Some day, someone will ask me "How did you know you'd make it big?"
I'm tired. It's early monday morning and I should be asleep by now so forgive me if I sound like I'm rambling. I have an early morning tomorrow and I'd be better off if I got some sleep, but I'm too excited to sit still. I feel like a child on Christmas Eve...tomorrow can't come fast enough. The next few months can't come fast enough.
I feel like I've spent most of my life waiting for the opportunity to make something BIG happen. Almost subconsciously, I've watched small opportunities come and go; sometimes to my disappointment, but mostly unacknowledged. It occurred to me later that perhaps such opportunities have passed me by because I am meant for something greater.
I never graduated from college. I was admitted into the Computer Science program at USC in 1997. It was one of the proudest accomplishments of my young life. I felt somewhat validated...almost like I was rewarded for all my hard work and late nights studying. The problem was that wasn't true; I didn't deserve to be there and I knew it. To this day, I can't understand how I got in. My high school GPA was below a 3.0. My SAT scores were in the 1150 to 1200 range. These metrics were far below the standard for incoming freshmen. At any rate, I began in August of 1997, but not without a small degree of self doubt. I did, however, feel determined to succeed. I say FEEL because I honestly felt determined...but that doesn't mean I WAS determined. I was placed on academic probation after the first semester, and was out of there by the third semester having been academically disqualified. Within 2 years, it went from being the most shining moment in my young life to being the most disappointing. Perhaps the hardest part was faking the determination to earn my way back into the university. I never felt like I was cut out for the rigors of higher education, especially in a grueling program like Computer Science. Like I said, I wasn't a good student in high school and I hadn't developed the proper study habits I'd need to succeed at that level. In any case, I couldn't deny that I had wasted a tremendous opportunity.
That was 9 years ago. A lot has changed since then. I say that as I prepare to embark on a journey that will completely erase my past failures and shortcomings and overshadow any of my greatest successes.
If it's true that a million dollar idea is hatched every minute, why can't one of those ideas come from me? I asked myself that in the summer of 2006. I racked my brain for several months...searching for ideas and angles. I probably came up with a dozen website ideas. I'm sure that most were good ideas and under the right guidance, are still viable and may someday be profitable. Unfortunately, I struggled with the logistics for many of them. Maybe they required expertise that I lacked, or they required large amounts of capital or volumes of market research. Whatever the case, they were shelved before they could really get started. No bother now...I finally found one. Actually, I found two.
Unfortunately, I'm not prepared to disclose all the details of my latest ideas. I just came up with them in the last 4 or 5 days and they obviously haven't launched yet. Seeing as this is an online blog, I'd hate for someone to steal my ideas before I can hatch them myself. The first idea came as I was on my way to sleep on Thursday, July 5 of 2007. I knew I had a winner as soon as it hit me. I wrote it down on my little notepad immediately...but there was no way I'd forget it by the next morning. This was my winner. The second idea is almost an expansion of the first, and it came to me last night. THAT project has scary potential. I mean, it could revolutionize the world. That sounds so silly that I laugh out loud every time I say it, but it's undeniable. If done correctly (time will tell if I'm able to do so, but make no mistake about it...it's such a good idea that SOMEONE will eventually do it correctly), it could rock the foundation of a very large particular industry. I have a partner in crime that I'm dying to tell this to...I'll get to her later. Right now, I have to settle for this blog and whoever actually reads it.
...stay tuned. This story has a happy ending. :) I promise.
