I found this site today that floored me.  It seems there isn’t a month that goes by that I’m not given to amazement at what is possible with the power of the Internet.

Seriously.  I mean… this is 2010 right?

I’m sure everyone has heard of Couch Surfing right?  It sort of made a surge in the hippie/grunge/loser set maybe in the early 2000′s.

Basically people (or rather… folks that could be categorized as gypsies, vagabonds, wanderers or maybe a classification of ‘homeless’) started using Criagslist to bum couches to sleep on in the absence of available resources and hotel rooms while traveling.

I’m sure there was more than one modern day hippie love story that came out of the couch surfing craze of the 2000′s… heck, they even made a website out of the concept.

But, as do all working, relevant concepts on the Internet, it has matured into something that is slowly creeping into the mainstream and becoming something that real-life, everyday people are doing.

It’s called http://AirBnB.com.

Now, the only reason this has actually taken off and matured is because people have been privy to, or subjected themselves to, what I’m going to coin as the ‘Currency of Trust.’

Basically, the Currency of Trust is the conglomeration of online ‘Social Proof’ that one develops through the continued use of reliable, sustained, online social sites.

Things like your eBay profile and comments, or your PayPal rating, your FaceBook and LinkedIn profiles… all of these are contributors to the concept of the ‘Currency of Trust’ and as a result, people are now able to cross the bridge from the online trust to the offline trust… simply because there are so many sites and systems in place that it is virtually impossible (or very difficult) to deceive people online.

Social Media has been a boon for this concept.

It is now entirely possible to get to know someone, understand where they are coming from and what they are about simply by tracing their online history and accounts from that transaction they had on eBay where they sold that old 8mm Video Camera, to the fact that their FaceBook profile reveals their wife, their mother, their hometown, high-school sweetheart (and friends) and much more… enough to get a bigger picture of who the individual is that you are dealing with.

Now, I’m not saying that just because you can check someone out online, you can get a real understanding of who they are, and what they are about, and what kind integrity they are working with; but I am saying that you can mine enough data to make the binary decision as to whether they are trustworthy or not.

i.e. enough to sleep on your couch.

Interesting story here… I am part of a group called Social Media Club Hawaii… in March of 2009, I attended one of their meetings at the wonderful ING Cafe in Waikiki where I lived at the time.  Well, this particular meeting I had an opportunity to meet a guy named Ken.

Ken and I instantly hit it off.  For some reason we just connected.  You know what I mean?

He got me, I got him, we talked about everything from smart electric grids to twittering meaningless statistics in the course of 15 minutes.  Well, unfortunately, I had a Barbecue that I had to rush off to, so I didn’t have much time to talk to Ken, but we decided, based on the fact that we enjoyed that short chat, that we should connect on FaceBook.

So we did.

Well, turns out Ken and I had a lot in common.  In fact, as I considered buying my next property, I shared a little about it on FaceBook, and it turns out Ken (who happened to be working in England at the time and based out of Hawaii, go figure) was looking at buying a new place similar to what I’d found.

So he did.

Today, Ken and I are neighbors.  And because of Social Media, we developed our ‘currency of trust’ where we where able to learn enough about each other, recognized that we had a lot in common and probably would be great friends in ‘real life’ for Ken to make a significant financial decision to live, basically next door.

How’s that for ‘social proof?’

So anyway… I digress… I mean, I tell that story with the aim of helping you, dear reader, understand that for the savvy online user today, there are many many ways that the Internet is actually making the New become Old again… and what do I mean by that?  Well, I think as a society, we went through a period from when trust was sort of a given in the 1800′s… to when people didn’t trust anyone in the late 1900′s… well now… you can simply ‘Google’ someone and you can find most anything about that individual… from their High School, to their Prom Date, to their preferred Sushi restaurant.

So back to http://AirBnB.com.

This, is a site that integrates with FaceBook, so it’s easy for the room owner/renter to get the ‘skinny’ on who the owner/renter is of the property.  (let’s face it, you can learn a lot about someone based on their interactions on FaceBook)

And as a result, their is an online cottage industry of sorts that has developed simply over the fact that people have spare guest bedrooms sitting dormant on a daily basis, and now, they can find people (travelers) who are willing to try them… simply because you look like someone they can trust and vice versa.

Fascinating.

