Twitter is the World�s Best Real-Time Tool

May 17, 2010

There was a time not so long ago when we were dependent on the major media outlets for all of our news and information. Those days are over. For good. Twitter is the world’s best real-time tool. Imagine a cocktail party where you could listen in on any conversation on any topic that you wanted. That’s just one of the many uses of Twitter. I call Twitter global text messaging. You can send a tweet (a 140 character maximum message on Twitter) to an individual or you can send it out to the world, kind of.

Now, let me say up front that Twitter used effectively is one of the most valuable tools you will ever use and used ineffectively it’s one of the worst spam tools ever invented. Obviously, I’m suggesting that you use it effectively. My MO is that it’s all about relationships. Using Twitter correctly leads to stronger relationships with friends, family, networking partners, clients, prospects and just about anyone else you’d like to connect with.

Prior to Social Media, we had limited options regarding ways to identify people that we saw value in connecting with. Twitter is like a global Yellow Pages. As an example, if I wanted to figure out what CFO’s in London are talking about, I could very easily do so. I could go to sites like Twellow and select CFO’s from a huge number of occupations and then select London. This search would show me the people who have self-identified themselves as CFO’s in the London area. On Twitter, you “follow” people and people follow you. I would then follow some of these CFO’s and be kept aware of their tweets whenever I log into my Twitter account or choose to have their tweets sent to my cell phone.

If you think about this example for a minute you come to realize that you can do the same thing with any occupation, competitor, hobby, sport, interest, keyword…anything. My “Twitter is the world’s best real-time tool” comment should be making more sense now. Talk about keeping your finger on the pulse of whatever or whoever you have an interest in. There has never been a tool like this before. There are some folks who still think that Twitter is just about 15 year olds talking about what they had for lunch. And yes, if you’d like to know that you’ll be able to keep tabs on teenagers eating habits, go for it. I’m suggesting that you be more strategic about who you follow. I will dig into this in greater detail in future posts. In the meantime, tweet away.

Technology Skills AND People Skills in Social Media

May 14, 2010

Successfully using Social Media to grow your business, identify clients and business partners and many other business outcomes relies less on being a computer geek and more on effective people skills. Is it just me or does it seem that everybody and his brother is a so-called “Social Media Expert”? I find that it’s kind of like being a lady- if you have to tell people that you are, maybe you’re not. I recently heard a very highly respected Social Media authority (based on credibility and not self-professed) say “those who call themselves gurus only do so because they can’t spell charlatan”. I got a chuckle out of that.

Just because someone knows all the bells and whistles regarding Social Media, that in no way indicates that they are someone who knows how to build and sustain relationships. The tools of Social Media are sites, applications, and other computer stuff. I think that the real “tools” of Social Media are the same “tools” of Social Skills. And unless you’re Tom Hanks living on an island with a volleyball named Wilson, Social Skills may be a very, very important life skill. Ironically, very few people spend anywhere near the time studying them that they do planning a vacation.

Back in the 1930’s a gentleman named Dale Carnegie wrote a book called “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. It’s a classic. In every one of my talks I ask the audience how many people have read this book and almost everyone puts their hand up. That’s all well and good, but books like HTWFAIP shouldn’t be read. Menus and traffic signs should be read. Books like HTWFAIP should be studied. Highlighted and notes written in the margin studied. The principles in this book are timeless.

Every chapter is summarized in one sentence. The first three chapters are called “Fundamental Techniques in Handling People” and they’re summarized as:

1) Don’t criticize, condemn or complain

2) Give honest and sincere appreciation

3) Arouse in the other person an eager want

As we are communicating and connecting on Social Media platforms it will serve us well to remember these three points. Remember that it’s not about the phone, it’s about the conversation. People do business with and refer business to people they like, know and trust. This isn’t a function of how many connections they have on LinkedIn, how many friends they have on Facebook or how many followers they have on Twitter. It has everything to do with feeling appreciated in their relationships. Way before the computer was invented people built relationships. Only the tools have changed, people haven’t. Don’t forget your humanness as you connect with the world.

LinkedIn Is a Database Impersonating a Social Media Platform

May 13, 2010

LinkedIn is the world’s best online business networking platform with over 65,000,000 professionals using it and the average user being 41 years old and earning $109,000 per year. Not a bad demographic for doing business with. As the world is getting smaller, the number of professionals using LinkedIn is getting bigger. Unlike a number of other networking sites, this is not an electronic bathroom wall. Professionals who use LinkedIn most effectively realize that LinkedIn is a Social Media platform but in reality it’s really a database. It is a database in the most literal meaning of the word. You can strategically search through LinkedIn and identify people and organizations that you want to sell to, create alliances with, hire, refer business to, network with, and add value to as a professional.

One of the most attractive features of LinkedIn is the merging of the users’ contacts. We’re all familiar with the concept of six degrees of separation. I always say that here in Colorado Springs its 1.5 degrees of separation. LinkedIn makes visible what currently exists but was previously invisible. Translation: you are already connected to many, many people through mutual connections that you’re unaware of. LinkedIn makes this visible.

In regards to using LinkedIn as a business development or lead generation tool, I’m not saying that the days of smiling and dialing, getting past the gatekeeper, building rapport and oh my, did you catch that fish on the wall are going to go away 100%. But if you can gain access to someone through a mutual connection, I’d take that every day, all day and twice on Tuesday. LinkedIn makes visible the hidden connections that people have but were unaware of. All things being equal, people do business with and refer business to people they like, know and trust. Using LinkedIn effectively increases the “like, know, trust factor” very quickly.

If you’re not using LinkedIn, you’re leaving a lot of money on the table. I can pretty much guarantee you that your competitors are. People are busy and if they can look at your LinkedIn profile and determine that you are credible and that you represent yourself and your organization well, that saves the person a lot of time in doing their due diligence. The reverse is also true. You can do market research, monitor the competition, and find viable business rapidly.

If we’re not already connected as 1^st Tier Connections on LinkedIn, feel free to send me an invitation to connect at www.linkedin.com/in/kevinknebl. Because I have over 16,000,000 LinkedIn connections, when I accept your invitation request over 2,000,000 people will be added to your connections at the speed of light…literally. As you use LinkedIn more and more, you’ll realize that this is the equivalent of fishing in a heavily stocked lake versus fishing in an empty pond. Happy fishing!

It’s All About Relationships, Sweetie!

May 10, 2010

Here’s the paradox: many people still think that Social Media is about technology. No, it’s all about relationships, sweetie. The “sweetie” comes from the kiss acronym, “keep it simple sweetie”. Way before anyone ever invented a computer, people looked each other in the eye and build relationships. If all the power in the grid went out tomorrow and no one could get online, people would still look each other in the eye and build relationships.

As my friend, Bob Burg, says, “All things being equal, people do business with and refer business to people they like, know and trust”. This is no different whether online or offline. One of the great outcomes of the effective use of Social Media is that it increases the “like, know, trust factor” before you even have your first personal interaction with another person. This is a wonderful way to differentiate yourself in the marketplace and start a long-term mutually beneficial relationship with your customers, clients, strategic alliances and networking partners.

Google is so 20^th century. We’ve already entered the second decade of the 21^st century. Of course, people can check you and your company out on Google, but more and more people are figuring out that they can do incredible due diligence and market research on sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. This is a huge opportunity for the person or company that understands the power of Social Media.

Remember that business is all about relationships whether you are in a commodity business or deliver a high ticket professional services offering. Again, all things being equal, people do business with and refer business to people (and companies) they like, know and trust. In a more and more over caffeinated, hyper-competitive, 24/7/365, Crackberry world, relationships are the key differentiator.

As kum-bah-yah and group hug as this may sound, savvy businesses and individuals are figuring out that developing sincere and authentic relationships with their business partners is the key to long-term success. Spend the time locating the self-identified people and companies that you would like to do business with and invest the time in developing relationships with them. And always remember that what we do speaks so loud that what we say, others often cannot hear. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

What is Social Media, Really?

April 13, 2010

Social Media is the fastest growing phenomenon to hit personal relationships and the business world since the rise of the internet. There are many definitions regarding SM, and the one that I prefer is “Social Media is the use of technology combined with social interaction to create or co-create value.” In a way, the definition doesn’t really matter nearly as much as the application and changing role of building and sustaining relationships and marketing in a social media world.

Social Media is many things and one of the most effective uses of SM is as a company suggestion box. Good, bad or indifferent, people are talking about companies and more and more companies are using SM tools to tap into the conversations. Failure to listen will only be taken as evidence that the company doesn’t care. Customers now have the ability to respond to messages and to discuss their opinions among themselves. They do this whether companies invite them to do so or not, so it is incumbent upon businesses to become involved in these conversations.

By engaging prospective customers in active dialogue, companies can showcase their expertise and domain knowledge and generate buzz around their products and services while eliciting feedback as well as collaboration from product evangelists. “Conversation Marketing” means creating a dialog with customers in which useful information is exchanged so that both parties benefit from the relationship. As trust builds, customers develop loyalty that makes them long-term partners, leading to a more lasting relationship.

Social Media is at its most basic sense, a shift in how people discover, read, and share news and information and content. It’s a fusion of sociology and technology, transforming monologue (one to many) into dialogue (many to many). The first ten years of the internet were pretty much the “read only” years and over the last few years we have entered the “read//write” era. SM is the democratization of content and the understanding of the role people play in the process of not only reading and disseminating information, but also how they share and create content for others to participate.

All things being equal, people do business with and refer business to people they like, know and trust. This is as true as gravity and while technology will always change, people don’t change much. Regardless of country, gender, or other differences, people will always do business with people and companies that they like, know and trust. Many companies are learning how to use SM as a strategic tool to increase their “like, know, trust” factor and not be seen as corporate monoliths of the past.

ROI has been known as Return on Investment for many years in business. In a more and more hyper competitive, over-caffeinated, Blackberry obsessed world, ROI as it relates to Social Media means “Risk of Inactivity”. SM is affecting every industry and everyone has pretty much figured out that SM is not a pet rock, mood ring or hula hoop. Social Media is shifting industries and there are many emerging companies that are figuring out how to level the playing field with the big boys without having the multi-million dollar advertising budgets. It’s very telling that for the first time in over 20 years, Pepsi chose not to spend one dollar on Super Bowl advertising, instead taking the entire Super Bowl budget and applying it to their SM campaigns.

If Facebook were a country, it would be the third largest country behind China and India and right before the USA at over 450,000,000 members. There are over 1,000,000 new Facebook accounts being opened every day and the number is accelerating. Facebook is very social in nature, but the business applications of Facebook are growing quickly. The fastest growing demographic on Facebook is women over the age of 54. Facebook can also pretty much be considered the world’s largest high school reunion.

LinkedIn is the largest business networking platform in the world with over 60,000,000 members. The average LinkedIn member is 42 years old and earns $109,000 a year. This is obviously a very desirable demographic for many business purposes. LinkedIn effectively merges our Rolodexes and makes visible the connections that we always had, but were previously invisible. Large numbers of businesses are figuring out how to leverage this huge online network for business development, joint venture, strategic alliance and recruiting purposes.

Twitter is a form of real-time global text messaging. Once thought of as just teenagers talking about what they had for lunch and who’s cute, Twitter has become a very powerful business and research tool. Through the effective use of Twitter companies are able to identify potential clients and Centers of Influence regarding their products and services. Some businesses have been able to quadruple their revenues in a year by strategically using Twitter as a communication tool with their customers and clients.

Embracing change is the only sure success strategy in a business world that is evolving faster than we have ever known. Few rules- only risks and opportunities and emerging principles are swirling in cyberspace. Complex patterns of governance are already emerging, driven by a set of shared values that aren’t codified but just understood. As each voice is added, the community gets stronger. Many experts predict that the internet will become the world’s largest advertising medium within the next two years. It took television 40 years to reach 2/3^rdof all US homes. The internet has gone from infancy to market dominance in 17 years.

While the technology is amazing, the irony is that the primary skills you need to succeed in SM are the same skills that everyone is familiar with. They’re the skills that are essential to a healthy personal life: the ability to talk to and have meaningful relationships with other human beings. When technology is leveraged to facilitate and enhance social interaction, a great deal of value can be created. Use these new tools properly and they’ll prove to be invaluable in your effort to strengthen existing personal and business relationships.

Kev

February 2010 From Kevin Knebl

April 13, 2010

2/14/09

Hello again to my friends, family, colleagues, and clients. Many of you know me personally as coaching clients, networking or through one of my speaking engagements related to online and offline networking, Social Media, LinkedIn training, or personal development; and some of you may know me by LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, email or telephone. Welcome to everyone that’s new to this distribution list.

There are a lot of very smart and interesting people that I am fortunate to network with. We share books, movies, music and ideas that stimulate us. I’m always interested to learn what other people that I respect are reading, watching and listening to. This is my monthly newsletter with books I’ve recently read, movies seen, music devoured, ideas and other things that may be of interest to you. I focus on topics related to networking, Social Media and inspiration, but you never know what you’ll find here. If you find this interesting and would like to pass it on, please feel free to do so. If you’d like to be removed from this list just let me know. If someone forwarded this newsletter to you and you would like to be added to this distribution list or if you’d like to view previous newsletters (they’re all in the Notes section of my Facebook profile), please email me and let me know. Thank you for all the great feedback on this newsletter. I enjoy responding to your comments and am pleased to say that this newsletter goes out to many thousands of readers in over 40 countries.

I use LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/kevinknebl) for business networking, Facebook (http://facebook.com/kevinknebl) for social networking, and Twitter (http://twitter.com/kevinknebl) for instant global messaging. Through LinkedIn, I have been able to refer a tremendous amount of business and connect many people for business and social purposes. If we are not already connected on LinkedIn, please contact me to connect and if I’m able to refer business your way, I’ll be happy to do so. Please also consider connecting to me through Facebook and Twitter as they are a fantastic way to keep up to date with your friends all over the globe (and a lot of fun).

I apologize that I haven’t sent out a newsletter since August. I run at Mach 5 with my receding hairline on fire pretty much all the time, but the last 6 months have been at least Mach 9 and I should be bald pretty soon. I’ve recently presented talks in Texas, Las Vegas and many, many other places. I am having a ball and I am trying to keep sane so thanks for all of your kind thoughts, words and actions. I love you all!

December in Colorado is gorgeous! The leaves have fallen, some days are 65 degrees and some days it snows. The mountains are white and the holiday lights are going up. Can you believe that we’re winding down 2009 already? Jeez……

I hope that your year is going well and that you're taking the time to enjoy everyday. Remember…“Life is short. Forgive quickly. Kiss slowly.”

UPCOMING PUBLIC TALKS AND TRAININGS:

I speak constantly and while most of my speaking engagements and trainings are private presentations for companies, conventions, trade shows, direct sales companies, non-profits and other organizations, there are some talks and trainings that are open to the public. Here are a few in February:

2/15 6:00-7:30 PM MT
Knebl Communications Basic to Advanced LinkedIn Training Webinar
LinkedIn is a tremendously fast growing Social Networking platform that when used effectively can help you in many ways. With over 50,000,000 people using this communication channel and more people getting connected daily, this is not a trend that you can afford to ignore.This exciting webinar will teach you:
•How to create robust profiles that showcase you and your business
•How to identify and connect with prospective networking and business partners
•Methods of communicating with large numbers of people that result in greater visibility for you and your business
•How to establish your credibility and add value to your network
•The art of building relationships that lead to long-term success.

At the end of the day, long-term business success has always been and always will be about relationships. Whether online or offline, people are the same, only the technology changes. This exciting webinar will equip you with an understanding of the strategies and methodologies used to leverage this amazing business tool!
Registration and more details are located at www.kevinknebl.com

2/16 6:00-8:00 PM MT
Knebl Communications Basic to Advanced LinkedIn Training Class
LinkedIn is a tremendously fast growing Social Networking platform that when used effectively can help you in many ways. With over 50,000,000 people using this communication channel and more people getting connected daily, this is not a trend that you can afford to ignore.This exciting live class will teach you:
•How to create robust profiles that showcase you and your business
•How to identify and connect with prospective networking and business partners
•Methods of communicating with large numbers of people that result in greater visibility for you and your business
•How to establish your credibility and add value to your network
•The art of building relationships that lead to long term success.

At the end of the day, long-term business success has always been and always will be about relationships. Whether online or offline, people are the same, only the technology changes. This exciting live class will equip you with an understanding of the strategies and methodologies used to leverage this amazing business tool!
Registration and more details are located at www.kevinknebl.com

A BOOK TO PUT ON YOUR MUST READ LIST

The Power of Less -Leo Babauta
The world continues to accelarate at a faster and faster pace and its easy to feel that we’re falling behind with all the responsibilities and opportunities that we are faced with every day. Leo has written a great book on focusing and finding calm in the chaos. He is a big proponent of simplicity and simplicity boils down to two steps:
1. Identify the essential.
2. Eliminate the rest.
It’ll make you much happier, less stressed and perhaps surprisingly, more productive.

Most of us are trying to increase the volume of the projects that we are working on and the problem with constantly trying to increase volume is that it doesn’t always produce the best results. Doing more things means you’re likey to do a lot of unimportant things, and you’ll probably become overworked and stressed at the same time.

Here are two principles of simple productivty:
1. By setting limitations, we must choose the essential. So in everything you do, learn to set limitations.
2. By choosing the essential, we create great impact with minimal resources. Always choose the essential to maximize your time and energy.

Most of us have read many books on time management and personal productivity and I’m sure that I’m not the only person that has sought to memorize methods and checklists but at the end of the day, these to-do lists add to the feeling of overwhelm. Babauta’s book is a fast read and a very simple presentation on cutting through the clutter and finding a zen-like sense of peace in this busy world.
www.thepowerofless.com

A MOVIE TO PUT ON YOUR MUST SEE LIST

Polly’s GlobalWalk
I year or so ago I was at a networking event in Denver and I met an interesting lady. Compared to most of the business people that I met at that event, she was quiet and very low key about what she does for a living.

Polly was the first woman to walk around the world. She walked 14,124 miles through 22 countries over five years and raised over $250,000 for breast cancer. This film is a documentary of her amazing walk. It was filmed in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, England, Scotland, the USA among other places.

I was in my local library recently and I came across her movie and Karin and I loved it. It’s a human interest story full of grit, courage and determination. It entertains, enlightens and inspires and it’s message is clear: you can accomplish anything if you take one step at a time. She’s a motivational speaker that really walks her talk. Alright, that was an easy one.

You will love this film. What a great story!
www.pollysglobalwalk.com

A GREAT CAUSE YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT

Owie Bow Wowie
A few months ago I met a great lady. Her name is Gina Gippner-Woods and man does she have a big heart.

Each year in the United States, over 20 million children are diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. Forty-two percent of these children have no family or friends to visit or comfort them. This is where OwieBowWowie comes in. OwieBow Wowie and Friends Foundation is a volunteer service organization whose volunteer team provides goods in the form of gifts of comfort to children who are hospitalized with a life-threatening medical condition who are older than 3 years of age and are in need of a friend. OBWF finds donors to purchase an OwieBowWowie, and each donation is given to children admitted into Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

OwieBowWowie is an adorable 14" hospital-approved plush stuffed puppy that brings hospitalized children comfort at a time when they are scared, hurting or lonely for a friend to simply be there with them.

For years, Gina has run this program all by herself including creating the plush dog dolls. Her organization is growing and she is appreciative of any help that people provide. This woman’s story and compassion inspire me and I’m proud to call her a friend.
www.owiebowwowie.net

OUTLAW PETE
This is a great song from Bruce Sprinsgsteen’s most recent CD, Working On A Dream. The song is anthem-like and a great story. A few months ago, my daughter, Anja, and I were driving on a beautiful Fall day through the Rockies and enjoying our drive together through the American Alps and we must have sang this song together at the top of our lungs at least 10 times. Bruce is an American original and of course, he is from Joizy. Crank it up!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bjzjPHwoJw&feature=related

YOU’RE ONLY AS OLD/YOUNG AS YOU FEEL
Here’s a cool clip of a 29 year old man and a 92 year old woman dancing. I don’t know if dancing keeps you young, but what do you have to lose? Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msfbNVG2vFA

GOD IS GREAT, BEER IS GOOD, PEOPLE ARE CRAZY
Although if I were ever on trial for being a country music lover, I’d walk scot free, I really like this song. When you want to hear a good story, listen to country music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7xkqkveCqo

WHERE THE HELL IS MATT?
What an amazing clip. I want this Matt’s job. He REALLY likes to dance. Maybe he knows Polly…..?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY

PILOBOLUS
Talent comes in many forms. I have a hard time just making a silouette of a bird. Amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPERVDVHAr4

CUDDLY TIGERS AND THEIR FRIENDS
What an amazing clip. I just wouldn’t want to have to change the kitty litter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6NGXrPbq8g

RHYTHMICS IS NOT EASY
These ladies are incredible and you can’t convince me that they aren’t descendents of Gumby.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Viu7U8_IhD4

SOME GREAT QUOTES

“Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it.” Salvador Dali

“The future depends on what we do in the present.” Gandhi

“The maxims of men disclose their hearts.” French proverb

“When you’re in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, “Damn, that was fun.” Unknown

“After the game, the king and the pawn go into the same box.” Italian proverb

“The best way to prepare for life is to begin to live.” Elbert Hubberd

“A woman knows all about her children. She knows about dentist appointments, soccer games, romances, best friends, location of friend's houses, favorite foods, secret fears and hopes and dreams. A man is vaguely aware of some short people living in the house." Unknown

“As I grow to understand life less and less, I learn to love it more and more.” Jules Renard

“If you're going to make every game a matter of life or death, you're going to have a lot of problems. For one thing, you'll be dead a lot." Dean Smith

“Try to be happy in this present moment, and put not off being so to a time to come – as though that time should be of another make from this which has already come and is ours.” Thomas Fuller

“Not all chemicals are bad. Without hydrogen or oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer." Dave Barry

If you are interested in online and offline networking, Social Media, LinkedIn training, coaching or personal development, please visit my website at www.kevinknebl.com for upcoming talks, trainings, webinars, coaching and information about booking me for an event. I speak and train and coach constantly and am always eager to deliver talks and trainings and coaching that provides immediate, measurable impact to you, your employees, company or organization.

As always, if you’d like to reach me, the easiest and fastest way is either by email at kevin@kevinknebl.com or mobile phone at 719-650-7659 719-650-7659.

To your success,
Kev

August 2009 From Kevin Knebl

April 13, 2010

8/1/09

Hello again to my friends, family, colleagues, and clients. Many of you know me personally through networking or through one of my speaking engagements related online and offline networking, Social Media, LinkedIn training, or personal development; and some of you may know me by LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, email or telephone. Welcome to everyone that’s new to this distribution list.

There are a lot of very smart and interesting people that I am fortunate to network with. We share books, movies, music and ideas that stimulate us. I’m always interested to learn what other people that I respect are reading, watching and listening to. This is my monthly newsletter with books I’ve recently read, movies seen, music devoured, ideas and other things that may be of interest to you. I focus on topics related to networking, Social Media and inspiration, but you never know what you’ll find here. If you find this interesting and would like to pass it on, please feel free to do so. If you’d like to be removed from this list just let me know. If someone forwarded this newsletter to you and you would like to be added to this distribution list or if you’d like to view previous newsletters, please email me and let me know. Thank you for all the great feedback on this newsletter. I enjoy responding to your comments and am pleased to say that this newsletter goes out to many thousands of readers in over 40 countries.

August in Colorado is a beautiful time of year. The days are hot and the nights are cool. We’ve had a lot of rain this Spring and Summer and everything its the greenest I’ve ever seen it for this time of year. Evryone is running around doing their summer activities and there’s a lot of golfing, fishing, hiking, camping and other fun activities happening here in the Mile High State. If you’re in the area, drop by and we’ll throw a burger on the grill for you!

I hope that your year is going well and that you're taking the time to enjoy everyday. Remember…“Life is short. Forgive quickly. Kiss slowly.”

UPCOMING PUBLIC SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

I speak constantly and while most of my talks are private engagements for companies, conventions, trade shows, direct sales companies, non-profits and organizations, there are some talks that are open to the public. Here are a few:

8/11/09 Colorado Springs, CO
“THINK BIG!”
The Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce and Express Employment Professionals are partnering to deliver a full day of training related to issues important to business owners, HR managers and other professionals. I will be speaking on the effective uses of Social Media in small to mid-size businesses. This will be a tremendous day of information! http://coloradospringscococ.weblinkconnect.com/cwt/External/WCPages/WCEvents/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=629

8/20/09 Colorado Springs, CO
“WHAT THE HECK IS TWITTER?”
Pikes Peak Marketing Forum
Colorado Springs Country Club
This is a talk on what Twitter is and how small business people can leverage it to grow their businesses. As fast as Facebook and LinkedIn are growing, Twitter is growing even faster. Huge business opportunities!
http://www.evite.com/pages/invite/viewInvite.jsp?inviteId=LBYFAIFBQKDZQGXTRGNT&li=iq&src=email&trk=aei6

8/20/09 Denver, CO
“UTILIZING SOCIAL MEDIA FOR GROWING YOUR BUSINESS”
Rocky Mountain Region Promotional Products Association
This will be a 90 minute program explaining what Social Media is and the varied applications for small business owners in showcasing their expertise, raising their visibility, identifying opportunities and growing their businesses.
http://www.ppa.org/Legacy/Tradeshows/details-event.asp?eventid=1941

8/29/09 Denver, CO
“DENVER’S 1st ANNUAL NETWORKING GET-TOGETHER”
The Holiday Inn Select-Cherry Creek 11:00 AM-5:00 PM
Come join us for an afternoon of fun and good food while learning about key insights into the power of online and offline networking and motivation plus how to deal with unexpected change, challenge and adversity, as presented by myself and Mark McIntosh. Mark has a television show in Denver called “Colorado & Company” and is also the motivational speaker, “The Comeback Coach” (www.heycomebackcoach.com) Mark and I have shared stages before and he rocks!
As we are expecting over 300 people to be in attendance, we must accept reservations on a first-come first-served basis so get your requests in early!
For more information, please contact Elaina Leo at (719) 748-2245 (719) 748-2245 or elainamichele@yahoo.com.

A BOOK TO PUT ON YOUR MUST READ LIST

The Likeability Factor- Tim Sanders

In one of my newsletters last year I reviewed Tim’s first book “Love is the Killer App”. If you’ve heard me speak before you know that I always refer to Bob Burg’s “Endless Referrals” and Tim Sanders’ “Love is the Killer App” as the two books that have impacted the success of my networking more and than any other networking books I’ve ever read. Tim Sanders is one of my
favorites. He has a great way of making sure that people don’t forget their “human-ness” in the business world.

The Likeability Factor is Sanders’ second book and a kind of “How to Win Friends and Influence People” for the 21st century. Tim explains that likeability is often the difference between success and lack of success. Like it or not, people make decisions about where to work, who to work with, and lots of other major issues on the likeability of the people involved.

Here are a few good quotes from this book:
· Our nation is so focused on efficiency and productivity that we forget that likeability is truly our lifeline. People who are likeable, or who have what I call a high L-factor, tend to land jobs more easily, find friends more quickly, and have happier relationships. People who are unlikeable, or who have a low L-factor, generally suffer from high job, friend and spouse turnover. I now believe that having a high L-factor isn’t just a way to improve your life, it’s a way to save it.

· A high L-factor is a form of social fitness, and achieving it can be just as tough and time-consuming as developing physical fitness.

· It’s hard to be interdependent and also be unlikeable. Certainly you can be independent and unlikeable, but you won’t get as much done in this day and age. You may even be admired, but around you successful teams will thrive while you plod on, alone.

· Pleasant, highly likeable people bring joy and happiness into the lives of others in almost every context. They create a credible promise of an emotionally rewarding experience by their very nature. All of the things that they do reinforce the idea that they can be depended on by their friends and loved ones to be a pick-me-up in an otherwise negative and hostile world.

We’re not talking about manipulation here, we’re talking about the importance of being a person that people want to be with. While most people are taught algebra and about The Catcher in the Rye as they are growing up, very few are taught the basics of developing and sustaining relationships. Kind of odd, huh…but we’ll leave that thought for another newsletter.

You will love this book and I’m sure that regardless of our level of likeability we can all grow and get better and better.
www.timsanders.com

A MOVIE TO PUT ON YOUR MUST SEE LIST

The Shadow Effect

My friend Michelle Vandepas at Divine Purpose Unleashed (www.divinepurposeunleashed.com) and Concious Livelihood (www.conciouslivelihood.com) arranged to get me an advanced copy of this film by Debbie Ford. Debbie is a New York Times bestselling author and an internationally acclaimed expert on the human shadow. She has led thousands of people from around the world through her renowned Shadow process Workshops. The 2-disc version that I have included an interactive version where Debbie appears onscreen and guides you through exercises during the film. I really enjoyed the interactivity of this version.

Whether you’re trying to heal your relationship with your partner, your parents, your children, your ex, or yourself, or whether you’re trying to find the strength and the courage to pursue your passions and experience more success, you’ll like this movie. There are definitely scenes and statements in this film that will be considered controversial to some people. As in a grocery store, take what you like and leave the rest on the shelf. Just because I can’t stand mayonnaise doesn’t mean that I don’t go to the grocery store. You know what I mean.

We all have a dark side to our personality and we often hide from this and think that we need to repress this side of us. Debbie explains that our shadow may hold a tremendous benefit if we take the time to inquire into its purpose. Through amazing, real-life examples she guides you to an understanding that we are complete and that we should us the different aspects of ourselves to help ourselves and others. Thought provoking. Thanks, Michelle!
www.theshadoweffect.com

SMILE-THERAPY
My friend, Tim Smith, in Syracuse, NY has a great site. As Tim says, the concept of smile-therapy has been in the works since the mid 90's. Its very simple. Tim got so sick and tired of the negative news in the media that he asked if there anything good going on? The answer is, there is plenty. And the simple question came up… can people use more good news in their life?
Following that, question two came up….what if we took everyone's ideas and wisdom that they knew worked for them, and made a massive library of valuable ideas, wisdom, information and tips? And Smile-Therapy was born. I know that you’ll enjoy this site.
www.smile-therapy.com

SURPRISE WEDDING DANCE
This must have been one of the coolest wedding ever. The reception must have been a real blast!
http://www.tangle.com/view_video?viewkey=de21def092b9406b0284&utm_source=newsletter0729&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weeklytopvideos

SKATING BABIES
Not quite sure what to say about this one except, holy cow! These babies rock!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_UxhPbMyy8

A KINDER, GENTLER PHILOSOPHY OF SUCCESS
This is one of the best clips I've seen in a long time. Alain is a genius at explaining the paradoxical nature of success and failure while being funny. When we judge another, we don't define them, we define ourself as one who feels the need to judge. I think that he's my twin brother of a different mother.
http://www.ted.com/talks/alain_de_botton_a_kinder_gentler_philosophy_of_success.html

TOXIC
Stevie Ann covers Britney’s song, Toxic. I could never be accused of being a Britney Spears fan, but this is a beautiful song when sung by Stevie Ann. What a clean, sparse, slowed down version and what an smooth voice she has.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG6N1f7Ws2k

BLIND PAINTER
John Bramblitt is quite the painter. His paintings are beautiful and full of life. The kicker is that John is a blind painter. Enjoy.
http://www.goal-setting-college.com/go/aspiringpainter

CHALLENGE DAY
What an incredible clip. This excerpt from an Emmy award winning documentary shows that we are all so much more alike than different. Get the kleenex.
http://www.goal-setting-college.com/go/challengeday

PLAY THE GAME
It wouldn’t be one of my newsletters without a sugary sweet song from the 70’s or 80’s. Everyone knows Queen, but a lot of people aren’t familiar with this song. Crank it up and enjoy the beautiful harmonies and the hi-tech special effects. Genius from 1980.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnAZTItYxUQ

SOME GREAT QUOTES

“Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their authors’ minds ages ago.” Samuel Smiles

“The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play.” Arthur Toynbee

“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; truth isn’t.” Mark Twain

“It is only in our minds that we are separate from the rest of the world.” Gay Luce

“All big things in this world are done by people who are naïve and have an idea that is obviously impossible.” Frank Richards

“Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” Will Rogers

“He who lives in the present lives in eternity.” Ludwig Wittgenstein

“Life moves pretty fast; if you don’t stop and look around every once in a while, you could miss it.” John Hughes

“It’s a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose yours.” Harry Truman

“I will love the light for it shows me the way. Yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars.” Og Mandino

“It’s better to have loved and lost than to do forty punds of laundry a week.” Laurence Peter

If you are interested in online and offline networking, Social Media, LinkedIn training or personal development, please visit my website at www.kevinknebl.com for upcoming talks, trainings, webinars and information about booking me for an event. I speak and train constantly and am always eager to deliver talks and trainings that provide immediate, measurable impact to your employees, company or organization.

As always, if you’d like to reach me, the easiest and fastest way is either by email at kevin@kevinknebl.com or mobile phone at 719-650-7659 719-650-7659.

To your success,
Kev

July 2009 From Kevin Knebl

April 13, 2010

7/1/09

There are a lot of very smart and interesting people that I am fortunate to network with. We share books, movies, music and ideas that stimulate us. I’m always interested to learn what other people that I respect are reading, watching and listening to. This is my monthly newsletter with books I’ve recently read, movies seen, music devoured, ideas and other things that may be of interest to you. I focus on topics related to networking, Social Media and inspiration, but you never know what you’ll find here. If you find this interesting and would like to pass it on, please feel free to do so. If you’d like to be removed from this list just let me know. If someone forwarded this newsletter to you and you would like to be added to this distribution list or if you’d like to view previous newsletters, please email me and let me know. Thank you for all the great feedback on this newsletter. I enjoy responding to your comments and am pleased to say that this newsletter goes out to many thousands of readers in over 40 countries.

Oh my gosh, it's July. Time sure flies. In one of my recent talks I made a comment that even caught me by surprise as it came out of my mouth. We're in the last half of the first decade of the 21st century. The last six months of the first decade. Wasn't Y2K just last week? As Groucho Marx said, “Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.”

I hope that your year is going well and that you're taking the time to enjoy everyday. Remember…“Life is short. Forgive quickly. Kiss slowly.”

UPCOMING PUBLIC SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

I speak many times per week and while most of my talks are private engagements for companies and organizations, there are some talks that are open to the public. Here are a few:

7/17/09 Colorado Springs
I have been asked to come back and deliver a full-blown LinkedIn training for the members of the Colorado Springs Home Builders Association. Over the last 6 months I have given many Social Media ad LinkedIn trainings to people in the real estate industry all over the state of Colorado. These folks are eagerly embracing Social Media and leveraging multiple platforms to grow their businesses, find customers, establish credibility and other business purposes.http://www.cshba.com/icws281w2/eventdetaildisplay.cfm?eventID=724&sx=1

8/11/09 Colorado Springs
The Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce and Express Employment Professionals are partnering to deliver a full day of training related to issues important to business owners, HR managers and other professionals. I will be speaking on the effective uses of Social Media in small to mid-size businesses. This will be a tremendous day of information!http://coloradospringscococ.weblinkconnect.com/cwt/External/WCPages/WCEvents/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=629

A BOOK TO PUT ON YOUR MUST READ LIST

Who's Got Your Back?- Keith Ferrazzi

In one of my newsletters last year I reviewed Keith's first book “Never Eat Alone”. In that book Keith taught some very effective methods of networking and I refer to that book quite often in my programs.

It was a brilliant discussion of how to network ethically in the modern world by building real, valuable relationships with people centered on giving of yourself to others. Who's Got Your Back is a departure from his first book. In WGYB he teaches that networking with large numbers of people is great, but at some point it's important to develop some close, personal relationships with mentors, friends and advisors. What I really like about Keith is his “pay it forward” attitude. Keith discusses how to find this group of people and how do you ensure that you're grooving with the right people.

According to a 2006 study in American Sociological Review, the average person has only two confidants, and 25% of people have none at all. In a ever more complex world, confidants and advisors are more important than ever before – yet people have fewer of them.

Ferrazzi then makes the case for how valuable “lifeline” relationships are, focusing on four ways that such relationships are critical:

1. To help us identify what success truly means for us, including our long-term career plans.
2. To help us figure out the most robust plan possible to get there, through short-term goals and strategies that would tie us in knots if we tried to go it alone.
3. To help us identify what we need to stop doing to move forward in our lives. I’m referring to the things we all do that hold us back from achieving the success we deserve.
4. To have people around us committed to ensuring that we sustain change so that we can transform our lives from good to great.

Ferrazzi identifies four “mindsets” – more like traits, actually – that, when cultivated, provide the foundation for building such lasting “lifeline” relationships.
Generosity: You have to be willing to give sincerely of yourself without expecting a thing in return. Generosity is the foundation of trust, and trust is what makes such relationships work.

Vulnerability: You have to be willing to be vulnerable. Can you move outside your safety zone? Can you accept criticism from others?

Candor :You have to be willing to be totally honest with others. If something’s on your mind, you shouldn’t hold it back. It might be valuable.

Accountability: You have to be willing to follow through on the promises you make to others.

Keith goes to explain how to develop your own “Dream Team” and how to integrate these principles into your life. This isn't a one time shot- it's a life long process that leads to long term success.

I think that it's ironic that as the world gets smaller through global communications, social networking and other ways, people never change. Technology always changes, but people are always going to be people. We want to have people in our lives that we care about and that care about us. It just makes sense that if we spend time learning the skill sets of effective human relations as much as we spend the time to learn a new operating system or how to program TIVO, we are gong to have much more fulfilling lives. I think that you are going to love this book and that it will make an impact on your life and relationships.
www.keithferrazzi.com/WGYB

THE DIVINITY OF DOGS

Thanks to my friend Melanie for this great clip by Ben Stein….Bueller….Bueller…..? As someone famous once said “God, please allow me to be half as nice as my dog thinks I am.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ythp1PmYF8

SPONTANEOUS SOUND OF MUSIC

How fun would it have been to be in this train station? You can never get enough Julie Andrews. Thanks to my friend Dave Block for this fun clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UE3CNu_rtY&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fhome.php&feature=player_embedded

AMAZING NEW WATER-POWERED JET PACK
This is one of the coolest things that I've seen in some time. You pull the motor behind you and have a ball. What a blast!
http://www.break.com/index/amazing-new-water-powered-jet-pack.html

GET SERVICE

This is a great short clip about seeing beyond the obvious. Everyone is fighting some kind of battle. I'm not promoting a church here, but a thinking. Choose kindness. Kindness is the universal language that all people understand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfeXxkbgCVE

THE MOST INSPIRATIONAL FISHERMAN EVER

Please remind me to watch this clip when I think I'm having a tough day. Life never ceases to amaze me. He says that all he needs is “a heart, soul and mind”. Priceless.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glrU4JKV1SI

THE DAUGHTER SONG

No explanation needed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELmJHrmtCcU

WILDFIRE

Most folks know that I'm a sucker for sappy songs from the 70's. Guilty as charged. Say what you will, this is a classic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl4Y4FWWkn0

SOME GREAT QUOTES

“The obscure we see eventually. The completely obvious, it seems, takes longer.” Edward R. Murrow

“Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth.” Ludwig Borne

“Life is like an onion. You peel one layer at a time and sometimes you weep.” Carl Sandburg

“Sometimes it's necessary to go a long distance out of the way in order to come back a short distance correctly.” Edward Albee

“It takes a great deal of faith for a man to be cured by his own placebos.” John McClenahan

“Life is just a phase you're going through….you'll get over it.” Anonymous

“The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win you're still a rat.” Lily Tomlin

“Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought.” Henri Louise Bergson

“How long has it been since someone touched part of you other than your body?” Laurel Hoodwrit

“The obstacle is the path.” Zen proverb

“Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through through life trying to save.” Will Rogers

If you are interested in online and offline networking, Social Media, LinkedIn training or personal development, please visit my website at www.kevinknebl.com for upcoming talks, trainings, webinars and information about booking me for an event. I speak and train full-time and am always eager to deliver talks and trainings that provide immediate, measurable impact to your employees, company or organization.

As always, if you’d like to reach me, the easiest and fastest way is either by email at kevin@kevinknebl.com or mobile phone at 719-650-7659 719-650-7659.

To your success,
Kevin

June 2009 From Kevin Knebl

April 13, 2010

6/1/09

Thank you for all the great feedback on this newsletter. I enjoy responding to your comments and am pleased to say that this newsletter goes out to many thousands of readers in over 40 countries including the US, Canada, China, Singapore, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Finland, England, Spain, Turkey, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Iran, France, Mexico, Poland, Scotland, Ireland, Ukraine, India, Japan, Dubai, Pakistan, Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Israel, Hungary, Czech Republic, Russia, South Africa and even New Jersey among a few other remote places (Joizy….what exit?).

I use LinkedIn.com (www.linkedin.com/in/kevinknebl) for business networking, Facebook.com (http://profile.to/kevinknebl) for social networking, and Twitter.com for instant global messaging (http://twitter.com/kevinknebl). Through LinkedIn, I have been able to refer a tremendous amount of business and connect many people for business and social purposes. If we are not already connected on LinkedIn, please contact me to connect and if I’m able to refer business your way, I’ll be happy to do so. Please also consider connecting to me through Facebook and Twitter as they are a fantastic way to keep up to date with your friends all over the globe (and a lot of fun).

Can you believe that we’re in June already? Halfway through 2009. Where has the first half of the year gone? Time sure is flying. The weather is gorgeous, the tourists are coming into town and the flowers are blooming. Summer in Colorado is beautiful. Did you know that more people visit Colorado in the summer than in the winter? I know, I found that hard to believe also. I hope that it’s wonderful where you are and that your year is shaping up well.

TWO BOOKS TO PUT ON YOUR MUST READ LIST

The 29% Solution – 52 Weekly Networking Success Strategies- Ivan Misner

Ivan Misner is known as one of the world’s most successful networkers. He founded Business Network International in 1985 and the BNI organization is the largest networking group in the world with thousands of chapters on every continent. BNI has facilitated billions of dollars of business over the years and Dr. Misner is one of the world’s leading experts on business networking.

In this book, Ivan starts with a networking self-assessment quiz that enables you to see how effective your current networking efforts are. He then lays out weekly plans that explain 52 strategies that anyone can incorporate into their networking, marketing and business plans. These strategies fall into different categories such as “Create Your Future”, “Expand Your Network”, “Go the Extra Mile”, and “Get Value for Your Time”. Each chapter ends with a call to put what you’ve learned into action in terms of a simple assignment that will yield immediate results.

