As my brother put it, this seems very ghetto. Nonetheless it was a decision I made. I hate it when people drag out a story so I wont do that. Here’s the skinny, I bought a server instead of replacing my 35 year old air conditioning. Yes, I live in SC. And yes, today the high got up to 93 degrees. And the temp inside my house got up to 90 degrees.

I can’t do anything when it’s that hot besides go swimming. It is very humid in SC. I spent over an hour sitting and nibbling my food at my favorite middle-eastern restaraunt because it was nice and cool in there. I love that place. They only accept cash. So I’m sure they’re using the profits to buy rocket-launchers or something. But the customers are cool and chatty (even though 50% of them speak a language other than english). The staff is a mix of Israeli, Iranian, and USA-nian) .

Okay, so my AC. Yea, It’s almost 6am and it’s only 80 degrees in my office. Well it’s actually probably 83 degrees. I keep spraying myself with a water spray bottle (for ironing) and it cools me down. So I thought I’d spray my alarm clock (that has a temperature readout on it) to see if it would wick away the heat from the plastic. Sure enough, it did!

 Cool see, I bet ya’ll people with AC would have never figured that out! But then who cares, right?

 So anyways, I got nothing done today. I read a lot of articles on the Internet. I think that’s my entertainment. I don’t watch TV. But I still waste time reading about technical things that don’t really have much impact on the bottom line.

I actually watched an entire 70 minute talk by Linus Torvalds about the source control solution he wrote called ‘git’. I found it very informative. It was on YouTube and most people were complaining about what a poor public speaker he is and how condecending he is. But once you get past that his talk was very intrigueing.

 Anyways, I am definately going to get my AC fixed. Fortunately after this weekend the temp drops about 10 degrees. So it will be crisp 80 in here. ;-( ARG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I get to see Adrianne tomorrow. That rocks. I can’t wait to _iss those pretty lips. She’s so awesome. She definately rocks my world. Hey, I’m 29.

Well, a few days ago I finished the migration of all of my hosted services to my own server. Yes folks, my very own server. Not a virtual server in somebody’s datacenter somewhere. My own machine, connected to my own T1 on my own router with my very own DNS server. The only services I pay for now are my T1 and my domain registrar.

It’s interesting because as I was about 2/3rds through my migration my web host informed me that they had lost the database for my oldest database-driven website. 6 years of data – gone! I could never accept that it was really gone. It just wouldn’t sink in. So since the database was destroyed what was keeping me from just migrating that site over to my new server? Nothing really. That website (and a handfull of satelite sites that ran off of the same db) was the last on the list to migrate. But all of a sudden, it became the most important one.

I got it all migrated over. It ran lightling fast compared to the performance at the old web host (as did every site I migrated). I called my web host to get the last backup they had (which they said was over a year old). When they were preparing to FTP the backup to me they realized what happened to the other one. The data and log files were named backwards (their fault). My data was not lost after all. They were just careless. So they FTP’d my database to me. I promptly attached it to my own DB server. Now that site was fully migrated over to my new server and no data was lost after all.  Whew! I felt safe and sound that my site was now running 100% out of my very own datacenter.

Over the next week or two I finished migrating all other websites, databases and email accounts over. The final step was to install a webmail solution for some of my clients that only use webmail for the email they have hosted with me (not Outlook, etc.).  Ahhhh . . . . What a nice feeling.

I received delivery of the custom-built server in February. I spent the next few months on the good ol’ learning curve. The hardest part for me was the one that I thought would be the simplest. Pop3 and SMTP. My problems all had to do with the fact that there is no way that SMTP can authenticate against POP3’s encrypted password file. I read every Google article that contained every combination of the words “Microsoft Server 2003 POP3 SMTP encrypted password file 550.5.7.1″ and others. The main problem is that most people are simply running Exchange. So most advise was specific to Exchange. The only idea that was feasible was to use an idea that did not seem ideal to me. In the end I needed a webmail solution so I bought and installed SmarterMail.  I am now running all SMTP & POP3 off of that. Everything now runs exactly as I envisioned it running.

Here’s a photo of my migration checklist from my infamous whiteboard complete with a list of skills that I had to learn to get it all done.

