Work (On Myself) In Progress

What did you miss?

Nothing and everything. I simply haven’t written any blog posts since the end of last year.

I managed to basically confirm my own theory—developers only write blog posts if they are looking for work and can literally only keep with the habit for a few weeks.

Just to be clear, I’m not looking for work, but I’m also tired of apologizing for the lack of content.

January to July seemed like a blur. On the work front, it was hard but very exciting. My main client, Acenta, underwent a look and feel rebrand, launched our first major software-based product—Quick Connect—and extensively changed most of our internal processes.

It’s the sort of thing you can be super happy you’re a part of, but simultaneously wish you could just chuck into the Done column so that you can marvel at the sunset for a hot minute.

On the personal front, it was mostly rough seas. I went to three funerals of family members and friends I hoped would never happen, or at least not for a few decades.

On top of it—or perhaps as a consequence—my schedule went completely haywire. I worked on client projects, rushed home to pick up my son for his training sessions, and went home.

Other than the absolute necessities, I dropped off the face of the Earth. I stopped going to the gym, and in general, just tried my hardest to hold my head above the rising water level.

I had plenty of plans this year that got delayed. In the end, I decided family life should take priority. I decided it was high time and took a month off.

Are you back, though?

A week ago, I would have said I wasn’t sure.

Today, I am. I can’t pinpoint what changed, but something did: I decided it was time to give it a big-ass push.

Here’s the reality: I’m 35.

I don’t see myself reinventing myself over the age of 40.

It’s time to pick a lane and stick with it, get good at things that matter to me, or go out in a blaze of glory while trying my absolute hardest to get to where I want to go.

A single grain of rice can tip the scales…

(Yup, that was Mulan.)

Sorry for the detour, where were we?

In 2019, I bought a domain, 50dollarstartup.co. It was the classic spur-of-the-moment domain purchase you would do on the eve of December 24th.

Which I did. Guilty.

As usual, I was very enthusiastic. I wanted to turn it into a content site, where I would build in public, invest my time and up to a maximum of $600 within a year in pursuit of a goal, just to see how far a little financial gamble and some effort can take it.

My main motivation was not to increase my earnings. I wanted to show that even people who are not peak performers in their individual branch can help other people who are still scared to put themselves and their work out there.

Yet,… it’s still sitting there empty. Like a vacant digital lot in a shady digital neighborhood. Yikes.

Over the course of the next few weeks, I’ll start developing 50dollarstartup.co into the fully featured site it was meant to be. Then I’ll clean up my act and start delivering. The first “$50 Startup” is already in the works.

During the course of it all, I will try my best to explain my motivations and goals for individual ideas while capturing content so that it becomes a puzzle piece for the next thing, and the next and hopefully a few after that.

If you got this far, thank you. This simple thing means more to me than you know.

Now it’s time for me to give something back.