In support of small business

My brother in law Paul can be pretty aggressive for such a laid back guy. He phoned me tonight, giving me shit about not commenting on his blog (he alleges I haven't read it lately - I have, but I'm a little behind these days), and wouldn't flipping hang up until I read his most recent post. It was about a friend of his, a small business owner in Newburg, Oregon, that Paul hooked up with in his quest to fulfill his lifelong dream of draining the bank accounts and remaining young no matter how much hair he loses.

Paul's blog is all about adventure, and not just off-road. Though there is a lot of off-road-related stuff in it. He's become quite popular in the FJ Cruiser world, and does his part to plug his vendors and supporters. Metal-tech 4x4 is one of those that Paul holds near and dear to his heart. Normally if Paul pushes me to do something I either change the subject, hang up, delete, or ignore. This time I took his nagging to heart and read the blog post. Here's a little excerpt (because I can't explain it better myself):

"Intuit, the guys who brought you Quicken software, are running a competition for users of their business software. The competition involves writing a story about your business and exposing yourself to the public vote for best story. The top 50 stories will move on to the next phase of the competition with the winners eventually receiving cash grants to build their business."

So here's the gig: we've all been there in some way, shape or form, working with little money and trying to keep the dream alive. How about clicking on this link, voting for the story (as either useful, inspiring or funny) and helping Metal-tech out. You may learn something. You'll definitely be helping a small business grow. And you may just be inspired.