 Yes folks, it feels very good. Pro Net Labs Ltd. can now offer not only our software development services but also a number of hosting services. I’m more motivated to get on the ball and develop the content for the new company website now.

 Sorry I haven’t blogged in a while. I intend to put my thoughts on here more often. Thanks for checking in!

Well, this is really just a post about the state of my biz. So if that bores you don’t say I didn’t warn you. ;o)

So now I have my corporate entities established. “DTF Corp. Inc.” is my parent company. “Pro Net Labs, LLC.” is my child company. I may add a child company just for my ConvenientClassifieds biz. But I don’t need to now. It’s too small and not really a candidate for needing it’s own entity.

 I’ve now got my own official data center now. I’ve got a T1 with my own state-of-the-art server. I’ve got my townhouse wired with Cat-5 on a gigabit switch. I’ve got 4 land lines and a Motorola Q cell phone. My laptop has an air-card. I’ve got several clients keeping in touch with me every week.

Someday I’m going to miss this. I really need to soak it in and enjoy it. I work about 15-20 hours a week. I make 2-3 times as much as I did in my last corporate job. I wake up whenever I want to. I stay up as long as I want to. I go on vacations whenever I want and stay as long as I want. I go on 2+ hour lunch with friends on a moment’s notice. I really do. This is no exaggeration.

I wash my Xterra in the middle of the day because I feel like it. All of the parking spaces in my townhouse complex are empty. They’re all at work. Not me. It’s 2:10pm and I just woke up and got my shower. I got done with my shower and thought to myself, “What do I feel like doing?” “Yea, I’ve got some code I could write, but I don’t feel like writing right now.” “My X needs a bath. Yea, I’ll do that.” I strap on my iPod and dial up my favorite tunes and wash the X. It’s as shiny as a penny now. Wheels all glossy, curves glistening. Best of all, the licence plate reads, “Pro Net”! Yea baby!

I’m jumping on a plane Saturday, going snowboarding with my bud R in Snowshoe, WV. They’ve got fresh natural snow and we’re spending 3 days skiing and lodging in one of the chalet’s at the top of the slopes. I’m actually going to be on vacation for 5 days spending the first and last days chillin’ in D.C.

When it comes to Daryl’s universe, this is the life! The only thing missing is a chic to chill out with and explore the world. Hey, I’m working on it. Chicks aren’t easy to figure out. Plus they like the corporate job types. Most of them don’t realize how much more secure the successfully self-employed type are. But at least I’ve got the free-time to date whenever I find one that strikes my fancy.

I’m 29. Honestly I thought I’d be married by now. But I’m glad I’m getting “set” in my biz. When I date now I’m confident that the girl will clearly see what I intend to be. I couldn’t have said that a year ago. I’ll admit that I’ve been slacking on my aspirations to become a multi-millionaire via the stock market. That realization has been sinking in lately. I haven’t lost sight of that goal. Make no mistake, software-dev is fun. But my primary biz goal is financial independence.

 So it’s 2:48am and I’m feeling sleepy. So I think I’ll catch some Zs now. K?

Well, today was another good day. I put in an order for a hefty server. It’s a sweet custom-built machine. My needs have grown to the point where I can’t rent shared servers anymore. I need more bandwidth, more control, more services and more features. I’m dying to tell the world the specs on the machine. Ready? It’s a four-core dual-processor Intel Xenon machine. It’s got 8Gb of ram and 8 hard drives for a total of 1.5Tb of fully redundant disk space. It will run Windows Server 64-bit OS. I’ll be running my own email server, web server, SQL server as well as a few other servers.

This will knock down a couple of roadblocks to development ideas I’ve had. I couldn’t do certain things because my hosting environment restricted that type of usage. But now I’ll truly have full control. The fact is that I run a web software development company. Everything I develop requires a server to run on. So it’s really a central requirement to my biz. Plus, this server will generate monthly/yearly recurring revenue. I’ve already got 2 more clients in the pipeline waiting for me to get it online so they can host with me.

As I was saying, my current solution leaves much to be desired. Email goes down, websites go down occasionally, the processor is slow, the bandwith is inadequate and the server resides in Australia. Which means that every web page request has to be sent to the other side of the planet and back. Most of my customers are in Greenville and the south east. So this will provide a much better response time overall for every web page load. I can’t wait to see how much faster my websites are!

