2010, a Year of Survival and Revival

Who would have expected that America would not yet be bouncing back from a recession that began in 2008? At 58 years old I've been through many recessions, but nothing like this. I heard a expert on FOX today gloat about how well the stock market is doing but not to expect more jobs for America's unemployed. Of course not. All the jobs are overseas. There seems a mission to eliminate our country's middle-class.

Despite all this doom and gloom in the world I have taken these slow times as the perfect time to reconnect to my spirituality with DreamShield, an amazing series of planetary meditations triggered by a vision of angels I had on social media assignment in Italy for client Connie Miller of SoulDrama.com.

That's right, I said angels. Angels who want to help us manifest a gentle 2012. We threw our first global event for DreamShield on 10/10/10 with hundreds of guests from Italy, Greece, headed by Nathaniel Hansen of TheSocializers.com, Nashville, at sponsor Lee McCormick's amazing Spirit Recovery Ranch, and LA, where 200 enjoyed the splendor of Dr. Robert Cassar's Rancho De Las Palmas at an event hosted by the lovely and talented Dr. Sarah Larsen.

DreamShield's an important mission and I am giving the angels, both earthly and heavenly, my best through 2012 and beyond. I have already produced 100 videos and an exciting, one of a kind, DreamShield blog that will eventually become a book.



And, while managing to survive, BuzzBroz has donated a ton of time and talent to Bradley Quick's The Cool Change Foundation that fights addiction through the media. We've made them 90 videos and gotten them to be full YouTube partners. We've also built the charity Twitter and Facebook pages and a hip new LiveStream channel while managing to donate time and talent to two other charities for seniors and the homeless.



As word spread of our work an exciting group of New Age clientele like Life Changes with Fillipo and Reiki master Dorothy Donahue stepped up along with some solid corporate work for Life Source Water and Podi shoes.



BuzzBroz made the best of a bad year with good work. 2011 doesn't seem to show any signs of improvement in the economy. But if I learned any lesson from this amazing year it's that you don't have to put your life on hold waiting for America to wake up and start building stuff in America again.

Anti-2012 Anxiety Buzz

Life is so exciting.  I've been working so hard on setting up global events to honor the vision I had for a gentle 2012.  So hard that I've needed a few day rest in Santa Monica, away from the heat of my NoHo studio at The Cool Change Foundation's HQ.

Check out the Dreamshield.org wesbite as it grows all the way to the 10/10/10 event and beyond to 2012.

And here's some of the fun I've been having in Santa Monica.  Yeah, I even make videos on vacation.  The secret to happiness is loving your work.

How Giving Led to a Princess

With over a billion videos on YouTube it's hard to get heard above the clatter, evern if you have great videos like a Princess (Mee McCormick, left) you'll meet in this fairy tale.

How I met the amazing Princess is a lesson in good karma.  I was doing in Las Vegas at the Holistic Treatment conference where I was manning the booth for client Bradley Quick's (left) amazing charity.  I donate almost half my time and videos to Bradley's The Cool Change Foundation.

Lee McCormick (right in photo) was breezing past the booth at the Holistic Treatment Conference when I stopped him to talk about BuzzBroz and our work helping Bradley's great mission bring about a cool change in people lives to beat addiction.

Lee and I hit if off immediately. I learned Lee runs an amazing recovery center in Tennessee called The Ranch, we hope to work for one day. His work there simply awesome and cutting edge. And as it turns out Lee also has a 10/10/10 event planned on The Ranch in Tennessee like mine revolving around 2012. Talk about synchronicity!

Lee used my laptop to show me his lovely and talented wife Mee's YouTube channel for Princess Know It All TV and the views were not what the deserved to be. WOW! This was high production value, quality entertainment, better than most of what we see on TV on any given day and it has real soul.

Lee said he'd get back to me and after a few months not hearing from him I forgot about our nice but brief encounter in Vegas.

One day out of the blue Lee called. I immediately recalled the quick talk we had about Mee's YouTube videos and the rest is history.

