女孩的力量

No rich relatives?

No professional mentors? No problem. Ashley Qual s， 17， has built a milion-dollar web site. She's LOL all the way to the bank. :)

沒有富有的親戚？沒有專業的導師？沒關系。17 歲的 Ashley Qualls 已經創建了價值百萬的網站。她是一路大笑著走進銀行的。

Late last year， Ian Moray stumbled across a cotton-candy-pink Web site called Whateverlife.com. As manager of media development at the online marketing company ValueClick Media (NASDAQ:VCLK)， he was searching for under-the-radar destinations for notoriously fickle teenagers. Beyond MySpace and Facebook， countless sites come and go in the teen universe， like soon forgotten pop songs. But Whateverlife stood out. It was more authentic somehow. It featured a steady supply of designs for MySpace pages and attracted a few hundred-thousand girls a day.

He approached Ashley Qualls， Whateverlife's founder， about incorporating ads from ValueClick's 450 or so clients and sharing the revenue. At first， she declined. Then a few weeks later she changed her mind. He was in Los Angeles and she was in Detroit， so they arranged every thing by phone and email. They still have yet to meet in person.

WhendidMoray，who's40，learnthathisnew business partner was 17 years old?

\"When our director of marketing told me why Fast Companywascalling，\"saysMoray，nowValueClick's directorofmediadevelopment.\"Iassumedshewasa seasoned Internet professional. She knows so much about what her site does， more than people three times her age.\"

It's like that famous New Yorker cartoon. A dog typingaway at a computer tells his canine buddy， \"On the Internet，nobody knows you're a dog.\"

At 17 going on 37 (at least)， Ashley is very much an Internet professional. In the less than two years since Whateverlife took off， she has dropped out of high school， bought a house， helped launch artists such as Lily Allen， and rejected offers to buy her young company. Although Ashley was flattered to be offered $1.5 million and a car of her choice—as long as the price tag wasn't more than $100，000—she responded， in effect， Whatever. :) \"I don't even have my license yet，\" she says.

AshleyisevidenceofthemeritocracyontheInternet that allows even companies run by neophy te entrepreneurs to compete， regardless of funding， location， size， or experience—and she's a reminder that ingenuity is ageless. She has taken in more than $1 million， thanks to a now-familiar Web-friendly business model. Her MySpace page layouts are available for the bargain price of...nothing. They're free for the taking. Her only significant source of revenue so far is advertising.

According to Google Analytics， Whateverlife attracts more than 7 million individuals and 60 million page views a month. That's a larger audience than the circulations of Seventeen， Teen Vogue， and CosmoGirl! magazines combined. Although Web-site rankings vary with the methodology， Quantcast， a popular source among advertisers， ranked Whateverlife.com a staggering No. 349 in mid-July out of more than 20 million sites. Among the sites in its rearview mirror: Britannica.com， AmericanIdol.com， FDA .gov， and CBS.com.

She has come along with the right idea at the right time. Eager to customize their MySpace profiles， girls cut and paste the HTML code for Whateverlife layouts featuring hearts， flowers， celebrities， and so on onto their personal page and—presto—a new look. Think of it as MySpace clothes; some kids change their layouts nearly as frequently. \"It's all about giving girls what they want，\" Ashley says.

It all started as a hobby. She began dabbling in Website design eight years ago， when she was 9， hogging the family's Gatewaycomputerin the kitchen all day. When she wasn't playing games， she was teaching herself the basics ofWeb design. To which her mother， Linda LaBrecque， responded， \"Getoffthatcomputer. Now!\" For Ashley's 12th birthday， her mother splurged on an above-ground swimming pool—\"just so she'd go outside，\" LaBrecque says.

Whateverlife just sort of happened， another accidental Web business. Originally， Ashley created the site in late 2004 when she was 14 as a way to show off her design work. \"I was the dorky girl who was into HTML，\" she says. It attracted zero interest beyond her circle of friends until she figured out how to customize MySpace pages. So many classmates asked her to design theirsthatshebeganpostinglayoutsonhersitedaily， several at first， then dozens.

By 2005， her traffic had exploded; she needed her own dedicated server. Ashley， who had bartered site designs for free Web hosting， couldn't afford the monthly rental， not on her babysitting income. Her Web host suggested Google AdSense， a service that supplies ads to a site and shares the revenue. The greater the traffic， the more money she'd earn.

The first check， her first paycheck of any kind， was even cooler: $2，790.

\"It was more than I made in a month，\" her mother says.

