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Today for my 100th post I feel very privileged to have one of the undisputed kings of the blogging and online world, Darren Rowse of ProBlogger, as my guest for the weekly “Ten Questions With” interview series. If you missed the first three installments in this series you might also find my interviews with Leo Babauta, Cameron Low, Skellie, and Yaro Starak interesting.

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Greetings All - this is just a quick note to let you know that mytropicalescape.com has reached the 100 post milestone. What originally started off as a site where I could keep family, friends, and colleagues up to date with our travel plans, entrepreneurial goals, and quest for personal freedom has changed slightly but I am still 100% committed to writing about topics that I find interesting, motivating, and inspiring.

Hence the semi-long mission snippet “| Living Overseas | Blogging | Inspiration and Motivation | Entrepreneurship |”

By some strange and serendipitous coincidence my “Ten Questions With” interview with Darren Rowse on Tuesday will also be my 100th post. So please come back to read what the man, whose name and website, are synonymous with blogging and making money online has to say about his future goals, the blogs he reads, and how religion affects his blogging.

Also, I will have a small personal announcement to make :)

See you on Tuesday!

Today at the New Year’s edition of MyTropicalEscape we have the fourth installment of the weekly ‘Ten Questions With’ interview series and I am pleased to have the amazingly talented Yaro Starak, of Entrepreneur’s Journey, as my guest. If you missed the first three installments in this series you might also find my interviews with Leo Babauta, Cameron Low, and Skellie interesting.

Yaro Starak is an intelligent, creative, and tireless entrepreneur who runs the incredibly successful BlogMastermind.com mentoring program, which is aimed at those interested in Internet business and Blogging. Recently, Yaro sold one of his websites, Betteredit.com for a reported six figures while also trying to purchase a new home and buy a car. After reading the interview if you would like to learn a little more about what he is about then I strongly recommend that you grab his free report - The Blog Profits Blueprint, where he outlines the most important points about how to make money from blogging. You can download it from http://www.blogmastermind.com/blueprint/.

1. As someone who coaches and trains people, do you think successful entrepreneurs are created (business school), born (right out the womb), or conditioned (life circumstances)? Other than fear, what do you think holds most people back from becoming an entrepreneur?

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Editors note: The following people have won a prize from last weeks comment contest in the Skellie interview: Al, Karen, Lid, and Tina. Please email me so we can arrange the mailing of the prizes. Additionally, as today is Christmas the Yaro Starak interview will run next week. Today I will give a little ‘Ten Questions With’ recap.

Someone recently emailed me and asked what inspired me to create the ‘Ten Questions With’ interview series?

Because today is Christmas I thought that I would give a little recap of how the series came to be, and provide some information on the past three interviews with Cameron Low of NorthxEast, Leo Babauta of Zen Habits, and Skellie of Skelliewag.org.

Why ten questions?

Before I started seeking out interviewees, I thought about this quite a bit. Even though I have no quantifiable evidence Ifelt ten questions would be the perfect amount of inquiries. I knew that I could get some great information with only five questions but with ten I can throw in some unique questions that really help me (and the readers) get to know the interview subjects on another level.

Where did the ‘Ten Questions With’ idea come from?

When I first started my site I had no idea that there were so many talented, creative, intelligent people writing online. Like most, I assumed the typical blog was focused on discussing the author’s everyday life. Boy, was I wrong! Soon I discovered, and started reading, many blogs that are authored by all kinds of successful people from all over the world.

So, I thought it would be great if I had the chance to go out and have a beer with these people what would l like to ask them to discern how they became who they are as entrepreneurs, influential marketers, motivators, and creative writers. Hence, the idea for the series was born.

Has anyone turned down an interview request?

Surprisingly, I have had tremendous success with respect to people saying yes, and agreeing to be interviewed. I feel quite fortunate and I owe all of the people who agree to answer the ten questions a HUGE debt of gratitude.

