What the heck is a Groupon?  It’s a way of leveraging group buys– check it out, they probably have something in your city. These people are clearly smart, as competitions are a great way to gain PR, traffic (eyeballs), and eventually new clients and business growth.  Their competition is called Live Off Groupon.

What you are supposed to do is live for a whole year off of nothing but groupons.  Be resourceful, figure out how to survive, and of course blog the whole time.  Sounds easy enough!  You start with nothing… like, no clothes even.  You wear a suit made of paper groupons!  I’d turn that into a whole photoshoot!

The audition requires you to make a 90 second video of why they should choose you. Because I only found out about this 3 days before the deadline, I had to shoot this to spec– as compared to adding graphics, editing ummms and uhhs out, etc…. No flashiness, just a video that could be uploaded.

I finished filming it (thanks Craig Allen for all your help!) at 11:20pm, with 40 minutes left to upload it, as well as write a 300-500 word essay on my experience with a Groupon vendor, which I had to videotape, and write a blog post about…. and a 400-500 word essay about why I should be chosen. I was typing it up at 11:58.  This felt like highschool again!  Doing the big project the day it’s due!

I was dancing for joy at 11:59pm when I received a confirmation e-mail saying my application was received!  I made it!

I think this would be a wonderful extension of everything I’ve been doing.  I truly believe these groupon things are a great business model for the participating businesses, and a wonderful deal for consumers who buy it.  Having infinite groupons sounds like fun, as does $100k, but the challenge of being constantly on the move… that’s exciting!

Wish me luck!

To learn more about the contest, check out the Live Off Groupon contest page.

Many people are often baffled by “What exactly is it Ori does?” and “How the heck does Ori pay for his journey?” – while these things are written in my book… my book isn’t out yet

I can tell you a bunch of things that I do, but I’ll use someone else’s words. Elizabeth Potts Weinstein wrote this after a short while of consulting with me:

“Ori is brilliant in so many things – photography, graphic design, web design, business strategizing, personal coaching, marketing – but those are just the tools he uses to express his creativity, to solve problems, to do what he really does … which is to pull the unique brand out from inside of you and give you the tools you need to express that brand to the world.

And I’m not talking about *thinking* your way into a brand that you “should” be or a brand you “wish” you could be … here I’m talking about a brand that is the expression of your personality, the uniqueness that you already are. Bringing together all your seemingly disparate passions into sync, figuring out the nexus that pulls everything together!”

I like that description. Everyone says it’s accurate. So, yes, I can do Read the rest of this entry »

A most Epic picture of me over a fiery death

My friend Elizabeth was writing that she’s not feeling very Epic.  That she had a blog post in her head, but it wasn’t coming out the way she wanted.  Sounded like she was being harsh on herself.

Most people would (and did) say “It’s ok… even writing about having nothing to say is saying something…” or “your observations are great, something that isn’t Epic for you, might be for someone else.”

My good friends can rely on me though to give a unique perspective, and Elizabeth has been relying on me to call her out on her excuses or bullshit.

So, when I read this cry for help, I had to put in my 4 cents.  So here it is, what I wrote in response to Elizabeth’s Post on not being Epic. (With italicized & colorful commentary for y’all):

you’ll listen, damnit!   ( Elizabeth said that despite that people would leave advice, she probably wouldn’t listen )
How to be epic: Read the rest of this entry »

The Couchsurfing Radio Host- Couch Surfing Ori

Couchsurfing Radio Episode #2 was a fast-paced humor-filled, inspiration laced ride!  It’s hard to believe that just last week I spent an hour of going “uhhhhh”- and harder to believe that yet again, I threw it together!

At first, neither I nor my listeners could get on! I set the settings wrong, and we had to move the show to 11:30pm EST, instead of 11. But from that point, everything was on track.

Check out the Couchcast

This time, I had two guests.  Hottie adventurer entrepreneur Ingrid Vanderveldt who races motorcycles, jumps out of a plane, is building up a company valued at $100,000,000, and knows the value of being unique, and seeking mentors. I find her inspirational, and she tries to empower women-entrepreneurs. Read the rest of this entry »

The Couchsurfing Radio Host- Couch Surfing Ori

Make sure you catch tonight’s show! It’s at 11pm EST, on CouchSurfing Radio.

Good news: Tonight I will be less distracted! Through the magic of technology, a lovely assistant

I”m already getting momentum.  Peter Shankman agreed to do next week’s, Tony Hsieh is doing the show in May.  If you don’t know who they are, google them…. but both shows, you’ll definitely want to catch!

I haven’t really been preparing. Life goes on… but I did leave you guys with that cliff hanger, so I’ll have to tell the entire guitar story…

If you have questions you’d like answered, you can start sending them to me through the contact form, or facebook.

See you tonight!

There are to do's, and not-to-do's when setting goals.

