Earlier this week, after dinner, I cracked open a beer and started thinking backwards…
It was a weekday afternoon in early 2010. I think it was February. Actually, I know it was February, because it was just a week before our family trip to Hawaii.
I felt like writing something, something different for someone other than myself. In one of those moments that begin without a second thought and end up being so monumentally important, I asked Twitter.
“Who wants content? I’m in the mood to write.” I tweeted.
Or something along those lines.
Grant replied. His site would love content, he said. I asked for his email, he provided it. I sent him a note with several ideas for a guest post, he picked one: A book review. On a book I somehow had a copy of pre-release.
It was a Tuesday, if I remember correctly. Our flight to the Aloha state left Friday. Mega early Friday.
The book that he wanted me to review that I had committed to sharing with his audience on his website? I hadn’t even read it.
So I read it. I read through Wednesday and into Thursday. I remember pushing through to finish it and then realizing with a forehead slap that I had promised a video book review. Video. Meaning me talking to a camera. Me, the self-employed one who hadn’t yet showered that day or said hello to my mascara wand.
So I showered. And said hello to my mascara wand. And recorded the video and sent it off to Grant and then decided it was about time I started packing for our 11 days in paradise.
A month later, I met Grant with a bundle of mutual online acquaintances at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas.
Two months later, four of us from that group started meeting online to discuss details about a possible collaborative project.
A month after that we all traveled to Ohio to spend the weekend hashing out the details of said project. I met Carrie, Grant’s wife, on that trip. She loved books. She was really nice. We fell in love.
Okay not really. But you know what I mean.
That was June. In August, Grant and Carrie jumped into Vemma, joining my business, and started setting recruitment records within a matter of days.
In October, Hubz and I traveled together to Ohio and stayed at Grant and Carrie’s country cottage and played the newlywed game and laughed a lot.
In November, Grant stopped by Kansas City to teach us the real estate ropes. We’re now professional real estate rodeoers because of him. (Sort of.)
A week after he returned home, we sent a giant water gun in a giant box to their eldest son, Eli, for his birthday. They recorded a video thank you note with the whole family using it.
In February, we all spent a long weekend eating our way through Las Vegas and soaking up Vemma inspiration at the annual convention.
In April, Grant, Carrie, and both their boys spent their spring break visiting Kansas City and helping me and Hubz ring in our thirtieth birthdays. We laughed a lot. (We did not play the newlywed game.)
Several more meetings occurred, them here and us there, but I can’t remember all of them. There were Skype conversations and Gmail instant messages and texts and hey I saw this hilarious bookshelf photo on Pinterest and thought it would make you smile.
And then January rolled around and Babygirl was on her way and I started waddling and Grant started shooting his first feature film. His dream.
And then he successfully put a team together and successfully traveled the country shooting hours and hours and hours of footage and successfully booked an award-winning editing team to help complete the project.
And then, in late April, he sent me and my husband an email inquiring if we would be open to investing in his movie.
So we asked a few questions and received interesting answers and now we’re listed as co-producers of an inspiring and eye-opening documentary about complacency and breaking the status quo.
We will be in the internet movie database. I think.
Us! In the IMDB! What a riot.
And we have a crazy, huge investment that is currently a source of great returns and could possibly become a source of ridiculous returns.
And we helped a friend make his dream come true.
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Two years ago I gave my word to someone I barely knew on Twitter that I would submit a video book review as a guest post for his blog only two days before a big vacation for a book I hadn’t yet read.
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The benefits of networking, I mean, my goodness. You can’t make up this kind of stuff.
Doesn’t get any better,
AS
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I'm an author, marketer, and mommy who loves to read, write, and drink coffee. My husband and I live in suburban Kansas City with our two little girls. This site chronicles my world. Thanks for stopping by!
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