to serve mind

The motivation for the creation of this site occurred on many different levels, not least of which was to engage in an exploration and experimentation on one of the most challenging subjects I’ve ever come up against: marketing. Look at the way I just phrased it! I don’t talk about embracing the subject. No, it’s something that is… adversarial. Something I am up against.

I am, and will always be, an anti-marketer marketer. I understand its importance. But it is not something that comes easily. No different I suppose than the “math challenged”. They can certainly understand the importance of math (for others, of course). But the last thing they want to review is a polynomial equation from their High School days. Whereas I find such a thought… exciting. 😉 Bizarre, eh?

But there’s a twist here in my motivation that I’ve never quite conveyed here in these posts. And I do believe that now is the time.

When I spent close to two decades running my own business in the Seattle area (mostly) as an Applications Developer, my focus was always on meeting the requirements of the customer in order to help them run their business more efficiently and more profitably. The idea of being in competition with the customer at the same time as writing code for them would have seemed rather bizarre. So I hope you can understand why I find the current affiliate/reseller model on the Internet to also be rather bizarre.

Have I lost you? Fine! Look, I understand the model. It just strike me (personally) as something I’m uncomfortable with, given my business model as a Computer Consultant. Let me put it another way.  When I would go to Lower Queen Anne and code for one of my clients, Shah Safari, I was only interested in doing my best to see that my work made their jobs easier and more profitable. A “labor saving device” as I liked to call myself. If I ever made more work for them without a corresponding return then I was not doing my job! It was a very simple and straightforward model. And at no time did it ever enter my mind to approach them and say something like, “Ashok, I think I’m going to go into the business of young men’s clothing!”.

Can you appreciate how that might have been met with a rather… stunned look? Well, I never did such a thing because like I said, I consider it a bizarre thought and plainly not what I was up to. So the idea of putting products and services out on the Internet for others to buy while establishing an affiliate program for others to promote those things I’m trying to sell… while at the same time competing with my affiliates (my customers, really) in trying to garner those sales… well… I’m sorry. But it just is not something I want to do. Call it habit. Call it insane. Call it misguided. I’ll grant you all of that… for now.

But what if I’m on to something? What if this insane algorithm I’ve cooked up (and have yet to reveal) really is something that will not only satisfy my “old habits” but also be something that… dare I say it for fear of sounding egomaniacal… no one has tried before? Is that possible after all these years of all these brains banging their heads against the wall, trying to thing up something “New under the Sun”?

To explore this insanity of mine it’s time I start an inner circle. I need others who sense my labyrinth of written thought maybe more than just foolish gibberish. I need testers. People who can not only test and document results but also build upon those results with suggestions for improvement. This is defintelly not time consuming because I, as well as anyone, know how little time there is.

So this inner circle I envision is many things. But more than anything else, it is comprised of my customers, no different than “the old days” of when I was a Computer Consultant. And as such, it is my intent to see that their needs are met. And within the context of the “to serve mind inner circle”, those needs comprise a serious exploration of the use of the Internet in innovative ways, while maintaining a basic and thorough understanding of the coding, tools and content that I provide.

For those interested in pursuing this further, please fill out the Opt-In Box you see in the sidebar. Note: after your email confirmation there will be no follow-up email at this time. When progress is made there will be another post and when appropriate, a communication via email.

Thank you for your time which I always appreciate and never take for granted.

xearther