4 years and 20 days ago

From making excuses to making shit happen

4 years and 20 days ago I registered the domain 420list.org, planning to apply to the cannabis industry both the .org mindset and business model Craigslist has succeeded with since its inception. I didn’t know a thing about building a website, but assumed the worst-case scenario was losing a few thousand bucks to a subpar web developer.

While I ended up losing more than I expected, I soon realized that the problem wasn’t a subpar web developer; the problem was me. It took me over three years to realize that expecting to build the website I wanted by using outsourced contractors was setting myself up for failure.

And deep down I knew it the entire time. I knew contractors were motivated to make more and work less, but I made up the usual excuses:

1. It will take too long to become good enough to build the website I want.
2. I don’t know where to start.
3. I should be focusing on other parts of the business.
4. I’m not smart enough.

Last December, however, when all of my friends and family were enjoying the holiday festivities, I was sick and unable to go out. Frustrated and itching to be productive in some way, I made the decision to learn Python and Django enough to build a new version of 420list.

Although I had gone through Codecademy’s Python programs, I didn’t know where to start when it came to actually building a web app; luckily, however, I had access to my good friend Ryan, a Redbeacon alumnus with some serious technical chops, who pointed me in the right directions until I was able to handle things on my own. Here’s what I learned:

1. Codecademy is great up to a point; in order to learn how to build a web app, however, you actually have to build one, no matter how simple it is.
2. Setting everything up (Django, XCode, etc.) was by far the most confusing and difficult part for me; once you are able to actually code things start becoming much easier.
3. Ryan told me to build a blog, and luckily I stumbled across this video which really helped me understand Django’s model-view-template structure. Even though I didn’t really understand everything I was doing, going through the motions helped me feel more comfortable with Python and Django.
4. Read — don’t skim — the Python docs and Django docs; the answers you’re looking for are almost always there.
5. Google is your best friend. Before you bug anyone with a question, Google it and/or look for similar problems on Stack Overflow.

Thanks to a lot of help from Google, Stack Overflow, and people like Ryan who were incredibly generous with their time, I am happy to say that 4 years and 20 days after first committing to learning about the tech industry, I’ve launched the new 420list, proudly built by yours truly. And although it’s nowhere near where I want it to be, I’m proud to know that I stopped making excuses and started making shit happen.