Love What Comes Next.

Today's Marketing Cookie is for early adopters who love to embrace the next big thing.

I've told some of this story before. I began building direct-dial, monochrome Internet websites before the invention of the web browser. We were pioneers, and although no one in my family understood what I was doing, I was in love. Although Bill Gates said, "The internet? We are not interested in it." in 1993, I was VERY interested. Later, when Bill Gates called the Internet "a passing fad" in 1995, I was committed! The Web started my career, it was the catalyst for the two companies I've founded, as well as for the three I've sold. Not only has the Web been good for me, but it has also become the center of the universe for the entire world.

But that's not all...

Over the past twenty years, the Web has continued to mature and spark new innovations. First was the birth of the web browser for viewing an ever-increasing number of websites, then came the launch of cool website directories like Yahoo! to allow users to find them. I remember not long after Yahoo! first launched, I sat down and attempted to look at every known website. Whew!

We launched our first corporate website just after the Mosaic browser was released, and by the time Netscape was launched, we were already accepting credit cards and allowing users to make online purchases. When the directory listing sites became too long to manage or use, they were replaced with "portals" which would bring the best sites from the directories up to the surface. We built a lot of portals and I loved it!

Enter Google from stage left. It was around this time that I began to reinvent myself from a web tech nerd into a marketing nerd. For example, I wasn't just focused on usability anymore. I had begun asking foreign marketing questions about the users themselves. I spent a lot of time thinking about being found, attracting the right audience, and getting them to convert. Marketing was new to me and I loved it!

About ten years ago, I began helping companies learn to blog when that was the new thing. If you can believe it, I helped a lot of companies maximize a presence on MySpace when that was the new thing. Then helping companies with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr, etc., when they each became the next new thing. Today, we help a lot of companies with their inbound marketing and their content marketing. We've helped hundreds of companies maximize their mobile presence, grow their social presence, and establish their local presence. I love it all!

Having been a part of the web from the very beginning has been an amazing and exciting journey. I've loved every minute of it! When I consider the sum of every new thing I've tried, and every lesson I've learned, there remains one consistent element throughout, which is "opportunity." Starting my career on the Internet in its infancy was the perfect place for me to become a marketer. Innovation has been hardwired into my DNA from the very beginning, and such training has prepared me for the high demands of great marketing today.

I can hardly wait to see what comes next for marketing! As today's fortune says, "A new romance is in the future." I'm already in love, and I'm ready to jump in and make the most of the next opportunity. How about you?