creative maverick

Back in 2005, Alex Tew was a 21 year old student from Cricklade in Wiltshire and was about to begin a three-year Business Management course at the University of Nottingham. Alex was concerned that he would be left with a student loan that would take years to repay so he brainstormed ways to make some money on the Internet to fund himself.

The idea he came up was brilliantly simple. He decided to create a one page website featuring a grid of 1000 x 1000 pixels which he would sell as advertising space. The cost was $1 per pixel and purchasers would buy them in 10×10 blocks to add their own logo or advert, with a link to their own website. If he sold all the pixels, it would make him a millionaire.

When MillionDollarHomepage launched on 26 August 2005, it became an Internet phenomenon, at one point being ranked in the top 150 most visited websites in the world.

But what really made this website such a success?

It was the story.

The story of how a young student facing debt made a million on the ‘net was one that hundreds of journalists around the world wanted to write about. The story appeared again and again in newspapers and magazines and on the web. And it’s because that story got such exposure, that so many people visited the website (which after all was not very exciting or pretty to look at!) And because so many people were visiting the website, everyone wanted to buy the pixels to advertise their own products.

Alex sold every pixel and his final gross income was $1,037,100 - from a site that cost him 50 Euros to create. It was a million dollar story.

Tomorrow night, at Scanners Night in Central London, we are exploring story, poetry, truth and authenticity with the UK’s only professional bard, Sarah de Nordwall.

Whether you’re a writer, a speaker, a poet or an entrepreneur, a story is a powerful thing. Sarah will be running an exercise in the 2nd half of the evening to help you find an easy and snappy way to find your story and present it - whether the story is of your life, your business or your creative project.

If you’re in London tomorrow, come along. This will be a Scanners Night people will be talking about for some time to come.

Click here to book now and save £5