Reflections on 2005

Happy New Years, everyone. It’s with mixed emotions I look back at the year gone by and, with excited anticipation, I look to the new year.

The past year has probably been the most difficult year I have ever gone through on a personal level. It started out well, as they all seem to. During 2005, my marriage took severe turns for the worse and resulted (twice) in separation… one that continues today. I began a new job with Northrop Grumman in February that didn’t really start out very well. In fact, it was downright miserable and I was on the verge of termination. With some key moves and assignments, I managed to not only crawl out of the ditch that I was in but finish the year in awesome standing with the company. I cover six sites in one capacity or another. I am working fairly independantly. And I’m finally working a minute from home. Lots of connections around the country and a go-to guy for many of our techs and folks in other roles in the company. And I was selected for the Katrina disaster recovery operation in September. Add it all up and I feel pretty damn comfy.

I’ve taken a step back from what has been, up until this year, my primary focus on the net - Emmense Technologies. It has been a web development freelance business until this year when I essentially let it slide. All of my long time clients - gone. Most of my passion to work for clients - gone.

But then there was this blog. This blog has been my passion and focus for the past year (well really year and a half). In many ways I’m thrilled with it. It’s grown in readership. Met some awesome folks. It has given me a reason to pursue some of the other things I’ve wanted to do. I began helping in little bits and pieces on the WordPress project as a result of blogging and have progressively become more involved.

Because of this blog, I was able to work with Jeremy Wright on You Can Blog (which incidentally should be near completion). Because of this blog, I was able to step back and see the potential in blogging and began working with others to help them see their potential grow through blogging. And of course, I launched Emerging Earth.

This year has been full of lots of things. Some of it good, some of it bad. If anything, 2005 has put some perspective and definition on my previously nebulous life and goals.

So what can be expected for 2006? Who knows really. Some things I can say I am either committed to doing or seriously looking into:

• Relaunching Emmense Technologies with a focus on consulting. Of course, I will still do the occasional website for a client and even make housecalls to fix someones computer. But my passion is helping folks see their potential, particularly through blogging, as a business person or even as a father or friend. I am struck by a quote by John Maxwell who says “Leadership is influence” and that is so very true. To that end, consulting (not just advice, but guidance) will be a large focus. Give a man a fish, and feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime.
• Breaking Technosailor into niche blogs. This is a personal blog and to that end I want to keep it that way. I’m thinking of spinning off some of the topics discussed here (for instance politics and blogging) into separate niche blogs. I’ve been sold on the “niche” aspect just by looking at what has happened at Emerging Earth in less than a month. Sticking to specific topics creates a dedicated reader base for that subject matter, defines my abilities as a SME (Subject Matter Expert) and provides a much more reliable way to leverage advertising dollars. The goal here is to do this kind of stuff full time and get paid for it, right? :) (I’d really like to do what Jason Kottke did but I’m far more gutless than he!)
• Continue to develop essential professional relationships. Those of you who have recently been snarfed into my LinkedIn network know. There are a number of folks that I have been watching for a bit and have already begun investing in professional relationships. Jeremy Zawodny at Yahoo is one of those. I admire what he does at Yahoo and I really believe that Yahoo will be the ultimate winner of the ongoing scrap-fight between Yahoo, Google and MSN. Darren Rowse is another guy that I have spent alot of time in the past few weeks getting to know professionally. Darren’s so low-key though that he’ll probably get all “oh shucksy” on me if he reads this. What a guy, though. His strengths lie in helping people realize their full potential in blogging. Sound familiar?

So as 2005 gladly draws to an end, I’m really looking forward to 2006 and what it is going to bring. Hopefully some hard lessons have been learned on both a personal and professional level in 2005 and will make me stronger for ‘06.

Happy New Year, folks.

• 
• Stumble it!

About the Author: Aaron Brazell is the lead editor of Technosailor.com and a social media expert. His passion is to see companies and individuals use the internet and web technologies wisely and effectively to promote their brands and companies. He is Business Development Manager for Lijit and he worked as Director of Technology at b5media from 2005-2008 and is currently an independent consultant.