I attended a family reunion five years ago and found myself constantly answering the question, "What's new?" My extended family is pretty big (I have 34 first cousins), so I had to answer that question a lot. Unfortunately, my answer was "Not much." Not exactly a scintillating conversation starter! It was during this reunion that I decided I wanted to always have a great answer to "What's new?", so I vowed to start my own business.

As a business owner, it's still a great idea to have some irons in the fire. If I were to ask you "What's new?" what answer would you give? Do you have something cooking that I should know about? Can you tell me something more exciting than a tale about treading water in the grim economy? A good answer can breed curiousity which leads to a good conversation which may result in opportunity.

The answer to the "What's new?" question might be different depending on who is asking. Here are some of my answers. Next, I want to know yours.

• I might tell my friends in human resources that I'm launching an HR Management Certificate program on July 22 in partnership with Nonprofit Management Solutions. I love that "What's New" is a part of the URL for this program.
• I might tell my friends in customer service that I'm hosting a webinar on July 22 on How to build a service culture. I'd probably even send them a link where they could register for free.
• My friends who are business owners might hear about the webinar I'm hosting on July 29 called "Maximizing Employee Engagement". Again, I'd probably send them a link where they could register for free. (I'm a really good friend.)

So, what's new with you?