Well anyway, I was looking at one of the websites I use that contains templates and examples of different website layouts. One thing struck me, most of the male businessman models look like they are about 45 years old. There’s just something about a 45 year old man that just looks professional and credible. Just think, when I’m 45 I’ll have 25 years of experience in my field. I can say that my company has been in the business for a quarter century. That’s some pretty solid credibility. That’s only 16 years away. Ouch! That doesn’t seem that far away.

By that time I hope that I’ll have a well-developed network of friends and biz collegues. I’d like to have a hot wife and some kids too. Gotta get a hot girl! Girls are way more complicated than business. I wish you could just save up and buy the one you want.

Haha! Oh no my friend. They can’t be bought. At least with money. Tears, embarrassment, nervousness and many sleepless nights - that’s how you get a girl. Now, how to keep a girl? I haven’t figured that out yet. I’ve got some friends who actually married their girl. They’ve got one up on me.

Oh well. As far as guys go, I am a very free man. I can do whatever I like, whenever I like. So I’ll enjoy it while I can.

Oh yea, this post was supposed to have something to do with “growing seeds”. Yea, well that’s just about me buying servers and stuff that will help me grow my biz. Anyways.

Well, I was inspired about a half an hour ago. I wanted to write about something. But I can’t remember what it was now. But I’m still typing because maybe it will come to me as I type. Hmmm. . . . What was it? Oh I don’t know. Wait . . .

Okay, so here’s something cool to talk about. Today was an interesting day. Nice and lazy. I went to the gym and practiced r-ball and worked out some.  Then it was about 9:45p when I decided to check my mobular phone for missed calls. Sure enough 3 missed calls. Long story short I spent the next 5 hours talking with one person who wants me to go into biz with him and another current client who also wants me to go into biz with him. I also increased my hourly rate and my rush rate with that client.

What can I say folks? Once you step out of the corporate arena your potential just skyrockets. My situation is even cooler than that. I’m always self-conscious about coming across as a nerd. But I’m coming to realize that people who want to do biz with me are entertaining various ideas that parlay on my technical skills but really capitalize on my business/management skills. These people see me as a business person. Not just a programmer.

Things are moving so fast now. The pace is staggering. In the corporate world you are motivated by that yearly 4% pay increase (and not getting fired or layed off before then). In the entrepreneurial world you laugh at 4%. If something only generates 4% it doesn’t even get on the radar screen.

It is so flattering when people want to not just send me business but want me to be their biz partner. They feel that my biz skills are worth enough to make me second only to them in their own business. Or in some cases, they want me to completely run the biz and only give them a small stake in it.

So now my problem is not how to make a buck. But which businesses I want to be part of and which I should turn down. Some complement what I currently do and love. Some are completely new areas of expertise. I’m like a kid in a candy shop. I’m surrounded by delicious candy. I wish I had bigger pockets!

Wow, I had a very relaxing holiday season this year. It was so nice to take 2 weeks off with no fear that I was burning up all of my vacation! I just really relaxed. I told my friend R at the end of our NY trip I felt like I was in vacation mode. Sometimes it seems like it takes about a week to forget about work and just enjoy relaxing. Know what I mean?

Boy, looking back on 2006 I realize that some things didn’t end up happening as quickly as I had hoped. I still don’t have my Real Estate license. I passed the class. And the form to sign up for the test is sitting in my office. But I haven’t scheduled the test yet. Arg! One of my smaller 2006 goals sort of became irrelevant as new opportunities sprung up. But I think the fact that I quit the corporate world (which wasn’t on my list of goals for 2006) more than makes up for the things that I didn’t accomplish. I hate justifying it like that. But I do think it’s true.

Sometimes better opportunities pop up and you decide to exchange persuits that are less profitable for the new ones. That’s okay. You aren’t “giving up” on the less profitable ones. You’re just replacing them with better options. You’re just making your “success portfolio” richer. That’s smart.

