The World's Largest Truck Stop

I just drove from Las Vegas (Sunday 1pm PST) to Detroit, Michigan (8pm EST Tuesday). It’s about 2110 miles.  I want to tell you how crazy Blog World was in Vegas.  I’ll try to do a short version, though being short-winded is not my strength.

Vegas: Fun! Tons of friends from all over the world.  Met new ones.  I love memorable meetings- When I met Deb, it was at a club, and Kate said “Give her a foot massage” “Ok” – so.. I’m on the floor at this club, this woman is writhing in pleasure, and that’s when we made introductions.  We’re great friends now.  I even danced!  A lot!  Like, pick the girl up, swing her around, Salsa, Cha-Cha, swing, hip-hop… who knew?!  I wasn’t even drunk.  Good mood can make a huge difference.

Read the rest of this entry »

I announced these from the road via twitter & facebook, as both winners are on both… but, just to make it official:

1st Place is Isabella Jones (@Fitbet) – She will receive 4 hours of my services / consulting.
2nd Place is Andy Dolph  (@acdolph) – He will receive one hour of my services / consulting.

I may also be going to surf Andy’s couch in New Hampshire in order to photograph what sounds like an amazing performance by Chinese performers.  During the contest, he filled out the CrashMyCouch Form and informed me about the event.  It screws up my schedule, but sounds amazing… so… I am leaning towards a yes.

I am embarking on a roadtrip to serve a social good.

As I’ve grown older, making a difference has become more and more important.

How did this start?

Recently I spoke at the 140Conf, a conference held by Jeff Pulver (CoFounder of Vonage.com, and the guy who is responsible for VOIP (Voice Over IP — Internet-based telephone calls) being free, rather than billed per-call by the phone industries).

I met Jeff prior to the event for coffee and a chat. He was (is) an incredible person. He has a good sense of humor, and helps many people.

His passion for what he does, as well as his intelligence are both quite apparent. I decided I wanted to get involved in spreading the word about the uses of social media for other reasons than just marketing or being social. Jeff recently started his 140Conf Small Town as well, to spread the knowledge of what industries and individuals in those towns can do with these real-time technologies.

Basically, it’s how to leverage social media for social good. That’s a cause I can believe in! I’m not the only one, the mayor of Detroit is opening up the event!

I’ve used social media to connect with people, to connect other people with the people that have exponentially increased their business, with people that can solve their problems, to raise funds for a poodle that needed a $2,500 operation, and much more… the speakers at the 140 Conf have even bigger stories than mine.

So what’s this trip?

I am driving from Las Vegas to Detroit, then down to Kansas.  I will be using Social Media (Facebook / Twitter / 4Square / etc) to announce my locations, and I will have Tweetups (get togethers at certain destinations, generally announced on Twitter).  I am looking to spread usage of social media as a tool for social change, and business growth, while meeting characters. As I find characters, I will be filming their stories.  I am also, as always, looking to connect with great individuals along my route.

If you caravan with me, you get in for free!

That’s right, Jeff Pulver agreed that anyone going with me to the Detroit 140Conf or the Kansas 140conf gets in for free.  Tickets are generally $140, which is a bargain to see the panels and speakers that Jeff has lined up. I’ve never had a Caravan, and that would be rad!

What’s my Route?

I leave Las Vegas on Sunday morning, with pit stops in

Richfield, UT
Grand Junction, CO (Stop for the night here)
Brighton, CO
Grand Island, NE (stop for the nite)
Cedar Rapids, IA
Chicago IL
Then of course Detroit, MI.

Tell Me Your Story!

I, like Jeff Pulver, am looking for characters.  If you have a great story, are a character, and/or are using the internet to affect social good, then I want to know you!  I want to meet you on my journey, and film your story.

Want to be a Couch?

I am also looking for people to Couchsurf with along the way.  If you want me to stay with you, fill out the form at Crash My Couch.

Know Characters?

I’m looking for characters, so if you got them, let me know!  Use the contact form on my site, and let me know who they are …. especially if they are on my route.

Want to go to the 140Conf for free?

Just caravan with me!  Contact me (on Twitter would be great:  I’m at http://twitter.com/couchsurfingori), and let me know!  We can drive together!

Where to have a tweetup?

If you know any places in those cities that would make for good tweetup spots, or own them and want the promotion, then let me know, and I’ll make sure we do it there.

