The way I got to where I am today is continual experimenting through the process of, well, making.
Here is an archive of the major projects (aka makes) in newest to oldest order. If I included all the projects I've made over the years this would seem like a never-ending list.
What: Easy way to create animated gifs from emojis.
Why: Saw a indie developer (Pieter Levels) post some code to create the animation and decided to turn into an easy to use website.
How: Coded using JS / JQuery / HTML / CSS
What: Curated listings of makers and their project statuses.
Why: Maker Updates was an idea that had been floating around in my head for a couple years. I wanted a central location / hub where makers (like myself) could keep fellow makers up to date on progress of their projects (makes).
How: Custom coded using PHP/MySQL with a little JQuery magic. Zapier used for automation aspects.
What: Right now there is a single tool online called "Tweets without Username." What Tweets without Username does is display the last X Tweets the user has Tweeted WITHOUT giving their username. By doing this it allowed me to actually make a follow vs unfollow decision based upon the quality of their Tweets, not but who voiced the account.
Why: UNFOLLOW.xyz started as a way for me to take control (and clean up) who I follow on Twitter.
How: Custom coded PHP. Utilizes Twitter API.
What: A Yelp-like directory that allows Twitter users to review users they follow on Twitter.
Why: After endlessly scrolling through my Twitter feed I realized that I honestly didn't even pay attention to many of the messages. The value I got from Twitter had been decreasing over time and I couldn't put my finger on why. I was following way too many users and, on top of that, I couldn't remember WHY I even followed them.
How: Custom coded PHP/MySQL. Utilizes Twitter API.
What: Dummy Link allows you to create a page on our website that will display referral and browser information for links clicking in AND create a clickable link out to the URL so you can test referral information on your server.
Why: I needed an easy way to test referral information for my side-projects.
How: Custom coded PHP/MySQL.
What: Blog that features interviews with makers about their latest side project.
Why: The overall goal of Behind the Make is to give people an inside look at how makers work through the concept to launch process of their latest projects.
How: Powered by WordPress. Zapier used for various integrations including automating feedback.
What: Enter in the cryptocurrency name or symbol and the website will spit out all the exchanges it is currently available on.
Why: I'm in tons of crypto private chats and follow a good number of crypto Twitter people, and on a daily basis would see suggested cryptocurrencies to look into. Problem is that not all coins / tokens are available on every exchange and finding out this information was time consuming. Thus I created WTBC.
How: Custom coded PHP/MySQL. Utilizes CoinMarketCap API.
What: A website that featured upcoming technology conferences.
Why: There was (and are) way too many technology conferences that I want to attend but didn't have an easy way to categorize or schedule them.
How: Custom coded PHP/MySQL
What: A non-political way to track Tweets sent by Donald Trump.
Why: With United States President Donald Trump utilizing Twitter on a daily basis, I wanted to create a non-political website that tracked anything and everything he posted to Twitter.
How: Custom coded PHP/MySQL.Utilized Twitter API, Indico API (sentiment analysis).
What: Curated directory of tools and resources to help website owners.
Why: I wanted to create a central resource library for all the tools and services I find on a daily basis.
How: Custom coded PHP/MySQL.
What: An experiment to see if prizes would encourage people to open up emails. Basically the website would send out a daily email at a random time and then the person who opened up the email the first won a prize.
Why: This idea came from a message someone I follow on Twitter posted about brainstorming various ways to increase email open rates.
How: Custom coded PHP/MySQL. Used SendGrid (and their API) to handle email sending and tracking.
What: A curated directory of bloggers who share their monthly income reports.
Why: I have always been interested in business success / failure stories and seeing the craze of how bloggers had been publicly sharing their revenue numbers I wanted an easy way to keep myself (and others) updated.
How: Custom coded PHP/MySQL. Zapier used for various automations and integrations.
What: Showcases viral videos around the web.
Why: I was always interested in how certain videos became "viral" and this was a way to dive a little deeper to see if I could find a solution. Basically a follow-up to Viral News 365 but focusing on the video aspect.
How: Custom coded PHP/MySQL. Utilized the Twitter API and SharedCount.com API.
What: Showcases viral articles shared across the web.
Why: I was always interested in how certain articles become viral and this was a way to dive a little deeper to see if I could find a solution.
How: Custom coded PHP/MySQL. Utilized Twitter API and SharedCount.com API.
