First off, damn good to hear you're alive Clintard! It's too long between your posts! I checked out the site and was wowed with how nice and professional it is. Personally I could not care less what the ongoings in Moultrie are but I guess if it is a way to connect smalltown USA, it's probably a good thing.
Maybe I should PM you but can I ask what motivates a young man such as yourself to expend the time, effort and dedication to create and support such a venture? I know you have a life since you work, own a Vmax and are evidently intelligent. Unless you are trying to break into the media world somehow, I don't see the draw or benefit, that is unless Moultrie county is so Podunk that every girl that hears you're the editor/creator of the local Internet media machine that they all spread their legs and want to have your children. I suppose if I were retired I might bother with such a venture. Maybe I just don't get small town Americana. Forgive me if I sound like the Devil's advocate.
Once you get that new house you're gonna have all kinds of time to commit to this new venture, am I right boys? I was with Bill K, keep the Max. It's costing you nothing and can save your sanity when you most need an avenue of release! In the end, anything we tell you means diddly-squat. You gotta make your own decision on what's best for you. I see you selling the Max you once loved so much and are moving on. Nothing wrong with that my friend. You ain't the first nor the last. In the end, Gods blessing on whatever you decide.
Sincerely, PATMAX
In short,
I got a wild hair up my ass one night. Ive always wanted my "Own" website, just never had the time or patience to sit down and figure out how to make one.
Im no custom coder though. I am still in my infancy in terms of web design. I have a simple 1and1 business hosting account and i use wordpress. I create my own themes though. Im probably going to upgrade to a dedicated server if the site starts slowing down from too much traffic.
Wordpress is an absolute godsend, and is ideal for what im trying to do with that site. Im trying to learn drupal right now in my spare time as well. There is one hell of a learning curve but once you get past it you can do amazing things.
If you dont know, i travel for a living. Depending on what i decide to do in the wintertime, i can either spend it traveling making good money or sit on my ass doing nothing and make enough to get by. This winter i chose the later because i was so burned out. Needed the break!
I live in small town Illinois. Its a great place to raise a family. It can also be a cesspool. It just depends on how you go about things. If you can make a decent living, you have it made here. Houses are cheap. You'd be amazed. I bought my first house for $33,000. Buying another one this fall, after my girlfriends vagina spits out my spawn.
Got the deal of a lifetime on this house. Her dad is selling it to me, contract for deed. $45,000, no interest, no mortgage, $500 a month payment. Thats why im working on as much of a down payment as possible. The quicker its paid off the better. Im shooting for 5 years or less.
The girlfriend already has a 2 year old, and we're having another one in August. The house is only 2 bedroom, 1 bath. The kids will be outgrowing that 1 bedroom just around the time the house is paid for. Then ill have equity to borrow against to ad on and remodel.
Im going to keep the house i have now and rent it out for extra income once its paid for.
The new house im buying has 3 city lots, takes up over 1/4 of a block and has a bunch of full grown tree's. Its no **** hole either.
I've even considered using some of the equity in the house to build a row of storage sheds to rent out with part of the lot that house comes with. Across the street there are a bunch of storage sheds and i could use the ones i build for privacy as well as an income generator.
The website may bring in some income eventually. Im advertising 6 months of free ad's and pages for businesses around here. Then i will charge a monthly fee if they want to continue advertising.
I work with a guy who is retiring after this year. This guy was a journalist and medical photographer for 20 years. He knows his stuff. When it comes to using a computer though, the guy might as well be retarded.
Were talking about starting an LLC and starting up several websites for other counties in the area. Ill be the computer guy, he can do all the running around getting the news. Hes a lonely old dude, so it'll give him a reason to run around feeling important and mingling with the people. Works out for everyone. The very nature of the site is so that people can submit themselves, im really pushing that. It will inspire creativity, rather than relying on a "reporter" to go out and fetch content.
That ought to bring us a pretty nice amount of advertising income if we can hack it.
I think i may have to change the name i chose for the website. Its not trademarked but MAY be registered as a business here. I got a call from the local newspaper stating that they own the rights to "Moultrie County News"
Moultrie County News was a newspaper than ran in this area back in the 1800's all the way up until 1981. In 1961 the local paper bought it out, then in 1981 bought every other newspaper around here, shut them all down, and started what they call the "News Progress"
I dont want to change the name, but i may have to. Ive talked to a few lawyers, as well as a friend whos going to law school down in DC right now and they all tell me that i probably own more rights to the name now that im actually using it than the local newspaper does, BUT, itll cost me a **** ton of money defending myself in the case they come after me.
Motivation