Add and I started this China232 project about 5/6 years ago and have learned so much since then. We made so many marketing mistakes and have tried to learn from them.

Before we started this, we read a ton of stuff about how to do marketing, but at the end of the day, we really had no idea of what really works and what really doesn’t. Marketing is much more of an art than it is a science. It’s really hard to know what to do until you try it and learn from your experiences.

Some of you may already know that I’ve started writing my own personal blog about what I’ve found out about marketing. I’m using my own name, Andrew Best, to market myself as an expert or a “guru”. It’s kind of funny to actually do that, but I truly believe I’ve learned enough from my mistakes over the years to actually put myself in that category. You can read along and let me know what you think.

A lot of this stuff on my marketing blog is a combination of the hundreds of books I’ve read over the years and also what I’ve learned making China232.

Looking forward to your thoughts as always.

The ability to design cool brands and logos is always something I’ve had great respect for, partly because I’m just terrible at it.

Art is one of those skills where you either have it, or you don’t. Unfortunately I don’t so I’ve gotta get help from somewhere because I realize it’s such an important part of any business. I was looking around for the best brand and logo designer and I found Son Duong.

In English there is a saying “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” but in my opinion, sometimes beautiful work is pretty obvious when you see it. Check out Son’s design work. It’s really unique and obviously awesome. I’ve got less than 0.1% of his artistic talent and I’m really hoping Add and I can get him to help with the logo for the 232.

If you go to his website above, you’ll get to see a wide range of what he does. I’m super impressed and I wanted to share his work with you guys. If your company needs a new brand image or logo, he’s the guy for sure. Just contact him at sonofagunart.com

I’m sure he’ll deliver something pretty sweet. He’s able to do all kinds of different things with images so it could be a real “one stop shop” if you are lucky enough to get him to work for you.

I’d love to hear your comments about his work. I think it looks wicked!

I like to let you guys know what we’re up to.

We’re currently buying and making a lot of new websites. Sometimes the websites work, sometimes they don’t. In life, you’ve gotta take chances.

One thing Add and I noticed for search is that a lot of people, millions in fact, search for the term “best … in 2012″ for example. An example might be, “what is the best podcast for learning English in 2012. We already know that the answer is China232. Lol. (I do actually believe that though)

We’re going to be working on this site and writing about a lot of the best of different stuff this coming year. One cool thing about making a site like this is that you get to research a lot of cool new products. Another cool thing is that it will help with our bargaining power if we can help people or brands get to the top of the list.

We’re honest enough to never be fake with this because we only work with people and companies that we actually like and think are the best in their industry. Something makes me sick about selling something that I know sucks. We bought the next 7 years of this series of websites and hope to really use them well by providing a lot of cool info and being able to bargain better with companies and people. It’s all about an honest win/win. That’s how we like to do business.

Anyway, I just wrote my first article and it’s not a big deal. Add is working on the design and obviously it’s not finished, but if you are interested and want to check it out it is www.bestin2012.com I’d love to hear your comments on the general idea of this. I’m going to be writing a lot. If you are the best in something, let me know and I’ll look into it.

I’ve already told you guys about my favorite stock pick of the year a couple blogs ago. I just wrote an article talking about 11 of my favorite stock picks for 2012.

I’m wearing my K-Swiss tubes and absolutely loving them by the way. Best workout shoes I’ve ever had for comfort and style. I’d highly recommend ordering a pair online at kswiss.com. I think it’s free shipping and you won’t be disappointed.

All of the stocks I recommended are stocks that I actually own myself. A lot of people write about stocks that they don’t really believe in but that doesn’t make much sense to me. I’m not sure if I’m going to be correct with all my choices, but I think that this collection of stocks will be safe and earn you some good money over the next few years.

Obviously, any investor should use their own brain and make up their own mind when investing, but it’s good to read some other people’s thinking and see if it makes sense to you. Love to hear your thoughts as always. Any other stocks you own that you’d recommend? Why do you think they are a good buy now?

Here is a video I saw on youtube that I thought might be interesting. It is a bit one sided but I’ll admit that I do share SOME, not all, of the views in this video. It’s over an hour long and is more like a documentary talking about how formal education is a kind of brainwashing that is more expensive than it’s really worth. I think it makes some interesting points and it shows just how insanely expensive education in the US is getting for most people. I do realize that university can be important and necessary for many jobs, but it can also be a money making business based upon empty promises. Let me know what you think if you have time to watch it. Start it anyway and you’ll get the idea.