Over the holiday a new thought occurred to me. I think I mentioned it briefly before here. But it really sunk in over the past couple of weeks. It’s the concept that I am a biz builder. I want to have my own collection of companies that I’ve built and run. I don’t care what kind of company it is (well, you know what I mean). I’m not limited to a software development company. I can learn any skill. It’s an interesting application of my “jack of all trades” tendency. Once I master something I get bored with it. I want a new challenge.

Right now I have my hands into 3 distinct fields. Software development, stock market and mortgage lending. This year will be different than any other of the past 10 years of my life. This year I will not make the majority of my money from doing technical work. My mortgage brokering biz will eclipse software development revenues this year. At least that’s how it looks now. I’ll keep some soft dev work going on the side. It’ll be a good backup plan, so to speak. But I’m going to push hard this year.

I don’t even have a clear plan yet. Probably because I’m in this stage where I’ve blasted off but I’m not sure how fast or high my rocket can go yet. I guess a good goal would be to just Hang on for dear life!

Well, a couple days ago I decided that I was going to have to drop the Mortgage Broker biz. Guess what? I’m not dropping it. Yea, did you really think I was going to leave half a mil/yr on the table? Well, I did. So I wouldn’t blame you if you did too.

I’ve got a buddy that I’ve talked biz with for years now. And we tentatively worked out a great deal that fulfills some of his major life goals and fits beautifully into my plans too. So I really think it’s going to work. I’m excited about it.

Also, I’ve all but inked another deal with a new client. This first project is a new web app. If it is successful it will lead to further upgrade projects in the future. It’ll probably be a 2 week project that’ll earn me about a month and a half of Rubbermaid pay. Plus the client is a good friend and will be great to work with!

Keep it comin’ baby! The biz just keeps clickin’ along! Somebody once said, “If you want to go, let go.” That’s been very true in my experience. You never know what opportunities you’ll be able to grasp if you have a wide open schedule, few committements and the right attitude. The world will be yours for the taking. And you will take. And your life will never be the same. Every day will be new. Every day you’ll feel free. If you need to work hard it’s only because you’ve got clients. Contratulations! If you don’t need to work at all, it’s because you’ve got freedom. Contratulations! If you take on a new opportunity it’s because you have the confidence that you’ll be able to handle it. If you take on new risk, it’s because you have the guts to do what most people wouldn’t consider. If you try something and fail guess what? You learned something that risk-averse people will never learn. You’re more bold now. You know that failing won’t kill you. And that you can get back up. Risk-averse people think that they’ll never be able to recover. And, in truth, they probably wouldn’t ever let themselves. But you’ll get back in the game again.

You’ve got to love the game. I remember my soccer days. I just loved wiping out in the mud. Getting kicked in the shins. The messier the better. The more sore I was the next day the more I loved the game. I’m afraid that my obsession with business is turning out just the same way. I want to have the whole range of business experiences thrown at me. I’ll get knocked down, knocked out, set back. But I’m just like a ping pong ball in a pool. I’ll just keep popping back up ready for more.

I remember when I first told my parents that I was quitting Rubbermaid. They didn’t try to stop me. But my mom’s reaction was basically, “I’m glad you’re getting it out of your system now before you’re married.” I think she half thought that I was just throwing out a crazy idea to see what reaction it would get.  But when I sat down at the kitchen table with my laptop and started excitedly typing out my resignation letter she said, “Well, I guess you’re serious, huh?” Yep. I sure was. In fact I couldn’t wait to put in my “2 weeks notice.” I felt like a kid before Christmas. I just couldn’t wait for the day that I walked out of that company with nothing to hold onto but my hopes and plans.

When my boss came into my cubicle at the end of the workday (3 days before the actual 2 weeks was up) and announced that he would escort me out of the building because it was my last day I wanted to jump out of my seat and shout for joy! We walked out of the building and over to my Xterra. He wished me the best and said that he knew I would do well. I jumped into the X and drove away. For the first time in my working life I was without a job and didn’t have another one lined up either. That was July 14 2006.

My 4 month aniversary is in 4 days. I’ll be on a jet plane flying at 35,000ft headed toward Washington, DC to visit my good buddy R for several days. Then I’ll come back home and relax for a few days before leaving again to spend a couple weeks with my family in Myrtle Beach. Basically 3 solid weeks of vacation.

So, do I miss the corporate world?