So my friend, Couch Surfing has come a long way.

The wifey and I are heading to LA in October for a wedding, and we may just give this concept a try.

Peace!

Be Outstanding,

Check out this powerful measuring device on Social Media shared with me by my friend Jon Ochs.

Just watch it for about 45 seconds… see the iTunes music, grow, iPads sell, heck… I even like the ‘new Internet user’

If that doesnt’ get you fired up about learning how to tap into this continually growing opportunity that exists online… I don’t know what will!

This is how I do it.

Be outstanding,

It rocks.

When we got home, the wife needed to head to the store to get a few things before dinner, and I was cleaning up the clutter on the counter.  Anyway- I came across this article from one of the random pieces of mail I was going through, and decided to share it with you…

I have one thing to say… Do, talk to strangers.

Never pass up the opaque oppotunity.  An opaque opportunity is an opportunity that doesn’t show its light initialy, but shows it over time.  It is presented to you at the most random of times, and often by the most random of people..  It comes to you when you least expect it, and often propels you in a postive direction you might not have expected.

You will never know when an opaque opportunity will show itself.  It can emerge while you are running painfully up hill, or while you are walking steadily back down.  It can come in the form of a friend, or a stranger.  It sometimes surprises you and comes from your smelly overweight dorm mate who lived down the hall in your freshman year.

The opaque opportunity comes from doing things and talking to people you might not initially feel comfortable with.  If a friend asks you to help him do his laundry, do it – you might find a dollar in the dryer.  If it doesn’t present itself from getting a thorn in your foot, it could come later from the elderly lady across the street who helps you get it out.  If you have the chance to hang out with an old person, do it… Good things always happen when it comes to dealing with old people.

If you find yourself with a blank schedule near lunch time, go talk to a foreign exchange student who doesn’t speak the same language.  Who knows, you might find yourself at home over seas.  If you are an athlete, make a drama major your housemate, but only if you find them on Craigslist.  Sometimes brute muscle and light hearted sophistication make a great team.

If anyone ever asks you if you know how to do something, say yes.  You will learn.  When you turn down an opaque opportunity you risk never knowing what you have missed.

The opaque opportunity can come from siting in the middle seat in class, just so you get the opportunity to sit by two strangers instead of one.  It almost always comes from talking to the person no one else wants to talk to.

It was transparent to me in 2006 that the Fukunaga Scholarship Foundation was offering me an unbelievable opportunity by supportung my educatuon to the University of California, Irvine.  What I wasn’t aware of, was the amount of random spontaneous opportunities that would present themselves in resulty of their generous offer.  Yes, in college I learned how to solve long economics equations, connect the dots to certain elements in chemistry, and read how Emile Durkheim wants us to live our lives.  But it has not been in the classroom that all my lessons were learned.  The exposure in college to many kinds of people, backgrounds and ideas is what I will remember most from my experiences.  In the four years, I have learned to stay open to ALL people and to ALL opportunities.

This may not be what you take away from college, but trust me on at least the first part… DO talk to strangers.

Through the Fukunaga Scholarship Foundation’s generous support, I accepted a transparent opportunity, and collected the opaque opportunitites that have followed in its wake.

“Be not inhospitable to strangers lest they be angels in disguise.” – George Whitman

Written by Kelly Noecker, 2006 recipient of the Fukunaga Scholarship.  Great article Kelly.

My wife was a Fukunaga Scholar and Scholarship Recipient, and this article was in a mailing from that organization.  Great concept isn’t it?

Talk to strangers.

Be Outstanding,

Why?  I’m constantly in pursuit of success.

And a wise man once said that who you will be in five years is a direct result of the people you meet and the books you read.

This little gem is directly from one of my favorites, Dan Kennedy.  Quoted directly from his newsletter this month:

“Some people claim their paralysis is MY fault.  I get the ‘…but I don’t know what to do first‘ and ‘I’m just overwhelmed’ whining a lot.  As if there was some neat, orderly, 1-2-3, follow the footprints on the floor path to the Millionaire’s Club.

Nuts.

Success is a mess; simultaneous not sequential massive action; starting many initiatives and having some pan out, egg on face and bloodied nose, fumbling in the dark; motion not meditation.  Dr. Maltz pointed out nobody gets to goals via straight lines; everybody zig-zags- but you can’t zig or zag if you are standing still.

