How The Internet (And Your Business) Has Changed In 40 Years
You may not even be aware, we have survived, and are surviving successfully, without pitting our country, north and south against each other, as we did in the War Between The States, another "Industrial Revolution". Not identical (but close enough) of our forefathers and mothers, but we have gotten through and are right "in the middle" of the Internet Revolution. Can you remember that item we used to read called a newspaper? Some of us still subscribe (out of habit) but mostly to read the local gossip, society, and sports, and sometimes world events, but only so we can see if it compares to our "accurate" news source, The Internet. The days are gone of relaxing, sitting down with a cup of instant coffee and reading the paper cover to cover. It's now Starbuck's hot spots, and a nice frappe on a summer day (if we have a few extra minutes).
Remember the ol' boy network that divided towns into the rich and the poor, popular and unpopular? They dictated with whom we should do business, and who not? Sure, they still exist, but what happened to all their power? Gone with the wind. If they don't like your business idea, big deal. You put it on the Internet. The power structure has turned 360 degrees, and the social structure as well. We may not have all realized it, but that was the *real* paradigm shift of our lifetime. And we did it without a war. Sure, some hurt feelings and egos, but, ciest la vie. Everyone has equal opportunity to information now and it is up to all of us to use it wisely and appropriately.
I am in the cartoon and merchandising business and utilize the Internet for most of my ventures. I have had the opportunity to have some unexpected doors opened to me that would have, otherwise stayed stayed shut if not for the Internet. My business is known and appreciated now worldwide, and it is all because of the Internet, and the talented people I was introduced to through it, who guided me in a positive direction.
Maybe the most fascinating door opened to me came from a man named Dr. Vinton Cerf, known as The Father Of The Internet. Coincidentally he was a fan of Londons Times Cartoons. We got to know each other about a decade ago through emails and phone conversations, and he is humble, kind, unique man. He invented TCP-IP in 1969 while at Stanford University. It became the driving force behind Arapnet. But only those in high positions at federal governmental organizations and The White House had access to this speed of light communication. Later (and this is where Al Gore comes in...yes he really did have much to do with the Internet), Cerf, now a PhD, approached him. He was still a young congressman (not yet even a senator) from Tn and asked him if he felt it could be brought public. There was much controversy and much of Congress felt it was just "too much information for the general public to be privy to. Gore worked hard on it and it finally passed. The Internet was born. Gore, in fact, also (according to Dr. Cerf) came up with domain parking, and even named the net "The Information Superhighway" So the "Al Gore Internet joke, is really no joke at all". Like him or hate him, he actually did just what he said, "I created the incentive to invent the Internet". End of that "non-urban legend".
Dr. Cerf was very kind to me, and generous with his knowledge of the net. He was, at the time, a senior executive at MCI surburban Va, and now heads the creative department at Google. Though we've lost touch, I'll never forget some of the incredible thoughts he shared. He was barely an adult when he invented it; I believe a sophomore, and of course an idealist visionary. He imagined information, especially important business information that was for so long held close to the chest by the large captains of business and industry, to be available to all, in other words, a more democratic society. He had no idea what his invention would become. He seemed a bit in shock every time I spoke with him about it, that it had grown so large.
It was further developed when an MIT professor named Tim Berners-Lee in 1984, invented a software called the World Wide Web which made the Internet much more advanced and flexible.
Small town America was my youth, very sheltered, and was considered a "slow learner", a middle child of two very good students, and, as often happens in small towns, I fell through the cracks, and stayed there. It became "my role" to stay in that position. No need to try something else. I was "Slow Rick" who "didn't get it". I took odd jobs, saved, and left that hamlet as soon as I could. I took odd jobs in New York, D.C. and other big cities, wherever I could land one. During that tenure of drifting, I did manage to learn a few "street smarts" and landed some nice paying jobs with impressive-sounding positions. Those jobs did not offer me peace of mind. They caused yet more stress and unhappiness. I wanted to be educated. It was not until I was 43 years old that I enrolled and seriously studied and became educated in the arena of Internet Technology.
