One heck of a day: The Ren Men and Wired to Care

06 January 2010 | blog,Book Reviews,General | 3 Comments

Over the last two days I decided to blog about some of the things that had come across my desk; namely Wired to Care and, through a thin veil, The Ren Men. Needless to say that I was shocked that both reached back out to me and do so in such meaningful ways.

Let’s start with last night’s post and bring you all up to speed. I quickly wrote about playing the role of connector and doing things that give perspective. The reason why that post had a very different feel was because it was literally minutes after I had emailed a key member of Gary Vaynerchuk’s staff who I feel fortunate enough to call a friend and one of the nicest guys I’ve come across professionally, Matt Sitomer. I was on the high of simply helping someone achieve a goal that they had had the confidence to make it public. Grant and Alan, the guys behind the Ren Men Show, stated in an early episode of their podcast that their major eustress goal was to get in contact with Gary V. I feel pretty fortunate to consider several members of the Vaynermedia staff friends and am always a little suspicious of folks trying to get in contact with even “zzz-list celebrities” (maybe growing up south of LA has jaded me but I’m always hesitant to help those kinds of folks). It was only after viewing this clip that I knew I could help (if you must jump ahead to 3:35).

The Ren Men Show – Episode 3 (BOOB Update) from Grant Peelle on Vimeo.

While that is one of the cruelest jokes I’ve seen played on a show host by a cameraman I know exactly how Grant felt because I felt almost the same way before I got to meet Gary for the first time. With that much energy and passion (and to be frank the audacity to post him screaming like a kid online), what option did I have but to help them? Grant was operating from the heart and the funny video definitely made it easy for me to send it over to Matt and in turn get Gary’s attention. While I thought my job was done having just made the connection the guys decided to shoot me a quick thank you video on Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1300193793776&oid=185442205746 (requires Facebook login)

To be honest, videos like that aren’t why I decide to reach out and help folks but they definitely do help make it worth the effort. I know how it feels to be in their position and it’s easy enough to simply pay it forward. That in itself is the reward I was after. The fact that they took the time to read a post on my blog and watch my Ignite Phoenix presentation shows that they’re stand up guys who weren’t happy taking a favor from someone they didn’t know. They needed some background on me and fortunately my blog was there to provide it.

Where this goes from here regarding Grant and Alan and their Big-Out-Of-Box Challenge, you’ll just have to see by subscribing to their videos on Vimeo.

As if that wasn’t enough for the day my review of Wired to Care was featured on the book’s blog today. I’m serious check this screen grab:

I don’t write my book reviews for anyone but myself and the three friends who I know actually subscribe to my feed so the fact that the authors (shout out to Pete for posting it) found it and thought it was blog worthy was awesome. I never really thought of myself as a “a business blogger” but hey I’ll take the title.

Also a huge thanks to those of you who responded so positively when I tweeted about being featured. That kind of support is completely unexpected and extremely appreciated. I’m humbled that each and every one of you took the time to congratulate me.

The unifying thread here, oddly enough, is Twitter. I found Grant and Alan through Twitter and made contact with them and as a result was able to help them. I’m assuming that Pete (the co-author of Wired to Care) ran a search on Twitter for his book’s name and came across my review. Pumping out great content and being willing to share not only that but your time, connections and perspective are all ingredients to being successful in this new business landscape.

And student’s question why they should be creating a brand for themselves, ppsshhh.

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