Peggy Richardson -The Wizard of Ebooks

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.

In 2007 I decided to have a creativity workshop, and 2 weeks later I did.  Based on the feedback I received, I decided to move forward with a whole series of DVDs, so I filmed a bunch of my shoots just for that purpose.  One of the models that I used was Daniela Perez (That stunning model that I used as the picture for this post- sadly, that photo was not taken by me).

I have worked with Daniela for years while I was in South Florida.  She is a talented model.  As a photographer, how do I define model?  Looks are only a small percent.  Additional factors I consider are punctuality, wardrobe size, ability to pose, ability to do work long hours, having a personality, additional skills that come in handy.

Daniela qualifies for all of those.  She is one of those women who always smile (not artificially), have a lot of energy, can show off many looks (I’ll dig up my Daniela photos later), is a professional make up artist (saves you having to hire a makeup artist…. and makes a huge difference in your photography), shows up on time, works for hours upon hours, has a massive diversified wardrobe, and she also knows how to walk and pose (great for fashion shows, catalogs, and my artistic images).

When I announced that I was doing these photoshoots, and video taping them — oh yeah… and I decided this on a whim!  There was very little notice to anyone.  I acquired a studio, a bunch of models, some makeup artists, on a “What are you doing tomorrow??” basis.  Daniela came through with very little notice, did an amazing job posing for my creative shots, and pulled off so many different looks!

Now that I’m editing the videos, I saw some of the footage, and was really appreciative.  I forgot to mention, none of the makeup artists or models charged me (nor the studio owners actually).  Once I finish my hard work, these DVDs will help a great many photographers, and will also sustain my travels and lifestyle.  For that I am grateful.

I looked up DanielaPerez.com — it was available.  I texted her to see if she wanted a website.

Lesson: Everyone should own their own name if possible.

Daniela has modeling portfolios online, one of which is on OneModelPlace.com – a company I used to work for (my last “real” job – 2004-2005).  They had just sold for many millions to some media conglomerate.  Additionally, since she has more than one portfolio, but sends people to only one at a time… I thought that a website that has links to all of them makes much more sense.

Lesson:  You should drive people to your personal property (in this case, I’m referring to a website), because these other sites (youtube, facebook, myspace, onemodelplace.com, etc) can go down, or kick you off, and then you lose all your contact data with people, etc…

Text conversation:
Me: DanielaPerez.com is available- want a website?
Her: LOL.. I don’t really have the money for that right now. But thanks though.
(I do charge at minimum $1,500 for a website, since I bring design, marketing, and functionality to a site– not just “making it pretty”)
Me: Domain costs $10. And u can point it to your portfolio.
Lesson: If you are sending people to a site (let’s say youtube), and don’t have or want your own site, you can still buy a domain (your name perhaps), and just have it redirect to the other site. (for example- CouchSurfingOri.com could take people to youtube.com/couchsurfingori)
Me: Or I can even make a small page with a small bio, and links to your pages.  I wouldn’t charge you. You helped me with my vids.
Me: When’s your birthday?
Her: Next Thursday, the 12th.
Her: You would do my website for free?
Me: I’m already doing it- doing it right now. It’s your b-day present. Already bought the domain before you even texted that.
Her: LOL…. there’s no catch??
Her: Is this your first site?
(Skipping a few lines where I talk about my website building experience (made my 1st one in 1997))
Her: Just asking cuz you said free, I was wondering the catch, but if you say so… I’m excited!!!

I made this site: http://DanielaPerez.com and e-mailed her from a new e-mail address which is now at @danielaperez.com instead of hotmail.com (Lesson: Email sounds much more professional when you e-mail people from your domain).  I also set up a Google Voice Number for her so that she doesn’t have to give her cell phone number to creeps… as well as increase productivity- as Google Voice is an amazing tool… it will transcribe voiceails, and text them to you!

I wrote her a bio for the page, went through her whole portfolio to pick the images that I thought were the best, made the slideshow at the top of the page, named the files for SEO purposes, wrote the page information in direct response style (a manner that will make clients know why they should hire her, instead of the competition), and a few other things I don’t feel like boring you with…. but….She got response to it quickly…. and very positive response.

Not bad for a free website, right?  So… while she was surprised, I don’t really know why.  You see, I help people out all the time, and when someone calls me up out of the blue and says “You have to come into town, we got this incredible thing going on, and we’re taking you with!” it never surprises me.

Regardless of helping people…. fun, cool, interesting, people often get invited to do things, or are given things.  By being the most awesome person you can be, you can change people’s lives.  Smiling at someone can change their day or perspective.  By being awesome, you add value to others- maybe if you’re funny you get invited ’cause they know you’ll entertain their guests…. Just an example.