What: Online fantasy soccer league for the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL).
Why: To continue to help build support for the NWSL, I decided to create from scratch a fantasy soccer league.
How: Custom coded from the ground up using PHP / MySQL
Additional Info: Thousands of fans played every season and I also acquired sponsors to help offset the costs of weekly and season prizes.
What: The very first new source for the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL).
Why: Prior to the NWSL launching there was a league (WPS) in the United States however there was very little online coverage for the league. I wanted to try and solve that problem at the start of the NWSL. We actually were up and running for almost 3-4 months before the league itself launched their own website.
How: Powered by WordPress.
Additional Info: Also managed a team of remote volunteer reporters and photographers to help with the coverage.
What: Tracked users of Klout who posted to Twitter
Why: Klout was really big at the time and I wanted to track which Twitter users were giving Klout and to whom.
How: Custom coded PHP/MySQL.Utilized Twitter API.
What: PHP traffic trading script that allowed websites to easily track and trade website traffic.
Why: Originally coded for a client who said I should sell licenses.
How: Custom coded PHP/MySQL. Utilized PayPal payment API to accept payments automatically send the product(s) to customers.
What: An online advertising network to buy and sell traffic for online gaming websites.
Why: Another solution to help my phpArcadeScript customers market and gain traffic for their online arcades.
How: Custom coded PHP/MySQL. Utilized the Twitter API to gather search data.
What: Traffic trading website for enterainment websites.
Why: Since a good portion of my customer base for phpArcadeScript was entertainment websites, I wanted to come up with a solution that allowed them to easily market their websites and/or content.
How: Custom coded PHP/MySQL.
What: Real-time user tracking similar to GA "Live" data
Why: This was prior to Google Analytics "Live" data and I wanted an easy way to visualize who was visiting my websites in real-time.
How: Custom coded PHP/MySQL.
What: Coupon code sharing website that basically was a clone of RetailMeNot's functionality at the time.
Why: Like most online shoppers, I was (and still am) always searching for the best deal. Granted I could go to websites like RMN, but by creating my own version of the website it allowed me to generate affiliate revenue.
How: Custom coded PHP/MySQL.
What: A directory / news website dedicated to bars and restaurants in the Columbia, Missouri area.
Why: While living in Columbia, Missouri I always wanted to know where the best place was to get a drink or grab a bite to eat.
How: Custom coded PHP/MySQL.
What: PHP Script designed to power link dump websites like DumpALink, Digg, etc.
Why: At the time link dump style websites were really popular and I wanted to start offering a second commercial product.
How: Custom coded using PHP/MySQL. Utilized PayPal payment API to accept payments automatically send the product(s) to customers.
What: Celebrity photo battle website (unique take on Hot or Not)
Why: Hot or Not was big at the time and I wanted to see if I could code a similar style website.
How: Custom coded PHP/MySQL.
What: Free text messaging website.
Why: Actual SMS text messages were not unlimited at this time however texts sent via email were free.
How: Custom coded PHP.
What: Free file sharing website similar to a service called RapidShare.de.
Why: A way to teach myself how file sharing websites worked.
How: Custom coded PHP/MySQL.
What: SEO / Affiliate play for the travel industry.
Why: This was my first step into the affiliate marketing world.
How: 100% hand coded HTML
What: A website that allowed you to easily encrypt any text to MD5 encryption.
Why: At the time I was needing to test out various encryption options and kept manually using the PHP md5 function.
How: Custom coded PHP.
What: Directory of anything and everything related to celebrities
Why: I built this website to help teach myself how to code a directory website.
How: Custom coded PHP/MySQL
What: PHP script designed to power online arcade websites. This was my very first commercial product and when it was acquired there were thousands of websites using the script.
Why: At the time of launch there were just a handful of similar products in the market and the most popular was having problems with their license database which made it very difficult for me to purchase a license. Instead of waiting for the owner to fix the issue I decided to code my
How: Custom coded from the ground up using PHP/MySQL. Utilized PayPal payment API to accept payments automatically send the product(s) to customers.
What: Website that allowed members to submit links to music files (audio and video) they find on the web.
Why: This was one of my first attempts at building a membership style website and music (audio / video) found on the web was very popular at the time.
How: Custom coded website using PHP/MySQL that allowed visitors to submit public URLs to MP3s that could be found via Google.