Many people have never had any networking training and there are almost as many thoughts as to what networking is as there are people. Misner’s book dispels some of the myths about networking while being a great handbook for the new networker or the seasoned influential networker who has a full Rolodex of mutually beneficial relationships. His tips are short, to the point and real-world proven. No high-sounding theories here….just strategies that work. www.29percentsolution.com

Callings – Finding and Following an Authentic Life- Gregg Levoy

Oftentimes, after one of my talks or trainings people tell me that they feel that they are looking to take a different path in their lives in regards to their work or their style of living. Over time I have read a number of great books on how to determine what one’s life work or purpose might be and this book is one of the best that I’ve read. Gregg is almost poetic in his writing and his style carries you along smoothly through this wonderful book.

A calling may be to do something (change careers, go back to school, have a child) or to be something (more creative, less judgmental, more loving). While honoring a calling’s essential mystery, this book also guides readers to ask an answer the fundamental questions that arise from any calling: How do we recognize it? How do we distinguish the true call from the siren song? How do we handle our resistance to a call? What happens when we say yes? What happens when we say no?

Here are some quotes from Callings:
Society and nature…tend to produce guarded creatures. The upshot is that we often end up trading our authenticity for what we perceive as survival, terrified to swap security for our heart’s deep desires, which is the imperative of all callings and one of the dominant fears in responding to them.
Callings keep surfacing until we deal with them.
Generally, people won’t pursue their callings until the fear of doing so is finally exceeded by the pain of not doing so, but it’s appalling how high a threshold people have for this quality of pain.
“People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life,” Campbell explained in The Power of Myth. “I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive…of the rapture of being alive.”
Conflict to paradox to revelation: this is the divine progression.
. Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul, wrote that “repression of the life-force” is the most common reason he sees people in therapy.
Through art we can also reactivate the mind of the child within us, which knows what it knows with great simplicity and accuracy. The last time many of us made art was when we were children. In most of us, an artist died young and an adult survived. “Man as artist is far more ancient than man as worker.”
We end up going to our shadows one way or another. Either we take them on willingly and attempt to work them into something useful, or at least manageable, or we splatter them onto others-“projecting,” as psychologists call it. For instance, if we’re frustrated with ourselves for not following a call, we often become frustrated with others who aren’t following theirs, or envious of those who are.
We often decline the invitation of our callings because we fell inadequate to the task, but the opposite is also true: We’re afraid of our own power. “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate,” says author Marianne Williamson. “Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. But our playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.”

Whether you’re looking for a life change or not, Levoy opens up insights into human nature that will resonate with everyone. Callings is a compassionate guide to discovering your own callings and negotiating the tight passages to personal power and authenticity. http://www.gregglevoy.com/book.html

GREAT MOVIE

UP- Disney/Pixar

This new movie from Disney/Pixar is their first foray into 3-D and it’s a fantastic film. Karin, Anja, Tristan and I went on opening day and we loved it. It’s the story of Carl Fredricksen, a 78 year old balloon salesman, who finally fulfills his life long dream of going to South America. The folks at Pixar know how to weave a great tale and the fact that they can have your eyes tearing up after a wordless four minute vignette within the first 10 minutes speaks to how well they have honed their craft.

Carl’s overly optimistic stowaway is an 8 year old Wilderness Explorer named Russell. This makes Carl and Russell just about the most unlikely adventure pairing in a long time. They have an incredible adventure and the film deviates from the standard kid’s movie scenario and normal outcome toward the end.

The animation and 3-D effects are extremely well done. When I think of the cartoons and animation that I watched as a kid, they were cave drawings compared to this level of art. What can be done these days in films like The Incredibles, Ratatouille and UP is amazing. And yet, the level of sophistication of the animation doesn’t take any of the humanness away from the characters. This is great film-making and you will love it. http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/up/

WHAT COLOR IS HER DRESS?

Thanks to my friend Martha in NJ for this great clip. I have watched it a number of times and I’m still trying to figure out how the heck they did this. Amazing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EwsOuu8PA8

THE ANIMAL ODD COUPLE

This is an awesome clip that shows that animals do experience love and compassion. You can’t watch this and deny that there is a bond between these two unlikely friends. http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4696315n

EAGLE’S NEST WITH BABIES WEBCAM

This is a clip from my friend Julie at www.silverplanet.com. There are now, literally, millions of webcams all over the planet. Some say that we have become a planet of voyeurs. This link takes you to a webcam on Vancouver Island off the western coast of Canada. Karin and I took a vacation there back around 2002 and what a beautiful place it is! Someone put a webcam in an eagle’s nest and you can watch the chicks hatching and growing. What really strikes me as amazing is the number of people that are chatting in real time to the right of the video. There are times when hundreds of people are on the site commenting on whether the babies need to be fed, and other concerns. Fun to watch with your kids with your sound turned up. http://www.zaplive.tv/web/hwf-sidney2?streamId=hwf-sidney2

AMERICA’S FUNNIEST CATS

There’s just something about funny cats. And always remember that cats aren't clean, they're just covered with cat spit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUNmLuNdiL8&NR=1

AMAZING SYNCHRONIZED DANCING BY DEAF DANCERS

I can’t imagine how much time these people spend rehearsing. This dance is called the Thousand-Hand Guanyin. All 21 of the dancers are completely deaf. Relying only on signals from trainers at the four corners of the stage, these extraordinary dancers deliver a visual spectacle that is at once intricate and stirring. Its first major international debut was in Athens at the closing ceremonies for the 2004 Paralympics. But it had long been in the repertoire of the Chinese Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe and had traveled to more than 40 countries. The video was recorded in Beijing during the Spring Festival. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgHmSdpjEIk

INCREDIBLE MOTHER

Just in case you ever thought that you were having a tough day, watch this clip. This is an incredible woman. She is the embodiment of the saying, “it’s not what happens but how you handle it”. More proof that the truth is most often stranger than fiction. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnRcOQc8yoQ

RAY ROMANO’S FIRST LETTERMAN PERFORMANCE

Karin and I have loved Ray for years and think he’s a genius. If you have kids you’ll get his humor even more. This is mandatory viewing for future parents. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBTDFEpsTRU

HAIRCUT 100

Alright, if you know this band you are officially an expert on obscure bands from the 80’s. I loved these guys and wished that they had put out more songs. These guys were very talented but they came and left faster than you can say “One Hit Wonder”. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-Tj83E2O9I

SOME GREAT QUOTES

“A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it.” Rabindranath Tagore

“Life’s gift to us is our unique vantage point, and our gift to life is expressing from it.” Alan Cohen

“You talk to God, you’re religious. God talks to you, you’re psychotic.” Doris Egan

“The miracle is this- the more we share, the more we have.” Leonard Nimoy

“Success will never be a big step in the future. Success is a small step taken just now.” Jonathan Martensson

“Today is the yesterday you worried about tomorrow.” Unknown

“Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.” Kahlil Gibran

“Say what you will about the Ten Commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them.” H.L. Mencken

“A person hears only what they understand.” Goethe

“Someday, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love. Then for the second time in the history of the world, we will have discovered fire.” Teilhard de Chardin

“The subconscious is ceaselessly murmuring, and it is by listening to these murmurs that one hears the truth.” Gaston Bachelard

“Cleanliness becomes more important when godliness is unlikely.” P.J. O’Rourke

If you are interested in online and offline networking, Social Media, LinkedIn training or personal development, please visit my website at www.kevinknebl.com for upcoming talks, trainings, webinars and information about booking me for an event. I speak and train full-time and am always eager to deliver talks and trainings that provide immediate, measurable impact to your employees, company or organization. As always, if you’d like to reach me, the easiest and fastest way is either by email at kevin@kevinknebl.com or mobile phone at 719-650-7659 719-650-7659.

To your success,
Kevin

April 2009 From Kevin Knebl

April 13, 2010

4/1/09

Hello again to my friends, family, colleagues, and clients. Many of you know me personally through work, networking or through one of my speaking engagements related online and offline networking, Social Media, LinkedIn® training, or personal development; and some of you may know me by LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, email or telephone. Welcome to everyone that’s new to this distribution list.

There are a lot of very smart and interesting people that I am fortunate to network with. We share books, movies, music and ideas that stimulate us. I’m always interested to learn what other people that I respect are reading, watching and listening to. This is my monthly email newsletter with books I’ve recently read, movies seen, music devoured, ideas and other things that may be of interest to you. I tend to focus on topics related to networking, Social Media and inspiration, but you never know what you’ll find here. If you find this interesting and would like to pass it on, please feel free to do so. If you’d like to be removed from this list just let me know. If someone forwarded this newsletter to you and you would like to be added to this distribution list or if you’d like to view previous newsletters, please email me and let me know.

Thank you for all the great feedback on this newsletter. I enjoy responding to your comments and am pleased to say that this newsletter goes out to thousands of readers all over the US, Canada, China, Singapore, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Finland, England, Spain, Turkey, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Iran, France, Mexico, Poland, Scotland, Ireland, Ukraine, India, Japan, Dubai, Pakistan, Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Israel, Hungary, Czech Republic, Russia, South Africa and even New Jersey among a few other remote places (Joizy….what exit?).

I use LinkedIn.com (www.linkedin.com/in/kevinknebl) for business networking, Facebook.com (http://profile.to/kevinknebl) for social networking, and Twitter.com for instant global messaging (http://twitter.com/kevinknebl). Through LinkedIn, I have been able to refer a lot of business and connect many people for business and social purposes. If we are not already connected on LinkedIn, please contact me to connect and if I’m able to refer business your way, I’ll be happy to do so. Please also consider connecting to me through Facebook as it is a fantastic way to keep up to date with your friends all over the globe (and a lot of fun).

A number of people have asked that I insert an announcement indicating whether I have any upcoming speaking engagements. I do have a number of speaking engagements this month. If you have an interest in dates, times and speaking topics, please let me know.

Spring is here! It must be Spring because it’s snowing in Colorado. I think that we’ve had more snow in the last week than we had all winter long. After weeks of temperatures in the 60’s and 70’s, we’re seeing beautiful snow everywhere. But, we all know that it will be back in the 70’s soon enough.
Baseball season starts in a few days and that means barbecues, fireworks, drive-in movies, etc. Man, this is a great time of year! For those of you in the Southern hemisphere, start bundling up. I’ve heard that you’ve had some frosty mornings already in Southern New Zealand. C’mon up here to the north if you’d like to get warm. Is it just me, or did that sound weird?

I was recently interviewed by The Colorado Springs Gazette and here’s the link to the interview. Although they got some of my personal information a little bit off, they did print my quotes pretty accurately.
http://www.gazette.com/articles/media_48088___article.html/social_businesses.html

“WHAT THE TWEET?” in Salida, Colorado
People in Colorado who are interested in learning about Social Media while enjoying the beautiful Rocky Mountains are in luck! My friend, Cathy Fraser has organized a fantastic event scheduled for May 2nd. The event is called “What the Tweet?” and features 7 speakers at about 30 to 45 minutes each. This one-day conference in Salida is designed “To Help Small Business Owners Learn How Low and No-Cost Social Media Can Grow Your Business”. The speakers will talk about what Social Media is, Twitter, RSS, blogs, and other very current topics. I’ve been asked to be the keynote speaker and I’ll be delivering a 90 minute talk on why you should integrate Social Media with your traditional marketing methods. I’ll be highlighting the applications of LinkedIn and Facebook while also explaining how to utilize Social Media as a significant business development tool.
This is going to be a tremendous event that you don’t want to miss. You won’t find another event like this anywhere in the state. There are hotel discounts and other perks in store for those that attend. There has never been a Social Media in the Mountains event before and this will be the start of great future programs. Register early and avoid the rush!
www.wildernessexecutives.com

A BOOK TO PUT ON YOUR MUST READ LIST
I’m On LinkedIn – Now What???- Jason Alba

Most of you know that I have been training on how to most effectively use LinkedIn since 2004 and that I have over 3500 personal connections and over 13,000,000 overall connections on the site. LinkedIn is the world’s undisputed premier business networking social networking site with over 500,000 people registering for free accounts on LinkedIn every week. If you’re in business, having a Linkedin profile is non-negotiable. I know that that may sound dramatic, but it’s reality. Even if you are in a niche business in some obscure corner of the world, there are multiple reasons as to why you should be on LinkedIn. These include building credibility, increasing your online and offline presence and becoming the “go-to person” in your industry, and staying up to date with what your competition is doing. Even if you’re secure in your job and have no interest in seeing what else is out there, there are many reasons as to why you should be on LinkedIn. There are over 35,000,000 profiles on LinkedIn and that is a tremendous database to utilize for many purposes in the development of your business success.

Jason Alba was “downsized” (politically correct for laid off) a few years ago and he created his own business to help others who had also been laid off. He also started experimenting with LinkedIn and wrote this short book to help people understand how to use this powerful tool. His book covers the basics of how to create a robust profile and how to utilize some of the features of LinkedIn. This is a great book for LinkedIn “newbies” and for those that have had a LinkedIn profile for some time. There are a lot of people who have accepted a LinkedIn invitation over the years and forgotten about it until now and are now saying “I’m on LinkedIn…Now What?”

Alba does a good job of explaining how to use LinkedIn for the layman who is unfamiliar with social networking and perhaps a little intimidated by the whole thing. If you’re in business, or perhaps in transition (politically correct for between jobs), learning how to use LinkedIn is mandatory. I don’t usually use such strong terms, but I’m telling you, it’s true. In this ever increasingly interconnected world, if you’re not Linkedin…….wait for it…….here it comes……you’re “LinkedOut”. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
www.imonlinkedinnowwhat.com

GREAT MUSIC
Hyms of the 49th Parallel- k.d. lang

Every since k.d. lang broke onto the music scene back in the late 80’s, she has had a very distinctive strong voice that can also be very tender. I have been a huge lang fan since the early 90’s. I think that I wore out her “Ingenue” cassette (remember those things?)
I love this 2004 CD because k.d. is singing some classic songs from other Canadian musicians including one of my favorite musicians, Neil Young. Those darn Canadians are awesome.
Most of the arrangements are acoustic and understated. lang is at just about her “smoky, jazz bar” best on this CD.

This is a subdued classic that you’ll never get tired of. Its a very mellow, muted disc, designed to be a gentle acoustic recording. It makes for a great listening experience, but for the listener looking for a Top 40 hit, it's not here. What is here are her flawless vocals and sparse arrangements like your own private sessions in her living room.
www.kdlang.com

ALLTOP
I have been using a great website for some time and I think that you may really like it too. The site is www.alltop.com. Alltop describes itself as “Alltop is an “online magazine rack” of popular topics. We update the stories every hour. Pick a topic by searching, news category, or name, and we’ll deliver it to you 24 x 7. All the topics, all the time.”

Alltop was started by Guy Kawasaki (super-genius), one of the original folks at Apple. You can create your own Alltop page and select the topics that you have an interest in and check it whenever you like. The news feeds are updated hourly so there is almost always something new for you and the great thing is that you have selected the topics so there’s always something of interest there for you. This site rocks!
www.altop.com

COMMONCRAFT

Here’s another great website that I think you’ll enjoy. Lee and Sachi LeFever started this site in their home in Seattle and now work with companies all over the world from their home office. They are very good at taking things that can appear to be complicated and simplifying them in short video clips using stick figures and simple drawings. This may sound silly, but once you watch a few of these brilliant clips, you’ll love them.

In my networking and Social Media talks, I often refer to www.commoncraft.com as a means of learning more about SM and also as a way for my audiences to teach the people that they know not to be intimidated by SM and technology. By the way, people often think that I’m a very computer-smart person. I am not. I know nothing about the operating systems of computers and I’ve never created an Excel spreadsheet in my life (and I’m darn proud of that last piece of information). I don’t know how a transmission works, but I can drive a car. Get in, crank up the heated seats, put the key and roll. Turn on your computer, get online and surf. Same thing.

Here’s a few of their short clips on the topics of:
Social Networking http://www.commoncraft.com/video-social-networking

Twitter http://www.commoncraft.com/twitter

LinkedIn http://www.commoncraft.com/linkedin

If you know people that are interested in learning about Social Networking, this is a great site that has lots of videos that a child can understand. And the short videos aren’t just about computer-related topics. They have a number of short clips on a variety of topics. Lee and Sachi are brilliant and you will love this site!
www.commoncraft.com

THE DOG, THE CAT, AND THE RAT
Thanks to my friend Melanie for sending me this clip. This is a great clip of a homeless man in Santa Barbara, California. He has trained a dog, a cat and a rat to do something amazing. He also shares some profound wisdom in a simple way. When you think about it, isn’t it always simple? I love this guy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTsl4D1PQ8I

THE MAYOR OF MISSISSAUGA
Thanks to my friend Julie at www.silverplanet.com for sending me this clip. 88 year old “Hurricane Hazel” may hold a record that no one else on the planet holds. She has been the Mayor of Mississauga, Ontario for 31 years and has won 11 elections. She has outlasted 8 Prime Ministers. She’s like Castro, but she still comes to work every day. This lady is awesome!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY79KbCptTo

ETHAN BORTNICK
I love inspirational clips of kids and this is one amazing clip. 6 year old Ethan Bortnick is quite a piano player for a little kid. In this clip he is on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Jay has him play some Joplin, Mozart, Bach and one of his originals on a baby grand. He’s played in front of audiences as large as 6,000. He has some funny comments regarding a time when he heard Aerosmith. Very cute kid. Amazing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdvwvuEr0f4

FREE HUGS
Free Hugs is the creation of and real life story of Juan Mann, a man whose sole mission was to reach out and hug a stranger to brighten up their lives. He has turned that mission into a worldwide movement and April 4th is Global Hug Day. Checkout Juan’s website at http://www.freehugscampaign.org/ for more information.
If you see me on April 4th, give me a hug….heck, anytime you see me give me a hug! Here’s a great short musical clip that paints a pretty cool picture of his mission.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr3x_RRJdd4

SEASONS IN THE SUN
Everyone knows that I’m a sucker for catchy pop songs from the 70’s. Do you remember this one? So what that Terry Jacks was a one-hit wonder?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfm-17pu6SQ

HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF
Alright, just to keep it fair, here’s a clip from the 80’s. Remember Duran Duran? If you were a teenage girl in the early 80’s, you know that you do. I remember hearing that these guys were going to be the next Beatles. Well, it didn’t quite work out that way but they did have some pretty cool songs and videos (and way too perfect hair).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJRCE6e2xIg

SOME GREAT QUOTES
“All the technology in the world will never replace a positive attitude.” Harvey Mackay

“Love is metaphysical gravity.” Buckminster Fuller

“Indecision may or may not be my problem.” Jimmy Buffett

“The quality of the answers that we get in life is determined by the quality of the questions that we ask.” Unknown

“A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer.” Emerson

“Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status.” Laurence Peter

“A person isn't who they are during the last conversation you had with them – they're who they've been throughout your whole relationship.” Rainer Maria Rilke

“What’s the difference between a boyfriend and a husband? About thirty pounds.” Cindy Gardner

“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.” Dale Carnegie

“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to a better understanding of ourselves.” Carl Jung

“Love life and life will love you back. Love people and they will love you back.” Arthur Rubinstein

“The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.” Steven Wright

If you are interested in online and offline networking, Social Media, LinkedIn or personal development, please visit my website at www.kevinknebl.com for upcoming talks, trainings, webinars and information about booking me for an upcoming event. I speak multiple times per week and am always eager to deliver talks and trainings that provide immediate, measurable impact to your employees, company or organization. As always, if you’d like to reach me, the easiest and fastest way is either by email at kevin@kevinknebl.com or mobile phone at 719-650-7659 719-650-7659.

To your success,
Kevin

March 2009 From Kevin Knebl

April 13, 2010

3/1/09

Hello again to my friends, family, colleagues, and clients. Many of you know me personally through work, networking or through one of my speaking engagements related online and offline networking, Social Media and personal development; and some of you may know me by LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, email or telephone. Welcome to everyone that’s new to this distribution list.

Thank you for all the great feedback on this newsletter. I enjoy responding to your comments and am pleased to say that this newsletter goes out to thousands of readers all over the US, Canada, China, Singapore, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Finland, England, Spain, Turkey, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Iran, France, Mexico, Poland, Scotland, Ireland, Ukraine, Israel, Hungary, Czech Republic, Russia, South Africa and even New Jersey among a few other remote places (Joizy….what exit?).

I use LinkedIn.com (www.linkedin.com/in/kevinknebl) for business networking, Facebook.com (http://profile.to/kevinknebl) for social networking, and Twitter.com for instant global messaging (http://twitter.com/kevinknebl). Through LinkedIn, I have been able to refer a lot of business and connect many people for business and social purposes. If we are not already connected on LinkedIn, please contact me to connect and if I’m able to refer business your way, I’ll be happy to do so. Please also consider connecting to me through Facebook as it is a fantastic way to keep up to date with your friends all over the globe (and a lot of fun).

A number of people have asked that I insert an announcement indicating whether I have any upcoming speaking engagements that are open to the public. I do have a number of speaking engagements this month. If you have an interest in dates, times and speaking topics, please let me know.

Can you believe that we’re already in March? Man, time does fly. I hope that you are doing well. Here in the US, we are experiencing a difficult economic situation and there are a lot of hurting people. I hope that things are going well for you and that you and your family are hanging in there through these trying times. Everyone is being affected this in one way or another, so if you’re having some sleepless nights, know that you’re not alone.
Not to sound like a motivational speaker (oh wait, I am one), it’s not what happens, but how we handle it. As a good friend of mine says, “this too shall pass”. It may not be much consolation when you’re in the midst of a serious situation, but it is true nonetheless. Hang in there.

TWO BOOKS TO PUT ON YOUR MUST READ LIST
The Myth of Multitasking (How “Doing it All” Gets Nothing Done)- Dave Crenshaw

This short book is a great story about something that many of us deal with all the time. In today’s busy world we are led to believe that we can do more than one thing at a time. We are also led to believe that we can do these things effectively. If I can be so bold…..where’s the evidence? Multitasking makes us less productive, costs us time, and generally leads to the feeling that we’ll never catch up.

