I’m very pleased to announce officially that I am writing reviews as part of Thomas Nelson’s review program.

We’ll see how this goes, but so far, I think it’s a neat idea. I have had the pleasure of corresponding with Michael Hyatt twice now, which is amazing when you consider how busy the guy must be, and I have to say that he seems to be on the level. As the person leading the Social media charge at our company (Life Care Centers of America is my employer) I always get fascinated by CEO bloggers, and Hyatt is, without a doubt one of the most active. He keeps a blog, FB page and tweets interesting content all day while still running Thomas Nelson. Fantastic. Anyway, my first book came in the mail and I’m really excited about it. One of the nice things about the program is that you get to choose your books form lists that interest you. It isn’t the kind of situation where Thomas Nelson simply sends you a book and that’s that.

My first book is “The Selfless Gene” by Charles Foster , and it deals with the idea of science and religion getting along…imagine that! Well, I can’t wait to read it, and as soon as I’m done, you can expect a full review here on The Rob Blog.

This of course brings me to my next order of business… I’ve been thinking a lot about my consulting jobs. For years, I have been a PR/Marketing consultant. I love the work, and it keeps my creative juices flowing. Life Care has a policy that permits us to work a second job as long as it is approved and doesn’t interfere with my dayjob. This, of course, means that I take care of consulting work mostly at night and on lunch breaks.

Now, I know that some of you out there might have an area of expertise that you think you can monetize by consulting, so as someone who has been doing this a while, I’d like to offer a word or two of advice…

#1. Never consult on a project that you wouldn’t be willing to do for free.

What?!?!?!?! Alderman, you gotta be kidding me!

No, dear reader, I swear it’s true. You see, if you are going to go into consulting, you’d better absolutely love everything about the subject matter. The fact is that I would give away marketing advice all day long if I wasn’t careful, and that’s a good thing. It means I love it and am not as likely to get burned out. You want to lose your mind? Go ahead and consult just for the money.

#2. Never consult for free.

Yep, I said it. In seemingly complete contradiction to my first statement. But here’s the thing- I never told you to do it for free. I told you to do it because you would be willing to do it for free. Instead, ask people to pay for it. When I play music, I rarely play for free. Sure, the occasional benefit concert will come up and I’ll play for a good cause, but a normal show? Never. Why? I’m not a popular touring musician anymore. No one knows who I am. But…I am providing a night of entertainment, and even though I’d be willing to do it for free, it’s much nicer to get paid for it.

OK…there you go.

In closing, I looked at our budget for the year this past week and it almost made me pass out. It was, at first, very discouraging. I couldn’t believe that we work so hard and still have so little savings. I’ve been working hard for many years now, and to be honest, when I saw the budget it made me feel like a failure. Once the shock wore off however, I was very glad that I had spent the time to plan the year out.

Here are a few budget observations…

#1. My wife, who has been paying our bills for years, is a saint.

#2. While the situation isn’t wonderful, at least I know what it all looks like and now, I have a plan to get free from debt once and for all.

Alright, Robloggers, it’s time for me to get back to work. I have a client who needs some marketing!!!

Pleasant dreams,

Rob