Who Are You? No, Really! How Old Are You?
Haven’t you wondered this before? I mean I know I’ve mentioned it a few times but most of the comments/emails I get are that I look older than I actually am and I’ve wondered this that maybe I’m not doing enough to help readers understand me so considering I told you how this blog actually started, maybe you’d like to know a little bit more about me. By the way, before I begin, I have wondered how old some other bloggers are and sometimes I’m surprised because I can’t really guess well and I usually overestimate the age most of the times. So if you don’t mind, let me know how old you are, not that it makes a difference but its a good way for me to get a better visual.
How I Got On The Internet
I’ve been on the internet since I was much much younger, maybe around 11 or 12 and my first email account, just like most of you guys, was with Hotmail. I used to get on the internet and check my email or browse games and even though I was never a real gamer, I would enjoy the java based games from 9 years ago.
Starting Up My Company
By the time that I was 13 years old, I had started to play with Dreamweaver, FlashMX and Frontpage enough to know what I was doing. I even had a fair bit of experience with Photoshop by then. At that time I decided to get into the web design business and started by completing small projects for individuals at freelance websites. The pay wasn’t too high, usually between $20-$50 for each job but the time input was minimal and considering I went to school in the day, it was pretty good part-time pay.
Through these projects I met my future clients with whom I helped develop over 30 professional websites and other projects including some for companies like RadioShack, Cisco Systems and Northstar Parts. I was even contacted by companies such as Bentley but with time running out, I was unable to actually accept some projects.
Quitting The Business
When I was 18 years old, and was a sophomore at the University, I decided that I probably wouldn’t have enough time to devote to the web design business and decided to take a break, knowing that I would return sooner or later with a new venture. Sure enough, 6 months later I came up with my blog.
Its been a great and long journey filled with tons of experience and stories and most of what I blog about today is taken from what I learned as a teenager trying to establish himself in a business market that was already over saturated with too many web designers and freelancers who were in it to win it.
I guess this entire story helps you get an insight into who I really am and why I say some of the things I do. Hopefully this also helps my credibility in backing up what I say 
But I would really like to hear from you guys. Tell me a little bit about you by blogging about it or if you don’t want to do that then you can mention a little bit of it in the comments. It will help you connect with your audience better, so its worth a shot!
Great story man, if only I were doing this stuff at a younger age! It’s all good though, it wasn’t meant for me to be doing it back then. Just keep it moving Enkay, you da man lol
Hahaha, Thanks Joe!
Interesting story Enkay, and great job with the Market Leverage interview, you did excellent!
Thank you for stopping by. I really appreciate it!
Good to see you started young! Gives you a jump on everyone else! IT funny how everyone starts with website design… I am actually looking at going back to it, but looking at it more from a offline perspective.
That is true. A lot of people started off in web design and then moved on from there but I guess its an easy market to enter into but not an easy market to survive in.
cool that you got started quite young. and i do remember how hotmail was also my first email address (or second maybe).
only really started to use the internet in college. but at least i was familiar with computers. now, i blog in order to find an audience for the haiku i write.
My first email address wasn’t with hotmail, but I still have my first email address
That’s a very interesting story, especially how you were contacted by large corporations at such a young age! Congrats on your success, although, I would have added a couple of years to your age if I had to guess.
I am still not sure of the questions, if i ask myself
Well, I’ve wrote a similar post on my blog about how I started and stuff like that. Maybe you should check it out see if that answers your questions.
I’d like to check out that post and I’ll definitely be stopping by your blog to see that.