Saturday Musings – Achieving a Breakthrough

I had a really good night last night. At 3am in the morning I was doing some development (yes….I am one of those founders that still does programming) and I’d finally wrangled a report to display exactly what I wanted it to show. Sounds pretty boring but trust me when I say that it was nothing short of euphoric!

Programming is one of those strange disciplines where often a huge amount of work goes into something with nothing to show for the effort. Suddenly, at the end of it all a real breakthrough is achieved as the myriad of bits and pieces suddenly come together to make something beautiful.

It’s like an artist that starts painting a masterpiece from the edges and slowly works towards the centre. No one knows what he has in his mind until the finished result is hung on the wall but once it’s up everyone smiles and sees the brilliance of it.....so I thought!

So the next day I proudly showed my wife and daughters my programming Picasso. “Hey look at this report and what these buttons can do,” I proudly announced.

I don’t even think the ongoing conversation missed a beat as they glanced at my phone, smiled politely and continued on. That’s the thing about brilliance…..not many people see it as amazing, let alone as a monumental breakthrough.

I sometimes wonder what it would be like to transport the current generation back in time to using DOS and a pager. None of this “user interface” stuff that takes forever to develop….let them feel the power that comes from remembering that “format c:” is probably a bad idea.

It’s often the case that breakthroughs for entrepreneurs are solitary affairs. Despite your obvious excitement, no one else can seem to see what you can….and that’s why you're you and they are them....so get over it.

Many (actually too many) years ago I bought my first domain name as an investor and it made me ten cents the following day. I clearly saw that I just needed to get a lot more domains and it wouldn’t be long before I was rolling in cash. I shared my excitement with another person and they told me to get a life as I wasn’t earning enough to buy a happy meal at McDonalds……who’s smiling now!

I’ve found the domain industry is full of budding entrepreneurs that are on the cusp on one breakthrough or another. The problem that many of them experience is the constant buckets of cold water poured over their dreams by well-meaning people that can’t see past their nose, let alone something in the esoteric world of domaining.

What I’ve found energises me more than anything else is attending conferences like NamesCon. If nothing else, NamesCon attracts a large number of people that are all talking about breakthroughs, possibilities and dreams! It’s a time where you get energised from a random conversation at the bar rather than deluged with negativity.

If you aren’t planning on attending NamesCon then let me tell you that you’re missing out! Invest in yourself, fan the flame of your dreams and come and meet other people that are like minded. You never know, you may end up having a conversation that will allow you to achieve your own personal breakthrough…..

In the meantime, I’d better get back to programming something that will really impress my family…..either that or I’ll just turn off the wifi and see how they go.

Have a great weekend!
Michael