And I love it, too. I just read an article in Fast Company magazine (September 2007 issue, not yet up on their site, but should be soon: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/) about Ashley Qualls, who built her own million-dollar website. She started teaching herself HTML when she was 9, then built her own website. When MYSpace became popular she began creating customized looks for herself and friends. When the code to customize those sites started to become popular (when she was about 15), her web host told her she would have to pay more to host the site. When she told them she didn’t have the money, they suggested that she start putting Google Ads on the site to generate revenue. Checking online to see that she had earned her first $50 was a kick for Ashleigh, who would have to bug her working-class mom to get $10 to spend. When her first check from Google arrived and it was $2790, she went to the mall for a shopping trip and spent $600. She went on to quit high school at 16 to concentrate on her business, buy a $250,000 house in the suburbs for her mother and sister to live in with her and pursue a degree in design at the local commmunity college. She hired friends and her mother. She provided health insurance for the family. The site brings in $70,000 a month. She recently declined an offer to sell it for 1.5 million and a car of her choice (she doesn’t even have her license yet). The site is more popular than Oprah’s and Martha Stewart’s.

The court decided that she was making too much money as a minor (she’s now 17) to take care of it herself, so they appointed a conservator. She is trying to get herself to be an emancipated minor so she can regain control over her money. Wow.

Her site is www.whateverlife.com