Crenshaw tells the story of Phil, who is a business consultant and Helen, who is like many of us. Helen is working all the time and is overwhelmed with her responsibilities (although she’d probably never admit it to anyone except Phil). Phil explains the concept of “switchtasking”. We tend to believe that we can do more than one thing at a time, but it has been proven that this isn’t true. The human mind can only consciously concentrate on one thing at a time. Switchtasking is the process of switching between tasks. This is what we are really doing when we think that we are multi-tasking. Switchtasking is very costly. It is a less effective and less efficient way to get things done.

Crenshaw’s book is a fast read and there’s a good message behind the interesting modern story. He paints a good tale that I think that most people in business will intimately relate to. There were times when I was reading the book that I felt that Crenshaw was looking over my shoulder.
He intersperses quotes on multitasking from studies and business publications throughout the book. Here are some interesting observations:

– Our research offers neurological evidence that the brain cannot effectively do two things at once. -Rene Marois, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University

– Multitasking: A polite way of telling someone you haven’t heard a word they said.

– The brain is a lot like a computer. You may have several screens open on your desktop, but you’re able to think about only one at a time. –William Stixrud, Ph.D., Neuropsychologist

– Multitasking? I can’t do two things at once. I can’t even do one thing at once. –Helena Bonham Carter

– To do two things at once is to do neither. –Publilius

– Technology provides the very tools that are supposed to make us more productive, but we haven’t done a very good job of deploying them, training others to use them, or training managers on how to manage those who use them. – Jonathan Spira, CEO and Chief Analyst, Basex Research

– Dress me slowly, for I am in a great rush. –Napoleon Boneparte

– Multitasking: A nice way to say that you’re doing many different things at the same time. And since no one can divide by 0, that means you’re doing many different things half-a—d. -UrbanDictionary.com

Crenshaw takes us through an understanding of backgroundtasking, active switches, passive switches, micro-switching costs and other interesting concepts. His book contains a marvelous exercise with which readers can prove to themselves that this is actually the case, that switchtasking takes longer than actually doing one thing at a time. He also provides worksheets at the end of the book so we can take a look at how we are processing tasks and learn how to become more effective in our work.

I really liked this book and recommend that you read it if you are a business owner or someone that feels overwhelmed from time to time by all the things that you are working on and need to get done. Geez- would that be all of us?
Here’s Dave’s website and there’s a good, short video on his home page. Cool stuff.
www.davecrenshaw.com

Emotional Awareness- Overcoming the Obstacles to Psychological Balance and Compassion (A Conversation between the Dalai Lama and Paul Ekman, Ph.D.)- Edited by Paul Ekman, Ph.D.

Paul Ekman is a world famous psychologist and The Dalai Lama is the leader of a millennia-old spiritual Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Bringing different perspectives to bear-Eastern and Western, spirituality and science, Buddhism and psychology-the Dalai Lama and Ekman sought to clarify these contradictions and illuminate some paths that might enable a balanced emotional life and a feeling of compassion that can reach across the globe.

Despite their differences, they discovered important common ground in their perspectives. They both share a commitment to reducing human suffering, intense inquisitiveness, and a conviction that they were both likely to learn from each other. Their conversations revealed the unfolding of what developed into an intense friendship over the course of the nearly forty hours that they spent exploring these issues.
Here are some quotes from both Ekman and the Dalai Lama:

-Dalai Lama: Some scientists believe or feel science is something that must be anti-religion, but that is not the case. Science is only the method to investigate what is the reality. Religious matters deal mainly with the subjective side.

-Ekman: English seems to me rather impoverished in its labeling of the different emotions. If we do not have words to describe different states, then we cannot think about them and anticipate them. We cannot discipline ourselves as much because we do not have the words to refer to these emotions. Without words, we cannot reflect on what has or could occur. We need to expand our vocabulary for describing our emotions, particularly the constructive and destructive aspects of each of them.

-Dalai Lama: Knowledge about the benefits of compassion can be taught.
Ekman: The knowledge can be taught. But learning the skill of monitoring awareness-of being in the moment, to be aware of the spark before the flame-is not easy. You need both. You need knowledge and you need skill. Knowledge you can even get from a book. Skill you cannot get from a book-you need to practice again and again. They are two different, but related, matters that are essential for a balanced life.
Dalai Lama: Mindfulness is bringing to the present the awareness of things that you have learned.

-Dalai Lama: What we are doing with these meditative practices, such as focusing on the breath, is creating skills that in some sense we do not need. It is very hard to focus attention on our breath because it is automatic. We are not equipped by nature to focus on it: It is unnecessary. But if we learn how to do so, then we are more generally acquiring the ability to monitor automatic mental processes and that means we are building new neural connections for monitoring what occurs without consciousness.
If you create these new connections, which are unnecessary to breathe, walk, or eat, I postulate that it will allow you to monitor the automatic nature of emotion. If you develop the skill to focus on your breath for longer and longer periods of time, then that very skill that you have developed will benefit your emotions because your emotions are automatic also.

-Dalai Lama: One basic point is that, generally, the majority of people do not really think about the destructiveness of many of the emotions. I mean that the awareness simply is not there. That is partly because the emotions are a very natural part of humans. In general, society’s perspective is that it is only the emotional manifestations in murder or rape or stealing that are thought to be very destructive. There is not much thought given to the underlying mental states that motivate them, partly because they are innate, a part of the human mind. If an individual has learned, either through cultural exposure or another means, that these emotions can be destructive and can lead to undesirable consequences, he or she would have a different attitude and reaction. For example, in Tibetan society, children learn from a very early age about the undesirability of harming any living being, including small insects. They are culturally exposed to this idea from a very early stage, so it becomes part of their basic habit. You immediately resist from harming.
Ekman: In the West and also in Japan, self-help books are very popular, which shows that there is a widespread desire for changing our emotional lives. Certainly, not everyone wants to do so; it is more evident in women than in men. But they want help with their emotional lives. I am not a historian to know how far back this goes, but this has certainly emerged in the twentieth century, and there are industries devoted to it. Just like people who want to be slim and read one diet book after another to lose weight, people read one self-help book after another to try to attain better emotional balance.
Dalai Lama: This is true. This is very true. It is obvious that there is a growing appreciation of the importance of understanding one’s emotions, how they operate, and how to manage them.
In this unparalleled series of conversations, the Dalai Lama and Ekman prod and push toward answers to the central questions of emotional experience. What are the sources of hate and compassion? Should a person extend her compassion to a torturer—and would that even be biologically possible? What does science reveal about the benefits of Buddhist meditation, and can Buddhism improve through engagement with the scientific method? As they come to grips with these issues, they invite us to join them in an unfiltered view of two great traditions and two great minds. www.paulekman.com
WONDERFUL MUSIC
Harps and Angels- Randy Newman

Most people know Randy Newman from his hilarious song “Short People” from the 70’s and all his great songs in Disney movies over the last decade or so. Newman is the recipient of the 2002 Academy Award for Best Original Song, 17 Oscar nominations, five Grammy Awards, 13 Grammy nominations, and two Emmy Awards, Newman is a singular figure who over the course of his career has explored various styles and sounds of the cannon of 20th century American music.

Whenever I listen to Randy I feel like I should be in a bar in New Orleans. His songs shuffle along and they have a simple quality to them. Don’t take that as anything other than a strong compliment. The great ones always make it sound easy. Anybody can take a simple thing and make it complicated, but it takes a genius to take a complicated thing (like music) and simplify it. His ability to write in a humorous way without being a clown is amazing. Irony in music is not an easy thing to pull off, but you’d never know that listening to Newman. The man is a genius.

Newman has never been known for writing anything other than what he wants. I love that he writes about what is interesting to him and he just lets the chips fall where they will. The songs on this new CD are awesome. He sings about race relations, the state of America in defense of the view of Europe and other hot topics. He also has written an incredibly poignant song called “Losing You”. The melody is so simple, but the message goes straight to your heart. Here is a link to a quick interview with Randy and then a video of just him and his piano singing “Losing You”.
http://www.randynewman.com/tocreviews/news_item.2008-08-09.5040513192

LOST GENERATION
What a great short video. You may think that you know where this is going, but please watch it to the end you will be surprised. At a meeting of AARP (American Association of Retired People) they showed this video which was submitted by a 20 year old for a contest. The contest was titled "u @ 50". This video won second place. When they showed it, everyone in the room was awe-struck and broke into spontaneous applause. So simple and yet so brilliant. Take a minute and watch it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA

BRUCE LEE PING PONG
Who woulda’ thunk that Bruce Lee was a black belt in ping pong? This is fun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqGQ72bre30

REGENERATION OF CELLS
This is amazing! My friend, David Block sent me this incredible clip. Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxhi4Q8EDTU

J MAC- A HOOP DREAM
Alright, this one has been around the world a hundred times, but I never get tired of it. You can’t make this stuff up. The truth is always more amazing than fiction. Get a Kleenex.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngzyhnkT_jY

EVERYTHING IS AMAZING AND NOBODY’S HAPPY
I am going to miss Conan O’Brien at his usual late night time slot. Here’s a clip of Louis CK on Conan’s show talking about how spoiled and impatient we have all become. The funniest part of this is that he’s actually not trying to be funny- he’s just telling the truth. Great perspective!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoGYx35ypus

ONE MORE RANDY NEWMAN SONG
This is another song from “Harps and Angels” called “Potholes”. He calls this the most honest song he’s ever written.
http://nonesuch.com/media/videos/randy-newman-potholes

LONELY BOY
Everyone knows that I’m a sucker for catchy pop songs from the 70’s. Do you remember this one? It’s a masterpiece. A lot of you reading this weren’t even born when this song came out, so just shut up. Young punks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCOS2vOxuXE

SOME GREAT QUOTES
“You will find more love by generating it thank seeking it.” Alan Cohen

“The genius of communication is the ability to be totally honest and totally kind at the same time.” James Powell

“In real life, I assure you, there is no such thing as algebra.” Fran Liebowitz

“Build a little community of those you love and who love you.” Mitch Albom
”The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they’re going to have some pretty annoying virtues.” Elizabeth Taylor

“Some will never know anything because they understand everything too soon.” Thomas Blount

“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy and Jill a rich widow.” Evan Esar

“Following the herd is a sure way to mediocrity”

“Kindness is a language the dumb can speak and the deaf can hear and understand.” Christian Boyee

“Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.” Mark Twain

“Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.” Emerson

“The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised.” George Will

“Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.” Goethe

“I wanna hang a map of the world in my house. Then I'm gonna put pins into all the locations that I've traveled to. But first, I'm gonna have to travel to the top two corners of the map, so it won't fall down.” Mitch Hedberg

If you think that this newsletter will be of interest to someone that you know, please feel free to forward it on. If you have any thoughts or opinions on any of these recommendations or have recommendations of your own, please let me know-you never know where the conversation may go from there. As always, if you’d like to reach me, the easiest and fastest way is either by email at kjknebl@gmail.com or mobile phone at 719-650-7659 719-650-7659.

To your success,
Kevin

2/15/09 Gazette Interview

April 13, 2010

(There are a few errors in some of my personal information, but overall, The Gazette recorded my comments correctly)

Social-media wiz clues in small businesses
Comments 0 | Recommend 0
February 13, 2009 – 8:39 PM
WAYNE HEILMAN
THE GAZETTE
Kevin Knebl is more than just another user of Facebook, Linked-In and Plaxo; he teaches business owners and managers how those Internet sites can become important tools to recruit potential customers and turn them into loyal, long-term partners.

While he has spent his entire adult life at a keyboard, Knebl started his career tickling the ivories as a professional pianist and singer in New York for 12 years before he married and found that music wouldn't support his family. He moved into sales 10 years ago, mostly selling services to businesses, relocated to Colorado Springs in 2004 and has sold outsourced human resources to small businesses for the past two years.

Knebl, 44, gives about 150 speeches a year, or about three a week, on networking, sales and personal development in the United States and Canada for businesses involved in sales, nonprofit groups and religious organizations. He specializes in teaching small-business owners and managers how to use online social media as a form of Internet-based networking to build sales and revenue. He hopes to finish a book by April 1 on networking, but hasn't yet looked for a publisher. For more information on his book, workshops and online seminars, go to the Web site of his company, Knebl Communications LLC – www.kevinknebl.com.

Question: What is social media?

Answer: It is, in its most basic sense, a shift in how people discover, read and share information, content and news. It is also the online tools people use to share content, opinions, insights, experiences and perspectives. It is also the democratization of content and the role people play in the process. It is not only how they read and disseminate information, but also how they share and create content for others to participate in. The biggest players include LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Plaxo and FastPitch. Facebook started just for social interaction, but is quickly developing a business side.

Q: Why should small businesses use social media?

A: Social media is rapidly changing. Facebook is signing up 1 million new users a week and LinkedIn is signing up 500,000 new users a week.

LinkedIn is valued at $1.5 billion and Facebook is valued at $17 billion, and neither of these companies have been profitable to date. Both admit they have yet to discover their long-term business model.

There are ways to tap into that, but the rules are different from the traditional media.

From 1996 to 2008, the Internet was a read-only medium. It is now a read-write medium.

Now everyone with an Internet connection is a media company. Businesses can then figure out a way to reach them and leverage that through conversation marketing. It is word-of-mouth advertising that I call word-of-mouse advertising.

Q: What do you mean by ‘conversation marketing'?

A: It means creating dialogue with customers in which useful information is exchanged and both parties benefit from the relationship. As trust builds, customers develop loyalty that makes them long-term partners in a lasting business relationship.

Q: Will this require a change in how most companies do business?

A: The biggest cultural shift for businesses is transparency. The Internet is the largest decentralized community that ever existed. You can't hide anymore, and you can't control the message. Anyone with an Internet connection can put up a blog and move markets. Transparency means you are willing to engage in open dialogue with advocates, enthusiasts and critics.

Q: Are there any rules to follow in using social media?

A: When it comes to social media, there are few rules. There are only risks and opportunities and emerging principles. A lot of older people are leery of social media, but what is there is generated by users, so you can control what is in your profile on any of these sites. It allows customers to become fans of your business.

Q: Are businesses in Colorado Springs using social media extensively?

A: Social media is an emerging trend in Colorado Springs. I get calls every day from businesses in many industries as well as nonprofits and religious groups. They want to find out what it is, how it will drive revenue for them and engage clientele. There is a hunger here locally for these tools.

–

Contact the writer: 636-0234. Questions and answers are edited for space and clarity.

February 2009 From Kevin Knebl

April 13, 2010

2/1/09

Hello again to my friends, family, colleagues, and clients. Many of you know me personally through work, networking or through one of my speaking engagements related to sales skills, effective online and offline networking, LinkedIn and Social Media training and personal development; and some of you may know me only by email and telephone. Welcome to everyone that’s new to this distribution list.

Thank you for all the great feedback on this newsletter. I enjoy responding to comments and am pleased to say that this newsletter goes out to thousands of readers all over the US, Canada, China, Singapore, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Finland, England, Spain, Turkey, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Iran, France, Mexico and even New Jersey among a few other remote places (Joizy….what exit?).

I use LinkedIn.com (www.linkedin.com/in/kevinknebl) for business networking, Facebook.com (http://profile.to/kevinknebl/) for social networking, and Twitter.com for instant global messaging (http://twitter.com/kevinknebl). Through LinkedIn, I have been able to refer a lot of business and connect many people for business and social purposes. If we are not already connected on LinkedIn, please contact me to connect and if I’m able to refer business your way, I’ll be happy to do so. Please also consider connecting to me through Facebook as it is a fantastic way to keep up to date with your friends all over the globe (and a lot of fun).

A number of people have asked that I insert an announcement indicating whether I have any upcoming speaking engagements that are open to the public. I do have a number of public speaking engagements this month. If you have an interest in dates, times and speaking topics, please let me know.

Quick FYI: Due to the growing readership of this newsletter and the multiple businesses that I operate in, starting 3/1/09 I will be moving the newsletter to an email newsletter platform. This will allow me to add graphics and to add many other enhancements. Please realize that starting 3/1/09, the newsletter will not be arriving in your inbox from my ADP email address. I had hoped to start this on 2/1/09, but I am still working through some of the changes.

It’s amazing that we’re already into the second month of 2009. Time flies when you’re having fun. The mountains here in beautiful Colorado are white, the skiers are schussing, and the skaters are spinning. Here in amazing Colorado Springs, we have our cold days, and lots of days in the 50’s and 60’s that feel like the 70’s. The sunshine is amazing.
I hope that wherever you are, you’re having a great start to 2009 and that this year is your best year ever!

TWO BOOKS TO PUT ON YOUR MUST READ LIST
The New Influencers: A Marketer's Guide to the New Social Media- Paul Gillin

Social Media is taking the world by storm and Paul Gillin is an expert in this rapidly-growing field. There are many self-proclaimed “Social Media experts” out there. Paul actually has the credentials. The New Influencers is intended to help marketers understand the new patterns of influence that are emerging in social media and to begin to engage with the influencers.
Gillin says that the first decade of the internet was “read-only” and a few years ago we entered the “read/write” age. Conventional marketing wisdom has long held that a dissatisfied customer, a pundit or someone with a message to get out tells ten people. In the new age of social media, he or she has the tools to tell 10 million.
Paul covers blogs, podcasting, PR, viral marketing, social networks, and the complex interdependency that is forming between mainstream and social media. He also goes in depth to describe how small and large businesses are using social media to communicate with customers and the media and how they are attempting to become influencers themselves.

Rather than focusing on just a few aspects of how influence is changing in the digital world, the book is a comprehensive discussion. It covers a wide spectrum of social media, including podcasting, vlogging and viral video. Books this broad are usually targeted at those just getting into the space, and are a bit of a yawn for others. But – surprise – Gillin is engaging, particularly in his profiles of some of these new influencers.
Here are some great quotes from the book:
– Traditional mass media is being replaced by networks of individual and small-group influencers. Young people are so convinced of the value of peer networks that they will trust the advice of a total stranger over that of a professional marketer.
– While the popular image of a blog is as a personal diary, the reality is that the most popular-and commercially influential blogs on the internet are topical. They offer a personal voice, but usually on an issue that’s compelling to a number of people. They’re a new style of publishing that emphasizes timeliness and opinion over comprehensiveness.
– Another truth with the blogosphere is that transparency is key to working in this medium. This premium on transparency may be the single greatest cultural shift that businesses will face as they engage with social media.
– In my interviews with influencers, I found surprisingly little competitive drive. In fact, enthusiasts were more likely to compliment their competitors than dismiss them. Contrast this to the intensively competitive environment in which newsrooms operate. But enthusiasts share one characteristic pretty universally: they know a lot.
– To understand the influence in social media, you need to buy in to the power of small markets. The audience is highly engaged and often passionately interested. Often, it’s because the topic relates to their work or a cause that concerns them. People are avid consumers of information in small markets, much more so than in large ones. But until recently, there were few cost-effective ways to address many small-market needs.
– In short, there’s no barrier to entry. A blogger’s or podcaster’s success is almost entirely dependent on his or her ability, ingenuity and hard work. New voices emerge all the time and they can gain traction and become influential very quickly. Whole industries are still almost untouched by social media, which means that influence has yet to be defined there.
– By engaging prospective customers in active dialogue, companies can showcase their expertise and domain knowledge and generate buzz around their products and services, while eliciting feedback as well as collaboration from product evangelists.
– They’re joining an exploding number of small businesses that are finding that blogs and podcasts are a cheap and easy way to grow business and create an online voice.
– The motivations for small and large businesses to blog are very different, and so are the rewards. Talk to a small business blogger and he or she will tell you about sales leads and orders that came in as a result of the blog. Big businesses don’t see such ROI, or at least they don’t measure it. For them, the appeal is in creating new communication channels to customers, exposing the quality of their human capital or just looking hip. The ROI is easier to measure than many people think and the cost can be so small that it almost doesn’t matter.
– Corporate attitudes are beginning to shift away from blasting a message to engaging in a conversation. Your own business objective needs to be specific. The point is that an objective will keep you focused and focus is what will make you successful. You need to keep your commentary relevant and interesting. A business goal gives you a single guideline against which you can measure what you say.
A valuable attribute of the book is that Gillin, while an advocate of social media, is not wearing rose-colored glasses. He writes, “If you think your corporate blog is going to make your customers love you, the media go easy on you and your investors buy your stock, you’re wrong.” The New Influencers provides excellent resources and advice useful for anyone attempting to educate an organization about social media. I recommend it to “newbies” as well as those with more experience—it is always good to take in a fresh perspective, and that’s what Gillin is offering here. http://paulgillin.com
How To Get Rich: One of the World’s Greatest Entrepreneurs Shares His Secrets- Felix Dennis

