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In 2000, when he was 14-years-old, Robby Berthume started building web sites for local businesspeople. When he turned 22, the LA Business Journal featured him in its "Twenty in Their 20s" report because his company was earning healthy profits on about $1 million in sales by building profitable web sites like WhereToGetEngaged.

I invited Robby to Mixergy to talk about what he learned about building profitable sites.

The FULL program

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(Can't see video? Go to Mixergy.com)

About Robby Berthume

Robby Berthume is the Founder/CEO of Epsilon Concepts, a digital agency based in downtown Los Angeles. He is also the CEO of Moon Berthume, an Internet marketing firm in addition to being the Editor of the WhereToGetEngaged blog. He is also CEO and Co-Editor of the Los Angeles Digital Directory. Robby is also in the process of launching 2 social network / directory / search engine platforms around divorce and outsourcing in late 2009. You can also find him on Twitter or Facebook.

A few points we talked about

Talk up your business

In the early days of starting a business, some entrepreneurs are embarrassed to talk about it because it's not successful yet. It's just a budding idea. But Robby told us how he brought in clients by talking up his business everywhere. Some of his early customers came from places like his church.

Entrepreneurship can be a better education than school

Starting a business early (even if it ends up failing) can be more educational than going to school. We've talked about this in past interviews, like this one with Jared Kim, who quit school before starting his current company.

Turn down business

Robby's business took off after he decided to pare down his project list and focus. It took him a year to cut down his company's commitment to work on 40+ projects.

Don't underestimate contests

Robby uses contests to help draw users to his site. He said it's an inexpensive promotion because the prizes, like the rings that he gives away on WhereToGetEngaged, are often given to him for free from suppliers who want exposure on his sites. And it works because he uses the contest deadline to create urgency for users who might otherwise procrastinate about registering.

Have a profit-oriented mindset

We talked about how many online entrepreneurs start out looking for "eyeballs," with no concern for revenue. Then, many of those same founders struggle to keep their companies going because they didn't build a revenue plan into their businesses.

Start small

WhereToGetEngaged started out as a directory for a single state. Then it expanded into other states. Then it started offering other services like social networking.

In our pre-interview Robby told me this is one of the most important points that he wants to communicate to anyone building a web business. Start small. Reduce your idea to its simplest, most-manageable version. Then build it up.

Listen to the full interview to hear a deeper discussion on this point.

Full transcript

This is a mechanical transcript. If you see errors, feel free to correct them.

Full program includes

- Get ideas about where to find your ideal business partner or co-founder.

- Learn how to take a big business idea and reduce it to something small enough to launch effectively and cheaply.

- MY FAVORITE PART: See how to build a profitable directory business. You'll hear how Robby gives away listings to populate his directory. Then he brings in revenue by selling premium placements.

Suggested comments

- What could I have done to make this program more helpful for you?

- I typed out some of MY most valuable notes from this interview. What did YOU find most valuable?

Program sponsor

Haystack - Find the right web designer for your next project.

Could you check out Haystack.com and give me suggestions for what I should talk about as I do my ads for the site over the next few weeks?