Hi everyone / anyone (?!), it's Fiona here.

This is my first writing about my plans for a new business idea.  I've decided to write about it and make it public here as I've recently learnt first hand how powerful this type of forum can be.  For those that don't know me, I've always been a big believer in setting and writing down goals, but it was only this year that I came to know how important it can be to share both the goals and the journey with others.  Earlier this year, Paul (my husband) and I set out to tackle an enormous goal - climbing Mt Everest.  We'd heard from other climbers that it would be as much an emotional and mental challenge as a physical one, so we created a blog so that we could easily keep in touch with friends and family.  That was the original intention anyway.  What we found is that we received so much support - and not just from our friends and families - from thousands of people scattered all around the world.  We also found it a very grounding process to write about what we were going through and our thoughts and doubts about what lay ahead of us.  Plus, from time to time, we also received some useful advice which helped in our endeavour.  (To see the details of this climb click here, or for the subsequent 2007 climb, click here.)

Anyway, all that is to explain why when I'm now embarking on starting a business, I intend to write publicly about it - including the ups and the downs.  Hopefully there'll be some people out there who will relate!

Well, so much for my first entry.  I've only just explained why I've decided to write about this but I have to go now (meeting friends for dinner).  More tomorrow...

Fiona