It has been now a whole year since I posted on this blog. I am not even sure if any of my subscribers are still following my posts. If you are then thanks for staying loyal…. and sorry for the lack of content for such a long time.  A year ago I launched http://iphoneappcafe.com and http://ipadappcafe.com ,hence all my focus has been on those two blogs.

I started iphoneappcafe.com with the aim of making it a leading app review website and I really dedicated a lot of my time, effort and investment to rapidly grow the website. It has been an amazing journey so far and safe to say that I have pretty much exhausted and tested any traffic generation and monetization technique I know of, and there is still a lot more to test and try.

The growth has been good so far and I am pleased to say we are now getting something around 4000 daily unique visitors on iPhoneAppCafe and iPadAppCafe sites.  This is in-line with my original targets.

When it comes to Daynamoash.com, for a while I wasn’t sure what to focus on and which direction to take it. For a while I have been meaning to share some of the experiences and leanings I gained since the launch of iphoneappcafe.com, and I wanted to also change the name from Dynamoash.com to something less cheesy!  But I just can’t think of anything else at the moment so I leave it for the time being until I can think of something better.

Today I decided that waiting and procrastination is enough. I will start posting and sharing my experiences in relation to the traffic generation and monetization techniques that I have used so far. Some of which worked beautifully and some of the others failed miserably. I am hoping sharing my experience will help other fellow business bloggers out there who are trying to grow their website and monetize it.

After all I have gained most of my leanings and inspirations from other good bloggers such as www.chrisg.com , www.copyblogger.com , and www.problogger.net, and selfmademinds.com .  In particular Chris Garrett from www.chrisg.com and www.authorityblogger.com has played a big role from the very beginning of my blogging journey, providing consulting and mentoring and generally great fellow to chat with.

I will aim to post at least one post a week sharing some practical tips and tricks about how I grew iphoneappcafe.com and made it profitable within 8 months.

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It’s a Saturday morning and I am reading the latest .net magazine. By the way, It’s a great magazine for all Internet enthusiasts.  I am reading an article about the digital agency Fortune Cookie whilst eating my fried egg breakfast.

.net profiles a digital agency every month and this month they were covering the agency fortunecookie.co.uk in an interview with the founder Justin Cooke. I started reading the article. The first question from .net to Justin was “How and when did Fortune Cookie form?” The answer to this question always fascinates me.

I’ve been working on growing my own digital agency for the past two years and who better to gain inspiration from than other entrepreneurs who have made it. One of my biggest questions has always been how to win those bigger and better deals? I am sure you know the scenario: small agency bidding for a large project, client asking for previous experience and a solid track record with their industry. Yes! Typical chicken and egg scenario.

So anyway, back to the answer that Justin gave to .net’s question “How and when did Fortune Cookie form?” Just the first two paragraphs told me so much that I can’t believe it. Have you ever had that moment when suddenly everything becomes clear and an answer appears right in front of you?

Here is the exact answer:

“JC: I founded Fortune Cookie in 1997 with the aim of making it one of the most successful web design agencies in the UK.”

With the aim of making it one of the most successful web design agencies in the UK

My commentary: already here we have the mindset of an ambitious and confident entrepreneur.  What we also have is clear goal setting and vision. All of the things I have heard time and time again from various entrepreneurs and motivational speakers. A bit different than when I first started with the aim of designing a few websites that can pay the bills! Go figure! OK that was long time ago and I have expanded my vision since then!

Justin continues:

“JC: Our first account was with a luxury Caribbean hotel chain, as we had no previous experience, we did the work in exchange for hotel room bookings, which we then sold on to the travel agent for £35.000 profit! Fortune Cookie was a one-man band in the beginning and I founded the business on credit cards.”

WOW! Talk about thinking outside the box…

My commentary: I mean here it is again a fantastic example of an entrepreneurial mindset. How did he get around the lack of experience? He provided his services in return for something the hotel could give away for free. I remember Roger Hamilton put it very nicely once. “first prove your worth, then ask for what you are worth”. Other things that inspire me here is the fact he started the whole business on his own and only on credit cards. So no big investments or venture capital here.

Back to Justin’s answer:

“JC: We got lucky with our second project. The CEO of Thames Water had returned from a course in the US where he’d learnt about this new medium called the internet. He found Fortune Cookie in the Yellow Pages, called us up and we struck a deal! Thames Water would send us a Quark Express file and we’d transform it into ‘an internet’! I was then able to take on our first two employees. “

Inspiring stuff!

My commentary: So here we have another key element of success: LUCK! Yes luck, but still that luck wouldn’t be there if Justin hadn’t placed the ad in yellow pages. Reading this struck a chord with me. When I was operating as a one man band, my biggest question was at what point can I afford to take on employees? Justin’s story answers this for me: When you win a large enough deal that allows you to pay the monthly salary of an employee then you are in a position to take on your first employee. Simple isn’t it? I think so.

My conclusion – key elements in getting a new agency off the ground:

• Ambition
• Clear goal
• Being creative and think outside the box
• Prove your worth first
• Take action
• Luck

Ok, so this was me getting so much clarity from reading two paragraphs on this article! I don’t know maybe it was the omelette I was having for breakfast. I am sure Justin’s story means different things to different people. You can read the rest of the article in issue 198 of the .net Magazine. The website for .net magazine is http://www.netmag.co.uk.

What has been your experience with growing your business?

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