When asking people for their time, of course not everyone can commit, so yes, I have been turned down. But, instead of dwelling on the negative I even wrote a post about how to handle rejection with grace and dignity. Also, I try to see my request for the interview from their point of view. Whether we like to admit it, or not, sometimes when you are busy you have to ask yourself, what value can this interview add to my life, or projects? For some, they do not see the value and that’s okay. I just move on to the next person :)

Fortunately, I have some amazing people coming up in the series to include; Yaro Starak, Darren Rowse, Michael Martin, and many others that you will just have to check back for. Because it is the New Year I am also going to list some people that I would really like to interview to see if I can get some assistance from the readers. The people are (in no particular order) Brian Clark from CopyBlogger, Muhammad Saleem, Lance Armstrong, Jeff Bezos, Larry Page, Aisha Bain, and Ishmael Beah. Please let me know if you have other bloggers, entrepreneurs, or interesting people that you would like to see interviewed.

I would like to thank my first three guests again, and if you missed any of the first three interviews you can view them here; Cameron Low, Leo Babauta, and Skellie.

Today at MyTropicalEscape we have the third installment of the weekly ‘Ten Questions With’ interview series and I am pleased to have one of the fastest rising stars on the internet, Skellie, of Skelliewag.org, as my guest. If you missed the first two installments in this series you might also find my interviews with Leo Babauta and Cameron Low interesting.

Editors note: this week I am spicing things up a little bit. Last week’s interview with Leo Babauta drew 14 comments and as a way of increasing that number this week, everyone who leaves a comment about the Skellie interview below will be entered to win one of four prizes: a link to your site in next week’s interview, a Culebra Animal Welfare t-shirt, a post card from the Caribbean, or a small vial of sand from, Flamenco Beach, one of the top five beaches in the world.

For a little background information, Skellie’s site, Skelliewag.org, launched a little over four months ago in July of 2007. She lives in Australia where she is a university student and ‘ProBlogger.’ Skellie is a frequent freelance writer and guest poster at ProBlogger, Daily Blog Tips, Freelance Switch, and NorthxEast.

Recently named one of “The Ten Most Inspirational Bloggers of 2007” because of her in depth writing style and rapid ascent to the top of the blogosphere, Skellie also plans to release an ebook in the coming months. Once again, for ease of readability the questions have been listed out and linked to the answers below.

1. How did you get into blogging? Were you working around the internet or websites before? When you started was it with the intention of making money?

2. Your site contains some of the most well written, practical, and applicable information for bloggers looking to improve, where do you draw your inspiration?

3. What do the terms Skellie and Skelliewag represent about you, your brand?

4. Your posts make you come across as a very optimistic person, in your daily non-blogging life what brings you joy, and how do you turn that into innovation?

5. Do you have a background as a professional writer and do you have any tips for people who would like to become more proficient in the art of creative writing?

6. Does Australia have some sort of secret blogging club that the rest of us mere mortals do not know about? Why is there so much blogging talent in Australia?

7. Your content has a remarkably smooth and flowing style to it. What is your typical writing process?

8. In one of your latest posts (which actually had an impact on me) you tell bloggers that if they want to be successful they should adhere to Seth Godin’s formula for achievement, which is, “Be Remarkable.” What do you do to follow the “Be Remarkable” mantra everyday?

9. Aside from your obvious hard work and dedication, did you have any mentors helping you in your fairly rapid ascent to blogging fame? Are you currently mentoring or assisting any new bloggers?

10. You state on your site that you would like to get involved with women’s issues, what causes are you most passionate about? How do you plan to apply your writing and communication talents to those causes?

Question 1: How did you get into blogging? Were you working around the internet or websites before? When you started was it with the intention of making money?

Skellie’s answer: I’ve been blogging for a few years, but the blogs were always fun little diversions for me and not intended to get popular. Before that I was mainly working with various websites. It’s always been a hobby for me. I only started to learn about making money online within the last year or so.

Question 2: Your site contains some of the most well written, practical, and applicable information for bloggers looking to improve, where do you draw your inspiration?

Skellie’s answer: Thank you! I get inspiration from everywhere – it’s a collective thing, rather than getting it from just a few sources. I read all kinds of blogs and websites, mainly outside the niche I blog in. These inspire me on a regular basis, particularly when I puzzle out how I can transfer the best ideas of other niches to my own niche.

Question 3: What do the terms Skellie and Skelliewag represent about you, your brand?

