5 Years Ago.. and lessons learned

5 years ago to the day, we launched our eNutshells.net website. It has proven to be one of the mainstays of our business. The concept wasn't radical (a simple idea) nor the business plan extensive (there wasn't one). It is now the platform for many websites including CordovaCouncil.org and sac-connect.com, has thousands of pages, and ranks pretty well in the search engines.

I am grateful for it's success but even more grateful for the lessons it proved.

1. Write a goal down. I committed (in writing) in Nov. 2007 to launch the website in January 2008. On Dec. 31, I was researching how to do it. It was completed* in 30 days.
2. There is no perfect solution. Nothing will be exactly as you envision, so start with the best compromise. If you wait for that "perfect fit" you will still be waiting.
3. *Nothing is ever finished. This project has evolved (and improved) over the course of the past five years. I learned in my early years that computer systems are "never completed, they are abandoned".
4. The Universe rewards action. I heard that on a Jack Canfield ("Chicken Soup") tape. It's another way of saying that nature works in serendipitous ways... After about 2 hours of Google searching and two phone calls, I found the software I used to build eNutshells.net. That can be referred to as "dumb luck" but I prefer the Universe precept.
5. Discover yourself, invent your career. "Find something you love to do, and get someone to pay you for it". Can't recall who said it but it is the best career advice there is... "Fish gotta swim..."

I'll summarize all this in one of my favorite quotes:

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back-- Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth that ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now.”  

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe