Making $10 Million a Year & Working 1 Hour a Day

There has been a lot of talk over the years about people making massive amount of money off Google Adsense. Just from searching online, you will come across various sites featuring pictures of ShoeMoney’s six figure adsense check and a few stories on PlentyofFish.com’s owner making high six figures a month. I’ve always found the PlentyofFish.com story very interesting, but haven’t seen as much information on it as it deserves. This month Inc. Magazine did a cover story of Markus Frind’s PlentyofFish.com site, and how he is raking in over $10 million a year and working less than an hour per day.

A Google Adsense Check to PlentyofFish.com, back in Feb of 2006.

You can read the full story over at Inc Magazine’s site, or another article from the New York Times. If you don’t have the time, I went ahead and took out the good stuff and key points.

– According to Markus Frind, he operates his business out of his apartment in Vancouver, British Columbia, and he says he has net profits of about $10 million a year.

– PlentyofFish.com is serving up 1.6 billion webpages each month.

– Find’s blueprint for success: Pick a market in which the competition charges money, build a “dead simple” free website and pay for it using Google Adsense.

– PlentyofFish.com is quickly moving into first place among all dating sites in the U.S. and U.K.

A look Mr. Frind’s Cash Cow Web Site, PlentyofFish.com

One might ask, if life is so wonderful and easy for Markus Frind… why bring so much attention to yourself all of a sudden, and not just sit back and keep collecting checks. While reading through the article, you will find a certain type of arrogence from Markus, as if he is untouchable… scoffing at the idea of starting a new web site or company. There may be plenty of fish in the sea… but no one stays on top forever.

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26 Comments

  3. From reading the article, i agree with you on the comment about him being arrogant, but yet he has made himself into something that everybody wants to be.

    I thought Shoemoney's picture of him holding his Google check was crazy, but to see this number is just wow..congrats to him!

    But you're right, you cant be on top forever.

  6. So does he literally make all of his money off of adsense alone? If he does this is a quite amazing feat

  7. Through the article, it occasionally mentions that he has ad buys in there as well. So all of the earnings aren't Adsense, but it was (or still is) a big portion.

  8. It's a pretty amazing feat to make $1,000,000 with just adsense though, I don't care how arrogant the guy is cause at the moment he has done something that most just dream of.

  9. I read the article in my copy of Inc. last week. I thought the guy was a little arrogant, but who wouldn't be after making hand over fist so easily. And the article says he operated the site out of his apartment at first, but now works out of an office in a high rise. It said something like they could fit fifty workers in there, but he only has four, including himself.

  13. Interesting stuff. Still, even though he may only work an hour a day now, I'm betting he put in a lot of time thinking, then designing, then creating this site. That's really the lesson here; it takes a lot of work to create something, but once you've got your idea completed, if people flock to it you're going to do pretty well.

  15. If i was making all that money with 1 hour a day i would be arrogant as well…

    After all most of the guys that make much money online are a bit arrogant in their own way.Zac you get arrogant sometimes too but we like you anyway 🙂

    I got to admit too that the part where he showed of his Adsense check to shoemoney and made him shut up was quite entertaining as well 🙂

    All in all this guy rocks and he is leading a life that most people would only dream of…When his site is not on the top anymore he will have enough money to do something else i am sure 🙂

  17. I read this article the other day in INC and it really inspired me. It's hard toiling away day after day trying to carve out a good income on the net, but once you hit your stride, you can earn some serious income! I'm going to bust my hump until then!

  18. we keep hearing about Shoemoney and his famous cheque. But wasnt that from his other business and not his blog? also these people that show their incomes via adsense, especially a few years back were ahead of the game and able to reap the profits of a new scheme…now everyone and their momma has adsense on their blogs and we are all used to them and move past without blinking…congrats to those that can monetize, but there are probably new methods out there now…right??

  20. ZAC: "he says he has net profits of about $10 million a year."

    Actually, it says revenue of 10 mil, with over 50% profit, so that would be over $5million profit. Plenty.

  22. That is quite impressive that he makes that much and only works 1 hour a day. People can only of dream of living like that. Especially if a lot of his revenue is from adsense

  23. Sometimes I get concerned about stories like Markus Frind's because they can set unrealistic expectations for those entering into online businesses. Every industry has a few stories about a few people who made it big with little work, but those stories generally involve a huge amount of luck.

  24. This is a great example of the power of free. While it's unlikely to make as much money as he did, you can build a strong following by offering a free service and utilizing clever monetization techniques to make money from it.

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