Scott’s first website and small business
The following is the story of my original website and small business. It was modeled after one of the first adventure stories in Western history: Jason and the Argonauts, argonaut being a synonym for adventurer. And it was meant to be a forum to pass along the boon of our adventures, like new ideas, lessons learned and stories of our common struggles. It was a great learning experience, and it helped define my purpose in life. Below, you will see that my mission statement is still very much the same.
TheArgonauts.com wasn’t just a website; for a while, we were an incorporated organization. We celebrated over 20 years online, outlasting millions of other websites born in the dotcom era. Our website was a blog before blogs existed. We shared stories before sharing was a thing. We innovated new standards. We won a few awards along the way. We ranked in the top 0.03% of websites in the world. Most importantly, we have inspired thousands of people (adults and children) to follow their dreams. The stories they have told us about their courageous leap into a new life have been our greatest reward. Most amazingly, my dream to see people share stories of their adventures in real-time as they happened did come true. Live updates are something we take for granted now, but back then, we lived in the age of postcards and occasional phone calls. Even if we weren’t the ones to automate the process, I like to think we planted the seeds of this dream in society and helped develop the proof of concept.
The founding members of The Argonauts archived an impressive number of stories, and some went on to become professional adventurers, photographers and journalists. And I like to think we all learned how to live the life of our dreams. As the founder, I’m proud of this.
It’s a rather long story, but suffice to say that with the invention of social media, there was no longer a place for our website in the world. I’ll always be a little sad that I wasn’t able to turn it into the Facebook of adventure, but without it, I wouldn’t be who I am. Cliché but true.
As you can see, I rebranded under my own name and focus mostly on my own adventures and misadventures. I think the benefit is that my readers can ride alongside me as I stumble and grow as a person. And I hope they can carry over some of my hard-earned lessons to their own lives.
Below, I showcase some of our achievements.
The original website design
Below is the original pencil sketch of the website architecture made during the summer of 1999. Back then, there were no established standards. Graphic designers, like myself, were inventing how the internet would work in terms of the user interface and navigation. We had to reimagine how to imagine how readers would open this online book. Below you can see how this vision came to life. I’m proud of what we accomplished. And looking back, I’m surprised to see what would become my logo of a bicycle on top of the world, and the seeds of a dream to travel to Mars.
Achievements
A dotcom baby
During the California gold rush in 1849, the miners were nicknamed argonauts; and, coincidently during California’s second gold rush, the dotcom boom, The Argonauts Inc. was born in San Francisco exactly 150 years later. In 2019, we celebrated twenty years online, outlasting millions of other websites, and we still rank in the top few percent of billions.
Innovators of social media
Back when we started the concept social media didn’t exist yet. But that was our goal: to create a platform where anyone could share their adventures and discoveries. Here is one of our original advertisements. I can’t even believe it myself anymore.
Sick of licking stamps? Can’t afford postcards? Post your stories and photos for all your friends — and the whole world to share. Maybe you’ll be our next feature story. Submit your story here.
Our goal was to post guest adventures in real-time. Back in 1999, we could see the Internet was going to revolutionize global communication, but the infrastructure and technology still weren’t in place. In fact, the only way many adventurers had to share their inspirational stories was to email us and have us post their story online. It may not seem like today’s real-time adventures, but we were posting stories that same day — almost as soon as we got the email, letter or phone call. Many people wanted us to automate these features, which would have essentially made our website one of the first social media platforms. TheArgonauts.com was ahead of its time but, unfortunately, we never could find the estimated $100,000 to create the features that companies like Facebook and WordPress now make free and easy for everyone.
Innovators of affiliate marketing
Our site has won a handful of awards, such as a Golden Web Award and the Cool Site of the Day. We were even the Barnes & Noble Affiliate of the Month. The reason we won the award back in 2000 is because our website was the first website to introduce the idea of combining a story with the related product link from an affiliate sponsor. Now it sounds so obvious that it is hard to believe, but TheArgonauts.com was a real pioneer on the internet.
