I started cdbaby.com in my bedroom, just me, fulfilling orders myself.

It got an immediate great reception from a few people, very thankful, happy to pay for the service, and telling all their friends. So that's how I knew it was worth sticking with.

But still, it was very VERY slow going, like even after 9 months I was only getting a few orders a week. After a year it was a few orders a day. That's when I hired my first employee.

It didn't really take off until FOUR YEARS later, of this continuous slow growth.

In hindsight, looking at the numbers, it doubled in size every year for 10 years. But that didn't look like success until year 4.

So when people say, “I started my business but it's been a few months and it's not a success yet!” I have to tell this tale.

what a cool business. were you in the music world before starting this?

Dude I loved CDBaby. And yes, even 4 years is kind of a short time to be successful (profitable, sustainable).