2008 has been quite a year. I wasn't able to finish one big project I'd hoped to complete (I still need to learn to manage distractions better), but the year has seen a number of good developments, both business and personal. Here are some highlights:

  • My efforts to make "internet marketing guru" contacts that started last November lead me into Russell Brunson's partnership program (that's the project that hasn't been finished yet -- expect to see it next month).
  • In January, super affiliate Rosalind Gardner started using CaRP. We've emailed a few times since then, and although there's nothing in the works right now, there have been suggestions that something bigger might come of that at some point.
  • In February, I released CaRP/WP, a WordPress plugin that makes it easier to use CaRP to display RSS feed content in a WordPress blog.
  • In March I released CaRP Evolution 4.0 -- a huge upgrade to my flagship product. Since then, I've released several updates, including a slew of new plugins. CaRP Evolution 3 had 8 plugins. Version 4 now has 19! When I counted them up the other day, it hit me that CaRP is much more than just an "RSS to HTML Converter" -- it's more like a "Swiss Army Knife for RSS Feeds".
  • Not surprisingly, with all the upgrade buyers, March was Gecko Tribe's best month ever. (I plan on smashing that record in the very near future!)
  • In March, I saw Saturns rings, and in July, I saw Jupiter and 4 of its moons in my little telescope. That may not sound like such a big deal, but experiences like that have a way of lingering in my mind. Since then, I've seen things like the Pliades star cluster and the Orion Nebula. I can't wait to get a better telescope and getting better looks at more celestial objects.
  • In April, I created a website that got over 320,000 free clicks from Google in a single month running on auto-pilot. Although the flood of traffic has subsided, it taught me some things about how to get traffic, and how untargetted traffic is much harder to monetize than targetted traffic. I'll be using those lessons in creating a new product or two.
  • In May, I released YesTube. It was the first in what will become a series of products powered by CaRP Evolution. YesTube uses CaRP's YouTube plugin to help create custom branded YouTube players.
  • Beginning in May, we got to hole up in our basement with our neighbors several times while tornados blew through the state (Nebraska).
  • In September (or August?) my oldest son started kindergarten. Up till the night before school started, he did not want to go. Then we went to an open house at the school. By the end, he wanted to sleep at the school! He's loved it ever since.
  • In November, I launched a podcast directory (powered by CaRP's podcast plugin, naturally). I think I'm still the only user, but that's okay, because half the reason for creating it was to make it easier for me to listen to podcasts I've subscribed to. (You can build your own subscription page to listen on). It's done a great job at that -- I now listen to every episode of the podcasts I'm subscribed to. I used to hardly ever listen to any.
  • In November, I got my ham radio license.
  • In November, I released Affiliate Afterburner, the second of my CaRP-powered products. It's an affiliate content site builder similar to Store Stacker, Build A Niche Store, etc. You'll see big additions to it in the future.

Not a bad year.

I'll blog about plans and aspirations for 2009 soon.