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Behind The Firm List Blog
The Root of Attraction
I am surrounded by the words of other "web people" who talk about feeling
detached or distant from the web. Suddenly there's this mass mental
defection from the enjoyment of working in this industry, with this medium.
I find it all foreign to me. Somehow, it does seem like more than
coincidence that this mental defection comes at the same time as the icing
has been eaten off the dot.com cake. Does the web just not seem worth it
now that you can stumble your way into an easy fortune? Is the web just not
as exciting when the money is no longer following each and every crazy idea?
All of it just makes it harder for others to understand why I do what I do.
Why would I put so much time into these projects? Why am I just as
web-focused as I have always been, when I've been doing it for so long, and
went through so much of the industry's ups and downs? Now that things
appear to be on a downswing, shouldn't I be looking to move into some other
field? Shouldn't I be thinking about going back to architecture school?
But no, the thought hasn't crossed my mind. Well, the architecture school
thing always done. And the thought of writing books. But the thought of
giving up websites, no. I've been doing it for the last 7 years for a
reason, a reason that had nothing to do with the fortunes and fame of
dot.com boom, nor will it be hindered by "corrections" and "downturns in the
marketplace."
I started building websites because I had ideas. These ideas wanted to be
expressed. These ideas involved images, text, interactions, and feedback
that weren't suited by any other medium I had played with. I was hooked.
If you've seen any of my other spare-time projects (see
http://electricalsocket.com for the full list) you'll know that I am not new
to this. You can also see that The Firm List isn't my only project. And
you can see that it's not even my largest project (The New Baby Name Index
still gets more than 2.5 million hits a month, yet hasn't been updated since
1998). What you'll see is that The Firm List is just one idea out of many,
an idea which happened to find the right amount of attention from the world
outside as well as the right sort of interest for me to put a large
percentage of my spare-time towards it.
The Firm List itself, has grown and spawned a whole series of ideas of its
own. The entire network of sites (such as BehindtheURL.com and 2FND.com)
are all extensions of the initial idea, based on how people have used the
site. They were not part of the initial vision, they were not part of any
business plan to corner a market. They just happened. And trust me, the
ideas keep coming and there's more to come (if only I can find the time!)
But back to my initial train of thought. I am still attached to the web,
for all the same reasons I initially started with and more. I do it because
I need to. I do it because I love to. I do it because otherwise these
ideas would sit in the 3-ring binder that's already too large and full of
years of ideas which I haven't had the time to build. And to me, there's
nothing worse than an unused, unexplored idea.
Not all ideas are good. Not all idea make good businesses. But all ideas
need to be listened to, even if for just a second. And I am still very much
interested in listening to ideas. I am still very much interested in
developing ideas. I am still very much interested in working long hours to
turn ideas into reality, even with the reality that the "bubble has burst"
and things will be different for the business of the web.
