Selling Off Dashboard Themes
After only 8 months of existance, Andrew and I have decided to see if we can sell off our joint venture – Dashboard Themes. There are many factors that lead us down this path, but the big one is time. Neither of us have the time that’s required to take the site to the next level. It’s been doing well and steadily ramping up traffic to the point where we’re pulling in half a million page views a month, but the fact that it brings in hardly any revenue and the time we’d need to put in to improve that and/or add new features is significant, has detoured us entirely. With any luck, we’ll be handing over the reigns to someone who has the means to keep it going and moving forward.
Wait, That Can’t be the Only Reason
Oh, a clever one you are! No, time is not the only factor here. This site has always sat kind of awkwardly with me. As much as I’m proud of the work I’ve done and the service Andrew and I have brought to the community, I’ve always had this negativity surrounding the whole ordeal. Think of why we built this site to begin with. Because Microsoft has a store with invisible products that you can’t return if you don’t like them. The fact that we’re nearing the two year anniversary of the Xbox 360 and there’s still no way to preview themes on the Marketplace makes me fucking irate! Where else is this sort of scheme acceptable? It’s bad enough that we have to pay for what is essentially desktop wallpaper which is freely available on every other platform that makes use of them, but we can’t even see what we’re buying until it’s paid for. And finally – there’s absolutely no refunds for dissatisfied customers. Now that’s a great commerce model. Yes, I am bitter – we’ve been through this.
Busted Consoles Take Their Toll
I tried to take the death of my Xbox 360 lightly. After all, I absolutely love the Xbox 360 and will defend it in the “this console is better than that console” debate any day of the week. But I will admit, that having two consoles die on me within a two week period definitely took a toll on me. Having a shiny PlayStation 3 in my living room helped ease my nerves, but also leveled the playing field quite a bit. I never thought I would own a PS3. Not to mention, be stoked to own a PS3. But I totally am. And because of that, I think I’ve lost a lot of my enthusiasm toward Xbox 360. You have to admit, it’s fully ironic that the only reason I even own a PS3 is because of Microsoft and their shitty hardware.
Oh, and There’s Also That Other Thing…
Unless you follow me on Twitter or Flickr, you may not have caught wind that my wife is pregnant and we’re due at the end of January! This has given me good reason to really shape up and clear some things off my plate. I’ve had a couple projects lingering for months and I’m finally motivated to do something with them. Passing them off to someone else is ideal, since I won’t have to deal with them at all any more and the extra income from the sale(s) could definitely be put to use – doing a baby’s room is not cheap! Most importantly, I’m going to need time. Currently, I’m busy from the time I wake up until I go to bed – which is normally around or after mid-night. I’m simply not going to be able to do that in a few months, so I’m making an effort to tie up those loose ends and get my shit in order.
Interested in Buying?
If you or someone you know is interested in taking Dashboard Themes off our hands, be sure to head over to the auction for all the details. We’re really not sure how we’re going to do here and are totally open to negotiations.
As of now, we have two full weeks left with the site. That’s if it sells. In the mean time, I’ll continue to update it with new themes. We haven’t discussed what we’ll do if it doesn’t sell and I really have no idea at this point.