 Having fun online is a way of life for a lot of people. For a few, like Ken Cauley, founder of Advanced Media Networks in Rochester Hills, it's also a way to make a living.
Advanced Media runs an online portal for Web sites devoted to gaming platforms or other topics of digital interest, such as online entertainment, movies and animation. The sites include a mix of news, reviews online forums and other kinds of content related to the online life. And there is a lot there. You could spend hours at www.advancedmn.com.
Next year, Cauley, 23, predicts the company will gross $1 million for the first time. That’s not bad for a company started as something of a hobby – and later as a way for Cauley to get into trade shows and industry events.
The company has been incorporated since 2003, but Cauley has been working "the business" for about nine years. Cauley says he started "messing around with online journalism" when he was 14, growing up in the outskirts of Rochester, near 28 Mile Road and Mound.
Gradually assembling a cadre of writers, most of whom are "contributing" writers and editors in the literal sense of the word (unpaid), Cauley now has three paid staff (himself included).
And he's moved out of the house. That was two years ago. "I'd just turned 21," he says, noting that the early years of the Advanced Media business allowed him to focus on building a solid foundation for the venture.
"One of the advantages was I didn't have many personal bills and responsibilities," he says.
What he did have was a natural talent for getting the most out of people and, perhaps, seeing what was possible when it came to feeding a frenzy of interest in gaming and other forms of digital entertainment.
"Much of business is motivating interest in individuals," he says. "When you think about it, for several years I had people working for free – doing almost full-time jobs. But they were working in an industry that brought them a lot of interest." Cauley expects the business, which is supported by online advertising, to begin employing more full-time writers and editors.
It's a natural evolution, he says.
"One of the main challenges is being able to get the resources needed to grow more quickly," says Cauley. "It's a nice foundation, but I want to take some bigger steps, changes that would push things faster."
Those include adding more content to the sites, the idea being to build more traffic, which, in turn, will produce more revenue.
"Manufacturers and creators of the game systems and the games know they can reach their demographic on our sites," he says. "That's the key."
In the meantime, Cauley is pouring the profits back into the business. He also is pursuing degrees in business and psychology, part-time at Macomb Community College and Walsh College.
"It's more of a personal accomplishment thing."
Want to contact Ken Cauley? He can be reached at KenCauley@AdvancedMN.com.
-- By J.D. Booth, Daily Dash contributing writer |
