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Gameznet Horror |
The story of how Gameznet came about and then the shops demise.
An overview of My journey from 1995 - 2001, when I was forming the
ideas and plans to build what I thought would be an incredible business
that would be a worldwide success story only to pick the wrong partner
to help me realise my dreams. Written from a narrators point of view.
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Contains Personal journals, video footage, images, promotional files,
copies of business letters and the complete history of my journey
in my own words from leaving School, struggling on the work-unemployment
roundabout getting into terrible debt, seeking my definate major purpose
and then setting out to build a small business of my very own. Moves
to cover the struggle of setting up my first shop which was lost to
a failed business partnership that caused the demise of Gameznet and
my franchise dreams. I provide my own dated journal which tells of
the daily struggle I lived with dealing with debt collectors and the
strain it put on my relationship with my fiance and our new baby while
I was age 28.
It then moves through the story of my spin into complete despair and
suicidal depression to my resurrection and re-determination where
I rekindled my dreams by creating this website right up to my present
day activities.
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SHOPS
Osborne Park Premises |
Take a look at my first shop in Osborne Park Includes
video footage of the shop in early setup, pictures and a write up
on the time I spent there before moving to a better location in Craigie.
This was the first dedicated LAN gaming centre in Western Australia
and possibly Australia! 1996/7
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Craigie Store |
A look at the Second Shop in the Craigie Shopping Centre, things were
really coming together here. the shop looked great and we had people
visiting from far away places to get in on the multiplayer gaming
action!
includes video footage of the shop, pictures
and a write up
1997. Since the shop closed you wouldn't believe how many clones popped
up around Perth duplicating exactly what I did here!
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| GamesDen |
After The Gameznet shop I was employed by a local ISP who had been
aware of what I did with gameznet and asked me to help them build
a Games division based on my experiences . here is what I set up for
them.
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Special
Interests |
Complementing the Gameznet site is the "Special Interest Portal",
This was a run off from the categorising and redistribution of "Free"
shareware and public domain media on floppy disks which I was successfully
doing before I got involved with my business Partner for the Gameznet
shop.
The Gameznet special interest categories you see on the "homepage"
are a direct result of the shareware disks and newsletter I was succesfully
building back in 1995-1996 before I started working on the gameznet
plans. This involved the compiling of special interest themes which
included applications,images ,screensavers etc onto floppy disks (for
example alien related items) This was all provided free however I
charged a small fee for the disk itself and postage. I am now considering
compiling intereactive CDroms for sale from the site, 1 for each catagory.
If I go ahead with these Cd's they will be sold online from the site.
This will include advertising each section in corresponding "special
interest" magazines and websites. Which will not just sell the
disks but have the added effect of advertising the gameznet website
in a broad range of locations. An example of this is advertising the
aliens CD and URL in Alien magazines, A games cd in games magazines
etc. An affiliate program is also in the making so that other websites
can advertise and sell any items from their websites by linking to
any page in gameznet and getting paid a commision for any sales which
are generated from the traffic they send to the site.
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Original BusinessPlan
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This is all the documentation that I had left of an original Amac
Enterprises Business Plan which was first created during a government
scheme I was on called the NEIS (new enterprise incentive scheme)
in 1996. The NEIS scheme was put in place to assist the unemployed
to get up and running in their own small business venture. The original
business plan is what started the Gameznet journey which you can read
about in the History of Gameznet above, then check out the business
plan here which was guiding me. Unfortuantely my partner refused to
return any of my paperwork or records after he forcibly took over
my shop so I was left with only this earlyier draft , The final version
of the plan was edited down and much more direct with real figures
and graphs rather than estimates and was more attractive in presentation
which made it flow a lot better. Anyway have a look and see what you
think.
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| Consultancy
Services |
After I left Eon Technologies where I built GamesDen I ran a computer
consultancy service for a while. Services included a computer buying
service, where I assessed a clients PC quotes and discussed the quotes
relative to the needs and budget of the client in order to help them
make sure that they could be confident in not waisting their money
or paying too much. I would assist them to purchase or upgrade their
PC's and then continue to assist them to setup and learn how to use
them. I enjoyed helping people to understand exactlly what they were
buying , how much was too much and where to first focus their attention
when choosing various hardware configurations. I would visit computer
shops with the client and explain the components and compare quotes
from various outlets and then discuss the best possible solutions
to save the client money, time and a lot of frustration. My aim was
to make sure the client was getting the best their money could buy
and that their PC purchase covered their specific needs and wants.
