Over the last six years, I've been building websites. Primarily, I've been building websites for other people.

In reality, I should be clear. Most of the websites Tribute Media has built have not been built by me. They have been built by my very talented staff.

When I set out to redesign this website with it's new design, I felt it was important that I build it myself. I had some very specific reasons why I needed to be the one to actually do the work.

I always council leaders of companies to not build thier own marketing campaigns. In fact, on page 77 of my book, I quote myself when I say, "Whenever I see a bad logo design, I think, 'The CEO must have designed that.'"

Any business leader should focus on running the business and not taking the time handling things that his team should handle. However, I've felt it very important that I understand everything that my team has to do. I've taken the time to learn so that I can be a support to my team. This website was a golden opportunity for me to learn something new and find new ways to help my team members when they need it.

When I rebuilt my website earlier this month, there were a number of key things I wanted to try. In the coming weeks, I'll write a post about the tech side of things but this post has a focus on the business implications of why I did what I did.

I am a firm believer that in order for a boss to truly be able to lead his team, he has to understand what his team does on a daily basis. Without understanding how the team works or what they have to do to be successful then I believe he cannot lead them to growth.

Think of it like a coach for a sports team. Most coaches start as players. In fact, at some level, all great coaches have played a lot in their life. Even if they didn't play professionally, they understand the world the player lives in because they lived in it themselves at some level.

This website represents the most complicated website that I have personally ever designed and built.

Now, for you designers and web developers out there, you might laugh that I say that because you might have a greater level of understanding than I do and think that what I've done here is no mean feat.

For a couple people on my team, what I've done here is not overly complicated. And sure, I recognize that. However, remember, I'm not a web designer. I'm not a developer. I'm a businessman first and foremost. At best, I dabble in web design. At best, I consider myself a hack.

In fact, the artistic side of this website wouldn't have happened without the artistic direction of our very talented illustrator/designer. Some of the cool effects like the way the website scrolls wouldn't have happened without a very talented developer on my team that started teaching me the ropes in JavaScript a month or so ago.

Because I took the time to build this website myself, I now have a greater appreciation for what it takes to build a website people can be proud of.

You may not like the way this website is designed. In fact, I've already heard from a few of you. However, for me, this website design represents far more than just my mug on too many pages. It means that I understand what my team has to put up with on a daily basis when I say, "Oh, come on, it can't be that hard."

When I work to understand what my team goes through to create, I can understand how hard they have to work to pull off my vision.

Nothing great comes without hard work. I believe in leading by working. I figure if I can spend the hours behind the scenes learning and preparing then when the times comes to help others, I'll be ready.