Dashboard
A weekly roundup of small-business developments.
This week’s Dashboard roundup of small-business news includes a link to a news article about Andrew Sullivan’s decision to leave The Daily Beast and move his popular blog, The Dish, to his own, subscription-based site. Mr. Sullivan writes about politics, the economy, business and culture, but is he ready to be a small-business owner? It seems he’s off to a good start, with more than 16,000 subscribers already signed up — delivering almost half a million dollars in revenue almost instantly. We decided to ask him a few questions as he enters the world of entrepreneurship.
Do you have a business plan?
Yes: to make enough money so we can do The Dish without relying on a sugar daddy or ads.
How are you financing this business?
The readers and my savings.
How many employees will you have?
Five and two interns. We don’t expect to ever go beyond seven.
What’s keeping you awake at nights?
Adrenaline and bronchitis: a horrible combination.
Are you going to try to do everything: manage the site, produce content and run the business? Can you delegate?
Patrick is in charge of all the administrative, legal, payroll, insurance matters and he is a relentless machine. Chris is in charge of design and technology issues, and he’s a creative insurgent. And yes, I delegate.
Do you have any business mentors?
If all your wildest profit dreams come true, will you start voting Republican?
Only if they stop being lunatics.
Gene Marks owns the Marks Group, a Bala Cynwyd, Pa., consulting firm that helps clients with customer relationship management. You can follow him on Twitter.
Article source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/drilling-down-andrew-sullivan-decides-to-start-his-own-business/?partner=rss&emc=rss