Well I’m considering dropping the one biz that is getting dropped in my lap complete with a guaranteed clientele. The mortgage broker biz. The reason is that I believe it will consume almost all of my time. I won’t be left with any time to pursue my Pro Net Labs goals or the stock market. The stock market is my #1 goal. And if I can’t follow the market closely then I’ll never make it. I am really enjoying my PNL biz. I love writing code. My code systems are slick and I want to keep developing them to become better and better. I make good money at my PNL biz and it’s the one thing I’ve been at long enough and am confident at that I can call myself the President of PNL and I’ve got the credibility to go with the title. Everybody who knows me knows I’m a programmer. And what can I say, I love software development.

Nobody reaizes I have the inside track on Real Estate. And I’m really fine with that. Real Estate is the one thing I’ll be a secret expert on. I’ll also be a secret expert on the stock market. I always tell people that my biz is software development with PNL. I’d just love it if everybody thought I was a business genious because I’ve earned tons of money running my software company. In reality, most of my money will come from the stock market and from a bit of Real Estate. But nobody will know that I’m into that. So they’ll figure that I got it all from my PNL biz.

And hopefully my PNL biz will prosper. It already has. PNL is my biz that I start from the ground up. It will grow mostly by word-of-mouth . I’ll build a biz from scratch and learn all of the lessons the hard way, like most successful bizmen do. I love that though. There’s nothing like being in the trenches and toughing out all the aspects of starting your own company.

The mortgage broker company would work out well if I wanted to go for that. I’m practically getting a $400k/yr biz handed to me on a silver platter. All I have to is get trained by a guy totally willing to train me. Then after about a year I’ll be on my own making mad cash off of Real Estate in Greenville, Columbia and Charleston. But, yes. I think I’m going to let that go.

In 5 years I’ll look back and remember the $400k/yr opportunity that I had in the palm of my hand. What will I think of it then? Will I regret that I didn’t grasp it? Or will I be so glad that I didn’t let it get in the way of my stock market skills and PNL? Who knows. Only time will tell. But that’s what’s awesome about having 100% control of your career. I may look back and decide that it was a mistake. But that was a choice that **I** made. I can’t be bitter toward a boss who didn’t pick me for a promotion. I will learn from it and know that if the opportunity ever presents itself again I have 100% control to make the better choice this time.

And if I decide to take up a similar opportunity in the future I’ll have the added experience of building PNL from the ground up. I created the product. And I created my clientele. I’ve got 100% control of 1) the product and 2) the biz.

 It won’t be a walk in the park. I’ll get ticked at my clients from time to time. I’ll get ticked at my biz partners from time to time. I’ll get ticked because I procrastinated and my back is up against a wall. But hey. I’ve had a taste of all of this and I still love software development.

So let me just change the topic slightly for a bit. I realize that what I need to do is not just get more PNL customers but to get bigger contracts. Bigger and bigger contracts. Right now I’m developing some pretty sweet software. And I’ve been fortunate to be developing software that will be used inside of a large company. But I need to be moving more and more in the direction of getting more complex jobs and more lucrative jobs.

The wonderful thing about every piece of software I develop is that the owner will naturally come back to me for upgrades. Even if there is no contract. If I made them happy, they will want me to do any additional work for them. I love situations like that. They want me just because they like me. I didn’t force them to sign a contract that they will promise to use me. Nope. They call me simply because they enjoyed their last experience with me and only want to use me. If I died they’d be bummed out because they’d have to find somebody else who is sure to not be as good as me.

Ah, isn’t it wonderful when your clients love you? They don’t just use you ’cause they have to. They truely love you. They’d pay extra just to have the priviledge of dealing with you.

And, of course, I can’t have a post where I don’t at least talk about the ladies a little bit. So ladies . . . I’d make you feel like the most pampered “client” ever. You should really consider giving this businessman a shot. I may not be Brad Pitt. But I’m definately exciting. Hey, have you ever wanted a Knight-in-shining-armor to sweep you off of your feet? Well, I’m just the guy. If you can catch my fancy I’ll really show you the time of your life. Every girl that I’ve dated will tell you that I like to treat my lady like a queen. And if you’re game, you never know what exciting fun I’ll get you into by the end of a date I’ll be the most fun software developer you’ve ever dated!

