NP 100! I Quit My Job 5 Years Ago and Learned These Business Lessons

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After almost 4 years of producing the Niche Pursuits podcast, I've finally hit 100 episodes! In order to “celebrate”, I decided to do something a little bit different.
I had no guests and no co-host. I just sat down with microphone and decided to reflect on my business over the past 5 years.
You see, I quit my job 5 years ago on March 11th, 2011. That was my last day in the corporate world, and I've loved being able to work for myself ever since.
During those 5 years, not everything has been sunshine and rainbows though. I've learned some lessons along the way that I hope you will find valuable.
Quick Summary of Episode 100
You can listen to the full recording for all the details, but here are a few highlights:
- How I was able to quit my job 5 years ago with niche websites
- Lesson learned: Perseverance pays off
- Creating and launching Long Tail Pro
- Long Tail Pro partial exit
- Lesson learned: Creating your own product is much more profitable than being an affiliate
- I recommend creating products rather than a niche site as a business venture
- My progress with Amazon FBA in the past year
- Lesson learned: Only pursue things that will lead you to where you want to go
- Other recent changes in my business
Overall, this is a reflective podcast as I look back over working on my business for the past 5 years. I've learned some lessons and hopefully this podcast inspires you to go out and create your own successful business.
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13 Comments
Conversation
Congratulations Spencer! I am so happy to see your success, you really deserve it. Thank you for sharing all that you do, it has really changed my life!!!
Wow, thanks Matt. I appreciate the kind words!!
Awesome Spencer! You and your story have motivated me to dedicate myself to making a living from home and get away from the 9-5…. hopefully anyways! Congrats to you sir!
Thanks David!
Great episode, love your point about social media and such. Been having the same realizations as of lately.
Yep, social media and other tasks I don’t enjoy just isn’t for me…so I don’t do it 🙂
Thank you!
I came across niche pursuits in August 2012 and have been a fan ever since. In the beginning I attempted my hands at niche sites and using ltp build out 20 sites following the advice from you. One of the key issues I had was the whole link building and this lead me to the idea of creating a complimentary product to ltp – I remember sending the first version to you 🙂 – I went through a full year of changes and finally ended up with a programmer from the US to help me get it to the level where it was ready. Unfortunately I suffered from a build it and they will come complex – so nothing really happened till about 8 months ago, when at a class reunion, a former class mate was looking for just this kind of software to help his seo business grow. He bought the rights and have used it ever since. This has meant that I now how some cash to get me started with a webshop and a product I have been wanting to make for some time now.
So Spencer that is my reason for starting out saying thank you. Thank you for all your great posts, guidance on your site, and for sharing and being an inspiration.
And of course congratulations on your 100s episode and your 5 year anniversary!
Chris
THANK YOU CHRIS! Yes, I remember well checking out your link building product. So glad to hear that you were able to get some cash out of the product. I think there is an important lesson there (that I”m sure you already know) that marketing a product is much more important that creating a product. Meaning a good idea only gets you part of the way there…the marketing/finding buyers is the bigger task.
Congrats spencer.
One question though, looking at your podcasts it only goes up to episode 85.
Have you just not uploaded the other podcasts?
All the podcasts are on itunes right here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/niche-pursuits-podcast/id522458761?mt=2 . I’ll get the others put on the website at some point…
Great podcast Spencer.
One question that I would love to here your response.
If you could go back and talk to yourself 5 years ago, what is the one piece of advice you would give yourself?
Love reading your blog and following the niche projects
Keep up the work
Focus more energy on creating unique products. Hope that helps!
Any new videos coming??