Stephen Marley - Norfolk, VA

This past weekend Alicia and I went to The NorVa to see Stephen Marley play an acoustic version of his Mind Control album. Then this morning, while working at my desk, "Three Little Birds" arrived outside my window and gave me the inspiration to write this blog post.

First, let me share with you a few details of the vibe and the show. Surprisingly, The NorVa was only half full to see this FIVE TIME Grammy Award Winning Artist and son of the late, great Bob Marley.

Out of all of Bob Marley's children, to me, Stephen is the one who resembles his father the most, from his voice to his demeanor.

It was truly a pleasure seeing him play and if you weren't there - YOU MISSED IT! And even though, the NorVa wasn't filled to capacity, the folks who were there gave him a warm, welcoming applause.

Stephen stayed true to his father's 'One Love' philosophy by being humble and appreciative in spite of the less than sold-out crowd. At one point, he had the crowd chanting "UNITY" and said "Unity is MUST...you see" before transitioning into Redemption Song.

But back to why I decided to write this post. Stephen sang a rendition of his fathers song, 'Three Little Birds'.

Well let me take that back...the crowd actually sang the entire song for him, he just added a few "YEAHS" and a some smiles...while the crowd sang in perfect unison:

"Three little birds upon my doorstep...Singing sweet songs of melodies...Pure and pure...Saying this is my message to you...Don't worry about a thing...Every little thing is going to be alright..."

Who doesn't want to think everything is going to be alright?? Especially in the current economic climate.  I sure do! I also know that more often than not, the difference between feeling alright and not feeling alright, are just a few simple thoughts in our heads.

I have a bird feeder attached to a window outside of my office. Some say it may be a distraction from work, and they're probably right,  but I enjoy the occasional break I get when a cardinal or a blue jay pays me a visit. It breaks the day up a bit and gives me a quick chance to reflect.

This morning I had Three Little Birds visit me, I recorded a short video of them.

Seeing them outside my window got me thinking about the show Friday night and how although the show wasn't sold out, Stephen made the best of it and even seemed grateful to play for the smaller than average crowd.

After the show was over Stephen could have easily gotten on his bus and headed off to the next town but he took a few extra HOURS out his time to show his appreciation for those who came to see him. I've seen a lot of concerts and most musicians are not as gracious as Stephen. It really shows a lot of character on his part to invite his fans back on his bus for autographs and pictures.

Witnessing his act of graciousness lead me to thinking about the things I'm most grateful for...the people in my life (family, friends, business associates), the material things I've worked hard to obtain and the freedom I've created for myself.

Have you heard the old adage?

"Take time to smell the roses."

Who hasn't, right?

It doesn't matter what stage of life you may find yourself in or what place in the world you may be, you can find something to appreciate about your life!

Try to use something you experience from time to time and allow it to serve as a reminder for you to have a positive thought or an uplifting feeling. It can be something as little as a visit from a bird. Every time I see a cardinal or bluejay...I can't help not to stop and think,

"Oh yeah, life is good. I have a lot of things to be grateful about!" SMILE

Plus, there's a great marketing lesson here. By giving a little extra of yourself from time to time, you'll build a deeper relationship with your customer base, likely having them purchasing from you in the future.  After all...you must give to receive.

Stay Stoked!

P.S. Here is a video someone recorded of his opening song - "Rainbow Country" Enjoy!

For those of you who don't know, I'm a HUGE Washington Capitals fan!   My love affair with hockey began in 1984 when when my Uncle Ken & Aunt Linda took me to see my first Caps game.  (BTW- THANK YOU Linda & Ken!  Love ya!)

Well, I can't recall exactly who they were playing against that night, I think they were playing the Sabers or the Islanders, it's a little fuzzy. But anyway...

I remember my Uncle Ken ushering me down to ice level for the Caps pre-game skate so that I could experience, first hand, what hockey was all about.  I remember standing there in awe, mesmerized by these giant hockey players who were darting around the rink on tiny blades of steel, at speeds faster than I thought was ever possible for a human to reach without the help of an engine.

Scott Stevens dumped a bucket full of pucks onto the ice and began dishing them out, one puck at a time, to every Caps player who then darted down the center of the ice for a breakaway shot on the goalie.

I'll never forget the shiver that went down my spine when that first shot whizzed over the goalie, Al Jensen's shoulder, hitting the plexi-glass just a few feet from my face.    Half startled from what sounded like a gun being fired off next to me and thinking the puck was going to blast through the glass...

