You have only through the end of the year to buy a truly unique gift – the One Laptop Per Child computer. Originally billed as the $100 notebook computer to give to children in developing countries, the cost is a little higher, and this offer allows you to buy one for yourself while at the same time buying one for a child.

For $399 plus shipping, I will get a green XO notebook computer that runs Linux with unique and useful software – more information on the machine is on their Web site. As you get one for yourself or someone else, you can deduct from your taxes $200.

I ordered one myself, and am awaiting its arrival. As someone who got into computers at a young age and made a career out of it, I appreciate the need for children to be exposed to technology early on. It is a unique item that I will be able to use for my consulting business, Dunkirk Systems, as I can test and present Web sites on it.

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Let’s kick-off my gift suggestions with a great product at a great price. MyMugs.com creates custom designed coffee mugs for individuals and businesses. It is run by my good friend and fellow entrepreneur Steven Benjamin. All you do is submit a logo, photo or design, and MyMugs does the rest.

For Black Friday, MyMugs is offering a special price - $.99 per mug! No special coupons or codes required. Ordering information and pricing is at MyMugs.com. This offer is only good today, Friday, November 23.

And not only am I a friend, see for yourself – I am a customer too.

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Happy Black Friday! Today is considered the official start of the holiday shopping season in the US, though from the look of everything from streets to stores you would have thought it started the day after Halloween, or even earlier.

In the spirit of the holidays and in promoting small businesses as I like to do here at The Hot Iron, allow me to suggest gift ideas. These suggestions will be of products and services from fellow entrepreneurs and businesses. As the reach of The Hot Iron goes beyond Chicago, I will be writing about gifts you can get here in the Windy City and beyond. Some are purely online, and others are retail establishments.

Happy Shopping!

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I am proud to announce you can read selected posts from The Hot Iron on Blogspot, the official blogs of Ashworth University.

Ashworth University, based in Norcross, Georgia, offers distance learning courses and distance education programs for home study career education. In developing their blogs, Ashworth sought out experts in various disciplines to contribute their content to their blogs to accompany the faculty of the school. They contacted me and asked me if I would like to join this virtual expert lecture, and I was more than glad to accept this offer.

The Blogspot is a great example of a win-win situation. For Ashworth and its students, they have the opportunity, in one location, to read a wide variety of information and opinion from real-world experts. For myself, it is a new venue of readers – not to mention potential customers of Dunkirk Systems! It is similar to guest blogging, and my posts show up on Google Alerts and Serph, so their blog is getting good reach.

Some of my posts are on their Business and Technology categories. Even if you are an avid reader of The Hot Iron, check out their feeds and gain some insight from my fellow contributors.

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Last night I attended TECH cocktail 6 (TC6) in Chicago, which was attended by hundreds in the tech, online and entrepreneurial community. The breadth of people in attendance made it a successful event, and I met a variety of people I hope to reconnect with in the future. I’d like to think part of the success of the night was my preparation, making sure I was mentally and physically prepared for the event.

Physically you say? Yes – I consider what I wore and carried with me essential for the event. Here’s what I did to prepare for TC6:

• Get my head shaved earlier in the day at The 316 Club
• Pickup my blazer from the dry cleaners
• Eat beforehand – juggling a drink and food is hard to do at a crowded event
• Re-read John Wall’s post The Case for Drinking at the Ronin Marketeer blog
• Carry plenty of my business cards in my front right blazer pocket
• Carry my Moleskine notebook in my inside blazer pocket, and lucky pen in my shirt pocket
• Bring my new folding reading glasses from Peepers.com in my pants pocket
• Wear my green Omniture scarf made by my client Sports Scarf – a promotion at TC6 was giving prizes for people who wore green (they can make a scarf for your company too!)
• Carry a new box of Frisk mints
• Get cash for when the bar closes
• Check my fly – yes, wearing lined pants gives guys a false sense it is zipped
• Walk through my elevator pitch in my mind as I walked from the "L" stop to the venue, trying not to move my lips

I commonly follow these steps for most all networking events. Do you have a checklist or ritual you follow?

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