My Biggest Blogging News Ever

After making you wait for 15 days, I will finally unveil my big announcement.

August 24th, 2004 was my first post on Grin and Barrett. I was naive and unsure about where my blogging journey would take me, but when I started it was with the intention of becoming a better writer and thought what better way than to write something as often as possible to accomplish that goal.

At some point I switched from self improvement, via telling stories about my personal life, to telling people about my work, which at the time was a pastor. Then when my job switched to small business, I switched my writing to the topic business issues. I absolutely love business, it is what I do every day and I still like spending my personal time writing about it. But, unfortunately the base readership of my blog enjoys reading personal stories more than business rhetoric, so for the last 2 years I've been torn between writing about what I love and alienating my readership.

Unable to figure out the balance between readership and material, and having more than accomplished my "become a better writer" goal, over 572 posts in 3 years, 4 months and 10 days, this my 573rd post will be my last.

Throughout my journey, I've had 25,521 visits with November 2007 being my biggest month ever at 1,518 visits according to my Sitemeter statistics. I've had readers from many countries across 6 continents (I never could find a reader in Antarctica). You left me 1,164 comments, which to the dismay of my wife was a continual source of self esteem, or lack there of as the case may be.

As a result of my writing, I received email from many people. Some were close friends, some became good friends and one was the District Attorney of Arizona as a result of a story I blogged about. A quick word of caution, be careful that the people you are blogging about aren't wanted by multiple states and by federal agencies. I wasn't aware, and perhaps you aren't either, that a common way to conduct an investigation is by doing a Google search and reading blogs. My apologies to the DA's office, I quickly read, deleted and never responded to your email. Avoidance seemed to be the best prudence at that time.

A quick side note of typical Grin and Barrett humor. After more than a year of unsuccessful persuasion that I should have my own domain name for my blog, my wife did the unsuspected by visiting Go Daddy to buy me my very own domain name as a Christmas present this year. What would have been the best gift ever, quickly became what she described as "a lame gift" when I told her the week before Christmas that after about a month of deep and serious contemplation I was going to quit blogging.

Anyone want to buy a domain name cheap?
Probably not.
What might have been.

I'll still be involved in the blogosphere as the occasional commenter, and may even resurface one day as a writer. For Barrett family updates, you'll have to rely on my lovely wife, the Rocky Mountain Mom, Deann. But from me, for now, it's farewell.

Thanks for reading and an even bigger thanks for commenting.

Terry's Take on Business

At my job there are a handful of "go to" people. These are the people that I can count on without fail, and know that no matter who I refer to them for assistance they will always exceed my client's expectations.

Terry Zarsky is one of these people. As the Business Reference Librarian she provides information on everything business. Okay, I admit her title isn't that flashy, but when you are as good as she is, you don't need a flashy title.

She also writes a great synopsis and review of business books. So, if you're like me and you love to stay up with the latest and greatest business book, but you don't have time to read (or like me you don't like to read), check out her blog. Terry's Take on Business.

Why I'm Not A Newspaper Reporter

I had a great lunch with fellow blogger and author Barry Moltz yesterday. However, I quickly came to the conclusion yesterday that perhaps I was not cut out to be a newspaper style reporter with interview questions or perhaps even one of those bloggers that gives you "10 questions with..."

So, I've decided to come up with the 5 reasons why I'm not a newspaper reporter, based on my lunch with Barry yesterday.

1. I get sidetracked too easily and only remembered once that I wanted to ask some questions to blog about today.
2. I forgot to bring pen and paper.
3. We spent more time talking about our families and personal lives than we did anything blog worthy.
4. I got wrapped up in phone calls and talk radio on the drive to lunch and I forgot to prepare a list of question to ask. (back to the sidetracked too easily issue I think)
5. I forgot to ask the one question I actually did come up with yesterday.

Good news is, I had a great lunch, enjoyed the conversation we did have and am very excited about the possibility of him coming back in June to speak at our luncheon.

Also, his new book, "Bounce", is on Amazon now, but not for sale yet. Can't wait.