Steve O'Sullivan's Personal Blog

Thanks and Goodbye 2010

Steve O — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 01:36:26 +0000

2010 was a pretty good year for me.

Pretty good is a relative statement of course. It was much better than the past 2 years, but not as good some years in the 90′s. How ever you measure how “good” a year is, it’s all in your head. Most years are really pretty much the same. We work, we play, we eat, sleep, bathe, brush our teeth, make friends, grocery shop, etc. (Heh, this is the perspective of a single 52 year old man, your results may very!) What really changes is our perspective and how we see the events of the past year.

I know that I can’t much remember what was happening last January 1st or how I felt. I’m sure I had hope for a better year and prayed all my troubles would disappear. Life went on and the world turned despite what I wanted or hoped for. And actually, 2010 was better than I could have imagined at the time.

So what was the difference between last year and the year before?

The changes in me and the people I met and already knew. (I’m sure some guru said something like that, but I can’t remember who, or I’d give them credit.)

So enough rambling and on to the point. I want to acknowledge and thank all the people who made my life better last year. I’m sure I will leave someone out who belongs here, or run out of steam before I finish adding everyone who deserves to be here, so my apologies right now, I’m sure I’ll remember later, or you can give me a nudge to add you.

First I want to thank and acknowledge Lorrie Morgan-Ferrero (http://redhotcopy.com) who inspired this post with her article *50 Coolest Marketers of 2010* and from whom I learned to write copy, despite the fact that I got C’s in English. Thank you Lorrie, it was so awesome to meet you in person this year!

So, here’s my list of family, friends and mentors who changed my life for the better, in no particular order.

Mom and Dad for having faith in me despite some bad choices in life, and who celebrated 58 years of marriage last year. Whoa!
My sister Kathy and her husband Maurice who invite me over for every holiday, feed me, entertain me and don’t make me do the dishes.
My daughter Katie who amazes me with her accomplishments and talent. (You need to call me more often tho!)
Ali Brown who has changed my life with her living example of what any entrepreneur can accomplish. Thanks Ali for all opportunities you provided me last year and your fabulous live events. It was awesome to finally meet you in person at CBI! http://www.alibrown.com/
Fabienne Fredrickson for teaching me some important standards to live life and business by. It was awesome meeting you in person this year too! Thanks for the hug, woo hoo! http://www.clientattraction.com
Kelly O’Neil who invited me to her Marketing to Millionaires Retreat where I met the most amazing people (and learned soooo much!). Kelly, you are awesome!! http://www.kellyoneil.com/
Frank Kern who is the most fun Internet Marketer I know. Thanks for the Golden Egg, Frank! http://frankkern.com
Ed Dale who is from Australia (Id Dial), say no more. Ed, you are an inspiration and have a great sense of humor. Oh, you’re brilliant too. http://www.eddale.co/
Kim Doyal, the only other internet marketer that I know in my hometown of Brentwood. Thank you for befriending me and for producing your amazing, inspirational movie “Women in Business 2.0″ http://womeninbusinessthemovie.com/
My best friend Miguel who has been my buddy since the 3rd grade (that’s 44 years). Mic, thanks for always being there for me, you saved my ass more times than I can count.
Maggie Anthony who keeps me accountable every week. Maggie, you are just so much fun! http://www.zenmaggie.com/
Melissa Kirk who keeps me in check, on my toes and doesn’t take any crap from me. 2011 is gonna rock for you! http://www.brentwoodmassage.com
Dani Burling who taught me so much about myself. Dani, you are a wonderful mentor and spiritual being. http://www.yoursacreddestiny.com/
Everyone in Dani’s Mentoring Group 3, thanks for sharing the journey with me!
Suzanne Lowe for giving me a place to park until I got my shizola together. http://www.essentialfamilychiro.com/
My new friends Kathleen Aston and Pam Desmarais who are great peeps and very fun to work with. http://kathleenastonintl.com/
Everyone at Coldwell Banker Amaral: Aaron, Hall, Cheryl, Cecily, Matt, Renee, Cathy, Michelle, and all the rest of y’all.
All the fabulous ladies (and a few good men) at WCR Delta Chapter. You all ROCK! http://wcrdelta.org/
All my wonderful clients who made the year so successful for me: Rubia Salon and Spa (Lisa and Danny Senn), Hamilton Wellness (Alice Dimaggio), Coldwell Banker Amaral, A. Meadows Property Management, Cecily Tippery, Your Sacred Destiny (Dani Burling), The Guthrie Group (Ken and Libby Guthrie), Malcuit and Associates (Monica Malcuit), Nancy Benvenuto, Robin Chatham and the Women’s Council of Realtors, Delta Chapter.
All 709 Facebook Friends! http://www.facebook.com/steve.osullivan
All the other new friends I’ve met this year, both on and off line: Rebecca Geiger, Rav Chaudhary, Bruce Jones, Steven Sonsino, Tommi Wolfe, Lisa Manyon, Tim Taylor, Mary Allen, Erin Ferree, Dawn Durso, Jacqueline Hadden, Nikki Lundberg, Matthew Blom, Eva Gregory, Jennifer Bourn, Adam Haroun, Terri Romine, Shawn Chou, Cory Fossum, Annette Naif, Simon Johnson and the list goes on…
All the other IMers that I’ve learned from: Blue Melnick, Bari Baumgardner, Beth Schneider, Pam Brossman, Andy Jenkins, Leslie Rohde, Dan Thies, Guru Bob, Dan Raine, and the list goes on…

Thank you all, you touched me, taught me, and enriched my life.

