Happy New Year to loyal colleagues, fabulous friends and cheering fans of The Global Small Business Blog! We thank you for your support and readership throughout the year. It makes pursuing our passion that much easier and worthwhile for us.

We hope that we brought you context, insight and authority on global small business news all year long. After all, our blog is designed to help you better understand what it takes (and why) to expand your business internationally -- providing useful, action-oriented news and information -- and we intend to keep delivering on that promise until you tell us otherwise.

We will be back with you at the crack of 2009. We submitted our annual "Global Small Business Trend 2009" report to Small Business Trends a couple of weeks ago and that should be published momentarily. We will share it with you just as soon as it's available online.

In the meantime, get ready to tear down the boundaries on your business and go global in 2009! We've got exciting news to share with you on January 5th so stick around and stay tuned.

From my home in Chicago to yours ... be the change you want to see in 2009!

No, that's not a slip. You thought I meant to say, "Keep on truckin'" but what I truly mean to say is exactly this: Keep on Trak.in'.

A fine little Indian business blog featuring the latest buzz on Indian business and the startup world. The picture above is their holiday message.

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May the joys of the season shed light, hope and fill our hearts with peace.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS to you and yours.

Note: I took this photo a couple of blocks from my home in Chicago along the lakefront.

With the economy slowing at home (U.S.A.), small businesses are on the prowl for business -- anywhere. The dollar is on a bumpy ride ... read more here.

Despite the economic crisis, international education remains strong. At EM Lyon Business School (home of the World Entrepreneurship Forum that I attended last month) in France where they claim to educate entrepreneurs for the world, dean Patrice Houdayer, says:

... the school's global and entrepreneurial focus will help grads of one of Europe's oldest business schools succeed, even in a tough economy.

Houdayer's prediction for growth areas?

Students who will go from the (U.S.) and Europe to Asia and Africa. I think Asia, Africa and South America will be a target for the next generation to take their second or third job because the growth is there.

Read more here: