Ilias Tsagklis, co-founder of Excelexis. He’s a software developer-turned-entrepreneur who gave up a great salary to found his own company. Ilias blogs about entrepreneurship at Wealth Triumph. Listen in to hear why a developer built an ad company instead of a software company, and just what he’s doing to make 85% net margins. Famous 5: Favorite Book? – Millionaire Fast Lane What CEO do you follow? — Marcus Lemonis Favourite online tool? — Asana Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — That the road to success is only through self-education. Don’t expect anyone else to help you. Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:14 – Nathan’s introduction 01:56 – Welcoming Ilias to the show 02:17 – Trying to monetise platforms like banner display 02:37 – Provided sponsored content for a recent customer - trying to move away from traditional banner displays 03:25 – Own Telecode Geeks, a content site, where they can place adverts 04:02 – Ilias started out as a software developer 04:18 – He quit his job after 7 years, looking for something new 05:02 – “I wanted to build something that could scale” 05:40 – Gave up a salary in the mid 5 figures - a high salary in Greece 06:40 – Started building a community writing technical articles 07:15 – Why monetise through ads using Java instead of building your own software platform? 07:30 – “We were more interested in building a steady income to replace the corporate job” 07:55 – Around 85% net margin in the business 08:22 – Multiple revenue streams: advertising; sponsorship; lead generation and affiliate marketing 08:47 – Total revenue in 2015 was in the mid 6 figures 09:15 – Two co-founders, several assistants, and some freelance writers 09:40 – Ilias’ revenue goal for 2016 is $500k 10:30 – Connect with Ilias on Linkedin or at his blog 12:00 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Success comes from self-education. Start investing time and energy in yourself. Build a community before you try to monetise. Once you have a tribe, everything else will follow. Define your goals as an entrepreneur. Explosive growth? Steady income? Early retirement? Once you know your why, you can worry about the how. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives