In Jan of 2010, while we were all reeling from the economic downturn and hearing in the news daily about unemployment, food stamps and quantitative easying, Seth Godin wrote a piece about Generosity.  I wasn’t prepared to “hear” his message at the time.  2010 was an interesting year for me personally because that’s when I started to blog and dust-off some very rusty technical skills in an effort to build some basic websites.

Since then I’ve developed a number of site for both personal, entrepreneurial, and charitable means using WordPress and Buddypress, based on inspiration from The Lean Startup I created a minimally viable mobile web app which eventually become an app for both iOS and Android.  I was also able to wrestle my company into one that delivered cash flow positive results right up through Oct of last year when we sold it.

Ya think it’s time to give back?  I wasn’t ready to listen when Seth was speaking to me.  Sure I read the words “You have a family to feed a mortgage to pay. Getting more appears to be the order of business. It turns out that the connected economy doesn’t respect this natural instinct. Instead, we’re rewarded for being generous. Generous with our time and money but most important generous with our art.”

Now I am listening and I look forward to contributing my time, energy and mind in things that matter.