I'd argue that being in a market that people wanted made you money, not PHP. I dunno what the timescale of your successes was - I think PHP actually was the best option for webapps between about 1998 and 2004 - but there are better technologies available now.

Java and C++ made me money, PHP made me bupkis. Python at least is fun.

Building camarades.com, now ww.com in march '98. The webcam software was in C++.