MrExcel.com

Microsoft Excel Knowledge and Application Development

If the IT market is down, then how did Mr.Excel.com grow 400%? This is the story of how Mr.Excel.com boomed in a bombed industry.

Bill Jelen was known as the “go to” guy for Excel solutions at Telxon where he worked. With his understanding of the hidden power lying just beneath the Excel desktop, Jelen realized how much time, money and frustration Excel users wasted. He decided to launch MrExcel.com where people could ask Excel questions that he would answer, hopefully generating enough consulting jobs to make as much money as he was in his corporate position.

As the site grew – with Jelen working in shorts and a t-shirt and being there when his kids came home from school – he realized he was still trading time for money. To exponentially increase his revenue while decreasing the amount of time spent programming and charging for the hour, Jelen initiated a plan which included creating and packaging products and services from what he already had (he harvested and indexed over 12,000 questions and answers). He published for a specific segment by creating the ultimate real-world users manual for making sense out of data. He has licensed a simple wizard program for the automotive dealer market that is being used in automobile dealerships.

Jelen stresses that he capitalizes on signature strength by understanding his “crusade” and the emotions his customers go through in using his product/system. He differentiates himself from the competition by knowing who his customers are and building their trust. And he has cloned his system by taking his Excel crusade and building a story and a system around it.

Jelen says, “It’s not impossible to see exponential growth. The key lies in sound customer-centered marketing strategy and your expertise and passion for what you do.”