200 of my Closest Friends and Margaritas....

Well, LinkedIn Live Raleigh V was a huge success on Tuesday night - with 200 of my closest friends enjoying margaritas and great food for three solid hours. Door prizes galore - including the Pay It Forward door prize of two $50 Best Buy gift cards - awarded to one person who then had to give one away to someone and "pay it forward."

The buzz was so significant after the event that the sponsorships for the May event are already secured!

This truly has become a passion for me and Stephanie as we bring people together to help each other in business and in life. What an awesome feeling to give it back after receiving blessings from friends and even total strangers for many years.

Thanks again to iContact, Preation, Select Group and FeatureTel for making the event possible.

One quick related story:

A very good friend of mine found out the day before LI Live 5 that his company was shutting down the branch office he ran in Raleigh - no warning just BOOM out of a job!

The outpouring of support for him was amazing - with friends offering to connect him to job potentials and other projects - in less than a day!

Erik is one of my "Power 5" a group of guys that are closely linked in both business and spirit - the type that you can call in the middle of the night and they would not hesitate to help - no matter what the circumstances. He felt that power this week, as we worked to bring some good out of a bad situation.

While he's not landed yet, he's on his way, and I truly believe it's because of the power of Paying it Forward that he's doing so.

I leave you - still glowing from an amazing event - with this thought:

If you were in a tough situation and needed help, could you pick up the phone and call 4 other people knowing they would be there in a heartbeat to help?

More importantly - can you say that you are the person ready to answer that call?

Continue to pay it forward,

Chuck

LinkedIn Live Raleigh V - A Success Waiting to Happen

LinkedIn Live Raleigh V - the in-person networking event I host every other month - is set to take place tomorrow night from 6:30 p.m. to 9 at Sedona New Western Grill & Margarita Bar in Raleigh.

We have received more than $1500 in door prizes from very generous supporters - and RSVPs top 175!

One of my favorite "giveaways" is a pay it forward door prize - this time two $50 Best Buy gift cards. One person will win both - with the caveat that they must give one away (pay it forward) to someone that is not a relative or close friend. Can't wait to see how this plays out!

I am truly blessed by an amazing network on LinkedIn - and my local connections are fantastic individuals who truly care about each other.

When I get a chance to breathe after the event, I will post pictures and a report on how it all went.

In the meantime, keep paying it forward!

Chuck

Pay it Forward Stories - Part One

Recently, I asked for submissions of Pay it Forward stories through LinkedIn's Answers section. I was overwhelmed with the responses - more than 25 in all.

The first one is from Diane Eller. I will post many more over the next week or so.

What struck me as I read this one is that it shows the young people sometimes get it better than us grey hairs...

Recently, my daugher Estelle, student at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, told me her experience, a great Pay-it-Forward story. She was filming people entering the Hockey Stadium for a NHL game that night, as part of her school project, and it also invloved interviews and then filming the reactions of the spectators coming out once the game was over.

As she went about doing her filming activities before the game, a young man approached her and said, "here are two tickets, if you care for the game, as I have an urgent situation and cannot stay." She took the tickets, with a great feeling of excitement (she's a big hockey fan), but given all the equipment she had to carry around, and given the time frame for her project, she quickly realized she could not keep the tickets.

She told me: "I thought of selling the tickets, as they were worth over $125, but then reflected on the fact that they had been given to me, so I decided to give them away, and keep this a worthy cause."

She then handed them to a man and his young son, looking to buy tickets. They said they could not afford to buy them and she replied, no worry, they are free, they come from this other fellow, and it is my pleasure that I offer them to you.

Well, needless to say, the man was so amazed, he asked if he could do anything for her, and took down her name for possible student jobs around her area.

She returned home that night with a smile, knowing she had really done well to give those tickets back. As she put it: we just never know what will come of this, but admitted she did not do it to get anything out of it. I applaud her bright decision. It's all about paying-it-forward, and I am a proud mom!

Thanks Diane, what a great story. And to anyone in the Toronto area, if you know of student jobs - contact me and I'll get the information to Diane and Estelle!

Until next time. Continue to Pay it Forward. Watch what happens to the world around you!

Chuck

The Results Are In....

I believe I may now know what Mitt Romney's campaign went through last night on Super Tuesday. A long, hard battle, but well worth it.

As I write this post Ryan Allis' book is #2 on the Amazon best sellers list. An amazing accomplishment in any light.

To give you perspective, Zero to One Million went from 1,558 at 3 a.m. Tuesday morning to #2 at 4 a.m. Wednesday.

A little clearer perspective? He beat out John Grisham, James Patterson, Barak Obama, Stephen King and Harry Potter...in ONE DAY!

If you ever doubted the power of social media and cause marketing, drop me a line. I work with the best of the best. Ryan put a methodical, well-thought-out action plan together to accomplish his goals.

