In 2004 Ashley Qualls turned just 14 years old when her business began. She also turned into a young entrepreneur who found herself fulfilling consumer demand. In 2004, ten years ago, Myspace was the social media site of choice. Qualls began designing and displaying her personal page designs, and soon friends began asking her to design for their pages. Determined to complete good work, she invested many hours to each design, making sure they were unlike any of her previous designs, and specific to the customer.
There are a slim amount of people who have an eye for online design, but Ashley was one of the few. She posted some designs online, and within days people began purchasing. Before she knew it, she was making $70,000 per month in revenue with over 7 million monthly visitors. After a while, Qualls decided she was making enough money to drop out of school and devote her time to her business. According to Forbes.com she was offered $1.5 million for her business, but turned down the offer.
Ashley’s idea is a wonderful idea, and very useful to those who are willing to pay for awesome designs. Web design is a diminishing art, and it is wise for her to use the talents she has to benefit others. Her determination and devotion to her business is very admirable. She pursued a passion, and it has lead her farther than she imagined.
I agree, web design is a diminishing art. Recently I have been on a few sights to buy clothes and equipment for work and the design of the website is the first thing I notice because it’s the first thing I see. If the website looks nice, I am more inclined to explore. If not, I leave the page. If you want to convey that the product or service you are selling is of good quality, have a quality website design. You shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover but every one does.
This is a great example of someone using their passion to start a business and using their existing talents to exploit an opportunity to make money. It is important for an entrepreneur to be extremely passionate and dedicated to their work or else the idea will not last or be successful. I feel like sometimes we spend too much time looking for an outside idea to start a business instead of using what skills we already to possess.