The information age really does move at the speed of light. Technology is advancing faster than we ever conceived possible.
I\’ve been online for 26 years now.
In 1980, I bought my first computer, a TRS-80. This machine had 4K of RAM (not 4MB… 4K) and a cassette player that was used as a storage device. There wasn\’t even a floppy disc drive!
I owned a 300 baud modem that I used to dial into local bulletin board services and remember when Compuserve launched.
I was a subscriber to Prodigy, GEnie, Delphi, Compuserve and AOL v1.0.
Before the web, I frequently dialed into these services and enjoyed the most primitive forms of online communication and interaction.
Fast-forward to 1995. I launched my first web site, WorldVillage.com.
In 1996, I partnered with a programmer from UCSD and launched ClassicGames.com… which would soon become Yahoo! Games.
There was no Google. Ebay and Amazon were young upstarts. Pets.com and PlanetRX.com were supposed to be the future of ecommerce.
Now all that is left of Pets.com is the sock puppet. Go figure.
From 1998-1999, the Internet bubble grew and grew. Venture capitalists were throwing millions of dollars behind any company with a dotcom at the end. You could have registered a domain called \”WorstBusinessEver.com\” and raised a nice sum!
Merchants were paying out huge bounties for the acquisition of new customers and advertising dollars were flying about like confetti at a Mardi Gras celebration.
And then it happened.
The bubble burst. And it hurt… bad.
Businesses without a true business model were no longer in business.
People lost entire investments as the Nasdaq plummeted.
And thousands of people lost their jobs.
Ouch.
As for me, I had to lay off everyone that was working for me and go it alone. It wasn\’t fun.
But I KNEW that the Internet was far from dead. It was just a matter of time before it would come back and we\’d see the money flowing like milk and honey once more.
Fast forward to 2006.
The Internet business atmostphere is back with a fiery vengeance…
… and opportunity is everywhere!
So why tell this tale?
Because I want you to see that the opportunity that now exists is different than the one that hit the web the first time around.
That was just monopoly money. Poor business models with no real future.
Now, we\’ve got real business models that are really succeeding and earning real money.
And it\’s still very early in the game.
The generation that is growing up with the Internet will never know what it is like to NOT have the world wide web. They are as attached to video online as we were to Saturday morning television.
To this generation, email is as natural as breathing.
With millions of people getting online each year, there is a growing need for quality content and services. Someone is going to fill that need.
Will it be you?
Catch the vision. Seize the opportunity.
Remember, there is more to building a business online than making a quick buck. This is a long-term play. So play it well.