Geez…another great book recommendation from my friend David Fein! This is one of the most interesting books that I have read in some time, and I read a lot of interesting books. Some will look at the title and immediately dismiss this book. I wouldn’t do that too quickly. There are always lessons available to be learned from people that are very good at what they do. There’s no denying that Dennis is a master at making money. He’s also so disarmingly honest about his motivations and his past that you quickly realize that he didn’t write this book because he needs the money. He’s in a position where he can speak his mind freely and let the chips fall where they will.
Are you looking for a practical how-to, what’s-it-like guide to becoming a rich entrepreneur, written by an expert and eccentric? If so, Felix Dennis’ How To Get Rich is probably for you. Though I really liked his writing style — direct, bold, and funny in a self-effacing way– truth be told, with a title like How To Get Rich, I lowered my expectations a bit in case it turned out to be the usual stuff you usually find in the Business Profiles section of a bookstore. Actually, Dennis has some pretty harsh words for all the authors out there who write how-to-get-rich books without actually having done so, except by selling copies of their how-to books!
Enter Felix Dennis, a British publishing mogul who loves writing poems, outstanding wines, and telling it like it is. If you’ve never heard of him, he started Dennis Publishing in 1974, hit it big by publishing magazines related to the PC revolution back when no one else thought it would last, and nowadays publishes some of the most successful men’s lifestyle magazines in the US, like Maxim, Stuff, and Blender. By his own estimation, he’s worth about $400-$900M before tax.
Dennis emphasizes in his book that it’s a definitive how-to guide to being rich, and he regularly repeats, more than half-seriously, that if you’re not using his book to get rich, then you’re wasting your time and might as well give it to someone who will use it properly. I disagree wholeheartedly. You’re going to get good advice from this book regardless of whether you’re aiming to become rich, want to run your own simple business, or even if you work for someone else.
Sure, for those who are looking to get filthy rich, Dennis’s advice is probably spot-on. In a nutshell: choose a good industry (he gives some guidelines on what to avoid), mix in some luck (he gives advice on how to improve your chances of catching Lady Luck), and, finally, the most important part, retain 100% ownership of it through thick and thin (much easier said than done). Dennis truly believes that getting rich really isn’t hard, and anyone can do it, as long as they’re willing to make the sacrifices that are required to get there. On this point, I like that Dennis handles being rich even handedly. He says outright that being rich won’t make anyone happier and is in fact more likely to lead to distress and loneliness, because getting there and maintaining wealth always requires personal sacrifices that most people aren’t willing to make, and for good reason.
I suppose the reason I enjoy this book so much and will read it over and over again is that you seldom have the opportunity to hear someone’s philosophy and conclusions about living life, let alone someone who has probably done things you’ll never get to do (but might like to). I like that Dennis gives examples of his thought processes, and I don’t mean only on his successful ventures. More often than not, he gives examples of how he missed opportunities and made errors. He talks about what he’d do differently if he had the chance to start over. He gives some advice on managing talent (what he considers the important asset in a business) even though he also says that entrepreneurs shouldn’t be focusing on managing people.
Here are some great quotes from the book:
– Personally I know only five acquaintances who dedicated themselves to achieving success in business in order to make themselves seriously rich. (As opposed to scores of senior managers or professionals known to me who dedicated themselves to success in their business life, but allowed others to reap the main financial rewards of their labors.)
– No matter how much faculty of idle seeing a man has, the step from knowing to doing is rarely taken. Knowing that fear of failure is holding you back is a step in the right direction. But it isn’t enough, because knowing isn’t doing.
– We do not choose out parents. We do not choose our nationality. We do not choose who we fall in love with. We do not even choose the personality or character of the children we bring into the world or our own personal characteristics-random configurations of DNA do it for us. But we do get to choose, if we are determined enough, what it is we want to do for a living. Most of us flunk this test.
– It is the instinct to seize an opportunity when it presents itself that perhaps sets apart the self-made filthy rich from the comfortably poor, the willingness to ignore conventional wisdom and risk everything on what others consider to be folly.
– The lesson is clear. Despite the words of the old rock ‘n’ roll song; the original is not the greatest. Not always. If you want to be rich, then watch your rivals closely and never be ashamed to emulate a winning strategy. They may josh you a little for doing it, but that’s a price well worth paying. The problem with the great idea is that it concentrates the mind on the idea itself. This is fine as far as it goes. But unless the idea is executed efficiently and with panache and originality, then it doesn’t matter how great the idea is, the enterprise will fail. Ideas are certainly of immense importance, but I have seen so many people attempting to create a start-up company become obsessed with proving that their idea is “right” rather than obsessed with making money. Nobody really cares if an idea is “right”, except the person who came up with it.
– This is an “anti-self-improvement” book-because it admits openly that the chances of anyone reading it and then becoming rich are miniscule. The vast majority of you are far too nice. And comfortable. And sensible.
– Learning to evolve or die is a cardinal virtue. Most of us would prefer that things stayed the same so that we can carry on making money in the way we have grown comfortable with. But things do not stay the same. Either you learn to go with the flow and change as rapidly as you are able, or you will be left stranded, like the last dinosaur, by the last warm lake, on the last continent the ice age has yet to reach.
– The biggest basket I ever built wasn’t my first or second. It was my twentieth. But if I hadn’t built the second, I would never have reached the twentieth.
– The chief value of money lies in the fact that one lives in a world in which it is overestimated.
– Please remember: you are not reading this book to become a successful manager. Managers rarely become rich. Most managers are lieutenants. You, on the other hand, have to keep your eye on another ball-several other balls, in fact. You may well have to masquerade as a manager (for a short while) on the way to becoming rich, and you should strive to be a good manager while the role is forced upon you. But even if you discover that you truly have a talent for the minutiae that management demands, it’s best to abandon the role just as soon as you can afford to hire appropriate personnel.
– The world is full of aspiring lieutenants. Most people seek job security, job satisfaction and power over others far more than they seek wealth. And thank goodness for that. If all the great managers in the world were dead set on becoming rich, and willing to take the necessary risks to do so, there would be little hope for the likes of you and me.
– Please think about this if you want to be rich. Ownership is not the most important thing. It is the only thing that counts. Nothing else counts in the getting of money.
There are so many interesting concepts and quotes in this book that I could fill a few newsletters. Even if being an entrepreneur isn’t one of your goals, this book will still give you perspectives that you’ll seldom hear from other people in your life. Like him or hate him, you can’t deny that he speaks his mind. I REALLY enjoyed this book. www.felixdennis.com
WONDERFUL MUSIC
Shine- Joni Mitchell
I’ve been a big Joni Mitchell fan for years and I’m hoping that someday my wife, Karin, will appreciate her. God knows, I’ve tried to get Karin to come over to my side. If I could just get her to turn off the Abba, Barry Manilow, Aha and Anchovy (Bon Jovi) for a few minutes.

Joni Mitchell's first album of new songs in many years finds her mourning the sad state of the planet, but with a newfound acceptance that all things have their place in the universe ("bad dreams are good in the great plan," as she puts it here, quoting her young grandson) — including her own anger and disappointment. Despite the numerous call-outs of money/corruption/greed/rage/war and the incivility of humankind, the album does not end up being disheartening, but the opposite. Her voice — husky with age and chain-smoked American Spirits — shines with a warrior's strength and defiance even in ragged armor, like Billie Holiday's late recordings. And most wonderfully, Joni is still pushing her music into vital new territory, foregoing the synthesizer-guitar textures of other artists for piano, horns, percussion, and other warmly organic voices.

She boldly opens the album with an instrumental, which struck me as an odd move on first hearing, but in the context of the rest of the album makes perfect sense on Joni's terms, which are the only terms on which she makes records, bless her. (Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young — her true peers — also specialized in weirding out listeners who expected more-of-the-same with each new record.) Every song gets a distinctive orchestration of its own, from the percolating "Hana" — a portrait of an old movie heroine, an Irish bodhisattva disguised as a traveling maid, who had "a special knack for getting people back on the right track" — to a playful reprise of "Big Yellow Taxi" rescored like French circus music. "This Place" has particularly sleek and engaging sound, blending lap steel, warm horns, and bright keyboards, with its reference to a neighbor in rural British Columbia who says, "When I get to heaven, if it is not like this, I'll just hop a cloud and I'm coming back down here…"

Joni is a genius and she is greatly appreciated for all that she has created over the years and if I had to put money on it, I’d wager that as time goes on she’ll be appreciated more and more.
www.jonimitchell.com

ARE YOU GOING TO FINISH STRONG?
My good friend, Dave Block, sent me this fantastic clip. There are times when things are not going well for me and like almost everyone else, I can start to feel sorry for myself and shake my fist at the air and get pretty upset. When I watched this short amazing clip I realized that if most of us had the opportunity to put our troubles in a bag with other people’s troubles and pick one, we’d rather just keep our own situations.
Nick Vujicic has no arms or legs but has come to terms with his lot in life and he delivers an inspirational speech to these school kids that they will probably never forget.
http://www.maniacworld.com/are-you-going-to-finish-strong.html

FLYING LIKE BIRDS
A while back I posted a video of a Frenchman that built a flying suit that has an engine on it. Wait until you see this clip. Who needs an engine? The guys that are in this amazing footage are mind-boggling. They come within inches of mountains at well over 100 mph and the photography is remarkable. I have watched this over and over and over and am constantly dumbfounded by this. Thanks go to my friend, Melanie Kantor for this tremendous clip.
http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1778399&server=vimeo.com&show_tit

A MEAL TO DIE FOR
My dad forwarded this clip to me. He also told me that if I ever took my kids here, I’ll be out of the will. You know the drill….…where there’s a will, there’s a relative.
This is one heck of a restaurant in Chandler, Arizona. No one can say that they weren’t warned by the name of the place. If you’re gonna check out, at least the scenery is pretty nice.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4632991n

WHAT ENGINEERS DO WHEN THEY RETIRE
Thanks to my friend Todd Dierdorff from outside Sacramento, CA for this clip. It should come as no surprise that this Rube Goldberg-type video comes from Germany. I can say that because I are a German. I’m afraid of the mind that thought this up, but I have to give them credit for the use of the chess board and the cell phone….brilliant!
http://www.chilloutzone.de/files/player.swf?b=10&l=197&u=ILLUMllSOOAvIF//P_LxP92A42lCHCeeWCejXnHAS/c

THE WORST BEST MAN EVER
The name sums up the content of this brief clip.
http://ca.video.yahoo.com/watch/3710199?fr=yvmtf

START WEARING PURPLE
In keeping with my personal philosophy that you can never get enough odd music videos, I submit this piece of brilliance by Gogol Bordello for your review. If you enjoy this, perhaps you and I should go to a few New York clubs together. I haven’t been to those clubs in some time, but I’m about due for a visit. Colorado Springs is great, but I can assure you that there are no clubs like this here. Special thanks to my cousin Tony in Brooklyn, NY for this purple gem.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_81l4DXlwM

SOME GREAT QUOTES
“Age doesn’t protect you from love. But love, to some extent, protects you from age.” Jeanne Moreau

“We are born charming, fresh and spontaneous and we must be civilized before we are fit to participate in society.” Judith Martin

“All the technology in the world will never replace a positive attitude.” Harvey Mackay

“True strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces, and then eat just one of the pieces.” Judith Viorst

”A healthy male adult bore consumes each year one and a half times his own weight in other people’s patience.” John Updike

“Seek the wisdom of the ages, but look at the world through the eyes of a child.” Ron Wild

“The man who says that he is willing to meet you halfway is usually a poor judge of distance.” Laurence Peter

“Dissatisfaction and discouragement are not caused by the absence of things but the absence of vision.” Anonymous

“The prime purpose of eloquence is to keep other people from talking.” Louis Vermeil

“Decide if you’re Tigger or Eeyore.” Unknown

“It is never too late to give up our prejudices.” Thoreau

“I think men who have a pierced ear are better prepared for marriage. They’ve experienced pain and they’ve bought jewelry.” Rita Rudner

“We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action.” Frank Tilbolt

“Football is a mistake. It combines the two worst elements of American life. Violence and committee meetings.” George Will

To your success,
Kevin

January 2009 From Kevin Knebl

April 13, 2010

1/1/09

Thank you for all the great feedback on this newsletter. I respond to all comments and am pleased to say that this newsletter goes out to thousands of readers all over the US, Canada, China, Singapore, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Finland, England, Spain, Iran and even New Jersey (Joizy….what exit?) and a few other remote places.

I use LinkedIn.com (www.linkedin.com/in/kevinknebl) for business networking, Facebook.com (http://profile.to/kevinknebl/) for social networking, Plaxo.com for keeping track of contact information and Twitter.com for global instant messaging (http://twitter.com/kevinknebl). Through LinkedIn, I have been able to refer a lot of business and connect many people for business and social purposes. If we are not already connected on LinkedIn, please contact me to connect and if I’m able to refer business your way, I’ll be happy to do so. Please also consider connecting to me through Facebook as it is a fantastic way to keep up to date with your friends all over the globe (and a lot of fun).

A number of people have asked that I insert an announcement indicating whether I have any upcoming speaking engagements that are open to the public. I do have a few public speaking engagements this month. If you have an interest in dates, times and speaking topics, please let me know.

Quick FYI: Due to the growing readership of this newsletter and the multiple businesses that I operate in, starting 2/1/09 I will be moving the newsletter to an email newsletter platform such as Constant Contact or iContact. This will allow me to move off of ADP’s servers, add graphics and to add many other enhancements. Please realize that starting 2/1/09, the newsletter will not be arriving in your inbox from my ADP email address. There are some exciting changes coming!

Holy cow…is it 2009 already?! Didn’t we just do the whole Y2K thing? Jeez, that was almost a decade ago. Getting older is like gaining weight and losing hair; you just don’t notice it because no matter where you go, there you are. One day you look in the mirror and scream, “Dad!!”
I hope that you had a wonderful holiday season and that your new year is off to a fun start. This is going to be the best year ever!

TWO BOOKS TO PUT ON YOUR MUST READ LIST
Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd is Driving the Future of Business- Jeff Howe
This great 2008 book is mandatory reading for business people that are looking to understand the effect of online collaboration, social networking and some of the powerful business applications that are available to forward thinking innovators. Howe is a black belt in technology as a writer for Wired magazine. I’ve read his work for years and he’s about as in touch as you can be. He even coined the term “crowdsourcing” in 2006.

Crowdsourcing is the term for the act of taking a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people, in the form of an open call. For example, the public may be invited to develop a new technology, carry out a design task (also known as community-based design and distributed participatory design), refine or carry out the steps of an algorithm, or help capture, systematize or analyze large amounts of data. The term has become popular with business authors and journalists as shorthand for the trend of leveraging the mass collaboration enabled by Web 2.0 technologies to achieve business goals.
In some cases, the labor is well compensated. In other cases, the only rewards may be kudos or intellectual satisfaction. Crowdsourcing may produce solutions from amateurs or volunteers working in their spare time, or from small businesses which were unknown to the initiating organization.
Perceived benefits of crowdsourcing include: problems can be explored at comparatively little cost, payment is by results, and the organization can tap a wider range of talent than might be present in its own organization.
The difference between crowdsourcing and ordinary outsourcing is that a task or problem is outsourced to the public rather than another body. The difference between crowdsourcing and open source is that open source production is a cooperative activity initiated and voluntarily undertaken by members of the public. In crowdsourcing the activity is initiated by a client and the work may be undertaken on an individual, as well as a group, basis.

Here are some great quotes from the book:
· Labor can often be organized more efficiently in the context of community than it can in the context of a corporation.
· “No matter who you are,” Joy once said, “most of the smartest people work for someone else.” That, in a nutshell, is what this whole book is about. Given the right set of conditions, the crowd will almost always outperform any number of employees-a fact that companies are becoming aware of and are increasingly attempting to exploit.
· Crowdsourcing has the capacity to form a sort of perfect meritocracy. Gone are pedigree, race, gender, age, and qualification. What remains is the quality of the work itself.
· But more than simply identifying diamonds in the rough, crowdsourcing also cultivates and nurtures that talent. In this way, crowdsourcing adds to our culture’s general store of intellectual capital.
· It capitalizes on the fact that our interests are more diverse than our business cards would have one believe.
· Crowdsourcing is like an immense talent-finding mechanism.
· In spring 2007, YouTube announced it would begin giving its most popular contributors-those whose videos regularly get viewed more than a million times-a cut of ad revenues, which is a strong indicator that those parallel universes are starting to collide. The future of entertainment will, at least in part, be outsourced to the crowd.
· By one measure at least, You Tube is a very small company. Before being acquired by Google, its sixty-seven employees fit into three floors of an unremarkable office building in San Bruno, California. That’s exactly one fewer employee than work at the average American nursing home. But by another measure, YouTube is a far larger company. At the time of its acquisition by Google, YouTube was valued at $1.65 billion. That number could seem unreasonable by conventional measures, but YouTube is hardly a conventional company.
Google didn’t pay for the expertise housed within that San Bruno office. It paid for the millions of users who create and submit videos to YouTube, and for the traffic they drive to the site. It paid, in short, for the community-the people who use it to engage in a conversation in a language of moving images. YouTube is far from the only company whose primary asset is its community. Facebook employs roughly seven hundred- a skeleton crew for a company that was valued, at the time of Microsoft’s investment in the social networking site, in the region of $15 billion. As of early 2007, Wikipedia employed only five people. By contrast, the Encyclopedia Britannica was written by over four thousand paid contributors and one hundred full-time editors. In these cases, the community is taking the place of the corporation.
The conventional corporation isn’t going away anytime soon, but its hegemony is certainly under assault. Despite its unchallenged reign throughout the twentieth century, the traditional corporate structure is an artifact of the Industrial Revolution.

Howe’s book has many case studies that are easily read and free of techno-jargon. Whatever line of work you’re in, you’ll find this well written book a fascinating look into the future of business. I personally know people that are experimenting in the eminent domain that is the internet. Buckle up…it’s a great ride!
Here are Jeff Howe’s blog: http://crowdsourcing.typepad.com/ and his brief video book trailer http://crowdsourcing.typepad.com/cs/2008/07/crowdsourcing-t.html

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom- don Miguel Ruiz
This book was recommended to me some time ago by my friend, Sandy Duvall (another Witness Relocation Program participant from New Jersey- there are a number of us out here in the West) and I’ve read it a few times over the last year or so. don Miguel has written a wonderful book that at first may sound simplistic, but as most truths are, the concepts prove to be profound in their simplicity. Ruiz comes from a long tradition of spiritual teachers from Southern Mexico. He comes from the Toltec tradition that is most accurately described as a way of life, distinguished by the ready accessibility of happiness and love.

The Four Agreements are:
· Be impeccable with your word
· Don’t take anything personally
· Don’t make assumptions
· Always do your best

In The Four Agreements, don Miguel Ruiz reveals the source of self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and create needless suffering. Based on ancient Toltec wisdom, The Four Agreements offer a powerful code of conduct that can rapidly transform our lives to a new experience of freedom, true happiness, and love.

Here are some great quotes from the book:
· You can measure the impeccability of your word by your level of self-love. How much you love yourself and how you feel about yourself are directly proportionate to the quality and integrity of your word. When you are impeccable with your word, you feel good; you feel happy and at peace.
· It is very interesting how the human mind works. We have the need to justify everything, to explain and understand everything, in order to feel safe. We have millions of questions that need answers because there are so many things that the reasoning mind cannot explain. It is not important if the answer is correct; just the answer itself makes us feel safe. This is why we make assumptions. We make all sorts of assumptions because we don’t have the courage to ask questions.
· Doing your best, you are going to live your life intensely. You are going to be productive, you are going to be good to yourself, because you will be giving yourself to your family, to your community, to everything. But it is the action that is going to make you feel intensely happy. When you always do your best, you take action. Doing your best is taking the action because you love it, not because you’re expecting a reward. Most people do exactly the opposite: they only take action when they expect a reward, and they don’t enjoy the action. And that’s the reason why they don’t do their best.
· Very young children are not afraid to express what they feel. They are so loving that if they perceive love, they melt into love. They are not afraid to love at all. That is the description of a normal human being. As children we are not afraid of the future or ashamed of the past. Our normal human tendency is to enjoy life, to play, to explore, to be happy, and to love. You don’t need to blame your parents for teaching you to be like them. They had no control over the programming they received, so they couldn’t have behaved any differently. The real you is still a little child who never grew up.
· The freedom we are looking for is the freedom to be ourselves. For every thousand people, nine hundred and ninety-nine are completely domesticated. The first step toward personal freedom is awareness.

Whatever your faith, there are valuable lessons to be learned in this book. We are all far more similar than dissimilar, and people are people wherever you go. As Aristotle said, “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” Keep an open mind like an open net when you read this book and you may be surprised what falls into it. Someone once told me to remember that the mind is like a parachute and only works when it is open.
http://www.miguelruiz.com/

WONDERFUL MUSIC
Songs For Silverman- Ben Folds
This is one of my favorite CD’s that I wore out in 2008. Ben Folds is brilliant. I have followed his music for years and never get tired of his fantastic music. He is a great singer/songwriter in the tradition of Elton John and Billy Joel. He can sometimes venture into risqué material, but this CD is pretty safe (for those people that may be surprised by that last statement, Mozart often delved into risqué material).
Folds has sparse orchestrations for his songs. He has great hooks and wonderful melodies that you’ll be humming long after you take the CD out of your car. My kids love his songs and often ask me to play his CD’s when we get in my SUV (I just have to be careful which CD’s I put in).

