San Diego Travel Tips.com

San Diego Bargain Mama has watched many small businesses grow in the last two years. We're proud to have found San Diego Travel Tips.com, just as they had launched their website in 2007. We knew that these two women, Julie Gelfat and Alexandra Hart, were doing something unique, and it has been great to part of their success and celebrate their growth along the way.

We thought it would be great to talk to them about their journey and what advice they have for other entrepreneurs with big ideas churning inside!

How did the idea for your site start?

It was simple. We love to explore San Diego. There is always something new to find. Rather than just keep our finds to ourselves, we thought it would be fun to make a business of it. The competition is fierce. As a tourist Mecca, San Diego offers dozens and dozens of ways for people to get information on what to do and see in San Diego. We felt that most of those sites repeated the same information. We knew there was more to San Diego than the places most people think of when they think of San Diego. We took the idea and built it into a business plan.

What's been the toughest part?

Building our site has been the most enriching and mind-bending experience either one of us has had. We had no idea that one idea would set us on a path of learning more than we ever did in our college days. We had no idea what we didn't know and what we needed to learn to build a successful site. We had no idea what persistence and focus a website like ours would require.

What excites you each day and surprises you about having your business?

The feedback. For a long time, we, as you know, hung out in the background. We slowly and methodically built our site content. We resisted going 'public' until we felt we had a product that met our standards. We knew we'd have to be different and produce enough unique quality content to show we knew our stuff. The feedback is now coming through in many forms. We are grateful for it. It signals to us that trusting our instincts and not compromising on quality can also win the game.

Did you make mistakes along the way?

Who doesn't make mistakes? We all learn from mistakes, hopefully! Mistakes almost have to happen to get it right. Our biggest mistake was probably not researching and learning more about website development/strategies. Again, we didn't know how complicated and interconnected all the parts of a web-based business can be. Our naiveté served us well because maybe we would never have started the on the path from get-go. We dove in. We got wet. We sometimes tredded water. And now we have learned to swim (and even with the sharks!)

How do you measure or define success of the site?

We knew it would take a long time to get ourselves recognized in our niche. We knew it would take time to make money. Some don't realize that getting people to one's site is the key to bringing home the bacon. If people don't know you exist, the money is slow to follow. But, for us, again, we just wanted to be successful doing what we do best and doing what we love. We wanted to get up each day excited to tackle the ever-increasing "to-do list”. We wanted to learn all we were going to learn. We have trusted that if we did all the right things, and did them well, in time the rest would follow.

What advice would give you to SDBM readers that have in mind a dream business of their own?

The best advice is to listen to the voice within yourself. There's noise all around from people who will give you advice and suggest all sorts of ways manage your business. We have always trusted our voice, our breadth of knowledge, our style and our determination. We also think it is invaluable to find others who will support you through the thick and thin of building an idea into a business.

This is the perfect opportunity for us to say something to you, publicly. You, Stacey, have been there from the beginning as the first website/person who referred people to our site. You sang our praises from the mountain tops. We'll never forget that. Thank you. We are grateful.