This week holds no shortages of gratitude for me. (Photo Credit: Gabo).
Here are a couple of reasons why:
REASON #1
The Adversity University community continues to make inroads with a very active, vibrant comment section. I am seeing old as well as new subscribers, readers and visitors take time out of their busy schedules to leave value-added comments. It’s gotten to the point where some of them are now talking to each other, right here in the open! Wow! This phenomena is happening with increasing frequency and I’m very grateful for it. It is one reason I love blogging!
REASON #2
My win with the BeTheNextBestSellingAuthor.com video competition continues to attract attention from all over.
Kenyon Salo from Passion Before Paycheck became the latest person to step forward from the competition and offer congratulatory words. Last week it was Margie Remmers of Look What They Did! - Profiles in Goal Achievement.
The funny thing about Kenyon is that long before I heard from him, his video entry had already captured my attention when I was checking to see who I was up against. That’s how I knew who Margie was when she introduced herself last week via email.
Right after seeing Kenyon’s video, I was inspired to track him down because I wanted to wish him luck for the competition as well as introduce myself.
Kenyon’s heart-stopping video opens with him being interviewed about a near death experience that happened shortly after jumping off a cliff in Switzerland and crashing into the trees down in the valley. Then it cuts to the actual jump, making my heart thump! (It wasn’t my intention to make that last sentence rhyme but hey, it worked, didn’t it?).
Whereas Margie did an interview with me, Kenyon invited me to submit a story for a series he was doing over at Passion Before Paycheck. I got all excited and sent him 6 stories instead of one, telling him to pick his favorite!
Well, he liked them all so much that he decide to spin off a brand new series called “Listening to Stephen on Saturdays” with a new story every Saturday for the time being.
Wow, what an unexpected gift - thank you Keynon!
For those of you who want to see his heart-thumping video, I’ve embedded it here for your convenience (NOTE: If you are an RSS or email subscriber, please click on the title of this post to see it):
REASON #3
Thanks to Simpleology’s Bestseller Blueprint program (one of many prizes from the video competition), I continue to make daily progress towards the fulfillment of my publishing dreams. I am very grateful to have a renewed sense of focus and energy behind this exciting endeavor. Here are some things I did this week to bring me closer to it:
- created a new domain name for a separate blog/website that will be entirely focused on the book and its eventual launch
- whittled down the list of potential titles and subtitles
- begun laying the groundwork for an e-book campaign (perhaps here at Adversity University)
REASON # 4
I’m all set to go to “blogging business school” at SOBCon08 next month in Chicago where I’ll be meeting other bloggers for the first time since I began blogging in 2006. These are people I’ve developed strong online friendships over a period of many months but haven’t yet met in the flesh. I’m thankful for the opportunity to bond with them as well as learn a thing or two about building an actionable business plan for Adversity University. I plan to bring my digital camera and take a lot of photos!
Let me know if you plan to be there too - I’d love to meet you! Email me for more information about where I’m staying and my travel schedule.
REASON #5
After a few months of playing around with digital camcorders but returning them because of either poor quality (Canon Camcorder) or insufficient options (SONY Compact Camcorder), I pondered what to do next.
One day, in total frustration, I found myself staring at my very old, but fully functional and at one time expensive, analog SONY camcorder sitting on the closet shelf. Murmuring to no one in particular, I pondered aloud, “There has got to be a way to make some good use out of this thing.”
Suddenly an idea flashed through my mind: Go and visit the SONY Store and see if they have anything up there.
After arriving at the store and telling the salesman what I was looking for, he led me directly to the SONY Multi-Function DVD Recorder (VRD-MC5). I couldn’t believe my eyes when I learned this machine was designed to do exactly what I was looking for - - it transfers videos from virtually any camcorder and/or VCR directly onto a DVD!
Perfect!
I bought it and rushed back home, eager to give it a shot.
The first thing I did was to make a video with the old camcorder with the intention of posting it to Adversity University (it was a book review - more on that in another post).
But there was one problem - actually two.
After I finally figured out how to transfer the 5 minute video onto a DVD, I played it using Windows Media Player on my computer. I was delighted when it worked!
But then when I tried to upload it to YouTube, I discovered that this five minute video was absolutely HUGE. It was a gigantic 345MB! I was shocked because I thought the SONY machine was also designed to compress videos into smaller, manageable sizes.
Not only do I have to figure out how to compress the file, but I also need to covert the file format (i.e. VOB - what the heck is that?!?) to something that’s compatible with commonly used editing software tools like Windows Movie Maker.
While I’m exceedingly grateful to squeeze every last ounce of life from the old camcorder and found a way to transfer 8 mm tapes onto a DVD, I now need to find a software that will compress the videos in a way that they can be uploaded to YouTube, not to mention converting the files to a common media format.
Anyone out there who can recommend a software for this? Please speak up and leave a comment with your suggestions and/or ideas. I’d appreciate it!
REASON # 6
Finally, but not least, I am grateful to be teaming up with Jim Cermak of Cermak Marketing. I met him at a networking event a couple months ago and we decided to meet again for coffee. One thing led to another and we’re now in the process of collaborating on a seminar to take place in May.
Why am I grateful for this?
Because I’m tired of being a one-man operation and doing everything myself. We human beings need to be around others in a collaborative effort. Not only is it true that two heads are better than one (remember Men with Pens?) but something powerful takes place when you partner up with someone who share similar values, philosophies and dreams. It’s more fun to work with someone instead of doing it all by yourself.
So I thank God for bringing me person like Jim who I have absolutely no trouble communicating with and even more importantly, who also believes in the power of having faith in God, ourselves and each other.
As soon as we put together the final details of this seminar, I will announce it here for those of you who are local subscribers and/or visitors.
Food for thought: What are you grateful for this week? Remember, the more we focus on what we’re grateful for, the more we attract it into our lives.
This post (see link below) was written and copyrighted by Stephen J. Hopson at: Adversity University Blog
End of the Week Gratitude Theme #22
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