

Perhaps just take a timeout to re-assess the value of each venture to you, while concentrating on your two most successful money sources. I think it's best to build up one project completely (or at least until it is self-sustaining) before starting on the next.

I'll be interested to hear what your final decision(s) is.

Here is the thing... I'm not looking to teach someone how to do what I did... If what I did worked then I wouldn't have made this post. I need someone who can come to me with a plan. Someone who knows the ins and outs of internet marketing and development. If thats you then send me your resume. The more info you include (adsense, analytics, and adwords screen shots) about your experience the more likely we are to work together.

[rogercbryan]

I've had a few requests for a list of my sites. I'm working on a project list that I can send out to everyone. I'd like to sell off a few sites and then maybe give away a few just for kicks. Some of the site for all the money I've spent on them are basically worthless... so don't get to excited that I'm going to off everything. Remember if the sites were profitable I'd keep them.