Skellie’s answer: I was brainstorming unique names for the site and that’s what I came up with. The meaning and connotations of the name seem to have evolved with the site, rather than existing before. Considering that I focus a lot on uniqueness and innovation, I think it’s appropriate that myself and my blog go by such weird names!

Question 4: Your posts make you come across as a very optimistic person, in your daily non-blogging life what brings you joy, and how do you turn that into innovation?

Skellie’s answer: I try to be a rational optimist in everything I do :). There are about a million things that bring me joy, most of them incredibly different to one another. I’m a person with a strange combination of interests, but that’s what helps me innovate. If you’re bringing together knowledge and experience from a dozen wildly different things, you’re bound to bring that together into something that hasn’t been seen before. When it works, that’s great. When it doesn’t, it’s another learning experience to add to the melting pot.

Question 5: Do you have a background as a professional writer and do you have any tips for people who would like to become more proficient in the art of creative writing?

Skellie’s answer: Growing up I was always a creative writer. I remember tapping out stories back in the days when MS Word was black and green. Over time my interest switched over to journalism, particularly after I realized that, while it’s hard to make a living as a journalist, it’s even harder to make a living as a wannabe author. I studied journalism at university for a while and decided it wasn’t for me (mainly because I’m a terrible journalist). Some of the things I’ve learned have transferred comfortably to blogging, though, so I’m grateful for the experience.

Question 6: Does Australia have some sort of secret blogging club that the rest of us mere mortals do not know about? Why is there so much blogging talent in Australia?

Skellie’s answer: I have no idea. Blogs have really been embraced by the media here and are considered quite cool, so that could be one influencing factor. Alternately, maybe we all just have too much time on our hands? ;-).

Question 7: Your content has a remarkably smooth and flowing style to it. What is your typical writing process?

Skellie’s answer: Thanks! I tend to start by encapsulating each key point I want to write in one sentence. Then I flesh-out each point. I usually turn the sentence into a sub-heading and most of the time I’ll write the introduction last.

Question 8: In one of your latest posts (which actually had an impact on me) you tell bloggers that if they want to be successful they should adhere to Seth Godin’s formula for achievement, which is, “Be Remarkable.” What do you do to follow the “Be Remarkable” mantra everyday?

Skellie’s answer: When it comes to blogging, I try to pursue being remarkable by giving more than I receive. It’s important for me to give readers everything I can and to avoid acting out of self-interest, even if it might benefit me financially or otherwise. I also try to be remarkable by treating readers as individuals and never turning down a request for advice.

Question 9: Aside from your obvious hard work and dedication, did you have any mentors helping you in your fairly rapid ascent to blogging fame? Are you currently mentoring or assisting any new bloggers?

Skellie’s answer: I learned a lot about what not to do through the various mistakes I’ve made over time. Making mistakes is really important – though you’ve got to be willing to acknowledge them, rather than making mistakes and convincing yourself that everything is fine. If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not progressing as a blogger. In other words, my most significant mentor has been that part of me that really sucks at blogging. It’s always struggling to get out!

I learned the basics from Darren Rowse at ProBlogger (like most of us). It’s a surreal experience to now be a staff writer at his blog. Seth Godin has also revolutionized the way I approached blogging, though neither of them have been mentors in the personal sense (except Darren more recently).

I do a lot of one-on-one mentoring of readers via email. I’m also doing more in-depth consulting with some people. That’s a lot of fun.

Question 10: You state on your site that you would like to get involved with women’s issues, what causes are you most passionate about? How do you plan to apply your writing and communication talents to those causes?

Skellie’s answer: While freelance blogging is something I’m really enjoying at the moment, the work in women’s issues is what I hope to be my ‘real’ job, so to speak. I’m mainly interested in helping women in the Third World, particularly in the areas of domestic violence, human trafficking and education. I’m still not sure how the skills blogging requires will transfer to that pursuit, but my experiences with Skelliewag have given me the confidence to be much more audacious in pursuing the most important goals I have.

Skellie, THANK YOU for your time, and I wish you peace, happiness, and tremendous success in the future!

Please come back for another installment of the ‘Ten Questions With’ interview series next Tuesday when I will be talking with the orginal blog mastermind, Yaro Starak. Or better yet, subscribe to the MyTropicalEscape RSS feed.

