Anand making $1,000,000 - anyone jealous?

[Otis8]

Just a quick question-

Is anyone else extremely jealous that Anand makes a cool million per year for this site? Talk about being in the right place at the right time.. I was reading his site when it just started.

I suppose I can muster the following statement... grr.. "Good for you, Anand. Enjoy the easy life".

 

[Vikaden]

I have a feeling its not as easy as you think.

 

[GoldenBear]

<< Talk about being in the right place at the right time.. >>

Talk about working your @$$ off for 60 hours a week.

 

[SpeedGod]

isn't he like young. Well, 1 million a year is damn lucky.

 

[IBhacknU]

<< Talk about being in the right place at the right time >>

I suppose the hard work, brains, dedication, sacrifice, devotion, etc... has nothing to do with it?

 

[Destructor]

do you think its easy makeing that type of money? i would love to see you try and get that type of cash with luck.

 

[Otis8]

Of course he works hard.. I don't doubt that at all. But how many other web sites are making this kind of dough? What I meant by &quot;right place at the right time&quot; was he started early enough to become the #1 hardware site, and stay there. Starting a site right now would not be nearly as easy in terms of getting as many hits as anandtech.com gets.

Which brings me to the next question, what percentage of hits do you all think comes from this forum? And do any of you really ever click on banners?

 

[GoldenBear]

<< What I meant by &quot;right place at the right time&quot; was he started early enough to become the #1 hardware site, and stay there. >>

You're confused.

Take a piss, sober up, and come back.

 

[Otis8]

Haha, I'm not &quot;confused&quot; at all.

Listen - Anand and Tom had the first two hardware sites. I was interested in hardware back then and trust me when I say that these were the ONLY two sites to go for any decent information on computer hardware. Anand and Tom were the original builders of the current computer hardware audience. Because of this, AND HIS HARD WORK, he is in the position he is in now.

If you don't think &quot;being in the right place in the right time&quot; and &quot;luck&quot; have anything to do with it, I challenge any one of you to start a hardware web site right now and grow it as fast as Anand was able to.

Geesh it isn't that hard of a concept.. If so many of you weren't die hard Anand freaks perhaps you could see that this thread is a COMPLIMENT. Yet you read the word &quot;jealous&quot; and automatically assume I am trying to attack your beloved star. I am not.

 

[GoldenBear]

What you're trying to say is that if Anand didn't do it, SOMEONE ELSE could easily be as successful as he is today, which is false.

 

[Otis8]

No, actually, it isn't necessarily false. And I don't think luck alone made him what he is. I merely believe it contributed to his success.

EDIT:

&quot;What you're trying to say is that if Anand didn't do it, SOMEONE ELSE could easily be as successful as he is today, which is false.&quot;

You truly believe that no one else on this planet has any chance of doing what Anand did with his hardware web site? Perhaps if you changed the word could to would, your argument would have some validity.

 

[konichiwa]

Come on, the guy's right on target. Anand's site is one of the best places (if not THE best) out there to go for Hardware information. He works like a horse on it, but ultimately, all that work would most likely get him nowhere if he didn't start at the right time. It's not that hard of a concept, we all know how much he works on the site, but an aspect of its success is the terrific timing.

 

[Otis8]

knichawa I could kiss you right now! Thanks for backing me up on this.

 

[Otis8]

By the way, GoldenBear - great web site!

 

[Otis8]

Ahh.. cmon.. who wouldn't want to kiss Santa? J/k

 

[Cretin]

&quot;Anand making $1,000,000 - anyone jealous?&quot;

Jealous? No. Why would I be jealous because someone is making a million dollars? There are so many people that make that much money - but that doesn't even matter, even if he made a trillion dollars, so what? That's good for him! It shows that he's a hard working, intelligent and devoted person. Luck has nothing to do with it. Great timing and intelligence along with persistence got Anand to where he is today. And it carries him through every day. If he were to suddenly turn into a lazy slob (like us ), do you think that he'd remain popular at all? I think AnandTech as a whole would plummet down.

He worked hard, and he deserves the results. Same goes with others, like Bill Gates for example. Great business man, made a killing. We may have a lot to complain about with his software or what not, but that's besides the point, he made tons of money doing what he does best - business.

