Alright, Alright, Alright, Alright (You have to say it like Andre 3000 though.)

So I had this conversation with a close friend recently about my experiences running nobodysmiling.com before its death. Yes, it died with hiphop.

Coincidence? Perhaps.

So the whole conversation revolved around a situation where a certain family member wanted to use the site domain name and redirect it to his attempt at a hiphop website.

“If you did it I done it before, you get it, I had it
Got mad at it and don’t want it no more” - Jay-Z

Actually that’s not entirely true. This dude actually did go around me and gets the other then co-owner (my brother) to redirect that name to his site.

So yeah I started getting calls and emails from people I know like “hey the sites back up..but it doesn’t look so good… is that you?”

Yeah I ended that nonsense.

We had well over 5 million views a month so people actually checked for it. People associated the look of the site with me because I developed it from a tech standpoint.

But anyway, yes I admit I was pissed. Why?

The idea that someone who NEVER over a six year period EVER helped would want to come after the fact and attempt to monopolize off the brand we created over six long years of work was so wack and not only that but par for the course. There were others like him as well.

There are certain things any person beginning a new website should know. Actually these are not necessarily limited to web start ups but here goes.

1. People YOU KNOW will not give a shit… UNTIL YOUR SUCCESSFUL

I promise you this is rule numero uno. Like the 10 crack commandments or some shit. When I started that site people who knew me best helped me the absolute LEAST. Matter of fact the biggest contributors for the most part (there were two exceptions) were total strangers I never met. TOTAL STRANGERS. All the moderators, writers (minus a couple) I never ever met. The people who knew me acted like “oh yeah he has a little site” or really never showed any interest or really just enough interest to not be rude about not caring. None of them posted comments, most never even checked the site daily or weekly.

That is until it blew up and started making money. Coincidence? No.

The bottom line is don’t get discouraged by the lack of interest the people you know have when relating to your dreams and endeavors. They know you in a capacity that is rooted in the past, or present and not in line with your goals and dreams. They don’t know you as internet mogul. Also most people have no vision themselves so they certainly wont be able to see yours. Learn that early.

The thing is though that everyone wants to be a part of a money making machine so yes I had some fun when people wanted to be apart of it after the machine was generating money. The person I mentioned earlier did not want to help build the site in the early days but after it was established and popular (mentioned in complex magazine, New York Times etc.) he wanted in.

Its like that scene from Paid in Full (at 2:20) where Ice calls him “Money Making Mitch” and says people can smell his money. Know that people WILL come out the woodworks… after the fact.

2. Be Consistent

Any woman that says that I have a problem committing can fuck off. Ok, so I guess emotional commitment is sort of different but is it?

For a web venture to be successful you have to be there every fucking day posting shit. Got the flu? Fuck you, post shit. Root canal? Fuck you… post shit! Tried from a day at work? Fuck you… post shit. Fuck your feelings. It becomes bigger than what you want to do early in the process.

Consistency is key for growth, getting and maintianing consistent readership. Lets not even get into the fact that Google scans sites more often that post more frequently etc. More on that later.

3. You Better Love That Subject Matter

In order to deal with the first two on the list you had better just enjoy what it is your talking about. Unless you have venture capital funding to do a huge marketing blitz your sites growth will not be overnight. Only if you enjoy it will you be able to put up with being consistent and the lack of interest and participation of people that you know. Girlfriends getting pissed and what not.

That’s all for now.

Stay thirsty my friends!