That very moment, I told myself... "I'm going to be a Goalie one day!"

Not exactly sure why I decided this??  Maybe it's because I felt fearless or maybe because my short-lived life flashed in front of my eyes in a split second, after seeing that first puck come straight towards my head, at that moment I became determined to prove, not only to myself but also to my Uncle Ken, "That puck doesn't scare me!"

Probably it was the later...

Most people told me I was crazy when I shared with them my new found dream to play ice hockey and be a goaltender, nonetheless.  I'll admit, I'm a little crazy but what goalie isn't???

Despite all the naysayers telling me I'd never make it, I pursued my dream of one day playing hockey as a professional.   They all told me I wasn't fast enough, I wasn't big enough, I wasn't going to make it and yada yada. They were probably right AND I'm glad I never listen to any of them!  HA!

I guess in the same determined way I wanted to prove to myself, I really wasn't scared of a hockey puck being shot 100mph+ at me, I was determined to prove the naysayers wrong.

To make a long story short, I eventually ended up becoming a backup goalie for the Hampton Roads Admirals and the Toledo Storm in the E.C.H.L.  I'm glad I was a little hard-headed back then, for the obvious reasons, if just alone for the sake of my knogan.  I lost count of how many pucks I've taken to the head but that's besides the point.  The point being:  "You just never know what'll happen if you just follow your dreams and block out the naysayers!"

Which brings me to another dream of mine...witnessing the Cap's win a Stanley Cup!  I must admit, I had tickets to Game 4 of the 1998 Stanley Cup, when the Capitals played the Red Wings but I passed them up because I couldn't stomach watching my team get swept in the Stanley Cup Finals of all places!

Anyway, I was surfin over to the Caps website tonight to find out how Ovi' and the Boyz are getting ready for tomorrows big game against the N.Y. Rangers, when I found this picture of Alicia and I on the homepage! www.WashingtonCapitals.com

We were at last years Game 7 when the Flyers upset the Caps in overtime and I guess someone snapped a shot of Alicia & I celebrating a goal being scored.

Here are a few I snapped myself.  Do you recognize anyone?

Being a goalie, I'm not really superstitious.  Well...maybe a tad.

But SHHH...  Don't tell anyone!  Just kidding, of course.  So in the spirit of this post, hopefully this picture is an omen.  You know???   Alicia and I do both have a Stanley Cup Game 7 on each of our dream boards.  Maybe we'll be able to cross another dream off  the ole' board?

I'm ready for a Beard-A-Thon!   Are you?

Curious, what are the Must-Do things on your dream board?  Post a comment and let me know what they are.

Don't just think you can...KNOW you can!!

Have you ever shared a dream with someone only to have them laugh at you or tell you that you're crazy or your idea was stupid?

Have you have ever confided with someone your vulnerabilities, only to have them reject you?

For the most part, I'm not going to waste too much of my energy trying to figure out why others have a difficult time thinking big and/or seeing the greatest potential in another person.  I don't have a great explanation of why sometimes people do this, other than life can be challenging at times.

I think Dave Pirner puts it best in the song, Creatures of Habit..."It ain't how much you take, it's how you take it."

You can either let something get you down or you can use it as motivation to succeed...it's your choice.

I'm the oldest of ten kids. Yes, you read that correctly, "TEN" kids! I have two younger sisters and seven younger brothers. I love them all.

Well, most all of them (just kidding Ken...you know I love ya too!)

Anyway, out of all of my siblings, my 'Lil' Bro Adam has faced the most challenges but has always had the best outlook on life.

The next time someone tells you can't do something or your idea is stupid, think of my 'Lil' Bro, Adam.

I'll let him tell you his own story...

Remember...

"Don't think you can, KNOW YOU CAN!"

And don't let anyone else tell you any different!

After all, if you can't see your own potential, how can anyone else?   If you have an inspiring story to share, please share it with me!  The more inspiration we have, the more our lives will become enriched.

BTW.  Inspiration usually isn't hard to find...just open your eyes and take a look around.

Feedback from the Goose Grader

OK.  I need to get this out of the way: I SUCK when it comes to editing.  I often leave out words in my writing.  Sometimes I'll even leave out a coma or worst yet, you may find a faulty parallelism from time to time in my writing, but anyway...

As you may already can tell by reading this post, I was not a star pupil in English class,  that is, if you happened to be one of the first to read this before the Goose gave me the heads up about my bad grammar in a post so I could fix it.