Hell, I don’t know where to start.  I usually start somewhere by doing something.  I don’t write my books by outline.  I write. A mess.  Then print it all out and sit with scissors, stapler, tape and sticky-notes and hack it apart and put it back together in more sensible order and let the outline come out of the work.

I write copy the same way.  Presentations the same way.  Half the time when I’m home by myself, I don’t even know what I’m going to eat; I just get stuff out of the refrigerator.

Sure, organized effort, is better than chaos, but any effort is better than no effort.  You can over-think things.  In racing it’s the biggest sin: over-thinking the drive instead of just driving.

If you’ve never witnessed an Amish barn-building, you should.  When somebody needs a barn, the whole community gathers at their place, the women fix food and the guys put up a big barn, from zero to finished, in a day. No blueprints.  No real discussion.  Everybody just grabs wood and hammer and nails and starts putting stuff together.  Interesting. ‘Course they’re not stopping 50 times to check their email and tweets on their Droid and that does help with the productivity.  But still, a barn in a single afternoon. I had a guy in a coaching group once who worked on one sales letter for 2 years and never got it in the mail.

I imagine he’s got a droid.

Have you started building your barn?  Or are you just reading about it?  Get started like I did, and start creating the life of your dreams.  Now.  Today.  Click here to start.

We’re sitting here on his Lanai, talking about going swimming and then walking down to the store to get some stuff to cook for dinner tonight when the ladies arrive, and meanwhile, one of my programmers is fixing my new blog.

Ahhh.

Life is good.

PS If you find yourself on Oahu sometime, Sam rents this place out.  It’s awesome.  It’s right across from Three Tables Beach Park, one of the best snorkeling beaches on the Island.  Check his rental page at VRBO out here. By the way Michelle Rodriguez stayed here when they were shooting Lost up here on the North Shore.

I have the best wife ever.  She made some Eggplant Parmesan tonight, but didn’t tell me it was vegan until I was half-way through with my generous helping.

She found the recipe at http://veganpandamonium.blogspot.com/ Wow.

We’ve really been focusing on healthy foods lately, and she just kicked it up a notch.  Wow.

Thanks baby.

Well, in case you missed it, I married the love of my life two weeks ago today.  Man, am I the luckiest man in the world.  She’s beautiful, she’s smart, she’s witty, she’s fun, she’s hot, she’s my wife.  I’m pretty darn proud.  FaceBook makes it so easy to become a lazy blogger… simply because I basically mini-blog on there via my favorite social networking tool… ping.FM, so I probably should have blogged about this a little earlier, but it’s all good… getting married is the best thing I’ve ever done… today we spent the entire day at her apartment packing up and moving stuff over to my place… not exactly my idea of the best way to spend a Saturday, but a necessity.  We were going to just hire movers, then we realized 1) we’ve been dropping cash left and right like it was our job… 2) most of the stuff she had in her old place is really just waiting for a salvation army truck pickup… so we basically cherry picked all the stuff she wanted to keep today, and we are basically going to just have the great folks over at the Salvation Army carry off the rest.  By the way, I highly recommend their website.  Very user friendly, and much faster than even calling them on the phone… http://satruck.org. They come this week to take away most of her furniture.

A great discovery Tamra and I made today was the difference we have about organization… for me, organization is sort of a guiding principle… you know, be organized as much as you can, but don’t take it too serious… Tam is the polar opposite.  Case in point:  Me: (staring at an odd electrical contraption on her desk) “What is that?” Tamra: “A laminator”  Me: “Why would you need a laminator?” Tamra: “How could you laminate without one?”  The fundamental difference between us on this one was not lost on either of us, and the look on my face gave her a clear indication that I’d never even thought of owning my own laminator, and of course for me, recognizing that she does, in fact, laminate LOTS of stuff, I realized she is LIGHT YEARS ahead of me in the organization department.  A classic example is, now that both of our desks are in the same room, comparing hers to mine is like comparing a precision instrument like a scalpal to a rough hewn stone used for digging clay.  Maybe that’s why she’s so darn effective.  Women.  I love her, and I guess I’d better start loving me some laminating.  She told me after that I’d better ‘Be prepared to unleash my inner laminator.’ oh boy… The funny thing is, I post tons of notes and stuff all over my house for motivation and reminders of what my goals are and things like that… this, to Tamra, is an insult to the profession of laminating… do I ever have a thing or two to learn!