Ben is a great musician with a wonderful sense of humor. Humor is a very hard thing to pull off in music without sounding like a clown and he does it brilliantly. I played piano professionally for years and I have deep respect for his beautiful yet simple melodies and arrangements. The great ones always make it look so simple. I hope that you enjoy this CD as much as I do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54eNjLgImLs
….and as a bonus, one of my favorite, beautiful and poignant Ben Folds songs from a previous CD: ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRlgq59dsFQ

BRILLIANT JOHN WILLIAMS TRIBUTE
My good friend, Neal, from Sugar Land, Texas sent me this fantastic clip. When it comes to movie soundtracks, there is only one John Williams. I think that he is Steven Spielberg’s twin based on the number of movies that they’ve collaborated on together.
The gentleman who created this clip is amazing. Not only did he synchronize himself in four-part harmony, he created a pretty funny piece of music by weaving together melodies from some of the most famous Williams soundtracks of all time. If you are a Star Wars or Indiana Jones fan, you will love this clip.
Once again, YouTube and Social Media allow all of us to see and appreciate the intelligence, humor, art and passion of folks that would otherwise go unnoticed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk5_OSsawz4

A MUSICAL PERFORMANCE BY ST FRANCIS de la SISSIES
This is a very creative and hilarious musical clip. Make sure that you watch it all the way until the end. Their musicality is top notch!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HkXmOIwpkQ&feature=email

SIR KEN ROBINSON AT TED
My friend Gary Friedman in Denver recently loaned some CD’s from past TED conferences. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It started out in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from those three worlds. Since then its scope has become ever broader. The annual conference now brings together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes or less). The topics that are discussed are as varied as you can imagine. Lucky for all of us, these talks are videotaped and can be seen at www.ted.com for free.

Ken Robinson is an internationally-renowned expert in the field of creativity and innovation in business and education, and his visionary consultancy skills are employed by governments, major corporations and cultural organizations worldwide. Sir Ken challenges the way we're educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence. Great talk!
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

THE ORIGINAL GRATITUDE DANCE
Nothing deep or profound with this one-I just like it. If you watch this and think, “humbug, what a waste of time”….you didn’t get it and you might want to watch it again. Just saying.
Also, it looks like it was shot in Victoria, BC. Karin and I took a vacation there a few years back without the kids. What a beautiful place.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9z2ELaBVJY

SOME GREAT QUOTES
“If you judge people, you have not time to love them.” Mother Teresa

“Everything is vague to a degree you do not realize till you have tried to make it precise.” Bertrand Russell

“We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action.” Frank Tibolt

“Invention is the mother of necessity.” Thorstein Veblen

”Competence, like truth, beauty and contact lenses, is in the eye of the beholder.” Laurence J. Peter

“Dissatisfaction and discouragement are not caused by the absence of things but the absence of vision.” Anonymous

“Supply and demand: if you knew there was an infinite supply you would have no need to demand.” Alan Cohen

“Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.” George Bernard Shaw

“We are all born for love. It is the principle of existence and its only end.” Benjamin Disraeli

“Speak the truth, but leave immediately thereafter.” Slovenian proverb

“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.” Emerson

“I think age is a very high price to pay for maturity.” Tom Stoppard

“One half of life is luck; the other half is discipline-and that’s the important half, for without discipline you wouldn’t know what to do with the luck.” Carl Zuckmayer

“The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.” John Kenneth Galbraith

To your success,
Kevin

December 2008 From Kevin Knebl

April 13, 2010

12/1/08

Hello again to my friends, family, colleagues, and clients. Many of you know me personally through work, networking or through one of my speaking engagements related to sales skills, effective networking and personal development; and some of you may know me only by email and telephone. Welcome to everyone that’s new to this distribution list.

There are a lot of very smart and interesting people that I am fortunate to network with. We share books, movies, music and ideas that stimulate us. I'm always interested to learn what other people that I respect are reading, watching and listening to. This is my monthly email newsletter with books I’ve recently read, movies seen, music devoured, ideas and other things that may be of interest to you. If you find this interesting and would like to pass it on, please feel free to do so. If you’d like to be removed from this list just let me know. If someone forwarded this newsletter to you and you would like to be added to this distribution list or if you’d like to view previous newsletters, please email me and let me know.

Thank you for all the great feedback on this newsletter. I always respond to all comments and am pleased to say that this newsletter goes out to readers all over the US, Canada, China, Singapore, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Finland, England, Spain and even New Jersey (Joizy….what exit?) and a few other remote places.

I use LinkedIn.com for business networking, Facebook.com for social networking and Plaxo.com for keeping track of contact information. Through LinkedIn, I have been able to refer a tremendous amount of business and connect many people for business and social purposes. If we are not already connected on LinkedIn, please contact me to connect and if I’m able to refer business your way, I’ll be happy to do so. Please also consider connecting to me through Facebook as it is a fantastic way to keep up to date (and a lot of fun) with your friends all over the globe.

Santa time! It’s already snowing here in beautiful Colorado Springs. The mountains are white and Pikes Peak looks great. The holiday lights are up at The Broadmoor and it looks like a castle out of a Disney movie. It’s hard to believe that 2008 is coming to an end. It’s been a wild year. God bless us…one and all.

TWO BOOKS TO PUT ON YOUR MUST READ LIST
Love is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends- Tim Sanders
My friend, Woody Nash, in NJ, turned me on to this book back in 2003. There are a handful of books that I often comment on in my talks and this is one of the books I most frequently refer to. When I first read this great book, I though, “here’s an author that isn’t an MBA-toting, look at me I went to Wharton, I interned on Wall Street type.” I liked that. A lot.
Tim Sanders, former director of Yahoo's in-house think tank, believes love is the crucial element in the search for personal and professional success. In Love Is the Killer App he explains why. Sander's advice is to be a "lovecat," which despite the cutesy moniker is his sincere and surprisingly practical prescription for advancement both inside and outside the office. It starts with amassing as much usable knowledge as possible, which he explains can be done by religiously carving out time to read and then poring through as many cutting-edge books in your field as possible. It follows with an emphasis on networking to the extreme. Sanders offers concrete suggestions, from compiling a super list of contacts to ensuring all are regularly stored in an always-accessible format. And he concludes by advocating a true mindset of compassion, which he says involves sharing this knowledge with those contacts and ultimately helping anyone who in one way or another may ultimately help you. Through identifiable anecdotes and specific recommendations, the book promotes an undeniably feasible yet decidedly offbeat program that has worked for the author and could prove equally favorable for others who apply it. I’ve been using his system for years.
Here are some of my favorite excerpts from Sanders’ book:
· Here, then, is my definition of love business: the act of intelligently and sensibly sharing your intangibles with your bizpartnes. What are our intangibles? They are our knowledge, our network, and our compassion. These are the keys to true bizlove.
– Hide quoted text –
· If you don’t build a brand, you risk being commoditized- in other words, you risk becoming a human switch, someone who performs a function that has yet to be automated, but probably will be at some future date.
· Be distinct or be extinct.
· There’s no such thing as a commodity- only a person who thinks like one.
· Don’t be fooled. Lovecats are not soft and vulnerable. We are glowing, powerful, and respected by our peers. And we are careful about whom we love.
· Our business stronghold is no longer grounded in a physical workplace. Today it is based in our fellow humans: If you build a stronghold centered on the caring people who support you rather than on the company itself, you’ll have something to fall back on if things go awry. Although the rules of business have changed over the years, people haven’t.
· To create that stronghold, you have to put in some real work. By that I mean: Accumulate enough knowledge that you can share it with others- so you can enable them to profit from your knowledge as much as you do.
· When people appear to be something other than good and decent, it is only because they are reacting to stress, pain, or the deprivation of basic human needs such as security, love and self-esteem.
· The purpose of collecting contacts is to give them away- to match them with other contacts.
· Bizlove means never having to say “You owe me.”
· Eventually we are all going to build our own personal Internets and enjoy the same increasing returns provided by the existing Internet.
· The bigger it gets, the bigger it gets. The same is true for your network. Through the powerful word-of-mouse, love springs eternal in the connected world.
Between Love is the Killer App and Endless Referrals (by Bob Burg), I think that anyone that wants to become a networking black belt and a love ninja, can do so. As Burt Bacharach says, “What the world needs now, is love, sweet love.”
http://www.timsanders.com/

“Uh-Oh”- Robert Fulghum
Fulghum reminds me of a modern Will Rogers. He writes great books that show his unique perspective on the seemingly mundane (Seinfeld did this is in a brilliant way with his humor). Fulghum writes with wit and wisdom about small lives with big meanings. Fulghum’s stories about ordinary life remind us that within simplicity lies the sublime.
Here’s an excerpt from Uh-Oh:
Uh-oh is not in any dictionary or thesaurus, and is seldom seen in written form. Yet most of us utter that sound every day. And have used it all our lives. "Uh-oh" is one of the first expressions a baby learns. "Uh-oh," or something like it, has been used as long as people have existed. And it may be the first thing Adam said to Eve after he bit into the apple. She knew exactly what he meant, too.
Across the history of the human family, millions and millions of distinct sounds have come and gone as we continually reach for ways to communicate with one another. Often, the most expressive words we use are not words at all, just those shorthand sounds that represent complex thoughts-grunts and moans and snorts and clicks and whistles compounded by facial expressions and physical gestures: "Uh-huh … no-no … mmmnnn …. huh … hey … oops … OK. . . yo … ah … ha … humpf. , .- and an almost endless number of others whose meaning and spelling cannot be conveyed with letters on paper. "Uh-oh" is way up near the top of a list of small syllables with large meanings.
We say "uh-oh" to a small child who falls down or bumps his head or pinches his finger. It means that we know the child hurts, but we also know the hurt is temporary and that the child has the resources to handle the hurt and get up and go on about his business. As the child learns, he will not need to turn to a parent to kiss-it-and-make-it-well each time he scrapes himself-he will know where to find the bandages on his own. "Uh-oh" is the first wedge in weaning, a child away from us into independence.
The older we get, the more experience and knowledge we have, the more able we are to distinguish momentary difficulty from serious trouble. The more we know that something is "uh-oh," not 911. If I had a chest pain, I might go to an emergency room thinking "Oh my God, heart attack!" It my doctor had the same symptoms, she might think, Uh-oh, gas pains, take an antacid, and go on with her work. What to me is the last gasp of my old truck is a repairable electric problem to my mechanic. "Uh-oh, there's a short in your ignition wire." One might even come to feel the same way about things that cannot be fixed. From the cradle we know about "Rock-a-bye-baby" and what happens when the bough breaks. In kindergarten we are reminded about these conditions. All the king's horses and all the king's men could not put Humpty Dumpty together again. I'm familiar with death, having been around it often in hospitals and cemeteries. If I see my own death coming, my response may well be "uh-oh."
"Uh-oh" in this sense is a frame of mind. A philosophy. It says to expect the unexpected, and also expect to be able to deal with it as it happens most of the time. "Uh-oh" people seem not only to expect surprise, but they count on it, as if surprise were a dimension of vitality.
"Uh-oh" embraces "Here we go again" and "Now what?" and "You never can tell what's going to happen next" and "So much for plan A" and "Hang on, we re coming to a tunnel" and "No sweat" and "Tomorrow's another day" and "You can't unscramble an egg" and "A hundred years from now it won't make any difference." "Uh-oh" is more than a momentary reaction to small problems. "Uh-oh" is an attitude–a perspective on the universe. It is part of an equation that summarizes my view of the conditions of existence: "uh-huh" + "oh-wow" + "uh-oh" + "oh, God" = "ah-hah!"
If everyone read a little Fulghum everyday (Put one of his books in your reading room. You know- the one with the porcelain reading chair.), the world would be a better place.
Fulghum was in Denver recently giving a talk and I missed the event. I won’t miss the next one. He’s a national treasure.
http://www.robertfulghum.com/

GREAT MUSIC
Sleep Through The Static- Jack Johnson
Jack was raised in Hawaii and is the son of a famous surfer and was briefly a pro surfer himself. He had a serious surfing accident at 17 and received almost 150 stitches and left surfing. He had been playing guitar since he was 14 and had written many songs by this point. He went on to film school in California and continued playing guitar.
Jack Johnson may be a former pro surfer, but he ain't no Beach Boy. Where the songs of Brian Wilson (who never actually surfed, remember) celebrate the rush and exuberant triumph of catching a wave, Johnson draws on the sport's solitary, Zen-like side — the gentle, rolling rhythms of his music match his simple, nature-inspired language. Over the course of three platinum albums, plus the bulk of the chart-topping 2006 soundtrack to Curious George, this laid-back worldview has been enough to make the affable Johnson an unlikely pop sensation.
This CD is a mellow recording and his songs often have a reggae feel to them. The songs are simple with sparse instrumentation. This is not a CD for rocking to. If you’re looking for a CD with a smooth, easy groove, this is it. It’s perfect for a lazy afternoon hanging out and chillin’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbLIRGW9ta4

GREAT MOVIE
The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Karin and I really enjoyed this movie. We had both read this book a few years ago and really like the film adaptation. Most people have read or heard of Mitch Albom’s well-known book, “Tuesdays With Morrie”.
After the success of Tuesdays with Morrie, Albom's next foray was in fiction. His follow-up book was The Five People You Meet in Heaven published in September 2003. Although released six years after Tuesdays With Morrie, the book was a fast success and again launched Albom onto the New York Times best-seller list. Selling over 10 million copies in 35 languages, The Five People You Meet In Heaven is the bestselling hardcover first-time novel ever. In 2004, it was turned into a television movie for ABC, starring Jon Voight, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Imperioli and Jeff Daniels. The film was critically acclaimed and the most watched TV movie of the year.
The Five People You Meet in Heaven is the story of Eddie, a wounded war veteran who lives what he believes is an uninspired and lonely life fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. On his 83rd birthday, Eddie is killed while trying to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakes in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a location but a place in which your life is explained to you by five people who were in it who affected, or were affected by, your life.
We often don’t realize the impact that our life may have on others. There are times when we feel like perhaps we aren’t making much of a difference or that we are just taking up space. Don’t be fooled. It’s all a comedic drama and we all play a part whether we know it or not.
Some people may think that this is a sappy, silly story, but as Paul McCartney sang, “What’s wrong with silly love songs?” This is a tear jerker that goes great with someone you love, a big bowl of popcorn and the lights turned down low.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0400435/

WHAT MOVES!
There was only one James Brown. The man was a genius. He taught Michael Jackson, John Travolta, Milli Vanilli and me all that we know. (Alright, Milli wasn’t really in our league)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l89xJPi2U_Q&feature=related

DOLPHIN RINGS
This clip is from my “Some Animals are Smarter than Some People” file. My cool Aunt Marie from Atlanta sent this one to me. Dolphins are amazing and this clip is beautiful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMCf7SNUb-Q

VERY COOL VEHICLE
I want one of these. Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before? It looks like a blast to drive and wouldn’t take long at all to learn how to navigate. I wonder if you could pop a wheelie in one of these?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ3xrNUPjic

SOME GREAT QUOTES
“The last of the human freedoms is to choose one’s attitudes.” Victor Frankl

“Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.” Napoleon Boneparte

“It is alright your saying you do not need other people, but there are a lot of people who need you.” Sherwood Anderson

“A committee is a cul-de-sac down which ideas are lured and then quietly strangled.” Sir Barnett Cocks

”The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised.” George Will

“All of the significant battles are waged within the self.” Sheldon Kopp

“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered.” G.K. Chesterton

“I base my fashion on what doesn’t itch.” Gilda Radner

“I can picture in my mind a world without war, a world without hate. And I can picture us attacking that world, because they’d never expect it.” Jack Handey

“Motivation will almost always beat mere talent.” Norman Augustine

“The record books are not concerned with the score at halftime.” Unknown

“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.” Unknown

“To punish me for my contempt for authority, fate made me an authority myself.” Einstein

“The average man, who does not know what to do with his life, wants another one which will last forever.” Anatole France

If you think that this will be of interest to someone that you know, please feel free to forward it on. If you have any thoughts or opinions on any of these recommendations or have recommendations of your own, please let me know- you never know where the conversation will go from there. As always, if you’d like to reach me, the easiest and fastest way is either by email or mobile phone.

To your success,
Kevin

November 2008 From Kevin Knebl

April 13, 2010

11/1/08

Hello again to my friends, family, colleagues, and clients. Many of you know me personally through work, networking or through one of my speaking engagements related to sales skills, effective networking and personal development; and some of you may know me only by email and telephone. Welcome to everyone that’s new to this distribution list.

I use LinkedIn.com for business networking, Facebook.com for social networking and Plaxo.com for keeping track of contact information. Through LinkedIn, I have been able to refer a tremendous amount of business and connect many people for business purposes. If we are not already connected on LinkedIn, please contact me to connect and if I’m able to refer business your way, I’ll be happy to do so. Please also consider connecting to me through Facebook as it is a fantastic way to keep up to date with your friends all over the globe (and a lot of fun).

Well, it’s started snowing here in beautiful Colorado. This is such an amazing time of year. The leaves have turned yellow and are dropping and the mountains are all snow-capped. We’ll get snow and a cold but sunny day and then the next day will be 65 degrees. It’s never boring and almost always sunny- heaven on earth.

A BOOK TO PUT ON YOUR MUST READ LIST
Endless Referrals (Third Edition)- Bob Burg
This is the true networker’s “what it is and how-to” bible….period. I first read this masterpiece back in 1994 when Bob wrote it. I applied what he taught and have turned thousands of everyday contacts into friendships and also into many profitable business relationships. I cannot speak highly enough of this book. It literally saved me when we picked up and moved from New Jersey to Colorado five years ago. We moved 2000 miles and I didn’t know a soul in Colorado except my brother. I used Bob’s methods and abided by his principles (just as I had done in NJ for years) and in less than a year I had a healthy network of business and personal relationships. Within two years I was being asked to teach networking seminars to groups in Colorado Springs and Denver (and I’m a few chapters away from finishing my first book…on, you guessed it, networking from a business and social perspective). I am no rocket scientist (and if you know me well, you know this), so these techniques and approaches to building and cultivating a large network definitely work.
Bob dispels all the old clichés about networking. Effective networking is not about “schmoozing” or “working the room” or going to Chamber events and throwing business cards at people; it’s about taking a sincere interest in others and helping them accomplish their goals. It’s about understanding that when you help enough other people succeed you automatically succeed. This is not motivational drivel, this is fact.
Bob lays out his “Endless Referrals System” in simple, easy to follow steps. Like most truths, they are simple, but don’t mistake simple for naïve or pedantic. Many people don’t succeed in sales or in developing a network because they overlook the simple yet extremely effective little things. His “10 Feel-Good Questions” are gold and are really the secret behind almost all the sales I’ve ever made, regardless of industry. God is in the details.
Here are some great quotes from Burg’s book:
· The best way to get business and get referrals is to give business and give referrals. Continually look for opportunities to refer business whenever you can. Position yourself as a referral source.
· Give someone more in use value than what you take from them. This simply means, always do your best to add to the other person’s life and success, without concern-especially at the beginning-for what you are receiving from the relationship.
· This is the grand paradox of giving and receiving: When you give purely out of the love of giving, you cannot help but receive. Yet when you give only in order to receive, it doesn’t work out nearly as well!!
· Superstar networkers, those whose businesses are extremely profitable and whose personal lives are filled with friends and loving relationships, share two powerful traits in common. Number one, they are givers. Number two, they are “connectors.”
· The moment we start to talk about the internet and its uses in the world of building your businesses through networking, I always caution people to understand that while it is a powerful tool, it is just that: a tool, not a panacea. It won’t work for you any more than will any other great tool. You must be its master-not its servant. This might sound a little dramatic, but the reason I say this is that people often get caught up in this great technology and forget that people don’t do business with or refer business to computers. They do business with, and refer business to, people-specifically, those people they know, like, and trust!
When he wrote the book in 1994, the internet was still in its infancy. The third edition of this great book explores some of the ways that networking regarding the internet has evolved. This is an especially important part of the book that alone would be worth the time to read.
I know Bob and consider him a friend and a mentor although my mentoring has come through his books, appearances and his great ezine (you can sign up for it at www.burg.com). I’ve been able to refer Bob and his speaking engagements to friends here in Colorado and am very happy that in a small way our relationship has come full-circle. The things that I’ve learned over the years from him have become the means by which I have been able to repay him for some of the wisdom and success he’s allowed me to obtain. This book is mandatory reading for anyone wanting to succeed in an ever connected world!
www.burg.com

GREAT MUSIC FOR A RELAXING EVENING
Half the Perfect World- Madeleine Peyroux
Madeleine is often compared to a modern Billie Holiday. She is either an old soul or was “born with it” (depending on one’s theory about the flashpoint of artistry). She was born in Georgia but lived in Paris from age 13 to 22. Peyroux covers songs by Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Fred Neil, Johnny Mercer, Charlie Chaplin and Joni Mitchell and also has four originals on this CD.
Madeleine has three previous CD’s and has really come into a reputation of being one of the timeless interpreters of classic American music. Her 2004 CD, “Careless Love”, won rave reviews and has sold over a million copies. This CD consists of love songs and Madeleine delivers them in her own way. She has a very unpretentious style of singing and you can almost see yourself in a smoke-filled bar in Paris or New Orleans as she croons these classics. The arrangements are understated and simple with most of her singing backed only by guitar, keys, drums and a sax. This is great music for chilling out with a glass of wine after a long day.
www.madeleinepeyroux.com

FREE BOOK OFFER
Last month I reviewed Christine Comaford’s great book, “Rules For Renegades”. Since then I have spoken with Christine and she has made me aware of a great offer. She is giving away 5000 free copies of her book and two free teleclasses explaining how to utilize her life-changing principles as a way to move toward your own financial freedom. This is her very generous way of helping to stimulate the economy. Please look at the link below for details. Thanks, Christine!
http://www.rulesforrenegades.com/

MYSTERY CANDIDATE
My friend, Randy Williams, sent this to me some time ago. Considering that it’s election time, I couldn’t think of a better time to confirm the rumors and to tell the world about this. Enjoy.
http://www.inews3.com/topstory.php?id=4b6576696e7c4b6e65626c

HILARIOUS POLITICAL SKIT
This is one of the best political pieces I’ve ever seen. Only in America would it take a Presidential election to bring back Opie, Andy, Richie and The Fonz. We haven’t seen these people together in 40 years. Regardless of your political persuasion, you have to admit that this is brilliant!
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/cc65ed650d

BIG DOG
Here’s one for you science faction people (“faction”, because this is not fiction). It’s almost scary how sophisticated robots and computers are getting. This couldn’t have been realized even ten years ago. And remember, DARPA, brought this to us. DARPA is the same group that started the internet. Think of all the money you’ll save on dog food and litter.
http://www.bostondynamics.com/content/sec.php?section=BigDog

TWO GREAT MUSIC VIDEOS
I recently came across the band, “The Hoosiers”. What a great group. Here’s a couple of guys from England and a guy from Sweden who gave themselves an American name. They write clever songs that have catchy melodies. The lead singer’s voice can hit notes that I couldn’t hit even if I got nailed by a Titleist at 50 yards. I actually like their version of “We Didn’t Start The Fire” more than Billy Joel’s and I used to play piano for a living (that’s saying something).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSRusuCD6b4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVDDK8yzIYY&feature=related

SOME GREAT QUOTES
“There are no hopeless situations; there are only men who have grown hopeless about them.” Clare Booth Luce

“I am patient with stupidity but not with those who are proud of it.” Edith Sitwell

“I couldn’t wait for success, so I went ahead without it.” Jonathan Winters

“Gross ignorance: 144 times worse than ordinary ignorance.” William Gaddis

”It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” Einstein

“Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for- in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it.” Ellen Goodman

“I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn’t learn something from him.” Galileo

“Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use.” Wendell Johnson

“You can not depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” Mark Twain

“The man who insists on seeing with perfect clearness before he decides, never decides.” Henri-Frederic Amiel

“You cannot kill time without injuring eternity.” Thoreau

“Unless a man undertakes more than he can possibly do, he will never do all that he can.” Henry Drummond

“Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.” Abraham Lincoln

To your success,
Kevin

October 2008 From Kevin Knebl

April 13, 2010

10/1/08

Hello again to my friends, family, colleagues, and clients. Many of you know me personally through work, networking or through one of my speaking engagements related to sales skills, effective networking and personal development; and some of you may know me only by email and telephone. Welcome to everyone that’s new to this distribution list.

