Where's the year gone?

It's hard for me to believe that I have had this blog for one year tomorrow. With a glance over my shoulder, I am rather surprised by all the changes the past year has brought. For the past few months, readers might say that I have been asleep at the switch. Viewing my archives, I would have to agree.

Beginning
MLM Today started on June 7, 2004 after several months of badgering by one of my best friends in the world, Ty Tribble. Ty told me repeatedly, "just write about your experiences." Ty had been writing his MLMBlog for a few months and was gaining a large readership.

At first, MLM Today was journal of ideas that may be useful to those working in network marketing. As I began to assemble material for posting, I found pleasure in not only the writing, but in the technical aspect of page design. Additionally, the focus of the blog changed to reflect my opinions about the deceptive and abusive practices in the industry.

Feeding Time
My willingness to share my opinions reached to new readers with similar experiences and viewpoints, for the most part. Unfortunately, it also began to alienate some of my early readers. As I had started to "chum" the waters, lo and behold, sharks appeared.

For a few months, MLM Today would routinely trade barbs with pro-Q* supporters. In retrospect, this was such a waste of energy, time, and most certainly, bandwidth. I regret that I was not a smarter man and chosen the path of ignoring the situation. Overall, it took me further from my original intent and became a private battlefield that I am sure was not appreciated by those that had read this page.

New Role
In mid-January, I would find my involvement in this industry would take a dramatic change that would necessarily alter this blog. I came to realize that if change were to occur in an industry with such a bad reputation, I needed to change my focus from merely being critical of selected organizations. I needed to try to offer solutions and encouragement for those seeking to conduct their business with integrity. Moving into the next year, I will continue in this direction to the best of my ability.

I want to say Thank You to those that have offered their support throughout the past year. There have been many that have provided inspiration as well as education. I especially want to Thank those that shared concern about my recent health issues. It means more than I can express here - Thank you.