Now, Londons Times Cartoons has grown into the largest and most visited offbeat humor site on the Internet. My creative team and I have produced 8500 plus cartoons and lured over three million yearly surfers. This is mentioned not to boast, but to explain what someone can do on a shoestring, hell, I had half a shoestring, but with a dial up phone line, a beat up computer, and a little space to work (I started in an abandoned rural warehouse). My intelligence level is fairly average. My emotional intelligence, is way above average, but that can be learned, regular IQ has more to do with genes, etc. When I started the Internet was Google-less, Social Network-less, Blog-less, Bookmark-less, and looking back, it was a bit more than archaic. It was just a bit better than telephones only because Yahoo!, and several other name brands and a few banner-exchanges and web-rings. I mainly marketed by phone the first few years.
I was able to get a very good education from an accredited school on the Internet. The ol' boy network of my small hometown had already given up on me by the time I was twenty, and there was no encouragement, and, when I was there, I had no idea why. Today, I own eight Internet stores with over 100,000 products from wall clocks to aprons to tees to mouse pads to key chains to water bottles to yes, the world's first offbeat cartoon gourmet coffee gift basket and the world's first offbeat real U.S. Postage stamps.
With social networking available to me, I have entered some completely new businesses, with a perfect partner in Florida, and we did it through the leverage of the Internet, article marketing, blogging, PPC advertising, focus, and finally branding. Yet another venture that could not have been created without the net. These are several ventures that I can already see are going to be profitable, and they cost a few hundred dollars to launch, and some investment in time and knowledge. If not for the net, I'd be pushing a broom in my hometown of origin.
Finally, a word to the wise. Forget gurus. You are your own guru. Be guru-free. There are a lot of people out there who have good information, and bill themselves as gurus, and sell you their e-books or build-your-own turnkey websites, etc. They make it look enticing. My suggestion: Look at it as the flock of locusts that it is. The information may be good, but it is ALL available free, and even more is free, with a bit of research and persistence. I started this business, now worth way into the millions with less than $300 and was virtually homeless. I studied. I asked questions of those who had done similar things successfully before me, I made calls, I got rejected, I tried again, more rejection, and finally some breaks. Be persistent. There will be obstacles. Many in fact. And yes, talent and some intelligence is great, but persistence and a positive will see you through. Keep your mind, body, and soul healthy. Sleep, eat healthily, exercise, and work twice as hard as anyone else you know doing something similar, like a competitor. And just when you think you can't work anymore, take a short break and work more You will make errors. But you wil learn from those errors. And you will love the new you, that is a promise.
Remember the ol' boy network that divided towns into the rich and the poor, popular and unpopular? They dictated with whom we should do business, and who not? Sure, they still exist, but what happened to all their power? Gone with the wind. If they don't like your business idea, big deal. You put it on the Internet. The power structure has turned 360 degrees, and the social structure as well. We may not have all realized it, but that was the *real* paradigm shift of our lifetime. And we did it without a war. Sure, some hurt feelings and egos, but, ciest la vie. Everyone has equal opportunity to information now and it is up to all of us to use it wisely and appropriately.
I am in the cartoon and merchandising business and utilize the Internet for most of my ventures. I have had the opportunity to have some unexpected doors opened to me that would have, otherwise stayed stayed shut if not for the Internet. My business is known and appreciated now worldwide, and it is all because of the Internet, and the talented people I was introduced to through it, who guided me in a positive direction.
Maybe the most fascinating door opened to me came from a man named Dr. Vinton Cerf, known as The Father Of The Internet. Coincidentally he was a fan of Londons Times Cartoons. We got to know each other about a decade ago through emails and phone conversations, and he is humble, kind, unique man. He invented TCP-IP in 1969 while at Stanford University. It became the driving force behind Arapnet. But only those in high positions at federal governmental organizations and The White House had access to this speed of light communication. Later (and this is where Al Gore comes in...yes he really did have much to do with the Internet), Cerf, now a PhD, approached him. He was still a young congressman (not yet even a senator) from Tn and asked him if he felt it could be brought public. There was much controversy and much of Congress felt it was just "too much information for the general public to be privy to. Gore worked hard on it and it finally passed. The Internet was born. Gore, in fact, also (according to Dr. Cerf) came up with domain parking, and even named the net "The Information Superhighway" So the "Al Gore Internet joke, is really no joke at all". Like him or hate him, he actually did just what he said, "I created the incentive to invent the Internet". End of that "non-urban legend".