Spread the Word-

Since I need to get the word out about my trip, get people interested in the tweetups (and decide where to have them), and of course to spread the word about the 140conf, I need to bring attention to this post.  So, please post this on Facebook, Twitter, Social Bookmarking sites, StumbleUpon it, e-mail it to your friends, e-mail it to your enemies, forward it to reporters, forward it to bloggers…. just get the word out!

Thanks, and I’ll see you on the road!

Ok, I am packing up right now to go to Vegas for Blogworld.  I have no couch lined up because I want to see what happens when I have a contest, to bribe people to get the word out.

It’s a 4 hour drive, and I’m looking to find places to stay until Sunday morning.  Do you think I’ll have a place to stay for tonight by the time I get to Vegas? We’ll find out!

People are always inviting me to stay at their places, all over the world… sometimes they Skype, sometimes email, sometimes IM, sometimes Twitter, sometimes Facebook, sometimes Myspapce.  Sometimes they just tell me when they meet me.  So, I’ve created Crash My Couch(though that’s not the contest page) – a site where people can fill in the form, tell me a little bit about themselves, and now I’ll have a database of where people are, and what they’re about.  This way as I travel, I can contact you when I get to your neck of the woods.

So, to put that site to the test, and to get the word out quickly that I am looking for cool people to stay with during Blog World (I’m not going to the expo, just the parties), I am bribing you with 4 hours of my consulting time.  Check out my services page, to see all the massively valuable things I can do for you.  You may even recognize some of the people I’ve done things for already.

At Blog World I’ll probably be working on my laptop during the days, and going to parties in the afternoons and nights to meet some of the cool people that i have chatted with on Twitter and Facebook to take our connection a step further.  Everyone I stay with will get a few headshots by me (check the photography link at the top).

So, sign up!  It’s easy!  Seriously… uber easy, go to the BWE 10 contest page for full instructions.

By the way, the drawing will be held electronically (by this incredible contest program I’m testing, not by me) on Sunday morning!

[contest_fb_comments contest_slug="bwe10" width="520" numposts="25"]

I am going to mingle in Vegas, and I intentionally haven’t gotten a couch yet!  Check this out:

My buddy Scott Stratten (@unmarketing) is having some parties at Blog World to celebrate his new book.  Since the author’s photo is one that I took, and Read the rest of this entry »

Social Hub Network

So, I’m sitting here on the beach, where I’m couch surfing, and having a conversation with Jason, who is a neuroscientist (obsessed), and had actually reached out to me…. how he found me?  *shrug*  Actually, just asked him– he says his friend hosted couchsurfers, so he told him about that, and then he wanted to start his own blog, then found a blog about couchsurfing…. which caught his attention ’cause he had thought about couchsurfing, and that happened to be my blog.  Then he read my stuff, and I sounded like a cool person, and he saw I was near by, so he contacted me.  Actually, he thought also that I could teach him how to blog, so when contacting me he said I could crash his place on the beach, if I set him up with a blog.  Cool… just learned that while typing (real time blogging, sweet!).  Ok… back to what I was thinking…. Read the rest of this entry »

A photo I shot/made of Jeff Pulver

I just spoke at the 140Conf – here’s my presentation (with lots of pics), followed by how I got there, and an insane amount of serendipity that follows:

In the presentation I mention how Brandie connected me with Jeff Pulver.  Here is what she wrote!   Read the rest of this entry »

One of my friends/couches works for History Channel, and they are casting for a show called “Off The Grid” – This could be your chance to be on TV and show off your skills.  It’s History Channel, so it won’t be a cheesy reality show, it’ll be the real deal!  They are looking for the following:

NEW HISTORY CHANNEL SHOW IS LOOKING FOR PROS TO TRACK DOWN CONTESTANTS IN MAJOR CITIES!!!!

* Do you have training to locate people in urban areas? Are you Ex-Military?  Active military? Law Enforcement?

* Could you find someone hiding in a major city?

* Do you use technology to track people down?

* Have you ever used someone’s cell phone GPS to find that person’s location?

* ARE YOU: An Investigator? A Tracker? A Hacker? Bounty Hunter? Navy SEAL? Special Ops? FBI? Security Analyst? Surveillance Expert?

If so, we want to hear from you!

The producers of NBC’s “The Wanted” and History Channel invite you to apply for the opportunity to participate in a once-in-a-lifetime experience on a brand new action packed reality show that challenges people to stay hidden and avoid being caught by staying…

“OFF THE GRID”

APPLY NOW: e-mail a photo, phone # and a brief description of why you think that you would be great for the show to actioncasting@rocketmail.com or call 310-417-1549 ASAP!!!!!

CASTING DEADLINE OCTOBER 15TH !!!!!!!!!!!!

There is no witticism or bad pun here, this is just an update on where things are going, some life lessons (that can be practical for everyone), a new toy I got, and that sort of thing. So read on, pass it on, and I hope it adds value to your life. Oh yeah, stay till the end, ’cause there’s a funny story about some federal agents patting me and my friend down for drugs! Read the rest of this entry »

Keith Ferrazzi and his current Nanny

Keith has the most amazing home.  Since he travels so much, and hosts weekly dinner parties, he has to have help. Here’s a wonderful opportunity for anyone in or near LA that wants an amazing with an amazing person (which I honestly think Keith is)- Here is the job posting, followed by an interview I did with the current “nanny”.

Looking for a personal "nanny" (more than just an assistant) for a healthy, crazy busy, fun but very demanding adult 44 year old man.

Skills: Must be SUPER organized, NEVER drops a ball and always finds a way to GET IT (anything) DONE.

Style: Very candid, tough, NO DRAMA. Big nurturing heart, a true caretaker who loves children (none yet).  Trustworthy beyond belief!  Very socially engaging but knows boundaries with many guests and friends. Frugal and a great negotiator.

Special skill: A flair for elegance and throwing parties and dinners.  Able to cook some.

Fairly unpredictable schedule includes many evenings and weekends and some travel required for out of city events.

Please don't waste your time answering this add if even one of these criteria are in question at all.

I’ve met Julie (pictured to the left with Keith), and she is a super hero, capable of all the above listed items… so, I wanted to share what her experience has been for the last 6.5 years working with Keith. Read the rest of this entry »

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“So what is it exactly that you do?”

That is the question I get asked most often.  Not because it is standard, but because people look at my odd business card, and find out that I’ve been couchsurfing for over 3.5 years.  ”And you make money by couchsurfing?”

I have not really shared what exactly I do, until now! Read on! You may be surprised how I can help you, the people I have helped and how I have helped them, and WHY I am sharing this with you now! (In that order) Read the rest of this entry »

After a long while of connecting with people, and traveling to random things, I got decent at figuring out how things happened… i.e. what happened that made me meet whom, and what happened because of that.

So, I’m writing this from Los Angeles.  If I wasn’t here this weekend, I’d be in Alabama, driving a stock car at 200mph with Matt Bacak and his top affiliates.  I wanted to go, but funds are tight, and many amazing projects came up. This morning’s breakfast conversation led to a trip to Baja, Mexico this Monday.  Dinner’s conversation led to us searching for places we  can try to either ride an Ostrich, or… I’d also be willing to wear Kevlar vest, and a helmet, and piss one off… I hear those things are brutal, but that sounds like it’d make a fun video.

Back to LA though– I’m staying with this girl Espree.  She’s gorgeous, loves to smile, has a snowboard and 4 skateboards of different types right by the door.  I met her last week when watching Jason Moffatt perform his first stand up comedy routine at the Comedy Store.  He was awesome.  Jason was couchsurfing with Espree at the time, and Espree is also a friend of Rob & Kathi’s — whom I was couchsurfing with for the last week, and whom I’m going to Baja with, and trying to ride an ostritch with.

I’m also working on marketing some of Kathi’s projects, and Rob and I have been helping each other solve all of our business problems.  It’s been really sweet.  Additionally, this drive to LA has been the first time I’ve ever used a garment bag! Kathi is a professional organizer, and an image consultant/stylist.  I’m documenting the process.  She pre-shopped for me, then I went to Macys, had my own private dressing room (the size of a large conference room), tried all this amazing stuff on… and then took various things for alterations.  I have a whole new wardrobe, and a new haircut— yea… I know… you want pics… next week–  I’m working with Rob to do a photoshoot.

So, Rob knows Espree, but I was talking about Serendipity…. so… what’s the deal with that?