Awards
An innovative and award-winning website.
Inspirational advertising
Our advertising campaigns were designed not to sell but to inspire. And it worked! Below are some examples of our old inspirational banner ads. They may look tiny, but it was the recommended size for when people used dial-up modems.
Media coverage
TheArgonauts.com has been showcased many times. Here’s one of my favorites: 12 Personal Travel Websites That Will Make You Quit Your Day Job. And Scott’s adventures have been featured in the media hundreds of times. To see more, visit our press room.
Adventure archive
We collected — and still do collect — hundreds of stories about people living their dreams. Visit our Archive of stories before the era of the blog and social media. I think you’ll find the writing quality very high. Back then, stories weren’t clogged with ads and clickbait.
We also had a lot of limitations in technology. Not only were the sizes limited, but most of our photos were still shot on film. This article shows the difference in the quality of pictures between then and now. Feature photo of Sunrise Machu Picchu.
The fruits of inspiration
My measure of success is not money; I judge my life by whether I can see my dream become a reality. One way that I can see that is if other people are inspired by what I do. Over the years, I have received hundreds of letters from people saying that my journeys, books, and website have inspired them to follow their dreams, like: quit their jobs and cycle countries like Cuba, Australia or Canada; or backpack Europe; hike the Inca trail; kayak New Zealand; some people even said they quit traveling because they were inspired to go home to the adventure of building a community, pursue a new career, find a new love, or even to build a cabin in the north woods of Wisconsin; and many more testimonials. It has been an honor and privilege to have gotten so many emails over the years.
Our original mission statement
An adventure-travel community dedicated to inspiring the human spirit by enabling people to venture into the unknown and sharing their dreams and discoveries with the world in real-time.
100% of profits donated to adventure and exploration.
That was our idealistic mission statement when Scott’s first adventure-travel website, theArgonauts.com, came online in 1999. I find it interesting that after 20 years and a lot of thinking that my current vision and mission statement above is essentially the same dream in a different form.
After my trip around the world on a bicycle, my definition of an adventure had changed. I came to believe everything in life to be an adventure. The challenge was to see it as an adventure and not a problem. So I added:
No matter what you call it — adventure, expedition, the hero’s journey, wanderlust, walkabout, vision quest, coming-of-age ritual, a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, spiritual awakening, enlightenment, the travel bug, voyage into the unknown, self-transcendence — or simply hope — and, no matter whether your adventure is to travel the world, bake cupcakes or sweep streets — this is our exploration of life and the human spirit.
Our original vision — story
Be the change you want to see in the world.
This has always been one of my guiding principles, and one of the reasons I wanted to inspire others to live their dreams. This is paraphrased from what Gandhi actually said:
“If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him… We need not wait to see what others do.” ~
The Argonauts Inc. first began to take root as two of the founders, Dennis and Scott, were bicycling across the United States, from coast to coast. This journey changed their lives by breaking down cultural, modern and self-imposed barriers that prevented them, and most of us, from fully experiencing the world. Soon, The Argonauts was founded upon the belief that the world would be a better place if everyone had a similar opportunity to redefine themselves and their surroundings.
Launched in October of 1999, The Argonauts is growing tremendously, powered by a group of dedicated volunteers and our growing community of adventurers. Now more than an online adventure magazine, The Argonauts features real-time expeditions, and our Travelogue section serves as a forum for all travelers’ photos and stories. We’re also proud to announce that 100% of our profits are donated to adventure and exploration. In the future, The Argonauts will be sponsoring expeditions that expand humanity’s physical, mental and spiritual boundaries.
You can help us achieve our dream by following the adventures of your fellow Argonauts, telling us about yourself (watch here for our survey), and referring our site to your family and friends.
Thank you! and happy trails,
Your co-adventures at The Argonauts
A new story begins
That was the old story. It was a good one. But now it is time for a new beginning. Head on over to My Vision to see how things have unfolded.