People like to do awesome things for others.  People like to help others.  People like to gift people things.  I’ve gotten rid of the people that were weighing me down… i.e. are not supportive people, or people who just whine all the tim but do nothing about it.  So, since everyone I hang with is so awesome, I have no problem gifting them stuff just for the hell of it… and the same happens to me all the time.  If you’re not sure what it is that you offer, or what makes you so cool (because you are! Everyone is awesome in some way… they may just not realize it)– try asking your friends what they like about you.  Ask what’s memorable about you.  It’s always good to know… and it’s a fun conversation.

Do something nice for someone just for the hell of it, or send them an unexpected thank you for something….. you’ll blow their mind.  Something you can do right now, pay the toll for the person behind you in line…. that’ll just surprise them, especially since they won’t know who you are.  It’s fun!

Anyways- I gotta get back to my DVDs, so I’ll end it on this note:

Regardless of whether you are a model, a blogger, a lawyer, a stripper…. whatever it is that you do, you should have a website that uses real copywriting and marketing techniques.  First, make sure the writing and message are words that would mean something to your target audience… so step 1 is to figure out exactly what you want to do.

In Daniela’s case for example, it is to do high-pay high quality photo shoots with experienced photographers, and high-pay fashion shows with quality designers.  So, the wording I used explains what’s unique about her, so that when those people read that, they’ll want to hire her.  I also gave her homework: to get video testimonials from photographers who have worked with her, to film her photo shoots, and to film her fashion shows.  The same applies for you!

If you’ve ever worked with someone, you should get a testimonial (preferably video).  You should video tape yourself doing your thing.  People don’t “just know” how awesome you are.  Demonstrating is way more powerful than telling.  What other people have to say (called Social Proof) is way more powerful than anything you tell them (and Video is the most credible form of this).

Other aspects of marketing you should consider for your site is quality images, quality design, search engine optimization….. If you’re not a designer, and not a marketer you may do a “do it yourself” version, which may not look very professional, and may alienate clients.

Another very important thing to mention– if you are giving someone something for free, that is not an excuse to not do a quality job! If you’re going to do a shitty job, then don’t do it at all.

My friend Elizabeth’s daughter recently had a brain tumor.  I was there for her via phone and texting when she found out that she has to take Gracie to the ER, and it may be fatal.  I was there to cheer her up, and be a shoulder and ear.  But my other friends on her insider group did more.  They hijacked her business, and handled it for her.  Alison flew in from Canada to be ther ein person with EPW.  I’m proud of my cheering up skills, and that I’m a trusted friend, and that I could be there… but I wanted to do more.

Once it was established that Gracie was all right after her brain surgery, I figured what *I* could do other than being funny!  You see, when you hear your kid has to go to the ER, or die, you drop everything to make sure the kid stays alive.  Everything.  Thus, she was at the hospital for about 2 weeks, not taking care of anything else- business, or even the car that got broken into.

Since EPW was not going to have a summer to work on things, as Gracie was going to go to camp…. recovering from surgery had messed up her coordination to where she couldn’t go to camp.  She’s fine now, and better than she’s been in a really really long time.  But EPW has to try and catch up with 2 weeks of unplanned hospital time, and look after the kid… it’s a bit much.  My plan:  Cancel Vegas, Go to San Fran, be the babysitter, so EPW can catch up on her life!  That, and have some personal time.

As far as the race goes, I ended up not going ’cause Jared & Jen were going to pick me up, and their car had blown up on their road trip.  They offered to fly me out there, but last minute tickets seemed insane.  I’d rather go with my friends to Seattle, and spend longer than 3 days there, as I’ve never been before.   As far as races– there’ll be others.  Meanwhile, there’s talk about a Canoe race in Belize in March!

My audio book for today’s journey was “Freakonomics” – it’s fabulous!  Witty and brilliant insight into a great many things.  too many to list actually  But… I”ll have time to write now that I’m here to babysit.  Oh yeah… tonight I get to sleep in a pink room, with pink Princess Sheets!  That’s how you know you’re cool!

What’s the short version?

I left Austin on Tuesday the 4th with a passenger, whom is female, and prefers not to be written about.  We drove 19 hours to Gainesville, FL – where we made it by noon on Cinco De Mayo.  The fun thing is that my little brother, Itay, manages a Tequila bar, and what better place to be on that Mexican holiday than there? We had a lot of tequila.  Edit. Edit. Edit. Edit.  We walked to my little bro’s place, and the next morning all of us, and 2 dogs drove to South Florida for Mother’s day.

I had gotten a hold of Dad previously to let him know about our trip… This was kind of tough, since mom and dad are always together!  My god! They always pick up on Speaker-phone! Grrr! They read e-mail together, speak on the phone together… I lucked out and called one time as Mom was about to go to the Dr’s for a checkup, and was finally able to get Dad alone.