Ok.. I’ll break it down for you:

In May  I went on that road trip with the girl.  I had all that yummy but horrible Taco Bell, which led me to feel awful, which led me to go back on raw food and a 30 day cleanse, which led me to detox and bring up all sorts of emotions, which made me pretty depressed for a few days, which made it pretty damn easy to say “YES!” to Moffatt’s random text about if I wanted to watch his surf spot & dog in La Jolla for 6 weeks while he RVs with his girl, which led Rob Burns to reach out because he saw that I was watching JMo’s dog…. and because I was in La Jolla, I worked on my book a bunch, met some more awesome people, and now Espree….

Espree I find ultra inspiring.  I hope she’s not pissed at me for writing this, but I really wish more people followed in her example.  Why? ’cause more people would be happy and  successful.  She has a vision board– but more specifically, she has her goals broken down by amounts, dates, etc… very specific.  Do you know what YOU want?  Only 3 percent of Americans set goals.  Do you?  If you could do anything what would you do?  How would you do it?

Read, network, mastermind, engage, learn, take action, learn from your mistakes, take further action.

She seemed surprised at the conclusions I inferred so quickly.  Over the years I’ve just learned to trust my gut feeling, and listen to it.  Proof that  it’s working?  I haven’t had a gun pulled on me since 2001!  Must be doing something right, right?

Since I’ve couch surfed, I’ve learned a lot about people.  I spend an awful lot about them, and I study many books on psychology, marketing, and people in general… biographies and quote books rock.

My point is that she told me that she’s just lucky.  I say people make their own luck, and having studied (and couchsurfed with) many successful people, she’s taking all the right steps.

Anyways- back to serendipity-   I’m definitely going to Baja on Monday… that’s why I drive with my Passport… “Just in case” something incredible happens that requires me to leave the country.  It would not surprise me if someone said “Hey, let’s go to Thailand, and stay on this island there for 6 months” – and I’d say “Sounds great!” (in fact, that’s kind of on my agenda… if you’d like to get in on that, you can join me in Thailand where I’ll be renting a house on an island, and doing consulting from there).

I haven’t been to the dentist in years… like…. mid 90′s or so.  I don’t like getting my teeth scraped.  I’ve busted a tooth in a wakeboarding accident.  When I drove to Austin from Atlanta, my tongue got cut up on one of my teeth— is my filling falling apart?  Is my tooth?  I don’t know, but US Dentistry rates are outrageous.  So, I hear the dentistry costs about 1/10th over there, and the Fish Tacos are amazing.  I’m going for some fish tacos, a donkey show, and a checkup.  Just kidding about the Donkey Show.  That sounds pretty gross.

After connecting with Dori Friend and being her poolboy for the weekend while her 8 friends from high school visited her, I got invited to her birthday bash on the 27-29th.  Lots of floating around on the lake, and having fun.  I’m totally down, Dori rocks!

I also found out last time I was in San Fran that my parents are coming out to visit my older bro — we went indoor skydiving, and I’m going to show up when my folks are visiting, and we’ll all do that together. I didn’t even know my folks were going to go visit before the other week!

What else?

Well… actually… it’s 1:30am, and I’m waking up at 6am to beat out the LA traffic, and get to Raymond Aaron’s event.   I’m getting coaching on my consulting.  Masters hire masters.

So… sweet dreams, good morning— whatever’s going on while you read this.  But the world keeps getting more and more exciting… are you taking advantage of that?

This post is about what just happened with one of my models… but keep reading, ’cause it also explains some neat marketing stuff.

What does it say about the world we live in, when you do something nice for a friend, but they have a hard time trusting that there’s no catch?

I’ve been off the grid.  I’m supposed to be working on my book, but the people I’m spending time with have inspired me back to the business side of things. I’m a closet workaholic!

See that image below?  That’s what I’m working on.

A series of Photoshop and Photography DVDs.  I’ll post more about those very soon, this post is about Daniela. Read the rest of this entry »

I teach clients how to improve their social media, but I haven’t blogged anything about it in a while… but this, I could not resist.

One of the first things I tell everyone is to monitor your brand– use Google Alerts, use Search.twitter.com — whenever someone talks smack, provide good customer service.  When someone talks nice, reward ‘em.  Well…  here’s an awesome example of that:

Tabitha Hancock (@fox_girl313) posted , “AAAHHH Im outta wheat thins… Mi life is officially over,”- and Wheat Thins brought an entire giant palette of wheat thins to her house.

Read the rest of this entry »

I was pretty flabbergasted to find out that I’ve had no car insurance since February.I’ve driven A LOT since then, and only found out at the tail end of a 4,000 mile trip.  I can type the whole thing out, but I recorded the entire thing, which is way funnier.  A word of caution, I curse a bit in this   In fact, it goes a little like this: Traveler’s Insurance can go fuck themselves!   Anyways… here’s the recording of me telling a friend the whole thing.

