It’s Ben Silbermann from Pinterest.com.

Ok, so I may be a *teeny* bit biased in this opinion, as Ben grew up in the Des Moines area like yours truly, but his talk at the ThincIowa event last week was casual, honest, informative, and fascinating. For someone who self proclaims that “No one cares what we’re doing.” he sure has a fantastic story to tell.

(If you can’t see the video, click here.)

Pinterest, if you’re not familiar with it, is an online bulletin board. Ben describes it as a way to collect all the cool things you find online, share those collections with others, and in turn tell a story about who you are. (Much more about the site and its purpose in the video.)

I think it’s a pretty neat concept. Check it out, won’t ya? – Pinterest.com

Are you on Pinterest? Do you like it? Hate it? Use it regularly? Never heard of it? Let me know in the comments below.

It’s true. I am proud of this industry. I’m proud that I’m a part of it, I’m proud that it offers people the chance to take control of their life, and I’m proud that I successfully built a business that allowed me to do that very thing.

Also, I like this guy. Eric Worre. He blogs regularly and passionately about the industry, completely separate from the company with which he’s specifically involved. (I actually don’t even know what company that is. Don’t really care.) Eric’s site and his useful and inspiring posts are one of the brightest spots on the web for those involved in the industry of network marketing. Go Eric, go.

Here is why he’s proud of the industry we share:

Thanks for this, Eric. You’re one of the few out there that are not ashamed to share their true opinions for – and support of – this industry.

High-five, friend. High-five.

Your thoughts on this video? Would love to hear ‘em.

—

[If you can't see the video, click here.]

Go ahead. Be weird.

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[If you can't see the video, click here.]

Because, honestly, is this not just the cutest thing you’ve seen all day?

There are many, many reasons why, at the age of 25 without any previous business experience, I chose to the industry of network marketing. But part of explaining why I originally chose NM is elaborating on why, now 5 years later, I still choose to be a part of this industry.

That is the part of the Why I Chose Network Marketing question that I’m going to address today.

From a personal standpoint, I can answer the question quite well – it’s flexible, it has zero barriers to entry, you will succeed in direct relation to how hard and intelligently you work, and you have the ability to improve the lives of others while doing the same with your own. That’s why I’m still here. Professionally, however, I’ve never been quite able to adequately explain why NM can be so powerful, or why in this day and age it can be such a brilliant business model.

Until now.

Well, I’m actually still not able to explain it. But this guy can. His name is BK Boreyko and he’s the CEO and Founder of Vemma, the company I’m partnered with. Here’s what he has to say about why network marketing – in general, not necessarily only with Vemma – is an intelligent and impactful and opportunistic business model.

In this economy, here is why I follow this man and am building the business with Vemma that I am.

This is the answer to the, “So, in 2011, why have you stayed and why do you continue to build a network marketing business?” question that I receive quite often.

“I describe our business model as Amazon.com meets nutrition. Amazon does 26 billion in business, and they sell stuff that you can buy at Best Buy or Barnes and Noble.”

“In MLM we take the entire advertising budget and devote it to these people that are marketing our product via worth of mouth. It’s a phenomenal way of business.”

And, finally, he says:

“In this economy, you have to be receptive to looking at new ways of doing business.”

Networking or otherwise, I couldn’t agree more.

Well isn’t this just a lovely, contemplative book trailer for a Monday morning?

(If you can’t see the video, click here.)

Inspiring. Right?

And lovely. Right?

So let’s grab our TOMS shoes from the closet and add this book to our wishlists. I’ve just added it to mine.

Mmm. There’s nothing like I-was-just-introduced-to-a-new-book smell to really jumpstart your morning.

Right?

So today happened. Err, it is happening. It’s been one of those days where I woke up energized to do big things, to really move the needle, but I’m so motivated that I don’t have a focus.

You know what I mean?
You do know what I mean, right?

(Click here if you can’t see the video.)

See? The video didn’t even make focused sense! Ugh.

So, the question of the day is: how do you find your focus?