I had explained my plan, mostly to make sure they’d be in town.  We were to arrive on Thursday, and leave on Monday.

The drive down was pretty easy.  Itay had an Ipod filled with music, and a really good transmitter. I had some influence over Itay’s taste in music as he grew up, so of course I liked a bunch of the tunes.  We got to South Florida, and parked 2 houses down from Mom and Dad’s house (so they couldn’t see the car).

As planned, I called Barak (my older brother), and informed him we were here.  His task was to call Mom. While he distracted her on the phone (although, really it was about having him be “there” and part of the surprise), the 3 of us (and the 2 dogs) snuck to the house, and rang the doorbell.  My plan was that Dad be obnoxious, and make mom get the door, and we surprise her.  Well… things didn’t go exactly as planned, but well enough.  Dad opened the door, peeped out, saw us, and opened the door wider.  We hurried in, Itay taking the lead.  We entered the kitchen, cut through it, and there… on the other hallway, Itay ran into Mom.  She screamed, and then saw me. Itay said “Happy Mother’s Day!” and I sang “Happy Mother’s Day to You!” to the tune of Happy Birthday to you.  Mom is yelling at Barak that “You knew about this?!  I can’t believe my kids!  I’m going to kill you guys!”  She was pretty surprised.  I’m glad I got it on Video. Mission accomplished!

The rest of the trip has many other flavors, but the goal was to surprise Mom with Itay, and that was accomplished.

Since I wrote 15 pages so far, and have even more to write, I’m trying to keep this short- so… let’s do it outline style:

• Buffet with the folks.
• Hanging out with a few of my buds from S. FL.
• Taken on a date to South Beach where I was out of my element, tired, and I think the date did more harm than good. It lasted from 9pm till Sunrise.
• We stayed at a hotel… it was the 3rd one, because SouthBeachGroup fucked up royally, pulled a bait and switch, had crappy service, incompetent people (both at the hotel and the corportate side)- although the room itself was pretty dope!
• Saw Iron Man 2 on Imax with my family to celebrate mother’s day — followed by a nice BBQ at their house.
• Questioned myself about… well.. everything.  And let me add that Karma’s a bitch, and a reliable one at that.
• Had to deal with some bullshit, where my little brother thought it was funny to put someone’s name and number on Craigslist with a bogus ad, saying they are giving away a tv.  Girls do not like having their name, number, and description of their vehicles put online!  Just in case you had any doubts about that.
• Dropped Itay off in Gainesville.
• Couchsurfed in Orlando with a guy that works for Halloween Horror Nights, and the Blue Man Group.
• Went to a dog beach in Daytona, followed by a real beach.  In Daytona you can drive on the beach (the actual sand).  My car got stuck… right before the beach closed for vehicles.  Thankfully there were a small handfull of people there, and they helped me dig and push.
• Drove to Atlanta.
• Texted while driving… which is dangerous, but I used it to pull a romantic scheme together.  We arrived at my condo, which was empty… but now had clean linens, a bottle of wine, and candles.  My passenger was asleep, so that gave me a chance to go inside and light the candles before waking her up.  It was very romantic.  I should do romantic things more often.  I’d like to thank my friend Robert for helping me execute this (And Meghan for choosing the wine), and for holding on to my keys… this was not a use for the keys that I ever imagined previously.
• Realized the next day why my place did not rent out:  It was left pretty messy, with stuff all over the place.  I was informed by my friend that the place was cleaned out completely. The realtor never mentioned this either.  Grrrrr…. My fault for not checking, or asking for proof.  Realtor’s a dumbass anyways for not mentioning it though.  I’d've happily paid a cleanup crew, and she would’ve made money off the rental.
• Spent all day and night cleaning, bleaching, scrubbing, vaccuming.  Only breaks: Taco Bell / Dunkin Donuts.
• Woke up early, finished cleaning.  Drove to Arkansas to visit my passenger’s family.
• Spent the weekend with them.  It was neat seeing 3 families within the same family all living next door to each other. Played cards, had a few drinks, sat on the porch, worked.
• Sunday I taught her grandma to:
  • Import her pictures from her digital camera to her computer
  • Tag images
  • Name albums
  • Delete photos
  • Copy photos to her Digital Photo Frame that she was gifted
  • Resize photos, so her digital frame doesn’t fill up.
  • Add memory to the photo frame, so it never runs out of memory.
  • Upload photos to Facebook.
  • Tag photos on FB / Caption photos / delete photos / Choose album cover.
  • Made her take notes on all this.
• Got made fun of that I’ll be the next grandpa… ’cause the grandma loves me.  There’s a video somewhere of me dancing with her, complete with twirls, and even a dip.
• Drove back to Austin, where I’m now house sitting for someone.  Does that count as couch surfing if the person isn’t here?

