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As iconic as the Grateful Dead are my reference to their classic compilation has more to do with my business adventures than it does with the hazy resemblance of cross country concert tours. The last seven years of my professional life have been hectic and daring with a sprinkle of urgency to say the least.

It began with an ending. It was 2001and I ran a marginally successful web design company that I started in ‘97. The reason I call it marginally successful is because I had a decent dot com client base and was able to charge an abnormal amount of money for a service that is now commoditized by template engines and cut rate service providers. Back in the mid to late nineties websites were a new and unknown territory for businesses who typically relied on print advertising for getting their message out. Newspapers and magazines were how people kept up with news, pop culture and niche verticals that were specific to their tastes. The idea of digital media was foreign. I will go into more detail about “the web design fad of the ’90s” on another post but wanted to give you an idea of the shift in business marketing initiatives due to the advent of the WWW. This led to web design companies being able to manipulate the market and charge huge amounts of money for a service where “the experts” had two years of experience.

I did pretty well back then, actually very well for what its worth but the “crash” liquidated over 80% of my client base. When I say liquidated it wasn’t like I was let go due to cuts, it was more like my clients were gone, out of business. It was surreal to say the least but I guess businesses that had more recreation equipment (Pool tables, foosball tables, etc) in their offices than actual work stations were doomed from the beginning. I closed my shop, didn’t eat my shirt too badly (O.k. it was pretty bad), took a breath, tried to reflect a bit and moved on. I looked back at the first wave of the consumer based Internet and came to the realization that I ran a business that enabled entrepreneurs to build their goals and dreams. The goals and dreams of these startup entrepreneurs were gluttonous compared to what I had in mind as a mid-twenty something business owner. They were startups with creative ideas on how to solve a problem and many of them succeeded in achieving great wealth and prosperity for themselves while others failed to do so. It seemed like gambling with intellect. Even in failure, there was still an adventure and an experience to be had. I think that’s when it hit me. It was at this moment I caught on fire to become an entrepreneur.

Stay tuned for Part II