Hello and welcome to this awesome interview with Tom de Haan. He is a life-long internet marketer and has had some big successes and has developed some amazing products!
In fact, a few weeks ago Tom reached out to me asking if I could write an in-depth review of a product he has just launched called 101Contact. It is an amazing product that makes customizing pages on your website according to your email list subscribers' personal information a breeze.
Read my in-depth review of 101Contact.
Anyways, as usual, I asked if Tom would be willing to answer a few questions regarding his life, career, and his newest product, 101Contact. Of course, he was more than happy to spend some time telling me his story!
Interview Disclaimer: The following answers are the sole opinions of the interviewee. I do not personally stand behind their claims one way or another. You can judge for yourself whether or not you believe what they are saying. The only changes I may have made are to any major or grammar or punctuation errors I may have noticed in editing.
Tell us a little bit about yourself?
I am Tom de Haan from the Netherlands. I am 24 years old and started selling services online when I was 14. I am now an author of an internet marketing book and have been featured on national radio.
What did you do before you got into internet marketing?
When I was 14 or 15 I played video games like any other kid of that age. We were playing online multiplayer games with friends and even with my nephew. At one point, we decided to look for our own game server because we wanted to use our own settings in the game and maps to play on. After weeks and weeks of research, I made it possible to play on our own server. It was full every night (we reached the maximum player amount). So that was great!
Because I played for some time and knew a few people in the gaming world, I started an online survey asking if other people were also interested in having their own game server to play on. The reactions were pretty good and I started to rent my own server. At that time, I was still a kid and only had one desktop computer. So I could only use that. People were sending money for it. That was amazing!
The real turning point and when my eyes were widely opened was at a moment when someone came to me and said they wanted a game server for 600 Euro a year. From that point, it grew like crazy. After that I was selling hosting, made web designs for companies, and so on.
How long have you been in internet marketing?
Because I started helping people more and more with their websites, a big point was always that the companies I worked with needed more visitors and clients. And because I was always busy with customers at night (late at night) because I had dedicated and co-location servers back then, it was not the perfect match. So I sold the hosting company and focused more and more on helping entrepreneurs succeed online.
How did you feel when you got your first sale?
When I got my first sale I was amazed, but it was the biggest turning point in the business. From that day on it grew and grew like never before.
Why did you create 101Contact?
I’ve been testing personalization methods across different markets to see what results we could bring in. You see, I got into using this after initially wondering; “Why can’t we personalize web pages? They’ve worked in Direct Mail, why not in Direct Internet Marketing?” So that idea turned into an obsession and we handcrafted a page with the name and a photo from premium clients that bought our products in the past. The results were astonishing…
Who would benefit most from purchasing 101Contact?
There are many benefits, but the main benefit will be that you will increase your sales. That's the most important one. By personalizing your pages, you can speak directly to your customers like you do in a business call or business conversation.
Why should my readers choose 101Contact over other similar products out there?
This is the only software available that works with many email marketing providers and works with WordPress on any page.
There you have it! I always find hearing other internet marketers' stories and experiences, both good and bad, super enlightening and encouraging. I hope you do as well. If you'd like to check out Tom's personal website you can do so here.
Don't forget to read my review of Tom's latest product, 101Contact.
Also, if you have any questions or comments, please drop me a comment below and sign up for my email list to read my latest content and all future interviews here:
I am always amazed by what teenagers can do and think these days. Allowing them to explore their own passion can lead to some interesting creation as shown by Tom. The younger they learn about this, the earlier they seem to embrace entrepreneurship and that’s really a game changer for the rest of their career life.
Although I am still a few steps behind, email marketing is in my priority list and I’ll certainly be checking out on 101Contact when the time comes.
Thanks Dustin for this great interview!