So here’s the story: In 2004 I was single and broke. Raising two little kids. About to lose my house. A friend texted me one evening asking about how to connect an image scanner to a network. I responded with a text saying I had no clue, but if he figured it out, I would market whatever he wrote.

That was our business plan, a 50/50 split of what we thought would probably be nothing.

In the next few weeks, my friend wrote some software, and I got to work marketing. Used photos of my two kids for the first ad. I had a budget of just $34 (really), and with it I registered a web site ($20) and set up some google ads ($12). Then I wrote and sent email about the software — drop dead boring industrial. And I was working around the clock. Cold calling, building web pages, writing code to automate support and sales, writing simple words (the most difficult write) and figuring out the new world of web analytics. Everything was done on ancient computers. But no investors. No debt. And we didn’t waste any of the revenue. And money poured in from people who needed the software. We each worked out of our bedrooms for a few years. Then, seven years after the text-sentence business plan (19 years ago now!), and the splitting millions of dollars of pure profit (think of the cash in Breaking Bad, but legal and no one dies), RemoteScan was acquired by a software giant (Dell/Quest) for many millions more.

Exactly 12 years ago today. Cinco De Mayo… and I just try to keep going… as I forever seem to be starting over.