It’s that time of year again when we count our blessings and give thanks for the people who have made a difference in our lives.

2011 was both an amazing and incredibly challenging year for Kane Consulting. While we were fortunate to be very busy with client work, Jen was injured and then recovering from surgery for most of the year. Both of which meant that we pretty much dropped off the social scene. We look forward to getting back out into the world in 2012 and reconnecting with our real life and virtual friends and colleagues.

To the people below — and to the many people who emailed, called, tweeted, Facebooked and left blog comments of support during Jen’s surgery — we’d like to say, “thank you.”

Truly, you are the people who help make this crazy adventure totally worthwhile and keep us hanging in there when times get tough…

Seth Godin

We were thrilled to host our KaneCo business book club again this year. And certainly, the highlight of all of our salons was when Seth Godin Skyped in to chat with us about his book, Poke the Box. Seth was generous with his time and insights, and, as always, a treat to hang out with. Even if he wasn’t famous, we’d still like this dude, because at heart, he’s just a really nice person.

Gini Dietrich

Gini was kind enough to let Kary guest post on her company’s nationally-recognized blog, Spin Sucks, twice this year — which was both great exposure for KaneCo and a great learning experience. Thanks for the opportunity, Gini and for remaining one of the classiest acts in the industry. We learn a lot from you, marvel at your preternatural perkiness and look forward to meeting you in person someday.

JMU612

The Twin Cities Java MeetUp 612 (FYI, national folks — 612 is the area code for Minneapolis) is a great monthly event which our staff have been invited to present at on multiple occasions. We enjoy JMU’s refreshing lack of attitude, open forum for discussion and diversity of subject matter — all a tribute to organizers, Maikel van de Mortel, Erica Mayer and Joel Carlson.

Kellee Magee

A person with that many vowels in her name has got to be something special. And, that’s certainly the case with Kellee. From giving us advice on business stuff to supporting and celebrating our successes to watching Jen’s barfing kid while Jen went under the knife, Kellee is the ultimate pintch hitter and the woman you want to have on speed dial for your company. Lucky for you, we don’t mind sharing her. There’s more than enough awesome in this woman to go around.

Radian6

This year, we were both happy customers of social media measurement firm, Radian6 as well beneficiaries of their generosity. Kary had the opportunity to speak at their Social 2011 User Conference this past spring and followed that up with a guest post on social analytics and reporting on the Radian6 blog in June. Thanks for letting us geek out with you, Radian peeps.

Michael Blumfield

Michael gets the prize for KaneCo book club involvement this year. Not only was he a regular attendee, he also gave us a very nice shout out in his blog and loaned us some books to read to boot (um…which we need to return someday). Michael’s a super smarty and a terribly nice guy, who just so happens to have an MBA in marketing, too. You should get to know him.

 John Cosgrove

John Cosgrove has a big mouth…and pretty much everything that comes out of it makes us really happy. This year we started cooking up some ideas with John to help him take his pub trivia empire to the next level. This requires us to have meetings where everyone can swear like a sailor and talk about sassiness and booze. In case you’re wondering…yes, that is as much fun as it sounds.

Ignite Shout Outs

We don’t talk much about our extra curricular activities on our blog, but Jen got so many nice tweets and mentions from her Spring Ignite Minneapolis presentation — including these by Dale Connelly and Heather Munroe — that we wanted to pass along our thanks. Unfortunately, we have no details on when/if this talk will ever be online. You’re gonna have to refer those inquires to the Ignite folks.

Our clients

We tend not to talk a lot about our clients publicly. Why? Well, it’s kind of like being the voice over artist for an actor in a musical who can’t sing. Our clients are still finding their voices, so we try to be discreet when we’re called in to support their social media endeavors while they’re practicing. That’s not to say that we don’t love and appreciate our clients, though. We’ve been blessed to partner with many great companies on many great projects this year. And we’re thankful to each and every one of them for the opportunity.

Pamela Muldoon

This past year, we’ve enjoyed watching Pam take her Next Stage Media Group empire to the next level (take THAT, Oprah). And Jen has been excited to come along for the ride by guesting on Pam’s new radio show, Content Marketing 360. Thank you, Pam for giving Jen an opportunity to keep her head plugged into the world while her body was unplugged. You’re the best…and you still have the best bangs in town.

Our families

Social media never stops — 24/7/365 – and there is probably no one more aware of this than our families who signed on for this crazy lifestyle when we did. So for every time we ducked away to tweet, post, or manage an emerging social firestorm, we’d like to say again this year, “Thank you,” and, “We love you.”