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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 »

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 guess I'm also an interior designer

When a good friend came home from a great time in Vegas, to the negative energy of a breakup, he got in a funk.  I came up with an idea!  Let’s rearrange the place, and change the energy!

I wasn’t asking, and my energy caught on quickly. Within minutes we had a plan:

The master bedroom would be the new office.

The old office would now be my room.

The room that was mine will now get the kingsize bed from the master bedroom.

We quickly disassembled the large furniture, moving it, and quickly the plan took shape.  The entire energy of the house was changing!

When the girl came home in the morning to get more of her stuff Read the rest of this entry »

ebook cover design is fun

I have to pay for gas, food, gadgets, and fun…  I’m often asked “How do you make money when you’re on the road?”  I’m a male stripper of course.  Actually… that would probably be way cooler.  No, I’ve been called “The most highly skilled hobo in history” because I do marketing (ad-writing, graphic design, analytics, ppc, seo, website design, printing, videography, video editing, motion graphic design, branding strategies, social media strategies, local-search submissions), Photography, consulting, and the occasional workshop, and public speaking.  What?? I get bored easily

One of the websites I just designed is BeWellWithSue.com, a blog about healthy living, practical raw lifestyle, and healthy cooking.  It belongs to Suzanne Thomas, who I”m couchsuring with right now in Austin, TX. A little “Internet Marketing 101″ – Sue wants to build up her mailing list, so she is offering an “Ethical Bribe” to get people to give her their contact information, so she can continue to market to them on similar topics. This is called Lead Generation, though it’s often called an “Opt-in”.

A picture is worth 1,000 words, and a good picture that represents a concept well is worth dollars too.  One of the things I do is design. Since I created her theme (the way the site looks), and header, and logo, it only seemed logical to have me create the Ebook cover.  The ebook is called “28 tips for a healthier, skinny you!”  I believe the title, because Suzanne is the one who helped me lose 28 pounds in 30 days.

A lot of people hire designers to create e-book covers, regular book covers, flyers, and much more… Design is actually simple, and with Photoshop (free 30 day trial of Photoshop available), you can do it yourself fairly quickly.

I recorded the entire process of how I created this ebook cover, and you can do it yourself, and save hundreds of dollars of hiring designers.  If nothing else, you can show your designer EXACTLY how you’d like your cover to look.

Since I explained what an opt-in is, an ethical bribe, and lead generation…. let me give another awesome example!

Get my free video on how to create a ebook cover of your own!  Just fill out the (opt-in) form below with your primary e-mail and your name, and I’ll send you the video!  I hate Spam, and so I solemnly swear not to give your information away, or even sell it. I’ll just send you notices when I have additional awesome new training videos (they don’t ALL make it to my  blog). Trust me, I know a lot of really cool stuff!

Then you’ll get a quick e-mail you have to click on, to prove that you’re you, and then you’re good to go! I’d love to know what you think of the video, and what other topics you’d like to see me explain.

Wow! It’s been 10 years! Someone just asked me when this is from (1999-2004).  I used to do a lot of things… some of them were 3d animation, motion graphics, video editing…. which translated into commercials, music videos, short films, corporate trainings… and these days of course, episodes of CouchSurfingOri.com for you

So… when I was in Atlanta, and packed up everything, I ran across this DVD, so I thought I’d share. Remember! This is old stuff!

In case you’re curious, the various software used for this are: Discreet Edit*, Discreet 3d Studio Max, Softimage 3d (back before XSI), Adobe After Effects, Adobe Premiere, Discreet Combustion*, Discreet Smoke* (yup, I’m smoke* certified… lots of jokes there), Alias | Wavefront Maya, Photoshop, Illustrator… I think that covers it. Read the rest of this entry »

The very 1st

I’m so excited.  I got e-mailed this photo tonight from my 1st buyer of my BalloonBoyWear shirts.

Will is wearing this awesome design:

If it's on TV, it must be true!

All sorts of Ballon Boy Tats are out there

With Balloon Boy getting so much media attention, you knew it wouldn’t be long till you saw him all over people’s bodies! Here are the most popular designs that I’ve been able to find in my travels.

Leave a comment- which ones’ your favorite? Got a good caption for any of ‘em? Read the rest of this entry »

My first Balloon Boy shirt Design

Maybe I haven’t done “Arts and Crafts” in a while… Yesterday I went  jogging through the woods, on the mountainbike trail, after the rain (so much fun! I was literally shouting “Wheeeee!” as I was sliding downhill, running off the walls of the trail, hurdling fallen branches, puddles, and small streams. While blasting music (usually it’s audio-books, but I needed a break), I got this idea that there’s already a bunch of people looking up Balloon Boy.  The 1st 2 shirts I saw were cute… but the design sucked.  Why not make a shirt that’s nice?  I mean… people are already looking for it, and I’m a marketer.

I called up two friends, and told them to make themselves available.  I”m pretty proud of the fact that neither one even asked what we were going to do… they know better.  I was excited.  As soon as I made it back home, I registered the domains http://buyballoonboyshirts.com/ and http://BalloonBoyWear.com.  It was a long night.  Heck.. I haven’t slept yet (and I am falling asleep while typing this).  But, you can’t launch a store, and not be ready for your clients.

So far, I have 3 designs.  Seriously, go check it out at http://BalloonBoyWear.com, and let me know what you thinkl  For the record, I’ve already gotten my 1st sale.  A major task for me has been trying to delegate.  So, I forced myself to, and offered my friend all the cash that I had in my wallet– $32 to make  Read the rest of this entry »

Meet Eirene

Just ONE of Eirene's designs.

One of my all time best friends, my business partner, someone I’ve learned from, is of course one of my couches.  David Gonzalez and I have gotten along superbly since we 1st met.  When I couch surfed at his place, I met his daughter Eirene. She’s adorable, smart, and mostly very well behaved.  I’ve gotten to sit in on some of the schooling that David provides her after school.  This kid will go far!  By the way, according to Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm states that the involvement parents take in their kids education and life will make a huge difference in the outcome of that kid’s values and success. This story proves that. Read the rest of this entry »

In procrastination from doing something that I’m dreading (filling out a form that is a lengthy commitment), I wrote a Haiku about Twitter. Any Haiku experts can feel free to critique or praise it’s brilliance. Read the rest of this entry »

I mention Independent Lady Magazine a little too frequently lately. Last night, (I still haven’t slept… though not just because of this) in the middle of the night, I decided that I’d set up a MySpace page for Independent Lady Magazine and then I went and designed a few mock covers… no false article text or anything.. just the words. I suppose since I made a MySpace page, I had to keep going, to make it look good. And, while initially it was supposed to be a spoof, the more I wrote, the more I realized that I can actually turn this into a real magazine! The reasons are plenty: Read the rest of this entry »

Independent lady magazine is the name of a project I was going to take on. I’ll tell you about it, since you know I hate having my time wasted, and this is a wonderful story of time wasting. Angela was looking for projects for me, and found someone on CraigsList.org that needed a magazine layout done. Their initial project that they tried to get me to do for free to cheap was to photoshop the text off a cover that someone had sent as a proof… on a photo that they didn’t have the rights for. Read the rest of this entry »