[media id=10]

Since then, I’ve gotten insurance with Flo… er… Progressive Insurance, but it cost me $1,450 instead of $990, as I did not have proof of previous insurance.

I’ve also paid the state of Georgia their $25 for their efforts in telling me that my registration will be suspended…. so now my registration is safe.  I did have to call in to speak to someone, as they have a lot of things that you can pay for to many different departments… the form says “You can pay online at” – but it doesn’t tell you what this falls under.  No biggie.

Now, I can bitch and moan about Traveler’s screwing me over, or my insurance broker not calling me to tell me they had a hick-up and couldn’t run the payment…. but in the end, everything is our own fault.  I should’ve had my mail checked more frequently.

To make sure this never happens again, I am checking out two services… if you’ve used ‘em, I’d love your feedback:  http://paytrust.com/ and EarthClassMail — here’s their video:

If you want a quick dose of happiness, rent a roach suit.  I rented a roach suit! Then I wore it to go to the grocery store, and showed up at a few friends’ offices. Here’s my story (Pictures at the bottom)

It was a great day indeed– I refused to go to sleep until I finished this custom Twitter Background for someone, and when I woke up, it was to an e-mail saying how much the work rocked.  Then I got to see my buddy Tex… Well, actually, it’s Dave Bredesen, but I always called him Tex ’cause when I met him, I was living in Florida, and he was living in Austin.

He did always tell me that I’d love Austin, and boy, was he right!  Actually, how we met is entertaining.  It was at Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s get a few things out of the way.

TJ is 17. I am 33. He has dropped out of high school, and is debating college.  I dropped out of college, and debate on a daily basis what do I want to do next.

I have thousands of hours of audio book listening, couchsurfing with industry experts, reading regular books, and attending conferences on an extremely diverse range of topics (I’ve been to Cosmetics conferences, fishing conferences, manufacturing, modeling, photography, and of course, marketing).

One could say that I have an unfair advantage here. But, I’ve earned my network, TJ wants to get introduced to it, and Ideation is a skill that the strengths finder says he has in his top 5, while it is not listed in my top 5.

That being said, there is a beauty in not having the experience that I have.  Kids often have the best ideas, because they haven’t been told that they can’t do stuff yet.  They haven’t had the school and corporate system crush their dreams and creativity yet.  The same is true with TJ.  His younger age has prevented him from having many of the bad experiences I’ve gone through, and he is not as conditioned and set in his ways as I am.  That, and at 17, he has not killed as many brain cells as I have.

I already get paid to dispense my ideas (consult), and make them happen (implement), which is why this isn’t about me.  This is about giving TJ a chance to prove what he can do, and give people an opportunity to see (well.. hear) what strong ideation can do for them.

That being said, SEO questions , and the like, will not be answered, as TJ had to google what SEO is.  This is about creativity.  If you need ideas- directions to go, personal problems solved, directions for your business, ways of outdoing the competition…. You will get a lot of out this. Kate Buck Jr will be moderating the event.

Ask your questions here in the comment section, and tune in tonight at 11pm EST to http://CouchSurfingRadio.com -  tell any of your friends that are in a bind.

A younger gentleman contacted me that I’d make a good role model.  I love helping, and he did find me on ENTP.org — contacted on FB.  I went with it.  I listened to his stories, gave feedback in full honesty about my past, my experiences, and my answers to difficult questions… even one like “Should I go to college?”

ENTP’s are often the world’s artists…. yes, Seth Gofin’s Linchpin states that art is when you put your gift into what you are doing, so accounting can be art… it’s problem solving, navigating without a map, and working on the edge of the box.  But ENTP’s are the troubled ones that can do anything.  We know we can do anything, and thus we bounce around between anything.

We’re pretty popular in advertising… come up with creative ideas, fight deadlines, show diversity, emphasize with a brand or logo.

I gave all my answers for everything– the lessons I’ve learned in life. These are not the, but give you a sense of some.

Move away from negativity, move towards the positive stuff….. sometimes easier said than done.  This can mean reading a book that bores you, or helping someone without getting anything back.  It can – and ofte does – mean having to fire your friends that are losers.  Yeah… I wrote it… and for your question of “Who is he to judget?” screw what I think… what do you think?  It’s proven…. you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.  Income, fitness, optimisim, negativity, sarcasm, love, success– everything.

