Some cool starting own business images:
This is me
Image by teamaskins
*cough* is this thing on? *cough*
Erm, this is me, I work on the web. Well not really, but I do hang out on a lot on the net. In fact it's become an essential part of my everyday life. When I say "not really", I do use web and browser based technology to solve business problems for my customers, but most of what I do doesn't end up on the public web.
My background is the *scary echo* enterprise *scary echo*, developing green screen ERP systems -- big fat systems that big fat companies use to run their businesses. But in 2006 I decided to ditch it all and started my own business with the intent of solving the same problems, but with simpler software.
I was a pre-web internet junky while at Uni. Spending many a late night chatting to people on the other side of the world using irc, and consuming vast amounts of smut^H^H^H^H information on usenet.
I've tinkered with building web pages for a while, hanging on the fringes of the Clan Analogue collective in Sydney and Canberra in the mid-nineties. I put together my first website to promote my music about 10 years ago using Netscape Composer. Five or so years later I started building a web site for a Buddhist study centre using MS Frontpage. It was horrendous, both Frontpage and the resulting site, so I bought Sitepoint's "Designing Without Tables" and taught myself HTML and CSS. With new skills in hand I rebuilt the website by hand.
Right now, Ruby on Rails is floating my boat, and I love hanging with the Sydney rails crew. There's something about spending time with a bunch of passionate people that are smarter than me _and_ who are innately likeable that I find immensely rewarding.
So, yeah, this is me, I work on the web.
Artifacts
Image by Saucy Salad
Nearly six months ago, I plopped this June 11 note under my pen mug on my desk. This was long before I gave notice. I guess I needed to keep my eyes on the prize, so to speak. It seemed SO FAR AWAY at the time and for several months afterward, I must admit. But now? It's only a week away. One more week of co-workers and last projects and saying goodbye. And then I will be master of my soul.
How wonderful.
The crazy thing is that I never WANTED to start my own business. I always thought I was just one of those people who needed the structure of a job, the motivation of somebody being mad at me if I didn't do well enough, an A+ in the form of a bonus or a pat on the back from my boss. This was true for a while, but at some point, I'm not sure when, I realized that I no longer cared about getting an A+. As for motivation, I have clients to please! That's way better than being worried that my boss will be mad at me.
One of my favorite memories of working, or really commuting, at YAI is the New York Transit Strike. For three full week days during December 2005, there were no buses or subways in New York. (Q: What's worse than a transit strike in December? A: A sanitation strike in August.) So I rode my bike to work across the Manhattan Bridge, through Chinatown and over to Ninth Avenue every day for three days. Going home was rough, since it was over the darkest days of the year. I think I got lost in Gowanus a few times. But it was really fun and not THAT cold and there was this awesome camaraderie between all of the bike commuters. We could go SO MUCH FASTER than all the people who were trying to drive. YAI made these mugs for the people who still managed to make it into work despite the lack of public transportation. I will always keep it, not so much as a reminder of YAI, but as a memento of riding my bike across the Manhattan Bridge in the dark during the week before Christmas.
The June 11 note and the mug are related: Now that I won't be commuting every day, one of my biggest goals is to make my bike be my primary form of transportation.
Cupcakes, flowers, and YAY!
Image by Kisså
I made my bouquet and my brides maids' bouquets out of buttons (Todd helped). We also made a bunch of Yay! flags. Our cupcakes were baked by a local gal just starting her own business - we had chocolate stout with mocha icing, lemon with raspberry cream cheese icing, and red velvet with cream cheese icing.
Tribe member Kisså: offbeatbride.ning.com/profile/Kissaa
Photo by Alex Kaplan: twoweddingphotographers.com/
