A couple months ago (right after I made a big move) I started hearing thing about the financial crisis and banks going under. Talking with my friend who travels a lot, I came to hear that when America sneezes, the rest of the world gets a cold. Another friend of mine introduced me to a film called “Zeitgeist”. With the uncertainty of living in a new area, trying to gain respect at a new job, and making new friends, I started worrying. Actually worrying is an understatement, but I’ll not be dramatic.

However, after hearing about Lullabot’s new venture, and especially Ed Sussman’s blog post, “Why Start (Up) Now?” I gained a little hope. Then I got a twitter from Kevin Rose today where he talked about Paul Graham’s post, “Why to Start a Startup in a Bad Economy”. I must say that I’m feeling better. Again an understatement, but dramatics really aren’t my thing.

The thought of having a startup has always appealed to me. I even have friends who have done them. And though I’ve always played it safe by working for corporations, I’ve always wanted to have my own business, startup or consulting, to call my own. It’s looking more and more like now is the time to get my nose to the grindstone. I’m not planning on quitting my job anytime soon, but now is the time to invest.

Dave and I have been in the middle of revitalizing DrupaLMAO (here’s a quick sneak peak) to incorporate the Drupal community into our show by getting feedback from them in the form of voting upon the content on the site (via the Drupal Planet). Hopefully this will help get the community’s involvement in the show as we’ll talk about the things that the readers care about. We’re coming out with a new episode any day now, it’s taped, waiting on our editor ;) and while we wait, we’re redesigning, rethinking and migrating to Drupal 6 (WIN!). Though this may not be startup material, it is nonetheless paramount to have a presence in the community… and it’s just damn good fun!

Another project I’m soon to have underway, came about from the fact that I get contacted by recruiters on a weekly basis looking for Drupal talent. Drupal hackers are in VERY HIGH DEMAND and there are many corporations out there now who are willing to pay top dollar for some of the best Drupal talent. While I may not be up there on the “high talent scale”, I keep a good relationship with these recruiters by offering advice on where to find Drupal talent, and how to go about it. They’re quite often taken by surprise at the amount of resources that are actually out there to help them find who or what they’re looking for, and some are a little discouraged by the advice I give. Especially when I tell them that they may be better off hiring one good Drupal developer who can teach a team of PHP developers how to use Drupal. Sounds like a good consulting strategy too ;) So after talking with endless recruiters, and regurgitating the same advice time and again, I’m convinced that there is a huge need to connect employers, recruiters and Drupal talent. There are no real good solutions out there that have the community backing them so in the next few weeks I’ll be on irc looking for ways to get this going. I’ve got a good idea in the front of my mind (rather then the back) but I want to build something that is going to have the community behind it and hopefully get d.o involved, not just another lame job board.

So if you’re out there looking down, thinking the end is neigh… think again. Read the posts mentioned above, and be inspired.