This interview has been powered by the kindness of Skellie, the Culebra Blog, and the Palmetto Guesthouse.

Today at MyTropicalEscape we have the second installment of the weekly ‘Ten Questions With‘ series and I am pleased to have the indefatigable Leo Babauta, of Zen Habits, as our interview guest. Leo was the first “Top Blogger” to give me a shot at guest posting so I was quite enthused when he agreed to the interview.

For a little background information, Leo lives in Guam with his wife and six children. He is a prolific guest poster and often publishes insightful articles on such sites as, Freelance Switch, Web Worker Daily, NorthxEast, and ProBlogger.

Leo’s blog, Zen Habits, and the simple productivity and inspiration that he provides on the site has struck a chord with many people. At last check his RSS subscriber count was at 24,200 people. To help satisfy his readers and their desire for more of what Zen Habits dispenses, Leo recently released the eBook “Zen to Done - the Ultimate Simple Productivity System.”

Editor’s note: For ease of readability it was suggested (thank you Michael) that I list out the interview questions and link to the answers below. Let me know how you like this format.

1. Did you grow up on Guam? If yes, how did the Chamorro culture affect your upbringing and the person that you are today? For those who might not know, what is Guam’s political status with the U.S.?

2. With such a serious nature to the majority of posts on your blog do you feel a responsibility to your readers? It seems like people leave their heart and souls on the comment form, does that surprise you?.

3. Do you ever have a bad day emotionally, or get angry? (sorry I had to ask)

4. Do you remember your first post? What was the title and topic? Did it get any comments (and I don’t mean your wife (smile))? Did you start off with a generic WordPress theme template like the rest of us? And how have you as a person changed since that first post?

5. In all of your writing online has there ever been one comment, or email, in response to a post, be it negative or positive, that really made you feel taken aback or shocked?

6. What do you think is the major problem in the world today (with respect to humanity) and what are your recommendations for how we can create a positive change?

7. If you could meet with George W. Bush what would you say to him?

8. Where do you see blogging and Zen Habits five years from now?

9. Why do you think so many people seem to be depressed or caught in a rut?

10. Other than the website and being a prolific guest poster what are the future plans for the Zen Habits brand? Perhaps a Zen Habits energy drink? Self help DVD series?

Question 1: Did you grow up on Guam? If yes, how did the Chamorro culture affect your upbringing and the person that you are today? For those who might not know, what is Guam’s political status with the U.S.?

I grew up mostly on Guam, but also lived for a few years in Portland, Oregon, Seattle, and the Bay Area (S.F. and Vallejo). Of those, San Fran is the place that won my heart. I’d love to live there again someday.

As a person, I am both a mixture of American and Chamorro cultures (and am a mixture of both), and also stand outside of both of them. But I identify strongly with the Chamorro people. The Chamorro culture is a unique one, with a blend of islander, Spanish, Japanese and American influences … I think Guam is in the middle of an identity search right now, with a revival of interest in our Chamorro roots, and it’s interesting to be a part of that. I am one of those who are searching for a Chamorro identity.

For those who aren’t aware of Guam’s political status, we are considered an “unincorporated territory” of the United States, which means we belong to the U.S. but that there are no plans to eventually incorporate us into statehood (as in the cases of Hawaii and Alaska, for example). Although the word is an inflammatory one, it’s a fact that we are a colony of the United States, and while most people on Guam are patriotic Americans, nevertheless we deal daily with colonial issues.

Question 2: With such a serious nature to the majority of posts on your blog do you feel a responsibility to your readers? It seems like people leave their heart and souls on the comment form, does that surprise you?

It has been overwhelming to have such a dedicated, generous, positive and involved readership. They’ve become a community of friends … we often disagree, as friends do, but most of the time we support each other and encourage each other. It’s been vastly rewarding to me. When I started blogging in January 2007, I had no clue that Zen Habits would turn out as it has, and it’s been a huge surprise for me. A great and wonderful surprise. It’s because of the readership community at Zen Habits that I put all this time and energy into it.

Question 3: Do you ever have a bad day emotionally, or get angry?