I was asked if I had any resolutions for this year.  I said, yes of course! 1920×1200 of course!  (For you non-geeks, that’s my laptop’s screen resolution. It’s measured in pixels).  I don’t believe in resolutions.  Why?  Because they’re usually crap… they are something that doesn’t mean anything.  They are the reasons that gyms are in business.  All that holiday food, and now everyone wants  six-pack abs, buys a gym membership, and then doesn’t do anything with it. I don’t do resolutions, I do goals.

Goal setting has been scientifically proven to make achievement more likely.  They say your goal should be big and hard (don’t start with the perv jokes just yet… it’s only day 1 of the year… oh heck! Let’s have a fun year.. make your perv jokes), or it won’t inspire you enough to get it done.    If you don’t MAKE goals (by the way, only about 3% of the USA population actually knows how or bothers to set goals).

Don’t worry… this isn’t a “How to set Goals so they work” post.  This is me talking a little bit about that, and a little bit about what I’m looking to do for 2010. Read the rest of this entry »

Couchsurfing anniversary cake by me

Happy anniversary to me!  Happy anniversary to me!  I’ve been couchsurfing a full 3 years as of today!  Happy anniversary to me!

That’s right, as of today I’m in my 4th year of Couchsurfing.  My parents thought it was just going to be a 1 year phase.  I didn’t know what it was going to be, but it’s everything I wanted it to be.

I’ve met the most amazing people.  I’ve done things that aren’t really on the tourist brochure.  I’ve expanded my mind and horizons.  I’ve seen and photographed things that are amazing.  I’ve helped lives and businesses.

It’s been a glorious 3 years, and I highly recommend it to anyone!  Thanks for being there with me!

Fireworks - seems like a good pic for the new year

As of 2pm on January 1^st, I will have been couchsurfing a full 3 years. I have to admit, it’s gone by quickly. Everyone says “Where did the year go?” But because I blogged more this year, I actually know where it went.  I didn’t blog everything- but here’s my summary.. Read the rest of this entry »

Many people have asked me for more “Day in the life” kind of stuff. I was at Kevin & Will’s to hang, and eat fried Deer and southern food. I’ll start with a video (shot on my webcam): Read the rest of this entry »

The Couchsurfing Radio Host- Couch Surfing Ori

Have you ever felt you were destined to be on TV or Radio?  Yeah… me either.  But I sure was told it often that I should have my own show.  At least for 10 yearas now.  So… here it is

I present to you CouchSurfingRadio, my latest creation. Right now it will be on Monday nights at 11pm EST, with replays available for your downloading pleasure (so you can hear it again and again… have it on as you clean, drive, work, jog, poop, etc..).

The show will cover many topics, but most of them will be what I often blog about: adventures, travel, incredible people and places, marketing, life lessons, motivation, design, jokes, and of course, my odd perspectives on everything.

Here is the very first episode.

Check out the Couchcast

It’s a great story… the forming of this radio show:  I felt like putting on a radio show, I tweeted and facebooked that in 2 hours I’ll be putting on a radio show, and then I put on my radio show.  Exciting, huh?  There was more to it than that, of course. I didn’t figure out how to log-in to the host number until (literally) 3 minutes before showtime. I was a distracted spaz.  I didn’t know how to read the questions that were coming in through the show’s chat-room, through twitter, and through skype. So.. yeah.. I was all over the place.

The feedback thus far has been great though!

For next episode, I will have a surprise guest, someone to filter the questions/chat for me, and segments… so, some kind of structure.

Take a listen, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the show (Leave a comment below please)

http://BlogTalkRadio.com/Couchsurfingori -  I’ll be answering some questions, talking about couchsurfing, what it’s like being a couchsurfer, some of my goals, some of my adventures, my strange take on terrorism, and more….  join in!

CouchSurfingOri surrounded by STUFF at Cathedral of Junk in Austin, TX

Stuff!  We all have it! The thing is that it means different things to different people.  Some people think that we are nothing more than what stuff we’ve accumulated.

Have you ever been to soeone’s house that looks like a museum? Shelves upon shelves of little crystal figurines, and nice china, and walls of DVDs, and shelves full of books, and tons of walk-in closets, etc… ?

I wonder if they actually enjoy their stuff.  I wonder if they eat on that fine china… I wonder if they watch every movie.. I wonder if they read all their books.

You see, I have a lot of stuff too.  We all do!  But, do we actually use it after the first few weeks?  It’s a shiny object, and my marketer friends probably made the ad that made you want it…. but after you spent your money, or were gifted it, you probably got bored with it.  Clearly, there’s exceptions– computers, cell phones, televisions, but even those gather dust after we find a shiny new model.  The Ipod got replaced by the Ipod Nano, which got replaced by the Iphone / Touch – which got replaced by the Iphone 3G, which got replaced by the Iphone 3GS.

What’s my point?  I just realized that a lot of my stuff I have because people think I should have it.  What do I mean? I guess I should tell you my big plans first.

(If you’re in a hurry, just scroll to the video at the bottom) Read the rest of this entry »