\"It made me want to do even more designs，\" Ashley says. But first， she went on a shopping spree at a nearby mall with Bre Newby， her best friend since third grade. Ashley walked out with eight pairs of jeans from J.C. Penney and an armful of other clothes. Without a credit card or a bank account， the 15-year-old paid $600 in cash--the most she'd ever spent.

\"Before， I would ask my mom， ' Can I have $10?' and she'd say， ' No， you have to wait a few weeks，'\" Ashley recalls.

She hasn't asked since.

InJanuary2006，afewmonths after that first payday and six months before her 16th birthday， she withdrew fromschool.InsteadoftakingAP English， French， and algebra II， instead ofbeingastraight-Asophomoreat LincolnParkHighSchool，Ashley stayedhometonurtureherbudding business and take classes through an onlinehighschool.\"Everybodywas shocked，\" she says. \"They asked， \"Are you sure you know what you're doing?' But I had this crazy opportunity to do something different.\"

The widget made its Internet debut on Whateverlife. While surfing MySpace for leads， More had noticed how many Jonas Brothers fans used Whateverlife layouts. In less than two months， 60，000 fanstransferredtheJonasBrothers' three-partvideofromWhateverlifeto their MySpace pages， in effect becoming 60，000 new distribution points. \"This teenage girl in the Midwest got more views for our video than YouTube，\" says Greenberg， 46. \"It wasn't even close.\" The viral campaign encouraged fans to vote for the band on MTV's Total Request Live， and the group's song \"Mandy\" hit No. 4， unheard of without radio play.

As previous suitors can attest， that wouldn't be easy. In March 2006， an associate of MySpace cofounder Brad Greenspan approached Ashley with a bid valued at more than $1.5 mil ion. She passed. Three monthslater，Greenspan's peoplecamebackwitha second offer: $700，000， a car， andherownInternetshow with a marketing budget of $2 million.

Sorry，fellas.\"Icreated this from nothing， and I want toseehowfarIcantakeit，\" Ashleysays.\"IfIwantedto doanInternetshow，Icould doitonmyown.Ihavethe audience.\"

LANGUAGE TIPS

Antiquatedadj.陳舊的

Mimeographn. v.油印機 ; 油印

Evangelistn.福音傳教士

Referraln.提名 ， 推舉

Notoriouslyadj.聲名狼藉的 ; 眾人皆知的

Meritocracyn.知識界的精華

Neophyten.新手

Ingenuityn.獨創性 ， 靈活性

Analyticsn.分析學

(C) 2007 MANSUETO VENTURES LLC， AS FIRST PUBLISHED IN FAST COMPANY MAGAZINE. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES.

2006 年 ，Ian Moray，ValueClick 網絡媒體公司(NASDAQ:VCLK) 的經理 ， 被一個用粉紅色棉花糖裝扮、名為 Whateverlife.com 的網站吸引了 ， 他當時正在搜索那些隱身線上、無所事事的青少年。自 MySpace 和 Facebook誕生后，難以數計的網站涌現出來，大多出自青少年之手，但很快都讓人遺忘，就跟泛濫的流行音樂的網站。Whateverlife 看起來更可信任 ， 穩定的、為 MySpace 設計的網頁 ， 每天吸引成千上萬的女孩子們光顧。

于是 ， 為了 ValueClick 大約 450 名客人合作廣告的事情 ，Ian Moray 找到了 Ashley Qualls——Whateverlife 網站的創始人。開始 ，Ashley 拒絕了。幾個星期后 ， 她改變了主意 ，他們一個在洛杉磯 ， 一個在底特律 ， 用電話和電子郵件安排所有的事情 ， 但至今還沒有會過面。

Moray， 一位 40 歲的男子 ， 居然要一個 17 歲的小女孩成為他新的商業合作伙伴 ?

“當我們的市場總監告訴我為什么《快公司》會打電話給我 ，” Moray 說 ，“我猜測她是一個老到的網絡高手 ， 她明白自己的網站要做什么 ， 這點勝過比她年齡大三倍的人。”

這就像《紐約客》里著名的卡通。一只狗用鍵盤敲字告訴它的伙伴 ，“在互聯網上 ， 沒有人知道你是一只狗。”在互聯網上 ， 什么都有可能發生。

從 17 歲到 37 歲的范圍里 ，Ashley 無疑是個互聯網高手。自 Whateverlife 網站建立的兩年時間 里 ，Ashley退了學，買了房子，幫助藝術家如Lily Allen 投放市場 ， 拒絕了別人買她的公司。盡管她有被炒作到 150 萬美元的身價并擁有一部10萬美元的車 ， 她反駁道 :“我還沒有自己的駕照呢。”

