nick vivion

Some awesome news: Worldli Film (aka me!) has been contracted to be a roving shooter at the Institute for New Economic Thinking’s Inaugural Event at the University of Cambridge in the UK!  I will be working as part of a team from Media ONE in San Francisco, a team that I worked with on the NextAgenda videos last year.  This event is going to be very intellectually stimulating, and I am looking forward to shooting around so many deep thinkers.

INET is based in New York City and was funded by a grant from the George Soros Foundation.  From their website:

The Institute for New Economic Thinking is an organization, started with a grant from George Soros and headquartered in New York City, which supports creative thought and open discourse to advance reform in economic thinking and policy worldwide. In hosting conferences and funding research grants, INET seeks to confront the flawed mechanisms in our economic and financial infrastructure and develop new paradigms in economic understanding.

To create an environment nourished by open discourse and critical thinking where the next generation of scholars has the support to go beyond our prevailing economic paradigms and advance the culture of change.

OVERVIEW

Founded in October 2009 with a $50 million pledge by George Soros, the New York City-based Institute for New Economic Thinking is a nonprofit organization providing fresh insight and thinking to promote changes in economic theory and practice through conferences, grants and education initiatives.

The Institute recognizes problems and inadequacies within our current economic system and the modes of thought used to comprehend recent and past catastrophic developments in the world economy. The Institute embraces the professional responsibility to think beyond these inadequate methods and models and will support the emergence of new paradigms in the understanding of economic processes.

The Institute firmly believes in empowering the next generation, providing the proper guidance as we challenge outdated approaches with innovative and ethical economic strategy.

The Institute’s objective is to expand the conversation to create an open discussion for a wider range of people. Some would say that present day dialogue is closed and polarizing. We recognize the need for an environment that is nourished and supported by discourse, a discussion that spans a much wider spectrum of thinking and incorporates the insights of other intellectual disciplines in both the natural and social sciences.

The entire edifice of global financial markets has been erected on the false premise that markets can be left to their own devices, we must find a new paradigm to rebuild from the ground up.

~ George Soros

CONFERENCE’s MISSION:

The invitation-only inaugural Conference is a landmark achievement reflecting the organization’s extraordinary commitment and dedication to invigorating the conversation around economic theory, method, and policy and to fostering the development of original and innovative contributions to economic thinking.

We envision that more than 150 academic, business and government policy thought leaders from around the world will convene to explore the reasons why prevailing economic theory failed to predict the financial and economic crisis that erupted in 2007-2008.

I AM REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO WORKING THIS GIG!

I grew up in Switzerland and was able to see first hand how a country can be economically successful while still caring for its citizens. I am so thankful that health care has passed in this country!

I also believe that health care opponents (ie. Republicans) are buying into the hysteria being fed to them by the right-leaning media folk from Fox News. This reform is not socialism, is not bad for business and is not going to expand government control.

This health care reform will expand our freedoms as Americans, however:

-we will be free to pursue healthier lives, lives that are not one step away from bankruptcy due to bad luck (an unfortunate accident or illness). 

-small businesses will be able to better afford health care for its workers, especially at a time when workers need it the most

-uninsured people will finally have one less thing to worry about

-people like my spouse who have a pre-existing condition (a 26 year-old with heart disease), will finally be covered. This is an unmeasurable relief to our family.

-insurance companies (such as California’s Anthem) will not be able to raise premiums by 39% just because they feel like it. Anthem has contributed over $4.2 billion to its parent company WellPoint since being acquired in 2004 - how can it justify raising premiums with such a heft profit? This has got to stop.

-this bill is going to trim over 1 trillion dollars from the deficit over 20 years. Financial conservatives: how can you stand in front of something that will save money in the long term, but through deficit reduction and productivity gains from a healthier workforce?

-how can anyone not be thrilled to have a health bill in place that will stop children from being denied coverage? If you are against this bill, how would your perspective change if a child in your family got cancer and then was swiftly removed from your coverage? 

-in my Seattle, WA, district, 400 families will be saved from medical bankruptcy. 9,200 residents with pre-existing conditions will finally get covered. 31,000 uninsured people will get coverage. 162,000 families and small businesses are going to get tax credits and other assistance.

We are all going to benefit from this bill. America as a country has finally begun to walk to talk of a world super power. I thank everyone in Congress that worked hard and risked unpopularity for this bill. It has already transformed the landscape and has made me once again proud to be an American.

