fenway - 5:06 am on Feb 17, 2011 (gmt 0)

This is what I did. Started to work with a buddy a couple months after he built a retail product in his garage. Tells me for 3 years I'm part owner so I stay up til 3 in the morning cranking out site, I was the young, naive internet guy, he changes his mind one day, yadda yadda yadda

He screwed me, but instead of suing, because I didn't have the money, or walking away(because I had a good full-time job at an SEM Agency,otherwise), I decided to put a smiley face on, stick around for the next 5 years while the world continued to use Google to find stuff. He finally after 7 years asks me to come work there full-time as "Direct of Marketing," thinking it was all water under the bridge and forgotten.

Long story short, 8 years and $$,$$$,$$$ from SEM later, he's paid himself enough to retire. He never worked at another company before and doesn't know how to use Excel. I felt 8 years was long enough, so I buy all the domains of the keywords, walk out one day without ever signing an NDA/Non-compete, move across the country and spend a year building out websites that now surround "his" in the SERPs and work with the same suppliers. Now my phone rings 17 times a day from all over the world and we compete for the same customers and I under bid him everytime.

Bought domain names on my own credit card, on my own computer, in my own house, on my own time. Domains are mine.

Fascinating SEO challenge to compete with your own site.

So, I'm not part owner anymore because "we never put it in writing?" Well, I never signed an NDA/Non-Compete.

Cuts both ways, pal. Funny how it worked out...now I'm 100% owner.