So, now I’m in Austin (which I’ve missed dearly), am getting caught up on my snail mail (which I picked up from FL and GA), and am stressing about numerous things.  I took the time to write this blog post, because I haven’t written in a while.  I apologize for that, but life needs living.

While my brain was confused about myself, relationships, what I want or need to do next, just rolling into Austin made everything better. This place is amazing.

Additionally, I have to mention this awesome sign we saw on our way back. Actually, I think George Bush is the devil, but I do love wit… so here’s the description:  The sign had a photo of George W. Bush, and it said “Miss me yet?  How’s that hope and change stuff working for you?”

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 Ultra Music Festival.  We were watching Paul Oakenfold.  They were in the row in front of me, and I was wearing this beret (you know, the plastic hair thing) which had these antennae that had little alien heads on top that would light up. So, we got talking, and now I always give Dave credit for a few things:

1) He introduced me to the term “Cougar” – I had just finished shooting/viewing the Halloween Parade in “The Village” in New York, and he says “Where do you want to go?”  I say I don’t care,  and he says “How about this one bar (I forget the name now), there’s always a bunch of cougars in there!”  I replied “Really? That sounds dangerous! Do they keep them in cages? or?”

Dave proceeded to explain that a cougar is an older woman (40+) that is after younger meat (I later learned that Cougars like to call their prey “Cubs”).  The next day on NPR they were saying how this cougar in California got shot…. guess they meant the other type, eh?

2) He introduced me to Tito’s Handmade Vodka… even though I didn’t get to taste it that night.  We were shooting New York from his rooftop, after a snowstorm had hit.  We came in to warm up, and Tex figured since I’d be driving in a few hours, we better try some of his favorite Vodkas… It was between this russian vodka that he got from a russian vodka house, and Tito’s, which he kept raving about.

So yesterday my day basically started off by going to meet up with Dave, who was in town for a wedding.  We met at Jos Coffee on South Congress.  I love their Ice Turbo- it’s this massive injection of caffeine, that tastes like candy.  I had one of those, and I bought Dave an espresso, as he already had an Ice Turbo.

Before the coffee though, I was so proud and joyous, as I gifted Dave a 1L bottle of Tito’s.  Seemed appropriate since he introduced me to it.

Dave bought me a Bloody Mary at the South Congress Cafe.  He said they are the best, as SoCoCaf infuses their own vodkas with garlic and onion and spices.  It was pretty damn good, I admit.

The great thing was not so much walking around with Tex and seeing what stores are there, but rather having Dave tell me how things used to be back in the day.  American Apparel wasn’t there, but rather “Fashion People”, and they used to have all these cool parties on the upstairs platform area (rooftop)…. this wasn’t there, that wasn’t there, there used to be this here.  It was like time travel.

After I walked Dave to his car, I went to Lucy In Disguise (Austin’s hottest costume store– I believe I’ll be quite a regular) and picked up a roach suit.  I had already been there to verify that they had them, and a horse suit, an executionar’s hood, and a few other things.  That place is frigging awesome!   I rented the roach suit, and then put it on, and walked out like that.

The reason I’ve got the roach suit by the way is to make a few youtube videos I scripted out. The client has a product, and I write a script that’s fun, but delivers the information, and sends the traffic to where you need (store / website / phone — in marketing terms, that’s called a call to action).  But getting a tool for work doesn’t mean I can’t have fun with it.

Immediately people were staring. This suit was awesome.  You put it on like a shirt.  It has multiple layers- the main part, with nice roachy arms as the sleeves, but those are connected via fishing wire to 4 smaller roach arms, so when I move my arms, the other roach arms follow suit.  I had big antennae.  Then there’s the wings that gently drape behind me. If I jump, they move around.

I got in my car.  Before closing the door, I had to make sure no roach parts were getting squished (the opposite of “the usual”)- putting the seat belt on was a bit awkward, and I kept fearing that it would mess up the clear wires.

My buddy Ryan Deiss was in the middle of a webinar when I cracked the door open, and crawled in on all 4s, and crawled out. He told his listeners “For those who know Ori, he just crawled in here dressed as an ant!”  I later told him that it was a roach, and he thought that’s way cooler.

He was frustrated at first, as he should be, as I violated the “Do not enter- Webinar recording in progress!” sign on his door.  He was more frustrated, ’cause he thought it was a singing telegram kind of thing, and that someone at the office would be insipid enough to let such a person in while he is recording.

People had let me in,  and there must have been 10 people following me around the office, watching as I entered different people’s offices and said hello.  When I was going to enter Ryan’s office (he’s kind of the big boss), everyone was outside seeing what happens.

