The One-Hundredth Blog

When I started my business in January of 2008, the decision was made to write a business blog as part of the whole process. Little did I know then that it would become an integral part of my operation.

The commitment was made to keep it strictly business, and to specifically add value to the markets I served: Print, the Book, Family-Owned, Sales Growth, Strategic Planning, & Executive Mentoring. Because much of on-line material is poorly written & self-serving, I was also determined to be brief and to the point; hopefully a 3-4 minute read would be the maximum.

Talking to those who are readers now, remembering back on how I felt, and looking back at that first post, it seems to have developed accordingly. What has been a surprise is the way in which I have been able to use most of the postings after the fact.

Issues develop, within all markets, and they are made up of multiple pros & cons. These make for good blogging topics. In looking at them objectively, if I decided to write about them, a good deal of preparation was required. In researching them, there has been unexpected learning on my part, which has enabled me to use these issues to add value to current & potential clients. Threads of content, best business practices, and sound advice resulted, almost by accident. With high standards, while putting my thoughts on paper, they became more refined, better organized, and have provided more value to the client.

I also began to use them in public speaking engagements and magazine articles. They were also reprinted in article format and used for marketing pieces that established & supported not only that with which I was competent, but gave insights as to how it might be accomplished. As I have stressed all along, how we perform is often more critical that what we actually do.

During the Holiday Season, the pace slows for some of us. Accordingly it might be a good time to page back & review those you may have missed. There are at least 8articles on Digital Print (such as Digital Print & the Future of the Book 2/14/08 & Twilight of the Books 2/27/08); 8 on Sales issues (such as Energizing Sales in Tough Times 1/29/09 & Sales Turnaround in 30 Days 4/1/09); 5 on Family-Owned (such as 10/15/08 Getting Family Owned Businesses Right: Ten Principles that will Make Everyone's' Lives Easier 10/15/08 & Subjective Dynamics of Family Owned Businesses 6/29/09).

There are also 11 on the Book & it’s future (such as Bill Gates & Textbooks 6/27/08 & The Kindle Achilles Heel 9/15/09); 13 on Executive Mentoring (such as Executives & Fierce Conversations 9/10/08 & Accountability - An All too Rare Gem 6/23/09); 6 on Strategic Planning (such as Is Your Growth Random, or Planned & Focused? 4/24/08 & Discovering the Value of Strategic Planning 9/8/08); and 9 on Difficult Economic Times (such as Navigating Through the Perfect Storm: A Counter intuitive Approach can Strengthen Your Emergence 12/5/08 & EQ - Emotional Intelligence: Its Importance to Economic Recovery 3/24/09).

As always, let me know your thoughts; they help define who I am, and who I hope to become.