Regardless, I love married life.  And I love my bride.

I’m VERY excited about getting the new iPhone on Thursday… in fact, I even turned down a sparkly new iPad from Tamra for my birthday to get it… well, I didn’t turn it down, but I basically just decided that there are many things in life that are useful… and I think an iPhone is much more useful at this point than an iPad… are my early-adopter genes mutating??  Speaking of which… I watched a funny episode about the iPad on Modern Family this week on Hulu.com… that show is seriously one of the funniest shows I’ve seen in a long time.  My good friend Alina and her husband Darren recommended it to us, and I like it because it reminds me of a domestic version ‘The Office’  Very progressive, but very funny.  Even co-stars the old Al Bundy as the family patriarch in a very post-modern 2010 kind of way… funny show.

Anyway- enough for today.  Tam just finished putting all of her sales and motivation books up in the bookshelf we brought over today (can you tell another reason I married her?) and it’s time to call it a night.

Cheers, Aloha, and we’ll talk atcha soon.

Great lessons, a great experience, and as always, great people… (the US military… especially aviation, is filled with some of the most incredible individuals on the planet) but man, am I glad it’s over.  It kind of hit me yesterday, as I was wrapping up the last of the webinars (yes, the military now does webinars) and announced to my co-workers that were participating from around the world that I was soon to be finished with my career, that I really have developed a pretty good working knowledge of the subject matter… some would say it is a waste that I’m not putting that knowledge to use… but I contend that I am putting that knowledge to use.  The leadership skills I’ve developed as an officer, the ability to learn and apply technical knowledge as a specific subject matter expert, all have tangential benefits… and now, after having served Uncle Sam, I’m ready to serve my future family and my future children with the knowledge I’ve gained from being in the military.

I am very thankful to have served in the US Navy, and as I begin my new life as a civillian, I will always look back on my time in service as a great experience.  It enabled me to grow as an individual, to determine what I really want out of life, and quite honestly, support me while I did so.  I can say with a reasonable amount of certainty that I will most likely never return to the military officer corp.  More than one fellow officer explained that I would miss it, that I would be back, that I would want to serve in the reserves, but in all honesty, and maybe it’s because I’m such an idealist, I believe that I’ve served my country, and served it well.  It’s now time for me to cut my ties and become a normal civilian with no ties to the military, other than having served.  And for that, I am happy.

So a new life begins for me.  I go on terminal leave next week, and life as a full-time entrepreneur begins.  It’s slightly unsettling to be honest, but like anything else in life, if you put your hand to the plow, do your best, seek wise counsel and don’t be afraid to fail, anything is possible.  Anything.  Thanks to all my friends and family who have given me words of encouragement along the way.  It’s really appreciated, and now, a new life begins.

Oh, and there’s that small part about getting married too… :)  I’m pretty fortunate to have an incredible fiance’  who is seriously the best thing that has ever happened to me.  Thanks, Tamra.  I love you so much.  Let’s begin this new life already.

Cheers and Aloha-

This guy always reminds me of my old buddy (and wrestling fan) Clark…. but hey… let’s get ready to rumble!

So, ‘Belief’ is my greatest strength…

The book defines ‘Belief’ as: “If you possess a strong Belief theme, you have certain core values that are enduring. These values vary from one person to another, but ordinarily your belief theme causes you to be family-oriented, altruistic, even spiritual, and to value responsibility and high ethics- both in yourself and others. These core values affect your behavior in many ways. They give your life meaning and satisfaction; in your view, success is more than money and prestige. They provide you with direction, guiding you through the temptations and distractions of life toward a consistent set of priorities. This consistency is the foundation for all your relationships. Your friends call you dependable. “I know where you stand,” they say. Your Belief makes you easy to trust. It also demands that you find work that meshes with your values. (as an aside, this is HUGE for me) Your work must be meaningful; it must matter to you. And guided by your Belief them it will matter only if it gives you a chance to live out your values.”

Well, today, I saw an awesome video of Will Smith talking about belief plays such a huge role in his life. Watch this video, and see him talking about his belief.

I feel you Will. I really do. I hope you enjoy this video as much as I do.