Goodbye 2013

We barely knew you… The baker’s dozen year. The darkest night in 500 years happened just 2 days ago.

I worked with a guy who stayed home every Friday the 13th.  Yes, he’s very superstitious.  I wonder if he’s happy 2013 is over?

There were bright spots this year.  The DOW is up over 24%, which is the best performance since 2003. The housing market steadily improved, but we still have a ways to go since 40% of homeowners have negative equity. All American’s have health insurance – right?

There were some dark spots too, but much will be written about those so I’ll stick to the positive.

My little incubator launched two startups this year;  Milefork and Gigable. We have a little spark in both and will be working hard to build momentum in 2014.

By the way, if you need animations or graphic design, Fiverr.com is an excellent resource.  Just do your homework and read the reviews. You will thank me.

Social Media made great strides this year. A whopping 97% of marketers are using social media to engage their customers. Facebook, LinkedIn and blogs lead the pack in effectiveness. Podcasting may be the newest medium to take off in 2014. You heard it here first.

Miley made a big splash to return to the spotlight. My thoughts on pop music here. I’ve heard so many mixed opinions about the state of music.  The fact is there is more music being recorded now than ever.  The problem (for some) is finding the good stuff. The “good stuff” is objective of course, but many people over 30 have given up on FM radio completely. My thoughts on radio are here.

I hear a lot of small business owners still blaming the economy for lack of revenues. However, when you look closely, I don’t think its the economy’s fault.  If you have a GREAT product or service and treat your customers like gold, your business should flourish – in any economy. I think the economy is just fine for the most part.  Have you traveled lately? Planes are full.  Restaurants are busy – the good ones anyway. There’s $16 trillion exchanging hands in our economy as of June 2013. I’m not an economist and I also ignore major news media.

So, what will 2014 bring?  I have no idea, but I’m pretty excited about the prospects.