First thing is first, I want to wish each and every one of my readers a happy New Year. Chances are that you’ve already set your goals for 2008 and are on your way to achieving them. I’ve been trying to systematically plan this upcoming year in order to maximize my efforts and, hopefully, make 2008 is the best year yet. I’ve been busy, and it’s caused Truebluetitan to temporarily fall silent, but now I’m back and with more motivation than ever.

This holiday season flew by as I spent some much needed time with friends and family, and enjoyed every minute of it. In addition to celebrating our time together I pulled a couple of late nighters in front of my MacBook Pro working on some Websites that have been on the back burner for far too long. When I wasn’t doing either of the two aforementioned things I have been asleep on my couch in an attempt to get healthy again. I seem to have caught a cold that just doesn’t want to release it’s grip on me. So, for now, I’m working at half-speed.

I’d like to bare all and make today’s entry a bit more intimate. When I first announced that I left my day job, I stated that I would be as transparent as possible, and to a certain extent I have been doing so, but I think that today’s entry will be the most personal one that I’ve written to date.

2007 in Review

truebluetitan

In early 2007, I was traveling around the world for a Fortune 500 company, performing audits on their Information Systems and writing in-depth reports on how to strengthen their integrity. It was a great job with a great company, but I was eager to work for a company with more of an entrepreneurial vibe. It was a difficult decision, but I left my comfort zone, and a ton of great friends, to pursue a new career with a marketing firm here in Pittsburgh.

My role with their organization lasted only 7 months; the “fit” was not right. My father (another fellow with the entrepreneur bug) and I live and die by our gut feelings, and mine was telling me that I did not belong there. So in November 2007, without another job in the queue, I decided to go out on my own. I had just launched a new version of Truebluetitan.com (the current version that you see before you) and had several web application ideas in mind that I knew would be profitable if I could get them up and running in time. I had a decent sized savings account, the know-how, and the perseverance to give it a try.

Rob Schultz: Present Day

It’s 3 o’ clock in the morning on January 4, 2008, and I just finished an extensive job search across the Pittsburgh area. I need a full-time job. One where I go to the office every day and in return get paid on a consistent basis. My resume (html | word) is out there, and now it’s time to play the waiting game.

If life were like the movies, I would have quit my job, setup my sticker-covered laptop in the corner of my garage, and coded for weeks on end. I wouldn’t have to worry about funding as I would have an Angel Investor to take care of that. The fruits of my labor would be a Website that practically printed money and I’d once again be labeled Times Man of the Year.

However, life isn’t like the movies. For starters, I don’t even own a garage. And the thought of adorning my MacBook Pro with Web 2.0 stickers has my anal-retentiveness going crazy. My bank accounts are at a 5-year low, and I absolutely refuse to go back on the college ramen noodle diet to cut costs. I have been coding for weeks on end, but unfortunately, I don’t have a final product ready to be unveiled to the world …yet. It’s taking me much longer to produce a product that I’ll be glad to call my own, but the time and effort is going to be well worth it.

I’m not disappointed in myself for coming to this realization. In fact, in the back of my mind, I had a feeling that I would eventually reach this point. You see, I like working in Corporate America. I do my best work when challenging and being challenged by others. I love teamwork, working independently, and deadlines that are always unreasonable, but somehow are met.

What I do not like is working in the office of my 2-bedroom apartment with minimal human interaction on a daily basis. I don’t like that over half of my walk-in closet is filled with button down shirts and slacks that I like but barely wear, and I dislike the fact that I work practically all the time. If I’m not spending time with Laurann or my family, then I’m in front of my computer working on something related to my business ideas.

The journey of becoming an Internet Entrepreneur is not over, its very much alive. However, the path that I’m taking to obtain this goal needs to change. You see, I guess that I’ve realized that I will become an Internet Entrepreneur, and that my Web apps will help me to generate a reasonable income, but that cannot be ALL that I do. I need to head back into the fray.

2008 and Beyond

2008 is going to be a big year for me. The last month or so has been a wonderful learning experience. It’s been incredibly eye-opening, and has realigned my priorities for the future. As such, I’d like to share some of my New Years Resolutions with you:

  • 1. Find A New Job: We’ve covered this already, and now that we’re on the tail-end of the holiday season I hope that things begin to pick up and complete this goal sooner rather than later.
  • 2. Truebluetitan: This site has come along way since it’s meager beginnings as a personal rant blog back in 2005, but it still has more to grow and a greater purpose to serve. I need to be more open about my projects and continue to develop my own voice, and differentiating myself from the rest of these cookie-cutter “Make Money Online” blogs out there.


    Unique Visitors: Truebluetitan had only 12,842 visitors in the past 11 months, with almost all of the traffic coming after September when I started to really take blogging seriously. I hope to increase that figure by 10-fold in 2008.

    RSS Subscribers: This site currently has over 140 RSS subscribers. I can do better than that. In 2008, I hope to continue to provide useful information and more insight into starting your own business. As a result I’m aiming for 1,000 RSS subscribers by the end of 2008.

    Technorati: Technorati ranks Truebluetitan at 116,390. That’s a substantial rise from it’s ranking of over 3,000,000 earlier this year. By the end of 2008, I hope to continue this trend and break into the top 20,000.

  • 3. Ruby On Rails: A friend of mine recommended that I use Ruby On Rails to produce some of my Web applications. Initial research reveals that it’s a friendly and efficient means of programming Websites without all of the mess usually found in PHP. Sounds great! Unfortunately, I don’t know the first thing about it, so one of my goals in 2008 is to learn the language, and then develop my apps in it.
  • 4. BlogforBloggers: At my last job I founded an internal organization to help the employees develop a more thorough understanding of Web, including, but not limited to, Web theory and Search Engine Optimization. While I didn’t get to see the organization grow and thrive like I had hoped, I will continue to deliver the same information to you to ensure that your blog is everything you wanted it to be…and more.
  • 5. Web Applications: If you don’t count BlogforBloggers, I currently have 4 major web applications that I want to launch this year. The great thing about them is that once I get one coded, I’ll be able to use a large portion of the code to complete the others. The downside…I’m learning as I go. This will quite possibly be my hardest goal to accomplish, but I think it will be obtainable and the most rewarding.
  • 6. 6 Figure Income: Shortly after leaving my last job, I was offered another position outside of Pittsburgh that would have increased my income and brought me closer to the much sought after 6-figure income mark. Unfortunately, relocation wasn’t an option that I wanted to pursue at the time so I declined the offer. That doesn’t mean that I can’t make 6-figures this year. As a matter of fact, if I complete 2 of the 4 Web Applications that I have planned, I can almost guarantee that I’ll do it.
  • 7. Vacation: Whew! All of this talk about work is making me want to take a vacation. That’s why I want to make sure that I take time in 2008 to see my friends that have left Pittsburgh, as well as sit on some distant beach and admire the clear blue water crashing into the shore with Laurann.
  • 8. No More Credit Cards: I’ll admit it: when I was in college I had a credit card that I relied upon too much. Since then, I’ve detested the little things (more so the ease of which I use them) and have been slowly chopping away at my debt. At the end of 2008, I aspire to be free of credit card debt.

Now I have a huge list of personal goals on my screen to the left of this window as well, but I think we covered the most relevant ones here. So there you have it, a quick look into me, what I’ve been up to, and where I hope to go with it.

Like I said at the onset of this journey, I certainly don’t know the right way to become an Internet Entrepreneur. What are your thoughts? Would you do things differently? Am I giving up? I’m curious to hear what you think. Regardless, here’s to a prosperous 2008 for you and your loved ones.