Well, today is the 30th. The supposed last day of RideSearch. As I look at what I have done since July of last year and I can truly say not much. I started to tell someone the story of RideSearch the other day and I realized most of my tale could be about failure and it was really hard to admit it. Even RideSearch has disappeared from keyword carpool, something I had paid 6 grand for last year. The money I spent was phenomonal. It is hard to conceive how I much I was passionate about the site. I truly believed that google would see my popularity and want to buy the site. I went on a trip to LA to promote it. I had a commercial done in Florida. I sponsored Green Festivals. I gave away 1000 t-shirts. I bought 40,000 carpool reminder cards. I was on TV 4 times. I was on the radio about 20 times. I even made an iPhone web app. The thing is, all of it happened in a span of 6 months. From January to June of 2008. I was like a man with a vision giving all I've got to make it successful and in some ways it was paying off.

Now if I look at from last June to today I can see that I had some good press like an AP article, some venture capital leads and got put in my first book. I reworked the business model. I finally had a good answer to "how do you make moeny?" Then I started and stopped and started development. I had lost my passion for the site. I think I might have been depressed about it. In all of this time I probably did about 3 weeks of development. I didn't really try anymore. I became realistic as to my new resources(nothing) and knew the odds of it being sold was very low. What did I really have to work towards? I always felt like I should have been praised for my work, even given an award for doing something great for the nation. But alas, no such praise or reward was given. I was toiling in failure. It felt hard to be a failure and admit I failed. But I always had hope.

The funny thing is, it is mostly about perspective and passion than logic and money. I could have the perspective that I will start making money in a couple of years. That I will work on it an hour a week and eventually have the entire thing finished and working. But I know that phases of passion come and go. The desire to do work outside of work comes and goes and with the advent of our child the desire will probably be gone. Or will it? I have an internal drive that seeks to make a name for myself and become a success. I just don't know if I could stand cubicle life for 30 years with no hope of becoming my own boss or making a jackpot. I have been a CEO and now I am a Senior Developer Level 5 and could be so for a very long time. But I think as time goes on I will be ok with being a cube worker. My family means so much more to me than work ever will.

It is time to change the perspective. To kill the old concept of what RideSearch is for. RideSearch is now a playground. It is a site that I can use to play with new development tools. Like my recent upgrade to google maps. I have been working on upgrading the social network as well since I already bought the license last year. My perspectivie is because that is a skill to have, not that it will bring home the bacon. I am sure I will work on other stuff related to the site. I may even sign up with the iPhone development program and make a carpool app in my own time. But I am no longer concerned with the search engine placement, web traffic, competition, press, financials and even making money. As far as a viable business, RideSearch is now dead. Long Live RideSearch!