Perhaps the title should be - why am I writing this blog?I guess the simple answer is that there is this accumulation of stories and experiences that I want to talk about. These stories and experiences have shaped my personal life and business life. Any business success that I may have had has been shaped by these stories. I am now at this point where I have officially launched (although it has been running for two years)  my latest business “Rael Bricker – Give your business the EDGE”. What follows are a number of components that need to be related to put this into context.In early 2015, I was invited by the MFAA, the peak body for the mortgage industry, to be a part of the industry round table sessions at the national conference. The plenary session was broken into four streams and I was the presenter in one of the streams where we presented two back to back, one hour sessions. I was lucky enough to have two packed audiences for my presentation entitled : “Evolution and revolution as brokerages grow” (The title was a tribute to an article from Larry Greiner that shaped some of my ideas around business).At the end of the conference I sat on the plane and reflected on the feedback I had received. It was incredibly positive but the underlying theme was that I seemed to be brimming with stories and anecdotes and needed to have a forum to relate these.I started to write some stories on the IPAD and by the time I got back to Perth, I had written well over 2000 words. Once I started writing, I realised that the stories needed to have some logical flow and came to a realisation that for them to make sense to anyone the anecdotes need to point to specific learning ideas. Thus, was born the idea of “Tips and Traps from the Trenches” - A series of business tips and traps, where each one is founded on my experiences and observations in business. Over the last two years these have evolved into a series of talks, seminars and webinars.The second realization, once I started writing, was that this was almost a full circle for me. In 1990 when we launched Innovative Management Development (IMD) in South Africa we were trying to “teach the world to run their businesses". However, we were two young MBA graduates with very little real world experience.Therefore, the circle now gets to be completed as I now still have a desire and passion for helping business and people to grow. However, I now combine that passion with almost 30+ years of experience in business, to bring “Give your business the EDGE” to life.I started out with the question of WHY?The answer is BECAUSE –Because I want to share the ideas, stories, anecdotes and business tips and traps.Because I want to pay it forward.Because I want to help people grow their businesses.Because I want to help managers to become better managers.Because I believe that I can “Give your business the EDGE”.