Email Newsletter - wow!

Whoa - this is insanity. I started using this new email program soon to be called iContact and it's amazing. I've used other programs and this is the best I've tried.

It's super easy to use so be sure to check it out!


Be sure to get my "Latest" newsletter that I sent out this morning. There are some great discounts, videos, and info in there.

This is how you should do it!

Sarah Barlow wins the DJ blog award which is a very prestigious award that you definitely want to win.

She has tons of media on her blog and she has it on there in a way that's easy to watch! She has embedded 7 Showit Web Slideshow and has embedded YouTube videos to watch right there on the blog as well. You don't need to scroll scroll scroll and get a headache or anything. Just click and enjoy! :)

Check it out!

Elbow grease

So typically if I'm without my computer I'm pretty much worthless. So I spent a little bit of time reading yesterday and then I cleaned! It was amazing! My cleaning lady is sick and can't come till tomorrow so I jammed out a bunch on my own and I am really proud.

I even moved my desk (kitchen table) to give my self a better view because it's gonna be a long day of jamming out slideshows and a newsletter.

Showit Effects and Showit Borders just got updated for CS3 so that's awesome and I need to tell everyone to go get the new FREE update by logging into the store.


Having an internet store is so crazy because people buy stuff from the craziest places. Someone ordered from Slovakia yesterday? Where is that? ...and Latvia! Today people have already ordered from the U.K. - Canada - Brazil - Italy - Australia and of course the U.S.

I just counted and we are now in 33 countries! We work really hard on this stuff and so it's really rewarding to know that people are enjoying it and spreading the word about it!

Life

Life, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

I left my power plug in pismo and the mac store was closed yesterday so I almost passed away not having my IV for so long.



Sorry I missed some of your vm's yesterday. My office line comes into my inbox on this computer and I couldn't figure out how to check it on the other computer.



Can you believe these things are 100 bucks. Gnarly.

Are you a spinning top

Are you a spinning top, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

I was reading this morning and came across a quote that I think really nails what business or work has a tendency to become - a distraction!

Work can easily become a drug that keeps us so distracted that we don't have time to confront the realities of what our life is really about. We become like one of those toy tops that you spin on the table. They spin round and round and they are moving really fast but they're not going anywhere.

In the book Brian Mahan says, "the power of the social scripts of mere success, then, is not, as it is often thought, the power of seduction; it is the power of distraction."

In my own life I've redefined the word "success" and I encourage you to adopt this new definition as well.

The tendency is to define success by how much work we have and how busy we are because these things make us feel important and hide the truth about our life, but instead I think we need to define success not by how FULL our schedule is but by how FREE our schedule is!

I spent years distracting myself and maybe some of you have as well. Maybe some of you have spent decades - it doesn't really matter because what matters is that you make the change today. That you stop distracting yourself from what you're really meant to become and you free yourself up to live a life with greater meaning and purpose.

Excited to wake up

Excited to wake up, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

I just got home from a wedding in pismo this weekend and it went great! I can't wait to show you guys the pictures!

I gotta sleep for a little bit though because it was a long day but I'll be up at 6:00.

I'll probably grab a few extra pictures from the reception to put in the show because it was a trip! You'll know what I mean when you see it!



Night night!

Fun with Remotes in the Press

The video that me, Swan, and Holritz made messing with everyone at the PPA show is still being talked about and has been viewed over 24,000 times on the different video sites it's on! Amber just sent over this link!

Checkout the article

Validation Marketing

I've come up with a new addition to my "Hands-Free" Marketing system and it's called "Validation" Marketing. I've found it to be incredibly powerful.

It's my belief that marketing should focus on validating the purchasing decisions of current customers rather than simply trying to reach new (potential) customers.

Great example below from a bride who paid over $15,000 to have me at her wedding. A couple of days after her wedding I put a slideshow on my blog and 1000's of people saw it. One of them apparently stopped her at the gym in NY. Now that's "Hands-Free" (Validation) Marketing at it's best!


Here's one page from the workbook that we'll be going through at my first ever workshop later this year. Stay tuned because I'll post it here first!

I'm off to shoot a sweet wedding in Pismo today and tomorrow and then I have a couple of weeks off to finish preparing this workshop.

Translation :)

I just got a voicemail but I think it's in Spanish and I don't really speak that much spanish. Press the play button and hook me up with an English version...feel free to make it a loose translation with your own interpretation.

Yea! Sweet!

Everyone says that RSJ will never notice me but I have faith! :)

...and my picture along with Showit Borders is now being featured on her MySpace page! How cool is that.

Longest Run - 5k

I've been getting hounded by all of you about not having run since May 2nd. I know...that's quite a long break so I came out charging and did my longest run ever with my new "Fast - I Am" shoes! :)

I slowed the pace down a bit but my average is still pretty good. Ya see I'm not much of a distance runner but I will beat everyone in the 50 yard dash. Long distance running actually trains you to be slow so that's why I never did it. Athletes need bursts of speed not a long consistent jog so we did more training like that and the longest run we had to do was a 2 mile run in under 12 minutes.