I then did my grocery shopping while wearing the roach suit.  Oh!  I forgot to mention!  It has little booties (to cover your shoes), that look like roach feet, and little gloves that look like roach hands.

It was so great! I brought so much joy to so many peoples’ lives yesterday, by doing nothing more than wearing a roach suit, and returning eye contact.  I went to the Whole Foods in downtown Austin.  It’s one of the largest ones, has a raw bar, has all sorts of stuff, and it’s always busy.  As soon as I walked in to the store, a girl who just walked in got all excited “That is SO awesome!” and we had instant conversation… I”ve never really done the ‘pickup at the grocery store’ (Don’t they say the frozen food aisle works best?) thing – but here I was, chatting with this cutie.

While having excited conversation filled with smiles is a pleasurable thing, I did come in to get a few supplies (laundry detergent and toilet paper), and still had much to do… so, I turned left, and got my supplies.  During that whole mission of searching for things, I heard many people laughing, I saw many people smiling… It’s the kind of smile that stays on your face for a while!

I was of course smiling back.  When I took the escalator to leave, there was an old couple behind me, and she wasn’t just smiling, she was laughing.  I said “I know! Of all places, I thought Whole Foods would be clean, and not have any bug problems… but it appears they have some of the largest roaches I’ve ever seen!” then we spoke of why I have a roach costume…..

I then went to the camera store and bought a remote control for my camera… a total life changer!  And it was only $15!  I feel like a jackass for not having gotten this much sooner.  In fact, here’s the video:

That kind of tells the story. The remote and tripod made it easy to do self portraits, and film like this- so you may see a lot more video blogging.  If you enjoy that format, let me know.. I’ll do more of it (though, not always in a cockroach suit).

Since I sent out messages about how much fun I was having with the roach suit, people wanted photos, so when I got home, I set up the tripod, took out the remote, shot that video, and took these pictures:

I gotta tell you- this is really fun for me.  I’m not saying that as “wow, what a fun day!” (well, I am) – I’m saying it because I recognize a specific thing brings me some joy.  Maybe it’s because it’s so unexpected…. that’s what it was for the people at the camera store, the people in the supermarket, the people at the offices…. people see a person in a roach suit, and they laugh, and smile.  It’s a pattern interrupt– something that’s so out of the ordinary, that it throws you off…. you have to stare.  You forget what you were doing, and your brain just wants to know “What the hell???”

Part of the reason it makes me happy, is because I know that I made that many people happy.  I gave them something to talk about with their friends and coworkers– “So I was at Whole Foods today, and there was this giant roach!”  ”really? I always thought they were so clean!” “No, no!  I mean… this 6 foot tall roach… think he was shopping for toilet paper!” —  That, and just making people laugh…. People these days seem not to have enough reasons to laugh… well, the reasons are there, but they don’t take the time to find them.  Youtube is cute, but falling victim to a flash mob must be more fun in person!

So, bringing joy to peoples’ lives is important to me.  I like to please- whether because I did the best work that I could, and surpassed the clients’ expectation, or provide a 2 hour unexpected midnight call to someone I never spoke to before, to cheer them up about their chemotherapy related hair-loss.  People thank me, but as Seth Godin says in his awesome book “Linchpin”, as the artist, giving my gift may mean more to me than receiving it might mean for you.

Having realized that, I am now figuring out how I can make my projects be based more around bringing happiness to people.  I may walk around in various costumes for the fun of it, or go visit people in the hospital.  If you have any ideas on how I can intersect delivering joy into my projects, I’d like to focus more on that direction, and would really appreciate your thoughts (While you’re at it- what’d you think of the photos and video?)

Bottom line– if you want to cheer yourself up after a rough day, get a rare costume, and go out in public.  If you feel like cheering other people up, wear a costume, and see those people.

Small note:  Don’t get a terrorist or bank robber costume, it won’t have the same effect

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.

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.

Is that not an awesome outfit for the airport?

(I’m writing this one on a plane- dumbass (me) didn’t check the flights, just clicked… and ended up getting a flight from the OC to Austin, by flying from California, to Atlanta, and THEN to Austin… nice one)
“Are you gonna make it out to our event?”
“I’m not sure…”
“Well, of course you’d be our VIP guest.”
“I’m pretty booked, and I’m not sure about flight funds right now. You guys need a photographer?”
“I don’t know… you’d have to talk to Larry about that.”

That was the conversation on Skype with one of my awesome couches, Caleb Jennings.

The next day the phone rings, “You’re NOT going to believe this! I woke up at noon, and had a Skype from Larry, ‘Can Ori shoot our event? How much?’ – I hadn’t even talked to him”

I spoke to Larry, we ironed out the details, and it was on.

If that serendipity hadn’t been enough, check this out:
I was supposed to be at a 10 day silent meditation (Vipassana) center during these times. I got put on the waiting list because I waited too long. They called me up the day before, and said I can go… but I was already booked with projects.

