Correct way to use homemade functions

[eluser]tinawina[/eluser]
Just one more tidbit on this. If I change my_helper.php to include an echo statement:

Code:

function hello() {
   echo 'hello for the heck of it...';
   $data['message'] = 'Hi there!';
}

I do see "hello for the heck of it..." , just before testing this out. I guess I tried this just to make sure the my_helper.php file was ok. Thanks!