This is the last day of the federal fiscal year. As the head of a firm that does federal contracting, it’s when I look back and assess how well my federal marketing efforts worked over the past year. Not good. Hate to say it, but by any objective measure I was not a successful marketer this past year (at least as far as government contracting goes — we did good in the private sector).

My shareholders — wife, three kids, and a dog — are not going to be happy.

Our business remains strong. And yes, I can come up with all kinds of excuses — federal appropriations were very late, a new administration is still filling jobs so spending decisions have been postponed. But ultimately, I have to tell myself, “Blogenberg, not so good.”

I could delude myself. I know lots of business owners who do. Delusion may feel better, but it doesn’t help me figure out how to make my business stronger.

This week’s recommended reading from your friends at Blogenberg…

• This BusinessWeek blog post on entreprenuers and risk is an interesting read.
• USA Today covers an interesting set of behind-the-scenes interviews from the Clinton presidency.
• Improve your company’s performance by thinking like a designer.
• Ever wonder why smaller companies are better at customer service?
•  Journalism schools are seeing an enrollment surge.

Could I suggest that this headline, from today’s Wall Street Journal, is a bit scary: “Palin Addresses Asian Investors.”

As a young man I wanted a pretty woman for, well, all-American-young-man reasons. Now that I’m nearly 50, however, I realize what a sound financial investment a pretty woman is.

My wife is a pretty woman. And every contractor, phone technician, etc. that comes to our house when she is home charges us less than what the work order says. She gets deals on purchases that Donald Trump couldn’t negotiate.

If Roy Orbison had just sung, “Pretty woman, won’t you be my honey. Pretty woman, you’ll save me money,” I would have been much quicker to get married.

This week’s recommended reading from your friends at Blogenberg…

• This analyst claims that Facebook enhances intelligence while Twitter diminishes it.
• Twitter is becoming a critical PR tool for entrepreneurs facing a crisis.
• Pullitzer prize-winning photographer David Hume Kennedy questions the practice of cropping news photographs in a way that changes their meaning to suit a certain story angle.
• Bacon Beer. Nuff said.
• The AIGA has written this excellent case study of the redesign of NPR.org.
• Steve Rubel discusses the “power of pull” in his Ad Age column.

One of the smartest things I do in business is let myself be stupid because sometimes I am. I see lots of people in business who put lots of energy into looking like the smartest person in the room. That’s stupid.

I want clients to feel comfortable saying, “Blogenberg, you idiot!” That way, I know that we will be delivering what a client needs. Because this is what I know: if we do a good job in the end for a client, it doesn’t matter if, for example, there were some rough drafts along the way that the client didn’t like.

When I do any consulting I go out of my way to make sure people in the room feel empowered to disagree with me. I always use this line: “I’m not one of those consultants who says things just to impress you. Because, believe me, I get paid even if you’re not impressed. Also, I cannot be offended — I am too full of myself. So feel free to contradict me, argue with me, tell me I am clueless, etc.”

Because sometimes smart is as stupid does.

Over the last two days, thousands of people have stopped me on the street. Each of them has exclaimed, “Blogenberg, you posted that heaven was being home alone, without your wife and just your dog. I thought you loved your wife!”

I do. We have a fantastic marriage, passionate in every way after 22 years. But this is the piece of advice I will give any of my kids who get married: “You are not one person. You are two individuals. Allow each other to live your own life without having to ask permission to, for example, play poker, pursue a hobby, go to bingo, have friends that are just yours. Coordinate schedules — don’t ask your spouse to approve your schedule. It will make the times, places, and interests where your lives do merge all the more wonderful.”

Because sometimes heaven is just with your dog.

OMG, I woke up this morning and I’m still in heaven. The kids are still gone. My wife has gone to a class at the gym. My dog is lying on the floor next to me. I’ve got my skim latte (I know, not very manly) and Sports Center on the TV. I am telling you, Rachel MacAdams could wake and emerge from our guest room, and it would be nothing but an intrusion.

And tonight? Tonight my wife is going out so I will be able to watch the USC, Ohio State game. What have I done to deserve this early visit to heaven?

I’m home alone tonight. Just me and my dog, a recliner, a bacon cheeseburger, and football on television. To be honest, if Halle Berry rang the doorbell right now, it would be a downgrade to my evening.

Did I mention, home alone, a dog, a recliner, and a burger?

This week’s recommended reading from your friends at Blogenberg…

• A student in Nepal has invented a new solar panel that uses human hair, rather than silicone, as a conductor.
• John Jantsch: Is Personality a Strategy?
• Nieman Journalism Lab reports on Google’s plan to save newspapers.
• Fast Company Slideshow: Brand Yourself
• New York Magazine covers the interesting history and interplay of late night television.