Max. Number of Sites

[moonshield]

I was wondering, what is the maximum number of sites a person can have, and still manage them all properly. I personally think it would be around ten, but some people here have many more. On Sitepoint.com one person even had 50+.

[Chris]

It depends on what types of sites they are. If you make sites that are self updating you can run thousands. If they only require monitoring and a small amount of updating you can run dozens.

I go months without even visiting some of my sites.

[michael_gersitz]

I recently was reviewing my sites and realized...

That one was gone.
and 2 accounts were suspended.

I only run about 20 websites. I am going to start cutting back and concentrating on the ones I have now.

I know someone with 400+ sites. I do cheap web design for her. Yes, her. She makes quite a bit more than anyone on these forums. (Even more than Mr. Beasley)

[James]

More than Chris?!
Blasphamy! ;)

I suggest that you own more than one but less than 10 if they're ones where you develop content.

And the largest mistake I've ever made (well, am making TBH) is making quite a few sites at the same time. I'm making like 5 or 6 maybe 7 right now but I don't exactly have the right startup money and the projects need organization etc. and I'm one of the top guys on them etc. so it's kinda tough between that school learning guitar playing games and being my age and therefore falsely thinking that I'm too busy to handle it all.

[chromate]

I know someone with 400+ sites. I do cheap web design for her. Yes, her. She makes quite a bit more than anyone on these forums. (Even more than Mr. Beasley)

If she makes so much money, why're you doing designs for her on the cheap?! :) Put your prices up!

[James]

He probably does cheap and quick.

Don't remember who it was that said
"Good Quick Cheap <- pick 2"

Oh and I'm not saying your a bad site designer, Michael. (Though I don't enjoy seeing code churned out by a WYSIWYG editor or one using tables for layout)

[incka]

Does she happen to be Rosalind Gardener?

[Chris]

Everyone knows how much I make....

[michael_gersitz]

Sean, No.

She hires me for banners. I do animated 468x60 for $5 each. She advertises all of her sites and needs several banners. I don't know how she handles the bulk since half her sites are ecomerce sites.

Chromate,

Been doing them for years, don't want to lost the client.

[incka]

Everyone knows how much I make....


We don't know exactly, but I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to get hold of Jalic's accounts if anyone was interested. Incka's are available for less than $10 on Companies House website...


Perhaps she employs people part time who are interested in the subject of the sites? I know you do that with one of your sites and I'm going to be soon with some sites I am making...

[Chris]

In the US private companies are private. There is no public disclosure of financial information. Only when a company becomes publicly traded is that information made available. Take Google for instance, we never knew how much they made until they made their IPO filing.

[Westech]

Yep, so you'll have to wait for Jalic's IPO... :)

[Percept]

I'll be buying when that happens :p

[moonshield]

After IPO it would be Jabic right?

Just A Big Internet Company

How near in the future is such a endeavor... Personally I would have no interest in such for myself.

[Mike]

I make the same mistake as tntcheats. I think of one site, start it, then think of another, and start that one.

[moonshield]

hey... same here... its so much better working on one though... that is what i am trying to do now.

[James]

Worst part is that I don't think I even have the money to make all the ideas I've had.

[incka]

If I had $50,000 and a credit card with a $50k monthly limit I could double the $50,000 easily by 2005.

[michael_gersitz]

You need money to make money, thats how the old saying goes.

[James]

Not just money, but knowledge and timing.

[moonshield]

how much was everyone's initial investment... my was my whole life savings $108. Im 17 mind you... i hope i can make that back :).

[Chris]

I started with one domain and one hosting account, so not much. Now I spend $650 a month on hosting.

[paul]

I have to disagree with the "takes money to make money". While it is certainly true in some circumstances, I don't think there has ever been a time where someone with a little knowledge could ramp up a business for so little. With almost no money and no credit, (and no RISK) any computer literate entrepreneur can build a tightly focused website and use Amazon or other companies as their drop shipper. You don't have to buy inventory, hire employees, lease a building, etc.

I think people see the big profits that are possible with substantial capitalization, but I am not sure they really appreciate the magnitude of the risks that go along with it.

[michael_gersitz]

That is why it is a saying, not a fact.

