Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Curtis Tucker. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Curtis, thanks for joining us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

I was the advertising director for a retail drug chain for 13 years. At the age of 40 I had two baby girls 17 months apart and I was taking them to work with me every day. Luckily my boss was my father-in-law so he didn’t mind the girls being in my office all day. I had just started to figure out how to make money online and I got the bright idea to quit my job and start working from home so I could watch the girls there.

I knew there was risk involved but I was already making part time money online. I quit my job in 2003 and made the drug chain one of my clients. My philosophy was figuring out ways of making money online so I didn’t have to get a job.

For the last 20 years I have been working from home and I was able to watch my girls as they grew up and took them to school every day and picked them up. Our girls never had to go to daycare. which was why I took the risk.

Since then I have been a top cartoon logo designer, graphic designer, website builder, blogger, podcaster, t-shirt store owner, affiliate marketer, greeting card seller, community journalist, photographer and many other things.

Over the years I’ve created many fun companies including The Curtoons Cartoon Company, Shaggy Duck Studios, Chuckleberry’s Paper Card Company, Art-O-Roonie and more.

I also blog at CurtisTucker.com, have four podcasts including The 70’s Buzz Podcast, am a community news provider at EnidBuzz.com and have several other revenue sources.

It really didn’t seem like a huge risk at the time because I never thought I could fail or that I couldn’t figure out new ways of making money online. I didn’t know what I didn’t know and we were all learning about the Internet together. I now look back and wonder if I would do the same thing if it were today.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a 61 year old digital entrepreneur that has been working from home since 2003. I had a graphic design degree and was working in the advertising field when I discovered and fell in love with computers and the internet. All of this well after college.

My main business at the moment is providing local news and information to my hometown in a digital format. Due to the way in which people get their news today I was able to fill a niche and provide up to the minute information to residents in a way that they had not seen before. The business can be seen online at EnidBuzz.com.

I also continue to blog about my life at CurtisTucker.com. I make it a point to go on adventures that are fun to hear about. I’ve flown with the USAF Thunderbirds, chased two solar eclipses to the point of totality, covered a Presidential inauguration, interviewed Garth Brooks, Gene Simmons and others, chased tornadoes and many other activities.

I also have four podcasts, the most notable being the 70’s Buzz Podcast. My fellow childhood friend and I talk about our memories, or lack thereof, of growing up in the 1970s. Each week is a new topic.

I’ve also just started a clothing brand at Art-O-Roonie.com. I sell clothing and will soon be adding some pop art paintings that I intend to create.

Last but not least I run 7 miles every morning and take sunrise photos and videos. I post those to social media each day and hope to turn that into a money making venture one day.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I made a huge pivot in my business in 2012. I had built an online empire of 100 websites in which I filled them with Google AdSense and affiliate links. I was making great money and had been for 10 years. My traffic came from my ability to use SEO to get my websites ranked high in Google.

I was spending my days updating the websites and chasing the latest Google algorithm. It was a great business and brought in lots of income while it lasted. Unfortunately my entire online presence was based on my Google rankings.

In March or 2012 Google released the Panda algorithm update and it knocked out all of my websites including my cartooning website which were bring in a side income on their own. Overnight I lost all of my rankings and all of my traffic. That meant there was no income coming in.

I tried for almost a year to outwit the Panda update but it turned out small players like me were toast. All of my websites were created with thin content and that was a factor in the sites no longer ranking. As my money, savings and retirement ran out I had to make a decision to get a job or start a new business.

I chose starting a new business. That’s when I launched EnidBuzz.com full time to provide local news online to my home town. Luckily there was a need for fast information that could be read on a phone. I filled that niche and my business took off.

I have now been running Enid Buzz for 10 years and it’s completely different than what I had been doing before.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I was able to build a reputation with my Enid Buzz business by staying consistent and providing reliable information on a daily basis.

The news I provided was faster and more up-to-date than the legacy media that had served the area for decades. I was able to do live updates online much like a TV station would.

Getting my face online week after week also helped build my reputation because people began to recognize me and they saw me at almost every local event covering the news.

Contact Info:

• Website: CurtisTucker.com and EnidBuzz.com
• Instagram: @thecurtistucker
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/curtistucker/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/curtistucker/
• Twitter: @curtistucker
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@curtistucker/
• Other: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-70-s-buzz-podcast–2517180