I’ve always been fascinated with technology. It changes what we think is possible. It’s magical and I knew from early on I wanted to be a part of that: creating technology that wows and excites people; that changes lives.
The very first time I thought about what I wanted to be when I grow older, was an inventor, which, after exploring other options, came back to something more specific like electrical or mechanical engineering.
After high school however, I, on suggestion from my sister, decided to study IT. I’m not sure what I was expecting exactly, all I knew was that I would be studying computers and it would lead me into a career where I could create all sorts of fascinating and life changing computer technologies.
It wasn’t exactly what I expected, as everything was more software oriented, but I loved it nevertheless. I was creating something, computer programs, from nothing and that added value to peoples lives. It wasn’t great, life changing things, but it was something and I’d created it. In the latter years of high school I had tinkled around with our old computer at home, but when I went to college, I took messing around with our home computer to a whole new level. It was fascinating, challenging and sometimes frustrating.

Anyways after 3 years at college, I went to work at a retail company doing technical support. Not exactly the software programming I had studied, but something I loved doing nevertheless and was more than good at. While working full-time I had enrolled and studied my honors in IT for 2 years part-time.

After working in technical support for 2 years, I was beginning to get tired of it. Thinking back to what originally I wanted to be doing, I wasn’t doing it. I wasn’t even utilizing any of the knowledge I learned in college. Most of the stuff I was doing I had learned while messing around with my computer at home. I wasn’t programming, creating new software programs that make peoples lives easier, changing the way people work and live.

I quite my job to do web development. I had, during my time at college, been introduced to some very basic website development. I had also started a little website project with two class mates, tourguide.co.za, which I helped develop and maintain while still working full-time and studying part-time.

I enjoyed web development, since it allowed me to express more creativity, while still remaining challenging, and it also meant creating something that added value to people’s lives.
After doing freelance web development for about a year for some small companies and continuing to develop and maintain tourguide.co.za with rafiq and craig, my college mates and business partners, I realized tourguide.co.za wasn’t just wasn’t working as well as I’d hoped. Rafiq’s mother, a driving school owner and instructor, suggested we try take what we’d developed for tourguide.co.za and try it for driving schools, and so after a little while iDRIVE.co.za was born and was getting a lot better response. We submitted it to the National Innovation Competition at our college, same as we did with tourguide.co.za the year before, and came in first place and awarded R50 000, which was desperately needed as we were seriously low on cash.

So anyways now, nearly 2 years later, myself and Rafiq are running iDRIVE.co.za, doing freelance web development on the side to pay the bills and blogging along the way, which now also pays some bills.
However, looking at my life now, I’m still nowhere close to where I’d like to be and I’ve come to realize that developing websites for other people doesn’t interest me, as all my hard work only benefits that one business/person. It’s like building a rocket, but not getting to fly into space with it. I want to not only build the rocket, but I also want to fly into space with it, and enjoy it. I’ve since evolved the web developer view of myself to web entrepreneur, as I’m more interested in developing a businesses using my previous IT and Web experience, than mere web development.
Business in any form is a way more fascinating animal. It speaks directly to people, rather than web development, that only speaks of the technical/creative aspect of creating a website or application.

From the VeloCITI Business Acceleration Program that afiq and myself entered into to help us grow our iDRIVE.co.za business into profitable machine, I’ve learned a lot, not only about business, but also about myself.
All successful businesses are dependent on successful people, so to have a successful business you need to sort yourself out first.

I’ve also come to realize that to fulfill my dream of creating technologies that change peoples lives, but at the same time get to ‘fly my rocket into space’ and have the creative freedom I want, being a successful entrepreneur is what I need to be. I can’t create everything myself. I need to be smart and get the right people to help me change the world.

And so, I decided the topic of my blog from now on is going to be personal development for web entrepreneurs.
I don’t aim to preach, hell, a lot of the time I’d probably be wrong, but I want to just share some of my thoughts and things I’ve learned, and learn from you all reading this, about personal development, coming from the perspective of a web entrepreneur.

This post has been kinda rough and I apologize. One of the things on my personal development mental to-do list is to write more often and hone my writing craft. I not only want to be a better writer, but also a better story teller, which I think is important.

Anyways, cheers, until later.