So, a loser is someone that’s holding you back.  Someone who’s not taking chances, or willing to pursue their own dreams and goals.  Someone who is fine with settling, and always talks shit about your dreams.  Ditch ‘em, and get mentors; people that inspire you to do better.  People who have already done what you want to do.  Learn from other’s mistakes… it’s much cheaper, trust me.

One thing I’ve learned is that five years from now, most everything that will have changed in your life is who you spend time with, and what books you’ve read (what you’ve learned… I do a lot of audio books / videos).  I was told that everything I said resounded as right…. Others weren’t able to connect on the same level.  Cool, I can help.

The books I suggested were Tim Ferriss’s The 4 Hour Workweek, Dale Carnegie’s Win Friends and Influence People, and Strengths Finder 2.0.

TJ took action, and got all 3 books.  I continue to help when people take action.

He said his strengths were:
Command
Ideation
Futuristic
Strategic
Self-Assurance

Mine are:

Command
Strategic
Futuristic
Activator
Self-Assurance

I’d say it sounds like he chose a role model pretty well.  I’m not talking about what my life’s been, but rather that we’re both ENTPs with 4 out of 5 overlapping strengthsfinder results.

“One day, I would love to meet you and work with you because I have noticed that you do not have Ideation listed as one of your top 5…I feel this is one of my greatest talents and I feel like out of all of them, it is what makes me stand out the most as an individual. I have endless, endless ideas. They come from everything I lay eyes on. If you used your talents and skills to help me launch them…We could make a shitload of money. A shitload. I have ideas for practically anything you can imagine….businesses included. Implementation is difficult for me though, because I have very little resources at the moment, a huge roadblock for all of my ideas is capital. This could be easily overcome if I could tap into your network….What do you think?”

Well… I value my network.  It’s my most priceless posession.  You!  Reading!  Your time and attention, and teh people I couchsurf with, do business with, go on adventure with, call friends…. It’s what I value in life.  So… to just prance into my life and say that you want access to that is balsy.  I encourage it.  Game on.  But ideation?  I don’t feel attacked, but trust me in saying that just ’cause it’s not in my top 5, does not mean that I do not posess the skill.

In fact, ideation is one of my most noticeable skills.  I can come with more uses and solutions for things than most anyone I’ve ever met.  Let’s see what he’s got.  That, and I know what motivates ENTPs    We’re a competitive bunch…. and we both have the self-assurance strength, and futuristic, so of course, we’re both going to think that we’ll win anything.    So, I challenged him…

This Monday at 11pm EST, on my weekly BlogTalkRadio show, Couchsurfing Radio, there will be an idea off!

40 Minutes of the show will be dedicated to this (Everyone still wants to know what’s up with Jason Moffatt’s cliffhanger about the Maori Healer (here’s a pic of the guy:

One of the Maori Healers at the Longevity Conference

)

The 40 minutes will be split into 8 minute segments… 2 minutes of the person with a question explaining it, then each of us gets 3 minutes.  Part of the 1st 20 minutes will be to decide which questions will be answered.  We could do 5 of these, but I doubt we’ll stay to 3 minutes each   When ideating, it’s easy to get lit up, and want to just keep going on ideas.  If something truly rocks, then we’ll keep it going.  So, we will solve 4 people’s problems.

Leave a comment with anything that you need ideas on. My strengths finder results can be found at this Blog Post on Happiness. Please share this with friends, so we can really solve people’s problems.  I charge a lot of money to do this for your company… so this is your chance to get consulting for free.  What’s not working? What would you like to do?  What’s working and you’d like to improve?  Personal? Business? Social Media? Fitness? Music? Eating? Humor? Connecting? Dude- pick a question, post it as a comment.

Which question would you like to see answered? Comment about that?  We’ll decide based on comments that have been posted by Monday night.  I know what I Can do, and I”m constantly told how helpful it is.  Let’s see what TJ has.  If he kicks ass, maybe someone will want to hire him for his creativity and ideation, which he says is a large value component of who he is.

Leave a comment, and hopefully we can give you just the idea you need.

As many of you know, I am full of it…. where “it” is useful information.  I am always in consulting mode, and I’m always learning.  I share a lot of information in my blog, but that is difficult to browse to find “that one link you mentioned was a great way to deal with stupid questions!” or “The person who was on your radio show that was talking about Sprouting!”  Well… I’m addressing that!

