Literally, the first 5 things at the top of my brain…
1. Did you see that the NCAA March Madness Championship game will move from CBS to TBS in 2016! Crazy, right? Starting next year the semi-final games will be be split between the two networks, and by 2016 the Championship game will go back and forth between them. (Full Story on Awful Announcing.)
2. If you’re looking for a worthy cause to back, please consider my friend Kirby’s organization Peace Gospel International. They are looking to partner with monthly donors right now. If you want more info about how they are fighting to turn around child sex trafficking, the orphan crisis, and child labor and slavery, click here. (also, Kirby is an Instagram star. Look at the photos!)
BTW, you don’t want to miss the video at the end of this post…
Literally, the first 5 things at the top of my brain…
1. One of my books is free on Kindle this week! You can get Community Wins: 21 Thoughts on Building an Online Tribe for free through Sunday, May 5th. It’s got over 75 5-Star reviews and is guaranteed to help you be better at building a growing and engaged community.
2. I was interviewed by Erik Fisher for the Beyond the To Do List Podcast! He’s had some really great people on the pod already, so I feel like a lightweight on his roster. It was a ton of fun, you should definitely check out what he’s doing with it. Here’s my episode: Episode 30: Bryan Allain.
This post was originally written for my friend Ally’s blog as a guest post. Thought it would be fun to share it here as well.
7 Steps to Finding Your Soul Mate
1. Start With A Big Pool of Possibilities
Erica and I met at the Creation Music Festival in Central PA in 1997. She had driven 3 hours from Eastern PA with her friend Kandace and I had come from Massachusetts with my friend Nate.
It was just the four of us…and 70,000 other people on a sprawling farm in the middle of nowhere gathered together to listen to mediocre music and not take showers for 5 days.
And how exactly did we meet in such a crowd? Glad you asked…
Nate, Kan, Erica and I (circa late 90s)
2. Include some Danger if Possible
Nate and I were walking back to our tent on the first night when all of a sudden the car parked in front of us shot into reverse, nearly removing our knee caps from our bodies.
The driver and her friend were both cute (and giggling), and suddenly we felt compelled to be servants and help them set up their tents.
They both seemed cool, but there was something about Erica that had my attention. I tried for 10 minutes to remember her name as I laid in my tent before it finally came to me. “Erica!” I said out loud, “I almost forgot her name!”
The rest of the guys told me to shut up and go to bed. So I did.
Busy busy busy with the conference, so here’s a quick edition of 5 Random Things…
Literally, the first 5 things at the top of my brain…
1. I’ve been sick for 10 days!!! Finally went on meds to clear up the sinus infection I had for a week and now I’ve had a cold for a few days. Feels like I’m on the mend now, so let’s go with that.
There’s never a good time to get sick, but the two weeks before my conference? C’mon immune system, pick it up!!!
2. Have you seen what Killer Tribes Speaker John Saddington is up to?He’s building an app called Pressgram that gives you a lot of the functionality of Instagram, but also gives you full control of your photos.
The app will also make it super easy for bloggers to integrate their photos into their WordPress blogs. He’s just a week in and he already has raised over $13,000 dollars. More info here: Pressgram Kickstarter.
It’s Friday, time for another edition of 5 Random Things…
Literally, the first 5 things at the top of my brain…
1. A few months ago I was interviewed by Trent Dyrsmid for his Bright Ideas Podcast. Trent is a great interviewer who has talked with a ton of smart folks. I totally felt like I didn’t belong on there, but I just told my story and hey, maybe someone will be inspired by it.
Literally, the first 5 things at the top of my brain…
1. If you sign up for the Justin McClure newsletter this morning, you may just win yourself a free ticket to Killer Tribes. (and if you are wondering who Justin McClure is, it’s one of my favorite new graphic design companies. I had an amazing experience working with them on Killer Tribes, check them out.)
2. The Killer Tribes Conference is two weeks away! At this point I am so ready for it to be here.
Have you seen the place where we are throwing the house party the night before? Should be amazing.
