Who Am I?
Saturday, September 2nd, 2006That’s a pretty good question.
I am a funny guy. Umm, I think I am a funny guy. My name is Jay and I own Gaulard Web Services, Inc. and WebClassifieds.US. I have been creating websites since 1998 and have a portfolio of over 100, from simple, yet elegant 4-7 page websites to the most complex, database driven e-commerce sites with over 30,000 pages and growing (PetClassifieds.US). Over the last year, I have been gradually moving from website design to e-business. The reason for this is simple and here is the story.
Last year, when I visited my accountant to go over the previous year’s numbers, the accountant asked how business (website design) was going. I responded that it was going very well. I indicated that I am not sure that next year was going to be any better because I have pretty much maxed out. He didn’t know what I meant. I told him that there are only so many hours in the day and so much I could do. There was only so much I could charge, due to competition, so I had plateaued at my current level of income. I also told him that I was burning out because I work all the time. I mean, I really work ALL the time. Who the heck thought someone who barely graduated from first grade would turn into a work-a-holic? My accountant looked at me and told me that I need to get my time back. I shrugged that off.
Well, as it turns out, that statement stuck with me. I started to think about how businesses make money for less work. I began comparing different types of businesses and their business models. I looked around at small businesses and large businesses and thought about how much energy each one of these businesses had to expend to make a certain amount of money. Believe it or not, there is a huge difference. Let’s compare some different types of businesses right now.
Say a tree company wants to make a thousand dollars a day. Say an individual (Financial Planner who works for a larger company) wants to make a thousand dollars a day. They both can do it.
The tree company will need 2 employees, one chip/dump truck, possibly one bucket truck, chainsaws, fuel, insurance…etc. You get the picture. This tree service will sweat all day and walk away with about $250 after expenses. This will go on and not change. The only way this income will change is with a change in market forces (competition and inflation). Also, the tree service can just double up and get twice the equipment and employees and make double the income per day. But, they will also spend double and use twice as much energy. I am sure you can picture many more businesses that operate like this. My web design company did.
Now, you have a financial planner. Let’s pretend that both the tree service and financial planner are at the same stage of the game…making $1000 (gross) per day. What are the financial planner’s expenses…a few suits, school loan repayments, car, phone…etc. All pretty small. So, after expenses, let’s pretend that the financial planner walks away with $750 a day.
Ok, that’s all fine, but now both the tree service and the financial planner want to go on vacation. This is where it gets interesting. The tree service closes up shop for a week and doesn’t make a dime…the whole week. The financial planner leaves a new vacation message on his cell phone and, while on vacation, continues to make $750 per day…all week…while he is sleeping…while he is riding a jetski…while he is taking FLYING LESSONS (commissions keep rolling in regardless of where he is). Hmmm, I think I like that better.
Back to the story. So yes, the accountant told me to get my time back. Because I thought that was a stellar idea, I began putting some ideas together and created a few e-businesses. I started off with PetClassifieds.US. Then, I created CycleClassifieds.US, MotoClassifieds.US, BoatClassifieds.US and WebClassifieds.US.
Don’t misunderstand me, I work just as many hours, but now I am able to do the things that I want to do with a continuous flow of income. In just one year and eight months, I have over 30,000 members and over 10,000 ads on my classifieds sites. My marketing budget is almost nothing…relatively speaking of course. This growth happened because of creativity and hard work.
So, back to the story…who I am. I graduated from Binghamton University with a B.S. in 1998 and a M.B.A. in 2000. I fell in love with Laura in 1998 and have been living with her ever since. Aside from my businesses, I work as Web Director at a cluster of 5 radio stations. Laura and I bought our first house in 2005 and love working on it, especially planting and landscaping. We have 4 cats and one dog. I like freedom and mobility. I am four nationalities, but look mainly french…Here I am in the photo below.
