The last six months has seen many channels at the Channel Chief level at XO, Level3, MegaPath, and other carriers. Also, the M&A has resulted in a tumulus time for The Channel. Qwest and CentruyLink. Embarq and CenturyTel. New Edge Networks with One Comm. and Deltacom. CavTel and PAETEC. And on and on.

Meanwhile, the buzz of mobility and Cloud probably has you up at night. Shifting to selling cell phones and this thing called Cloud while wondering if your commission streams are going to stop or decrease or change is stressful.

Even the TCA is changing things up by introducing a certification program. Just one more thing for you to think about.

It seems like the carriers have ramped up the communication to the agents this past year too. So many notices of training, promotions, new services and the reminders that go along with it. How much time can you spend on training when the prices are dropping and you have to sell more to make less??

Then there's all that talk about social media. Should you be tweeting and facebooking and what do you do with that mess on LinkedIn? Should I be blogging? About what?

All those changes in a year. Amazing, huh? And I didn't mention Hosted PBX, UC, HD Voice, SIP over MPLS, Managed Security, UTM and the rest of the alphabet soup that tumbled our way via email, social media, webinars and news. What's an Agent to do?

Change is a constant. Don't bury your head in the sand. Schedule 20 minutes a week to read up on the changes. Take some quiet time to evaluate your business. Working smarter is a prerequisite for success today, but that doesn't preclude working harder too. Take time at CVX or CP to talk to other agents. It's the best part of the shows. (If you are a TCA member, you can network with other agents on our listserv or on a conference call.)