17-year old girl makes up to $70,000 a month with MySpace site


ashley_qualls.jpgFast Company published a fairly long article in the September edition of their magazine about the 17-year old Ashley Qualls.

This girl runs a MySpace layout and graphics site called Whateverlife. I never heard about this site before but she seems to be doing amazingly well, according to the article the three-year old site receives 7 million unique visitors and 60 million page views a month and this earns her up to $70,000 a month. Most of this revenue seems to come through Google AdSense and ValueClick.


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.

Ashley is evidence of the meritocracy on the Internet that allows even companies run by neophyte 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.

I already knew that MySpace related sites can bring in a lot of money but this story amazed me, the kind of money she’s pulling in from this site is stunning. Looks like I’m in the wrong niche lol

You can read the full story over here. One of the funny things is that a court ruled in January that neither Ashley nor her parents are allowed to manage her finances:

Until she turns 18, next June, a court-appointed conservator is controlling Whateverlife’s assets; Ashley must request funds for any expense outside the agreed-upon monthly budget.

The arrangement, she says, affects her ability to react in a volatile industry. “It’s not like I’m selling lemonade,” she says. Besides, it’s her company. If she wants to contract developers or employ her mother, Ashley says, why shouldn’t she be able to do it without the conservator’s approval?

So the teenager has hired a lawyer. She wants to emancipate herself and be declared an adult. Now. At 17. Why not just sit tight until June? The girl trying to grow up fast can’t wait that long.

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104 responses to “17-year old girl makes up to $70,000 a month with MySpace site”

  1. This is exciting and sickening all at the same time. Her or her parents can’t control the company finances but a court appointed whatever has to. GIVE ME A BREAK. Government has gotten way to big and too intrusive. Time To RISE UP AMERICA. I know this sounds extreme but this is just another small example in a sea of offenses. 🙁

  2. I have never seen a bigger bunch of whiners in my life OH BooHoo she got lucky and I work hard and I am not rich. Boo friggin Hoo Grow up. Sure “luck” had something to do with it but a lot of other things had a lot to do with it too. Maybe her lack of true business sense and lack of marketing prowess helped her with the MySpace crowd. She got the ball rolling naturally and people looked at her site as someone’s site that wasn’t just in it to win it. This place sounds like it is full of socialists and that they deserve it just as much as she does and should therefor be GIVEN it too. Not how it works in a free society. Do something worth while and be ahead of the curve and maybe you can get “lucky” too. Pinkos

  3. “Do something worth while and be ahead of the curve and maybe you can get “lucky” too. ”

    GEE, why didnt the rest of the world think of that???? Riches, here I come!

    Note my sarcasm. If its one thing I hate is people throwing around generic advice on how to become successful and wealthy.

    All that advice is so general “Do something worth while and be ahead of the curve” and all the others, as if we haven’t done that, ten fold. You could follow all of that general advice and still be broke out of your ass. I’ve read just about every book on how to become a millionaire. I’ve been trying since to be rich since I was at least 14 and have been unsuccessful at every attempt.

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