MonkeyBlogger’s First Interview!
You guys are in for a treat today. 
I’ve been able to get Michael Dunlop from Retireat21 to agree to let me interview him! This is great because as a 19 year old internet entrepreneur, Michael is setting the stage for all of us young bloggers, freelancers, and webmasters. So enough of my gibberish, let’s take a look at the interview we were able to get.
Hey Michael, it’s great too have you with us at MonkeyBlogger.com, it’s great to be able to interview you. So tell me a bit about yourself. How old are you? When did you get your first computer, and when did you start getting into the online business?
My name is Michael Dunlop and I am 19 Years Old. It all started when I was
about 11 years old and was playing a computer game called Runescape, I played it on and off for a few years. When I was 14 it some how destroyed my parents computer and they banned me from every playing it on there PC. So I decided to go ahead and buy a computer, with the help of my parents. I then moved on to a computer game called Counter Strike and I met some people on there who where starting webdesign so I decided to download Dreamweaver and get in on the craze. I am now the only one left doing websites and making real money online.
When did you start your first website, and what was it called?
My first website was called Just-Shout.com and was a graphics design forum. Soon after launching it we received a lot of sign ups and visitors. I then quickly moved everything to a new domain called ShoutGfx.com which received over 2000 sign ups in 6 months with around 100,000 forum posts. My competitors started to hack my site because of the quick growth and after a few hackings I decided to move onto my new project Webdesigndev.com
How did it feel to be the owner of a website?
I had freedom! Money buys freedom, you can do what you want, when you want. I enjoyed it, it wasn’t like a job, it was about having fun!
What were some of the challenges you faced when you first started up your sites?
Main challenges I faced was Money, Skills and Maturity which I spoke about on my blog, 10 Reasons why being a young entrepreneur sucks! (http://www.retireat21.com/blog/10-reasons-why-being-a-young-entrepreneur-sucks/ )
What recommendations do you have for “newbies” when starting up a website or online business?
Do it today, so many times people say they will start tomorrow and never do!
Do you have any tips regarding marketing a blog, for instance?
- Be unique, we don’t need another “How to make money with Adsense Blog”. I took the Make Money Online niche which was really busy but then I niche it further by making it just for young people.
- If you are going to pay to market your website, I recommend buying paid reviews, you get life time links and triple the traffic that a 125 x 125 in my experience.
What’s your favourite website on the net?
I have a lot of favourite websites, mainly http://problogger.net and http://zenhabits.com and http://dumblittleman.com
Do you believe that everyone can run a business online?
I don’t see why not, so many people (http://www.retireat21.com/blog/top-young-bloggers-under-21/ ) are young and making so much money online so why can’t you!
Lastly, what do you think of MonkeyBlogger.com? Any potential in your eyes?
Sure there is, you need to include more images into your blog posts to make them look more interesting. I like the design and content, keep it up!
Well Michael, it was great to have you, I hope we’ve helped some of my readers to learn a bit about online “biz”, and I hope you are very successful with Retire@21 and all of your other online ventures.
Well, that’s the interview, I hope you all enjoyed it and take away something of value from it
Tags: blog, Blogging, interview, make money online, retireat21, wordpress
Well apart from the fact that I was going to interview him! Its a very good post!!
I met him on ShoutGfx.com (AMAZING site!!) and have talked very often since then.
Shanes last blog post..The Server Is Back!
Thanks for interviewing me
Hope your readers will enjoy!
ShoutGFx.com is a great forum, and I’m glad I was be able to interview him.
Michael, thanks so much, I hope my readers will enjoy it as well.
Mike’s a good kid, that was definitely a cool interview… I didn’t know he had done (and is still doing?) the whole web design thing. Clearly it paid off, retireat21.com is very asthetically pleasing.
Jims last blog post..Content Before Cash? Not In This Town!
Great interview. Michael sounds pretty down to earth considering (refreshing indeed)…he almost sounded as if he took the “hacking” as a compliment
Haha, I think he did take the hacking as a compliment.
But yeah, he’s a really nice guy, with a great sense of how to profit online, and he’s doing well for himself. Thanks for the compliments about the interview by the way, it means a lot.
Nice Interview, I really like his like of top bloggers under 21. It’s nice to see so many young people interested in these things nowadays.
Just noticed that there seems to be a mistake with the link: http://dumblittlemen.com
Instead it should be http://dumblittleman.com
Very true Rajaie. I first (really) caught the entrepreneurial bug at 19…1989…when I went into direct sales among other things. I really wish the Internet was a viable option the; I didn’t get online ’till about 2000.
Decent review, but I agree abotu including more images! I include atleast 1 in ever post I make.
Make Money Onlines last blog post..More Ways To Sell Advertisements
That’s cool, and yeah, it is great that young people are getting into online marketing and blogging, I personally really enjoy it, and I’m glad I can get a head start.
@Rajaie - Whoops, my mistake, I’ll fix it now, thanks so much.
Michael is a great guy and a great entrepreneur. I’m lucky to have him as one of my contacts
-Mike
Mike Huangs last blog post..You Eat Where You Work
I totally agree, he is a great guy.
Mark Cudas last blog post..Life Happens
[...] The young owner of Monkey Blogger interviewed me, I didn’t have that much time to go into detail, but makes a interesting [...]
I found your site on faves.com bookmarking site.. I like it ..gave it a fave for you..ill be checking back later
Thanks! I’m happy you enjoyed your stay, I hope you subscribe to the RSS
wow - i wish i had that sense at 21.
actually i just wish i was 21 ;-P
Living Off Dividends & Passive Incomes last blog post..$2,811 In Passive Income For April 2008