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Quick on the draw — Adam Sobkow

How far beyond your wildest dreams has ebrandon.ca grown?

It’s way beyond anything I ever imagined when I started. I was just hoping that maybe it would be a sit where a couple of thousand people a day within the market would find it in themselves to use, but now we’re at a point where we have over 10,000 people . . . and I’m just thrilled with how it’s been.

How closely do you have to monitor the content to avoid getting in legal trouble?

Fairly closely. I keep a fairly close eye on things. With the way the internet works and how much activity there is on a site like this, there has to be some help from people who use the site to submit complaints when they see things that might be over the edge and I’m fortunate to have a lot of people who use the site to let me know when they see something over the edge.

What’s been the hottest discussion topic over the years?

Oh, boy. It’s really tough to pick one. People really seem to enjoy the discussions about growth within Brandon, about new businesses openings and pretty much any newsworthy happening that’s happened in the city over the last five years.

What milestone are you most proud of?

I’ll be really, really proud in March of next year when the site will officially be five years old. I consider that quite the accomplishment that not only is it going strong, but it’s been a steady growth curve right from day one.

What’s the next big thing for ebrandon,ca?

I’d tell you, but I’d have to kill you and everyone you tell.

Approximately how many hours a week are you working on ebrandon.ca matters?

It turned out to be basically a full-time job. In a perfect world, it would be a 9-to-5- full-time job, but some days I’ll work double time and other days I’ll work three-quarter time. But it all evens out in the end.

Have you thought of franchising this idea to other cities?

It’s been a concept I’ve explored. I actually did a little experimenting in Winnipeg Market, but I realized pretty quickly that unless you’ve somebody who lives in a city and is prepared to be in that city quite regularly to sell and that kind of thing, it just can’t get to the point that it needs to go to. I could’ve grown the site that much bigger, but if I put my heart elsewhere, then it’s not going to be any ebrandon, which is where my heart is.

How wealthy has this site made you?

I’m by no means a millionaire. It’s paying the bills, paying the mortgage, putting food on the table, that kind of thing. I’m not what I’d describe as getting rich off it.

What would you be doing today if the computer had never been invented?

Oh, boy. I’ve always had a passion for sport, for hockey, so maybe I’d have gotten into the marketing end of that.

What kind of doors have opened for you because you’re the ebrandon.ca proprietor?

I never really look at it from a personal perspective. I guess one angle of looking at it is I wouldn’t be sitting here chatting with you doing the Page 3 for the Westman Journal right now.

Where’s your favourite place to eat?

It depends on the mood I’m in, I guess. If I want a really quick and healthy fix, I like Subway. If I’m looking for a fine dining experience, I’ve always been a fan of Remington’s.

What special talent do you have outside of ebrandon.ca?

I do a lot of long-distance rollerblading. On my (29th) birthday, I did a 26k run around the perimeter of Brandon on my rollerblades. I’m really good at rounding out the bottom of the order in softball.

How much time a day do you spend in front of a computer?

From when I wake up and get working first thing in the morning until 5 o’clock, probably seven or eight hours on average. A lot of ebrandon that I do now is also run from my cell phone.

Besides your own site, what’s your favourite website to go to?

I’ve always been a news junkie myself, so I make a lot of use of Google News to find out what’s going on in the world.

Since the demise of CKX, do you see your role in the local media changing?

Anybody who’s in the position of providing people with information and providing them with the means to provide each other information does make us pick up the slack a little bit, and you’re starting to see that with a lot of the other media outlets, such as the Journal announcement this week. I do feel some responsibility to involve a few people that are used to having their faces in front of the community that no longer have their faces in front of the community.

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