Entrepreneur Interview: Rex Bowden Jr.

Welcome to my first Entrepreneur Interview here at Blogtrepreneur.com. I’ve been talking to Rex for a little while now on MSN, so I thought I’d interview him so all you guys can see what a mogul he is. My questions are in bold and Rex’s answer are in the normal typeface font! Here goes:

Hi Rex. Could you tell us a little bit about yourself, your experience, and your background in business.
My name is Rex and I’ve been online now since the early days of Prodigy, began messing around with HTML in the mid 90s and by 2000 I formed my first LLC and began trying to make money online. I started with my first business which is in question number 2, after that, I went on to make religiousforums.com which I sold in 2005 and now co-own cruiselineforums.com, vbhackers.com and a few small and large projects along the way. More recently I started bloggerskills.com which is doing rather well. I have a new forum coming out very soon so that will be my biggest project for 06 probably.

What was your first ever venture as a young entrepreneur?
Well when I was 18 I created a program that allowed large public entities to enroll their employees in their health insurance and benefit packages online. No need to get paper involved! I’m still doing it to this day! We enroll around 25,000 employees and dependents each year.

What entrepreneurial traits do you possess?
Well I’m not sure if it’s a trait but I’m not afraid to spend the money to make something work. I think a lot of young entrepreneurs are scared of ideas because of the cost: anything worth doing will be costly. Secondly I’m a very social person and love people; networking is a huge key in any business. And lastly I would like to think I’m fairly humble, I’ll try to help anybody I can.

And what other unusual traits do you have, that seem to work for you?
Try not to take things too seriously. Let your sites develop naturally and take on a life of there own. Of course you’re going to have to nurture them in the beginning but once they start picking up don’t get too serious and remember everybody likes to be part of a community not a dictatorship.

Have you made any mistakes along the way that you have learned from?
Oh yah, without mistakes you never learn. The first site I started was on free software and go-daddy hosting and was terrible, I take that back, the first one was a forum on a really old domain that own. I was too cheap to buy a domain just for the site and that was probably the downfall of that site – it crashed and burned. In the long run mistakes are good, learn them while you’re young!

That’s true, and what marketing methods methods have you used with the most success?
Ahh this one is easy. Word of mouth is so vital to any marketing campaign. If you do something and you do it right, people will tell everyone they know, just figure out a way to create a buzz around your product. Aside from that networking with others is key, doing cross promotional stuff and asking for favors. Good people are always willing to help with what they can.

And finally, what advice would you give to young entrepreneurs hoping to start up on the internet?
Things can take time so don’t get discouraged. Learn from others and read as much information as you can find, the more you know the better off you will be. But also remember that not just 1 person has the answers to everything, so learn from many people. Be patient and don’t be afraid to be a bit aggressive, make others aware of what your doing.

Thanks a lot Rex for your time, I hope your businesses and online presence continues to grow, and I hope your words can help other young entrepreneurs follow in your footsteps.
No problem Adnan!