Ian del Carmen is the President and CEO of Fireball Group of Companies. He started doing business online in April 2006 and after less than a year established a name for himself and an established empire in the Internet marketing industry.
Perhaps nobody would have imagined that 30-year old Ian del Carmen would become the CEO of a successful Internet marketing company in the Philippines.
After all, before he started his Internet marketing company, Fireball LLC at www.FireballOnline.com, the college undergraduate barely knew a thing about computers.
Ian recalls with a chuckle at his naiveté when he was in high school; he was so puzzled at how computers printed paper.
“I actually thought paper had to be stuck to the computer screen,” he laughs.
But he’s come a long way since then. Through sheer determination and studying the ins and outs of Internet marketing on his own, Ian built his company from a one-man business he first operated out of his own bedroom to one that now has more than 70,000 clients worldwide.
His success today comes from the resolve to overcome a lot of rough patches in his life.
Brought up by a single mother after his parents’ early separation, Ian went to public school during his elementary days. When he was in high school, he was able to transfer to a private institution after his uncle paid for his school fees.
At the age of 15, Ian worked at McDonald’s to augment the family income. But after two months, he quit. “I realized as early as then that I couldn’t work for a boss.”
In second year college, he decided to sell T-shirts which he designed himself. His small endeavor became so successful that he was supposed to consign them to a department store in Bulacan. The deal however didn’t push through because he realized he didn’t have much experience yet in conducting business.
Dropping out from college, Ian then became a TV scriptwriter, first for Channel 4, and then for ABS-CBN, writing and producing shows such as the reality show “Pinoy Big Brother.”
It was during this time that his interest in Internet marketing was sparked.
At that time, Ian used the net primarily for checking emails, but then he saw the opportunity to sell and resell licenses of digital products.
“I saw that there was an opportunity in what is known as “resell rights and private label business model” where you can get generic products online and re-label with my own brand. I also started to learn how to develop websites…”
The irony was, Ian didn’t even have a computer and was just renting a PC. But this didn’t deter him. After a while, he bought a second-hand computer, but he didn’t have any Internet connection, so he had to go to a café and download all the research information which he would then study at home.
He then began his first foray into Internet marketing, distributing e-books compiled together in CDs as concessions to the bookstore, “Mag.net” After dismal sales, his attempt at selling digital books flopped.
“I realized that the local market was not yet ready for such a thing,”he says.
Just like most successful entrepreneurs, Ian saw the opportunity for success in a moment of failure – he then had the idea to copy the American model for selling e-books, which were simply digital downloads and did not require any form of storage or inventory.
After studying various US models, Ian then decided to sell various forms of digital products to the overseas market. He remembers the exact moment he made his first sale.
“I sold a package of e-books for US$ 27 to an American client online. I was so happy, I sent her many other e-books for free.”
It was then that Ian decided to leave his TV writing job and go full-time into Internet marketing, working out of his bedroom at home. His decision came after realizing that he could make money on his own time, without a boss.
Ian then expanded his product range and was selling other digital downloads, such as software, online marketing tutorials, video and MP3 downloads, as well as subscription wholesaler to the global market.
After a few months, he was earning around US$1,000-2,000 a month, not bad considering he had very little capital outlay.
He then made his first investment, which aptly enough was a PC, a Ferrari laptop which costs more than a hundred thousand pesos.
Early last year, he fulfilled his dream to become a millionaire at the age of 28 and earned the equivalent of one million pesos in just a week’s time after selling what is known as “membership wholesaler sites.” They are basically membership sites he created which he then sold wholesale with resale rights from US$ 197 to US$ 397 per pack. He managed to sell over a hundred of them to his global clients, earning him a cool million bucks.
In May 2007, he realized that his growing business was getting too big for one man to handle alone so he set up his company “Fireball Planet Corporation” with a few stockholders and some full-time as well as part-time staff.
“I realized back then that I may be one of the pioneers of the Internet marketing industry in the Philippines. It struck me that you could earn dollars not just by leaving the country, but also by selling digital products on the net.”
He says today a big challenge for him is the weak dollar, which affects his profit margin. He has started to offer his clients the option to pay in Euros.
Another hindrance he says is the image of the country.
“Most people think that the Philippines is a place where a lot of scams take place online, so I had to overcome that by building good relationships with my clients.”
Looking forward, he plans to expand his services and will be capitalizing on another global trend: outsourcing. He will be offering virtual staff based in the Philippines to work for other Internet marketers worldwide.
And he is now spreading out FireballOnline.com into the region, establishing franchises in Singapore, China, Hong Kong, and USA as well as potentially in the growing markets of Australia, United Kingdom, India and Indonesia.
Despite being prevalent in everyday life, Ian says the Internet is still in a very young stage and there are still many more opportunities out there in the virtual world. If there’s one tip he can give other Filipinos, it’s to cash in on the prospects available in the web, and not just waste their time chatting on the net or updating their latest Friendster and Facebook accounts.
“People go to the net to surf for whatever information they may need or look for certain talent or skills that they can use. If you can offer that, why not sell it online?”
Good advise from a man who struck gold in the virtual landscape.
by Sam Tongson
Channel News Asia
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