Rereading my original tumblr post (for the first time since I wrote it) has crystalized an idea for me. I started tumblr with a statement about having never settled on a topic or niche for my web site and, since that date, I’ve gone on to vary my posts to even more topics. Worse yet, I’ve never really written about myself.

I started a “moblog” when I was employed by the now long gone, original camera phone to web platform, textamerica.com (don’t bother looking, it’s gone now). We were the first to offer a simple solution that allowed non technical users to use their camera phones to publish images to the web.

I fell in love with the idea of keeping what many still call a “blog” after a very short period of time. Documenting the details of my life via images posted throughout my day and getting comments from users stroked my ego and the idea of getting rich from selling out (this was our plan from the beginning) had me trying to play the part in the images I posted.

Keep it real? Not me. Not then, anyway! I did as instructed. They were paying me!

Of course, living the dream didn’t last. I’m doing something very corporate for about a third of each and every week. The startup lifestye I had grown accustomed to living from 2002-2006 is a thing of the past.

But I still post pictures—more than I did on textamerica.com, actually. I began using Flickr when I left textamerica after the owner offered me a job selling the once FREE service… on straight commission only (which never worked out for them at all).

I’ve posted, among other types of images, well over 2,000 vanity plate images on Flickr. They’re my pride and joy…

For Shawn Honnick of Maryland, it doesn’t matter if the plates are cryptic or obvious, silly or serious, have a story behind them or are simply someone’s name. He’s posted over 1,800 photos of vanity plates on his Web site, many of them snapped on the road with his cell phone camera. He’s planning to soon start a podcast about life, vanity plates and the meanings behind them.

“I’m obsessive about it,” he said. “People who know me, that’s the first thing they think of.”

Honnick fell in love with personalized plates as a boy, when he and his father deciphered the ones they saw while traveling on the highway. Now Honnick records plates during his own drives, including trips to visit his father in Maine.

For the Love of Vanity

I’ve “planned” more than a few sites. Recenty, I “planned” a site about bottled water that remains stagnant (pun intended). Before that, a site about the evils of Facebook and another about Twitter. There were sites I “planned” on a bunch of topics: tea, jewelry, phones, philosophy, web design and more than a few others.

After some tough lessons and wasted time, I’ve decided that writing about things I’m dissatisfied with or angry about is not a good idea for me. I strive for a positive outlook on my day each day. I no longer want to get caught up in the problems that plague us all as main topics for my web sites. Plenty of people will write about these things. I’m sure I will read some of them and certainly don’t need to write “me too” just to agree. Whenever it makes sense, I’ll try to actually DO something instead.

Some self-searching has led me to a few conclusions about what I want to do with my web sites. I’ve always believed that doing something I love is the key to success. I also know that a unique niche is key.

Shawn Blog will now be about… me! It is Shawn Blog, after all. Quoting segments of articles or posting images and hoping to get featured is a formula that leads to frustration, disappointment and a few other things I have no interest in adding to my days. My other “shawn” domain, shawnhonnick.com will show contact numbers and links.

I may link to a blog or article from shawnblog.com on occasion, but the post will include my thoughts and will probably relate to something I am working on. Gone are the days of machine gunning posts here from my Google Reader and automatic posts from various RSS feeds.

I will be much more “quiet” here because I am working on a brand new show. The podcast show I planned to start after this article was written is something I’m developing now.

I have a few awesome guests lined up for the show. If you have a vanity plate or know someone who does, reblog or follow this or just find me on Facebook, Twitter, etc. to chat about getting on the show.