Course Correction for The Scratching Post

This weekend we chart a new course for The Scratching Post. I will be de-emphasizing the political posts and focusing more on business posts. I'm doing this for a couple of reasons.

I'm writing this as a free thought exercise, so saying "a couple" means I don't have to have the whole thing planned out before I write it. I am so clever! :-)

The first reason is that I am trying a new line of work and I want to use this blog to share my experiences with you and to provide myself with a diary of my discoveries. I am currently the lead business development manager for a $1.4B organization. I do strategic planning and marketing at the corporate level. It is loads of fun. I want to start moonlighting as a business consultant for small businesses. I will be the first to admit that I don't think my specific training translates well. For example, I know nothing about direct marketing like mail, radio or flyers. After having read books and journals, today I start the direct education process by meeting and interviewing business owners. This blog will detail what I learn.

The second reason is that political blogging is a crowded field. It's also a noisy and contentious one. So many others have valuable things to say that I'm not sure I add anything to the mix. Many of my blogging friends do this better than I do, so I'll just haunt their sites and leave comments when I'm inspired. Unless something really hits me as needing a post here, I'm getting out of that line.

Some things will stay. Cats, hamsters, the Feline Theocracy, the World of Good and Thursday 13s will stay. I know that flies in the face of the advice of more seasoned business bloggers who recommend tightly focusing your blog, but I enjoy those too much to give them up. In any case, this blog isn't making any money anyway, so there's not much point in tuning it for that purpose.

If there is something you like or something you would rather me drop, let me know.

And thanks for reading this blog. I can't tell you how fun it is to turn on the PC and go to sitemeter and see how many hits I have for the day. When you read this blog, you're giving me an irreplaceable gift - your time. I am very grateful for that.