Of course! I think there’s a perception that I’m somehow more disciplined, or more emotionally mature or something, than most people. But the truth is that I’m human, with all of the trials and struggles of human life. I get angry, I have struggles with motivation, I get into fights, I get depressed, I get lazy. I’m just a regular guy, struggling with all the same things that everyone else is struggling with. Of course, I’ve had successes with some of these issues, and that’s what I share with people. But I have many failures too … I probably don’t write about these failures as much (though I do mention them from time to time) just because I often don’t feel that they are as useful to people as the things that work, that lead to successes. That’s probably not true, so it’s something I need to think about more. I think one of the reasons my posts connect with many people is that I’m not just writing a bunch of advice as an expert — I’m writing it as a regular person who has been working through these issues, sharing what has worked for me.

Question 4: Do you remember your first post? What was the title and topic? Did it get any comments (and I don’t mean your wife (smile))? Did you start off with a generic WordPress theme template like the rest of us? And how have you as a person changed since that first post?

I’m not sure what post was my first — I think it was a review of my year in 2006, actually celebrating a lot of my successes: becoming vegetarian, becoming organized and productive, becoming an early riser, training for and completing a marathon, increasing my income and reducing my debt. It had been a great year for me, and I was just reflecting on that. Sometimes you don’t realize how far you’ve come until you stop and take a look back.

There were no comments on that post, as I had absolutely no readers. I don’t think I had any readers for a few weeks, and to be honest I was mostly writing for myself. That’s what Zen Habits was in the beginning: a kind of journal for me to reflect on my life, with the hope that I could share what I’ve learned with others. It’s evolved into a bit more than that, but that’s still at the core of Zen Habits.

I started off with a generic Blogger template. A month or two into my blogging, I had gained several hundred readers, and I decided to take Zen Habits to the next level and get my own domain, move to WordPress (I used a generic theme but customized it, which lasted until my recent redesign) and change to a paid webhost.

How have I changed as a person since my first post? Well, for one thing, I think I’ve found my calling. I know for a fact that I’ve found my passion. Writing for Zen Habits has become one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done, and it fills my life with a purpose and a love for what I do that I’ve never had before. I’ve also evolved as a blogger and a writer, learning about what works and what doesn’t, although I think there’s still a lot I can do and experiment with in the future.

Question 5: In all of your writing online has there ever been one comment (or email) in response to a post, be it negative or positive, that really made you feel taken aback or shocked?

That’s a difficult one. I’ve had a number of comments that really deflated me as a blogger. I try to take them in stride, but sometimes certain comments cause me to question what I do, and whether I’m really doing a good job, and whether it’s all worth it. Doesn’t happen a lot, but it’s happened. Mostly (95%) the comments are overwhelmingly positive, and my readers are encouraging.

I think the most intense comments and posts have come from the readers who say that I’ve changed their lives. I get so many of these, it just takes me aback … how could I have imagined, when writing these posts, that it would have such a profound impact on people? One of the more memorable came from a woman who was suffering through cancer … she took inspiration from my writing, and I believe since has overcome the cancer. When you get emails and comments like that, it just floors you.

Question 6: What do you think is the major problem in the world today (with respect to humanity) and what are your recommendations for how we can create a positive change?

I don’t think there’s a problem with humanity. I think human beings are wonderful, incredible, shocking and beautiful creatures. They never fail to surprise me. I think there’s a problem with systems. The systems we use, that are so entrenched in our society due to decades and centuries of use, produce miserable results. Look at the incredible poverty and suffering in the Third World … does that need to exist? There is enough food in the world to feed these people. In fact, there’s usually enough food and money in these countries to feed themselves. But because of actions of First World governments and corporations, most of the wealth of these people is exported out of the country, by corporations exporting goods and money and by governments (such as ours) collecting on debt and forcing laws on these people. As a result, they are not able to feed themselves. That’s horrible.

But does this situation exist because there are evil people in corporations or governments? Not at all. These people are good human beings, acting in the best interest of the people they represent. Unfortunately, because of the systems that exist, that best interest is in the worst interest of people outside of their entities. And that’s the problem: our systems should be designed not to act in the best interest of entities (such as corporations) but in the best interest of the community, of people.

