Intense R&D

As I’ve said many times before, I love the industry that we’re in. It’s so unique and exciting. And we have so many advantages that others don’t. We can work whether it’s raining or sunny. We can work at the office, on the couch, in bed, at a coffee shop, on the plane – and it wont make a difference (I’ve done all that, by the way!). I’ve even gone to the mountains and started work on my laptop. Also, once a client needed assistance while I was driving to the airport. When I got to the airport parking lot I could go online and assist him, what an awesome feeling! The examples of this type of thing are endless, as many in this industry will agree.

As I’ve heard some wise people say, every advantage has a disadvantage. I guess for us – with all the advantages I’ve mentioned – there are some disadvantages. Maybe “disadvantages” is a strong word, I don’t know. I’m referring to the intense and continuous R&D (Research and Development) that our industry demands. There is absolutely no way anyone playing in the Web 2.0 space can ever feel comfortable. Things are changing so rapidly that any day, any minute, we can expect a new wave in the industry. If you watch the conversations on Twitter, people are always saying which articles they’re busy reading, and referring and sharing websites with the rest of us. It’s continuous. This happens literally 24/7. I read so much on a daily basis, and yet I have so many “pending” bookmarks which I still need to get to. But as an expert in this field, that’s part of the process.

I was chatting to Vanessa Clark yesterday and this came up slightly in our conversation. We were saying that in the beginning of this month – May 2008 – we could not have guessed some things occurring now, at the end of the same month. And similarly, could we imagine the “state” of our industry a few years ago? A few years ago I never even heard the term “Web 2.0,” or any of the other current buzzwords. We also mentioned that you cannot find people with our skills out of college – because they’re not teaching these things. Have you ever heard of a Web 2.0 Degree? :)

Vanessa is also in the Social Media business, and she and I are going to be doing business together over the next few months – I’ll share more about that as things get clearer.