I launched my first online business in 2007, and for nearly five years I fumbled through entrepreneurship until I found something that worked.
An online computer shop.
I was working at a brick-and-mortar computer store at the time, and the owner decided to drop B2C and focus only on B2B.
That gave me the idea to open an online shop, become a reseller, and take the B2C customers. It looked good on paper, but tiny margins and heavy competition from the big players wrecked the plan.
A printed t-shirt shop.
In IT everyone sold the same products and the fight was over price, so I figured we should sell original products nobody else had.
That led to an online shop for printed t-shirts with original messages and designs. The idea wasn't bad, but it got expensive once I wanted it to become a streetwear brand, and I didn't have the budget for that ambition.
Meanwhile I discovered WordPress and started building sites for friends and acquaintances, because the t-shirt shop was losing money.
An online store directory that became a magazine.
My first WordPress project was a directory where we listed online stores and users could leave reviews, comments, and ratings.
Visitors could also sign up for a newsletter. That is how we started writing articles about promotions, discounts, and other store news.
Slowly we focused only on a female audience and only on clothing, footwear, and accessories stores. From discounts and promotions we moved into product recommendations, best buys, and tests and reviews for cosmetics.
The store directory turned into an online fashion magazine, monetized through affiliate links, ads, and advertorials.
The turning point was when my daughter was born.
I had two options: keep going the same way (full-time at the computer company and part-time on online projects), or take paternity leave and stay home for two years on 85% of my income from the state.
I took the leave. My goal for those two years, by the end of it, was to build a serious online business that made enough money so I would not go back to a job and could stay a full-time entrepreneur.
The project that worked.
I launched Simplenet as a fast, easy, affordable way for local businesses to get online: one subscription with a domain name, a brochure site, and web hosting.
I used WordPress and ready-made templates to ship brochure sites quickly and cheaply. People started seeing me as a WordPress specialist and asking for performance work, security audits, and malware cleanups.
Many other kinds of sites began asking Simplenet for hosting, especially blogs and local online newspapers that needed to handle unexpected traffic spikes.
That is when I realized we could become Romania's first WordPress-specialized hosting provider, and that this was the winning path.
Tutorials and courses on making WordPress faster. I didn't have time to keep it going.
Talk at WordCamp Romania 2014.
Talk at SEO PPC World.
WordPress hosting brand I ran before folding it into the Simplenet line.
Child themes for the Genesis Framework. Closed.
Talk at WordCamp Romania 2024.
Premium WordPress hosting for businesses that need speed and uptime under high traffic.
