With hindsight what would you of been?

[Paul Markham]

Let's say you could jump into a time machine and go back to 1998. Age of your choosing, knowledge you have now.

What would you of chosen to be and why?

Also would you of combined it with what you do now, or did do?

You can make multiple choices.

[L-Pink]

Ballet dancer.

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by L-Pink

Ballet dancer.

Do you want me to buy you a Tutu?

[magicmike]

More agressive. But if I had a time machine, 1998 isn't where I'd be going.

[CurrentlySober]

If I had to do it over again, I wouldnt change a thing. Seriously... I've had good time, I've had bad times. Great times and fucking shit times...

But I live my life on the principle that I dont want to look back, as an old man, and think... "What if?"

Thats not a dig at you - But genuinely the way I live my life...

So far, I have only one real regret... That due to a certain set of unusual circumstances, I signed a piece of paper without reading it fully... That piece paper cost me over £142,000.00

And while I am sure you are wondering, it was a deed on a house - Nothing dodgy !

Theres a line in a film I remember... 'Life is easy - Just make decisions - Dont look back' and that sums me up to a tee

[Harmon]

Doctor or lawyer. Something professional, something more visible.

[MaDalton]

it's "have"

[MaDalton]

and you forgot the most important one: "Domainer"

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by MaDalton

and you forgot the most important one: "Domainer"

Yes good one, but to make real money at that you need to go back to 1995. Pick up some single word ones suitable for mainstream.

[Paul Markham]

I would never of changed being a content provider. Was already one and the transition to selling content online was simple.

Opening a paysite we thought of long and hard, seeing all the guys who were trying that in 1998 and begging, offering "sharing deals", stealing content or just simply couldn't pay much. These were the days when Zmasters were saturating the sites with their discs. Content provider seemed logical.

Now with hindsight, did I do right? Partly. Should of gone another route as well.

Any guesses?

[VikingMan]

Veterinarian. I never tire of trying to help animals. Feeds my soul

[jerryb]

I'd want to go back to 1960 or so ... other than being a professional musician (big band trumpet) which I loved I believe I would want to be a criminal lawyer as a profession.

[Markul]

In 1998 I was serving NATO and having fun in Balkan. I also had a huge porn wall lol

[PiffStenis]

Astronaut.

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by PiffStenis

Astronaut.

Looking at your photo you would need to go back to the 60s. I think that was the last time they put monkeys into space.

[CurrentlySober]

A public toilet

[CaptainHowdy]

Jenna Jameson's favorite bra ...

[jimmycooper]

Acai berry farmer.

[martinsc]

Originally Posted by MaDalton

and you forgot the most important one: "Domainer"

[MaDalton]

Originally Posted by CaptainHowdy

Jenna Jameson's favorite bra ...

just get two lumps of silicone to play with

[Chosen]

Lao Tzu

[Paul Markham]

No one yet would be a sponsor?????????????????

[Best-In-BC]

WIsh I never sold my site 15 years ago!

[u-Bob]

a millionaire

[Dead]

I would go back and help a few friends dodge a bullet or two, look into this crazy stock with a fruit name, buy all I could scrape up....other then that, still laugh at this spin on the blue ball with eyes wide open! Wouldn't change a thing.

[Dead]

Sorry went a little to far back, based on your list....traffic broker with huge blocks to give!

[bushwacker]

Serge for the win.

[mfeat50]

Yeah, buy a shit load of good domain names ;) Be a $$$aire right now !

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by mfeat50

Yeah, buy a shit load of good domain names ;) Be a $$$aire right now !

My friend did that but earlier, he picked up a few single word domains. Now he's a very rich property developer. Could retire, few very rich people do, they keep going. The drive is the next deal, not sitting on a beach.

I would of opened a TGP site and been an affiliate. Then would been the first guy on the block with one, or one of the first.

Need for knowledge, low, need for hosting low, need for anything low. Those days the people who had that knowledge were cheap and available.

If traffic is king, be the kings ruler.

Then have sponsors kissing my ass to get a spot on the site.

[96ukssob]

Affiliate in 1998 program owner in 2002

[epitome]

I would have built a search engine using algorithms and a thing called pagerank. I would have named it Google.

Would've, should've, could've.

Markham and the failed bros are the only ones living in the past.

[Jim_Gunn]

Paul, you should jump in that time machine, set it for 1958 and pay attention in grammar school. "...what would you *of* been"? Aren't you ever ashamed of yourself for some of the dumb things you say and garbled English that you say it in? You sound like a fucking retard sometimes.

