First of all, there was more to it than signing up with HostMonster.

About a year ago ( Fall 2005 ), I was browsing in a book store and picked up Jeffrey Gitomer's "Little Red Book of Selling", containing Jeffrey's "12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness". While sales adequacy is more my objective than sales greatness, I was impressed by the variety of good marketing ideas and the strength of his writing. It's a great book for anyone who sells anything, including software consultants such as myself.

In the book, Jeffrey makes a good case for "branding" oneself. He said that a web site was a wonderful way of focusing customers attention on what you are selling. I don't remember him saying that it was also going to be an excellent way of focusing my own attention on what I am selling, but it has been that.

So, with a nearly unique name unsquatted upon and begging for domainhood, I took the plunge and became a dot-com. Somewhat reluctantly, I must admit. I imagined that it was going to be a lot of work ( correctly ). I did not anticipate how much fun it was going to be drawing together the widely dispersed threads of interest that have woven the fabric of my professional life.