Good health and prosperity for us all,

Nick Vivion
Seattle, WA

When I wrote that I had reached 500 subscribers on YouTube on March 22, I could not have foreseen how much my channel was going to grow in the following month.  I had realized that it was time for me to start promoting the channel, and engaging the community.  I pushed forward with that plan, and after getting on several other channels’ recommended channel lists, I saw an explosion of subscribers.

I added 1,000 in exactly one month, bringing my current total a little over 1,500.  It feels good to see those numbers rise, and to see people responding so well to my videos. I have had dozens of supportive comments that have really egged me on.  I am thrilled to have more people seeing my videos, and looking forward to creating more travel videos for the growing following.  I don’t know what I was doing all these years, but it took me 3 years to finally get my butt in gear and it deeply satisfying to see some payoff!

Now if only the larger audience translates into larger revenue from people clicking on my ads…I know that’s wishful thinking, but having more subs can’t hurt!

Well, at least someone at AllState has their wits about them: I just got a phone call from AllState’s corporate office assuring me that they in no way condone Mr. Hood’s actions, that he should not have used his work e-mail for school board business, and that they are “filing complaints” and “investigating the matter.”  

I didn’t catch the rep’s name in my morning stupor (lesson learned: always get a name for future publication and corroboration).  I laughed a little when she said, “I could have sent you another form letter, but I didn’t want to do that. I had just responded to another customer with a letter but through I would give you a call directly since your number was in the e-mail.” How kind.

She went on to assure me that his “personal actions have nothing whatsoever to do with AllState” and that they do not stand for this sort of behavior.  AllState is “looking into the matter.”

I told her that I was glad she called me personally, but that they ought to consider a public response to this matter and letting the public know their stance on it rather than sending out form letters.  She said they intend to, and then promptly got off the phone with me.  She had a very sharp East Coast accent, so let’s hope that she has a voice in the Corporate HQ.  

Get on it AllState! Where is your coordinated public response to this? What are the disciplinary actions going on against Mr. Eddie Hood? I think you are lucky that Health Care Reform took over the headlines yesterday…but we are still thinking about Constance McMillen’s story!

Some of you may recall one of the breakout stories of last week was the high school senior, Constance McMillen, whose school canceled the prom because she wanted to bring her girlfriend.  Well, it turns out that the head of the school board that made the decision is an insurance agent at AllState. An insurance agent who put his work e-mail as his contact e-mail on the school board website.  And after Dan Savage posted a column about AllState’s pretty lame response to the situation, I had to send a letter of my own:

Dear Mr Hood, Mrs. Telesca, Mr. Brickwedde and the AllState Board of Directors, Family and Shareholders -

“You’re in Good Hands,” I hear the television say back to me last night.  Then I read a series of e-mails you sent out to customers regarding Mr. Hood’s unfortunate involvement in discrimination against a lesbian teenager in Mississippi.  And I cannot help but think: would Mr. Hood insure me, a gay male? Would I really be in good hands with a man - an insurance agent working for your company - who refuses a girl the simple joy to go to her prom with the person of her choosing?  How can I be in good hands when all this nastiness is going on? 

I know what you are going to say (because I have already read the form letters you are responding with):

“Mr. Hood’s service on the school board is no way connected to the Allstate Insurance Company. It is unfortunate that he used his Allstate email address which is not permissible.”

or maybe:

“Please be advised that Mr. Hood’s service on the school board is no way connected to the Allstate Insurance Company. It is unfortunate that he used his Allstate email address which is not permissible.”

Oh wait, you already said that.  You are just responding to this whole mess with form letters, form letters that go on to say:

“Allstate’s policies support inclusive diversity in all our operations, including hiring and promotions, supplier diversity, marketing efforts and the communities in which we invest. Allstate’s fair and equitable treatment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) employees, consumers and investors has been recognized by the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index. This commitment has been recognized in the awards and designations we received from national publications like DiversityInc magazine, which named Allstate one of the top 50 companies in the United States for diversity.”

You are making some serious mistakes here, and honestly I am glad my insurance is with Liberty Mutual so I don’t even have to bother changing it.  Here is what you are doing wrong:

1.  Mr. Hood’s actions have EVERYTHING TO DO with your company.  He is your employee, and what he does outside of his time at work REFLECTS DIRECTLY upon your company.  Employees are representatives of your company in and out of work, and if you’re training neglects to remind employees of this than perhaps you should revisit that. It doesn’t matter what employees do or where they do it; their actions reflect on your company, its hiring practices and your company culture.

