As you can see from my past two posts, I’m working through a shift in my business. It’s not so much a new direction as it is an evolution.

All the work I’ve ever done has been about caring for people and people’s needs. When I was a waiter, I took care of people’s dining experience. When I was buyer at a large outdoor clothing store, I brought in the products my customers most wanted. As a spiritual teacher and healer, I cared about the unveiling of my client’s authentic self. And even as a web designer and web-based business developer, my cares have been about helping my clients understand how to use the web to build their business.

It hasn’t matter. At every turn of my life my work has been about helping people. And that’s certainly extended deep into my personal life as well.

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Here’s an interesting question for you…what are the best, most exclusive, and over-the-top goals that you would like to achieve in your life?

Well, that’s what Wendy Piersall is asking me, NewspaperGrl, Polliwog, David Wilson, Gayla McCord, and a few others.

I know the things I’d like to accomplish with my life. But Wendy got me thinking about ‘why.’

What I’ve come up with are the most important goals, no necessarily in order of importance. So, here we go…
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What do I get?

Every single person who visits your website or interacts with your business is asking this question. And most often, we’re answering them with, “if you do this you’ll get that.”

You find this way of thinking everywhere. Yet I say it goes against our true human nature. Yeah, sure, we want to rule and control our environment. But even that gets old. Think about the last argument you ‘won.’ Might have felt great for a little while, but didn’t you soon start to feel a bit empty inside, as though something got taken from you?

Now think of the last time you gave something to someone. Not just gave something, but gave them something they loved. Now go further in thinking about the last time you gave something to some that they loved openly without wanting or expecting anything in return – at all.

Didn’t that feel great? And do you remember how the feeling filled you up with excitement and warmth that stayed with you for a while?

That is THE secret to business success…giving. But not just giving, giving freely, openly without expecting anything in return. When you give like this, it’s like planting seeds fertile soil. With a little time, some sunshine and regular watering, that seed will product a tree that gives you fruit year in and year out.

So give. You’ll find it to be the most effective marketing approach you’ve ever used.

So, how do you give?

Of course you would, right? Afterall, it is your voice and you should know your voice.

Read your last 5 blogging posts, do you really hear your own voice? The voice that you speak with in everyday life – to your friends and family? Or do you hear a different voice?

On one of her podcasts, Heidi Miller, talks about how we feel the need to be ‘stiff’ or what I call, proper, when we start sharing a message that will ‘go out to the masses.’ One interesting point she makes is that we’re so often concerned about our presentation being perfect, that we forget about it reaching the audience we’re speaking too.

I’ve struggled with this too. But what I’ve come to realize is that people don’t need me to be perfect. They don’t need, nor do they expect me, to always be right on, to say the perfect thing. Look at me, I’m using perfect in three consecutive sentences – that’s not perfect (ooooh!).
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Just like Doug Karr, I get ribbed about blogging. My friends don’t get it. Most of the marketing coaches/consultants I know don’t understand it. Even my wife thinks it’s a bit odd (though she’s begun asking me if I would put a blog up for her).

My experience is that people simply have a tough time accepting things they either don’t understand or they misunderstand. Blogging fits into both. I mean, just the name itself – blog – seems like this big unknown to most people.

But like Doug, I love my blog. Why? Because I love to help people – and my blog is helping people. I love to share what I know – and my blog lets me share what I know. I love what I do for a living – and my blog lets me do it more effectively, with a broader reach. I love relationships I’ve made with other bloggers – something much more difficult to do with a static website. For these reasons, and many others, I love blogging and I tend to enjoy bloggers.

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Last week I had the priviledge of speaking with blog consultant Mike Sansone of Converstations.com and BlogTalkRadio. Mike is one of the organizers of, and a speaker at, SOBCon07 this May in Chicago.

Mike and I talked for quite some time, covering many topics. There certainly were highlights I took away from our conversation.

But one comment Mike made to me stood out. At one point, when we were talking about how we found each other’s blogs, Mike said, “I saw your name come up constantly in blogs I read and comment on. I had to find out who this ‘Dawud Miracle’ was.” (note, not a direct quote)

This moment in our talk really stood out for me. Why? Because that’s exactly how I sign all my comments – Dawud Miracle.
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I was reading Wendy Piersall’s post this morning on Easton Ellsworth’s Scratch One Another Program (SOAP). I was thoroughly intrigued. So much so that I’ve already filled out the one-minute questionnaire.

SOAP is a free blogging tips exchange program. Easton wants to get 100 bloggers who can SOAP each other up and scratch each other’s backs by March 31, 2007. It’s free and all you have to do to get free blogging advice is give some free advice to another blogger that he will assign to you.

This sounds like a great opportunity to both share and learn, as well as meet other bloggers. Easton has more details at Pass The SOAP: Improve Blogs With The Scratch One Another Program.

And if you already know you’re interested, then head on over and fill-in the SOAP questionnaire.

One note, photo borrowed from Business Blogwire’s site.

Blogs don’t become successful on their own. They need help.

I can say without a doubt that my blogging success is directly related the links other bloggers have tossed me. Thanks to all of you, by the way.

So, here are some bloggers I know. Many are beginning their blogs. Some may interest you. The most developed blog (and the most interesting to me at least) is Dave Schoof’s Engaging the Disquiet in Men. Have a look.

And check out these other blogs. Something here might interest you.

• BarryMorris.com’s Irresisti-Blog (blog appears to be down)
  Barry Morris – Helping copywriters become irresistible
• Blog: Business Heart
  Mark Silver – Can you heart it beating?…When you want to make a difference and need to make a profit.
• Breathing Space Home & Office Organizing
  Joanna Rueter – Creating space for who you are and what you do
• Conscious Cooperation
  Stuart Baker – how the decision to cooperate can drastically improve working communication and results in the construction industry and beyond.
• Engaging the Disquiet in Men
  Dave Schoof – Helping men who feel something missing in their lives
• Inquiry365
  Mona Grayson blogs for Daily Inquiry
• Mindfulness Maverick
  Jason Stein – Working Mindfulness with A Twist
• Synaptus Insights
  Dennis Stevens – Bridging the Gap Between Strategy and Performance
• Your Ideal Customer
  Elisa H. Gillispie – Clarity, Relationships and Results

I’ve been building websites for almost a decade. But yet, I’m not simply a web designer any more.

As I’ve said in previous posts, I help service-oriented, small and independent businesses plan, develop, design, execute and grow their businesses using the web. I’ve also written about how I coach, mentor, consult with and educate my clients on the best web-based strategies for building and growing their businesses.

So then why Healthy WebDesign?

Well, that’s a great question. Basically, Healthy WebDesign developed from my desire to build better (healthier) websites in every way possible – from the coding and visual design to caring about the business needs of my clients. ‘Healthy’ became the metaphor for a simple, balanced and profitable approach to website development.
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How many times have you left a comment on someone’s blog because you really wanted to engage in a conversation?

I’ve done this plenty. But to keep in the conversation, I’ve had to do one of three things: Either I grab a comment rss feed – but those are rare; bookmark the page – easy to forget about; or send a link to myself by email – not efficient.

So engaging in conversations in comments has been quite a pain in the rear – until now.

A few weeks ago I got tired of trying to track the comments I had left on other blogs myself. So I poked around the web and found a few services that would help me track comments. I ended up choosing coComment (though I was really close to choosing co.mments).
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