Thank you for all the great feedback on this newsletter. I always respond to all comments and am happy that this newsletter goes out to readers all over the US, China, Singapore, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, England, Spain and even New Jersey.

I use LinkedIn.com for business networking, Facebook.com for social networking and Plaxo.com for keeping track of contact information. Through LinkedIn, I have been able to refer a tremendous amount of business and connect many people for business purposes. LinkedIn is going public next year and it will be an IPO similar to Google. If we are not already connected on LinkedIn, please contact me to connect and if I’m able to refer business your way, I’ll be happy to do so. Please also consider connecting to me through Facebook as it is a fantastic way to keep up to date with your friends all over the globe.

A number of people have asked that I insert an announcement indicating whether I have any upcoming speaking engagements that are open to the public. I do have a few public speaking engagements this month in Colorado. If you have an interest in dates, times and speaking topics, please let me know.

October, already? Wasn’t it just April? 2008 is flying by. The leaves are changing here in Colorado and it’s nice to see some snow on the Rockies. It won’t be too long before it’s time to get the skis out- yeeha!

TWO BOOKS TO PUT ON YOUR MUST READ LIST
Rules For Renegades- Christine Comaford
This is a great book for people that are looking to start their own business or become the “CEO of their job” and are interested in learning the thought process behind the shift from employee to business owner. Renegade entrepreneur — and runaway success story — Christine Comaford has lived the kind of life most of us can only dream about. From model to monk to multi-millionaire, she has always gone after what she wanted—and gotten things done. She’s won, lost, worked, played, and every step of the way, she’s written her own rules.
This book lays out her ten life lessons that help people make their dreams come true.
Christine has a great sense of humor and never takes herself too seriously in her writing although as you’ll read, at many points in her career she has been serious as a heart attack. She is very open about her connections and experiences in business including her dating Bill Gates and Larry Ellison, and the lessons learned from these and other business moguls.
I like this claim of hers:
I didn't start with any advantages – mega-brains, status, or money, for instance – so if I did it, anyone can. If you simply want to become financially independent, this book can help. If you want a meaningful life full of rich connections, this book can help. If you want to have more self-confidence and self-esteem, this book can help. If you want perfectly toned abs, killer buns, and thinner thighs in thirty days, sorry, this book can’t help.
I especially like her Rule 2: An MBA is Optional, a GSD is Essential. Yes, schooling is important, but not as important as being a person that “Gets Stuff Done”. We all know lots of people with all kinds of letters after their names that can’t think themselves out of a wet paper bag. And we know other people that are go-to people that get things done. I’ll take the latter every time.
Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:
· To some extent, all first-time CEOs are making it up as they go along. This is what you do with a new job, a new role in life or business, a new community you are joining. You’re declaring yourself to be something you aren’t yet. You are intending it. You are choosing it. You’re declaring victory as you step onto the battlefield. Then you’re doing what it takes- applying the required skills and the hard work- to succeed in this new role.
· You’re the composite of the five people you spend the most time with.
· It also gave me a crash course in thinking like a CEO, which is something that all of you, dear readers, need to start doing right away. Train yourself to both look at the big picture and to see that everything is an illusion. And of course, pick one that’s empowering!
· Many of us fall into a familiar trap: we choose power/money/self-esteem-by-association because we don’t think we can create our own. We think we’ll get a “contact high” from being close to power instead of wielding it ourselves.
· If you want happiness for an hour-take a nap.
If you want happiness for a day-go fishing.
If you want happiness for a month-get married.
If you want happiness for a year-inherit a fortune.
If you want happiness for a lifetime-help others.
This is a fast moving book that has great lessons about business and success while also being a lot of fun to read. You’ll laugh your way through this book and I think that mixing humor with content is one of the best ways to teach. Thanks to my friend David Fein for turning me on this author and book. David, you remind me of Comaford in many ways and I mean that as the highest compliment.
www.rulesforrenegades.com

LOVE- Leo Buscaglia
This is one of my favorite books of all time. There are some authors that you just connect with and Leo is in my top three and has been for years. In 1969, Leo, while a professor in California started an experimental course called “Love Class”. He didn’t attempt to be so presumptuous as to teach this subject but instead to be a facilitator of the students in discovering what the real meanings of the word were. He and his students sought to guide each other closer to an understanding of the delicate phenomenon of human love. He led this class for three years and it started a groundswell of interest in Leo’s work that has led right up to today.
I could fill up many newsletters full of quotes and insights from this book so I’ll try and limit it (it won’t be easy). Here goes:
· Education should be the process of helping everyone to discover his uniqueness, to teach him how to develop that uniqueness, and then to show him how to share it because that’s the only reason for having anything.
· You are always the best you. You will always be the second best anyone else.
· Change and growth take place when a person has risked himself and dares to become involved with experimenting with his own life.
· Yet, it never seems as obvious to him that if he wants to live in love, he must spend at least as much time as the auto mechanic or the gourmet in studying love. No mechanic or cook would ever believe that by “willing” the knowledge in his field, he’d ever become an expert in it.
· Everything is taught but seemingly what is necessary for the growing individual’s knowledge of self, of the relationship of his self to others.
· Living is the process of continual rebirth. The tragedy in the life of most of us is that we die before we are fully born.
· I would not want to form a partnership with an architect who has little knowledge of building or a broker who has a limited knowledge of the stock market. Still, we form what we hope to be permanent relationships in love with people who have hardly any knowledge of what love is. They equate love with sex, attraction, need, security, romance, attention and a thousand similar things. Someone in love class once said, “I wish she could love me more and need me less.”
So most of us never learn to love at all. We play at love, imitate lovers, treat love as a game. Is it any wonder so many of us are dying of loneliness, feel anxious and unfulfilled, even in seemingly close relationships, and are always looking elsewhere for something which we feel must certainly be there? “Is that all there is?” the song asks.
There is something else. It’s simply this – the limitless potential of love within each person eager to be recognized, waiting to be developed, yearning to grow.
It’s never too late to learn anything for which you have a potential. If you want to learn to love, then you must start the process of finding out what it is, what qualities make up a loving person and how these are developed. Each person has the potential for love. But potential is never realized without work. This does not mean pain. Love, especially, is learned best in wonder, in joy, in peace, in living.
This was the first and is one of Buscaglia’s best books and can be read again and again and each time you’ll discover something that you either missed the first time or were not yet ready to fully recognize in your loving. As we progress as a society to become a more disconnected group (while often claiming to become more connected) by constantly texting, surfing the internet, checking our Blackberrys and being generally oblivious of the people right next to us, I see more and more need for us to study this classic book. If you can implement the messages taught in LOVE while also staying connected in an ever increasingly integrated virtual society, then you have the best of both worlds.
www.buscaglia.com

MUST SEE MOVIE
Once
This is a movie that my brother and sister-in-law recommended to me. It’s a low budget independent film set in Ireland. Neither of the two leads is a trained or experienced actor. The film was shot for $160,000 and took about two weeks to film. In an era of gazillion dollar mega-films, this is an incredible accomplishment. “Falling Slowly” from the film won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Original Song and the soundtrack also won a Grammy nomination.
It’s the story of a Dublin street musician who meets a young Czech flower-seller and their developing relationship. They both have relationships with significant others but are deeply affected by their short time together. There are some very subtle emotional moments in this film that I thought were fantastic. Who needs a big blockbuster to convey human vulnerability and sincerity?
There is no sex, violence, guns or anything else that you wouldn’t want the kids to see. There is some good, Irish swearing (which is often hard to understand with that crazy accent), but other than that it is a clean movie that is a true work of art. The songs are simple and pure and I keep re-listening to them over and over. This is the best movie that I have seen in some time and that’s coming from a guy that has frequent flier miles attached to his Netflix account. Did someone say “movie snob”?
http://www.foxsearchlight.com/once/

VERY COOL FREE SERVICE
Chacha is a free service and a web site that I have been using for a few months. As long as you can call or text message from your phone, you’re good to go. Anytime you need an answer to virtually anything, you can call or text ChaCha and get your answer. The questions get forwarded to people that scour the web for answers to your questions. You can get answers to pretty obscure questions. You call or text your question to 242242 and within seconds or minutes the answer will be returned. I texted “who is Kevin Knebl?” and was amazed at the answer. The people that reply with your answers often even have a sense of humor and I’ve had back and forth conversations with them. You’ll never lose a trivia bar bet ever again!
www.chacha.com

TEENAGE MILLIONAIRE
Ashley Qualls is a 17 year old millionaire. This is a great clip that shows that you don’t have to think up some world-shattering idea to become rich. She started a simple common sense online business with $8 borrowed from her mother. She comes from a blue-collar family and dropped out of high school and now is the CEO of her own company and has a staff including her mother. Her business is thriving and she’s not learning theory from business school, she’s built a real business that has helped her make millions, stimulate the economy and employ her friends. Thanks to my friend Joe Sabah for sending me this great clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gagpo5X2jaw

BIZARRE LIVE MUSIC VIDEO FROM 1973
Someone once told me that the 70’s was a musical wasteland. They couldn’t have been more wrong (I guess we have to agree on a definition of “wasteland”). Once upon a time there was a band called Focus and they had a great song called “Hocus Pocus”. They combined hard driving rock with whistling, strange mouth sounds, a flute and yodeling. Yes, you read that right. I remember hearing this song years ago and wondering what these guys looked like. Now, with YouTube, you can see almost anything. Ironically, this song is currently being played in the background of some McDonald’s commercials. This clip from 1973 has Gladys Knight introducing Focus to a Japanese audience. You can’t make this stuff up. Crank up the speakers!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpV5InLw52U

AN ENGINEER’S GUIDE TO CATS
Two engineers illustrate the proper care and practical benefits of cats. I have friends and family members that are engineers and one even refers to himself as a recovering personality deficient party animal. These guys are a bit odd, but it is interesting to see cats from an engineer’s point of view. I especially like the cat yodeling section.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHXBL6bzAR4

FALLING SLOWLY
This clip is from the movie that I reviewed earlier in this newsletter. The song plays while you watch clips from this great film. Get the soundtrack to this movie- you’ll love it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoSL_qayMCc&feature=related

BORN FOR LOVE (parts 1, 2 & 3)
These are the first three parts of a PBS special featuring Leo Buscaglia from the 1980’s. He is talking about some of the topics from his book, “Born for Love”. He is so free of any of the typical pretensions that some public speakers have. He just speaks from his heart and is truly sincere in his desire to speak the truth and love people. If you enjoy these three clips you can watch the rest of them on YouTube. The remainder of his clips are accessible to the right of the one you’re watching (they’re in numerical order). I have watched every Leo clip on YouTube many, many times and never get tired of them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmQP8txmDD8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyfKol26sS8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7okBLSDD3Zw&feature=related

SOME GREAT QUOTES
“The tide always comes back in.” Norman Vincent Peale

“Students achieving oneness will move on to twoness.” Woody Allen

“There are so many men who can figure costs, and so few who can measure values.” Unknown

“When a person can no longer laugh at himself, it is time for others to laugh at him.” Thomas Szasz

”Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.” Edgar Allen Poe

“In politics, absurdity is not a handicap.” Napoleon Bonaparte

“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.” Gandhi

“The average person thinks he isn’t.” Father Larry Lorenzoni

“Have the courage to live. Anyone can die.” Robert Cody

“Acts that go unappreciated are not often repeated, except by God.” Alan Cohen

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art…it has no survival value; rather, it is one of those things that give value to survival.” C.S. Lewis

“Men have become tools of their tools.” Thoreau

“The future is here. It’s just not widely distributed yet.” William Gibson

To your success,
Kevin

September 2008 From Kevin Knebl

April 13, 2010

9/1/08

Hello again to my friends, family, colleagues, and clients. Many of you know me personally through work, networking or through one of my speaking engagements related to sales skills, professional networking and personal development; and some of you may know me only by email and telephone. Welcome to everyone that’s new to this distribution list.

A number of people have asked that I insert an announcement indicating whether I have any upcoming speaking engagements that are open to the public. I do have a few public speaking engagements this month in Colorado. If you have an interest in dates, times and speaking topics, please let me know.

Happy Labor Day! Hey, are you working? Put down that work and go get yourself a chimichanga and a margarita. You’ve earned it.
Did you watch the Olympics as much as we did? Holy cow- there are some amazing athletes out there. The US Olympic Fencing Team is a client of mine and they not only won the first US medals of the games, they did it by sweeping the Gold, Silver and Bronze in the Women’s Sabre. Way to go, ladies! With the US Olympic Training Center located here in Colorado Springs, it’s a very exciting time to be in Southern Colorado.
The kids are back in school, it’s getting darker earlier, the evenings are getting cooler and it’s already started snowing in the mountains. Where else can you golf and ski in the same day? Wait….wait for it…..hear that sound? That’s the sound of me thanking God that I moved to Colorado almost five years ago. What a beautiful time of year to be in Colorado Springs!

A BOOK TO PUT ON YOUR MUST READ LIST
Law of Success- Napoleon Hill
Most people have heard of “Think and Grow Rich” and its author, Napoleon Hill. Hill is the man whom Andrew Carnegie commissioned with studying the most successful people in America from 1908-1928. He spent 20 years interviewing and learning from the 500 most wealthy and successful people in America at that time. In 1928 he published “Law of Success”, and it’s not a quick read at 1035 pages although the concepts and ideas presented are not complicated. Although many people have criticized this book over the years, there are a tremendous number of people who have credited this book as a significant factor in their attainment of success. By the way- there has never a statue erected to a critic and the people that say that things cannot be done should stop wasting the time of the people that are doing them.
In 1937, Hill condensed the book into the classic, “Think and Grow Rich”. I have been promoting TAGR for a long time and having just finished “Law of Success”, I can say that LOS is the better book if you commit to reading it.
Hill describes the 17 laws of success in detail and explains how to apply and utilize them in your life. A lot of this will be considered common sense by some, but the thing to remember is that common sense is about the most uncommon thing in the world.

Here are some great Napoleon Hill quotes:
· Whatever the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve.
· Knowledge has no value except that which can be gained by its application.
· Action is the real measure of intelligence.
· If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self.
· Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.
· Who said it could not be done? And tell me what great victories does he have to his credit which qualifies him to judge what can and can’t be accomplished?
· One of the main weaknesses of mankind is the average man’s familiarity with the word ‘impossible’.
· More gold has been mined from the minds of men than has been taken from the earth.

Even though this book is almost 100 years old, there is nothing new under the sun. People are people and laws are called laws because they are never changing. The laws of success are just as immutable as the laws of gravity. People can deny that they exist just like they can deny that gravity exists as they plummet to the ground when jumping off a building. The good news is that if you understand and use the laws of nature they can help you achieve so much more than if you didn’t understand or use them for your benefit. Take the time to read and apply the lessons contained in this book and you can only be much better for it. How could you lose? That’s the best deal you’ve had all week!
http://www.naphill.org/

A VERY HELPFUL TOOL
Two friends of mine, David Fein and Jim Green recently called me and recommended that I look at a site and sign up for a free version of a great business and life tool. The site is Jott.com and I think that you may find this site very useful. There are many uses for this site and I’ll just highlight a few.
Jott.com is a site and a service that allows you to manage to-do lists and reminds you of tasks. You can call Jott.com on your phone and speak a reminder and Jott.com will ask when you want to be reminded and then you will receive an email and a text message reminder at the appointed time. You can also speak something that you don’t want to forget and it will show up in your email as a message. Once you play with the service a bit you will discover many uses for it. Don’t worry if you’re not technical, the site is very intuitive.
Take a few minutes and go to the site and sign up for the free version. You will really use this a lot when you’re driving as a way to take notes and create reminders. If you’re like me (thinking of 20 things at once) you will find this service to be great! Matter of fact- Jott reminded me to send out this newsletter.
Thanks David and Jim. I appreciate you thinking of me and please keep the great ideas coming!
www.jott.com

MUST GET MUSIC
Yo Yo Ma Plays Ennio Morricone- Yo Yo Ma
Movie soundtracks have some of the most beautiful music ever written and Ennio Morricone is undeniably one of the best soundtrack composers of all time. Once you start listening to this wonderful CD from 2004 you will recognize some great pieces. The disc starts with “Gabriel’s Oboe” from The Mission and works through pieces from Cinema Paradiso, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, The Untouchables and Once Upon a Time in America among others. As many of you may know, my wife and daughter are competitive figure skaters and have often competed with these great, melodic pieces playing in the background. You may have seen some skaters on TV skating to these pieces as well. (No, not in Blades of Glory)
Yo Yo Ma has been the best cello player in the world for many years and he just gets better and better. His tone is as pure as crystal and just as rich. The cello orchestrations of these timeless pieces that Ennio wrote specifically for Ma really highlight the cello and allow it to soar. Lush is a great word for this CD and even though these gems come from the movies, they are all stand-alone masterpieces.
Here’s a great clip of Ma and Morricone during the recording of this great music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSyl-XtjMVQ&feature=related

GREAT GOVT MULE CLIP
Karin and I went to a Govt Mule concert at Red Rocks last night with our friends Brandon and Tammie. I have been a huge Mule fan for over 15 years. Warren Haynes is one of the best blues guitarists in the world and years ago he used to be a guitarist in The Allman Brothers. Seeing a concert at Red Rocks is an event and last night was fantastic. It was a beautiful late summer evening with a light breeze. To see the rocks rising hundreds of feet above you with Denver’s lights twinkling in the distance is amazing.
The Mule was in great form and as always it was like a mini-Woodstock. This is a jam band’s jam band. They played a lot of their own songs and also did a number of covers. Here’s a clip of Govt Mule playing about 5 years ago. Get a lava lamp, light some incense and enjoy this clip. (Ask me sometime about the time that Karin and I had a few beers with Warren and he signed a golf ball of mine at The Stanhope House in NJ after an acoustic show. You can’t make this stuff up.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5zXcilMor8

VERY COOL AND INTERESTING SITE
I like genealogy and find the thought of knowing where all the Knebls are, very interesting. There is a brand new website that almost does this. It doesn’t scour the entire planet, but a pretty good portion of it. You probably don’t care where the Knebls are (8.33 Knebls per million people in Austria), but you may want to find your own family.
Click on the link below and you will read a newspaper article and within the article is the link to the site. Very cool, and I believe that over time this will help (as many other things are doing right now) to make the world smaller and smaller. You may find some information that might really matter to you. Enjoy.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10529791&ref=emailfriend

A TREMENDOUSLY INSPIRATIONAL CLIP
This clip of Patrick Henry Hughes is sure to move you. It truly is amazing what difficulties people can overcome. How can we complain about anything? I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. Thank you, Martha, for sending this to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qTiYA1WiY8

A GREAT SUCCESS CLIP
This clip has Napoleon Hill explaining his meeting with Andrew Carnegie and the resulting creation of his “Law of Success” philosophy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GCaEZscfvA

WINNER OF THIS MONTH’S HILARIOUS VIDEO CLIPS AWARD
In keeping with the spirit of the Olympics, I share with you three clips of Paulette Huntinova. She is a little known Russian acrobat that the International Olympic Committee may have to create a new medal for. Thanks to my father, Karl, for these clips. You rock, dad. These are hilarious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBPjhB9d3jc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO_BnsrWMnI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu-YAMiS5wA&feature=related

HISTORIA-DE-UN-LETRERO (THE STORY OF A SIGN)
This is a nice short film that teaches a lesson about the fact that it’s often not what you say, but how you say it that counts. Thank you for this, Melanie.
http://www.adnstream.tv/video/nilSqaMboM/HISTORIA-DE-UN-LETRERO-THE-STORY-OF-A-SIGN

FUNNY AUSTRALIAN COMMERCIAL
This is a funny clip. Remember, you’re only as old as you think you are- even though my kids think that I’ve been around since the earth was cooling. Thanks for this clip, Dennis.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnywDA8VJZM

SOME GREAT QUOTES
“Truth is always the strongest argument.” Sophocles

“The future is much like the present, only longer.” Dan Quisenberry

“Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.” Mother Teresa

“Every man serves a useful purpose: a miser, for example, makes a wonderful ancestor.” Laurence Peter

”In the simplest terms, a leader is one who knows where he wants to go, and gets up, and goes.” John Erskine

“Creative minds have been known to survive any kind of bad training.” Anna Freud

“They can because they think they can.” Virgil

“Winning may not be everything, but losing has little to recommend it.” Diane Feinstein

“No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.” Calvin Coolidge

“Two paradoxes are better than one; they may even suggest a solution.” Edward Teller

“When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.” Unknown

“Adversity leads us to think properly of our state, and so it is most beneficial to us.” Samuel Johnson

“A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.” Herm Albright

To your success,
Kevin

August 2008 From Kevin Knebl

April 13, 2010

8/1/08

Hello again to my friends, family, colleagues, and clients. Many of
you know me personally through work, networking or through one of my
speaking engagements related to sales skills, professional networking
and personal development; and some of you may know me only by email
and telephone. Welcome to everyone that's new to this distribution
list.

