Friday, March 31, 2006

Woops

Sorry, forgot a couple of links in the last post.


TechVibes


Massive



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Ducks all in a row? I doubt it.

'Ducks in a row' often means that things are planned and ready to go. Is that the best way to make things happen?


When I started out on the path to being a small business owner, it took a long time before I saw the light. I hummed and hawed for what seemed like forever about what wonderful, creative name it should have, and how it would fit with the domain. The business couldn't start until I'd made that decision.


Finally, I said to h*ll with it and registered a business with a variation of my own name. That was 2.5 years ago, and I haven't looked back. As a sole proprietor, people relate to me, rather than my company anyway.


But the web site was still waiting. When I get the time to design it; when I have a ton of content for it; when I ...er, just wasn't happening. There were too many excuses.


Anyway, last month I attended the TechVibes Massive technology conference in Vancouver, BC. I collected lots of information from service providers and took it all home to a file. A few days later, I thought...what am I doing. Let's get on with the domain and web site thing.


In the file at home, I came across a special related to Massive. Heck, it offered 3000 email addresses as part of the all inclusive price. How could a sole proprietor go wrong ;-)


So I bit the bullet, registered the domain and generated some content for a basic template home page.


Done: www.dws-co.ca or www.dws-co.com They point to the same site. [update: fixed the links, I think]


There is still lots to do. It's not all that pretty, but at least I've made a start. That start will probably keep me motivated now, and the design and content will evolve with time.


So, the moral of this story is: if you wait for everything to be ready and perfect before you start, good luck. It will be a long time coming. Your ducks will never be in a perfect row. There will always be some excuse holding you back. What's the old maxim: ready, fire, aim. (Who said that anyway?)


Today, in an alumni session with a business group I belong to, three out of four of us made reference to the 'ready, fire, aim' concept in our reports to the group. We've all had the same discovery in the last month or so. One put it this way: like a bicycle, if you're not underway, it's hard to aim it toward the target. Makes sense to me.


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