[AndyH]

how much was everyone's initial investment... my was my whole life savings $108. Im 17 mind you... i hope i can make that back :).

I started with $0.

Made some templates that I sold on WebHostingTalk.com for about $30 each ... about 10 of those and that got me started. Could pay for the domain, webhosting account for some months.

It was actually quite enjoyable (but stressful at times) starting off with nothing and now making what I do now. :)

[James]

I started with $0 when I was 8 made 45 dollars in 2 months then the internet gold rush ended and I learned I could buy a domain name for under $100 and in the last couple years my prices have kept increasing and I've learned more and gotten better and better.

I expect to pay at least 140 dollars this year.

[Westech]

I started out trying to make money online around two years ago. I decided I wanted to start a hosting business for very little invensment. I opened a business checking account with $100, and have never invested any more than that (however I do reinvest a substantial portion of what I earn.)

I started out pimping domain names on various forums (buy low, sell high...) and quickly turned my initial $100 into enough to get a dedicated server with a few months safety net. I started hosting clients, stopped with the domain name pimping (mostly), and watched the money in the account continue to grow. Eventually found this forum, and now I'm obsessed with making money from publishing websites. I've had (very) modest success with this so far.

[moonshield]

these are inspiring stories indeed. Focus seems to be the key. A nice living can be made. How many people here make their total income of sites. That is what I hope to do and is my goal.

I ask this because I have somewhat have gotten recruited by Cisco Systems. They are interested in me but I really dont want to enter the corporate sphere at my age :). They offer to pay for college and then I would go work there. I rather make a comfortable living off my own business.

[chromate]

I actually started by spending a silly amount on the dating-services.net domain name after a mad moment of excitement reading about how much other people were making! Spent a few hundred dollars on it, but figured that I needed the high keyword density to get anywhere as it's extremely competitive field. As it happens, that site has made me close to nothing so far! One day though... :)

My other sites are FAR more profitable. They only cost about $8 for a domain name and I still only spend $38 a month in total for all my hosting.

[michael_gersitz]

Started up two years ago almost to date. October 2002 sometime. Started on a free site, with no knowledge of anything. Found it by searching for free web host. Eventually figured out HTML. Then bought my first website hosting. Joined an affiliate program. Made a little money, built some sites, made some more money, made more sites.

[Emancipator]

This is a great thread, one of the best on this forum. I like hearing how everyone is doing. My initial investment, $50.00

I focused on content, and made back my money in about a week. Since then its being going all back into my site, promotion, goodies to give away to the readers, etc. I dont believe it takes money to make money, it takes drive and KNOWLEDGE.

Great thread

[michael_gersitz]

It takes drive and KNOWLEDGE and resources.

[Yoda]

I don't know what my initial investment was exactly...I started writing a baseball newsletter, threw up an archive with AOL's Personal Publisher, then moved to Tripod, then got a domain...it was gradual.

Of the sites I'm still running, the oldest started with $13.50 for the domain name (I think) and $160 for an owned vB license (back before 2.0, even). I think I was paying $15/month in hosting at the time, but I'm not sure. Beyond that, it was just time end effort.

[Westech]

Worst part is that I don't think I even have the money to make all the ideas I've had.

I've often thought the same thing. I have tons of great ideas floating through my head, but not nearly enough time and/or money to implement all of them.

Now if I could just find a way to sell ideas... Hmmm... Anyone want to buy some ideas? Obviously I can't tell you what they are until I receive payment, and all payments are nonrefundable. :p

[moonshield]

I know someone who would buy some ideas.

[Emancipator]

Anyone want to buy some ideas? Obviously I can't tell you what they are until I receive payment, and all payments are nonrefundable. :p


ROFL.. great one! Will you include swamp land?

[intelliot]

Westech - you could do a satisfaction guarantee. and once the first few honest buyers are making millions with ideas they got from you, their testimonials will bring other willing customers.

I started with the free hosting space AOL provides, then went to Freeservers, then Homestead, and from there, too many hosts to count. Back then I made websites with absolutely no intention of making any sort of money at all; it was a hobby and just for fun, something I spent money on, not earned with.

[James]

I went from wanting nothing but money (cough cough everyone here but me and maybe one or two others) to not wanting anything but to have a website I like and enjoy to update.

