I have had several business colleagues in the last month talk with me about how important it is that we give back in our business community. How important it is that we add value to others in the process of building our business. Brett Simmons first introduced blogs to me and at that time told me the same thing. That if you want to be successful in building your personal brand on the Internet it is about what you give not what you sell.

Today I finally had a chance to pay it forward a bit and helped a friend get her own blog, twitter account and linkedin account. It felt good to help a fellow business owner get started in this exciting and sometimes confusing world of social media. I enjoyed the excitement again of starting this process. What design and image do they use? What content and connections do they have to offer? I remember my first days on the social media map and the apprehension that was mixed with excitement in the first hours and first posts.

I hope I get the chance to help others get started in 2011, and hope that this business will find success in her new ventures.