Community Interview #4 with @Dot
Hello, and welcome to this bonus weekly member community interviews. This week, we are interviewing @Dot who was the previous owner and founder of Bizdustry, who did an amazing job to prepare Bizdustry before I purchased it for 200$ many years ago. Steven, currently owns ServerHerd but without giving too many spoilers, shall we dive into the member community interview? If you are interested and would like to be interviewed, please raise a support ticket or email info@bizdustry.com for further information.
Our weekly member community interviews are to "recognize" the efforts of small website and business owners, who will not be afraid to help others. At Bizdustry, we believe in giving back so we hope you enjoy reading this series! Many thanks to @Shortie for answering my questions.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself, including your skills and what you do for a living? My name is Steven McEvoy, I have a huge passion in helping others make money online as well as teach them about business. I really hate scams and get quick rich schemes. I have ran a couple of online businesses before such web hosting, forums, Retail, Brands. I am a big ecommerce guru, so I like to think.
What websites or businesses' do you currently own? Atlanical.com Refurbished Servers & Network Equipment ServerHerd.com The best server community on the web!
How did you come up with the name Bizdustry? I found the domain on a brandable marketplace called namerific, waited for it to expire then picked it up.
Who were your competitors & what made you stood out? did not have any
Why did you sell Bizdustry to me for 200.00USD$? No longer wanted to start a business community, did not have the capital. Don’t regret selling the forum just the domain.
Did you ever feel Bizdustry would ever be this successful? Yes the name had so much potential. However this is not the forum niche I was building.
If you would have still owned Bizdustry, would you have done anything differently to what I have? Yes would of been completely different, goal to become the next entrepreneur.com magazine
How do you deal with abusive posts/members? Ban them
How do you recruit valuable moderators and how will you retain them? Interview and pay with perks.
Do members know your real name? No, it’s Steven
Is running an online community a hobby or a full time job? It is a hobby
If it's a hobby, can you explain whether you have any intentions to monetize your content and if so, how do you plan on doing so? Continue to write the content and get more capital.
How does social media affect your branding? With the write posts you can gain attraction however social media is not always needed in certain niches.
What is the most difficult decision you've made? Given up to soon a start up and know when to give up
Do you plan on selling any merchandise, or otherwise developing any "partnerships"? Yes, currently have one in the works.
How would you describe your management style, is it more externally focused or very hands on? Very hands on, I try to do everything myself
How did you come up with your most recent project name? purchase the name from friend, really like the brand.
Tomorrow we wake to find the world wide web doesn't exist anymore. How would you describe a world like this? Less stressful.
Where do you think technology will be in the next five years? technology grows faster then we grow… it will be crazy.
