Thanks for the acorn.

As many of you know, I'm not exactly the flowers and prune whip type. I hate Hallmark greeting cards with flowery script and insipid inspirational verse. I no big fan of "positive thinking" seminars, either. There's something about having to buy a hundred bucks' worth of tapes and notebooks that makes me think the speaker would rather share my money than my dreams.

But even I have a romantic side.

I have my dreams and ambitions. Some involve Elle MacPherson, but for the most part, they mostly deal with creating something that will flourish and succeed. Like you, I've got this thing in my head that keeps telling me, "you've got to go ahead with your plan. Don't worry if nobody understands or approves of it. Just keep at it and in time, people will realize your vision"

If you hear that voice, there are a number of things you should do. First, don't tell anyone about it -- they might commit you for psychiatric observation. Second, don't tell anyone about it -- because they won't understand it, anyway. Third, set up a Dream Validation Test.

Everyone who has ever experienced greatness always tells people of hearing their "inspirational voice." They talk about persevering in the face of rejection. But what they don't tell you about is the vast army of people who listened to their own inner voice just to end up depressed, disillusioned and flat broke.

So the question becomes when are you being diligent and when are you just being stupidly stubborn?

My theory is to use the Dream Validation Test, which simply stated, is the method of putting your dream before an audience with reasonable expectations and seeing what happens. In case you were zoning out during that last sentence, let me point out the operational phrase there was "reasonable expectations." You can't expect runaway success in startup stages. That's the stuff you may read about in press releasees, but rarely happens in real life.

While mighty oaks do indeed grow from tiny acorns, they don't do it overnight. But they do sprout. And when you're in business for yourself, sprouting acorns are reasonable enough.

The key to setting your reasonable expectation is accepting the notion that no man is an island, but that many people are a target market. And if they buy into your dream, there's a chance you've got sprouting acorn on your hands.

Now, why am I wasting all this bandwidth?

Because this morning, WGI (the first official sponsor of the FrankelBiz list) called me to personally express their gratitude, excitement and optimism with the FrankelBees. In the first week of the first test we have ever run, WGI has received more than several sizable, solid leads for its business -- thanks to the FrankelBees who buy into the FrankelBiz dream.

This means our sponsor will do more business. Our FrankelBees will get commission checks. And I get the validation of my own personal dream.

The point is that where once there was nothing, there now is a FrankelBiz list with hundreds of members who really are doing business with each other. So thank you all -- and do stick with me.

Right now, this is our tiny acorn. I give it a few more months before we're talking mighty oak.

Rob Frankel