As I gear up to be a parent, there is one thing constantly on my mind: money. My wife has already begun gearing down with regards to her work as she’s been feeling very under the weather in part due to the pregnancy, but also because she has had a nagging cold that is mild, but almost never ending and this leaves me feeling slightly more stressed about my contributions.

I should preface this post with the fact that for the number of years experience I have dealing with a variety of things, I don’t get paid nearly enough, but I do better than many bloggers out there and so I have always been fairly happy with my rate of pay.

Selling XFEP

This leads me back to the title of this post, and the thought that selling this blog would bring me a quick influx of cash that could allow me to pay off my credit card, money owing to taxes and pay down much of the car loan we have. This would free up money for other things and help me get back on track financially.

Why do I think about this? Well, part of it is watching others sell their respective sites. Many blogs have once again been sold recently, and I am watching as they cash out and use the money in various ways. There is a great summary of who is selling, and for how much on a recent post from Mark at 45n5.com.

On that post, he calculates, using figures and averages taken from recent sales to come up with approximate valuations for many of the blogs in his Top 100 list.

His conclusion is that this blog is worth around $7091.70 USD based on a value of $18.42 per RSS subscriber.

While this is rather enticing, as it would take this site more than a year to make that money through advertising, I would need to see at least two or three times that at this current point and time before I would even really be willing to give up ownership on this site.

Why Haven’t I Sold?

The biggest reason I haven’t flipped this site and moved on is because I really enjoy writing on here. This has been a great platform for me to say my peace, share my experiences and connect with some extremely great people.

The second biggest reason is that I know I could do so much more with this blog. I still have so many lessons to share, and so many things to learn, and I am not ready to give up on all of those things for a few bucks.

The last reason, of course, is that the type of money I want for the site due to the sentimental attachments I have to this blog mean that no one would pay a price I would be comfortable with, and so my readers are probably pretty safe. My debts, not including my mortgage come in at around $15,000 Canadian dollars. That is the car loan, line of credit, credit cards, and other miscellaneous debt.

Conclusion

This means that I don’t really have a reason to take a quick cash-out like so many others have because it wouldn’t do anything to fix my current financial situation, it would take away some of my daily enjoyment, and disconnect me from a brand that I have built from nothing. Mark is right that people looking to build a brand, really shouldn’t sell their sites, especially if they attach themselves to that brand.

I have watched some very smart people sell their sites and just thought to myself, “why?”

I know this isn’t the most informative post, but hopefully it helps you all see a bit better, what is going on in my mind. If you have thought about selling your blog, how much would it take to part with it? Or if you wouldn’t ever sell, what keeps you so connected to it?

Originally posted on April 15, 2008 @ 8:15 am

One place that not many people get to go to is b5media’s main office in Toronto, but I just recently visited, and so I figured it would be fun to give a rundown of what I saw and thought.

b5media’s office is great. It is open concept, with just under a dozen stations. It has one wall dedicated to a giant white board with the other wall across from it, filled with windows. I expected it to be much larger, but I think it is the perfect size for a company based internationally and on the web.

All of their secrets and projects are listed on the whiteboard wall for anyone to see. All of those concerns that b5media is a hidden, private company definitely doesn’t seem to be true once you enter their inner sanctum. Clocks set to Toronto, San Francisco, Melbourne sit on the whiteboard wall as well. Reminds me of the financial centers around the world, except the locations are written in black marker above the fancy metallic clocks.

The desks are a higher quality of what I have at home, a simple glass and metal desk with a black finish. They look really great, but it doesn’t give anyone any privacy. The desks are adorned with all sorts of interesting nicknacks. One person is equipped with a jumbo 30″ LCD monitor. It makes all the others look very diminutive and is larger than any monitor or television I own.

The view outside is of the city streets, and while not all that pleasant, there is a great deal of light coming in from the window. In the distance you can also see the CN Tower.

The work environment is intense, but relaxed. Two of the three people in the main office area spend their time listening to music on their headphones while they work.

In the back there is a meeting/conference room with a comfortable couch, three walls of whiteboard space, an even bigger LCD television, and an Xbox 360, with Rockband all set up to go.

I have to admit, it is so much nicer and more interesting than the space I have devoted to myself to work. Not only that, but this is the second time a blog related company I have worked with included a whiteboard in their project flow and notes, something that I should probably consider at home, even if it would only be to organize me.

Originally posted on April 3, 2008 @ 9:46 pm