Over the past week, I have taken a hard look at this site and looking back at some of the articles I have written. I went all the way back to the very first article that I published on November 27, 2007 entitled “Starting Over“.
Amazing how much has transpired since then. Before I created this site, had many different websites that were tied to a tight niche. I had and still have Tearstone.com which caters to the Mitsubishi Eclipse from my car days. EBiz Pursuit website (now long gone) was my attempt at bringing entrepreneurial knowledge to the masses by cultivating a community of like-minded folks who were doing business on the web. I registered a domain in my own name to allow me some freedom not to be locked down to a specific niche. Now, after 7 years of searching for the right focus, I found that a blog needs to have focus. If you want to write about everything, you will inevitably write about nothing.
I still work for the same company that I did when I first opened this site and wrote that founding post. My goal was to leave that rat race and do my own thing and while that is still my dream it has never been properly executed because I never put together a plan. At that time, I was even in a more affordable home that I could have probably paid off by now. Without a plan, I ended up moving int a house twice the size with nearly three times the mortgage (insert *facepalm* pic here).
My online business of selling aftermarket car parts eventually diminished into hobby of cutting decals. In the midst of slinging parts, I bought a decal business and that is what is left today, in the form of Tearstone Graphics. We still do a steady stream of side business, but not enough for me to just up and leave my job. My awesome wife takes care of the operational duties of filling the orders, and I work on tweaking the website.
I no longer own or operate any vBulletin web forums. My Mitusbishi Owner’s Association websites did not quite grow or materialize the way I had expected so I ended up cutting my losses and closing them down. The forum I had dedicated to the 2006+ Mitsubishi Eclipse however, flourished to the point that I was able to sell it to a vertical marketing company. That was bitter sweet in that as much as I enjoyed running that site, I knew that it needed to be sold at that time so I can move on with my life beyond focusing on a model that Mitsubishi would never produce again.
My last sentence of that opening blog:
I started this blog because I’m a big fan of personal development.
I believe still rings true to this day. I am still a fan of personal development, and I want to be surrounded by those who have the same passion. Let’s use this medium to develop together.