How can we correct it? It’s a daunting task, to be sure, but it’s not impossible. In fact, if the right people could be convinced to make changes (such as the head of the U.S. government and other First World governments), these problems could be corrected very easily. They would just have to erase Third World debt (something that would have minimal impact on their finances) and stop imposing “reforms” on these Third World countries. Unfortunately, our government representatives won’t be convinced to make changes until *we* the people make changes. Because they represent our interests … and if they continue to do what they do, it’s because we let them. We are complicit in the deaths of millions of children from starvation and diseases, because we choose to do nothing.

Are we evil people because of that? Not at all. We are wonderful human beings who are living our lives in peace — blissfully ignorant of the suffering of others and what we need to do to stop it. And so it all starts with awareness … if more people became aware of the real problems, and started giving attention and thought to the issues, perhaps we could start to make changes. And perhaps eventually the harmful systems that control our society could be changed.

Question 7: If you could meet with George W. Bush what would you say to him?

I’d probably read him my answer from the last question. Bush has the power to end so much suffering, but I doubt that anything I say to him would change his mind. He has an outlook on the world that has been ingrained in him since birth, and I doubt I could change it overnight. Perhaps if he had to spend some time living among the people of the Third World countries, he’d begin to change his outlook. I think about a year should do it.

Question 8: Where do you see blogging and Zen Habits five years from now?

I have no idea! At the beginning of this year, I couldn’t have predicted where Zen Habits would be right now … I can’t imagine where it will be this time next year! All year, I’ve been taking this approach: Just see what happens. Do my best, be true to myself, do what I love, always look to improve, and see where it takes me. I try to take advantages of opportunities that come my way. I try to enjoy it all. I don’t have any concrete plans beyond what I’m working on now.

That said, I hope I’m still doing it in five years. There’s no telling what the online world will be like in five years, as things change so rapidly. I think instead of trying to control the tide, I will try to go with the flow, and be there when things change and change with it. My hope for five years from now: that I still have the chance to do what I love, that I still have a great community of readers. That would be awesome.

Question 9: Why do you think so many people seem to be depressed or caught in a rut?

It’s part of the human condition. Our emotional lives have peaks and valleys, some more than others, but it’s hard to live a life without sadness, without frustration, without depression. Many times I think we feel depressed when we feel like our lives are beyond our control. It seems overwhelming, it seems that nothing we do helps, it seems that we cannot achieve happiness, it seems useless to give any effort. And there will always be reasons why we feel like our lives are out of control. The key, for me, has been to find ways to get things under some semblance of control, and that always means action. Take action, and you’ll feel instantly better, because you’re doing something to get your life under control. Even if you’ve got an ocean of troubles, taking a bucketful of that water and doing something with it is a start — it’s getting a part of that sea of troubles under control. That might mean making a list of things we need to do, creating a plan, going out and exercising, starting on that project that’s overwhelming us … anything, really, that’s a step towards getting things under control.

Question 10: Other than the website, and being a prolific guest poster, what are the future plans for the Zen Habits brand? Perhaps a Zen Habits energy drink? Self help DVD series?

I can’t imagine creating merchandise, because I don’t see how selling useless stuff to my readers helps them in any way. If anything, it makes them a little poorer. I don’t mind if they buy things from me, like books or e-books, that are actually useful — then we both gain. In fact, that’s what’s next for me: I’m in the process of writing a book for print, and trying to sell it to a publisher. That’s a new experience for me, but I find it tremendously exciting. I’m a book lover, and the prospect of having a book in print with my name on it is exhilarating.

BONUS Question
Is there anything you would like to add, or any announcements that you would like to make?

I’d like to thank all of my readers, the amazing people that make writing for Zen Habits a thing of pure joy, the people that encourage me every step of the way, the people that make Zen Habits what it is. I’d like to thank my wife, Eva, and my kids, and my mom, Shannon Murphy. They are incredible supporters of mine, and I would be nothing without them.

As for announcements, besides the print book I’m working on, I’ve got a few other projects that I’m working on, including a new blog and another online project. I can’t disclose details yet as I don’t know them myself, but things are shaping up and I hope to be able to announce things soon.

Leo, THANK YOU for your time, and I wish you and your family peace, happiness, and tremendous success in the future!

If you have any additional queries for Leo that were not covered in the interview, please feel free to post them in the ‘comment’ section and I’ll see if he can stop by and check for follow-up questions from the readers.

