To me, if you’re not learnin’, you’re dyin’. My friend Ben Yoskovitz’s “[1] What did you learn this year?” group writing project got me thinking about all the things I’d learned this year. Coming up with a list was actually difficult, since once you learn something, it’s like you’ve always known it. I also think that learning little things may effect us more than the big ones. So I decided to highlight some little things that I learned, along with the one thing I feel had the biggest impact on me as a home-based business owner this year.

Some of the little things…

• [2] Greg Wiggle’s departure impacted me way more than it did my kids.
• [3] Kari Byron is the ultimate role model for little girls. In the words of my 9-year old, “She’s pretty, she’s really smart, and she gets to blow stuff up for her job.”
• If you want to lose weight and stay in shape, get a large breed puppy. Walking mine to wear her out has netted me about 20 pounds of weight loss, that I’ve kept off for 9 months.
• Never, I mean never, take a road trip with 3 kids and forget to bring your iPod earbuds (NEVER).
• Go back to reading fiction before bed. “[4] Citizen Marketers” is an awesome book, but it keeps me up thinking (which is good, but not a 3 A.M.).

Now for the biggie - and I bet you can guess what it is…

The power of the [5] conversphere. I’ve been involved with the internets since ‘92, as both developer and user - and have been reading blogs for years. But I’ve been mostly a blog, podcast, and social media spectator until this year. What I’ve found is that social media is one of the most effective tools a small business can have for marketing and connecting with customers. One of the main things I recommend to those turning their passion into a home business is to get involved with the conversphere early and often. Use your passion for what you do to infect others and share your genius with the world. The relationships you will develop will become one of your most valuable assets.