My consulting extended to assiting with setting up and configuring
clients new systems, networking any old computers they may have already
had and if necesary I also offered tuition services.
I specialised in assisting people who were new to computers helping
them to understand the terminology by translating and speaking in
terms they could relate to and taking the time to do things at their
own pace. Every consultation was peronalised to the level of understanding
of the client as everyone's needs and wants are very different. I
did this service on a part time basis not to make a living but because
I enjoyed it and I got no greater pleasure than realy helping somone
to enjoy the experience of "getting online" and helping
them to learn new things.
I have maintained my association with Eon
Technology and resell and support their Internet services and
e-commerce solutions. My focus is shifting
towards making an income online and I have begun building a network
of websites. For the entire period of 2002 I have basically studied
internet marketing tactics and online money making oportunities.
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World
Super Host -
A NEW BEGINING for 2003!
update Nov 2004 - Ummm took a lot longer than expected to get the hosting
website worked out and then to come up with products etc terms and conditions
etc. so as I write this in 2004 I am still working on world Super Host.
The amount of time it takes to build somthing really makes me apreciate
how incredible it is when blockbuster movies get made or incredible
constructions get built...
How hard it is to start and keep your god damned small business, My
hat goes off to every person that actually gets any kind of business
up and running and to those that end up as millionairs, you guys are
pure human genius! |
After struggling through my
journey I am still completely certain that the concepts and dreams
which I have been working on over the years have always been valuable
and viable. Such adventure does however require several
years and substantial capital to do things correctlly. I have never
had the capital but have also never let that stop me from trying.
Schooling, contacts, economics and social background all play a
part in whether you are able to fulful your dreams. Many outside
factors are involved in controling the direction a persons life
takes.
The ability to Adapt is somthing that is required if a person hopes
to come out on top when everything seems stacked against them.
My plans have changed somewhat however I am determined to stay on
my main path and help people to discover the good in computers and
the internet. I strongly beleive that computers and the Internet
have a very important function in our world and that we have not
even begun to tap into this amazing tool.
I have recently started my own web hosting business called worldsuperhost
where I intend to supply a quality website hosting business that
provides people with everything they need to build and maintain
their own website or network of sites. Of course what a person does
with those resources is entirely up to them!
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2004
TheCashGenerator.net
Boy am I embarrased when I visit this page,
so much has happened which I have not updated......
I had such dreams for this section ..
scratch that!
I HAVE such dreams for this section ! and I will get back to it when
the slate clears!
Im sure nobodies been here anyways but as my story continues this section
is always on my mind and it will be up to date and complete eventually.
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In summary 2004 - I have lived this year apart from Tash and the kids
but we get on very well as a familly. I believe tash and I are in
love but the road I have chosen to travel in life is just too tough
on everyone for her to travel it with me. So she has had to take her
own journey through life. I know the road will become easier eventually
as long as I stay focused but I completely understand why I have to
walk it alone for now, hopefully these roads will converge in the
future.......
I have acheived tremendous amounts of progress, the learning never
stops. Gameznet is developing well behind the scenes and the traffic
growth has been consistently growing even though I simply cannot manage
to work on all the sections I created. Frankly the site is a total
mess but I have been working on the next updates without uploading
anything and beleive me everything I have learned since I began the
site will be reflected in Gameznet.com.au
and a couple of other domains I registered to spread gameznet out
into a network of sites.
I have also Implemented Google adsense into Gameznet aswell as a few
affiliate programs which have been a life saver this year since they
have generated some income from my efforts. If it was not for those
small but regular payments from such incredible programs as google
adsense I would not have survived this year!