Please stay tuned for next week’s interview with Skellie of Skelliewag.org. Or better yet, subscribe to the MyTropicalEscape RSS feed.

This interview has been powered by the kindess of Leo Babauta, the Culebra Blog, and the Palmetto Guesthouse.

Today starts the first in a new weekly series of interviews titled “Ten Questions With…” that will take place every Tuesday here at MyTropicalEscape. When I first read that NorthxEast, the site that produced the 50 Most Influential Bloggers post, was up for sale (and sold) I wondered who is the blogger/entreprenuer that made the purchase? Why did he/she buy the site? How do they hope to improve the blog that was known for “Unmissable Weekly Articles?” Additionally, it’s those initial thoughts that actually spawned the whole idea to do a unique series of interviews with bloggers, entreprenuers, travelers, and anyone else I find interesting, so for that I thought it would be fitting if Cameron Low was the first person to participate.

For some background information, Cameron Low is the CEO of a new internet start-up company called ‘Innovat3 Group.’ The company was founded by Cameron in early 2007 with his best friend and business partner, Alexei Berezner (who also acts as the CFO). Both Cameron and Alexi are students at the University of Monash (Melbourne, Australia), and were previously engaged in shares and futures trading.

Innovat3 Group is based in Melbourne, Australia, and they operate a web-development agency that goes by the same name, as well as a newly established blogging and advertising network. The company is well staffed with talented designers, developers and server administrators. You can read more about Innovat3 Group by checking out their web site www.innovat3group.com.

Question1: For people who are interested in learning more about you, do you currently keep your own personal ‘Cameron Low’ blog?

Answer: No I don’t, but I intend to very soon. I have purchased cameronlow.com and I aim to have it setup very soon. Needless to say, it will be powered by Wordpress.

It’s very useful to have a personal blog online, especially if you are a new web-entrepreneur; it provides you with some exposure to the internet world and can also serve as a place to rant about all the havocs and conquests of web-entrepreneurship.

Question2: How did you discover NorthxEast? Were you a reader first, or were you looking specifically to purchase a top blog?

Answer: One of my company’s (Innovat3 Group) growth strategies was to acquire popular and high-trafficked sites/blogs in order to establish a firm position in the industry. So we were in the market to purchase ‘top blogs’, and we are still in the market to purchase ‘top blogs.’

I’ve been a subscriber of NorthxEast since its debut back in April or May. Always loved the blog and its writing (especially Leo’s post), and Collis (the previous owner and founder) did a great job growing the site in the few months it was up. So imagine how I felt when the site was put on sale.

When the blog was put up for sale, Collis made a post about it on the blog stating it was on auction at Sitepoint. I believed the starting bid was $400. I jumped on it very quickly, but needless to say, the price shot up quite quickly due to the popularity of the blog.

Originally I never intended to spend more than $6,000 on the site. But I guess it couldn’t be helped when you are against people like Yaro Starak.

The funny thing is, Collis didn’t think he would receive any more then 2-3k from the sale. So how smart was he, not setting a buy-it-now price.

Question3: Why were you interested in NorthxEast? What about that site in particular made you want to purchase it?

Answer: Being a subscriber myself, I know the kind of content that NxE produces. With such good content came a very loyal user base, you rarely see a site that has been online for shorter than a year that has more than 2000 RSS subscribers.

The other thing that drew me to NorthxEast is its simplicity in transaction. ‘Simplicity in transaction’ is a phrase I like to use when describing a site where the users/visitors/readers will not be affected much if the owners/operators were to change. On the other hand, a site like ProBlogger, DoshDosh, or Seths Godin’s Blog would be sites that I consider not ‘simple in transaction,’ because readers consciously, or unconsciously, look for the unique voice in the content. And if this were to change, then there is a high possibility that you will lose a fair deal of the readership.

NorthxEast is so simple because it is established as a blog where industry experts post articles, as guest posters and part time bloggers. So no real ‘unique voice’ was established through the articles. With sites like these, as long as the qualities of the posts are maintained after the sale, you can expect little to no impact in the readership. This evidently is true, as NorthxEast has in fact grown in readership since the take-over by my company.

