Many, many moons ago, I attended my first Web/ Search conference. And although I knew who all these famous SEO's and Industry folks where who where gathering in groups and having what I was sure where in-depth discussion on the industry, there was NO WAY IN HELL I was going to introduce myself to these people on the count I'm a big chicken fan boy.

In one such group of elite people (including Matt Cutts and some of the Google spam team) was Bill Slawski. I was fluttering around like a k pop groupie trying to let my ear catch some info that I was sure to change my life in SEO, but I couldn't hear squat. Dejected, I just removed myself to a quite corner of the patio where a lot of attendees had congregated, and just looked around in wonder.

Bill Slawski walked over to me, said "Hi I'm Bill, you look like you had a question about something" and proceeded to talk to me for about a good half hour about Google Patents, Page Rank Theory, The Algorithm, and lots more, like I was an insider, a person that was in the industry and deserving of the same info he had.

I received more info in that half hour than I had in months of online research, forum participation and chat rooms.

I think I've only spoken to Bill maybe three times since that first time, but that first conversation was my "memory anchor" of being introduced to the search industry. It's a moment I reflect upon every time I think about SEO, and know the impact it had on me on trying to learn and live in this industry that changes on a sneeze.

Thank you Bill for trusting me enough to instruct me on that very first time you met me. Thank you for being kind enough take time with me, and start me learning my craft the right way.