Unless someone wins the lottery, there's an extremely high chance that the person deserves what he/she gets, unless they inherit money and don't have to work a day of their life.

Oh, well actually I have something else to say on the same note. Sports players. No way in hell do I believe that they deserve the money they get! They are playing, not working! It's a game. I know people will argue about this a lot, but it won't change my opinion on it. I don't think you should make 5 million dollars a year playing hockey. Look at how hard Anand worked to get to where he is now. Then have a look at the majority of athletes. All they do is train and play their game! Have you ever heard some of these people talk? Some of them sound like they don't have more than a 7th grade education.

Anyways, I'm done. If I've offended anybody, please keep in mind that this is solely my opinion. Thanks.

Cretin

 

[blurredvision]

<< Talk about working your @$$ off for 60 hours a week. >>


I would work 60 hours a week doing something I loved, getting all kinds of free hardware to mess with, and make a million dollars a year. Ain't no doubt about that.

 

[GoldenBear]

<< No, actually, it isn't necessarily false. And I don't think luck alone made him what he is. I merely believe it contributed to his success >>

The point is, anyone could've started a nice computer website about 4 years ago. But to work on it everyday several hours a day is not what just anyone could do. You could start website on a specific subject today and make a million. It doesn't have to be about computers, as with hundreds of millions of people out there today, attracting just .01% of them everyday to browse around your site is possible with the diversity of people out there.

If you and I, or the thousands of his readers started this type of thing four years ago, I doubt there'd be too many people that would achieve this level of success. Anyone could look back and say, hey if I did that 5 years ago, I'd be rich. Five years from now someone could look back on someone from today and say, hey if I did that 5 years ago, I'd be rich. You COULD be one of those guys that someone in the future looks back right now the same way you're looking at Anand.

There's a million oppurtunities out there, and if you're willing to look for it, and spend 10 hours a day working on it, guess what, you'll be a millionaire as well. If that's the case, then luck would have had little to do with it.

If you told me five years ago that a website that talks about computer products would attract millions of viewers each day, I, and many others out there would've told you you're crazy. The point is, the crazier the risk, the more success it has brought. At the same time the crazier the risk, the more trouble it could bring to you. It's the permeatation of the crazy ideas that could be successes that makes a success.

I mean, who would've thought that a talk show with a 14-year-old black prisoned girl talking about other troubled people could've stayed on the air for a month, and look at Oprah and her $800 million. Or a site where people bid on pez dispensers could be anything worthwhile. And it goes on and on.

 

[Josh]

Anand worked hard to get the site going; he deserves to be compensated in some way or another. Also, that is $1 million in revenue, he still has costs to pay off. Such as for the servers, his staff, products that aren't sent to him free and whatever else he needs to pay for. I doubt his yearly salary is 1,000,000. But whatever it is, good job Anand!

 

[fragarific]

Josh, I think this thread is dead now because almost everyone was assuming that $1 mill was his take home pay he received. Thanks for clearing that up, if your statement is correct.

 

[Wedesdo]

yea - just think how much all the other stuff takes out of the $1,000,000

T-3 Internet Connection - about $10,000/mo*12 = 120,000 (More likely higher than that, but we'll leave it there)
Staff (Assuming 5 staff) - $50,000*5 = $250,000
Products to review - $100 (ea. avg.)*100/yr(avg.)=10,000
TAXES - 40% or more

he probably makes at most $350,000 yr - which is comparable to skilled contractors, managers, etc.

 

[damocles]

There is still room for a couple more good hardware sites. Anandtech and Tom's are great, but they still only review a fraction of the products that come out. If someone out there was really keen, they should give it a go

 

[Tominator]

I won't be jealous as long as he adopts me!

 

[Otis8]

Goldenbear,

I don't understand the problem here.. I agree with everything you say. I don't think anything I have said is in contrast to your comments. All I say is that Anand was one of the first hardware site owners in existence and that has helped make him successful. Do you DISAGREE with this?

 

[robp]

I am not jealous at all. He definetly deserves what he is making now because he has put long hard hours into the site.