Recently…Okay–right off, I just started with a half-truth. What I am about to tell you happened “recently”; however, this is something I am ALWAYS doing. Oops, sorry…another half-truth. Really, a DRAMATIC OVERSTATEMENT due to the sales person or drama queen in me–take your pick. If I was ALWAYS doing this, good gravy, I might NEVER have any fun or, in truth, get any other work done. Please let me start over…

Frequently (that’s better) I am looking at ways to improve the market position of Bryan Ventures. Bottom line, I know we have something great to offer agents in the area of insurance continuing education (CE) and in this fast-paced world of internet communication, a small company gets lost against the BIG GUYS.

The reason I know we have something GREAT to offer is you’ve told us so. Time and again agents are commenting on how much they appreciate us from the course content, ease of use, service–you name it–and agents like you have used the word BEST so much in describing Bryan Ventures, I choose to use it in our advertising and we host these glorious comments on our WALL OF FAME. (I feel blessed every time I read it…or even consider it. Thank you ALL so much!)

I  even decided to use it in describing this blog–whether or not it’s the BEST remains to be seen. After all, there are some really fun, witty, humorous, enjoyable blogs out there like THE EVERYWHEREIST–rated one of the top 25 blogs in Time Magazine’s BEST BLOGS. If you just take a moment to read this page, you’ll see the stiff competition I am up against.

But, once again, I’ve digressed. When agents had to come to a classroom environment to get their insurance CE, it gave me a platform to literally show you the value we offer. Now everything is a bullet point on a screen and the BIG companies have a lot of money to throw into keeping them in front of you. So, while chatting with some internet geeks recently (see, “recently” fit better here than earlier) about what we can do to improve our position on internet search engines, they suggested I start a BLOG!

WHAT? Forget about the fact that I write nearly ALL day long–that one is NOT an exaggeration! Whether it’s a response to an email, a new marketing piece, information at the website, etc., there is also emails for my various volunteer projects, about 100 texts a day, and don’t forget chatter on Facebook and the like…a girl has to have a little fun! And then there’s ALL the content in our nearly 100 online CE course hours which was written and updated by me plus we have goals to add three new classes each year.

This is A LOT of writing–which for the most part, I am okay with–I am a communicator in every platform and writing is just one of them, BUT my, “WHAT?” wasn’t for me, it was for you!

The “WHAT?” started it, but the real question was, “Who reads ALL this CR*P anyway?” I mean seriously, if I am spending nearly my whole day writing, you are spending nearly your whole day reading, and we are not alone. The whole world is reading and writing ALL day long!

I’ve never understood this Blogging business. Don’t get me wrong, I can understand why someone might want to journal their own thoughts, beliefs, concerns, or just life events. This seems intrinsic to the human condition and history is full of these memoirs…some of them published. Which brings me to my real thoughts on this–the best works are published. I have a huge list of items I want to read in addition to ALL I have to read. To just begin flipping around the internet to read about what Joe Blow thinks about what the internal combustion system is doing, or not doing, to the environment or some other nonsensical opinion is not something I have time for, or am interested in, and I figure you are the same.

So when these very polished, bright–albeit young–professional internet geeks suggested I begin a BLOG, you can now see why my reaction was, “WHAT? Who reads ALL this CR*P anyway?” They claim these posts will garner the attention of the little Google bots roaming around the internet and we’ll get better placement on the search engines. Huh…maybe now I have my answer…GOOGLE BOTS READ THIS CR*P!

My goal, however, is to offer something you will want to read. This platform will be different that the others I write. I plan to make this an environment to “Spout-Off” a bit and I welcome you to join me. Should you want to offer commentary to any of these blogs, please feel free to email me directly or comment directly on our Facebook page. Please be advised, any commentary you offer is free game for future “spouts” on the blog, and I shouldn’t have to say this, but I will–be nice. There is no need for personal attacks simply because you might disagree with something I’ve said. Let’s be adults about all of this…CORRECTION: MATURE! We all know a few juvenile “adults”!

I plan to blog about some juvenile adults who have offered some very interesting commentary on our SEMINAR EVALUATION FORMS in a future blog. I’m thinking I’ll title that one, THERE SHOULD BE A REQUIRED COURSE ON SOCIAL SKILLS–or maybe abbreviated to SOCIAL SKILLS 101? Let me know which you prefer.

Published March 2013. This blog post explains the beginnings of Bryan Ventures blog, WHO READS ALL THIS CRAP ANYWAY? Renee E. Bryan also publishes writing at her blog: WrongWayLizzie.Me.