The Internet Gold Rush

How much does today’s Internet frontier have in common with yesterday’s old west? Same story, different authors.

Sergio Leone or John Ford, take your pick and draw the obvious parallels. The old west was about bringing law into the lawlessness of a new territory. Today’s Worldwide Web too is brimming with boom towns, success and failure paving dusty streets.

The old west saw prospectors drifting from town to town in search of the next big strike or golden opportunity. The gold rush now sweeping our continents is dependent upon the near instant production and distribution of valuable information. The mother lode miners are those creating and then monetizing the best content. Though there are certainly some rivers that have run dry, there is still plenty of money to made in the traffic of information and the mother lodes are far from tapped. 

Though there is a limit to gold, the wealth of information is as bottomless as our thought. 

Not only are we now able to mine for a resource with an inexhaustible supply, but we also are infinitely more comfortable while doing so. Think about it,  the miners lived in shanties. We get to wear cotton pajamas while running free software on inexpensive servers, instantly connecting us to whoever we want, wherever they may be. Beats a wagon trail any day. 

Teamwork in the old west was essential to success. Those who found riches without teamwork were often bandits at best. The biggest paydays required the most manpower. Today great minds combining to craft the best content will build some of the best bridges to fountains of wealth. No one is expert at everything; laying our inherent talents against the virtue of another brings the best from inside us alongside an invaluable increase in worth.

Patience is key. Hurrying through steps is only rushing failure. Those times in my life, both business and personal, when I have fallen the hardest and regretted the most, were because I wanted to do too much, too soon.

It is a daily struggle to make sure I don’t do it this round.

It is worth whatever time it takes to do things right. We are still in the beginning. Those who fare the finest future are those who most clearly articulate their present. Ponder where we are likely to be in another ten years, and it’s easy to see that we are the pioneers. The last ten years were spent in preparation of the next ten. Right now we’re straddling the middle of Act II, right when things are about to get really, really good.

Saddle up with the right crew and hitch yourself to the right horse. In the old west, it mattered who you partnered with. Who you rode with often dictated the strength of your sunset. This frontier isn’t too different. Put care into everything you do. Don’t be a spammer and end up on the Internet version of a wanted poster. Be the good guy. Tell a story. Dig as many tunnels as you can without collapsing the mine. Be different. Be cool. Be honest. Be humble. Be yourself. These are things people want and you can hold the pick-axe with the sharpest point. 

Don’t forget the Levi’s.

Levi’s were born during the gold rush when an immigrant named Levi Strauss wanted to design a pant that was more durable than the thin cloth of the current miner’s trousers. Denim and the blue jean were born. 

Some people didn’t have to get dirt on their face to clean house. They got rich simply by paying attention. Merchants got rich, saloon owners, entertainers, etc. Like the old west, the rules seem to be in flux and the landscape is daily changing. Paying attention is non negotiable. You could one day make an absolute killing on something that hasn’t even been dreamed of yet.

You don’t have to invent it, but you should be among the first to know about it. Like the coolest westerns, we should keep riding west, while we stop to shake hands with those along the way.

Sean

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