Correcting The Lies — Why We Closed BrickPlanet

“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” -Mark Twain

Hi! I’m Isaac, and I am only 19 years old. I am best known as the founder of BrickPlanet.com.

A few weeks ago, we had to make the tough decision to close BrickPlanet. In this post, I will be elaborating in much greater detail on how and why it happened. Why not hear it from the man that was actually in the arena?

Running BrickPlanet was fun. It was stressful, it was challenging, and it was rewarding. I learned so much about business, befriending the right people, and it also helped kick-start my spiritual journey.

But here’s where we messed up.

We had no set vision or strategy that set us apart from the competition. Because of this, I eventually came to the realization that it would not be a viable long term success. We essentially copied Roblox’s features and revenue model from bottom up. This was great for learning the ropes of how to run a business — not great for a long term viable business.

I knew deep down through intuition that I would be happier growing a business with my own idea (which is what I’m doing now). After all, I would not enjoy someone fully copying my business idea! However, I continued to deny that simple truth and tried to figure out a new plan for BrickPlanet as a result of cultural pressure from the community and fear of letting the staff down. This was a fatal mistake, and I was going against the grain.

Why did we actually close then?

We were hit with over $3,500 in credit card charge-backs from our merchant Stripe. I had previously verified the payments’ authenticity because the IP Address matched the billing address, which was also verified with the card billing address. My analysis is the user used their parent’s card without permission. Not unheard of. As a result of this, the withdrawal overdrew our entire business checking and savings account. All of my personal funds went towards paying remaining bills for the month.

This occurred on top of declining revenue. We had a lot of financial success in late January due to YouTube exposure and that created a nice cash reserve to help us during months where we had negative net income. But, it didn’t last forever. Our revenue and cash on hand kept decreasing and I was already stressed about the future health of the company prior to the charge-backs.

My thoughts on why all of this happened (theory)

I believe the universe manifested all of this through the Law of Attraction. What I repeatedly thought about in my head eventually manifested and grew into reality. Everyone close to me knew I was miserable and unhappy running BrickPlanet, as I spoke it and thought about it every day.

As a result, the universe handed me what I wanted. You can manifest anything you set your mind to, good or bad. I’ve done it so many times and is how I make waves. This ideology will probably pass over many heads but I have found many direct links between my thoughts and the projection of them into physical reality. If you are interested in this concept, you can start with a simple Google search! There is a lot of public knowledge on this topic thanks to the internet.

“You just ran away with our moneys!!!11”

At the time of writing this post, I have around $50 in my bank account. I did not walk away with any cash. I am starting over from nothing. What I did walk away with, however, is knowledge and wisdom from experience which will help me to launch my new business idea. Knowing that, I have no doubt that I will be able to bounce back and gravitate towards a life I will enjoy living.

Conclusion

So, thank you to everyone for being a part of BrickPlanet. It’s been a roller-coaster, and now I am starting a new chapter in my life. In just a few weeks, I will be moving to the west coast and launching a new business!

I hope that through my success online, you can see that success is possible at any age. The internet has massive potential guys. But, learn from my mistake — build a business that you can pour your heart into. Don’t get trapped into doing something you ultimately dislike.

-Isaac, Founder of BrickPlanet.com