I wanted to make a special blog post since this is the first day of the New Year. I think the message that I'm going to share with you today will be very helpful to you. It comes from my own personal experience and the mistakes I've made. And I assure you, I have made plenty of mistakes. As good a year as I had in 2008, it could have been much better. I'm going to explain why in a minute. Please read this article. It may be the most important one you read this year. I've had a good year, as I said. I earned well into 6 figures and had an incredible month of December. It was the best month I ever had. But in the course of this year, I burned a lot of bridges. Let me explain. I am a very outspoken and opinionated person. When somebody is that vocal, they're going to have detractors. This is something I should have known from the start. While I did on some subconscious level, I wasn't ready to accept it. So when I was attacked for my views, I fought back. Sometimes I said things that weren't very professional. As a result, I made a lot of enemies and burned a lot of bridges with people who I could have had great relationships with. As a businessman, this was just plain dumb. On a personal level, it was even dumber. How can people respect you when, quite bluntly, you act like an ass? They can't. Oh some will come to your defense and say that you were provoked and that these people deserved to be blasted for their remarks. But in the end, it makes you no better than them. You've lowered yourself to their level. It's such an easy trap to fall into, and I fell into it more times than I care to admit. So, last night, realizing that I had just made my most recent mess by responding to a lot of negativity in a totally unprofessional manner, I came to the conclusion that 2009 needed to see a new me if I was going to continue to have success online. So some changes are going to be made...lots of them. No more arguing. And if I am attacked for any reason, I am simply going to ignore it. It doesn't make me look any better acting like a lunatic. See, it doesn't matter how much knowledge you have. It doesn't matter if you can teach people how to build 6 figure businesses. If you don't have their respect, you have nothing. I just hope I haven't learned that lesson too late. I've been marketing online for 6 years and as some people have said, it's time I grew up. What about you? Are you happy with the you that you see in the mirror? If not, what are you going to change this year? Or are you just going to continue on the same path that you're on? I can't make that decision for you. Only you can. Me? I have a lot of changes to make. I don't know if I can salvage any of the relationships that I torpedoed over the last 6 years, but I'm going to make damn sure that I don't torpedo any more of them in the next 6. May you have a Happy, Safe, and Healthy New Year. To YOUR Success, Steven Wagenheim