I ran my first official marathon this morning. I am too tired to write anything witty so I will just share the video I made and a photo of the finish.
I was cleaning up my hard drive this week when I stumbled on some old RockStartup episodes. For those of you that aren’t familiar with RockStartup it was a reality show I produced when IZEA first started. We did 48 episodes in total and I really enjoyed the entire experience. You can find the series in HD on iTunes.
RockStartup #47 from Ted Murphy on Vimeo.
I made this video of Bonzo last night. She was definitely trying to tell me something, but I have no idea what. Do you speak Schnauzer? What is she saying?!?!
If you follow me on Twitter you know that last weekend IZEA organized an exclusive hard hat tour of Manta, a new roller coaster at SeaWorld, with a small group of bloggers. Manta is simply amazing. It combines an unique cave-like aquarium and flying roller coaster into one awesome experience like nothing else on the planet.
I am most excited about the coaster aspect of the attraction. You ride laying down, attached to belly of a giant Manta, creating the sensation of flight. It was so cool to hear directly from the people that conceptualized and managed this massive project. You could tell that they are genuinely excited to share their creation with the public. I never realized how much goes into building an attraction like this; it makes me appreciate Manta that much more.
Win a Trip for 4 to SeaWorld and Ride Manta!
IZEA and SeaWorld have teamed up to create a wicked contest called Manta Mania. One person will win a trip for four to SeaWorld including airfare, hotel and two full days at the park. Not only that… you will get priority access to ride Manta! I also have an awesome SeaWorld prize pack to giveaway that includes some cool schwag.
How to Enter
You can enter up to three times per person via these three methods:
Blog Comment:
Leave a comment sharing why you want to take your family or friends to SeaWorld to ride Manta.
Twitter Tweet:
Tweet out why you want to go to Seaworld and ride Manta in 140 characters or less. Be sure to include “http://urlbrief.com/b4e25e“, “#mantamania” and “@tedmurphy” somewhere in your tweet to be registered.
SAMPLE TWEET
RT I have #mantamania! I love roller coasters @tedmurphy – tweet for a chance to win a trip to seaworld http://urlbrief.com/b4e25e
Blog Post:
Write a post about why you want to take your family or friends to SeaWorld and ride Manta. Be sure to leave a comment on this post with the URL if the trackback doesn’t show for some reason.
Important Stuff
The Manta Mania Contest is open to anyone who is a legal U.S. resident and legal residents of Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, or Dominican Republic and is at least eighteen (18) years of age. The contest ends at 11:59 p.m. EST on March 10, 2009. Please be sure and read the full contest rules here.
If you dig dolphins you should also check out Dolphin Bubbles, a SeaWorld blog all about dolphins.
I thought it was genius when I first saw the Krispy Kreme “Hot Now” sign outside their stores. The only thing better than a doughnut is a hot doughnut. What if the marketing folks at Krispy Kreme used that same concept on Twitter?
Each store could have thier own Twitter ID, maybe something like @krispy(store#). You could follow the store and know every time hot doughnuts were ready. I can taste the magical glazed sour creme doughuts already.
I had the opportunity to feed dolphins for the very first time this weekend at SeaWorld in Orlando. I have to say it was one of my favorite experiences at any theme park ever. I want one. If only my lake was salt water.
The economy sucks. Times are tough. Competition is fierce. What is your strategy?
My strategy has been to focus, optimize and bring my A-Game. From coffee to cable television I cut out all the crap I didn’t need in my life. I focused on getting my body and my companies leaner and more disciplined. I looked to optimize everything I touched, seeking opportunities to add income and reduce expenses across the board. I decided I was going to be more effective and aggressive in every capacity I could.
This whole process started last summer, well ahead of the big economic fall out. At IZEA we call our strategy Operation Optimus, at home I call it Marathon Man. This month these initiatives really came together. Despite an economic downturn IZEA had its best sales ever in January. On the personal front I completed my first Marathon. It can happen people…you just need to go after it.
Whether you are a business owner, employee or unemployed it is time to get off that butt of yours and get into gear. What are you doing to change your life to match the changes in our economy? You can’t keep doing what you were doing; it’s not enough anymore. At home you need to tighten up, cut the excess and live healthy. Use that extra time and energy to dominate at work and make yourself irreplaceable. Go above and beyond, do things that “aren’t your job”, leave your co-workers and customers amazed by your awesomeness.
You can find success and happiness in a down economy, it just takes more work and less excess. What are three things you could cut at home? What are three things you could do better at work (if you are unemployed your job is getting a job)? It’s time to make some changes…it’s time to bring your A-Game.
Last week I challenged two local Orlando restaurants to further their adoption of twitter and allow me to tweet my order.
Orlando Ichiban stepped up within the hour and said they would start accepting orders via DM only. While I commend this step (you guys are awesome!) I also think it completely misses the boat from a marketing standpoint. You want orders to be public, front and center. I have 5,700+ people following me on Twitter and many of those live in Orlando. Why wouldn’t you want me to share my order with all those hungry potential customers? This is a huge opportunity for a food order to go viral and inspire others to purchase . Think about it:
- I (or anyone on Twitter) place an order for sushi right before lunch.
- As people are getting hungry and making lunch plans they see the order I just placed.
- They decide to place an order for pickup or stop by the restaurant.
By forcing me to use a private DM channel you negate that effect completely. No viral. No awareness. No gain. Yes, it’s better customer service, but you lost all the marketing potential.
Ichiban explained to me that they don’t have a device that allows them to get tweets real time in the restaurant. However, DM’s go directly to their cell phone via SMS, allowing them to respond. Guess what? It’s time to upgrade. Get a computer, iPhone or some other device that lets you interact with your customers in an open and public way in real time. Social media should be social, that’s the whole point. If you want me to DM you I might as well send my order via fax, carrier pigeon.
I really don’t like the DM idea so I decided to circumvent the system. I ordered my food yesterday via regular tweet, giving them enough time to spot it and respond. I am hoping I can do this without the delay sometime in the near future.
The food was fantastic and very well presented (even for a takeout order). The only thing I wish I would have seen was some mention of Twitter on the menu or as a little insert. I decided to add my own for the photo above : )
I never realized how far 26.2 miles was until this past Saturday. I am still aching two days later but I feel great knowing I was able to accomplish my goal. This race was not an official event with other runners. It was just me and my (recently calibrated) Nike+ iPod Nano. I will still be running the Five Points Marathon later this month. We’ll have to see how I do on time when I have to deal with hills.