I’m creating a resources page to make it easy to find links based on categories, etc…. I’m going to feature my favorite companies, programs that can save you thousands of hours, tools, tutorials, etc…. not all stuff by me.  Mostly stuff I recommend.

-Admission- I am currently swamped!  So many projects fell on my lap out of nowhere… so I don’t have time to fill it in today.  The link will be http://CouchSurfingOri.com/resources  – I’ll be filling it in later.

Let me know if there’s something specific you’d like to see more links to, or need resources for.

A lot of you remember that I lost 28 pounds in 30 days, and everyone kept asking me how.

The answer is…

Click to see the before after

The Daily Juice.  It was at this place that I first sat down to chat with Craig Allen, and we ate and discussed raw food.

I had always been a brat about salads (ask my mom - she’s newly on twitter!).  I would not eat them (most veggies actually).  But that day, I tried the BBQ Coconut Burrito at Daily Juice.  Mmmmmmmm!!!!

Seriously! It was so good, that I was able to not only finish the meal, but also crush my disbelief that veggies can’t taste good without being fried (Tempura veggies aren’t healthy?? what?).  After that, I had gone on a 30 day raw challenge, and lost 28 pounds in 30 days.

I ran into my friend Lyn Graft, and told him about this contest I’m entering called Live Off Groupon (You get $100,000 if you can spend a whole year living off Groupons-  check their site to learn all about ‘em).  Turns out that not only did Lyn know all about Groupons, but his favorite Groupon Deal so far has been for Daily Juice.

I went in and chatted to one of the staff there today about the establishment, and their experience on Groupon. It was a lot of fun- check it out:

Now you know why this place is a healthy Austinite’s favorite hangout.  If you haven’t been, try it out.

Since I like to share marketing ideas, I recommend that you contact Groupon about being a deal on there. It would take you a long time to sell 1,000 smoothies (or whatever your product is)…. Groupon helps you get the word out about your business quickly. It’s tied into social media.  I even spoke about it as the marketing advice for Couchsurfing Radio Episode 9.

The Couchsurfing Radio Host- Couch Surfing Ori

Everyone wants to know how Mardi Gras was…. Find out on the podcast!

[podcast]http://www.couchsurfingori.com/couchsurfing-radio/couchsurfing-couchcasts/Couchsurfingradio-Couchcast-number9-February-22-2010-Hackintosh-Mardi-Gras-Groupons.mp3[/podcast]

Download the episode for home/car/plane/etc.. listening.

I also talk about some killer ways to save money based on group buying, and how to use that for your own advertising and marketing.  What the heck a hackintosh is, and how that’s going.  And of course, the latest trouble I’m looking to get into

The Couchsurfing Radio Host- Couch Surfing Ori

What did I do in Dallas?

Billboard climbing

Art fair

warehouse party

consulting

met new people

got a speaking and mc gigs for next month

played poker (learned to play poker actually)

There was more… and that’s why you need to listen to Episode 7.  You can hear what the listeners who got their consulting thought, and check out a funny conversation with Jason Moffatt.  That reminds me– this is the first episode to have the word “shit” in it.  I was wondering how long the G rating would last

[podcast]http://www.couchsurfingori.com/couchsurfing-radio/couchsurfing-couchcasts/Couchsurfingradio-Couchcast-number7-February-08-2010-Jason-moffatt-dallas-adventures-art.mp3[/podcast]

Download the episode for home/car/plane/etc.. listening.

The Couchsurfing Radio Host- Couch Surfing Ori

Didn’t make the show? That’s too bad, ’cause that’s where the information on how to get free consulting.

For this week’s show, I asked people what they wanted to hear, and gave it to them. The short version: My predictions on where tablet technology is going, ways to be more productive, P90x and fitness, a bit of consulting on the show, as well as giving away 3 one hour sessions of consulting for the next day. Need your problems solved? Catch the next episode, and follow @couchsurfingori on twitter… I’ll be posting when the next giveaway, and may do live consults as a regular part of the show.

[podcast]http://www.couchsurfingori.com/couchsurfing-radio/couchsurfing-couchcasts/Couchsurfingradio-Couchcast-number6-February-01-2010-ipads-consulting-productivity-fitness.mp3[/podcast]
Download the episode for home/car/plane/etc.. listening.