So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

While browsing the bootstrap economist archive this evening, I revisited my favorite post. With my freedom from credit card debt I gained the confidence to take risks that allowed me to exponentially improve my foothold in life. Since making that last payment, I have learned to use credit wisely, leased a car that I have always wanted and left Philadelphia to further my career. Despite the euphoric memories that return when I remember celebrating my debt repayment, it’s what I didn’t do that caught my attention.

Three years ago my goals were to repay old debt and build a small amount of savings. Today my goals are to buy a house, save for retirement, and build bootstrap | economist into a viable business.

My efforts to turn bootstrap economist into a viable business have been disappointing. I won’t make any excuses, it is 100% attributed to my intermitted writing spurts. When I started bootstrap economist, I was in a dead-end job with plenty of free time. I had grandiose dreams of building a personal finance powerhouse, but they were dashed by several name changes and too much off topic content. But I wrote dilligently until my responsibilities grew and my availability for blogging dropped dramatically. Therefore, bootstrap economist sat collecting virtual dust in a dark corner of the internet for the past year.

Due to the aforementioned, I’ve decided to wrap up bootstrap economist for good. I have been weighing the decision for some time — looking for a clean slate. A new idea untouched by the web’s copycats. A project whose blatent simplicity will have webophiles smacking their heads in frustration for not thinking of it first. One lesson learned from bootstrap economist, is the importance of knowing your customer. And my next project will be built to keep customers coming back day after day. I have a number of ideas and a good network of friends to help me execute them, but won’t act without having a solid plan in place.

But before I sign off one last time, I’d like to take a moment to talk about an upcoming conference whose ideology is on point with my future endeavors. The Audience Conference is a uniquie affair hosted by Loren Feldman of 1938media. For those unfamiliar, Loren Feldman is a videographer who speaks frankly about the web. His Audience Conference is different because its format forgoes dreadful amateur panels in favor of candid conversations with social media savvy business leaders. The Audience Conference features an impressive list of speakers covering journalism, advertising, marketing, public relations, web-based business and the arts. (See below for a video of Feldman explaining The Audience Conference in his own words). In my humble opinion, the caliber of participants mixed with an intimate setting will make this an unforgettable event. I am unable to attend, but it would have been an excellent opportunity to bend Jason Calacanis’ ear about Mahalo and continue a previous discussion with Loren about video production.

I will keep bootstrap economist online for the occasional websurfer that finds my older content helpful. However; I will no longer be adding new content. Thank you again for all of your support.

- bootstrap economist