It’s 4-something in the morning, and I’m writing from a Phoenix airport hotel room. Yesterday evening, my client dropped me off at the airport fairly early so I could catch my 7 p.m. flight back to San Diego.

“Folks, I have an announcement about flight 2727 to San Diego. The San Diego airport has fog conditions, and we’re unsure of the status. The flight is delayed indefinitely.”

All around me people started buzzing. The line formed 20-people deep to either “get real answers” or rebook to other cities or just talk to someone about how inconvenient this was. The Phoenix airport has these wonderful tables with plugs for laptoppers like me, and I was already on the web. I checked the San Diego airport flight status, and slowly the flights on the page were turning red: Delayed, Diverted, Canceled.

I jumped onto Twitter, and some folks on the ground in San Diego said, yep — we’ve got fog. After an hour of waiting and listening (overheard: Oh, I can’t believe this and Are they giving out vouchers? I heard they had vouchers and They’re not telling me anything!), I made the mature business woman’s decision to get a hotel room and book a flight in the morning. While dozens still waited in line, I used my superior intellect to simply call Southwest and rebook the flight then surf the internet for a hotel room with a shuttle.

Oh, I felt so confident! I felt so smart! I said to myself — even if the fog does lift in an hour or two, all the delayed flights would be trying to get in at the same time, so we might have even more delays. I AM DOING THE RIGHT THING!

But even as I packed my computer up, the doubt creeped in. Everyone around me was going to wait it out. A couple of women had been diverted from another flight, and they thought they could get vouchers. Should I give it a little more time? Should I get in line to see if I could get a voucher? Why was I the only one leaving? Maybe everyone else is doing the right thing? Maybe I should wait?

The doubt started small, but it grew as I walked toward the exit. By the time I was standing on the curb waiting for the hotel shuttle, I was calling Southwest, hoping for someone to tell me the right thing to do. “Do you think it’ll take off?” I asked a nice attendant named Jeff. “What would you do?”

It was kind of like the time I ate a pansy (which, in my defense, is said to be edible), and my tongue started to swell. It was just a little puffy at first, then filled my mouth and made me talk funny, then grew even more until I could feel it like a piece of raw liver, threatening to cut off my air. I went from slightly amused to a little panicked.

In my business, I’m embarrassed to say that I frequently have this doubt. I make a confident decision about a new marketing initiative, or I take on a new type of project. At first, there is no doubt. But then the second guessing starts, and I worry, worry, worry that I’ve done something wrong — should I have spent that money? Can I really complete this project? I end up with buyers’ remorse, sellers’ remorse, marketers’ remorse, haircut remorse, phone remorse…. you get the picture.

This is a personal and professional weakness that I’d really like to solve. I would like to learn how to be more confident in my decisions. After all, I made the decision to start my own business, and this year — my first full year in business — has been phenomenal.  But I still second guess my decisions, and this characteristic is hindering my growth.

Do you trust your instincts? If so, was it something you learned, or did you start out with that confidence? If you second guess as well, how has it affected your personal or business life? And my biggest question — what advice can you share for those of us who struggle with this problem?

PS — All flights to San Diego were canceled last night. I was booked on the 8:20 out this morning, but the fog advisory is in place until about 9 a.m., so I just switched my reservation to the 12:15 flight. My confident voice: I’m safe and comfortable in a hotel room with my computer and phone. No reason to rush home. My second-guessing voice: Maybe the early fight will leave on time? Maybe I should go to the airport and try to get on? By making the switch, am I going to be stuck here all day?

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

From The Lorax by Dr. Seuss.

I’ve started this post a half dozen times today, first waxing poetic about why I began the Virtual Food Drive a month ago, then trying to explain how it grew exponentially, then attempting to share the pride I feel about the participants. I just can’t tell the whole story without writing a series of posts, so I will simply get to the point.

With your help, food drives throughout North America received donations, resulting in a total of 3,670 pounds donated, plus $600, which means (if you give the conservative estimate that $1 buys a 1lb can of food), we were responsible for adding more than 4,200 pounds of food to help people this holiday season.

MORE than TWO TONS.