My flight was Thursday at 6:30am. That means I need to be at the airport at 5:30am. It’s about a 20 minute drive (there’s no traffic in Austin at 5am), so we figured we’d leave at 5am.

I figured I’d stay up all night, and just sleep on the flight.

At 10pm (CST) on Wednesday, I tweeted that I needed a place to crash, and by 2am I got a text from Angel- compliments of Aron Bender. I now feel like Angel and I are old buddies, even though we barely spent time together. That’s one beautiful aspect of Couch Surfing by the way. (You can see our photo shoot at the bottom of this blog post)

4am… I’m starting to drift off, or display symptoms of what I like to call “Keyboard Head” (’cause you fall down, and your head hits the keyboard, leaving imprints of the keys in your forehead).

“I’ll just take a small nap. It will be fine, ’cause I set my alarm, and Craig set his alarm, and he’s responsible….”
“We’re not going to make it.”
“Huh?”
“It’s 6am.”

Oh crap… guess my alarm didn’t wake me after all. *sigh* Well, no reason to stress. It was $150 for a new ticket to California for the same day. Back to sleep.

Now, instead of arriving at noon, I would arrive at 7:30pm (PT). Angel was fine with that.

This gave me time to ride with Craig to his office, pick up a paycheck for some of the recent web and design projects I did for them, and even do a quick product shoot for them. No problem on making it to the airport on time at 2pm (as compared to 6am).

The Best Part

Angel came and got me. We’ve never met. How would she find me? The traditional approach “I’m wearing a brown and white striped shirt” didn’t seem like it would make it fast enough. Angel joked around that I should be doing jumping jacks between 7:45 and 7:55. I did, and she found me very easily!

I gotta tell you, that was semi embarassing. I was nervous about doing it, being concerned about “What would people think?” and “I’ll look like an asshole”- which are great reasons to do something! In fact, the jumping jacks warmed me up, as the outside air was getting frigid. Most importantly, Angel will never forget me, and I have a funny story now!

We made it home, ate some dinner, I got my ass kicked in Super Smash Bros on the Nintendo WII by her 12 year old, and then Angel and I just sat around until 2am (4am for me) exchanging travel and adventure stories. Angel has been around the world too.

The next day was amazing, and unexpected.

I had no car. Registration for the event begins at 4:30pm. I like being early, and scoping out the scene. The Hilton (where the event woas taking place), was out of the way for Angel, as her job (Massage therapist) is the other direction.

I had Angel drop me off at “The Corner Bakery” – a coffee shop/restaurant that was near her home. There would be internet there.

The weather was so nice out! Cloudless blue sky, a high 60′s, a cool breeze, and plenty of shade from Palm trees (the only downside, the breeze kept knocking small flowers from the trees, and into my hair).

The bench I was on had WiFi reaching it in full strength. I was Facebooking, when Adriana realized that I was in California. We connected, and she figured out that I was in the OC, a few minutes from her job. She was going to meet me for lunch… ‘cept that she already ate lunch, and I wasn’t hungry.

I had already moved inside The Corner Bakery, and gotten a coffee before Adriana showed up. That would be all that I ordered from there. I got a text from Angel (who was supposed to be working until 4pm), asking if I’d like to meet up for lunch at the beach.

How perfect?! I was thinking about what a shame it is that I’m in California, at the OC, and will not be hitting the beach. Here was my opportunity.

Angel showed up, and I introduced her to Adriana (who had to go back to work) — they’ve hung out since then (I would’ve gone with, but my phone broke later in the trip, and I could not call or text).

Angel took me to her favorite beach. We had the most amazing Ahi-Tuna Sandwiches with a Wasabi Mayo sauce, and Pineaple. The view was spectacular, and I spent most of lunch doing the consulting thing, telling her the steps she can use to get many more clients,as well as raise her price.

We then went down the stairs to the beach. The tide was low, and we were walking (barefoot) along the rocks and the sand, checking out crabs, shells, and tidal pools. I even got to play with a sea snaemone (which was kind of creepy– little bugger latches on to your fingers, and tries to eat you).

Angel wanted to show me her other favorite beach, and we drove there… but I wa sgetting antsy about the time.

It was almost 4pm, and I wanted to be punctual.

We got to the Hilton.

“Do you have to go right now, or can you stick around a few minutes?” I wanted to introduce her to some of my other couches who were there– Craig Allen, Caleb Jennings, and Jason Moffatt. I called Craig, and they were at a restaurant near by called 118 Degrees.

118 is a raw food restaurant that’s upscale, and wonderful. When we arrived, our Clan (people attending the Longevity Conference) had taken up a majority of the restaurant.