The only worse run was when me and the other freshman didn't do our job of cleaning up the gear one day after practice so the upper classmen grabbed us and put us in their trucks and took us to Coyote Road which is a long windy road going straight up the mountain. They let us keep our shoes on but then stripped us to our underwear and made us run up the hill while they threw things at us from their cars. We did a better job with the gear after that.

How to stay alive with no wrinkles

I had lunch with my friend Ashley today and she takes such good care of me. She's the one that first gave me Emergen-C and now I live on this stuff. I usually just have Airborne with me because it's easier to travel with. It comes in a little tube and you don't need to stir it but when I'm at home I can take the Emergen-C which tastes better.

So today when I showed up she handed me this bottle and said you have to start using this! I looked at it and was like oh thanks but I thought it was for removing wrinkles on my face...but once she started to explain it I figured it out that it's for traveling with clothes and not having to iron them! I'm stoked to try it out this weekend and I'm glad I didn't spray it on my face.

She also gave me lots of tips on healthy food to eat too. I usually don't buy food to keep at home because I have so many great restaurants by my house. This picture is of all the restaurants within just a few blocks of my house but she told me about healthy snacks and if any of you guys have healthy snacks that I can make without turning on my oven that would be cool b/c I've never turned it on and I don't wanna get too involved in all that stuff.

Yea! Gary and Missy!!!

Jessica Claire is amazing! She just took the best pictures of Gary and Missy and they are all up on her blog! Rumor has it that Gary pulled his groin in the shot above.

Connecticut Wedding!

Checkout the wedding I just shot in Connecticut! Justin Marantz helped me shoot it so if you see a cool shot it's probably one of his!...and it's Mary's birthday today so be sure to hitup their blog and wish her a happy birthday!

Also, I love this first image. I used the "Paint Scratch" texture from the Swiss Rough Pack for this one!

I also wanted to point out how much nicer it is to simply click through a Showit Web slideshow that is embedded into a blog rather than scroll down to view 30 pictures or so. Personally it makes me kinda dizzy to keep scrolling down to see all the pictures that photographers put in their post so if you have Showit Web save people from getting nausious and embed a show or a gallery rather than making a mile long post to scroll through. :)

Life if good

Life if good, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

I got home late last night and I always love coming home.



I forgot to get a mug in CT so I will have to get one next time but it was so fun to come home because Carey Schumacher (barefoot memories) had sent me this fun mug! I love it! Thanks Carey!



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New (Jersey) Friends

The New Jersey PPA show was awesome! A special thanks to Al Dicampli for putting all of this together and for everyone that showed up! It was a packed room with 113 people! A few hecklers but hey it's Jersey! What can you expect! :)

Also, I was stoked to see Paul Loftland already putting some of the "Hands-Free" marketing tools to work on his blog by posting some of these pictures! Rock on!

I'm in Chicago now just getting ready to head home for a few days before a big wedding up in Pismo this weekend.

Sweet!
DJ

Central park

Central park, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

We're just cruising through central park and they have all these remote control sailboats which looked like fun but then I was thinking it'd be more fun to take two boats and tie a string between them before you put them in the water so as you drove the two boats around the fishing string would catch the sails of the other boats and they would tip over! That'd be so fun!

Refueling

Refueling, originally uploaded by davidjay13.

I had a great wedding yesterday with Brett Austin and Justin Marantz and after a long day of work it's always important to refuel.



We're on our way to spend a few hours in NY before heading to New Jersey tonight because i'm doing a one day workshop for the professional photographer group there tomorrow.



Sorry I couldn't hang with you guys from CT but I'll try and stay for a few extra days when i'm back for Justin and Mary's wedding.



As we're driving here in CT I've noticed that there are a lot of dead people here. Cemetaries everywhere...in California we hide all our cemetaries but out here they seem to be kind of an attraction.



I'll post some pics from the wedding later. My coffee is getting cold.

Rockin Connecticut

Brett Austin jammed out this sick video from my engagement shoot with Justin and Mary in the rain last night! Check it out! This is awesome!

Made it to CT

I've never been to CT before but it's really nice and peaceful...and the people are very friendly. I'm staying at the Boulders Inn which is a cute little bed and breakfast place. I kinda like boutique type places b/c each one is different where as I'm finding the big hotels all kinda blends together.

We got here early so we're waiting in the living room but there's wireless which is great b/c my Verizon card doesn't work and neither does my phone. Yikes...

I'm also liking the late night flights because I just take 2 Tylenol PM's and crash out and then I'm traveling while I'm sleeping instead of wasting a day traveling. I don't know how these little pills make me so tired but it's great because I sleep the whole flight and I only take them when I do an all night flight b/c Jeff Jochum told me that if you take them consistently you'll start forgetting everything.

Brett hasn't quite adapted to the travel thing so he stayed up all night and is just dead. haha...