In a few days I am going to be introducing you to my new alter ego (or I should say "altar" ego), the Rev. Billy Blog -- the business blogging evangelist!

Billy has one goal in life, and that is to convert business to the gospel of blogging. You might say he is on a "mission from God!" (The "god" of the Blogosphere anyway.)

A couple of buddies and I dialogued via email about blogging, and what they had to say spoke to the essence of what this medium is all about.

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Nathan Enns, CEO of FyberSearch, has just acquired FeedPlex, a feed search engine that provides Internet users the ability to find data in XML/RSS format on the web.

What intriques me the most about this is that Nathan is only 20 years old! (Maybe still 19!)

Anthony Caslena, CEO of SquareSpace.com, is only 22 and making big waves with his publishing platform.

The internet belongs to these young netrepreneurs, and I herald their coming. Old dogs like me just rent space from them!

I could have used a more functional title I suppose like "Be Careful With Whom You Form Alliances," but I do have a story about a rattlesnake I want to tell. Please, read on.

I have client for whom I am developing a website. She is a small business owner who runs a hair salon and modeling agency. She is also a single mom whose husband died a few years ago in an automobile accident. She has faced, survived and overcome insurmountable struggles, not only in her personal life, but in her professional life as well. She is not deserving of pity, but of admiration and respect. I have the highest of both for her.

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Wednesday of last week I made mention in one of my posts that it was my birthday. Several fellow business/marketing bloggers commented or emailed well-wishes. Something for which I am very grateful.

You want a really good reason to start a small business blog? Let me give you the best one I can think of. Bloggers are some of the nicest, friendliest, most helpful people in the world. I have found it to be a caring, encouraging environment and I'm very proud to be one of its ambassadors.

The media spectacle known as Rathergate has proven to be much bigger than anyone might have imagined in terms of the prominence it has given bloggers. And not just to certain bloggers either, but blogging as a whole.

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Regardless of your personal feeling about Rathergate, one thing has been proven conclusively, blogging is a powerful medium for instigating change. No better case study can be found than that of the debacle surrounding CBS, Dan Rather, and the forged documents. It's CBS vs. the Blogosphere.

An article by Orlando Sentinel columnist Kathleen Parker says that the "CBS mess variously known as ''Forgerygate'' or ''Rathergate'' is by any other name a seminal moment in the blogosphere that holds promise not only for revolutionizing journalism, but also perhaps for problem-solving on a global scale."

Had it not been for blogs this story might have died a premature death. Certainly the mainstream media would not have pursued it. Thanks to the energetic efforts of bloggers the truth was told, and that is always a good thing, no matter which side of the political fence might be affected positively or adversely.

Here's the punch line: If blogs can be effective vehicles for communication and change on the socio-political front, just think what possibilites they may hold for small businesses. Isn't it time you found out?

All Hail the Power of the Blog!!!

PS: The blogosphere is a sometimes quirky place. I don't know which has created more buzz lately, the CBS debacle or the Kryptonite lock fiasco! :-)

I've been so busy lately I almost forgot what today is, the third anniversary of 9/11. Here is my tribute, and I want you to watch it. It's a video from Christian artist and songwriter Michael W. Smith to a song he wrote entitled "There She Stands."

I will spend this day both mourning the loss of those who died on that tragic day - especially those firefighters, police, and emergency personnel who gave their lives trying to save others - and of our servicemen and women who've lost their lives defending our liberties in response to it. As you may know, my own brother, Maj. Alex Chaney, is stationed in Kuwait right now.

I will also spend this day celebrating the freedom that we do enjoy in this nation. A freedom that has been purchased by the blood of those men and women who have served our country in the armed forces. And, I will spend this day praying that God would bring an end to the strife, that injustice would be turned into justice, and that wrong would be made right. I will pray for peace, but not peace at any cost, for I believe that for liberty to be preserved, it must be defended.

So, I hope you will join me on this day in mourning the past, celebrating the future, and praying over the present.

Most of all, I hope we will all remember that on this day three years ago, the people who walked out of the purgatory that lower Manhatten became, out of that grey cloud of dust and debris, didn't walk out of there as white or black, rich or poor, Democrat or Republican, gay or straight. They all walked out of there as survivors, and as bearers of scars. They all looked the same. In some ways, we all bear scars from that day. We, too, are survivors.

I hope we will each remind ourselves today that, while we have many differences, that which joins us together is so much greater than that which keeps us apart. Perhaps that is the most fitting tribute of all to this day, September 11.

Since childhood I've wanted to become a pilot. At age 48, I finally got around to taking lessons and am now a student pilot. (That's a photo of the Cessna 152 I train in.) But, I got stalled in my training because I kept putting off the written exam that is a requirement.

I finally got around to taking the written exam this past Sunday and passed with flying colors! (93%; only missed four questions out of 60) Now, I'm on course to finish my requirements in a few weeks and take my checkride. So, yea, I guess you could say I'm pretty high right now!

Is there a moral to the story? Not really, except that I encourage you not to wait too long before you begin fulfilling your lifelong dream. You only get one shot at life, so you might as well make the most of it, right? If you have a dream in your heart, go for it! What's stopping you?

(Excuse all the corny flying puns I stuck in and the personal note here. But, hey, if I can't tell my blog, who can I tell?!)

My brother, Major Alex Chaney, who serves with the 114th Army National Guard Support Group in Kuwait, is currently home on two weeks leave. We were able to pay him a visit at his home in Gadsden, Alabama yesterday. I had not seen him since he left late last year to go overseas.

Needless to say, I'm very proud of my younger brother. He returns to Kuwait for a few more months, but should be home by Thanksgiving, and what a T-giving that will be!

Please keep he and all our service personnel in your thoughts and prayers. Regardless of your views on the war in Iraq, these brave men and women deserve our support.