The food was delightful, and very healthy. I (and most people) had ordered a coconut. The Miso soup was the best I’ve ver had. The various drinks were delicious, and the conversation was a trip. I even videotaped a light-sabre (app) battle between Steve Pavlina and Caleb Jennings, as one was on an iPhone, and one was on an a Droid.

I made sure to get a photo of Craig, Caleb, and Angel — 3 of my couches from across the country (Orange County, Las Vegas, and Austin), in one place. The energy was great- we rearranged the restaurant, and even invited people from other tables to come join us. That was because we’re talking about Twitter technologies, web trends, and marketing, while someone 2 tables away was reading a book on using twitter.

“Come, join us, I have 11,000 followers.”

I was bummed, ’cause Angel couldn’t stay– but she had already gotten a new client because of joining me…. Craig… who reported that his massage on Sunday was absolutely amazing.

The even was packed! I believe there were 500 people in attendance, and many crew. Even the internet broadcast was sold out at 500 seats. Apparently, many people care about living a long time, and David Wolfe is the industry leader.

I put my bags up in Caleb and Adam’s room. I met Adam for the 1st time at 118 Degrees, but he was one of the few people I hung out with this weekend, and before lunch was up, he had already invited me to couchsurf in Vegas. We may be doing a roadtrip to Sedona, AZ.

We checked out Larry’s room, the presidential suite. Don’t you think that it looks like Craig is peeing on the door? (he’s not)

Hanging out is fun, but I take my work seriously… so, surprisingly, I did not make a scene, wear my furry hat, or tell too many jokes (In fact, as we said our goodbye, Larry said “It sucks! We didn’t get to spend more than 2 minutes, and you didn’t get to make me laugh once!” — which is not true, ’cause I did make him laugh once, to get a nice smile from him and his stunningly hot girlfriend, Oksana, as I took their photo).

Small note- Caleb went to his first Burning Man, as did Larry and Oksana, and that’s where I met Larry and Oksana…. That’s how they knew my photography skills are so great, and that my humor so corny, witty, and mildly entertaining.

I was in professional mode. I skipped some meals, I skipped going to Au Lac (which is this amazing Vietnamese / Raw restaurant, where the head chef, Chef Ito, has taken a vow of silence, and has not spoken in 10 years. He would rather communicate what he communicates with words, with his amazing foods) multiple times, while all my friends did go.

I can not emphasize enough the importance of going to events…. they are a great way to learn what’s going on in a particular industry, but more importantly, a great way to meet like-minded individuals that can become friends, or business associates. I did not get to network too much this time, as I was way more concerned about doing a kick-ass job.

How kick-ass of a job did I do? More than 4,000 photos! Sure… some of them are blurry (I did not use a flash 98% of the time), and some are of repetitive content, but the event organizers were certainly thrilled! I got all the speakers, all the exhibitors, all the logos, all the standing ovations, all the hugs, the pushups, the book signings, the tastings, the lines out the door for the tonic bar, the folks at the tonic bar making their tonics, the production crew, the giveaways, and of course, people mingling. I was not afraid to cut through the crowd to get the shot I needed. I used my collection of lenses to get closeups when needed, and a wide-fisheye view to show what a sold-out room standing ovation looks like (Larry’s comment when seeing that photo, “Holy crap dude, it looks like there’s 5,000 people here!”– isn’t that the point? ).

I’m jumping around of course.

The days were long. began from 7:30-8:30am. I did not photograph that. I slept. I was pretty tired, as the doors opened at 9am, and the lectures went on until 10:30-11pm. People stayed for the whole thing.

Day number one, one of the first things that were lectured about was the importance of grounding. The short version is that shoes are the most lethal invention that humans have made. Basically, as humans, we’ve done everything we can to block ourselves from the Earth’s energy, which regulates a lot of our biology. We insulate ourselves from the ground by wearing rubber soled shoes most of the day and night. We have windows to block us from the good radiation from the sun (UVB, which helps the skin create Vitamin D), but does not prevent UVA, which causes cancer. Funny enough, until recently, that’s what sunscreen did… block out healthy radiation, but let in the bad stuff. So, by grounding yourself (walking barefoot, amongst other things), you are shielding yourself from solar and electronic radiation. They actually took some blood samples from these 4 ladies, and showed how blood clumps together when it is not grounded… but when you are grounded, blood flows better. They had scientific charts showing all sorts of other things that happen when you are grounded. Let’s say it this way— I want to be grounded! Of course, they sold grounding kits- bed sheets that are interwoven with silver fabric… wristbands… stomach bands… a ground pad for your feet. Many different products that you can use to ground yourself.

There were many speakers who spoke on many topics. Vitamins, Minerals, Probiotics and fermented foods, mushrooms for immunity boosts, the digestive brain vs the cerebral brain, and much more….

