It’s fascinating to watch how an idea transforms into reality. I think you know what I mean. An idea that was created and thrived, but only inside the comfort of your own mind. To actually see it in black and white is rewarding.
But the scary thing about watching ideas become reality, is that it doesn’t always come out the way we envisioned and its future is unknown. I think that's the most scary part - what happens after you're finished and what comes next?
In this instance, I’d like to think this whole crazy idea of providing "an extensive list of free external research links tailored to professionals in our industry" worked out pretty well.
You see, I have a Rolodex of favorites saved on my computer and many people I know do too. Many of us spend hours looking, digging, and trying to find information. We conduct several searches just to find that one link, article, document, or any piece/pieces of information that will resolve our investigation. And we try to do all this in a timely matter without costing our employer any money. That is quite a hefty responsibility we bare.
Keeping all that in mind, that is the goal of this site- to offer an organized list of links to help investigators quickly conduct research.
But the journey of the initial idea and implementing it was a bit more involved than I had anticipated.
Remember, the whole idea to reality transformation thing I mentioned earlier? Well, this website initially was supposed to be one page in a Word Document shared with team members.
However, while creating this document, I wondered how many analysts could benefit from a tool like this, and how could I make "this" available to them? This would have been invaluable when I was an investigator just starting my career.
So, I decided to expand this idea to a larger platform for everyone to use and what better way than a website. That’s right, I went from creating a one page document for a few, to a website for everyone.
Hopefully, this website can be of value and make the research aspect of your investigation a bit easier. I also hope that telling this story inspires others to step out of their comfort zone. Don't be afraid. Dream big, grow, and while you're coming up inspire others.
Well until next time,
Happy Researching!
*Not sure if you can tell, but this is my first attempt at blogging. I used to do a lot of creative writing back in school, but this is not the same thing. I promise I will get better. Practice makes perfect right? I plan to blog every other month, and going forward blogs will primarily be AML and financial crimes related.