A Diverse Day

So, I get up at 6, fly to the office to pick a few things up, then head over to Thunder 102 cause they invited me to spend an hour talking about the DIY TV shows and my business - live. Then off the Center of Discovery to meet with the construction manager of Allison Devore in order to start a huge spray foam insulation job for one of the most cutting edge businesses up here. Then off to Cottage 25 for a final review, then off to Farmhouse 14 to check Alvin's painting progress on the front porch, then off to see Norm to lay out the house locations and driveway paths for Barn 3 and Cottage 30. Then off to see Dean at Ranch III, and check up on the guys at Cottage 28.

Whew, then back to the office to pow wow with the James K, the bookkeeper and my assistant.

Just got a call from a woman in Long Island who loved our stuff and asked a bunch of questions and couldn't help but comment that she thought the post about Cottage 2 was 'wierd' for someone just coming across the website.

I couldn't agree more Kim. Although it's not me writing about that makes it weird. The fact on occasion a small group of homeowners have gone for this company's jugglar for years is what's weird, not me writing about.

But in the end, like I have said for years, this blog is about how it really happens, not how I would like it to happen, or how I could make it appear to happen. In fact, in such a small community, the widely read blog becomes my best 'word of mouth' defense against a lot of bizarro behavior that is really detrimental to my efforts. What's odd is that anything that is deterimental to my efforts reduces the value of what I am building.

I'm going on 400 posts, almost 3 years of tracking our progress. 150 readers a day. So that's cool.

Also, I get a lot of email asking me why I'm such a 'pompous jerk' because the blog makes it seem like we do no wrong and have only victories day in and day out. Like I have said before, this blog is a marketing tool - and after reading Paul Downs self-pity blog in the NY Times Small Business section week after week, how annoying would it be if I tracked all the self-doubt, self-recriminations, second guessing and woe-is-me approach like he does?

I hate the 'I'm a Victim' cry, and believe me, we've had plenty of occasions to play the victim.