There are a lot of very smart and interesting people that I am
fortunate to network with. We share books, movies, music and ideas
that stimulate us. I'm always interested to learn what other people
that I respect are reading, watching and listening to. This is my
monthly email newsletter with books I've recently read, movies seen,
music devoured, ideas and other things that may be of interest to you.
If you find this interesting and would like to pass it on, please
feel free to do so. If you'd like to be removed from this list just
let me know. If someone forwarded this newsletter to you and you
would like to be added to this distribution list or if you'd like to
view previous newsletters, please email me and let me know.

A number of people have asked that I insert an announcement indicating
whether I have any upcoming speaking engagements that are open to the
public. I do have a few public speaking engagements this month in
Colorado. If you have an interest in dates, times and speaking
topics, please let me know.

Can you believe that we're on the backend of the summer already? I
hope that your summer has been a lot of fun. Our kids will be back in
school in two weeks and Karin's life will return to semi-sanity. It's
been a hot one here in Colorado and we sure could use some more rain,
but I don't miss the humidity, mosquitoes or the traffic on the NJ
Turnpike. The last of the snow has recently vanished off Pikes Peak,
but it won't be long before its white up there again. I hope that you
get in a few more barbecues, ball games, vacations, long weekends,
rounds of summer golf and great concerts before the fall is here.
Time flies, huh?

TWO BOOKS TO PUT ON YOUR MUST READ LIST

Little Black Book of Connections: 6.5 Assets for Networking Your Way
to RICH Relationships- Jeffrey Gitomer
Being originally from New Jersey, I really enjoy Jeffrey's style. He
says that "if you can sell in New Jersey, where they eat their young,
you can sell anywhere". Gitomer is the no-spin zone of selling. He
tells it like it is and doesn't apologize for his frankness. One of
the sayings that I've used for years is "timid salespeople have skinny
kids", and Jeff sums that up pretty well. His book, "The Sales Bible"
is a sales classic and over the last few years he's written a number
of great books related to networking, people skills and success.
Jeffrey has a wealth of tips in this book about how to develop and
cultivate a network of connections. At first some of his tips may
sound simplistic, but like many things in life, ideas that people
often poo-poo as basic, are often overlooked or not implemented. To
know and not to do, is not to know.
Little Black Book stresses the importance of giving first, having more
friends and nurturing your connections through the exchange of value.
Many people think that networking is just about building a large
database of names, email addresses and numbers. That's just an
information repository. Gitomer outlines ways to utilize that
information in ways that add value to your connections. He also
explains how to leverage your network in ways that keep you top of
mind regarding your network partners.
Many people are figuring out that in an information rich and social
networking society, who you know is critically important. Bringing
value to the people in your network is just as important and is just
the right thing to do if you're looking for long-term success. Even
if you implement just a percentage of the great ideas in this book,
your life will be richer and your friends and business partners will
thank you for it.
www.gitomer.com

The Magic of Thinking Big- David Schwartz
Schwartz's classic is one of the pillars of success writing. This is
a book that I read at least once per year and refer back to
frequently. It is often referred to as one of the top ten success
books of all time.
David writes about taking up the habit of studying people and getting
a PH.D. in human behavior. In my talks I often elaborate on this
subject as it relates to sales and networking. Many people become
experts in their chosen profession while seeming to forget that
regardless of their occupation, they are going to be interacting with
live human beings (Unless they're interacting with CPA's. Oh, lighten
up, you CPA's. If you got offended by that, you just proved my point.
Where's the love?). By studying and becoming an expert on human
behavior you will become far more successful than the person that is
solely a subject matter expert in their chosen profession. This will
also lead to far more enjoyment in your life by being able to respond
to situations and people versus reacting to them (ala Pavlov).
The index has at least 80 subjects that have specific pages that
address these subjects. As you read through this book, you will come
to know more and more that we become what we think about and that most
people sell themselves far too short and think far too small.
Schwartz outlines ways to eliminate bad thinking patterns and
establish productive habits that will have positive effects in your
personal, financial and relational areas of your life.
Get a highlighter and study. This book can greatly assist you in
changing your life if you choose to do so.
The last two lines of the book sum it up:
"A wise man will be the Master of his Mind. A Fool will be its Slave."

MUST GET MUSIC

Greatest Hits- Seals and Crofts
No, these are not the guys that brought us HR Puffinstuff, Land of the
Lost and Sigmund and the Seamonsters. That was Sid and Marty Krofft.
Could I be dating myself anymore than this?
Seals and Crofts were a great songwriting team that recorded most of
their albums in the 1970's. They had many hits including Hummingbird,
Summerbreeze, Diamond Girl, and Takin' It Easy. They were a guitar
playing duo that had fantastic melodies and harmonies. You will often
hear some of their songs on 70's radio and once you hear them you
recognize their great tunes.
This CD showcases their best-known songs. The songs are light, catchy
and wonderful summer music. I played this CD in my SUV so much that
my kids begged me to stop playing it. I take that as a strong
endorsement. These are timeless songs that take you back to another
time, and if you're too young to remember these songs, get this CD.
Melodies and harmonies are coming back!
http://www.sealsandcrofts.com

A GREAT INSPIRATIONAL VIDEO CLIP
Thanks go to Kim in Divide, Colorado for this tremendous clip.
A son asked his father, 'Dad, will you take part in a marathon with
me?'. The father who, despite having a heart condition, said 'Yes'.
They went on to complete the marathon together. Father and son went
on to participate in other marathons, the father always saying 'Yes'
to his son's request of going through the race together. One day, the
son asked his father, 'Dad, let's join the Ironman together.' To
which, his father said 'Yes' too. For those who don't know, Ironman
is the toughest triathlon ever. The race encompasses three endurance
events of a 2.4 mile ocean swim, followed by a 112 mile bike ride, and
ending with a 26.2 mile marathon along the coast of the Big Island of
Hawaii. Father and son went on to complete the race together. Get
your Kleenex…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTUSB6eBoFs&feature=related

WINNER OF THIS MONTH'S HILARIOUS VIDEO CLIP AWARD
Thanks go to my friend, Dawn, in NJ for this hilarious clip.
For those of you that were around during Woodstock or perhaps have
seen the Woodstock movie, you're going to like this one. I have seen
the Woodstock movie so many times that I've lost count a long time
ago. There's just something about that time in history and all the
great musical talent that showed up in 1969 at Yasger's Farm in
upstate NY.
Joe Cocker has always been a tremendously soulful singer (remember
John Belushi's imitations of him?) and well known for not worrying
about what he looks like while he sings or if anyone can understand
his lyrics. This clip has subtitles for those of us that have always
wondered "what the heck is he singing about?" Whoever put this clip
together is a genius.
http://www.plime.com/entertainment/l/69481/1/

AN AWESOME LION CLIP THAT WILL TOUCH YOUR HEART
My friends, Sarah and Dave in Denver, both passed this clip along to me.
This is a great clip that shows that animals are really smart, that
they remember people and that they have strong feelings for their
friends. I've heard some people say that this clip is not really
true, but I don't care. I love this clip and I hope that you do also.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adYbFQFXG0U

PROOF THAT PEOPLE SHOULDN'T WORK IN CUBES?
Dennis, thanks for sending this along.
Sometimes people just can't take it anymore. If you've ever worked in
a cube or seen the movie, Office Space, you will get a big kick out of
this clip. Apparently, there are a lot of cube-dwellers that are a
bit stressed. What do you call the people that peek their heads up
above the top of the cube? Cube gophers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4a1z7NLnNk&NR=1

SOME GREAT QUOTES

"A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his
friends." Balthasar Gracian

"How much easier it is to be critical than to be correct." Disraeli

"Love is an exploding cigar we willingly smoke." Lynda Barry

"I've wrestled with reality for 35 years, doctor, and I'm happy to
state I finally won out over it." Mary Chase

"When the mind begins to pull its own thread and unravel everything it
believes, what's left is always kinder." Byron Katie

"I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like
less than half of you half as well as you deserve." JRR Tolkien

"There is no coming to consciousness without pain." Carl Jung

"Bet on people, not strategies." Larry Bossidy

"In the republic of mediocrity, genius is dangerous." Robert Ingersoll

"People of character do the right thing not because they think it will
change the world but because they refuse to be changed by the world."
Michael Josephson

"True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high
school class is running the country." Kurt Vonnegut

If you think that this will be of interest to someone that you
know, please feel free to forward it on. If you have any thoughts or
opinions on any of these recommendations or have recommendations of
your own, please let me know- you never know where the conversation
will go from there. As always, if you'd like to reach me, the easiest
and fastest way is either by email or mobile phone.

To your success,
Kevin

July 2008 From Kevin Knebl

April 13, 2010

7/1/08

Hello again to my friends, family, colleagues, and clients. Many of you know me personally through work, networking or through one of my speaking engagements related to sales skills, professional networking and personal development; and some of you may know me only by email and telephone. Welcome to everyone that’s new to this distribution list.

A number of people have asked that I insert an announcement indicating whether I have any upcoming speaking engagements that are open to the public. I do have a few public speaking engagements this month in Colorado. If you have an interest in dates, times and speaking topics, please let me know.

I hope that your summer is in full swing (except you folks in New Zealand who are now into your winter season) and that you’re having a ball wherever you are receiving this.
The US Senior Open is being held at The Broadmoor, right here in beautiful Colorado Springs from July 31st through August 3rd. If you’re unfamiliar with the Broadmoor, it’s one of a handful of Five Star Resorts located in the US. We live across the street from the west side of The Broadmoor and I could put a Titleist on the first green of the Broadmoor West Course if I hit a good shot with my pitching wedge. This is the place where Jack Nicklaus and Annika Sorenstam both won their first tournaments as professional golfers.
My good friend Dirk Hobbs, has secured some VIP passes for Karin, myself and a few friends (thank you, thank you, Dirk), so we’ll be in the VIP tent having a great time for two days of the tournament. If you watch some of the rounds on TV, maybe you’ll see our mugs on the screen. If you go to www.broadmoor.com and look just to the left of the resort and just above the golf course you’ll see a small community with Spanish tile roofs- that’s us. That’s me waving- look close! Alright, you can’t see me, but I’m there.
It’s one of the nicest resorts in the country and President Bush stayed here last month when he was in town as the speaker for the US Air Force Academy commencement ceremony. If you’ve never been to The Broadmoor, it’s just one more reason (of many reasons) to come see beautiful Colorado Springs. C’mon….Karin is a great baker and we’ll leave a light on for you.

TWO BOOKS TO PUT ON YOUR MUST READ LIST

The Difference Maker: Making Your Attitude Your Greatest Asset- John Maxwell
Leadership guru John Maxwell is at it again. I don’t think this man sleeps- he must write 24/7. I lost count of the number of his books at about 50 something and about 13 million books sold. There are many books on attitude that have intricate methods and multi-step processes and this isn’t one of those books. It’s a concise read with great insights into what attitude is and also what it isn’t.
Here are a few great quotes:
“He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts and multiply the grief which he purposes to remove.”
“I think of attitude as an inward feeling expressed by outward behavior. People always project on the outside what they feel on the inside.”
As you read this book you may find examples that strike close to home. I found myself in a number of his examples, both good and not as good. What do they say- 75% of the people in the world have a low self-image and the other 25% have a bad attitude. This is a great read for both groups. Even people that typically choose to have a great attitude will admit that there are more benefits of choosing a great attitude than even they realize.
www.johnmaxwell.com

St. Francis- Nikos Kazantzakis
This is a fantastic novel from 1962 by the same author that wrote Zorba the Greek. Kazantzakis is often regarded as one of the best novelists of the 20th century. He weaves a description of the life of Saint Francis of Assisi that is not the usual tale of the famous saint. This isn’t the oft-told story of the holy man that talked to the birds. He has a brilliant way of drawing you in and revealing a human side of this famous saint. This is definitely his own rendition of the Francis story and Nikos paints a picture of a man struggling with and against the affluent and comfortable life that he was born into while rising above his situation to grasp his perception of the gospel. He renounces all prosperity and physical comforts through his teaching of “poverty, peace, love” and lives an amazing life in medieval Italy and across Europe.
Here are a few great quotes:
“Nothing is nearer to us than heaven. The earth is beneath our feet and we tread upon it, but heaven is within us.”
“We’re going to start with small, easy things; then, little by little, we shall try our hand at the big things. And after that, after we finish the big things, we shall undertake the impossible.”
“Who then is the perfect man? He who blends heart and mind harmoniously. What is the perfect order? That which has the heart for its foundation and allows the mind to build freely upon this foundation.”
“What is love, my brothers? He asked, opening his arms as though he wished to embrace us. “What is love? It is not simply compassion, not simply kindness. In compassion there are two: the one who suffers and the one who feels compassion. In kindness there are two: the one who gives and the one who receives. But in love there is only one; the two join, unite, become inseparable. The ‘I’ and the ‘you’ vanish. To love means to lose oneself in the beloved.”
There were times when reading this that I thought of the Opus Dei sect from The DaVinci Code, but all in all, I loved this book. Kazantzakis has a unique way of allowing the reader to see the human side of a figure that is often considered greater than human. Great read!

MUST GET MUSIC

Re-arranged- Little River Band
This Australian band is still around, going strong and they are as great as ever. They have 22 albums and continue to tour and perform about 100 shows each year in the US. This 2006 CD is full of their hits and they’ve rearranged them with a little harder rock edge. I have really enjoyed this CD. As I was listening to it, I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t realized that it was LRB that had written and recorded all these great tunes. Every one of these songs is fantastic! Their first CD was released in 1975 and in 1980 they brought in an American named Wayne Nelson and he’s been their lead singer ever since. “Lady” and “Reminiscing” are staples of 70’s radio and these newer versions are just as good if not even better than the originals. Here are a few more titles that you may remember: “Long Way There”, “Take It Easy On Me”, “Help Is On Its Way”, “Cool Change”, and “Lonesome Loser”. They’re even playing in Pueblo, Colorado on 8/22 at the Colorado State Fair (I’ll be there). Get this CD and you’ll be reminiscing (I couldn’t resist…I tried, I really did.) about the 70’s and 80’s. These guys can rock and just seem to get better with age!
http://www.littleriverband.com

Chopin: Nocturnes- Maurizio Pollini
Ever since Pollini won the Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1960 he has been regarded as somewhat of a Chopin specialist. Chopin’s music is so beautiful and also fiendishly difficult to play (as a former professional pianist, I can assure you of this fact). About 95% of Chopin’s compositions are piano music and the remainders are some pieces for other instruments. If you are unfamiliar with Chopin’s music, watch The Pianist (2002). This is a phenomenal movie and I think that every piece in the movie is Chopin.
There are many Chopin pieces that most people recognize when they hear them. The Nocturnes are not as frequently played as many of his other pieces. The pieces range from 3 to 6 minutes long and they are transcendental and gorgeous. This 2006 2-CD set is the best rendition of Chopin’s Nocturnes that I’ve ever heard. Pollini’s playing is flawless and has tremendous soul. There are some musicians that play with amazing technical ability and the music can sometimes sound sterile and devoid of spirit. Pollini is at the other end of that extreme.
I’ve attached a clip of Pollini playing the Op.27 number 2 in D flat major. Perfection.
http://www.youtube..com/watch?v=6cxkLZoEFEk

A BRIEF INSPIRATIONAL VIDEO CLIP

This is a fantastic clip that was sent to me by my friend Dave Block (thanks, Dave). Glenn Beck is talking in this short clip about Irena Sendler, the woman in Nazi Germany who hid and saved the lives of many Jewish children and was tortured and almost killed when she was discovered, before she escaped. Glenn does a great job of explaining her life, and I can’t even begin to imagine the courage that this woman had.
This type of clip has special relevance for me since my father, Karl, who was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, was as a very young boy held in a concentration camp with his mother, brother and two sisters. The only one that survived was my father and he grew up in orphanages in Yugoslavia and Germany. His father was forcibly inducted into the German army and died somewhere on a battlefield in Poland during the war. His body was never recovered. Many people think that only Germans had concentration camps and that only Jews were in concentration camps, and that’s not true.
I’m not sending this for political reasons. I say this because Beck mentions who Irena was recently passed over for the Noble Peace Prize. I’m sure that we can all agree that Irena never did the things she did way back in the forties for a Noble Peace Prize. She did it because of who she was, and she lived and is still living her prize. I’m sure that Irena believed, as the Oscar Mayer Weiner folks say, “We answer to a higher authority”.
http://www.youtube..com/watch?v=OVw1PANUcdg

I NEED THIS HOUSE
When we were in New Zealand a few months ago we spent about 90% of our trip on the south island. We absolutely loved Queenstown and the surrounding area. The mountain range that Queenstown is located in is called The Remarkables and they are aptly named. This website has some homes for sale by the architectural firm, Slant. Go to “Properties” and click on “Arc”, Jagged Edge” and “Wave” for the Queenstown homes. The other two homes are on the north island and they’re also amazing. Make sure that you have your speakers on and watch the slide shows and the video fly-throughs for each of these five properties. We rented a six-seater plane and flew through and over the mountains to the sea. As you watch these video clips, they’re some of the same scenery that we saw and flew above. If you look closely in the “Arc” video you can see the road running along Lake Wakatipu that leads to the small hamlet of Paradise, which is where we did some horseback riding. Paradise was a location for some of The Lord of the Rings”. New Zealand is beyond words and these homes have some of the best views of Heaven, Shangri-La, Valhalla, Nirvana, Elysium or whatever you want to call the hereafter.
http://www.slant.co.nz/

BRILLIANT CLIP/HOPE…?
As of writing this, I’m spending about $100 each week on gas for my SUV. $4 gas is insane and it’s even worse where my brother, Matt, lives in Orange County, CA. This clip may put an end to that problem and we can only hope that it’s as soon as possible. This gentleman is a genius and he needs to be rewarded through the free enterprise system. 100 miles on 4 ounces of water? I have no problem with this guy becoming a billionaire…yesterday.
http://www.youtube..com/watch?v=CMovXzVOzc4

CHINESE ACROBATS CLIP
Was this done with mirrors? No, it’s actually a clip from a circus held in Monaco. I can’t even begin to imagine the amount of practice that went into these acrobats perfecting their art. These people are amazing. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, they up the ante again and again. Enjoy.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PRJxJdgc4Ng&feature=related

WINNER OF THE MONTHLY BIZARRE VIDEO CLIP AWARD

I don’t even know where to begin with this one. The Leningrad Cowboys is a Finnish rock band that has some unbelievable outfits and hairstyles. They do covers of everyone from Frank Sinatra to Mettalica. This clip is from a music festival held in Berlin in 1994. I’ve seen some pretty weird stuff in my time, but this is in a league of its own. Who would have thunk…a Finnish rock band with sharp (literally sharp) hair, two foot long pointy-toed boots, the Red Russian Army Choir (yes, all 160 of them and they’re the real deal), and southern American, redneck rock and roll all mixed together in front of thousands of crazy German fans. This is like watching a bad car accident; you just can’t look away.
If you can still handle more, I’ve added another bonus clip of them from the same concert. You may need some time alone to decompress after watching this. I never would have believed it if I hadn’t seen it for myself.
http://www.youtube..com/watch?v=0lNFRLrP014
http://www.youtube..com/watch?v=GzrBAEf12XY

SOME GREAT QUOTES

“Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living, the other helps you make a life.” Sandra Carey

“Do not condemn the judgment of another because it differs from your own. You may both be wrong.” Dandemis

“Energy and persistence conquer all things.” Ben Franklin

”For a list of all the ways technology has failed to improve the quality of life, please press three.”

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” Philo

“We have enough youth. How about a fountain of “smart”?” Unknown

“Happiness leads to achievement more than achievement leads to happiness.” Alan Cohen

“We are constantly faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.” John Gardner

“In the hopes of reaching the moon men fail to see the flowers that blossom at their feet.” Albert Schweitzer

“You can only be young once, but you can be immature forever.” Dave Barry

To your success,
Kevin

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