July 24, 2007: That was the day I signed up to join The Fastlane to Millions, almost two years ago to the day. Back then, I spent literally hours a day sitting at my computer reading posts on the forums here. I was 16 back when I joined, and everybody here made me feel welcome. For that, I'm truly grateful. However, it took me a while to really learn the secret to success: ACTION. I had heard it a few times, but I guess it never really sunk in.
Throughout my earlier days here, I used come up with ideas left and right -- some of which I still believe have loads of potential. Unfortunately, I never seriously pursued any of them, or I allowed conquerable obstacles to prevent me from accomplishing anything. After nearly two years of this crap, I finally decided that it was time for me to do something. I wasn't gonna let anything stop me this time, but I knew I had to have a realistic plan.
Back in February of this year (2009), I was out in California on a family vacation in the San Francisco area. My family was planning on taking a little mini-vacation to Lake Tahoe for some snowboarding, and we stopped at some outlets in California on the way. I was sitting in our rented SUV while we were in the parking lot, and I just glanced over across the way at the back of another car. For some reason, I noticed the same empty space on the back of the car across the way that I see on hundreds of cars every day, and I began thinking about producing some type of car magnet. I don't exactly remember why, but the idea of memorial car magnets came to mind, and the idea for my site was born: I would create custom memorial car magnets using a template in order to streamline the process.
A few months passed by, and I kind of let the idea sit on the back-burner. Finally, early this summer, I decided that I would pursue this idea now that I really had no excuses (I graduated high school, and I didn't have any employment lined up for the summer.). So, I went on Craigslist and found a graphic design student. My brother had drawn up a few basic sketches, and I scanned them into the computer and sent them over to the designer to give him something to start with. It took a few weeks of emailing back and forth to decide upon a final design, but we finally did. Then, it was time to build a website. I had emailed a student about creating something, but I never got a reply. I knew I just wanted something simple and inexpensive, so I didn't really want to look into any experienced design firms. I began investigating shopping cart options from sites like GoDaddy and Yahoo!, and based on recommendations and features, I decided on Yahoo's Small Business eCommerce solution. At $39.99/month (but $25.97/month for the first 3 months), it was more pricey than GoDaddy's Quick Shopping Cart, but I convinced myself that I would be willing to spend a little extra to make the process easier on myself. I knew I had to get something done.
I believe it's been about 5 or 6 days since I decided on building my website, and my site is currently up and running. I only really spent about two days putting together the site, but it's still evolving. I had my designer also create a logo for the site, but, other than that, I handled just about everything else myself. And now, I finally have something to show for it.
Ladies and gentlemen, without further adieu, I bring to you MotorMemorials.com - Custom Memorial Automotive Accessories. I've also decided to offer celebrity memorial car magnets because it didn't really make sense not to, so I have those listed on the site as well.
My next step is advertising, now that the site is at least ready to accept orders. But, I know my work is not done. Every hour is exciting, and I'm loving the constant rush of seeing something new. I wish I had done this sooner, but I'm glad that, at age 18, I've finally learned the secret to success: ACTION.
I will use this thread to track my progress. I would love any comments, suggestions, or any other forms of feedback. Thanks again to all of you.
Throughout my earlier days here, I used come up with ideas left and right -- some of which I still believe have loads of potential. Unfortunately, I never seriously pursued any of them, or I allowed conquerable obstacles to prevent me from accomplishing anything. After nearly two years of this crap, I finally decided that it was time for me to do something. I wasn't gonna let anything stop me this time, but I knew I had to have a realistic plan.
Back in February of this year (2009), I was out in California on a family vacation in the San Francisco area. My family was planning on taking a little mini-vacation to Lake Tahoe for some snowboarding, and we stopped at some outlets in California on the way. I was sitting in our rented SUV while we were in the parking lot, and I just glanced over across the way at the back of another car. For some reason, I noticed the same empty space on the back of the car across the way that I see on hundreds of cars every day, and I began thinking about producing some type of car magnet. I don't exactly remember why, but the idea of memorial car magnets came to mind, and the idea for my site was born: I would create custom memorial car magnets using a template in order to streamline the process.
A few months passed by, and I kind of let the idea sit on the back-burner. Finally, early this summer, I decided that I would pursue this idea now that I really had no excuses (I graduated high school, and I didn't have any employment lined up for the summer.). So, I went on Craigslist and found a graphic design student. My brother had drawn up a few basic sketches, and I scanned them into the computer and sent them over to the designer to give him something to start with. It took a few weeks of emailing back and forth to decide upon a final design, but we finally did. Then, it was time to build a website. I had emailed a student about creating something, but I never got a reply. I knew I just wanted something simple and inexpensive, so I didn't really want to look into any experienced design firms. I began investigating shopping cart options from sites like GoDaddy and Yahoo!, and based on recommendations and features, I decided on Yahoo's Small Business eCommerce solution. At $39.99/month (but $25.97/month for the first 3 months), it was more pricey than GoDaddy's Quick Shopping Cart, but I convinced myself that I would be willing to spend a little extra to make the process easier on myself. I knew I had to get something done.
I believe it's been about 5 or 6 days since I decided on building my website, and my site is currently up and running. I only really spent about two days putting together the site, but it's still evolving. I had my designer also create a logo for the site, but, other than that, I handled just about everything else myself. And now, I finally have something to show for it.
Ladies and gentlemen, without further adieu, I bring to you MotorMemorials.com - Custom Memorial Automotive Accessories. I've also decided to offer celebrity memorial car magnets because it didn't really make sense not to, so I have those listed on the site as well.
My next step is advertising, now that the site is at least ready to accept orders. But, I know my work is not done. Every hour is exciting, and I'm loving the constant rush of seeing something new. I wish I had done this sooner, but I'm glad that, at age 18, I've finally learned the secret to success: ACTION.
I will use this thread to track my progress. I would love any comments, suggestions, or any other forms of feedback. Thanks again to all of you.
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