Good article. As one entrepreneur to another, I think you might want to splurge on a new photo.

Another networking no-no is to just put someone on your mailing list based on the fact that their card ended up in your pocket at the last networking event.

Instead, follow up within one or two days with an email: "Joe, it was nice meeting you at the Nuclear Bowl Tuesday night and talking about social networking. Along those lines, I have an email newsletter that goes out about once a month. Would you like me to put you on it?"

I'd agree with the others; entrepreneurship knows no party but most I know are politically progressive. However, that probably has more to do with the fact that I'm in Portland, Oregon and not somewhere in Florida or elsewhere in the South.

Andrew, I challenge you to vote from more than your pocketbook, and more than for the short term. Your pocketbook and the near term matter a lot but they're not the whole picture. Like any financial strategy, the seeds you sow today, you will reap tomorrow. Only think about "tomorrow" being a decade or two from now.

My instincts tell me that McCain = War. From a psychological, neurolinguistical, energetic and even biblical standpoint ("those who live by the sword will die by the sword"), McCain's language and general disposition are all about fighting and being tough. According to his current stump speech, and I could be butchering this slightly, he's "not afraid to be the tough guy, to make people mad."

I assert that McCain's looking forward to that, whether he'll cop to it or not. It's his comfort zone.

In my opinion, a wartime president's job is to become a peacetime president. That doesn't seem to be high on McCain's list. Economically and ethically, America cannot afford this any longer.

For this and many other reasons, I'm voting for Obama.

I like "Gal" more than "Lady." To actually leverage the name change, make it a real event, a roll-out. Contact all your past clients and current contacts, run a discount rate or sale on your services for a limited time, and even throw a reception or sale. You can even generate some PR or cheap/free advertising around it if you're creative. Good luck!

Al Polito