So, it’s 12:30am and I’m just finishing up for the day. I’ve been involved in a major programming-mashup project and have written before about how I go balls to the wall while working on projects, so the long days and late hours aren’t a big deal to me.

But, something very interesting has come from this project that I wanted to share, just because I’ve been neglecting you(and my blog) lately and I wanted to touch base and say “Hi”, as well as let you in on what I’m up to.

So, a couple years ago a few friends and I started up Build The Dot Com with the intention of just giving some bare-bones resources and information for noobie webmasters in a free and friendly manner.

And as is prone to happen on non-commercial collaborations, my friends basically lost interest quick and left me alone with a site that I couldn’t possibly do justice to on my own given my time constraints.

Which ultimately meant the site sat like a rock in space for a long time. It had some great information and resources that we included when we first launched it, but it didn’t receive any of the attention it–and visitors to it–deserved.

This has bothered me all along, and now finally I’ve decided to pour some resources into it and have grabbed a few new people who will also work on it with me, only this time they’re punching the clock so I know they won’t bail out on me.

Anyway, to keep this brief (you know I’m long winded) I decided to go all out and really beef the site up. Not just with a new design and a little updated content, but rather I wanted to create a platform that could really grow as a resource over time.

To me that meant it had to be more than a static site. It would need a blog, an article library, and a place for discussions.

The only problem is there’s very little out there as far as backends go that handle all of that in a way that I like. So, I decided to take the individual programs that I feel most comfortable with for blogging, article content and discussion forums, and create a bridge integration between them and the custom CMS I initially setup on the site 2 years ago.

Talk about a nightmare.

This is a single administration “wrapper” that bridges ArticleMS, WordPress, SMF [simple machines forum] and a custom CMS [content management system] I originally developed for a project almost 6 years ago. That’s just to bridge the administration zones for the site.

Then there was the whole nightmare of tweaking a single Open Source design template for each respective platform. Since I plan to focus on and promote the use of Open Source technologies with the site, I felt it important to start with an Open Source design as well. Thankfully one of our new contributors is gifted at building styles and themes, so I let them handle that heavy lifting.

And after several long days the site is almost ready for prime time. There’s still a few bugs I’ve got to tweak out in the SMF forum before that section will go live, but the main site, blog and article library are all up and running and I’m pretty pleased with the results.

So, that’s what I’ve been up to lately.

Now, for the unexpected returns I said this project prompted:

For several years I’ve wanted to start a charitable group or foundation. It’s no secret to anyone who reads my postings regularly that I’m one of those bleeding heart types… and while I love the work that I do to earn a living I also have to recognize that it doesn’t really matter much in the big picture.

If I closed shop tomorrow and started serving fries and burgers at the local Micky-D’s it would have almost no impact on anybody else’s life.

And that’s okay, our job/work/career doesn’t have to define us, and as I see it for most people it shouldn’t.

It’s the things we do from the heart and without the need or expectation of compensation that should matter.

So I’ve felt this way for a long time and have been tossing around this idea of a “not for profit” startup for a while, but the biggest obstacle for me has been focusing down to what specifically I want it to accomplish.

There’s so many causes that I care deeply about, and the idea of just throwing a dart to pick one certainly seemed wrong. And after a while I think I unconsiously let this remain an obstacle as a way to justify a complete lack of action and progress to myself.

Until now, because while working on this backend project for Build The Dot Com it suddenly came into clear focus what I would like to accomplish with my not for profit, and I’ve got the entire general strategy for how I want to setup and launch it mapped out, including the technology and methods I’m going to use to “jump start” it with a bang.

I know I’m being short on details about this, I hope you understand that’s necessary at the moment as I have to set some things in place before I begin giving out any specifics.

But, I’m uber excited and had to share that feeling with you here, and I hope it shows how grand inspiration can come when and where you least expect it.

I promise to post more about my not for profit project in the near future too. I’d like you to become involved by offering me feedback as I set it up. And trust me, if you’ve ever created a web site, written on a blog or tried your hand at Internet Marketing you are fully qualified to offer me advice on my project.

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