[Emancipator]

i did my site because i love the topic.. and i think that is key. Doing anything just for the dollar isnt really worth doing in my opinion. But then its not my job, its just a hobby.

[moonshield]

there is nothing wrong with wanting to make money. I enjoy developing sites also, to me it would be the perfect occupation, if I can live the lifestyle i desire, which is really not that much.

[Emancipator]

i dont think anybody would argue money making is bad.. lol. but i look at my webwork as a hobby not a living, as i said. My money is made in programming, my personal websites are just that, personal fun affairs.

[ozgression]

I look at my websites as investments. Investments which bring in ever-increasing amounts of steady residual income (once built) and allow me to focus on other things.
________
BMW M42 history (http://www.bmw-tech.org/wiki/BMW_M42)

[moonshield]

Websites are steady income?

Would you take out a loan for your car or house based on the income from your sites?

I have not been in long enough to tell how stable the market is but I do question the stability.

[Emancipator]

ozgression i agree with you.. that is how i would describe a website as well... because they do TEND to make a steady income.

[r2d2]

Mate had the idea of making a casino review site, so i messed around with that in 2003. Then started reading here and started making a few other sites. Dont have much time though as I work full-time anyway. (Am also doing an MSc part time now as well ;) ). Spent around $50 to start with, and make about that much a month now, but hosting is about $20.

[chromate]

I would say that if you have good diversity throughout your sites, then the revenue is stable enough. More stable than many ordinary forms of employment, where people are getting made redundant all over the place (at least here in the UK). The other point is that the potential is there to earn enough money to be able to put some aside, to cover the times when things do go wrong.

It's just like any other business really. But in many ways, I think web publishing can be more stable as it's easier to create many different revenue streams. Say a couple of your sites get dropped from google or their revenue drops suddenly, then it's not too much of a problem if you have several other sites still performing.

[Emancipator]

r2d2 I know a host that will host you for $5bucks a month. All the bells and whistles. If your interested drop me a line. I get nothing for saying this, they happen to host some of my sites and man am i pleased. You get bang for your buck.

[ozgression]

Websites are steady income?

Yep, my revenue is always increasing. Once I finish a site, I put it up, and let it grow. I then go on to complete more projects... and so on.

I have very low costs, so even if a month is slow (which hasnt happened in a while anyway), i can still survive.

Like Chromate said, in the real world, people are at the mercy of their employers. Businesses downsize, restructure, cut pay etc... all the time. This is something I don't have to worry about.


Would you take out a loan for your car or house based on the income from your sites?

Yes :) Just like other business owners do. Think of web development as just another business. There are self-emplyed people in all sorts of industries. They all own homes and cars. Why would web developers be any different?
________
Honda RC211V (http://www.honda-wiki.org/wiki/Honda_RC211V)

[Chris]

I got a loan for my house based solely on my web income.

I didn't know what to expect though, you always hear that they give you such a hard time when you cannot substantiate your income. It was in October of the previous year (14 months before I bought the house) that my income really took off, and due to the payment times I didn't receive the money until January or so. So I had only made maybe 24k that year (all from the web still) so when they asked for a prior tax return thats all I could show them. Plus I had 11k of expenses on that which made it even worse.

Of course since that time I had been pulling monthly revenue between 10 and 40k. Two days after I bought my house I got two checks that literally covered the entire down payment. So cash wasn't an issue, it was just a matter of making them believe in my income.

So the lady asked to see check stubs. Thanks to places like linkshare that don't consolidate payments I had hundreds. I don't recall the exact amount but so far this year I've received 280 some checks. So I'm trying to explain to the loan officer "You want my check stubs.... there are alot you understand right?" So I brought her the folder and waited while she copied them.

In the end they approved me for a $420k loan. I didn't need nearly that much though.

[Nick]

In the end they approved me for a $420k loan. I didn't need nearly that much though.

Yeah, but I would have done that same thing. It's important to leverage all the money you can.

[incka]

Back to topic:

If you are working at this 10 hours a day, 7 days a week and you could employ students who know html to update your sites I would say you could have hundreds of sites excluding datafeed, etc.

[r2d2]

You need to remember some free time though!

