MikeAllen.me is about Michael T. Allen of Starkville and later West Point, Mississippi. (See my “welcome” for more about MikeAllen.me.) I grew up in Mississippi on the Gulf Coast and moved to Starkville in the summer of 1993 to pursue a Masters of Public Policy and Administration (MPPA) at Mississippi State University (MSU). I completed that degree in December 1994 and began work on a Ph.D. the following semester.
I married the former Rachel Culver of Starkville in 1998 and continued working on my doctorate degree while working full time at the Center for Governmental Technology (CGT) at the Mississippi State University Extension Service. However, that degree began to take a back burner as other factors became more important in my life — including our first child in 1999.
Another major event began in 1999 that was to play a huge role in dramatically changing my professional life. In February of that year I purchased the domain name www.shopping-bargains.com and soon afterwards published a list of online stores and links to their coupon codes and deals sections. Having had a personal website at MSU since mid-1995 and after making my first online purchase in 1996, I was quickly fascinated with the incredible future of the “world wide web” as it was then called. In the years that followed, this fascination and hobby grew into a formal business and at the end of 2003 I quit my “day job” at MSU and, even though being ABD (all but dissertation), I decided to indefinitely pause my Ph.D. efforts and focus on my business.
Internet businesses, like any other type of business, require a lot of work and focus to do well. Likewise, there are many opportunities to make mistakes and I have made my share of them over the years. Experience, it seems, is something you get after you need it and I seem to learn many things the hard way. I’ve been persistent, though, and blessed with a patient and supportive wife, I’ve persevered to this day. I enjoy life and my work.
So, in a nutshell, that brings you up to speed in a very general way with what I am doing today. As with most people, I wear a lot of hats. In a few words, I’m an entrepreneur, husband, father and an imperfect follower of Jesus Christ. For my “day job,” I do affiliate management, Internet marketing, and WordPress support.
Here are some relevant links about me: