i quit my job back in august to work on an idea that was brewing inside of me for nearly two years. i had thought of it all: i knew precisely how i wanted the site to look; how the paid service option would look as compared to the free service option; where my revenue streams would come from; what theme and ‘template’ i wanted to use for the advertisements.

but creating a startup isn’t about the idea and how good it is (or isn’t) or how thorough your business plan is. the brutal truth of it is that it’s about making money and generating buzz as fast as humanly possible. for an idea such as mine, in an area of the country such as mine, with my lack of necessary skills (programming) needed to start things up on my own—it was always going to be a high-risk venture.

and so my startup didn’t fail so much as it left me with many learning opportunities. the ‘unknown unknowns’, as mission planners describe them, became ‘knowns’. and the most important lesson of all was that it’s not about the idea, but about the execution of it.

with a failed startup in hand and cash reserves running low (skipping-meals-because-i-can’t-afford-them low), i recognized the need to start over. rejection letters don’t even faze me anymore i’ve received so many. it’s one thing i’ve become really good at over time. but with luck and strong relationships cultivated through the years, i finally found a break.

so while my dreams of helping others, and providing employment for others, and generating automatic cash while creating some good in the world will have to be put on hold (for a while at least), i’m still in a better place now than i was over half a year ago—if maybe a bit poorer in bank terms, certainly richer in experience.