Ashley 無疑是互聯網領域的精華 ， 盡管公司由新手運營 ， 忽略其資金、位置、規模和經驗 ， 她的成功足以說明創造力沒有年齡的界限。她已經拿出 100 萬美元支助現存的、和她相似的、友好的網站經營模式。盡管她可以用自己的 MySpace網頁設計簽約掙錢 ， 但她沒有 ， 大家仍然可以免費使用。目前 ， 她唯一的收入就是廣告。

根據Google 的 分 析 ，Whateverlife網站在一個月內吸引了700萬人和6000萬次的網頁瀏覽。這個數字遠遠超過Seventeen， Teen Vogue 和 CosmoGirl的發行。盡管網站的排名根據方法論的不同而有差異，但在7月中旬廣告客戶的排名中，Whateverlife在2000萬個網站中排名第349位。排在其后的有Britannica、com，AmericanIdol.com，FDA.gov 和 CBS.com。

Ashley 和她的網頁在一個恰到好處的時間 ，帶著正確的想法出現了。女孩子們渴望定制她們自己的 MySpace 網頁 ， 紛紛從 Whateverlife 網站粘貼復制了各種裝飾來裝扮自己的網頁 ， 從而使其快速地煥然一新。有些女孩子把 MySpace 的網頁看成自己穿的衣服 ， 更喜歡頻繁地更換網頁上的裝飾。“這里給了女孩子們想要的東西。”Ashley 說。

這一切都開始于愛好。8 年前 ，9 歲的她開始接觸網絡 ，整天泡在廚房間的電腦上。當她不再玩游戲后 ， 她開始自學網頁設計。媽媽 Linda LaBrecque 那個時候總是說 :“別再玩電腦了 !”在 Ashley12 歲生日的時候 ， 媽媽建了個室外泳池 ，“這樣她可以多些戶外運動了。”

Whateverlife 的誕生是個意外。2004年，14歲的Ashley做了個網頁想展示自己的設計成果想吸引自己圈子外的一些朋友。直到她領悟到怎樣定制 MySpace 網頁 ，許多同學都要她給自己設計 ， 于是 ， 她開始每天編排自己的網站 ， 開始只是很少 ， 但以后成倍增加。

2005 年 ，Ashley 開始只是作為物物交換、為大家免費做網頁設計 ， 但她這個小孩子的收入無法支撐每月的租金 ， 她的網站接受了 Google Adsence 的建議 ， 這是一項為網站提供廣告并分享收入的服務。廣告量越大 ， 她賺的錢就越多。

她的第一筆收入 ， 支票上寫著“2790 美元”，“這比我一個月掙的都多。”Ashley 的母親說。

“這促使我想做更多的設計。”Ashley 說。第一次 ，她和好友去商場血拼 ， 沒有使用信用卡或者銀行賬戶 ， 這個 15 歲的小女孩花了 600 美元的現金 ，“在這以前 ， 我還要問媽媽 ，‘我是否能拿 10 美元 ?’但是她說 ，‘你還要再等幾個星期。’”

現在 ， 她不再需要這樣做了。

2006 年 1 月 ， 離 Ashley16 歲的生日還有 6 個月 ， 在她拿到第一筆收入后 ， 她退了學 ， 在家里通過網絡教學學習課程 ，其余時間全心全意地在家里經營她的網站。“每個人都很震驚 ， 他們問‘你確信自己在做什么嗎 ?’我只是有了一個瘋狂的機遇 ， 去做與眾不同的事情。”

在 MySpace 沖 浪 的 網 友 發 現 ， 越來越多的 Jonas Brothers 的愛好者使用Whateverlife 設計的網頁。兩個月內 ， 有6 萬 名 愛 好 者 把 Jonas Brothers 的 三 部視 頻 從 Whateverlife 上 傳 輸 到 自 己 的 網頁上 ， 為這個網站貢獻了 6 萬個新的點擊率。“這個來自中西部小女孩創建的網站被 關 注 的 程 度 比‘YouTube’ 還 要 多。”Greenberg 說。

2006 年 3 月 ， 一位 MySpace 的創辦人 Brad Greenspan 找到 Ashley， 愿意出價 150 萬美元購買 ，Ashley 拒絕了。三個月 后 ，Greenspan 的 同 伴 再 次 找 Ashley，這次是 70 萬美元、一輛車和她自己這個網站 200 萬美元的市場預算。

“我從無到有創造了它 ， 我想知道自己還能做多久。如果我想做網站秀 ， 我可以自己做 ， 因為我擁有受眾。”

編譯：何云翥 欄目編輯：張維zhangwei@cbnet.com.cn