Question4: For those readers out there who might be looking to purchase a blog, was it a worthwhile experience? Did you have any glitches with SitePoint? Was it easy to work with Collis and Leo to close the deal?

Answer: I have to say that purchasing NorthxEast has to be one of the smartest business decisions I have ever made. Not only did I get an excellent blog, I also made a few friends along the way (Collis, Cyan, Leo, etc). The transaction with Collis was very smooth, although forgetting that since we are both on Australian soil, there was a 10% Government Service Tax. My financial officer was not very happy upon hearing this.

The auction itself was quite exciting, I believe the auction (although obviously ended) is still available for reading. The most anxious part of the auction came in the last 4 hours which went on to become 24 hours. Sitepoint has this system where if a bid was placed in the last 4 hours, the timer would reset back to 4 hours (in order to prevent auction sniping).

Collis and I decided not use a contract for this transaction, as we didn’t think it was necessary. This is because Collis has his reputation, and I have my instant bank transfer. I do not advise this to other people who are looking to buy and sell web-sites as contracts are very important in protecting your interests.

Collis wrote up a very nice article on NorthxEast on ‘10 tips for a successful blog sale‘ and Leo has also agreed to stay behind to remain as a writer for the blog, which helped with minimizing the impact of the sale on the readers.

Question5: When was the sale finalized? How is it going so far and are you still getting good traffic?

Answer: The sale was finalized 48-72 hours after the auction ended. A bank transaction and a few phone calls and emails later, it was complete.

Since the sale, traffic has actually increased and so has the RSS readership. We also went from a page rank 4 to 5 (just in case there are some people who actually care about page rank reading this article), although this is very much due to Collis’ efforts. So I am happy to say that this has been a very successful purchase and investment.

Question6: Is blogging or making money online your fulltime career?

Hopefully, making money online will be my fulltime career in a short-while, as I simply love doing it. However, at the moment, I am still a student at the University of Monash here in Melbourne, Victoria. I am a final year student doing Accounting and Finance.

Question7: What sort of plans and changes do you have in store for NxE? Do you have any announcements coming up?

Answer: As much as I love the current NorthxEast design, I plan to redevelop it in order to allow a more traditional blog to exist alongside the ‘feature’ article format we have going at the moment. So you can expect an announcement from me about the details of this re-development/design very soon.

Question8: With so many people blogging nowadays how do you plan to stand out and attract new readers?

Answer: I strongly believe in marketing, good content and timing (not exactly in that order). So I will focus strongly in getting and producing high-quality, detailed and useful articles on NorthxEast at a consistent pace. Some bloggers forget that consistency is very important when it comes to blogging. People expect a specific column to appear on the newspaper every week, and blog readers are no different.

Also, the current social media revolution is an excellent way to get traffic and new readers for your blog. I’ve been experimenting lately with StumbleUpon and lesser-known sites such as Sphinn.

Question9: What motivates you?

Answer: I guess very simply, I am motivated by my desire to get recognized, my competitiveness and my passion for the internet. My family has a long tradition of being in more traditional businesses, so I feel it is a challenge for me to establish myself and be recognized in an industry that is totally new and outside of the comfort zone I was brought up in.

Question 10: As an entrepreneur where do you see the future of blogs and online marketing heading?

Answer: Conversations and discussions will be the centerpiece of blogging in the future. Blogs will become the new forums. Each blog will act like a separate category in a forum. Services such as Gravatar and Open-ID will facilitate this, so that users can follow conversations from one blog to another while maintaining their identity.

I feel that a social media and network revolution is underway. Bloggers should take advantage of these new services in order to promote and assist in their blogging. Link building is no longer as important as it once was. What is important now and into the future is connection and building friends.

Cameron, thank you for your time and I wish you tremendous success in the future!

If you have any additional questions for Cameron that were not covered in the interview feel free to post them in the Comment section. I have asked Cameron to stop by and check for follow-up questions from the readers.

Stay tuned for next week’s interview when I get to ask Leo Babatau, of ZenHabits, what he would say to George W. Bush if he had the chance to meet with him. Or better yet, subscirbe to my RSS Feed.

This interview has been powered by the kindess of Cameron Low, the Culebra Blog, and the Palmetto Guesthouse.