This past weekend I was at a Financial Bloggers Conference in Chicago. Here I met many other bloggers, most of whom knew something about p2p lending which was a pleasant change.
Obviously this was not your typical crowd, these were financially literate people and many of them had either started investing with Lending Club or Prosper or were considering it. A question I got a lot was how I came to be writing a blog about the somewhat unusual subject of p2p lending.
I realize I have never told my story on this blog (although there is a summary on my About page) and I thought if all these other bloggers now know I should at least share it here on the blog.
From Label Printing to P2P Lending
My background is in the label printing industry, believe it or not. I came from Sydney, Australia to Denver, Colorado to setup the U.S. operations of the family label printing business back in 1991. I sold this business after about 13 years and started another company also in the label printing business. Then in 2008 I sold that company (just before the financial crisis) but continued to work for the new owners for a couple of years.
After taking a few months off to travel and just be at home with my two young kids I was looking for a new opportunity. I enjoyed writing and blogging in my past companies so I thought starting a blog would be a good fit for me. But then I noticed this Social Lending Network blog for sale. Here is how the site looked before I purchased it.
I had read an article about Prosper when I was looking for alternative investments soon after I sold my business in 2008. But when I got around to actually signing up Prosper was in their quiet period. I kept checking back every so often and after a few months I started looking for an alternative. I quickly discovered Lending Club who was open to investors so I opened an account with them.
Anyway, by the time I noticed this blog for sale I had already been an investor in Lending Club for more than a year and I was delighted with the returns I was getting. So I decided to go ahead and buy the blog. This week marks exactly one year since that purchase took place.
Thank You
Since buying this blog and writing 3-4 articles a week for the past year I have learned a great deal about p2p lending. And I have become even more convinced of the long-term success and viability of this industry. I truly love p2p lending and believe there is no better risk/reward investment in the world today.
I have certainly appreciated all the comments from you readers over the last year. I think I have learned more from you than from any other source. I hope you will continue to share your pearls of wisdom with me and the rest of the p2p lending community. Thank you.