I remember my big day in April this year when I had 4 page views in one day! I havent looked back since :) Reassuring to hear that last post Chris, there was me thinking a lot of people on here have had instant success :) Also I guess a lot of people do this as a main occupation, I think I can probably average about 8 hours a week at web dev...

[Westech]

I'm in the same situation as you, r2. I'm working 40-50 hours a week, doing 6 hours of graduate work per semester, and running an (admittedly small) hosting business. Not to mention the time taken up by everyday chores like yardwork, grocery shopping, etc. I keep feeling that if I just had more time, I could really get some website revenue going.

I wish I had been able to get into this when I was Sean and Mike's age and had a lot more time to devote to it. Of course, when I was Sean and Mike's age maybe 2% of the population had Internet access and I was busy running my 2400 baud BBS!

[James]

Back off-topic...
I think I've figured out why I'm not making money: I spend too much time researching for general webmaster stuff (not that that won't come in handy) and very little time running the sites I have. I don't spend enough time on the things that will earn me money. I spend it on other things. And I don't have any AWS sites up. Can anyone think of any other reasons that could be why?

[Blue Cat Buxton]

Focus (or lack of it) is the problem I find I have. Westech and Tntcheats both allude to the same thing.

The months I focus on one aspect of a site I see better results than where I do a little here, a little there.

Hopefully I can find time to develop more sites but as I do, this problem will become worse (more sites, more distractions) until I can do this full time :)

[Emancipator]

i keep fighting the urge to do more sites... lol... I am working on a second related site that will suit my current site so keeping it "fresh" will be easy.

[incka]

Focus is one of my problems too... I spend too much time on forums and IMs. I need to spend more time developing, I have one major site I could complete today if I wanted to (but today I have another large target - try setting yourself targets with punishments for not completing and rewards for completing, I've started to do this and it really does work well).

[chromate]

I wish I had been able to get into this when I was Sean and Mike's age and had a lot more time to devote to it. Of course, when I was Sean and Mike's age maybe 2% of the population had Internet access and I was busy running my 2400 baud BBS!

I had a BBS too! I started it on a 1200 modem then upgraded to a USR 14,400 :) Never really got many users, but it was good fun though. I then dropped the idea of running my own and helped to run a multiline (10 lines) BBS called Virtual World as a sysop (lol). I used to spend hours playing multiplayer doom with other people :) Big phone bills! Amazingly, we even had a few female users.

...ahhh those were the days :)

But, when I think of all those missed oportunities as the internet was just kicking off.. Awch!!

[Westech]

Yeah, I remember laughing at the one kid in my high school C++ class who was trying to teach himself html. I kept saying, "why waste your time making crappy little pages with pictures and colored text when you could be learning to program and actually make some MONEY with your computer skills." Boy was I wrong on that one!

Oh, well. Anyone know where I can join a good Tradewars game? :D

[incka]

I got into HTML when I was about 10. I wish I had took the time to learn PHP and more programming languages, I could have saved so much money, and I wish I had spent more time doing this than playing Sim City 2000...


Things like that are still happening though - WAP will start to take off soon.

[James]

I got into HTML when I was 8.

Never learned PHP, etc. only use XHTML 1.0 Transitional and CSS 2.0 at the moment--as I hear that XHTML 1.1 Strict has a few issues with backwards compatability.

I've always been more into the design aspect than anything else. I think it's time for me to expand my horizons a bit, and learn some moer stuff.

Also, I don't have to fight the urge to make more sites: I don't even have enough money to make the ones I'm making right now as it is!
I need to get an AWS site up...

[Mike]

Got into HTML when I was about 12, got into basic php a few months after html. I don't really regret anything. Sure, I've perhaps played too many games this year, but hey, why shouldn't I?

[incka]

Time playing games is time wasted. You only get one chance at this life - Make the biggest impact on the world as possible.

[Westech]

You could also say, "You only get one chance at life - Have as much fun as possible."

I think it's probably best to find a happy medium between the two.

[moonshield]

focus seems to be key... i know i spend alot of time at forums when I could be developing... but the problem with myself, right now, is there is really not an immediate profit motive... my parents cant add me to their income because they would be pushed into the highest bracket (stupid taxes).

I guess I will wait till March for money. Until then I will develop many sites and when the time is right advertisements will be placed.... AWS stores will open. And maybe I will make a few dollars :)

My history with computers was that I learned Visual Basic when I was like 9 and I learned C++ when I was 11. HTML i really never did learn to a productive point. I do know Java and ASP scripting. I dont really know any PHP.

[Mike]

You could also say, "You only get one chance at life - Have as much fun as possible."


Exactly :)

[incka]

Stupid Taxes? Do you realise it is those taxes that pay for your education? Do you realise that it is those taxes that pay for your healthcare (oh, your in the usa, sorry I forgot). Do you realise that if it wasn't for those taxes there probably wouldn't be any world wide web today?

'Happy medium' - That is what most of the population would say, and you know what, they never make anything of their lives. 100 years after there death no one will remember them and the world won't have changed much because of them.

[moonshield]

i go to private school and I have private health insurance... er im not saying all taxes are bad but 35% of my money going to the federal government is bad. Healthcare like you said is not existent. I have no problem with some of my money going to taxes.

I am libertarian and I believe the only purpose of government should be to protect its people. We are not supposed to discuss politics here so I wont say anymore about that.

In the United States, if you make over a certain amount (i think is is 100,000+) you have to pay over 35% to the federal government. And that is just the fed. Another several percents go to local and state governments. In effect basically half of one's income goes to the government.

[Kyle]

incka, but people will remember you.
You have graced humanity with 4dictionary.com, and games2go.co.uk.
We are so lucky.

Many people succeed in that happy medium.

[r2d2]

An awful lot will have enjoyed their lives though. Having fun with friends and family etc, not sat in their bedroom staring at a screen 16 hours a day.

Some would say whats the use trying to make the world remember you when you wont be here to see it.

Most people do what they enjoy. Some people enjoy watching TV. Some people enjoy horse riding, some people enjoy making money with websites. Luckily we all enjoy different things. If everyone made websites, there would be no one out looking at our websites.

I think the key is to work hard, play hard. Everyone needs a break. You will work much more efficiently after taking a break rather than trying to do 8hrs straight.

[Kyle]

incka, I have more to add...

You have made statements how you will be the Rupert Murdoch of web publishing, and that a few hundred thousand dollars a year is not enough for you.

It is my opinion, that your opinions on acquiring wealth and generalizing about people on this happy medium are very disturbing. Many people thrive on this happy medium. And are more successful in other ways than you or I will ever be.

[moonshield]

Television screws us all! Turn it off and life would be better!

TV i never really get into, but if Family Guy is on or something I watch for several hours and it drains my mind. I have to relearn to breathe after watching TV. I have HDTV too, so sports keep me in for several hours on sunday. I would like to rid myself of TV but it has hold of me.

[moonshield]

success is indeed realitive.

One of my friend's parents went to MIT and Harvard and they have several millions. My friend feels pressured to live up to that. Success will only come to him, he thinks when he has made more then them.

Success to one of my other friends would just be getting through college and getting a decent job.

Success seems to totally be a realitive thing.

[incka]

I don't think I've mentioned much about acquiring wealth. I've never wanted a life of luxuries. My problem is I see that billions of people in the world aren't doing much to push the human race forward, OK, website publishing is not going to do much but consider my age. The more money I can make now the more I have when I am older to help push civilisation forward. I don't see what is important about personal happiness myself also. A person is insignificant in relation to the human race.

[Kyle]

thepoorman, thanks for your continued statements on success.

Success often gets redefined when 2 people have a child. Some people become wonderful parents and channel all their efforts towards parenting their kid.

This is not the case for me. Currently have no interest in having children. Just thought I'd bring up families and then also mention spiritual growth.

[incka]

I know political discussion is banned, however I just can't understand your views that are close to anarchist thepoorman.

[Mike]

I don't think you realise that some taxes are stupid though Sean, take inheritance as a perfect example.

[moonshield]

how bout the income tax... In my opinion the most stupid tax of all

[chromate]

Mike's right. Tax isn't a stupid per se, but the way it's implemented quite often is.

(we really haven't managed to keep this thread on topic have we! lol)

[Shawn]

Chromate, check your PMs.

[moonshield]

lol... lets move it back to topic or move it to general chat

I plan on having 5 sites by the end of this year and 10 by the end of 2005. I hope I can manage them all. I will have an AWS related to each one in some way.

[chromate]

I don't see what is important about personal happiness myself also. A person is insignificant in relation to the human race.

These two statements conflict with each other in my view.

You consider yourself part of the human race, right? (I hope you do anyway!) If you also consider that the happiness of the human race is important, then by effect personal happiness is also important.

Just to add a little saying (Yoko Ono!): For a forest to be truly green, then every tree in that forest must also be green.

[incka]

I don't think you realise that some taxes are stupid though Sean, take inheritance as a perfect example.


Inheritance tax should be 100%. I hate inheritance. It gives money to the undeserving.

[chromate]

You're starting to sound like a troll :)

Firstly, the deceased's money has already been taxed. Secondly, the people that will inherit are obviously seen as "deserving" in the eyes of the deceased.

[incka]

But not in the eyes of society. Do you believe that Prince Charles really deserves to inherit the throne?

[chromate]

Yes, in the eye's of society. Since society would like inheritance tax reduced or abolished.

The monarchy's quite a different matter, because it is "owned" by society.

[incka]

Society should realise that inheritance gives people an unfair advantage in like just because of their parents, and therefore does not stand for one of the key principals of democracy - equal by birth.

[Shawn]

Sean, you are brainwashed by something or somebody.

[michael_gersitz]

I leave this thread for three pages and... don't even know whats going on here..

[Blue Cat Buxton]

I leave this thread for three pages and... don't even know whats going on here..

Yeah, something really kicked off :D

[r2d2]

Sean, you are brainwashed by something or somebody.

I agree. Im afraid your comments do appear to suggest that you have been told these things by someone. People obviously arent equal by birth, some have rich, intelligent, good looking parents. Others have parents who spend as much time as they can with them but cant always buy them what they want. Some people have parents who dont care at all. Should we all have standard parents?

You comments do remind me of communism now I think about it.

[moonshield]

i know some wealthy people, they are really not that bad... once you get to know them :)

How about we get back to the topic 'max. number of sites' before the topic becomes a flame fest.

Politics should be left to the bloggers.

(Speaking of blogs on politics... i am soon going to start a political soapbox blog... for my path of world domination)

[Westech]

'Happy medium' - That is what most of the population would say, and you know what, they never make anything of their lives. 100 years after there death no one will remember them and the world won't have changed much because of them.

I'll overlook the fact that a 15 year old child on a power trip because he's having some mild success copying someone else's strategies and ideas from a website he stumbled across just stated that myself, Mike, and probably the majority of people who read this will never make anything of our lives. Instead of getting angry, I'll take your age and lack of experience into consideration and simply present you with something to consider:

My grandfather recently passed away, and while no one may remember his name in 100 years, the world is certainly changed because of him. He raised three children who raised seven grandchildren, all of whom share his values and beliefs because of the way he raised them and impacted their lives. He did this by taking the time to play with his children and grandchildren, talking to them, telling them stories, and teaching them valuable life lessons. They in turn will pass this on to their children and the cycle will continue; each of them changing the world by making a positive impact in the lives of those they leave behind.

I know I have many great stories about my grandpa that I will be passing on to my children. What stories will your grandchildren tell about you if you continue with the attitude displayed in your quote above? "Well I didn’t see him much because he was on the computer all the time. He sure did have a lot of websites in his signature, though."

[moonshield]

My grandfather recently passed away, and while no one may remember his name in 100 years, the world is certainly changed because of him. He raised three children who raised seven grandchildren, all of whom share his values and beliefs because of the way he raised them and impacted their lives. He did this by taking the time to play with his children and grandchildren, talking to them, telling them stories, and teaching them valuable life lessons. They in turn will pass this on to their children and the cycle will continue; each of them changing the world by making a positive impact in the lives of those they leave behind.


Wow That is deep. Sorta like my own grandfather.

[Nick]

I don't think I've mentioned much about acquiring wealth. I've never wanted a life of luxuries. My problem is I see that billions of people in the world aren't doing much to push the human race forward, OK, website publishing is not going to do much but consider my age. The more money I can make now the more I have when I am older to help push civilisation forward. I don't see what is important about personal happiness myself also. A person is insignificant in relation to the human race.

