Interview with Bobby Ivie

How and when did your online business get started?

I guess it was about 6 years ago when I started marketing on the Internet. I've never had it in me to be able to work for someone else. I've been a self-employed musician most of my life, and I've owned some businesses such as landscaping, lawn service and transportation service (more interesting verbiage for 'cab driver').

I couldn't even begin to tell you how many 'work for the man' type jobs I've had. In one 3 year period alone I had 39 different jobs trying to find something I could get motivated to commit to.

I tried some other off-line marketing businesses like Amway, but after the 3rd try on that I gave up. I didn't like prospecting. So a friend and I heard about a work at home business you could do (medical billing) and we invested in a computer. We never figured out how to get that launched, but now that I had Internet access, a whole new world of information and possibilities became available to me.

I found this business that's very popular now - SFI. It taught me how to market on the Net. I made a little money with it, but I was soon discouraged with the large downline I had and the small income it brought in. So I switched to another great business and built a downline of over 2,000 members, but had the same problem. I was only making about $100 per month with it.

I started to realize that with all of the program hoppers on the Internet I had to own the business to be profitable. That's not to say there aren't some great money making plans out there that work, but I decided that I wanted to own the types of businesses that I was using to build my other businesses. That's when I opened the doors to MuscleMailSafelist.com

I sat on that for a year or so while still chasing MLMs and other programs, all the while knowing that I still needed to own another business. That's when another great traffic exchange owner, Jon Olson, gave me some tips to get started with my own traffic exchange.

He encouraged me and gave me some ideas for a good script to use, and I liked the design of a site that Stephen Ayer and Paula Zuehlke had just started, HitsSafari.com, so I got in touch with their designer and that's when my first traffic exchange was born.

Which exchange(s) do you own or co-own?

The first exchange I started was FunnyFarmTraffic.com Funny Farm had something a little different than other traffic exchanges. At that time, since most exchanges were a little dry and boring to surf, the industry needed a site with something different. My background in the music and entertainment industry gave me experience in working a microphone and an audience with jokes and stuff. It made sense to me to go with my strength (some have argued about this being a strength <grin>).

What was different about Funny Farm was that after surfing a few sites, you got an Intermission which showed you a joke, or several jokes, to lighten up the work of earning traffic a bit.

After awhile, I started doing admin work for Stephen Ayer on TrafficRoundup.com That started, I guess about 2 years ago. We recently formed Roundup Marketing Group LLC and Roundup, Funny Farm and Muscle Mail are all under that umbrella. We have several projects coming up, so this is going to be an exiting year!

Do you currently work exclusively online?

Yes. That was my dream when I started several years ago, and I had to have it at any cost and no matter what kind of work it was. I had to get out of the job market, and God willing, I will never be back there again. I'd rather make less money online at home than a lot more money in the work force. Besides, if you stick with it, constantly making adjustments, you can eventually make more online in one month than you can all year at a j-j-j-job. <shivers>

How many hours per day do you spend on your exchange(s)?

That's a hard question to answer because of the variables. Sometimes it can be dealt with in a matter of a few hours a day, but it's intermittent. In other words, you have to monitor things all day long, but not constantly.

On the other hand, there's days when I'm making improvements or working on a new project and I can easily spend the entire day on them. And when it comes to promotion, a person could essentially spend all day every day working on their traffic exchange because there is never too much of that. After all the regular chores are done, you can surf, place ads, etc., the rest of the day. Because I have other online money making interests not related to traffic exchanges, I generally prefer to buy advertising rather than surf.

Do you do support yourself, or do you outsource support?

Interesting question because for the last 2 years, I HAVE been the outsourced support . As for now, I do the support for all three exchanges I've mentioned, but probably by the end of this year that will be outsourced.

6) How fluent are you with HTML, JavaScript, and PHP?

What's that?

Just kidding. I am pretty knowledgeable about HTML, and I have plenty of cheat sheets for JavaScript and PHP. I build most of my content sites in PHP, but when it comes down to building a site that uses a database and some real heavy PHP code, fuhget about it. That's why God made eLance.

By the way, knowing these codes is helpful, but it doesn't make you a great designer. That's a whole other story.

Approximately how many members join your exchange a month?

I don't think this is the important question. I think the important question is how many active members an exchange has. I mean, I could have 1000 new members a month if I wanted to buy guaranteed signups. That would make my numbers look real good, but it wouldn't benefit my members.

If an exchange got 10 new members a month, and the exchange was active and getting results, that would be a lot better than an exchange pounding it's chest touting 1000 new members a month, when in reality they are not providing the traffic, and worse yet, not providing the results. Since Funny Farm has opened, it averages around 100 new members a week.

Does most of your advertising come from members referring, or you?

Both. I have some monster referrers on the Farm, and I no longer have time to surf much, so I purchase advertising when I see a good deal, and I place ads in safelists and I spam public restroom walls.

Are you subscribed to any blogs? Which is your favorite?

I'm not a member of any blogs, but I do read some. I am a member of a lot of forums that I breeze through daily.

I don't have a particular favorite because I'm not involved in them for entertainment, but I use them to learn something and keep up with the pulse of Net Marketing. I visit different forums and blogs to learn about different things.

As far as I'm concerned, hanging around forums is a waste of valuable time. Quickly reading through them and hanging around in them is two different things. Use them as a tool and not a pastime.

What would be the biggest tip you could give to readers?

Join FunnyFarmTraffic.com - TrafficRoundup.com and MuscleMailSafelist.com

Also, never give up. If what you are doing is not working, it's because you are doing it wrong, it's the wrong thing for you, or you don't want it badly enough. A lot of this marketing thing depends on what you want. If you want a part-time income, be willing to put in 10-20 productive hours every week.

If you are like me, and just have to have it, and cannot face the thought of having a regular job and want to go full-time Internet, you are going to have to go after it with a never ending passion. You are going to have to get an education in marketing and fork over some cash for good ebooks and training, marketing tools, memberships and advertising.

If you are not prepared to make some heavy sacrifices and work like there's no tomorrow, you probably won't make it. If you want this to be a full-time job, you have to work it just like one, or even harder, even if you already have a full-time job.

The sad truth is, most people think this 'Internet thing' is a cute way to make some fast money. Cow Cookies! It takes most of us years of hard work to become 'boss free'. If you think you're going to make it in a few weeks or months, forget it.

Internet Marketing is a way of life and it is a jealous mistress. I'm not sure what that means, but it sure sounds cool, doesn't it?