How do you force yourself to get to work when there are so many fantastic things you could be working on? How do you pick one when there are such great options?

My brain needs you. It needs you bad.

HELP!

In scatterbrainedness we trust,
Annie

I spent several hours this morning catching my breath after returning from our nine days in beautiful Minnesota lake country. I caught up on the emails, blog posts, and voicemails that I wasn’t able to quickly filter via my phone while I was away from home. In doing so, I ended up making a massive list for this afternoon. I gave it a header of Connect With: and went to town. I wrote down name after name after name.

Some of them were folks on Twitter that I hadn’t said hello to in a few weeks. Others were Vemma team members that I should have called before I left, but didn’t, and now the amount of time that had passed since I last communicated with them was setting off my Uncomfortable Alarm. A few were local friends, a few were out of town friends. Several were business contacts it was just about darn time I reminded I was thinking about them. Many were online friends that had replied to or mentioned me and I hadn’t said, Hey! Thanks!, yet.

I spent the afternoon connecting, and within a matter of a couple hours I touched several dozen people via phone, email, text, Twitter, and Facebook.

And you know what? I made more progress and sparked more awesome things in all aspects of my businesses and networking efforts in those couple hours this afternoon than I felt like I had in ages. AGES.

Logically, I know that is not the case, as I connect with people all the time. But there’s something to be said for bunching a boatload of it together in a short period of time. It creates a buzz, an energy. It builds momentum.

That momentum? It’s powerful stuff, man.

Connecting isn’t complicated. It doesn’t take a lot of work. You just have to do it.

You don’t need a business reason to call someone. You don’t need a personal reason to call someone. You just have to do it.

Do it to say hello. Or thank you.
Do it to remind them that you’re thinking about them.
Do it to let them know that you haven’t forgotten.

That’s it. Connecting. Or even better, unnecessarily connecting. As it’s never required, right? But those that do it will be so much further ahead than those that don’t.

I recorded a video over a year ago related to this topic. It’s posted below if you’d like to take a look at it.

“You cannot succeed by yourself. It’s hard to find a rich hermit.” – Jim Rohn

And on that note, if you’re reading this right now, high-five to you! Sending you much love and appreciation.

Couldn’t be here withoutcha,
Annie

———

Yesterday I talked about a talk about trying something new for 30 days.

What was that, Annie?

Sorry. Self-editing.

I promised not only to share with you what ideas I decide to implement for a fun-filled 30 days (still workin’ on it), but a friend of mine that’s working on a cool 30-day challenge of his own.

That friend is Grant Peelle. Yay, Grant!

A few weeks ago, frustrated with recent changes in his businesses and looking for a bout of inspiration and creativity, he decided to launch a personal challenge: create 30 short films in 30 days.

Grant is a filmmaker. It’s his love. His creativity. His thang.

What better way to spark – or re-spark – your creativity than by forcing yourself out of your comfort zone. Especially when you’re doing something you love.

Don’t you agree?

I thought so.

Grant posts his daily videos on his blog, http://grantpeelle.wordpress.com, and is well into Day 9 of his challenge. Stop by and say hello, will ya?

His videos are short and sweet (usually 1-2 minutes in length), always have a great soundtrack to push them along, and range in subject matter from a potential commercial for a Ford Focus

to a few hours in the life of his 4 year-old son

to a behind the scenes look at a professional recording session for a friend’s new information product.

Neat!

If you love film, creativity, or just witnessing someone accomplishing something really cool, you’ll enjoying spending a few minutes on this site.

Go Grant Go! Congrats on accomplishing almost one-third of your monthly challenge.

We’re cheering you on.

This is an incredibly lighthearted, casual video from an engineer at Google named Matt Cutts, but well worth the 3 minutes:

An extremely simple, unoriginal message – not unlike practically all personal development messages – yet thought-provoking, don’t you think?

What shall we try? What shall we do! Our options are endless.

This is gonna be fun.

Off to brainstorm 30 day challenges,
Your Geekiness

P.S. I have a friend 8 days deep into a really fun 30-day challenge of his own. Tell ya about it tomorrow…