For all of us that live in this digital world, new & experienced alike, I'd just like to toss out some perspective this morning.
We all, at one point or another during the day, sit back and look in awe at the swirling mass in which we live: The Internet.
And we are all racing against time each day to try to figure out new ways to cash in on it. New people come to this industry for many different reasons and are instantly lost in all the technology. Some struggle through and find their way, while others give up and pursue other avenues. But for those of us that have decided to struggle through at any cost, there is a lot of light still waiting at the end of this tunnel.
Or is there?
The Internet itself is still VERY much in its infancy. Where will it all go? Who knows. Remember the 70's CB Radio fad? Another wildly popular communications medium. It came, it got popular, and it died out. Sure they're still around, but not like 25 years ago when everyone just HAD to have one.
So now you see the huge megasites like The Hun or AL4A pumping astronomical amounts of traffic through each day, and may wonder how you can ever compete with that. You are looking at it from the wrong angle my friends.

Keep in mind that sites like those have only been in existence for a few short years. Look at how far even just HTML coding has come since 1994. Not to mention all the other amazing things that have been invented... (Java, Perl, Shockwave, WYSIWYG editors....) All of this has come to be in a very short amount of time. Imagine how different the landscape of this industry will be in just five more years. Or will it still exist at all? Alot of things can happen in a very short time. Perhaps the Internet will go the way of the CB Radio. Let's not forget that there are alot more people in the world than not that lead very normal lives and couldn't care less about anything on the Net.
The point here is that nothing is carved in stone. So you want to be bigger than The Hun? Then do it. Build a better product. Find new marketing techniques. Make changes in our industry's landscape that will help to ensure your success for generations. But you can't open a one-man hamburger stand on the corner and expect to compete with McDonalds. This is no different than any other business. You have to start small, stay focused, continuously modify and improve your business model, and of course... grow.
Happy coding!