2.  Mr. Hood used his work e-mail for school board purposes.  That means that his work for the school board was carried out on your e-mail servers, using your corporate dollars (yes, shareholders, that means indirectly you also funded the e-mail correspondence that Mr. Hood used during his school board work).   For all we know, he was conducting school board business on AllState time.  If you are not disciplining him for this factor alone, than your are remiss.  If you are disciplining him, it would be wise to tell the public about it because the Internet is a powerful place and being on the wrong side of the tide can be very damaging.

3. You state that you are recognized by HRC.  If you are proud about this, and you should be, than you should come out on the side of Constance and the LGBT community.  You should come out publicly denouncing Mr. Hood’s actions and emphasizing the rights of your LGBT customers to live their lives with dignity, equality and respect.  (If Constance had been a customer, how would this change your response?)  You need to put your money where your mouth is, and not just state that you “have been recognized” in the past.  This Index is calculated every year, and you have to work to keep this rating.  Us LGBT folks are fiercely loyal, and with a $825 billion buying power by 2011, we have a lot of weight to put behind our consumer decisions.

I wish you all the best in navigating this mess.  I hope that you are beginning to understand the power of the social internet.  It is a fickle beast and it can breathe a lot of fire.  It can also be extremely supportive and nurturing, and will rally around causes it believes strongly in.  If you were to come out supporting Constance, you would find that you will have an army behind you - rather than against you.

AllState: Please reconsider your position in this matter, and be transparent and open about what is going on in your organization.

Mr. Hood: welcome to the real world.  I sincerely hope you extend more compassion and understanding to your AllState insurance clients than you did to Constance McMillen.

Thanks for your time. I am anxiously awaiting my form letter.

Best,

N

|——————————————-|
Nick Vivion
Co-founder, Unicorn Booty
(917) 370 9447
www.unicornbooty.com
[a website connecting gay consumers with companies that care]

In what I promise will be the last of my YouTube subscriber number updates (at least until I hit 1,500!), lovely YouTube user kwhitelitnin was my 1,000th subscriber!  I am still astounded that in a little over two weeks I was able to add over 500 followers - almost 35 a day! 

1,000 is not that much in the grand scheme of YouTube-ness but it means so much to me! I doubled the amount of subs…..awesome!

It is amazing what you can accomplish when you reach out and interact with your social media community.  It is so easy to grow your network, and increase your audience at the same time! And a little community building never hurt anyone… ; D

I blew through 700 subscribers this weekend and am well over 800 today.  This is really amazing! I made more money on YouTube on Friday than I have on any other day in my YouTube Partner Channel history! Which is wonderful, because it is going to allow me to be more independent and have some revenue from creating things that I want to create.

It is also wonderful because my platform and reach is increasing and more people are exposed to great travel videos! I have had some amazing comments on my channel this past week, with people from all over the world saying how inspired they are from the videos and how happy they are to have found my channel.  That really makes my heart grow and my smile widen, because when I set out to make travel videos in 2006, inspiring others to get out into the world was my primary motivation. It’s wonderful to see it all coming to fruition!

###

In the coming weeks, I am going to have to write a short tutorial on how to increase viewership and gain subscribers on YouTube.  It is pretty easy to do if you have a good niche with an active community, as the community usually likes to support itself.  If you are just trying to make a random corporate video go viral, it’s a very different story.

Another week, another personal growth goal, from GratitudeLog:

I recently came across this powerful value statement
that really resonated with me.

What is it?

* Aim for a 1% improvement every single day

That’s it!  I think all of us could agree that a 1%
improvement is something we are capable of.

Well, the power of this is that if you do this every single day,
then you will completely transform yourself and your
life in less than 1 year.

In fact, if you will be 3,700 times better by the end
of this year.  This is also why Einstein used to say
that “the power of compounding is one of the most powerful
forces in the world.”

Now, please don’t take this example literally.  Why?
Because a 3,700 % improvement is impossible!  If I could
do that, perhaps I could fly.  :-)  The key idea that
I am trying to communicate is this:

* Aim to be better today than you were yesterday

I think gratitude is one of these laws that helps you
easily and effortlessly achieve that goal.  I think that
by being grateful, you are instantly 1% better off every
single day than if you forget to express gratitude and
the effect after one year will be just as massive.

So, if you have not yet taken a chance to be grateful
today, do so now.

http://www.GratitudeLog.com/worldli

I like you and I am grateful to have the opportunity
to serve you.

