I recently met Hanson So, a 19 year old college student, who has a successful niche website earning over $350 a day. I thought you would be interested in hearing his online start-up story. 😀 His website is www.monitorstocks.net, and what follows is our conversation by email...
When did you start your website?
I started the website in mid December 2010. I was looking around for new ways I could contribute to artificial intelligence and stocks.
What gave you the idea for this particular website?
Automated Stock Trading is a $21 billion per year industry. I experimented with automated stock trading strategies. I back tested against a ten year historical data, and achieved a 10% return per year consistently, with very low variability.
I was thinking of a way to build an automated trading system that anyone can use, to get advice on stocks they should trade. The industry of stock advice, is filled with a lot of dishonest people. The advice they give are usually about positions they currently hold which creates an unfair scenario. All advice I give are for stocks which I do not hold positions in.
I came up with this idea, when I asked, what if there was a way to read all the twitter posts about a company, and come up with a system that will AUTOMATICALLY detect when user's sentiment about a stock changes. This could help to notify users INSTANTLY, that they should either, buy or sell their stock positions.
Google buys Twitter movie recommender Fflick for $10M. Fflick would process all twitter feeds and scan it for keywords which indicate negative or positive sentiment.
I developed this system, and realized that users could benefit from it by monitoring stocks that they like, and the system would notify them instantly when there's a change in sentiment in the news about the stock they're monitoring.
Did you have any experience with online business prior to creating this website?
Yes, I built a music search engine algorithm with programmers and partners and sold it at the age of 16 for $100,000. It was one of the first of its kind at the time, since there wasn't a popular way for users to search and find music online.
I also built a lot of sites in many niches, including arcade, membership sites, and blogs.
I have experience with copy writing, and I did a lot of affiliate marketing, and that's how I knew how to launch Monitorstocks.net effectively.
What did you do for work prior to setting up an online business?
Currently, and still a student.
How did you initially promote your website, and if different - how do you promote it now?
I hired workers from digitalpoint to go on forums, and private message users to take a look at my website. I did a lot of media buys. The key is managing a budget and examining how profitable investments are. I am considering starting an affiliate program through clickbank, but I would have to hire a sales letter, and graphic designer for a new site, to sell the current software.
Is your website profitable? Can you share some basic traffic & profit stats with us?
The site is generating $350/day in sign ups. The site gets about 100-200 visitors per day, which is an extremely high conversion rate. Normally, most websites have about a 1% conversion rate. I think the key is to let users try your service first, so they can choose whether they want to continue or not.
What are your plans for the site going forward?
We are currently talking to Hedge Funds to see if they are interested in licensing our technology. We will add further subscription services and a membership area so users can discuss, and get more information about stock trading.
I am going to release an FDA calender so users know FDA decisions on stocks; since an FDA decision can change a stock price dramatically. I am going to create a Warren Buffet Tracker to update users on the positions he holds - since all the information is available in the SEC.
The key is taking public information, organizing it, and selling it as a subscription. Users love to pay for content that they don't have to organize themselves.
- Hanson So, www.monitorstocks.net
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Thank you Hanson!
There are several gems in this interview, but that last comment was worth reading again. 😉 I really enjoyed my conversation with Hanson, and hope you did as well!
Best,
About Lynn Terry
My question is how you learn to write a search engine algorithm at 16 - I was thinking of nothing but girls and my band at that age!
I enjoy reading success stories. Keep these up Lynn.
Hanson is smart in that he is providing a solution to a problem experienced by many others. Anytime you can provide or promote a solution for others, you are a step ahead in the very serious game of being in business.
Well done Hanson and well done Lynn you provide great info and solutions!
What a great post! It's great to see the younger generation taking on such great things! Way to go Hanson!
It is really great achievement at very early stage of life.Really the guy has ideas to explore the life in its own way.
It was indeed a pleasure going through the interview. And the last comment too, is pretty obvious since that is the basic instinct that has been going through people's mind these days. Apart from that, he had an innovation that he took so forward and met success.
It is very encouraging to see young people doing something very beneficial to your life, so also share your experience with others is a worthy example to emulate, of all young people are put profitable targets the world would be different.
Congratulations ....
Once you set your mind to it, you can achieve anything. These are the sort of posts and life stories that makes you want to conquer the world. Great!
These young kids grow up around computers the way I did around baseball cards. This guy has a great future. Also it shows and I often wonder how many people are making a great living on the internet doing something other than selling internet marketing. So many niches and so little time.
I hope this doesn't come out wrong, but this was not quite inspirational for me as in, he's not an average person by any means - this young man is a true genius! Wow! It is pretty fascinating to read about how he thinks and kudos to him for finding success at such a young age. The last comment was definitely worth the read indeed 🙂
Earning such a smart money at very early stage of life is signs of success.This success is because of planning and determination.I think today the most profitable business is online business if you have understanding of it.
wow...this kid is really successful, it makes you belive you can do it too!
Wow, this kid is a whiz.
Wow, this kid is really smart
Wow, this guy is inspiring!
What an awesome story selling a business at 16 for $100,000 no mean feat. It s stories like this that keep the rest of us on our toes - thanks
Yep! Membership sites continue to do great. Having a great idea and the skills to pull it off are a great combination.
Additionally, the smart use of the Paypal subscription service makes for a profitable combination.
Thanks Lynn,
Mark
Wow! What an incredible story! I took a second and third read of the final sentence of that interview, Lynn. Thinking of how to implement that advice and take it to profit for myself.
The guy had a very nice idea, that makes other people richer. It is easy to sell that :). Good job! I am inspired to think if I can do a similar thing in other niche. Hmm...
This story is an inspiration!
I've noticed many teenagers getting into internet marketing and doing very well at it.
Wow, what an amazing story. I can't begin to imagine what Hanson will do in the future!
yeah! very good article... Success is by talent not by age.
Chiming in to say this kid has a very bright future ahead of him. I predict we will be hearing a lot more from Hanson and his future escapades.
This just shows what can be done if you think big, regardless of how old you are. Age doesn't necessarily make you wiser. At 19 i was wasting my life clubbing, and this kid makes $350/day. Makes you think 🙂
Nice post and nice to hear Hanson's story. I wish him a lot of success in future......
Great post Lynn - what I love is that the website is sooo ugly, but at $350 a day - quite obviously that doesn't matter.
I really enjoyed your read. Thanks for sharing this great suceess story, it's really inspiring.
I find his story very inspiring. If only we have that passion to do the things we want, we could always gain success. Of course, we must have that very great imagination. And I guess, we could train ourselves to become one.