It's Getting Itchy
Back in 2004, MacTalk was born out of a discussion on Overclockers Australia about Mac OS X 10.3 (it's still here actually). Mr. Kelsh and I swapped a few MSN sessions and it begun, as AppleTalk Australia. Lots of stuff happened in the middle - iTunes store opened up, Apple went to Intel CPUs, the iPhone came out, we started a podcast and so on. Then in 2008, I quit my job, a good job, at RMIT University to run MacTalk full time. I was scared shitless, but it paid off. In that time I've met amazing people and had so many experiences I would have otherwise not had. I wouldn't change that for anything.
The idea of selling MacTalk has been in the back of my mind for months. Each day I ask myself "do I still give a fuck about this?" and each day I respond with "yes", but with less enthusiasm each time. It's got to the point now, where the answer is becoming "I'm not sure", and will probably turn into "no, not really".
It all came to a head at Webstock last week. After watching those inspiring speakers and having the luxury of a week on my own away from home, to contemplate life, the future and everything surrounding it, I decided to sell MacTalk. It's time for me to move on. I've accomplished far more than I ever orginally planned back when Matt and I started the site. Sure, I could do so much more with the site and the community (I have pages and pages of ideas, literally forming a manifesto), but I have nothing left to give.
Like Steve Jobs said in his famous Stanford speech:
"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking, and don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it."
I've decided not to settle. After MacTalk pretty much dominating my life for 3 years, it's time for me to move on to something else. I might spend the entire time on the couch playing video games and eating pizza. I might drive around the USA, Stephen Fry style. I might even create some other sort of site. All I know is that my heart is telling me it's time to throw in my chips and fold.
Some might ask, "why sell the site? Why not just let someone else take over?" - a fair question to ask. I've taken the risks, I've dedicated most of my life the past 3 years to running the site. I've been there since day one. After such a significant financial, emotional and personal investment, I'm not going to walk away without some sort of redundancy package. I realise others have made sacrifices and dedicaed time to MacTalk over the years. Those who helped me out along the way haven't been forgotten either. I'll talk to you all individually once there's some detail. Remember, nobody has even made a serious offer yet. The site might not even sell!
Even though I plan to sell the site to someone else, the memories I have and cherish, the people I've met and now care about, aren't being sold. I still have those. In all reality, MacTalk will probably be better with owners that care and have a professional outlook on things. Let's be honest, I'm a lazy bum who doesn't know what he's doing half the time...
If you have any questions, fears, problems, advice, or just want to shoot the shit, email me!
