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Workshop Registration
The Reynolds Center has announced its 2009-10 free workshop schedule.
Select a workshop and register from the drop-down menu below.
Online Seminars
The Reynolds Center registration for Fall 2009 free online seminars.
Building on a Niche
By W.J. Hennigan
Simple Success
By Jennifer Hopfinger
Seven Secrets of a Business Book
By Henry Dubroff
Embracing Twitter
By Michelle Leder
PR Protocol
By Chris Roush
Simple Success
By Jennifer Hopfinger
January 28, 2009 11:35 AM
You don’t see many headlines like this one these days: “And the Money Comes Rolling In.” It certainly grabs your attention. The teaser copy even more so: “Markus Frind works one hour a day and brings in $10 million a year. How does he do it? He keeps things simple.” This is the subject of January’s cover story for Inc. magazine and it sounds too good to be true.
Writer Max Chafkin profiles Frind, the 30-year-old founder of Vancouver-based online dating company, Plenty of Fish - and makes readers cringe with envy. “It's a 21st-century fairy tale: A young man starts a website in his spare time. This person is unknown and undistinguished. He hasn't gone to MIT, Stanford, or any other four-year college for that matter, yet he is deceptively brilliant. He has been bouncing, aimlessly, from job to job, but he is secretly ambitious. He builds his company by himself and from his apartment. In most stories, this is where the hard work begins -- the long hours, sleepless nights, and near-death business experiences. But this one is way more mellow,” Chafkin writes.
Five years ago, Frind started the company with “no money, no plan, and scant knowledge of how to build a Web business.” Today, his site is host to 1.6 billion personals, making it possibly the largest dating site in the world. He doesn’t seek out advertisers because they come to him. He strolls into his office around 10 in the morning and wraps up his day by 11. The company generated an estimated $10 million in 2008. It earns profit margins of more 50%. Frind pays himself more than five million a year.
How does he do it? His traffic is four times that of competitor Match.com, which employs hundreds, but Frind has a staff of only three. He actually uses a free software program to manage his advertising inventory. His home computer is the company’s Web server. His site is “desperately simple” and free to users. Business people try to “justify their jobs by spending money. This isn't rocket science,” Frind says. Maybe so, but he’s one of the few to figure it out.
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Copyright © 2009 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism
The Reynolds Center has announced its 2009-10 free workshop schedule.
Select a workshop and register from the drop-down menu below.
The Reynolds Center registration for Fall 2009 free online seminars.
By W.J. Hennigan
Simple Success
By Jennifer Hopfinger
Seven Secrets of a Business Book
By Henry Dubroff
Embracing Twitter
By Michelle Leder
PR Protocol
By Chris Roush
Simple Success
By Jennifer HopfingerJanuary 28, 2009 11:35 AM
You don’t see many headlines like this one these days: “And the Money Comes Rolling In.” It certainly grabs your attention. The teaser copy even more so: “Markus Frind works one hour a day and brings in $10 million a year. How does he do it? He keeps things simple.” This is the subject of January’s cover story for Inc. magazine and it sounds too good to be true.
Writer Max Chafkin profiles Frind, the 30-year-old founder of Vancouver-based online dating company, Plenty of Fish - and makes readers cringe with envy. “It's a 21st-century fairy tale: A young man starts a website in his spare time. This person is unknown and undistinguished. He hasn't gone to MIT, Stanford, or any other four-year college for that matter, yet he is deceptively brilliant. He has been bouncing, aimlessly, from job to job, but he is secretly ambitious. He builds his company by himself and from his apartment. In most stories, this is where the hard work begins -- the long hours, sleepless nights, and near-death business experiences. But this one is way more mellow,” Chafkin writes.
Five years ago, Frind started the company with “no money, no plan, and scant knowledge of how to build a Web business.” Today, his site is host to 1.6 billion personals, making it possibly the largest dating site in the world. He doesn’t seek out advertisers because they come to him. He strolls into his office around 10 in the morning and wraps up his day by 11. The company generated an estimated $10 million in 2008. It earns profit margins of more 50%. Frind pays himself more than five million a year.
How does he do it? His traffic is four times that of competitor Match.com, which employs hundreds, but Frind has a staff of only three. He actually uses a free software program to manage his advertising inventory. His home computer is the company’s Web server. His site is “desperately simple” and free to users. Business people try to “justify their jobs by spending money. This isn't rocket science,” Frind says. Maybe so, but he’s one of the few to figure it out.
Copyright © 2009 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism