It’s hard to believe 15 years ago, today, I launched my first website.
That website ultimately became my first business, though I didn’t realize it was even a business at the time. I simply wanted to be a sports writer. When you’re 13, the options for writing about sports, or anything other than homework, are pretty limited. At least they were in 1998. Blogging wasn’t even a concept. Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and other blogging platforms were still several years away. So, with the help of an HTML book from Borders and passions for both sports and writing, I got to work.
Maybe I knew where things were heading. Or, maybe I was just a nerd who found a way to merge two passions together. That said, I’ve always had an inclination that the world was changing, and I’ve been there, at the front, riding the crest of the wave. Even if it’s never amounted to much monetarily. It’s not like I became Mark Zuckerberg, who didn’t launch his first website until a year later. I’ve always simply merged writing, then storytelling in any form, with web programing skills simply because I love the feeling of discovery and I’m addicted to the light bulb in my mind illuminating with the next great idea.
Despite building and subsequently destroying several digital media products, from the initial sports website, to several blog launches, to a successful online political journalism site, I’ve failed to build the platform (which is more-or-less just a buzzword of the last year or so) to turn that into financial success. Despite acquired knowledge and forward thinking, there’s not a lot, on the surface that sets me apart from countless other bloggers.
Then, I read this quote from a newspaper man I deeply respect:
The future of media brands has to be multi-platform, says @jlauf. Cable TV falling next. Video is next frontier for all of us. #SABEW13
— Scott Bernard Nelson (@ScottNelson) April 5, 2013
I then realize, how far the media world still has to come. And I also remember, I figured out this online journalism thing 15 years ago.
The gears of my mind are churning, and financial success or not, I’m just enjoying riding on the crest of the wave.






