2006 promises to be another big year with plenty in the pipeline. Because I spend a lot of time researching marketing and web issues (as well as having researchers feed me plenty of info) I give a lot of thought to what might be the next big trend.

Here are my predictions for 2006

1. Web video will be huge - the technology and bandwidth is here now for the easy viewing of quality video.

2. Podcasts will continue to grow - basically Internet radio. You can listen to the shows you want to listen to, when you want to listen. A threat to normal radio.

3. Increase in online activity - by that I mean online advertising will grow, e-commerce will continue to climb and more web applications will be used by more people.

4. Marketing strategies will become more accountable - with the plethora of information now available, marketing clients will demand more and more accountability from their strategies.

5. Anna Nicole Smith will get drunk and make a fool of herself - heh, I have to have one rock solid, 100% guaranteed prediction!

One of our clients (Pat Carroll) does a profile in each of his newsletter and they're always good to read, so I've stolen Pat's idea and format (with his permission!) and below is a profile on me to get to know me a little better if you want.

I work in my own business developing web sites, I have a podcast, a blog, I own 3 e-commerce sites, I write a newsletter that goes to 135,000 subscribers (and this newsletter), I wrote a book that still sells well, I'm the President of the Palm Beach Scouts and the Vice President of the Gold Coast Media Club. And I do probably 20 public speeches a year. I live on the Gold Coast, Queensland just minutes from the beautiful Pacific Ocean. I have my office above a Korean Restaurant, Dominos Pizza, Cafe and a Bakery - and it's 30 metres to the local bar and 50 metres to the ocean. Is that a perfect office or what?!

My favourite thing to do in the whole world is spend time with my wife and kids. They make me smile just thinking about them. And I say that not just because I want big, expensive Christmas gifts. I do.

It makes me laugh when people tell funny jokes!

My favourite restaurant is just down the road from the office. Beautiful Italian food cooked by a Italian man and wife team, with their daughter as the waitress. You just know it's a good restaurant when that's the deal.

My earliest childhood memory is sitting on my dad's knee getting my photo taken. I have the photo on the wall behind me. One of my brothers (Scott) is sitting on dad's other knee.

My 'proudest of myself' moment came when I was nearing the finish line of my first Ironman Triathlon (3.8 km swim, 180 km bike, then run a marathon). Just 18 months earlier I was a fat pig of 115 kg. When I crossed the line I was 76 kg. The photo of me finishing is also on the wall in my office.

My first job was as a nurse. I did the 3 years training and became a Registered Nurse (Sister - which sounds a bit stupid for a guy). For the next 10 years I looked after the sick and dying.

A turning point in my life was talking with a friend of my dad's who had worked with him for 30 years. I had a chat with him in a hospital ward where he came to die just days after retiring from work. It was 2 am on Wednesday. He retired on the previous Friday, went to his doctor with a lump on the Monday, was told he would die within 2 weeks on the Tuesday. He worked his entire life to feed and educate his kids, pay his house off and was looking forward to travelling around Australia with his wife. He died on the Thursday. Live for today is the secret.

My favourite place in the world is Hobart, Tasmania. It's clean, beautiful, quiet and where I grew up. And where I had my first kiss (Thank you Lisa Pearce, wherever you may be!).

It makes me laugh when people take themselves seriously and think they are important. Try nursing others for 10 years and you'll soon figure out what's important - and it ain't meeting a deadline or making money or getting a job promotion.

My one rule in life is whenever I'm in the car with my kids we're not allowed to drive past an icecream van. We have to stop and buy an icecream. It's an excellent rule, but unfortunately my kids are now 15 stone! (Kidding, I'm kidding.)

The best advice I ever got was to "Have a go" in life. I do everything to excess, which is sometimes a bad thing.

My most surprisingly trait is my confidence. I have an overwhelming confidence in whatever I do. Which is surprising, because as a little kid I had a terrible stutter that was apparently a result of low confidence. They fixed it by sitting me in a sandbox making things and the person sat there and praised me to give me confidence. (Anthony here in the office thinks she did her job a bit too well.)

The person who inspires me most is my mum, Betty. She drinks, smokes, gambles, parties and says whatever she wants to say. She's 70.

I'm happy that I'm different and that I've done a few things people consider impressive. I hope others, including my kids, see it and think "If that clown can do it, surely I can."

Because they can.

I just launched another podcast - Brendon Sinclair's Business Mix - over at TailoredPodc ast.com.

The topic for this week's show was How To Develop A Business That Makes $5,000 Per Day With Not Much Work At All.

I know, I know. It sounds like the usual marketing guff, but in it I go through how easy it was for us to build a business to that stage.

But the thing is this - lots of people don't believe me when I say how easy it is. They're all looking for the hidden secret.

But there is no secret.

Just do it.

Make 2006 your year.

Email: brendon@tailored.com.au