The most important lessons I learned in 2010 were;

Remember to breathe, take time for yourself, help others, have faith and don’t quit.

Get out of the house or office and go meet people in person.

Appreciation and gratitude will get you farther than fear and anger.

Be happy now, it’s all you really have. Life can be awesome if you let it.

The True Story of Rudolph

Steve O — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 06:58:39 +0000

The True Story of Rudolph

A man named Bob May, depressed and brokenhearted, stared out his drafty apartment window into the chilling December night.

His 4-year-old daughter Barbara sat on his lap quietly sobbing. Bob’s wife, Evelyn, was dying of cancer. Little Barbara couldn’t understand why her mommy could never come home. Barbara looked up into her dad’s eyes and asked, “Why isn’t Mommy just like everybody else’s Mommy?” Bob’s jaw tightened and his eyes welled with tears. Her question brought waves of grief, but also of anger. It had been the story of Bob’s life. Life always had to be different for Bob.

Small when he was a kid, Bob was often bullied by other boys. He was too little at the time to compete in sports. He was often called names he’d rather not remember. From childhood, Bob was different and never seemed to fit in. Bob did complete college, married his loving wife and was grateful to get his job as a copywriter at Montgomery Ward during the Great Depression. Then he was blessed with his little girl. But it was all short-lived. Evelyn’s bout with cancer stripped them of all their savings and now Bob and his daughter were forced to live in a two-room apartment in the Chicago slums. Evelyn died just days before Christmas in 1938.

Bob struggled to give hope to his child, for whom he couldn’t even afford to buy a Christmas gift. But if he couldn’t buy a gift, he was determined to make one – a storybook! Bob had created an animal character in his own mind and told the animal’s story to little Barbara to give her comfort and hope. Again and again Bob told the story, embellishing it more with each telling. Who was the character? What was the story all about? The story Bob May created was his own autobiography in fable form. The character he created was a misfit outcast like he was. The name of the character? A little reindeer named Rudolph, with a big shiny nose. Bob finished the book just in time to give it to his little girl on Christmas Day. But the story doesn’t end there.

The general manager of Montgomery Ward caught wind of the little storybook and offered Bob May a nominal fee to purchase the rights to print the book. Wards went on to print, Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer and distribute it to children visiting Santa Claus in their stores. By 1946 Wards had printed and distributed more than six million copies of Rudolph. That same year, a major publisher wanted to purchase the rights from Wards to print an updated version of the book.

In an unprecedented gesture of kindness, the CEO of Wards returned all rights back to Bob May. The book became a best seller. Many toy and marketing deals followed and Bob May, now remarried with a growing family, became wealthy from the story he created to comfort his grieving daughter. But the story doesn’t end there either.

Bob’s brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, made a song adaptation to Rudolph. Though the song was turned down by such popular vocalists as Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore, it was recorded by the singing cowboy, Gene Autry. “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” was released in 1949 and became a phenomenal success, selling more records than any other Christmas song, with the exception of “White Christmas.”

The gift of love that Bob May created for his daughter so long ago kept on returning back to bless him again and again. And Bob May learned the lesson, just like his dear friend Rudolph, that being different isn’t so bad. In fact, being different can be a blessing.

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2010

Christmas carolers at the mall

Steve O — Sat, 11 Dec 2010 22:37:06 +0000

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A Thanksgiving Cup of Coffee

Steve O — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 04:25:06 +0000

Thanksgiving dinner was excellent as usual. Turkey with all the fixin’s followed by Pumpkin Pie and a nice cup of joe.

Thanks to my family and all my friends, both real and virtual!

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A Little Photo Fun

Steve O — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 22:41:32 +0000

The other night I was looking for some software to emulate the awesome iPhone app Hipstamatic for my regular pics, and I ran across Photoscape. It’s a free desktop app that “is a fun and easy photo editing software that enables you to fix and enhance photos“.

Not exactly PhotoShop, but very cool stuff! I doesn’t operate like the Hipstamatic app, but you can get some really awesome results with a little trial and error. And of course, you can’t beat the price.

So, here are a couple of before and after pictures that I created with Photoscape.

Hmmm, maybe just one before and after pic. The first is the original image. Kind of washed out and boring. the second image is the “hipsta-scape” version. Much more vibrant and interesting, don’t you think?

I’ve never uploaded multiple photos to posterous before, so let’s just see how this looks before I do more.

Please leave your comments, tips and thoughts.

Thanks!

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