From being laid off to Founder/CEO of twitterMass, MillionDollarFollow
Life can be dramatic. Honestly, I did not expect too much out of the interview with Jonathan Nelson @JonathanNelson, Founder/CEO of TwitterMass.com and MillionDollorFollow.com, simply because I have not used them extensively and not a big fan of follower chasing/managing product. Jonathan proved me wrong. In fact, this email interview turned out to be one of the most vivid interview experiences for me, beat podcasting, beat phone interview, beat video conference, it feels more like talking to an old friend at a neighborhood cafe…yet, nothing in our conversation was old or boring, far from it. Life doesn’t have to be a drama, but it could be dramatic. Get ready to embrace whatever comes at you, especially “passion”. As Jonathan said:
“Search for your passion and once you find it make sure you insure it with the most important things around you.”
1. How did you come up with the idea for TwitterMass.com and MillionDollarFollow.com? Which one do you focus on (or is your favorite)?
* TwitterMass was an idea I came up with a few months ago literally two weeks before being laid off of my real job. I was driving in my car during my lunch break and phoned my friend @tkadom. I told him, “man i’ve got this fantastic idea. what if i created a smart Twitter application that helps people discover people of similar interests”. my buddy tim thought it was an excellent idea and supported me through the entire process. you see my background consists of about 10 years of internet marketing experience. i’ve been doing “SEO” for a long time and i felt like it was time for me to develop that really helped small businesses and fellow entrepreneurs.
* Million Dollar Follow (MDF) was an idea that hit me like a ton of bricks shortly after I launched TwitterMass.com. This was about two days after the huge rat race between CNN and Ashton Kutcher took place. I said to myself, “you know…I could build an advertising platform that emulated the whole CNN vs Ashton deal…and not only that I could also make it possible for advertisers to win a huge following”. So MDF emerged from concept to creation and in about 1 week I had it live for the world to use.2. How does your background serve up this venture?
* My background serves up this venture very nicely since 99% of it is from real life internet marketing experience. You know, the kind of experience where you want to help others from your previous mistakes. You see, I don’t like to hide new innovations or ideas from others. My personality has always been to share with others and through that exposure everything else would just work its way out. It’s definitely helped me so far.
3. How long did it take you to bring the idea to launch? Are you are a startup with funding or bootstrapping?
* TwitterMass took me from concept, design, coding to creation in just under 2 weeks.
* MillionDollorFollow.com took me on full week (and a lot of hours) from concept, design, coding to implementation.
* Both apps were built using the world famous Ruby on Rails framework and a very agile development process4. MillionDollarFollow.com is a very smart idea, can you explain it in one sentence? Do you really aim at making it big? (multimillion dollar on revenue) How do you make sure user can get that many followers in a short period of time?
* Million Dollar Follow is a way for Twitter users to gain maximum advertising exposure while also receiving multiple opportunities to win up to 1 million Twitter followers. MDF aims to stretch a persons $1 advertisement further then they ever dreamed.
* MDF was designed in such a way that it proactively enables me to leverage the advertiser base to fulfill runner up drawings and the final winner drawing. This ensures maximum followers in such a short period of time.5. What is your business model? Are you profitable?
* My business model is simply this: “Keep to the KISS principle. Keep it simple stupid. Find an existing need and try to fill it to the best of my ability. Treat others like you would want to be treated and the money will follow.”
* MDF is a one time advertising cost of $1 for each Twitter profile. As of a few days ago TwitterMass is now profitable as I released a Personal Edition. It’s a one-time cost of $99 and that’s good for the lifetime of the product. I will also be releasing an ebook shortly that will sell for just under $30 and will jam over 10 years of my internet marketing experience to help others be successful on Twitter. No gimmicks. Just strategies and tactics that work effectively and get the job done. People who purchase the ebook will get a $25 discount on TwitterMass Personal Edition.6. If there is one thing what is it that you think critical to twitterMass, and MillionDollarFollow’s sucess so far?
* Consistency. No matter how stressful times may get just stay focused and keeping pressing forward towards the prize. Hard work pays off in the end, not in the beginning. Your either moving with the sand or your standing in it. Keep moving.
7. What is the future growth plan for the venture?
* I’m currently working on and plan to release a sister advertising network to MDF in just a few short weeks. This ad network will be the relevancy factor that everybody has been waiting for. It’s coming.
8. Any tips, things that you can share with individuals, brands, businesses using twitter?
* The web is shifting quickly. It used to be something like this: doing a search, find what you want, absorb the information and then leave. Now it’s something like this: find something through someone you trust, absorb the information through that someone or another person that someone trusts and then come back later for more. We went from POW (prisoner of web) to OW (open web). A huge paradigm shift. The quicker individuals, brands, businesses find a way to work with the open web instead of against…the more successful they will be. With Twitter I recommend being as creative as possible. Don’t limit yourself. Become an integration sensation.
9. Any thing else you want to share with the world?
* After being laid of a few months ago I was sitting in an office, away from family, working long hours away from family and in a constant state of unfulfillment. Now I’m at home with my family, working long hours along side my family and being extremely fulfilled with my family. Search for your passion and once you find it make sure you insure it with the most important things around you.
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