1 part broth, 1 part noodles, and 3 boxes of crushed Cheez-its…it’s Monday Soup!
+ Killer Tribes is less than 3 weeks away! Am I freaking out? No. Am I excited? Yes. Headed to Atlanta this week for a quick trip to do some recon work related to the conference, so I’m pretty stoked about that. Will be on the Ken Coleman show tomorrow night as well around 5:30pm to talk about the conference for a few minutes.
+ Speaking of Killer Tribes, I’ll be announcing some new speakers later today at the website. Stay tuned.
+ Not sure if I ever let y’all know how my second stand-up gig went, but it went great! I did 20 whole minutes of stand-up, which is ridiculous, and they even laughed a few times. Definitely want to start doing a little more of it once the conference is in the rear-view. More to come…
1 part broth, 1 part noodles, and 4 parts fabric softener…it’s an all NFL edition of Monday Soup!
+ Twitter really has revolutionized the way I watch football. I used to DVR the games and start them a little later so I could skip through the commercials. But thanks to twitter, I want to be watching the action live with everyone else. This allows me to not only add my two cents of commentary, but it also lets me see a running commentary from my favorite NFL writers and pundits.
I use Twitter Lists to keep tabs on all my favorite sports. I’ve got one for the NFL, one for the MLB, one for Hoops, and one for my fave talking heads who aren’t dedicated to just one sport. You can follow these lists (I think it’s called subscribing), or make up your own.
Speaking of Football, here’s the Top 10 Most Interesting Things after yesterday:
1. Tom Brady had won 67 games in a row at home when leading at halftime. Quite a streak. (h/t Peter King)
2. Why did that streak end? The Baltimore D allowed ZERO points in the second half. Amazing.
1 part broth, 1 part noodles, and 18 parts capri sun…it’s Monday Soup on a Tuesday.
+ The Best Rates for the Killer Tribes Conf. end TODAY! If you’re a blogger, a wannabe blogger, or a leader looking to build a community, you’re going to want to be there in Atlanta with us on March 22/23! For more info and registration, go here: Killer Tribes 2013.
+ Speaking of Killer Tribes, there is a SICK deal happening right now on the audio from Killer Tribes 2012. If you use the discount code found at MoneySavingMom.com, you can get $30 off the Audio Package ($35) or the Bonus Package ($39)!
1 part broth, 1 part noodles, and 3 parts carrots…it’s Monday Soup.
+ Like most of you, still processing the Sandy Hook tragedy this week. Being home and on the computer on Friday, I watched the events unfold in real time as details leaked throughout the day. It was so heartbreaking. Just thinking about the terror and sorrow for those involved was overwhelming. Still not sure what to do with all the emotion.
Many used the events to rail against guns, God, and this broken world in which we live and I get it. I was angry too, and we all were taking out that anger on one of those things…or on each other.
I’ve got opinions on the right to bear arms and where God was in the tragedy and why these things happen, but I’ve decided that public forums like facebook and my blog aren’t the right place to share them for me at this point. For you that might be totally fine; I’m honestly not judging at all. These things need to be talked about and discussed. I’m just not going to be the one doing it on social media right now (or maybe ever). I’ll have those discussions with those I am closest with and leave the public discourse to others.
And I will continue to pray for those families and will do a better job of loving those around me…that’s all I can think to do right now.
UPDATE: With regards to the tragedy, I liked what Joe Scarborough had to say. He’s a gun-owning, conservative, republican who has had enough. This is a 4-minute clip of his 10-minute monologue. Not saying I agree with everything he says, just thought this was thoughtful and well-spoken.
Bryan Allain has written for RELEVANT, Stuff Christians Like, COLLIDE Magazine, and The Daily Beast. A blogger for over 10 years, he helps bloggers, artists, & small businesses build their tribes at Killer Tribes.
Click here for more about Bryan
Literally, the first 5 things at the top of my brain…
1 part broth, 1 part noodles, and 3 boxes of crushed Cheez-its…it’s Monday Soup!
