If you don’t already know, the idea for ConnorGillivan.com came in early 2015 as I decided that it was time to start publishing my thoughts to the public through my own site.
The Pre-Work
I spent the first few months researching blogging to fully understand what it was, how it’s evolved since the 90’s, and how individuals have used it as a platform to establish an expertise and generate an additional source of income.
I read the Yaro Starak‘s Blog Mastermind eBook and quickly had a strong overview of how it’s done. I highly recommend the book to anyone interested in understanding how blogs produce revenue and appeal their community of customers with content.
Around August of 2015, I started to put pen to paper writing out columns on what I had learned as an entrepreneur from my 4+ years as the CEO of my first eCommerce company, Portlight. I tried to focus on topics that I was searching for years earlier and couldn’t find satisfactory articles for. I also focused on topics that I found to be helpful in the process of growing into a serial entrepreneur. From Yaro’s advice, I decided to put together a core set of columns before launching the site so that it had enough content for the first readers to understand what value they would be getting out of the site.
The Launch of ConnorGillivan.com
The site officially launched in October 2015 with a core set of content focused on entrepreneurship. It was the first site I’d ever created and it was far from perfect. I was content with it because my main purpose was spreading valuable information to the web for current and future entrepreneurs. I was less concerned with quantity of traffic or revenue generated and more focused on discovering others interested in my startup philosophies.
I fought my way through the holiday season with minimal time for writing and started to build my personal brand through quality content, social media, and weekly emails. By the time the New Year rolled around, I had the idea for a greater focus for the site.
Starting Two New Businesses in 2016
In January, I was starting two new businesses in the eCommerce industry and knew that I’d be learning a lot about the best steps to take in the first year of growing your startup. I came up with the idea to write about the action steps that I was taking in both new companies to build their foundation and push them into a stage of future growth. The action steps would serve as a guide for entrepreneurs to test their ideas within a target market and build the foundation for a business that could thrive and compete for customer’s attention.
I’m continuing to work on both eCommerce businesses while writing and growing ConnorGillivan.com. I hold the Chief Content & Marketing Officer position with FreeeUp where we are the hands-on solution to hiring reliable remote workers in the eCommerce industry. At eCommetize, I am the CEO where we are striving to help online influencers monetize their communities through eCommerce strategies.
Both companies have made tremendous strides over the past year in their own respect. With both companies, my co-founders and I have implemented similar action steps to bring the companies to where they are today. As you can read in my own startup theory, the most important beginning steps focus on understanding the customer market, bringing together the right group of people, diving into the financials, and building a MVP focused on customer wants.
Plans for the Future of ConnorGillivan.com
It’s been quite a journey since the Fall of 2015 and I’ve learned a tremendous amount since starting on my new journey one short year ago. I’ve seen an amazing reaction from entrepreneurs and business owners from around the world in response to my content and advice. Over 5,000 people have visited the site to date and the number each month continues to climb.
Recently, I launched the second version of the site refined to better present the content within the pages. I applied my new WordPress skills to design a captivating home page and I kept the content simple as it always has been to make the reader’s experience as easy as possible. With the re-launch, I created a focus on my startup philosophy, currently titled The Four Pillars of Startup.
The pillars walk the user through the key areas of a startup that I argue you must focus on in order to create a long term sustainable business. The pillars serve as a precursor to the first book that I’ll be self-publishing and launching through the platform. The book, set to release in December of 2016, will be an actionable guide with activities that entrepreneurs can take to start building the foundation of their business from the ground up. The book will focus on actionable steps that entrepreneurs can take to test their ideas.
Following the book, I plan to write and publish my first book with representation of a publishing company. I’ve started research into how to land a publishing deal and I’ve started to write the outline for the book that I’ll be seeking to get published to the public. If all goes as planned, the book will focus on the history, present, and potential future of startup theory. I’ll dive into what startup theory was like before the Lean Startup hit international popularity then project what startup theory may look like in the future as the world of tech continues to evolve around us.
Support ConnorGillivan.com and buy a copy of The Lean Startup at Amazon today!
Final Reflection
It’s been an amazing experience managing ConnorGillivan.com in its first year of existence. Having my own platform for writing has been a dream for many years and now it is finally a reality. As I’m reading in Napolean Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich”, any desire is attainable when you have imagination, consistency, and an actionable plan.
I’m looking forward to the next year with ConnorGillivan.com as I transform it into a platform for releasing my first books to the public. Writing has been and always will be a true passion of mine. I am determined to make a positive impact on as many entrepreneurs as possible through my content and build the ConnorGillivan.com name into an internationally acclaimed platform.
