Chris Brandrick

Despite being offline for over a week now, I wanted to quickly touch upon the closure of j0n.org. j0n.org for those of you who don’t know was a blog (mainly video entries) run by Jon Wheatley about his various online ventures, be them web development, design or even software development.

I came across his blog thanks to Tyler Cruz, and since then I have even blogged about Jon’s projects due to me wanting to expose them for the good they are, for example the superb Mac application that is GrabUp (which if you don’t have, get!).

But now there is no more j0n.org and despite me being somewhat disappointed at the lack of updates from a personal inspiration for me, he is now blogging over at Indie Startups about “independent startups and entrepreneurs”. The new blog is great, and a superb way to find out about new unique independent sites, check it out.

Yesterday I posted about the various blogs I read, and within it I mentioned TylerCruz’s blog. Today I intend to touch upon further the competition I mentioned in that post, so here we go:

Tyler Cruz is currently holding a competition versus his good blogging friend Gyutae Park, the aim for the competition is to get blog readers (like myself) to write a blog post (like this) about the competition and nominate a winner. I am choosing Tyler of course, not only because I wouldn’t mind a chance at winning the $100 prize, but due to Tyler having a great blog!

I have been reading Tyler’s blog for well over a year now, and more of my thoughts can be found on my old review here, but if you have yet to check out his blog and are interested in making money online then his entrepreneur blog is highly recommended. I see his blog as something of an inspiration for me starting this blog, as one day I hope to be in a similar position to Tyler, making money through a series of successful websites and living off the earnings. Being your own boss sure does sound good.

If you have a blog it may also be worth getting in on the blogging action and voting for TylerCruz, as all entries will receive a link back in a future post, and considering Tyler’s high RSS and Technorati rankings you can only stand to benefit from being linked to via this well positioned blog. Tyler is also on Entrecard so if you are after a free way to advertise on his blog, entrecard it is!

I wish Tyler the best of luck in his competition and sure do hope he wins. No doubt I will update this blog with the results, regardless of who wins. Vote for TylerCruz.

I often on a whim add a blog I come across to my RSS reader, but more often than not I find myself ‘cutting the fat’ and getting rid of them soon afterwards. Blogs that stay have that something extra special and in today’s posting I will be writing about those blogs; the blogs I read.

To begin with here are the blogs I read that all have something in common, making websites and/or making money from them:

• Wake Up Later - I started reading this freelancers blog in the summer and have been impressed with the content ever since, always well written, and interesting it’s one I can’t recommend enough.
• 365 To Freedom - A site I found via Entrecard and have only recently started reading, this site blogs about various blogging topics, but has an overall goal of making a healthy income in 2008. Worth keeping an eye on, even if it’s just to see how much money can be made in 365 little days.
• I am Jack’s Design - Another site found via entrecard, and one I can see myself coming back to again and again to check the interesting content, be it for the plugin recommendations, freelancing discussion and so on. Check it out.
• TylerCruz - The story of an internet entrepreneur, and well worth following, I reviewed Tyler’s blog a while back, and since then it has gone from strength to strength. I think its fair to say I see him as my inspiration for this blog, and you can’t get a stronger recommendation than that. Subscribe now! (It’s down to this inspiration that I am choosing him in his current competition versus Gyutae. Vote for Tyler people!)
• DavidAirey - Whenever it comes to design, David always has some top tips, and his blog uses imagery very well so it’s always a pleasure to visit.
• DoshDosh - Plenty of ‘How To’ guides on internet marketing, useful, sound advice.
• Skelliewag - An odd name sure, but it’s down to earth guides and advice are superb, and yet again the blog uses imagery superbly to accompany posts.
• EatFruitPlease - Yet another entrecard find, and another young man from the UK like myself, toggling Uni life and online work can be a struggle at times so it’s nice to know your not alone!

The above are my regular online visits, check them all out as I recommend them all. Below is a list of other unrelated blogs I frequent, because you never know you may find something interesting!

• Joystiq - Up to date gaming news to satisfy my inner nerd.
• IdiotToys - A fun take at technology ‘news’.
• UK:Resistance - From the people who brought you Idiot Toys, this is there gaming blog. Again humorous.
• Icanhascheezburger - Because cat’s amuse me.

That’s it, apart from some blogs of personal friends. Please share your favorite blogs and let me know if you enjoyed discovering some of the blogs mentioned above.

Happy New Year! I hope you all have a great 2008 and achieve all that you aim to. (Also to bring in the new year, a congratulations from Scott at mythermos.com for winning my small holiday entrecard contest.)

