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

EP 326: Quit Job During Greece Financial Crisis to Launch Media Business

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders