I’ll start this post by saying, I’ve been using the internet since CompuServ. Ok, so compared to some of you who have been using the internet since the BBS days and text based multi-player Star Wars games, this might not seem like that long ago. Anyways, during the dot com boom, even though I was only 14 years old, I caught the entrepreneurial bug like so many others. My claim to fame is that I created iTunes before there was ever an iTunes, Joost before there was ever a Joost, and Facebook before there was ever a Facebook. Seriously!

In 1998, I started my first internet business, a Hypermart page selling ‘backup’ copies of music CDs. The page had a list of songs from which the consumer could create a custom playlist to be burnt to CD and shipped straight to the consumer’s door. This was before there was hardware MP3 players (For those interested, the first hardware MP3 player was released in the summer of 1998)! We received 1 order, and the customer submitted a fake credit card number. The site had the worst page design ever, and no audience at all other than five of my closest friends. Failure. Now, there is iTunes!

In 2002, I started a second company called Dreamix. The project started as an open source DVR software platform for the Microsoft Xbox and in time turned into open source DVR software on proprietary hardware. Being open source, we leveraged current existing open source software to allow for live TV streaming over the internet, in addition to recording live cable/sattellite TV like your Tivo. Dreamix actually raised seed capital and got Slashdotted! Once we developed a proof of concept Dreamix quickly turned into vaporware and fell apart. Failure. Now, there is Joost!

In 2003, I launched a college social website, with pictures, videos and a forum for student discussion and interaction. This website was slightly more successful because by this point in time the number of visitors quadrupled because by five closest friends turned into twenty when I went to college. Also, I made about $12 in AdSense earnings. However, none of my friends ever interacted or exchanged pictures on the site. Failure. Now, there is Facebook!

Each of these businesses had one thing in common, they were started in the basement, with no view of the outside world.

I have since gone to college, succeeded in getting a degree and found my niche in internet and search marketing. Throughout college I researched like crazy, reading every possible article I could find on the internet marketing field and subscribed to numerous forums so I could interact with professional search marketers to get additional perspectives on topics related to the industry.

I’ve also taken the time to meet face to face with entrepreneurs and go on interviews even if I wasn’t interested in taking the jobs, just to interact with people and get a different perspective on the industry. In doing so, I’ve started to taste success.

Before I ever graduated from college I was hired by a search marketing company. Additionally, I have since started developing personal interactive side projects which are profitable, as well as doing freelance client work on the side.

The moral of the story is, unless you get out of the basement and start networking and learning from professionals in your industry, you will be hard pressed to find success. It is important to make connections, meet people you can turn to for advice, and get your face out of your 24″ monitor on occassion.

So, get out of ‘the basement’ and get yourself an office with a view!