Many of you know I’m big on blogging. I started last April and have never looked back. At the time, I was reading a lot of business books, articles, and magazine editorials, and was soaking up a lot of good information. Smooth Harold then become my breeding ground for thoughts, ideas, understandings, and everything else I care about.

Blogging has really become the networking of the 21st century, at least for me that is. It has provided me with opportunities I’d never dreamed possible. I’ve closed business deals by blogging. Just recently I landed a multi-phase consulting project with a local company. One partner found my site through a comment I made on another business blog and liked what I had to say about disruptive technology. The rest is history.

I’ve even recently been hired by Weblogs Inc. (an AOL company) as a freelance writer which has always been a dream of mine. It will give me the opportunity to become a better writer and work under a great editor and writing team. Very exciting times.

You don’t have to start a blog to benefit from them. Just read them! It takes time to update a blog, and it takes timely updates to keep people coming back. So if you can’t do that then at least post comments on other sites/blogs that link back to your website or email. If people like what you have to say, they will trust, like, contact, and want to associate themselves with you. It takes time, but it pays to blog.