Yep, I’m a devil.

I just want to talk about how wonderful it is to be free. To wake up in the morning and think to myself, “What do I want to do today?” I could hit the snooze button for a 10th time. I could take a shower. I could go to Williams & Sonoma. I could write a post on my blog. I could drive up to Ceasar’s Head. I could go back to sleep. I could stay up till 4am. I could go to my favorite BBQ restaraunt. I could play my music loud since all my neighbors are at work. I could take a motorcycle ride all around Paris Mountain. I could go to Zaxbys. I can do anything I want to. I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to do.

I really want to cherish this and dwell on it. Because from time to time I make a decision that takes away my freedom for one reason or another. I made one of those recently. I used to live my entire life like that because I didn’t know any better. But now I’m out of the bird cage. I want to make this blog entry all about the mistake I made so that hopefully it will be harder to make the same mistake again.

Why did I make the mistake? The basic reason is because I wanted to tell somebody what they wanted to hear. I knew that what I promised had a slim chance of working out that way. If I told them the truth as I saw it they would reply by questioning my reasoning. And at that stage of the ballgame I knew they could poke holes faster than I could patch them. But I also knew that my gut feeling on the issue. I knew I might have to compromise things I know are important to pull it off.

So there. Maybe I’ll have a bit more guts next time. Maybe I’ll just tell it exactly how I see it and just let the chips fall. Maybe the deal will fall through for me. Maybe it will go through anyway. On my terms. Either of those ways is better than compromising on what’s important to me.

Well last night was one of the latest I’ve ever stayed up to write code. I didn’t go to bed till 6:30am. By the time I hit the sack I had no idea what to expect at my demo meeting with my client today. I didn’t wake up till 12:30p. The meeting was at 1:30p. Just enough time to take a shower throw my laptop in my bag and jump in the X. I got there on time.

I showed the client around their brand new software. They were impressed and very happy with it. There was not a single error. As I was driving home after the meeting I was kind of amazed. I just couldn’t help rember how my brain shut down right on schedule last night at 3am. However I kept typing for over 3 more hours. I could hardly make it to my bed without bumping into stuff. I think I was about as close to “coding in my sleep” as I could be without actually sleeping. And on top of that it was quality code. And I wasn’t just fiddling with layout or somethign. I was building pretty complex SQL queries. I created a new table and an entity class to match it. I was making a few broad-based interface flow changes. Quite the variety of difficulties and disciplines. But after it was all said and done it was good code and it performed flawlessly today!

I’m incredably satisfied with my software development discipline that I’ve developed over the past 4 years or so. The time I’ve spent writing my Foundation is paying off bigtime. It makes almost everything I do about 4X easier. When a client asks if I can do something the answer is always “yes”. On top of that it is always easier for me because of my AS3 that I took the time to write a couple years ago. My AS3 gives me a big edge over the competition. My AS3 is a perfect example of how I look far into the future and start off by building a solid foundation that perfectly caters to what I want to do.

I really do love my AS3. Have I mentioned that I love my AS3? In case you’re wondering what AS3 stands for, it stands for Application Services Sub-System. It’s a database-driven system that has a set of classes for Security, Settings, AppConfiguration, Messaging, greatly simplified DB Connectivity among other things. When I write a web app it automatically starts off with a whole set of functionality without even writing a line of code yet. Take my QTurret website for instance. I probably spent about 20 hours on it. But it is a db-driven site that already has multi-user support, role-based security, db-driven & encryptable settings. And all of the AS3 features are tested and rock-solid because I reuse the AS3 for every web app I write.

Along these same lines I’ve written what I call my “CTL”. The CTL is a Common Tools Library of classes and functionality that I rely heavily upon for almost all the code I write. It abstracts away the hairy details of many routine coding tasks.

What can I say folks? Coding in Daryl’s world is fun and easy! But that’s because of a lot of forethought and design. I’d love to go head to head with any programmer. Give us both the task to write a standard corporate web app, let’s say, a workflow app. My project will cost less and finish faster. And on top of that my apps are built upon solid best-practices with consistent, easy-to-follow source code that is self-maintaining and easy to upgrade.

So there’s my little commercial for Pro Net Labs. )