Mike

Last night I attending the third Ignite:Seattle, which was super cool because Ignite was started in Seattle by Brady Forrest and Bre Pettis in 2006.  I had never heard of Ignite before, even though they do them quarterly.  This time around, Ignite has exploded into the world, with over 60 different locations around the world hosting Ignite talks this week.  They called it Global Ignite Week, and it adds an element of coolness when you consider that 10,000+ other people around the world attended Ignite talks this week.

The best part is that no two talks, anywhere in the world, were the same.  These were talks created by the community, for the community. Or, as Brady put it during his introduction, “it allows normal people to become rockstars in the their community.”  And it’s true, because you get an enormous amount of diversity in topics due the the limitations: 5-minutes to speak, with each slide auto-advancing every 15 seconds. No control, just lots of pressure and creativity.

I loved it. There were fun talks about arguing, geeky talks about technology, serious talks about breast cancer and hilarious talks about ball point pen salesmen.  Every five minutes, you are brought into a whole other subject - and you are taken there by a passionate believer. It is like crack for smart people.  No long winded-ness, just fascinating-ness.

They recently launched a video site, where you can see videos from Global Ignite Week, at www.igniteshow.com, and are really poised to make a big splash!

My assault on the YouTube travel community continues!  As I mentioned last week, I have decided to stop fluffing around on YouTube and get serious.  I have been neglecting my Partner channel there for years, and I have been missing out on a great opportunity to become involved in a very active community. It is no longer just a place where I serve my videos - I am getting involved and starting to make friends. Who knew?

I am heading towards my goal for 1,000 subscribers by the end of this month. It is an ambitious goal, seeing as I was just able to add 100 subs in 9 days.  However, I will put a little elbow grease into it - and get ‘er done!

Subscribe to me if you haven’t already, because it will make us both smile - I get a sub and you get some quality travel videos!

“Hi Nick,

Did you know that there is an effective and
an ineffective way to express gratitude?

Unfortunately, the ineffective way is far more common.
It is sort of the default form of gratitude that most
people fall into.  I was stuck here for a really long
time until I found a far more powerful way to practice
gratitude, one that moved me into perfect alignment
with abundance and greatly accelerated the Law of
Attraction.

First, let me talk about the ineffective way to express
gratitude.  This is gratitude that you express that is
related to what is happening in your life right now.

It is closely related to the gratitude and appreciation
we learn to express as children (i.e. to say thanks) and
that is probably why it is often the default and why
so many people get stuck here.

Ineffective gratitude includes things such as:
* your health
* your relationships
* your material posessions
* your friends and family
* a nice vacation

I am not saying that there is anything wrong with this
form of gratitude.  All I am saying is that it is not
nearly as powerful as what I am about to show you.

Often the problem with the above form of gratitude is
that it comes from a place of lack.  If you have ever
expressed gratitude while thinking “at least… I am
healthy, or at least I have a great family” then you
know what I mean.

This form of gratitude is extremely week because it is
based on the present circumstances.  In other words,
this form of gratitude is conditional.  It makes it
sound that you are grateful “only if you have good
health, a great relationship, etc.”

Unfortunately, conditional gratitude fails to activate
the law of attraction.  The universe does not respond
to conditional requests.

The second form of gratitude is complete in that it is
a celebration of life itself, for all the experiences
you are having. One other key difference is this.
Effective gratitude comes from an underlying attitude
vs. a temporary focus on one item or thing to be
grateful for.

With practice, this holistic form of gratitude can
become second nature.  When it does, the law of
attraction will flow far more easily into your life.

The more powerful form of gratitude includes items
such as:

* your life
* this awesome planet
* for being who you are
* for future events
* for problems, challenges, and hardships
* for your mistakes
* for your mind
* for your freedom

In other words, you become grateful for this amazing
journey of your life regardless of what happens and
where it takes you because you know that it is just
right for you and that everything is happening for a
reason.

When you are expressing effective gratitude, fear and
loss disappear. There is no focus on any lack and when
you reach this state, that is when abundance can truly
start flowing into your life.

Being grateful for what you have in your life (your
health, relationships, etc.) has its place.  But when
you start feeling truly grateful for everything that is
happening in your life and open your heart, you will be
amazed at how quickly the universe will start to answer.

So, start creating these feelings now, even in the most
unlikely or unpleasant circumstances and notice how you
begin to attract whatever you focus on into your life.

With love and passion,

Mike”