An Unexpected Trip Back to 2007
A few days ago I came across something I'd completely forgotten about.
Back in 2007, The Guardian interviewed me about an online business I was running from my spare bedroom in Felixstowe. Reading that article again nearly twenty years later was a strange experience because, although the technology has changed beyond recognition, I realised the way I think about building businesses really hasn't.
The article was about a business I was running through CafePress, selling personalised T-shirts using print-on-demand. At the time, that felt like a completely different way of starting a business.
Instead of ordering hundreds or even thousands of products and hoping they would sell, I simply uploaded a design. If somebody bought it, CafePress printed it, shipped it and handled everything else. If nobody bought it, I hadn't lost a penny.
Today that sounds perfectly normal. Print-on-demand is everywhere. But in the early 2000s it removed almost all of the financial risk and made starting an online business possible without needing a large amount of capital.
Google Was My TikTok
What surprised me most wasn't reading about the business itself. It was reading my own quotes.
One in particular made me smile.
"Google is the place to be. If you're at the top, you will get the sales."
I genuinely believed that when I said it, and I still believe the same principle today.
The only difference is that, for many businesses, you could replace the word Google with TikTok.
Back then I spent hours learning search engine optimisation. I obsessed over keywords, page titles, backlinks and getting pages to rank as highly as possible. I wasn't trying to build a famous brand. I simply wanted my products to appear in front of people at the exact moment they were searching for them.
Today I spend that same energy creating TikTok Shop videos.
Instead of hoping Google ranks my website, I'm hoping TikTok recommends my videos to the right audience.
The platform has changed.
The principle hasn't.
It's still about understanding how people discover products and putting the right thing in front of the right person at the right time.
I've Never Really Been Interested in the Products
The article described me as a web developer and marketer rather than a designer, and I think that's still true today.
I've never really been passionate about selling T-shirts.
Or watches.
Or air conditioners.
Or loyalty cards.
What I've always enjoyed is building systems.
- Finding ways to automate repetitive tasks.
- Reducing friction.
- Making businesses more efficient.
- Building something that works while I'm sleeping.
Whether I'm building software, running affiliate websites or developing Yalty, the challenge always feels remarkably similar.
The products change.
The underlying problem I'm trying to solve doesn't.
Every Opportunity Started With New Technology
Looking back, I realised that almost every major opportunity I've pursued has started with embracing a technology before it became mainstream.
In 2001, that was print-on-demand.
Most people had never heard of it.
Today it's completely normal.
Now I think AI is creating a very similar opportunity.
Print-on-demand removed the need to manufacture products.
AI removes much of the work involved in researching, creating and marketing them.
One person can now research products, write content, generate images, create videos and even build software using tools that simply didn't exist a few years ago.
Once again, the barriers have fallen.
That's probably why AI has fascinated me so much over the last couple of years. It reminds me of the excitement I felt when I first discovered print-on-demand.
Some Things Haven't Changed at All
The Guardian article also mentioned that I focused on promoting individual designs rather than promoting myself.
That hasn't really changed either.
I've never wanted to become an influencer.
I've always been far more interested in solving problems than becoming the face of a business.
Whether that's helping someone discover the right product through affiliate content, creating software that saves businesses time, building InPlay to help traders identify potential day trading opportunities more quickly, or developing Yalty to help independent businesses keep customers coming back, it's always been about creating value first.
The product itself is often secondary.
What motivates me is finding a problem that people genuinely have and building something that makes their life a little easier.
Looking Back Puts Everything Into Perspective
Reading the article also reminded me just how much the internet has changed.
Back then, working from home and running an online business was unusual enough to be featured in a national newspaper.
Today, millions of people do exactly that.
What once felt innovative has become completely normal.
I suspect that in another twenty years we'll probably look back at today's AI tools in exactly the same way.
The Idea That Never Changed
Something else really stood out as I reread the article.
For nearly twenty-five years, I've been chasing the same idea.
Not T-shirts.
Not websites.
Not TikTok.
The idea that technology can remove barriers and allow ordinary people to build businesses with very little upfront investment.
That idea excited me in 2001.
It excited me in 2007.
And it still excites me today.
Google has become TikTok.
Print-on-demand has become AI.
Desktop computers have become smartphones.
The tools have changed dramatically, but the underlying principles haven't changed at all.
Every few years, a new technology creates opportunities for people willing to learn it before everyone else.
The people who adapt usually benefit the most.
What I'm Focusing on Next
Reading that old Guardian interview reminded me that while technology moves incredibly quickly, curiosity doesn't go out of date.
The businesses I'm building today are very different from the ones I built twenty years ago, but the reason I build them is exactly the same.
I still love discovering new technology, understanding how it works and building systems that turn ideas into real businesses.
Maybe that's the one thing that never changes.