Praise & Purpose

Got some pretty big praise for the blog from Karl Palachuk over the weekend, though to be honest it’s pretty high praise every time anyone links to this blog:

You may not agree with everything he says, or the way it’s presented, but for an analysis of the business you’re in, Vladville is the smartest blog on the internet. Just look over his posts for the last week! In fact, this entire post was inspired by his article on Arthur Miller and the Death of an SMB Tech Salesman.

I highlighted the italicized part because I get it all the time: “I don’t agree with everything, but I love it!” – and to stay true to disliking the delivery: well no sh.. sherlock, 90% of what I put here is op-ed and as my good friend Albert would put it: opinions are like ass..es, everyone has one!

So much for ending the blog in 2007 on a high note!

My opinions are just that.. the world as I see it based on the limited facts I have to work with at the moment. Sometimes I’m right, most of the time I’m wrong, but because I voice it I get attention from thousands of people that are just pouncing to give me more information and let me change my mind. If you agreed with my every opinion and my every word made you feel great about who you are and what you do, you’d have a cause for concern… it would mean I’m patronizing you. And while there is good money to be made in patronizing people, lying their face while selling them out to the highest bidder, telling them everything is just great and peachy and if you only tried a little harder you would have a Ferrari… First, I can’t bring myself to be that full of crap for free (though for a $ I will sell a pig like a supermodel) and second, running a business and being an engineer, in any market segment, isn’t easy! Making money isn’t easy, getting attention is even harder, separating yourself from the herd requires a ton of time and effort and making success last is damn near impossible.

So why, oh why, do so few of you have an opinion of your own that you care to share with your peers? Some of you believe that it is easier to just open up the checkbook and join a group based on how big of a check you are willing to write – and waste the time, the money, the enthusiasm with other people that came over just because they wrote a check too and the only question they have is “What do I get for my money?” – the enthusiasm, money and time that you could be pumping into your own blog that could address your peers, your customers, your market, your community – and let them come to you because you prove yourself to be of value. That is marketing, not postcard spamming.

So if you’ve ignored my posts over the last week and are a “resolution” type of a person, why not make it a resolution for 2007 to have a blog and be proud of what you are able to do for your audience?

I for one have made my investment – Debra Hart May’s Proofreading Plain & Simple. $12 to make this place look like it’s not written by a 12 year old that got left behind.