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by Jim_Gunn

Paul, you should jump in that time machine, set it for 1958 and pay attention in grammar school. "...what would you *of* been"? Aren't you ever ashamed of yourself for some of the dumb things you say and garbled English that you say it in? You sound like a fucking retard sometimes.

Didn't get any diplomas at school, have no qualifications and made a very nice living. Often watching those with qualifications struggle.

Originally Posted by epitome

Markham and the failed bros are the only ones living in the past.

Which accounts for most of the porn industry, so among a lot of friends.

[AmeliaG]

Pretty much what I did, but I would have opened my affiliate program to webmasters from day one, if I could do it over. The first SpookyCash affiliate program was open to models and photographers and writers, basically contributors to the site, only.

[TB Adriana]

i voted for affiliate. If I even knew what porn was in '98, I'd be making bank

[Paul Markham]

This is actually very interesting.

Affiliate. 7 43.75%
Sponsor. 1 6.25%
Site owner
own traffic. 7 43.75%
Web Cams. 0 0%
Dating Site. 2 12.50%
Content provider. 1 6.25%
Designer. 0 0%
Programmer. 1 6.25%
Anything but porn. 2 12.50%

Voters: 16.

Seems unless 14 opened their own sites and drove their own traffic or became affiliates. Some hindsight would of been great.

where are all the guys who think Web Cams are the way forward? I always thought it was a ton of hard work. Managing girls 24/7

[ottopottomouse]

If I could go back to 98 i'd carry on and go back to 90 instead.

[TheDoc]

I would have done exactly what I did.... well, I would have purchased a few more domains, then proceeded to do exactly what I did.

[TheDoc]

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

This is actually very interesting.

Affiliate. 7 43.75%
Sponsor. 1 6.25%
Site owner
own traffic. 7 43.75%
Web Cams. 0 0%
Dating Site. 2 12.50%
Content provider. 1 6.25%
Designer. 0 0%
Programmer. 1 6.25%
Anything but porn. 2 12.50%

Voters: 16.

Seems unless 14 opened their own sites and drove their own traffic or became affiliates. Some hindsight would of been great.

where are all the guys who think Web Cams are the way forward? I always thought it was a ton of hard work. Managing girls 24/7

Web cams, where alive and hot back then as well... but income/profit wise, they aren't any better than any other major project. Vod, paysites, cams, dating, etc have all made 10's even 100's of millions, for unique companies, year over year. If you're doing it right, it made and still makes no difference what you do...

[seeandsee]

Site owner + affs, i would be king with 1:10 ratios

[Paul Markham]

Bump for some more replies and votes.

[Babaganoosh]

What would you "of" been?

What would you HAVE been. The words "of" and "have" are not interchangeable.

Oh, and I would have been an English professor.

[DamianJ]

I'd have spammed newsgroups with my content. I heard the ratios were unbelievable. Literally. Unbelievable.

[CyberHustler]

An evil party clown...

[redwhiteandblue]

Originally Posted by Babaganoosh

What would you "of" been?

What would you HAVE been. The words "of" and "have" are not interchangeable.

Oh, and I would have been an English professor.

You can't teach an old dog new tricks. Or anything else, come to think of it.

[Paul Markham]

Originally Posted by Babaganoosh

What would you "of" been?

What would you HAVE been. The words "of" and "have" are not interchangeable.

Oh, and I would have been an English professor.

When I was selling millions of $ worth of office furniture, we had a secretary who corrected my grammar.

When I moved to porn, no one ever asked about my grammar qualifications.

You grasping at straws for a flame.

redwhiteandblue dead right, he's not bright enough.

[justinsain]

I wish I could go back to 1994

At that time I acquired an easy $5,000 cash. It was unexpected so I took it with an easy come easy go attitude.

I didn't own any stock but I was thinking about spending the 5K on MS stock and just let it ride. I had a friend that was a stock broker but felt I would be bothering him so I didn't make the call. If I had done that I'd probably still wouldn't have touched most of it today. I have no idea how much that 5K investment would be worth today but I'm sure it would be a nice tidy sum.

What I did do with the 5k is buy a 1981 Jeep CJ-8 which I still own today.

[moeloubani]

i would make a search engine and a simple social network and only let college students use it

[thickcash_amo]

I would have gone to medical school like I originally wanted.

[Babaganoosh]

Originally Posted by Paul Markham

When I was selling millions of $ worth of office furniture, we had a secretary who corrected my grammar.

When I moved to porn, no one ever asked about my grammar qualifications.

You grasping at straws for a flame.

redwhiteandblue dead right, he's not bright enough.

You're useless, Paul. You really are. Why don't you and the other kooky old white guys pack up and find another forum that doesn't think you're all inept boobs.