Now as for my plans for 2008, these include goals for my blog, my sites and personal aims:

1. Get a custom blog design:

Mainly a goal I hope to achieve far before 2008 is even close to finished, I want to give ChrisBrandrick.com it’s own look and feel. It’s commonly known that using a public free theme (despite their merits) is frowned upon. Having a design unique to me gives my blog an identity, a brand, and recognition. John Cow has various cow theming, John Chow has that big car, TylerCruz has that nice custom avatar, all memorable stuff. Being unique is a big positive. So hopefully I can achieve this goal fairly soon. If you know of any good Wordpress design folks, let me know.

2. Increase my blog earnings:

Now from the offset this shouldn’t be to difficult, especially considering my blog is currently earning me £0. That’s right, I am currently making no money from this site, but this isn’t because I can’t, it’s because so far I just haven’t. The goal for 2008 is not only to make money but to make a specific amount per month. For those big internet entrepreneurs out there this may not seem like much, but it’s a goal I am realistically aiming for. By the end of the year I hope to be making a consistent £100 per month ($200 for you reading stateside) from ChrisBrandrick.com. This will be handled carefully, as for a start this blog will never be plastered with adverts, if and when I do implement ads it will be subtle and well placed. I hope to make the majority of this earning via reviews. Watch this space, as once I do start earning from this blog I will no doubt keep you guys in the loop.

3. Learn to drive:

I’m 21 in two days, here in the UK you can drive from the young age of 17. It’s about time I got a driving license and learned to drive, it’s a life skill I want. Sure traveling by train has served me well, but having your own set of wheels is an independence which I eventually want. This year, despite it’s pricey nature I hope to learn and pass my driving test, thats the goal. Buying a car is not.

4. Blog more:

All you have to do is look back over my archives for the past year to see that postings here at my blog have been lacking, sure it may well have picked up in the past month to a rate I am happy with but I intend to improve more, mainly to keep myself motivated and working. I intend to post at least (at a minimum) of five times a week. Hopefully you the reader will appreciate this to! More posts on my web developments, reviews and personal musings coming your way.

5. Launch WebmasterPlay:

You may remember all the way back in June of 2007 I posted about a webmaster forum I was creating, since then little work has took place on it for several reasons. Initially things were going well, with the front page created and the sites feature set building impressively. Unfortunately I hired an individual who wasn’t quite what I was looking for when it came to skinning the vBulletin forum. Due to this misfortune I took a break from developing the site, and this break lasted far longer than expected. I still really want to WebmasterPlay finished, and hopefully 2008 will be it’s year. Videogaming webmasters keep an eye out.

6. Increase RSS Subscriptions:

Only yesterday I made a posting detailing how I had installed Feedburner tools to my RSS feed. With this freshly installed I figured it would be worthwhile to make a goal relating to my readership. So with any luck by the end of the year my RSS subscription will hopefully be at 500, I have no idea how hard this goal will be to reach, but why not start me on the right path by subscribing now.

7. Get into my final year of University:

An academic goal which relies on me working hard(er) and getting the required grades, from now until May. Although without sounding to cocky, I am fairly confident that I will get into the 3rd and final year of University, this goal will act as a reminder as to why I am doing the course I am (Web Technology) and why I want to do it. The 3rd year starts in September so be sure to check back for the results then!

8. Launch and make a success of GameBrit:

This is the first time I have mentioned GameBrit on my blog, but here we go. GameBrit simply put is a british gaming website I have been working on for a short while, I hope to launch it within the next month or two. But more details on GameBrit coming in a separate post. I want to make sure I get it launched with the desired features, and getting at least 15,000 uniques per month before the year is out.

9. Purchase an iMac:

This goal really does depend on my online earnings, as I intend to fund this expensive purchase almost entirely from my money earned online. A new 20″ inch iMac, will it be mine this year?

10. Increase overall earnings:

What with me launching a small number of new sites this year (more details soon) I hope to start earning a healthy income from my online endeavors. As detailed above I would like to earn £100 a month from my blog, so on a whole £1000 a month from all my sites seems like a logical target. This will require a lot of personal effort and hopefully I will see the results. £1000 ($2000) per month from my portfolio of websites.

Those are my goals for the year, and hopefully when I come back to review this post in a years time, it will have been a successful year. (The above aims are in no particular order.)

I wish you all a productive new year; be sure to share your goals with me!

For my first review I decided to take a look at a blog which I myself have been reading for some time.

Tyler Cruz’s blog revolves around his internet entrepreneur life and his antics online. I have been reading his blog for over a year now, and recently subscribed to the RSS feed on offer. What first attracted me to his blog was it’s down to earth and honest writing style when approaching such topics as buying and selling domains, big blogging and of course making money online. Unfortunately recently the blog seems to have moved away somewhat from the more personal posts and now seems more concentrated on reviewing and monetization and now features more than one poster, removing that personal touch, but of course we all need to make progress, and Tyler has done so fast with his blog and I commend that. Those of you who decide to take a visit can expect posts on such topics as making money online, statistics, domains and more.

A really interesting blog detailing the goings on of a true internet entrepreneur, check it out:
Internet Entrepreneur