10 years ago I was just finishing college… by “finishing” I mean dropping out one semester before graduation. Why? Because I found a business idea that I had to pursue.
Fast forward 10 years – I’m still pursuing business ideas. One of those ideas is this! (The Web Project)
However, The Web Project isn’t just “another idea” that comes and goes… in fact, it’s probably the best idea I’ve ever decided to act upon. We’ll get into why that is in a moment, but first, let’s talk about Why I’m doing this.
It’s Time to Pay it Back
Like many talented web designers and developers today, I’m self-taught. I gravitated towards web design back in 2007 after taking a free class on HTML at my university. I was immediately fascinated by how easy it was to throw up a live web page on the internet. I created my own website and slowly started taking on freelance work. Through hard work and online tutorials I was able to teach myself what I needed to build websites. I continued to learn and soak up as much on web design as I could… and my work continued to get better.
Over time I grew my freelancing into an actual business. I also managed several full-time jobs for large tech companies where I worked my way up from jr. developer to senior/architect level engineer. I’ve worked for startups, Fortune 500 tech companies, and everyone in between. Now I focus on a few of my own online businesses that continue to grow. However…
None of this would have been possible without the web – i.e. online tutorials and guides. So now it’s my turn to give back and teach what I’ve learned.
Why This is a Good Idea!
Back to why this makes sense – i.e. why The Web Project is a good idea.
In business, most ideas are bad. The old saying, “Ideas are a dime a dozen” is true! Even if you have a great idea, it takes A LOT of hard work and execution to bring any idea to life. You realize that more and more as you build businesses.
That said, there are things that mitigate the risk and/or level of difficult to execute your idea. For example:
- Demand Economics – is there demand of your idea (product or service)?
- Innovation – is your idea new or innovative in the market?
- Industry knowledge – do you have experience in the industry for your idea?
These are just a few of the factors that go into analyzing the potential of an idea. In this case, The Web Project fits all three of these criteria very well:
So unlike other ideas or ventures, the bulk of the work here is not figuring out the business model or sales/marketing, but rather finding the most effective way to teach my craft and then build a community around it.
I plan to do just that. So stay tuned!
Ali Jafarian
Ali is a father, husband and serial entrepreneur with a deep drive to create. He writes, records, codes and builds things to inspire the artist in all of us.
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