I've spent the last ten years putting people and their businesses on the Web. It wasn't my life's plan, and the practice was supposed to be temporary. I am, in my heart, meant to tell stories through words and pictures. It's what every single one of my teachers and mentors expressed, and I have always known this, deep down in my soul.

When I was laid off from the last corporate position I ever held, I went to my parents, in tears, and told them straight up, "I will never work for corporate America again." I found the politics of job-fighting and gossip to be unbearable--an embarrassment to every working person. With less than a hundred bucks in my pocket, I went home, my dog in tow, and set out to make something happen.

I had, at the time, a single client (I handled Microsoft Access database building on the side). He offered to provide a pager if I would take the monthly fees off his invoice, and he set me up with a VOX at his office. I was at his beck and call, and he provided me with the tools I needed to get more clients like him.

I was miserable, and hungry for creative challenges. So I called a friend who ran a small entertainment company and offered to build and maintain a web site if I could utilize his contact lists to my advantage. He agreed to blabber my name to everyone he could. Within two weeks I received an email from a guy needing to build an online store. He was willing to pay me an upfront retainer (so I could pay my rent). After a few months he also blabbered my name, and I soonafter traded in call waiting for additional phone lines.

That was ten years ago. Today I am a known expert in the MIVA Merchant software application - I wrote the book, literally.

I love my job. I am passionate about taking something so-so and turning it into something hip, or beautiful, or, as I call it, shopable. My company has more than 8,000 business customers, and there's more than enough to keep us all busy.

A part of me, however, has remained consistently empty. I've carried this feeling in my gut that something just isn't right, and it took me years to realize that I've spent the last decade of my life helping everyone reach their own goals, all the while treating my dreams like homeless children in Bangladesh. You know they're there - you pass by them every day, but you never take the time to really look at them and hear their real story. You rarely even think about them, allowing yourself to be consumed by every controlling factor of your life.

It was a good friend who laid it on the line. He asked me if I don't take time for myself each day, what the heck am I living for?

This site isn't about business, or some celebrity; it's not about sports or music, or the political mishaps of America. It's simply a site for me - so I can spend time each day to realize my own dreams, hopes, desires, and, at times, sorrows. It is, aside from everything else I enjoy, my true passion.