Catch(BoringBlogException)

My previous blog just threw a BoringBlogException.  I didn’t need to crawl up the stack trace to figure out that the thing had no readership traction because I positioned myself way outside of my element.  I don’t remember what I was originally thinking, but somewhere in that flawed thought-process I decided my audience was going to be “biz-minded techies”; and that I was qualified to share my opinions with them because I bootstrapped a startup into a comfortably successful company over the past several years.

The problem is, I don’t have a treasure chest of sound business advice.  I built my company by being a relentless, indefatigable workaholic.  I didn’t set out to be any kind of manager or coach, I just wanted the freedom to always be working on projects I’m passionate about.  Enough people continue to find my productive output useful enough to fund my entire life.  That’s a powerful drug.  I’m addicted.

While I’m working on these non-stop projects, I chat and debate for hours with my team and techie friends about usability, architecture, aesthetics, frameworks, cloud computing, and everything else in the world of software.  And, like with anything involving passion, I have epiphanies, jousts, manic ups, and depressive downs — and they’d all make great blog fodder — but conspicuously absent are scenes where I’m dispensing business advice to anybody about anything.  It’s just not in my DNA.

I’m not a business guru.  I’m not a social media expert.  I’m the kind of guy who’s most happy when people in the real-world are enjoying my creative output, happily paying for it, talking about it, and putting it to good use; when the office is engaging the community and paying the bills; and when I’m left free to explore (and hopefully build) the kind of innovative jumps in software that everyone will be talking about a year from now.

So Jeff the business guru is out.  Who’s the real Jeff?  On the best days I lock myself away in a productive isolation, turn the music up, gorge on information, find that undercurrent of creative inspiration, and I ride it until I exhaust myself down to the reserves.  I let that “empty” light blink on my mental dashboard for a while before lay down, and then I end up taking notes by iPhone light until my brain segfaults.  I usually wake up either 3 hours or 12 hours later and wonder for a good 10 minutes whether it’s A.M. or P.M. outside.  Then I eat, sync up with the office, and try to do it all over again.

“Code Hermit” seems to be a much better fit.  Let’s see how I blog in my natural habitat.

-Jeff