Rubber side down – it’s a cycling term for keeping your wheels on the road and out of the air. I’m here at SOBCon in Chicago, sitting in the middle of a room as Jonathan Fields digs into WHY bloggers are what they are:

we’re gap fillers, pothole fillers and problem-solvers.

We’re tools. While some of us are “tools” in the pejorative sense, on a broader scope, we’re a means to help clients (and ourselves if you’re doing the RIGHT thing and treating YOURSELF as a client) achieve goals.

I’m going to throw myself into the conference and send you my recaps, but here’s what I’ll say at 9:46am CST: if you’re not here, you should be. Put this conference on your radar for next year. If you’re in the South, check out the Austin edition coming in September this year. I’ll post details as I find them for your reference.

Here’s your call to action today – a Redhead Nugget for thought:

Are you being a tool in the useful sense and carving-out a market for your self based on being a solution

or

are you being a tool?

I’m a become a better business person each day I’m lucky enough to find additional resources and collaborative partners to add value to my suite of solutions.  We don’t crap rainbows or breathe angels (Jonathan’s currently talking about how shit doesn’t always necessarily go “your way.”). But if you have a method to your madness, the motivation to continue learning and the audacity to admit:

I DON’T KNOW

perhaps you’ll be inspired to seek those people and resources that make you a better tool. After all – isn’t that the best we can hope for? To be of assistance, act as a lever, be a catalyst…inspire, incite, allow, permit, encourage.

Or, you could just be a tool.