Someone Copies Your Niche Idea…Now What?
written by Frey Chu Someone Copies Your Niche Idea…Now What? A common question I get in the Ship Your Directory community is “Someone is building a directory in the same niche as me. What should I do?!” Look, I get it – it’s discouraging to discover new competition going for the same directory niche. You may even feel threatened, especially if you’re convinced that this idea is your super secret find of a lifetime (spoiler: it’s probably not). The truth is, the random person you’re worried…
The Unexpected ROI of Doing Nothing
written by Frey Chu The Unexpected ROI of Doing Nothing One of my small directory websites is 9 months old and just quadrupled it’s daily revenue. It’s ain’t much, but my daily earnings for this site grew from $2.70/day to $11.50/day to $13/day in passive income. The trick? Nothing. I literally did nothing for the last five to six months (the only thing I did was install Mediavine Grow and set up the display ads once I was accepted). No content changes, no new pages, no link building and no…
Build Directories Where Others Aren’t
written by Frey Chu Build Directories Where Others Aren’t I just paid $150 for 24 hours worth of wifi access. Why? Because when you’re floating in the Antarctic Peninsula, my only option is the sub-par, but essential, internet packages at outrageous prices. My immediate response? bruh. On the other hand, what a great reminder to build where people aren’t. To offer ordinary things, where people will happily accept the worst version of those things, is absolutely one way to win. We can complain…
365 Days Ago I Quit My Job
written by Frey Chu 365 Days Ago I Quit My Job with Directories It’s officially been one year since I quit my corporate job. In the last year, I’ve shipped 10 things on the internet: 5x directory websites SEO consulting service Youtube channel SYD Newsletter Free community for directory builders A SaaS (enrich.directory, co-built) It wasn’t until 9 months into taking the leap (December 2024), that I earned more in a month than I did in a month at my full-time job. This last month, I made…
The richest feeling in the world
written by Frey Chu The richest feeling in the world There’s this video on TikTok that my 30-year old ass loves – it’s of a husband coming home from work, and his partner and kids are waiting for him on the driveway. One of the top comments say “this is the rich i want to be.” I think about this a lot, but not because of the obvious “family is everything” angle, which is wholesome and all. At the core, it’s that feeling of being valued that does it for me. Selfishly, that’s what I crave for…
7 Harsh truths of directory building
written by Frey Chu 7 Harsh Truths of Directory Building This week has been kinda nuts. A month ago, I got this DM: listen to the pod here And now it looks like a few more people are falling down the rabbit hole of directories. To help you avoid the mistakes I’ve made along the way, I want to share some harsh truths about building a directory for the first time 1. Building for purely monetary gain is a recipe for failure Passive income is sexy. But the work that initially goes into it isn’t,…
Why I pay for friends
written by Frey Chu Why I pay for friends (and you should too) I know this sounds shallow, but I’m a simple spender. If something can save me time, improve my health, or generate more money, I’ll probably buy it. When I started my last corporate job, I was already mapping out my exit plan to go full-time as a builder within the first month. My directory site was steadily turning a profit, sparking the idea that could lead to true freedom. Boom. I found a solid monetization plan and a way to…
The future of directories
written by Frey Chu The future of directories Growing up with two older sisters, I learned early on that foresight is a secret cheat code to life. The summer internship in my freshman year of college wasn’t driven by a fierce desire to learn about SEO (funny how that’s all I do now). It was motivated by seeing my oldest sister struggle to get a good job out of college, and being afraid I’d follow in the same footsteps. Looking back, I was just observing where my sister invested her time and…
Start the unsmart way
Start the unsmart way One thing you should know about me is: I’m not smart. What I mean is, objectively there have been experiences in my life that point to me being remarkably ordinary (if not, leaning towards less than ordinary). In 3rd grade, I was placed into special ed for two months. The same year, I was playing handball during recess and knee’d myself in the eye giving myself my first black eye. My first SAT score was 1400 (out of 2400). I’ll stop here for the sake of TMI. Looking…
How I quit my job with directories
If you’re trying to quit your job (or already quit) to become a full-time builder, I’m speaking directly to you. I quit my job back in March 2024 to go all in on building website directories. But there’s a couple things I wish I knew before I made the leap. p.s. feel free to scroll to the end to see my 6-step game plan on how to quit your job building directories. This marks not once, but twice now that I’ve quit my job to hopefully die on the sword of entrepreneurship. Now that I’m 11 months…