Not pointing any fingers BUT it's all my high school English teachers fault why I SUCK at editing!  Or maybe it's my fault for choosing the easy way out with the Cliff Notes in her class?  Who knows?

Either way, if it's my fault or hers, it really doesn't matter.  The bottom line is: who doesn't make a mistake from time to time?  I know I certainly do on rare occasions.  Take for instance this blog post: I'm sure I've already made a few.

Before I go any further, let me give you my DISCLAIMER:  Sometimes I may purposefully put errors in my posts.  Do not use any of my posts for a school essay.  If you do decide to use all or partial of any of my posts in a report or an essay, USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!  There is no guarantee my writing is perfect English and you'll get an A...maybe a B+.

Anyway, I found this plugin for your blog called Goose Grade.  It allows your readers to help you with your editing.

I'm sure you're the type of person who'd LOVE to help a guy out, like myself, with a little copy editing from time to time.  If you found an error on my blog, you would let me know?  Right?  Just as long as it doesn't take too much time for you to do so...me too.

Well then, this plugin "will help you, help me".

This is how it works, it's real simple:

1. Get a free account with GooseGrade.com (It's fast and easy to signup!  **HINT: this will generate free traffic back to your blog by having your link indexed on their site...even if you never want to give back by helping out a guy like myself)

2.  Click on this icon (where ever you may find it on my page) and an edit box will pop up :

3.  Highlight my bad grammar and click done.

It's SUPER simple!

I'll then be notified when I login into the admin settings of my blog that I have some corrections to make and then you may get something back from me as a thank you.

FYI: this plugin does not allow someone to make changes to your blog without your approval.  You have the choice to either accept, deny or ignore any suggestion.

So, the next time you're reading my blog and you find an error: show some love and let me know about it!  You never know, the law of reciprocity works in funny ways sometimes...but I'll save that topic for another post.

The Quadruple Opt-InListen, if you're like me, you want to keep on top of all the changes in your industry and how they'll have an effect on your bottom line.  If you use email to stay in touch with your customers, then you're going to want to know about the possible upcoming changes facing the Internet Marketing industry in regards to email marketing and deliverabilty.

I just got back from Yanik Silver's, Underground Online Seminar in Washington D.C. where all the who's, who of internet marketing were this past weekend.  Although, the recording of the seminar was completely prohibited, I was able to capture a great interview, outside of the seminar, of course.

And I'm glad I didn't leave the camera at home for this one!  I was able capture a candid and insider's interview of Jimmy Sweeney (www.HonestEOnline.com) interviewing Jeff Mulligan  (www.QuickieProfits.com) about the latest and upcoming standards facing the Internet Marketing community.

As I'm sure you're already aware, in this day and age it's becoming more and more difficult to keep the attention of your customer. People have so many distractions from T.V. to the Interent, to cell phones, to cell phones with Internet and the list goes on and on. This results in "Customer A.D.D."  As a result, your important email about your latest and greatest product dealing "Rock Hard Abs" or whatever you're selling is getting open less and less.

If you do any email marketing you know there's a problem when it comes to email deliverability and getting your message in front of your customers eyes.

Currently, the best way of ensuring your email gets delivered is to have your customer click on a confirmation link after they've requested something from you.  This is known as the Double-Opt-In standard.  In case you don't know what Double Opt-In is, this is the process of verifying the person you're sending email to, actually wants you to be emailing them by clicking on a confirmation link before you send any email to them.

In order to pull the Double Opt-In off, you need an autoresponder. You can use a third-party company such as AWeber, Constant Contact or IContact or you can purchase your own hosted version like Interspire (formerly Send Studio).

The Double-Opt-In standard supposedly helps cuts down the amount of spam we all receive...I'm not sure if this is really working.  But anyway...

Before you go out and sign-up for an autoreponder service or buy your own hosted version, you need to listen to what the pros are saying about the next and greatest thing when it comes to email deliverabilty.

Let's face it, the higher your deliverabilty rate is, the more money you'll make.

They say the Double Opt-In standard is being replaced by the new "Quadruple Opt-In" standard and this video gives you a sneak peak into this entirely new and innovative process. Will email companies like Aweber, iContact and Constant Contact require you to use the "Quad Opt-In"? Is Double Opt-In going to soon be obsolete? Is DNA confirmation really necessary?

Make up your own mind and be sure to read the EARNINGS DISCLAIMER because this information is dangerous!
Quadruple Opt-InQuadruple Opt-In