What are you doing to realize YOUR dreams, pay it forward, and make a difference?

Oh, and by the way, it's not out of the question for Ryan to reach #1 today.

See my previous post for links to the Amazon site.

I am truly proud to be associated with this brilliant young man. Kudos, Ryan. I can't wait to see what you accomplish next!

A Super Tuesday of Another Color...

If you know about me, then you know about my CEO, Ryan Allis.

Tomorrow is Super Tuesday for the Democrats and Republicans, but I'm truly hoping it will be a Super Tuesday of another color for Ryan.

As I mentioned last week, Ryan Allis is launching his book Zero to One Million tomorrow, February 5. It comes with my strong endorsement.

I highly recommend the book for anyone who wants to become a multimillionaire entrepreneur. If there’s ever a book that has the potential to be life changing, Zero to One Million is it. Ryan is trying to reach a lifetime goal and get to #1 on Amazon.com today and has created a compelling reason to buy the book today.

Ryan built three companies to over $1 million in sales by age 21, raised over five million dollars in venture capital at age 22, and today at age 23 runs an 85 person company in North Carolina called iContact that does over ten million dollars in annual sales. Ryan knows what he’s doing when it comes to business.

The full title of the book is ‘Zero to One Million: How I Built a Company to $1 Million in Sales… And How You Can Too.’ If you want to become a multimillionaire entrepreneur, this really is a no-BS step-by-step guide.

Tomorrow, February 5th, Ryan is running a promotion to help him get to the #1 spot on Amazon.

When you buy Ryan’s book for $11.53 on Amazon today you will receive six bonus gifts including a video from Ryan on how to raise $5 million in venture capital at age 22 and valuable DVD and PDF report bonuses from Buck Rizvi, Derek Gehl, Carlos Garcia, Shawn Casey, and Tom Bell. Just email the Amazon receipt to bonus@zeromillion.com with [publicationID] in the subject line to receive the bonuses.

You’ll also receive a special video from Ryan: How Our Generation Will Change the World… A Plan for the Future.

You can purchase Zero to One Million at http://www.amazon.com/Zero-One-Million-Built-Company/dp/0071496661/. I’d recommend buying your copy as soon as you can before they run out of stock.

NOW HERE'S THE PAY IT FORWARD KICKER:

All of the proceeds from Zero to One Million are going to Ryan’s non-profit organization The Humanity Campaign, which works to reduce poverty and hunger in developing nations by increasing access to education, healthcare, and technology. You can read an article about Ryan’s efforts to give back at http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/900111.html.

Ryan actually has the crazy goal of being the President of the United States someday—I think he might just make it!

Thanks for your help!

Until next time.

Paying it Forward,

Chuck

P.S. – Would you also spread the word about Zero to One Million to all of your friends interested in entrepreneurship, marketing, and changing the world? They can buy their copy at http://www.amazon.com/Zero-One-Million-Built-Company/dp/0071496661/.

Additional thoughts on a Tuesday morning...

I realized that there are several things I wanted to communicate to my readers, and didn't want to post separate blogs. So, here's the list:

1. I have received an AMAZING array of Pay it Forward stories from my LinkedIn question and will be posting several in the next few days. Stay tuned.

2. With the great possibility of a check from the government *FAINT* in the near future - perhaps as early as May/June, I am seriously considering putting forth a Pay it Forward Challenge. In essence, take $50 of your check (found money is the term I would use) and Pay it Forward. Your decision on what that looks like. The best Pay it Forward application of the money will be awarded a prize (TBD).

I welcome comments on this, it's just a germ of an idea for now....

There are other thoughts banging around in my head, but I'll save them for next time.

Be safe, love strong, live your passion!

Paying it Forward,

Chuck

A True Example of Paying it Forward...

Some may think this is self-serving, but bear with me. I work for an amazing CEO, Ryan Allis, who is "decades younger" than I am, but none the less smarter and wiser.

His new book, Zero to One Million, has been published by McGraw-Hill. It's an awesome story of how he built our company, iContact, from 4 people to 80 in 4 years with more than $10 million in sales.

I was fortunate enough to come on board in July of 2006 as employee 27. It's been an amazing ride.

Ryan has no "agenda" other than a passion to change the world. He (as usual) says it better than I can:

I want you to know that this effort is not about me--it's about a passionate desire to change the world, raise money to reduce poverty in developing nations by improving access to education, technology, and healthcare, and share what I've learned while building iContact about entrepreneurship, opportunity evaluation, raising investment, venture capital, web marketing, product development, business planning, finding partners, building a sales team, management, hiring and retaining superstars, organizational behavior, and scaling a business with anyone that wants to learn while spreading a message of entrepreneurial possibility.

I would highly recommend Ryan's book. For more info on what Ryan's trying to accomplish head to:

www.ryanallis.com/blog

It will be worth the click!