I hate blogging because it forces me to turn off the TV before 11pm, sit down at the kitchen table and figure out how to add value to someone’s life.  I hate blogging because it demands that I read and think about something new every day.  I hate blogging because it is a promise that I have to fulfill to an entire audience of anonymity.  And I hate blogging because of its open and accessible style  staring  you in the face, calling you an idiot for your inability to write something about anything that you know well.

Over the past seven months I worked with remarkable people and companies, helping them think about the Web as a conversation with interesting (or interested) strangers.  And what is most amazing about these amazing people is an almost universal discomfort with blogging…even when it’s critical to business success.  So I took a hard look at my own pathetic efforts to-date, looking for the reasons why I neglected an activity that is probably the most important thing I can do for my professional growth.

And I realized that, like anything we do for the first time or for the first time in a long while, blogging takes a while to settle into.  I remembered that, with very few exceptions, there really isn’t much I want to watch on TV in the evening and that some of my best ideas arrive during the day anyway.  And that there are a lot of people out there still looking for something other than YAG (Yet Another Gig) professionally, or trying to build a new life in or outside of a cubical.  And that when I think about it I can probably scavenge a nugget or two that someone will find useful.

So I’m blogging again…

Stay tuned…

I just finished reading an article by Seth Godin, The Paralysis of Unlimited Opportunity, and I think it has an important lesson for entrepreneurs.  Since starting the Inbound Marketing practice at Walden back in early March, I notice most of my dialog with clients and partners is not about what’s possible.  Sure, we talk about timelines and budgets, and whether it’s realistic to double site traffic in less than a month.  But more often than not we’re sifting through all of the different ways we can accomplish what we want.

Want to enable eCommerce on a site or for your business?  There are a zillion different shopping carts and dozens of credible payment gateways.  Need to manage content more effectively?  Hundreds of CMS systems are a click away.  And tools for monitoring Social Media or SEO?  The ocean of options gets larger every day.  Have you tried to pick a cell phone lately?

In the 90’s we were preoccupied with what might be possible with Internet technology.  In 2010 we are overwhelmed with possibilities.  The Yellow Brick Road is gone and now we can get to Oz by bus, subway, train or plane.  And Seth’s guidance… artificially limit choices… is vital for entrepreneurial success.  There are too many choices.  The most successful business owners I know are expert at blocking out noise and just getting the work done.  It doesn’t matter whether you use a GPS, Google Maps, or that compass app for the iPhone.  All that matters is that you keep walking down your Yellow Brick Road.