Why is it important that the human race be pushed forward? And what direction is forward any ways. If you get away from maps and man made notions, you see that all directions in the universe are equal. To go forward you must first go backward, and vice versa. It's like the crest and the trough of a wave. They are inseparable. No one ever saw a crest without a trough or a trough without a crest. Just like you'll never encounter a person with a front and no back, or a back and no front. Just as you'll never encounter a coin with a heads but no tails. And although the crest and the trough, heads and tail, and a front and a back are different, they are at the same time one.

It is important to realize that what may be explicitly two can at the same time be implicitly one. If you forget that, very funny things happen. If therefore that black and white are inseparable. And that existence is the equivalent of being and non-being, then we get scared. And we have to play a game called "uh oh, black might win." And once we get into the fear that black might win, then we are compelled to play the game, "But white -must- win." And from that starts all our troubles.

So the real question is, "Is it serious?". Is existence serious? Is the human race serious? It's like when you ask a doctor when he's looking at your X-ray, "Doctor, is it serious?"

My personal opinion is that existence is playful. There is no purpose for it, whatsoever. It's not going anywhere. In other word, there's no destination that it ought to arrive at. Life is like a dance or a musical. In music, one doesn't make the end of the composition the point of the composition. If that were the case, the best conductors would be those who played the fastest. Same way with dancing. You don't aim to a particular spot in the room, and that's where you should arrive. The whole point of the dance is to dance.

But we don't see that as something brought to us in our everyday education. We have an entirely different system. Everything is graded. First a child goes to kindergarten. And thats a great thing, because once you finish that you get into first grade. First grade leads to second grade and so on. Then you get out of grade school, and into high school. And the thing is coming, it's revving up. Then it's on to college, and then graduate school. And when your through with that, you go out to join the world. Then you get into some job where your selling insurance. And you have a quota to make, and you gotta make that. And all this time, that thing is coming. It's coming, it's coming. That great thing, that success your working for.

Then you wake up some day about 40 years old and you say, my god, I've arrived. I'm there. And there's a slight let down because you don't feel any different than you've ever felt. Because you feel that there was a hoax. And it was a hoax. A dreadful hoax that made you miss everything by expectation.

Look at the people who live to retire. They put those savings away every year, just to retire when there 65. And by that time they have no energy, they're more or less impotent. And they just go rot away in some senior citizen's home. Because they simply cheated themselves the whole way down the line.

We think of life as a journey which has a serious purpose at the end. The point is to get to that end. Whether it's success or heaven after your dead, or whatever it might be. But, we miss the point the whole way along. Life is a musical thing, and your supposed to sing or dance while the music is being played.

[James]

Just as you'll never encounter a coin with a heads but no tails.
What about the ones with both sides being heads?

I don't quite understand much about your post, Nick; however, I do agree that existence is meaningless and there is no meaning of life but to live and not think of it past that, or else you'll be wasting the precious time it consists of.

And Westech, if there's anything I've learned in life, it is not to underestimate the young. When one may seem dumb at one moment, they could show themselves to be brilliant at another. When someone hears a programmer is 13 years old they think him to be an idiot--then when they see that he can create a professional well-coded CMS in a matter of hours and knows a handfull of other languages, they learn that while he may only be 13, he understands it--he's a natural, and he's really quite brilliant in general. I've seen several brilliant and young people on various forums I frequent.

[Westech]

I realize that a person's age doesn't necessarily reflect their talents or abilities. I was just upset by incka's comments that anyone who doesn't buy into his "all work and no play" philosophy will lead a meaningless, insignificant life. That said, I was being a little harsh. I like Sean and truly do respect him for his dedication to his goals. Anyone who goes back and looks at how much he's learned and accomplished over the last year would feel the same way.

[paulfitz]

I currently have about 12 (8 of which need updating badly hehe).

I think I'll cut it at 20 content sites. However there is no reason to limit the number of self-updating affiliate sites.

(ignoring the semi-political debate)

[Shawn]

You could always just have one massive site and concentrate all your efforts at that.

Diversity is good in case your SERP drops all of a sudden, but if you have a strong recurring community at the site, you wouldn't need to worry.