Since I was there shooting, I didn’t get to mingle as much as I normally do at events, but I’m cool with that. I feel great about a job well done. The event organizers love the photos, and I do feel a sense of purpose at a job well done.

— writing from the ground now –

Since my phone broke, I couldn’t text people, or call people. I didn’t even have everyone’s numbers! Since I introduced Craig and Angel, I was able to contact her through Craig’s phone on occasion. We decided that after Monday’s Elixir Masters class, I’d get a ride, and we’d do a shoot Monday morning, and then she’d take me to the airport.

The ride I got was from Carlo. Who’s Carlo? He’s my new buddy. We met recently through Facebook / Twitter– he had found me through the LiveOffGroupon contest… he made an entry, saw mine, and was sure I’d win (as was I). We chatted about it a bit, but I can not emphasize how much easier it is to get to know someone in person than over Twitter. Use social media to open doors, but then talk to people on the phone, or meet up with them.

It was really neat… we had a lot in common, and he’s just an interesting fellow. The funny thing was that he’s got this beard, and this long dreaded hair… and he felt a bit odd, as his normally odd looks blended right in at the conference.

If I hadn’t said it– this was the best looking crowd I’ve ever seen at any event… and I attend any events. I suppose it’s ’cause they all do what the speakers say, take good supplements, take a barefoot walk, exercise, watch what they eat…. and of course, now, ground themselves.

Being there certainly inspired me to eat healthier, and exercise some. But it also inspired me to focus on my goals… which are not so much business as they are travel and adventure. I thrive on consulting. I am wired for it. But, exploring new places, doing death-defying things, having new experiences… that’s what really lights me up…. so… I’m looking for travel opportunities that will inspire me. Since I realized that, there’s already talks of me going to document someone’s humanitarian efforts in Uganda. More on that when I know more.

The Elixir Masters workshop was mindblowing. It’s amazing how many herbs people can fit into a smoothie… and they know exactly what each does… you had to see all the things that these people have cured with just a good diet, and herbal drinks. This guy Truth Calkins was constantly citing Doctors, and research, and studies… He owns http://www.erewhonmarket.com/ – where they make these drinks and foods all the time, and of course the supplements and herbs that people need to make this stuff at home. I spoke to Truth, asked how he got started, and it was an amazing story. This wasn’t just a smoothie maker… this was a guy that nearly killed himself (literally) with junk food.

His parents were health nuts, and as a child he wasn’t allowed to eat processed foods (smart!). He later made up for that, by piling it on…. he got fat, ran low on energy, and suffered from depression, candida, and all sorts of other things…. he was just waiting to die– actually trying to do it by overeating the worst kind of food. He had also burnt out from being an actor and a graphic designer…. and then realized it was all in the knowledge….

Truth read everything he could… over and over… he cut out his sugars, he ate fermented foods…. let’s say it this way, he’s now 40, and I bet he gets carded for alcohol.

After the Elixir Masters, Carlo dropped me off at Angels. Seth was there, Angel was there, her kids were there….. we had dinner, and then just sat around chatting. I made Seth (Angel’s boyfriend) a website, and demonstrated how easy a WordPress site is to control. It already looks better- he took to it like a fish to water.

The next morning we did our shoot… in a very little bit of time.

I’ve been really productive about catching up on work. Perhaps that healthy food has me thinking more clearly?

—

Crap…. forgot to hit Publish… ’cause I wanted to add the gallery… lots of separate projects, aka.. distractions.  So, here’s the gallery– and I’ve lost a few pounds already by just eating healthy again, jogging a tiny bit, and I feel great.  When I did my 30 day raw, I also made sure to get a full night’s sleep each night (Which is generally not the norm for me).

[View with PicLens]

12►

I am moved every time I watch this one.

Great weather for doggie playdate

Elizabeth lost Wookie, whom she had for 12 years. Johnny was grieving the loss.  They were not the only two- Stella lost her lifelong buddy!  I was asked to house sit, so the dog can have some happiness, as I tend to be upbeat and happy.

Over on the other part of town, Craig was now only taking care of one raw-food eating dog, rather than 2.  Maple had gone away in the separation.  Craig was not the only one to notice that… Bentley, the St. Bernard was missing his lifelong playmate.

Dogs are so awesome! They bring us such joy.  They try to cheer us up.  They help us clean the floor when we drop food! Thus, the only right thing to do is to find things to do to cheer them up when they’re down…. you know they try to bring us up when we’re down!

When her (Tito’s Vodka) leash is approached, Stella goes apeshit!  She jumps 4 feet in the air, and starts doing 360′s.  It’s fairly entertaining.  She was happy to get out of the house.

I took her for a small jog, and then in the car, and to meet Bentley.  The 2 of them have been wagging their tail all day long!