I apologise to anyone that has read my story and felt jipped that
I stopped updating. Once I have relaunched the new Gameznet sites
I will clean this "About" section up and fill in the rest
of my story when the time becomes available. As a quick brief for
2004 I have been working on ways to manage the massive tasks of running
a portal as ambitious and huge as the Gameznet site and have been
flat out developing a solution for how to "make money" with
it while keeping it all manageble and relatively easy to keep updated.
The results of all my research and development are slowly coming together
and I have now designed a reproduceable portal system which I can
supply to any customer of my Hosting business. Its all handled via
a browser and designed to be easy for anyone to use even with little
internet experience but it is still quite a long way from being a
distributable system. I beleive I am on the right path and my purpose
and devotion is crystal clear (to me anyway).
All that stands between me and my future success is time.
I have completed several " missions" which have consumed
me for so long and unfortunately I have taken many wrong turns and
gotten lost along the way at times. But I have learnt to survive and
most of what I have learned along the way is stuff that I have needed
to know and learn. Now the CashGenerator
Portal System and the
referral Builder are almost complete and ready for real live testing
with the GOAL being to have several running by early 2005.
I've been working day and night all of this past year non stop on
these projects and my heart tells me that it IS worth every minute
I have devoted and that the pathways I have chosen to navigate in
life have all lead me to where I am now and where I am about to go
next....
My confidence levels are high because I can actually see where I have
been and what I am creating as I go. All that I have done this past
12 months is basicaly planting some new seeds and nurturing them.
Once I am finished on this task which should be within the next 12
months I can upload and hopefully launch my reproducible portal system
and finally get the Gameznet site and sections finished. Once that
has all been done hopefully things will continue to grow and run pretty
much on autopilot from there. I know that eventually I will get past
the financial struggles and one day I will no longer include not having
enough money in my reasons as to why life is so hard.
My familly think Im crazy and just waisting my life away with computers,
I often think they must beleive that Im playing games and stuff like
that. For the most part they have all given up long ago trying to
understand what I have been doing and Im sure they think that I'm
just bumming my way through life or somthing, but I know in my heart
that they will one day see that my dedicated devotion has not been
wasted time and effort and they will also discover that I am indeed
NOT insane, a bum or just some sort of total looser but rather someone
who has built somthing real "not just virtual" that will
not only bring me some rewards but provide a future for my children.
And soon my friend so will you...
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2005
Added
gameznet.org
gameznet.net
gameznet.co.uk |
So far this year 2005 which was supposed to be the turn around year
has pretty much mirrored the previous ones. Struggle and more struggle
including getting ripped off by an investment I had made in a program
called Pure Investor. I had $25,000us invested of which I put in about
$6,000 cash from my pocket and the rest was from people whom had purchased
hosting from me using the Pure Investor payment system known as PicPay.
Around mid year Pure Investor was raided by Malaysian Authorities and
closed down with the owner facing many fraud and other charges so I
have lost the lot. That will teach me to invest in things without the
proper due dilegence, expert advice and investment knowledge required.
I was a sucker and learned yet another lesson about the greed of many
people out there and Im slowly getting the message that you simply cannot
just "trust" others who you dont know when it comes to business
and money. Ive really got to keep my eye on the ball and stick with
my plans to learn how to crack this problem and make my own money.
I have also had a LOT of problems with people not paying their hosting
fees, recieving fraudulant payments, having a boarder who doesnt pay
his share of the rent and bills.... it goes on...
So once again it all tells me that I have to stay focused on building
my own websites where I dont have to rely on anyone to generate an income,
stay away from performing time for money type services since most people
dont want to pay and will rip you off if they get the chance. Avoid
selling products for the same reason, its better to promote and sell
other peoples products and receive some commisions for your efforts
but you have to be careful who you decide to promote, Keep clear of
investing in anything unless you really know what your doing and get
expert advice first whenever considering an investment especially online.
I still havent completed gameznet or the portal system all though its
had a LOT of work and progress this year but I have had to learn as
I go so a lot of focus has been placed on learning still. Im still working
on it all full time. have had another tough year financially just barely
covering my rent and bills but have continued to receive regular affiliate
cheques and payments which have kept me going and have been far more
reliable than many of the hosting clients who never seem to want to
pay their dues on time.
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