One of the leading men’s health and fitness publications, Mens Fitness, has named Sol Orwell one of 44 “Game Changers” for 2014. Sol, formerly known as Ahmed Farooq, is known by many in the domain investment space, as he has been an active domain name investor for many years. Shortly after launching Examine.com, I wrote about the startup to discuss Sol’s plans for the business as well as how much he paid for the Examine.com domain name.
Sol is in some good company on this year’s list of “Game Changers.” Some of the other more recognizable “Game Changers” honored by Mens Fitness include Michael Sam of the Dallas Cowboys, Yasiel Puig of the Los Angeles Dodgers, musician and DJ Calvin Harris, and comedian and television host Stephen Colbert. Those chosen by Mens Fitness as Game Changers include people from a variety of fields who “have made 2014 their very own.”
On his blog, Sol recently reported that Examine.com has earned $700,000 in revenue in the last year. I understand that the website is not affiliated with any supplement companies, and they are seeing half a million views a month. Examine.com earns revenue from the sales of an e-book that is constantly updated with new information and data.
I remember having an instant message chat with Sol back in 2011 shortly after he acquired the domain name. In the discussion, Sol wrote, “I just bought examine.com. Gonna make a wicked fitness site out of it.” Looks like Sol was right. Not only has he and his team done a trememndous job of building the Examine.com brand, but he has also done a great job of becoming an expert in the field of fitness. He has built a financially successful website from scratch, and he is also growing his prominence.
Congratulations to Sol on this big honor.
