Happy New Year!

The ball has dropped! It's the new year and there are great things planned for 2012, the assumption being of course that the Mayan Calendar hasn't accurately predicted doom for all.

You may or may not have noticed, but I've put a lot of work over the past few days designing this website. Looks nice eh? Like a real website. I would HIGHLY recommend that you sign up for regular updates. Why? Because it would be a shame to let this pretty website go unwatched. Check out the sidebar on the right hand side. You'll notice a few different methods for signing up.  RSS Feeds.  Email.  I am not picky, just go sign up. Do it now. I'll wait.

Changes to Consulting for Swag

The Consulting for Swag project has been a lot of fun so far.  I've had a few takers, and a few articles are about to be posted on the site.  Nevertheless, I'm going to try something new. See, the point of Consulting for Swag is to have some fun while getting some experience by seeing what sorts of interesting goods or services I could get out of it.  In order to make it more fun for everyone, I'm altering it slightly to be more of a game, similar to One Red Paperclip.  Here's how it will work:

• I will still do consulting.
• I will still do consulting for swag instead of money.
• You will notice a box on the top of the right hand column of this page.  This will display the Featured Offer - that is the most interesting item or service that I have received so far in exchange for some form of consulting.  There will also be a link to the business' website.
• If you are able to offer something that compares to this then I will schedule you in for consulting, write a report and likely a blog post about it.  Your offer should be either bigger, better, or more interesting than what is on display.  When in doubt, ask.
• Once I receive the item or service, you will oust the incumbent from this box and take your place on the front page.
• Past jobs will still have a link listed on the new "Past Projects" page.

I'm hoping that this will make the project more fun and also make the benefits to your business more tangible. It's not just consulting, it's promotion, and it's fun!

What will the offers be?  Laser pointers? Collectible trading cards? Better photos?

Updates and Guests

Starting in January I'm going to move to a twice-a-week schedule. New articles will appear every Monday, starting January 2nd and less formal midweek updates on Thursday. I'll also aim to post on holidays, just to be festive.

Also, I'm starting to get guest bloggers!  I'm so excited! This year the goal is to host a guest article on my blog on the third Monday of every month.  I've got three people who are interested so far.  The first is slated for January 16th. His name is Daniel Taylor and he will be writing about the benefits of Public Relations for small businesses.  More details to follow, so stay tuned!

With that I wish you all Happy New Year!  Don't forget to sign up for my blog updates and share them with all your social networks.