Congratulations to our fourth Power Elite author Internq7! Internq7 has been a member of the Envato community for 3 years and in that time has gathered 1,396 followers! He surpassed $1,000,000+ worth of sales in the last month and has over 20913 Sales on just one item! Internq7’s story is inspirational and we are so proud to have him as a leader in our community.

As a Power Elite author, Internq7 receives a day in his honor and a special Power Elite care pack including the Power Elite ring. We’ve interviewed Andon (as he likes to be called away from the Marketplaces) for Internq7 Day and we hope you enjoy reading about his journey to this milestone.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got here?

My educational background is in computer science and I’ve always loved programming. As you can imagine I didn’t learn all that I know about web design in school. 2007 was an important year for me as that’s when I discovered CMS’s like Joomla and Drupal and was building websites with them for freelance work. Around that time I discovered WordPress and never looked back. I have also done some consulting work on projects involving collaboration tools such as blogs and wikis. This was where I started to look more seriously at WordPress as a platform to create good-looking, flexible, multilingual websites.

In the fall of 2009 I purchased a couple of themes from ThemeForest for projects I was working on at the time, I discovered the opportunity that the Marketplace presented to everyone who wanted to become an author. I thought that this was an awesome opportunity, something I had not come across before. I decided to give it a try, just to see what I could do, not having any expectations and slowly I started working on my first theme.

It was more of a hobby for me, so I took my time. After the release of my first theme 4-5 month later, I was happy with the results and I was eager, full of ideas and ready to start building a new one. I had the drive to improve my designs and to make a name for myself in the marketplace.

How does it feel to have sold over $1,000,000 of items?

It feels great!! I love it. Could not have asked for more in the short time that I’ve been doing this and with the small number of items that I was able to reach to this milestone, it feels like a miracle.

Everything happened so fast for me after the release of my last theme (“U-Design“) that I hardly ever stopped to ask myself that question. You get carried away with day-to-day work and you wake up one day thinking “is this really happening to me”.

It is really like a dream come true. I feel very happy and honored with the fact that so many people are choosing my themes, also I feel greater responsibility with the commitment to support and maintain the themes for them. One thing I might add is that you get used to the big numbers fast…

What does this milestone mean for you as an author and designer?

It means I am 1 million closer to the ultimate milestone of $10M and meeting the Envato team in person
On a serious note, it definitely gives me a greater confidence in what I do. I am even more passionate and excited to do what I do and continue to evolve in this field of work.

How many hours do you spend on designs for the Envato marketplace?

As long as it takes. I don’t like to rush through things. I end up adding more features along the way, so it’s always longer than I think it’s going to take. The learning process in creating a new theme is also very important to me, I like to explore new things and apply them in my themes. The average time for creating a WordPress theme from start to finish is a few months.

Right now, I spend more time on support and updates rather than designing new themes. The success of “U-Design” has put my plans for new projects on hold for the moment.

Have you had any designs rejected and what did you do about it?

All of my themes were rejected and not only once. Ironically, my most selling theme was rejected the most times, as far as I remember 6-7 times.
Going through the approval process has been the most difficult part for me as Envato author. Rejection is hard to swallow sometimes especially after months of hard work.
I somehow instinctively knew that these themes are going to sell (doesn’t everybody feel like that about their items?) so I wasn’t ready to give up and I guess persistence paid off in the end.

What words of encouragement do you have to any budding authors who want to make Power Elite level?

If you follow trends or other people, you will go no further than they can go. Create and develop your own unique ideas, that way you can go as far as your imagination goes.

I wasn’t aiming to be in the Power Elite when I first started (well, I don’t think there was a Power Elite back 3yrs ago), but for me following what I love to do the most led me to where I am now.

The Envato marketplace is growing so fast that I expect the “Power Elite Club” to have a healthy number of members soon.

What is your office space like?

It’s a decent size room and relatively organized. I work from home and rarely do any work outside of my office space unless I am traveling or on the road. I have a large corner desk, one super fast PC and a large monitor, nothing fancy, I also have a whiteboard on the wall which I often use for brainstorming and TO-DO lists.

How do you get inspiration for your designs?

I typically have an idea how the theme should look visually, but that’s rarely what I concentrate on. I think about flexibility and versatility first. When I design a theme I usually think about the potential clients’ needs. What could they be looking for in a template and what are the most useful features I can cater to them. Often times I would ask myself that question,

“what would be that one feature that I always wished I had handy when I was building a site?”

I always look to come up with something unique that hasn’t been done before. So, this has been a big part of my inspiration, to explore some unique features that have huge potential to be useful.

What is the best thing about your job?

Where do I start…? It’s the job I’ve always dreamed of. Despite the obvious, …no boss, work from home or anywhere in the world,

the best part is being able to make money doing what you love.

How do you keep motivated and inspired?

A big motivation for me is the feedback I get from people using my themes, the constant support and the fact that they are choosing my items again and again. I’m often inspired by the unbelievably creative sites they’ve come up with when using my themes.

I like the freedom that working for myself gives me. Never been fond of 9-to-5 jobs, so it is a big motivation for me to know I can work my own hours, be my own boss and develop my own ideas.

What is the hardest part about your job?

It is the common problem that self-employed people have, separating the work from personal life. It’s been hard to take time off and not think about my work.
It is a huge commitment. I am looking after a large number of clients and I take that very seriously.

Is there anything else you would like to say?

Thank you very much Envato for creating this opportunity for all of us. Special thanks to all the staff supporting and improving the Marketplace, and of course everyone who chooses my themes.

On behalf of everyone at Envato we want to congratulate Andon on this amazing milestone, we are so glad to have you as a part of our community!