I think I've been looking at my entrepreneurial efforts in entirely the wrong way. I focus on things like SalesForce.com, Blackoard and Digg, and think, "I was thinking about that before they were, and I missed an opportunity."
That thinking doesn't get me anywhere.
Over the years, I've read many articles about "The Long Tail," which is a business concept coined by Chris Anderson in a 2004 issue of Wired and in his book. It refers to the statistical notion that catering to niche customers with more diverse interests may not create the volume that heavy hitters can, but if you can cater to enough of these niches, you can win every bit as big. Amazon is frequently described as a company that leverages The Long Tail because it services people looking for obscure books and CD's. I don't know if I'd still describe them as that company, but it does make sense with regards to their early success.
In other words, my desire to come up with the next big score is hopelessly futile and silly. Even more asinine is the fact that I've already proven the value of a long tail strategy. CoasterBuzz has been a top site (in terms of visitor volume) for many years serving the coaster dork niche, and generates some decent coin as a result. PointBuzz, and Guide to The Point before it, do the same for an even smaller niche, which is actually even more lucrative if you look at it on a per-visitor basis.
So if I see my strength as someone who can foster communities, then I need to pursue that, regardless of the size of those communities. My next project addresses another, larger community, though in a crowded space. The one I've conceptualized and think about is another. Both involve things I care about. If each of these four communities can reach the level of CB, I have my new full time job, and then some. No individual one is huge, but collectively they become something more for me. I've known this inside for a long time, I just never really put it in front of me to consciously realize it.
"In other words, my desire to come up with the next big score is hopelessly futile and silly."
Yes.
"I was thinking about that before they were, and I missed an opportunity."
And I believe it was moi who recently pointed that out on your blog.
When you stop trying and just do, sometimes things fall into place.
Dude, I get exactly what you're saying. You just don't read what I write. Every thing in this blog post was exactly what I was saying earlier in the week, right down to some of the stuff you put in quotes.
Why is it that everyone else gets where you're 'not quite hitting the mark' and try to offer you advice, but then you go read an article and it clicks?
You focus too much on trying to do the next big thing and it passes you up. That was exactly, almost to the word, what I've said earlier this week and in the past. And you're still focused in the wrong direction. There is no trying or doing the 'right' things. Focus on what you're good at, expand upon that, and as I've said, it'll fall in to place. If you focus on what you think is the 'right' thing, you're going to keep passing up those opportunities.
I don't read what you write because you have a history of dissing my shit. For someone who used to post how you weren't a fan of me to RRC or whoever else would listen, you sure do spend a lot of time reading my blog.
Things don't just "fall into place." That's bullshit. You know what I was really good at? Radio. A lot of good that did me. It was most certainly not the right thing. This post is about the scope of the next big thing, and quite frankly the point that smaller big things are easier and less work.
I'm not interested in you showing up and telling me how you had the answers all along.
Not being a fan of you and reading your blog for entertainment purposes is 2 different things. You spend a lot of time whining because of this and that, when anyone can see the issues you're whining about have an answer, but you don't listen. Then you continue to whine. I didn't tell it to anyone who would listen, lol, don't think that highly of yourself, but when you came up, I voiced an opinion. The fact that you're still so focused on something I said on RRC, what, well over a year ago (as I've not posted on RRC in at least a year, if not 2) shows you have issues beyond what I even thought.
It really is sad that someone told you something and in the same week you read it elsewhere and it clicks, but that person was wrong simply because you don't like them. And, hey, if you don't like me, ban me, because that's what grown ups do, they block out people who have differing opinions when that opinion is always wrong...