I tried my very best to keep up with the donations, but I might have missed a few. And I want to give special thanks to so many, but it’s hard to single anyone out — everyone who participated was exceptional. Nevertheless, I need to send my local thanks to Pete, Jenny, Andrea and D.J. and the rest of the San Diego crew who helped us deliver 565 pounds to the San Diego Food Bank — this was our part of taking the “virtual” out of the Virtual Food Drive. Another big thanks to Ben from So Cal Free Net for his help in getting the word  out to our neighbors in Golden Hill.

I also need to thank the Twitter community especially. Several of the truly influential Twitterers took the time to re-tweet info about donating. It all started with BigManWalking, who really sent the info into the Twitter inner circles. Tens and tens of thousands of Twitterers got the message, which led to donations from all over the country.

Here are links to many of the people who left comments about donating and helped spread the word.

I believe we did something important here. I think your contributions mattered. And I thank each one of you for taking steps to help people who need an extra hand.

PS — If you didn’t get a chance to contribute, visit FeedingAmerica.org to leave a donation — they say every dollar you donate can buy 20 pounds of groceries for the hungry.

I’m so very flattered that Cheryl Greene of the great Greene Team from DrGreene.com asked me to write a series of posts for their Perspectives Blog. Perspectives gives guest bloggers a week each to discuss issues related to family and health that matter to them.

At this time of year, I’m dreaming of spending my holiday with the family, so I chose to write about the memories of making Christmas cookies with my sister. (Bookmark the page and please visit and comment — I’m the featured blogger throughout the holidays, and I hope my guest posts are a success )

I’ve been thinking a lot about guest bloggers. I would guess there are advantages to both having a guest blogger and being one. Bloggers who invite other bloggers to write on their blogs introduce new insight into their conversations with readers. And bloggers who share their insight on other blogs get the chance to expand their readership and get comments and feedback from a whole different population of readers.

So, I’m officially in search of my first guest blogger for Avenue Z. You could weigh in about how your small business is dealing with the economy. You could share your favorite cupcake resources. You could give green office tips that make us all a little more environmentally conscious. A fellow blogger who happens to be a client always describes my blog as “all over the map,” so I guess you could write about just about anything that has to do with where your life and work intercept.

Who’s first?

A couple of days ago, a man named @skydiver on Twitter posted a challenge.

Going away for Xmas? annetaintor.com sent me 10 cool luggage tags to give away. Email me a haiku…. 1st 10 gets them.

I jumped into action! He was asking for haiku about HelpAReporter.com, which is an amazing concept that I will blog about another day.

The “tweet” came in at 7:48 a.m. I was on it. At 7:59, I sent these award-worthy lines:

People with knowledge
Writers with questions and quests
HARO brings connections

Yep. Brings a tear to your eye with its beauty, doesn’t it?

At 8:01, @skydiver tweeted again. He has more than 17,000 followers, and in 14 minutes, he had received way more than 10 entries.

I was #11.*

Now that you’ve heard the sad story of my close brush with fame as a haiku composer, let’s ask the bigger question…

Why the hell would I spend 11 minutes of my life writing bad poetry to win a luggage tag?

Therein lies the allure of a giveaway. I don’t need another luggage tag, just like I didn’t need another pair of cycling socks when I raced to enter a drawing for a free pair from @SoCalCycling. I also didn’t need another package of Christmas cards, but that didn’t stop me from jumping to be the first to send @VPG_Printing my holiday wish list.

But I like to win stuff. I like to get free stuff. And I’ll do things I don’t really want to do (give my email, register on a site) to obtain goodies that I perceive have some value.

A giveaway or contest, when done correctly, can generate great leads. I hadn’t heard of Vertical Printing and Graphics or SoCalCycling before I entered (and won!) their contests. And I’ve already told D.J. (the BF cyclist) about the local bike shop, and I may need VPG for some local printing. These groups offered items relevant to their business to a population of people interested in what they do. They’re definitely gaining exposure, buzz and future customers.

I’ve done an experiment with my own giveaway here at Avenue Z. In the right column, I offer new email subscribers a free copy of the 100+ Free and Low-Cost Tools Your Organization Can’t Live Without. That simple incentive has probably tripled my subscription rate.

Written any bad haiku lately? Tried any giveaways with your site? What works for you?

*For the record, a haiku should have some kind of reference to nature. I took a little too long unsuccessfully trying to work a leaf or a tree into the poem. That’s why I didn’t win.