I Built A Site For Model Train Enthusiasts [100,000+ Products Featured]
I’m Mads Phikamphon. 47 and living in Copenhagen, Denmark.
About a year ago I started a website for comparing model train prices, i.e. comparing the prices of model train locomotives, wagons, track, and everything else that is needed to build a great layout.
The site started out with just a few shops and a few hundred products. Since then, the site has grown and there are now more than 1,000 shops on the site and more than 100,000 products.
The people using my site are model train enthusiasts and these people know that model trains are expensive, so it’s worth comparing prices before buying anything. They also most often know what they are looking for, i.e. they are looking for a specific model from a specific brand.
Users of my site often ask how I can keep adding prices and keeping the prices updated. My secret is my 20+ years of background in programming.
I don’t think it would have been possible to build a site like this without programming and lots of automation. Keeping the prices of 100,000+ products updated would surely have been impossible to do manually.
My tech stack is quite simple. A standard Wordpress installation with a child theme based on Flatsome + some custom coded plugins doing all the heavy work (collecting products/prices and keeping them updated, sorting the collected data, etc.)
Having an endless runway is great. That means I can focus more on building something great and useful instead of constantly worrying about money.
What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?
In Denmark there used to be a popular website for comparing IT prices. Everybody was using that site to find the gear they needed and the best (aka. cheapest) place to buy it.
For unknown reasons, the site doesn’t exist anymore, but it inspired me to build a price comparison site.
At first, I wasn’t sure what kind of products I should focus on. I considered various products and ended up with model trains because I used to have some trains, have an interest in trains, and because there are quite a few different models (a large number of models means I could build a big, interesting website. That wouldn't be the same if there were just a few products to choose from).
Before Model Prices, I built other sites. Most of my other sites have been content sites, which have been interesting to build, but nowhere as interesting as building Model Prices.
The amount of programming required to build Model Prices has made it a far more interesting project for me than the sites I have built before.
I just love to program - and I get even more happy with this project when I get messages from my users thanking me that I have made this website. I just feel great building something people find useful.
Take us through the process of building the first version of your product.
It took ~2 months from when I decided to build the site till I had a basic version up and running. 2 months isn't very long, especially when you consider Model Prices as a side project and not something I do full time.
The reason it could be done in 2 months is that I have ~20 years of programming experience and that I didn't start with a blank slate.
As mentioned above, I have built other sites before. My other sites include the Danish site Flaskepriser, which looks very much like an early version of Model Prices.
When I started building Model Prices, I started with the Flaskepriser code instead of a blank slate - and then I started modifying that code to match what was needed on the new site.
Today, the Model Prices code is very different from the Flaskepriser code, but it started being the same code.
Describe the process of launching the business.
After 2 months I had my first version of Model Prices up and running, but I didn't do any big, official launch.
What I did was share the site with some friends and ask them what they thought about it. In that way, I could remove any horrible mistakes before the public started seeing my site 😅
After my friends had checked my site, I started sharing it in a few relevant Facebook groups. Several people commented on my posts, saying this was a great idea and thereby validating that I was on the right track with my project.
People also commented about mistakes that should be fixed + I received a few feature requests. I see comments and requests like these as further validation that people care about my project.
Model Prices are 100% a bootstrapped project. Since it's my side project, I have the income from my daytime job to live off and that gives me an almost endless runway for the project.
Having an endless runway is great. That means I can focus more on building something great and useful instead of constantly worrying about money. It also means I’m less tempted to consider shortcuts that would be a bad idea in the long run (for example putting big banner ads on the site).
When you simplify things, you get things done much faster than you would otherwise have done.
Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?
It's no secret that I'm a much better programmer than a marketer. Both skill-wise and when you consider my interests (I guess that’s quite common, you like doing the things you are good at).
Luckily, model enthusiasts seem to be very happy with my site and that means my site is slowly growing by word of mouth and that many of my users keep coming back.
To get the ball rolling, I have mostly been posting in various relevant Facebook groups. Both when I started out (as mentioned above) and later on, as my site grew, and got shops from more and more countries.
I'm also starting to see a bit of SEO traffic, but I know I need to be patient there and wait for Google to start indexing my site.
Besides this, I haven’t done any marketing. So far, my site grows slowly by itself.
How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
Until now, my focus has very much been programming, programming, and programming. Model Prices turned out to be a way more complex project than I expected and while I'm super happy receiving feature requests from users, it also made me have to program more (so again, it’s very relevant that I love programming).
If I want to grow the site faster than it is growing by itself, I know that I have to focus more on the marketing part.
Especially if I someday want to grow Model Prices from being a side project to my full-time project.
The site is so far focused 100% on model trains, but I have programmed everything so I can easily add other types of products. I might therefore decide to add other hobby products within the foreseeable future.
Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?
I already knew that when I started out, but I'll mention it anyway: Simplify, simplify, simplify.
I'm often sad (and sometimes shocked) seeing how other people and especially bigger companies build things, making everything far more complicated than it needs to be.
My programming specialty is content management systems (CMS), so let's take that as an example. Most sites could just be a simple WordPress installation, but for whatever reason you often see projects choosing unnecessary complex (and expensive) CMS as Sitecore with a lot of custom code on top 😱
Taking my own medicine, I have based Model Prices (and most of my previous sites) on WordPress. It's free and an absolute pleasure to work with programming-wise.
Basing Model Prices on WordPress instead of custom coding everything gave me a lot of functionality out of the box.
Not only the whole CMS backend but also a theme that I could base my frontend on and for example user accounts.
What platform/tools do you use for your business?
As mentioned above, my site is running on WordPress. The theme is a custom child theme of Flatsome and my code is contained in several custom plugins.
Everything is running on a Cloudways VPS.
To keep track of what I need to do, I have a Trello board dedicated to Model Trains.
On my Trello board, I also keep a list of complex SQL queries that I often need to run to check things. For example, I have saved SQL queries to check the new models being added to the site or how the different shops are doing (are their prices being updated correctly, etc.)
What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?
Everybody mention The Four Hour Workweek and that was also the book that got me started doing side projects (i.e. my previous sites) a long time ago.
Now, many years later I'm very inspired by Paul Millerd and his writings. For example this great post is about taking pleasure in your project instead of only focusing on reaching some specific goals.
I try to take the same approach with Model Prices, which is of course much easier when you like me have a daytime job and thereby endless runway for your project.
Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?
I already mentioned simplifying, but I'll mention it again as it is really important. When you simplify things, you get things done much faster than you would otherwise have done.
As a professional programmer, I have been involved in unnecessarily complex projects many times. Projects where the same goals could have been reached maybe 20% of the time if the company dared to simplify instead of going for an unnecessarily complex solution.
Also, write lists. At the end of every session working on Model Prices, I update my list of things I need to do. Thereby I know exactly where to start when I sit down next time and don’t waste time clicking here and there before finding out what to work on.
If you write lists with things you need to do, remember to prioritize them. What should you get done first, second, etc?
Besides simplifying and writing lists, I think it's important to focus on the process instead of only eyeing the goal.
When you focus on the process, you start to enjoy working more and that will make your everyday life better than if you hate your work and only do it to reach whatever goals you might have.
Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?
Model Prices is a solo project. I have programmed and automated my way out of most things, so I'm not looking to hire for any positions right now.
But if you have some great marketing ideas, you are most welcome to contact me.
Where can we go to learn more?
The best place to start is Model Prices itself.
I have various social accounts related to my site, but there's not much happening there.
If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!
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