David Leggett's Success Story

Founder of Tutorial9

David Leggett is the founder of Tutorial9, one of the largest resources for creatives online. He works with the design community to make available the best free tutorials and resources around town. Learn how did he come to the idea of creating Tutorial9, does the financial crisis affect his business and what are his advices to all young entrepreneurs, looking forward to starting their own Internet-based business or already have one.

David Leggett of Tutorial9.net – Interview
Angel: Hello David,

Thank you very much for agreeing to this interview.
To start with, could you give us some background information - Where do you come from? How old are you? Where do you find your daily dose of inspiration? What motivates you?

David: I grew up in the Southeast United States (specifically, in a small town north of Atlanta, GA) where I've spent most of my life building websites. Since the age of 10, most of my time has been spent developing my abilities as a website designer. I'm now 21, and happily running several websites for a living.

You could say that my motivation comes from myself. I believe it's my responsibility and purpose to give my best efforts to my endeavors. Coffee, chocolate, and good music always help though.

Angel: Do you have any other hobbies, apart from writing and helping other people in your blog?

David: It would dishonest if I told anyone that much interests me outside of work. My work is my life in many ways. I'm not a very outgoing individual, and I'm not ashamed of being so attached to my work.

That said, I enjoy cooking, reading, and strategy games (especially RISK!)

Angel: When did you come to the idea of starting Tutorial9 and what were your goals at the beginning?

David: We started working on Tutorial9 in late 2007, and launched the site in the May of 2008. Prior to this, I had been running a moderately successful tutorial website. Tutorial9 was ultimately an effort to bring the previous project to a new level.

Originally, I had tossed around the idea of starting a tutorial website that would expand over hundreds (perhaps thousands) of topics... from Photoshop, to flying a kite. Instead, Tutorial9 stuck to a few topics that we could cover very well (we now teach Photoshop, Illustrator, and a bit of Photography and web development).

In late 2010, we hope to once again rise to a new level with the relaunch of Tutorial9. We'll be introducing some new features that will truly make Tutorial9 an incredibly valuable resource for professional and novice designers.

Angel: What are the profit margins a beginner blogger may expect if he is good enough?

David: This is honestly an impossible question to answer. There are just too many factors. To name a few items worth your consideration:

• Your niche matters. If you were to open two stores, one selling Guitars and the other selling Diamonds, your Diamond store will probably make MUCH more per sale than your Guitar store. You might have 10x the number of customers at your Guitar store though, making the two stores more comparable.
  
  My point is this: Every niche is unique. In general, some niches have an audience (or advertisers) willing to spend much more than other niches. In many cases, these niches also have fewer "buyers".


• How knowledgeable are you in what you are doing? What do you really have to offer that isn't being done better by someone else? If you're not producing anything of value as a publisher, you won't get too far. On the other hand, if you're producing something that no one else offers, you have a much better chance of being successful (given that there is an audience for what you are doing).


• What experience do you have on the web? You'll be doing yourself a big favor if you take it upon yourself to learn basic web languages like HTML and CSS. The more you know about the tools in your business (anywhere) the better.

Angel: What are your future plans for developing?

David: Most of my time at the present is being committed to Tutorial9. We aren't quite ready to share any new details about the relaunch.

One of the other projects I am a part of is the UX Booth. We are considering a few ideas for the future of the UX Booth as well.

Angel: What is your definition for success?

David: Simply put, success is providing for yourself.

Angel: And last but not least, what advices would you give to BoomPedia's visitors?

David: One common thing about nearly all of the successful people I have met is a sense of responsibility they each take upon themselves. This is a choice you must make on your own, I think.

To youngsters already taking an interest in their career, I offer one additional piece of advice: Most people will not share your interest in "work". Never be intimidated by someone who tells you that "You work too much, why not have some fun?"

Chances are, you find your work to be very enjoyable if you're starting at an early age. Don't let anyone make you feel guilty for enjoying your work.

Angel: Thank you, David. We really appreciate your contribution to BoomPedia.

Angel Dimitrov