Have you ever heard of the term "Dot Com Mogul? If you haven't, then it's time to meet John Chow, one of the web’s most criticized blogger; the man that was once outlawed by Google.com and Digg.com; the man that makes a lot of money by helping others make money online. I bet you will be thrilled by his story.
Few days ago, I was surfing the web, trying to update myself with happenings in the world. After that, I decided to check out recent business advice update from two of my business mentors; Robert Kiyosaki and John Carlton. By a stroke of lightning, I hit a comment thread where a lot of people were criticizing a guy named John Chow because of a face off he had with Google and Digg; (I can't recall the website where I saw this thread).
From personal experience and observation, I know that successful entrepreneurs and political leaders are some of the most criticized people in the world. Check out the anti-trust lawsuit filed against Bill Gates and John D. Rockefeller, the worldwide criticism of Robert Kiyosaki’s teaching; the criticism of Mark Zuckerberg, Google, Ingvar Kamprad and so many others. Even Aliko Dangote; the richest black man in world has been criticized for his monopolistic hold on the Nigerien commodities market. I acknowledge the fact that people in the centre of criticism are usually great individuals with a strong purpose. So I decided to carry out a research to know who John Chow really is.
So I googled his name and hit his website; JohnChow.com. The first thing that hit my eyes was his blog tagline: "The miscellaneous ramblings of a Dot Com Mogul." I initially intended to just jump in and out of his blog but before I knew it, I had spent close to three hours surfing through his website. I was really impressed with his sharp and straight to the point strategies of how to make money on the internet. I decided to do a short profile on him because he possessed the entrepreneurial guts of the drop out billionaires such as Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Larry Ellison, Steve Jobs and Richard Branson.
Though not much was published about his biography, John Chow states that he spent most of his life in Vancouver, Canada; where he currently lives. He started out as a partner of a Richmond printing company. One day, he got sick of his financial status and decided to expand his means. After doing some soul searching, making a note of his passion, strengths and weaknesses; John Chow decided his next bet in business was on the internet.
Being a computer enthusiast, he started TheTechZone.com in 1999, a computer hardware technology review site. By 2005, TheTechZone.com was one of the most visited computer hardware review site with over 500,000 monthly visits. Today, John Chow is estimated to be making over $50,000/month from his Tech site and other networks of his blogs including "JohnChow.com, which has over 100,000 feed subscribers and thousands of twitter followers" as at October 2010.
JohnChow.com, which was set up to teach people how to make money online now pulls in so much money for John Chow that he prides himself as a Dot Com Mogul. From my experience on JohnChow.com, I came to understand John Chow to be a blunt, ruthless and straight forward individual when it comes to sharing his internet money making strategies.
Just like my mentor Robert Kiyosaki, John Chow believes in telling things the way they are and this has made him an object of criticism. He was once banned by Google.com and Digg.com for what they termed sharp practices.
Instead of being buried alive, as most internet businesses get buried when slammed by the Google hammer, John Chow told Google and Digg to go to hell. After that, he diligently and tactically used his ban as a leverage to increase his online popularity and that of his business. In fact, the ban gave him so much awareness and publicity that Google and Digg were forced to lift the ban. This is what Robert Kiyosaki calls "Turning bad luck to good luck."
One thing I have learned from John Chow, a point which was also emphasized by Robert Kiyosaki is this; to be a successful entrepreneur, you must be prepared to be in the eye of the storm. John Chow has been tagged evil, greedy, proud and so on. If you should ever visit JohnChow.com; you will either come to love him or hate him, but he doesn't care. Just like one of his miscellaneous ramblings; he replies his critics saying "it's my world, I make the rules."
Welcome to the world of John Chow, the "Dot Com Mogul." His story is a reinforcement of the money making strategy that you can make money and become rich by helping others find a solution to their problem; be it making money online or anything else.
As a final note, this is the ultimate lesson from the John Chow story; "When life gives you lemon, make lemonade." I leave you with some of his most popular articles.
The Internet’s Biggest Google Whores
Blogging for Dollars – It’s Not Just a Hobby