Dr. Cerf was very kind to me, and generous with his knowledge of the net. He was, at the time, a senior executive at MCI surburban Va, and now heads the creative department at Google. Though we've lost touch, I'll never forget some of the incredible thoughts he shared. He was barely an adult when he invented it; I believe a sophomore, and of course an idealist visionary. He imagined information, especially important business information that was for so long held close to the chest by the large captains of business and industry, to be available to all, in other words, a more democratic society. He had no idea what his invention would become. He seemed a bit in shock every time I spoke with him about it, that it had grown so large.
It was further developed when an MIT professor named Tim Berners-Lee in 1984, invented a software called the World Wide Web which made the Internet much more advanced and flexible.
Small town America was my youth, very sheltered, and was considered a "slow learner", a middle child of two very good students, and, as often happens in small towns, I fell through the cracks, and stayed there. It became "my role" to stay in that position. No need to try something else. I was "Slow Rick" who "didn't get it". I took odd jobs, saved, and left that hamlet as soon as I could. I took odd jobs in New York, D.C. and other big cities, wherever I could land one. During that tenure of drifting, I did manage to learn a few "street smarts" and landed some nice paying jobs with impressive-sounding positions. Those jobs did not offer me peace of mind. They caused yet more stress and unhappiness. I wanted to be educated. It was not until I was 43 years old that I enrolled and seriously studied and became educated in the arena of Internet Technology.
Now, Londons Times Cartoons has grown into the largest and most visited offbeat humor site on the Internet. My creative team and I have produced 8500 plus cartoons and lured over three million yearly surfers. This is mentioned not to boast, but to explain what someone can do on a shoestring, hell, I had half a shoestring, but with a dial up phone line, a beat up computer, and a little space to work (I started in an abandoned rural warehouse). My intelligence level is fairly average. My emotional intelligence, is way above average, but that can be learned, regular IQ has more to do with genes, etc. When I started the Internet was Google-less, Social Network-less, Blog-less, Bookmark-less, and looking back, it was a bit more than archaic. It was just a bit better than telephones only because Yahoo!, and several other name brands and a few banner-exchanges and web-rings. I mainly marketed by phone the first few years.
I was able to get a very good education from an accredited school on the Internet. The ol' boy network of my small hometown had already given up on me by the time I was twenty, and there was no encouragement, and, when I was there, I had no idea why. Today, I own eight Internet stores with over 100,000 products from wall clocks to aprons to tees to mouse pads to key chains to water bottles to yes, the world's first offbeat cartoon gourmet coffee gift basket and the world's first offbeat real U.S. Postage stamps.
With social networking available to me, I have entered some completely new businesses, with a perfect partner in Florida, and we did it through the leverage of the Internet, article marketing, blogging, PPC advertising, focus, and finally branding. Yet another venture that could not have been created without the net. These are several ventures that I can already see are going to be profitable, and they cost a few hundred dollars to launch, and some investment in time and knowledge. If not for the net, I'd be pushing a broom in my hometown of origin.
Finally, a word to the wise. Forget gurus. You are your own guru. Be guru-free. There are a lot of people out there who have good information, and bill themselves as gurus, and sell you their e-books or build-your-own turnkey websites, etc. They make it look enticing. My suggestion: Look at it as the flock of locusts that it is. The information may be good, but it is ALL available free, and even more is free, with a bit of research and persistence. I started this business, now worth way into the millions with less than $300 and was virtually homeless. I studied. I asked questions of those who had done similar things successfully before me, I made calls, I got rejected, I tried again, more rejection, and finally some breaks. Be persistent. There will be obstacles. Many in fact. And yes, talent and some intelligence is great, but persistence and a positive will see you through. Keep your mind, body, and soul healthy. Sleep, eat healthily, exercise, and work twice as hard as anyone else you know doing something similar, like a competitor. And just when you think you can't work anymore, take a short break and work more You will make errors. But you wil learn from those errors. And you will love the new you, that is a promise.
posted by Marcondes Allen at 9:33 PM
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