I first read about Ashley Qualls aged 17 who has made over a million dollars from a site giving away MySpace themes, on Dosh Dosh. I didn’t read all of Maki’s post, but the facts in the first paragraph got my attention:
- Ashley Qualls started at 14 and dropped out of school to build her online business
- First adsense cheque was for $2,790
- Now earns as much as $70k per month from her Whateverlife.com site
Amazing numbers, but after following a link from the Guardian Blog yesterday, I discovered that her story was even more interesting.
Many of the people Ashley does business with don’t realise that she’s only 17. She’s so young in fact, that because she’s still legally a minor, a court has appointed someone to manage her finances until she’s 18, as sadly her sudden wealth has caused issues within her family. Ashley has recruited a lawyer to try and get herself emancipated and declared an adult.
I think it’s amazing that thanks to the internet, a schoolkid can become a millionaire. At 17 I’d only just finished my first ever jobs working in brick and timber yards over the summer holidays. I remember how proud my parents were that I was capable of doing a real ‘mans’ job, getting up at dawn and working my ass off all day.
I wonder how they would have reacted if I said I wanted to build a website over the summer to make money online! I’m really envious of the opportunities available now. I seriously think that if I were a teenager growing up now, my life would have taken a totally different path. I really doubt that I would have wanted to go to Uni, although I’m sure my parents would have forced me too, even if I was generating money online.
Are there any readers out there who have passed on going to Uni in order to develop online businesses?
CReDIT
