YourName.com

I recently left my job of five years, am working on a few different things in this new season, and started officing from a new coworking space. On top of all of those exciting changes, my wife and I are about to welcome our first child. All of the changes.

Prior to my time at Simple I worked in management consulting, which was my first full-time job after attending Texas A&M University. While I was in college I made money as a photographer, and at that time it made sense for me to have a public-facing website. My determination of whether or not to have a website was simple - I asked "Will this help my business?"

As with many creatives, I eventually got burned out and moved on to other endeavors. After getting rid of some equipment and saying "no thanks" to a few photography opportunities, I decided to shut down my website and let go of that domain. I was in a considerable amount of student loan debt (future blog topic) and needed to apply every dollar I could find towards paying it off. 

No one on planet earth bought "stephenolmon.com" for 5+ years - #thankfulformylastname

As I was approaching this transition I decided to grab it again. I reflected on that same question - "Will this help my business?" My gut says "yes". I think, at least for a season, it is worthwhile. However, I also know that many personal websites are purely self-glorifying, over-done, and ultimately deliver no value to others. 

What are your thoughts on personal sites?

-Stephen