Now, thanks to BuzzBroz's ability to get videos the views they deserve on YouTube - Mee McCormick, as lovely as Julia Roberts, deep as Oprah and funny as Lucy - is on her way to becoming a YouTube star with millions of viewers.



And the Princess cooks!  Learn more about the Princess at PrincessKnowitAll.com and tell her BuzzBroz sent you.



Chalk up this Vegas karmic jackpot opp to work for a magical Princess - so named because whenever she thinks she knows it all Mee learns she doesn't - to giving my time and talent to Mr. Quick's charity which I hope you'll drop by and make a donation to if you liked this story.

Soul Surfing at Souldrama LBI

By Ken Sheetz

I began covering Souldrama events around the world just a few short months ago thanks to my client and pal Bradley Quick introducing me to guide to the soul Souldrama founder Connie Miller.



This journey was cross country to Long Beach Island, New Jersey. The group was 90% American, people from coast to coast but mainly from New Jersey, with one student from Greece.

What made this event extra special for me as a Hollywood filmmaker was that Barnet Bain, producer of WHAT DREAMS MAY COME was in attendance and shared a viewing and discussion of the film deep metaphysical premise. Barnet is one of the true Hollywood visionaries and it was an honor to have him present and acting out key roles in all our dramas. His facilitation of Souldrama LBI was a triumph of the soul for him and for the brilliant Connie Miller for letting it evolve soulfully.



What was cool for me was to see how we all carry on the dramas of our life like some internal never ending show. It was, dare I say, far more exciting than going to the the typical commercialized, un-Barnet Bain-like, Hollywood movies to look, unflitered, deep, deep into the hearts of people who were mostly strangers until the group formed, but who felt like family as the 8 days drew to a close.



I got Barnet interested in Souldrama after hearing him speak on a radio talk show which I cover. And I was thrilled he got and gave so much from the event on LBI, an affluent island near Atlantic City that has 18 miles of beautiful beaches to enjoy.

In fact, I had such a wonderful time that I rescheduled an assignment in Malibu to enjoy the entire 8 days workshop and honored myself and the group by taking the time to properly finish this chapter of my work on myself, exemplified by this drawing of a safe house for my inner child that Barnet Bain and I created together.

Head in the Clouds Feet on the Ground

After covering a spiritual group therapy workshop in Italy that led to a vision in Italy of a gentle 2012, it felt great to be back in my adopted home town of Chicago doing social media for something as down to earth as a hair salon.

This was however no ordinary hair salon, since it is located in America’s tallest building, Willis Tower, FKA, and forever to me, The Sears Tower.  At 110 stories Sears held the world’s tallest for over 25 years until some Asian and Saudi towers surpassed it height but not in greatness.

The name of the hair salon is A Cut Above and its location on Lower Level One makes it tricky for some people to find, especially post 9/11.  As America’s tallest building and a symbol for capitalistic society the Tower is a target for terrorist attacks.  So security is the tightest some of the tightest in the world, more on that security later.

Here's the video we made to help people find A Cut Above Salon.



Back on 9/11 I worried enough for the safety of the owner of the salon, the lovely Karen Kennedy, to call her and make sure she was OK.  Karen and I dated after my divorce.  I blew it by asking her to marry me.  But despite going our separate ways we stay in touch and watch out for one another.

So one day this past Spring when I got an email form Karen asking for a proposal for a website design I was excited.  Karen had been suffering the classic web issue of the site taking forever to get built and shelling out thousands of dollars.  I told I could put and end to her web misery with a GoDaddy template site she’d be able to maintain herself.

Karen was skeptical about learning to run a website but I assured her Godaddy’s 24 hour service would come to the rescue if she if got stuck.  Within a few phone conferences I had a clear idea of what Karen wanted on the website and I finished for her in a matter of days.



In fact it’s always the custom banners that take the longest in the process for simple, easy to use websites, and Karen was no exception, or I could have been done in a day with her 5 page site.  All created for only $1000.

So not for a fraction of what she had paid Karen without yet getting her website up and running with her former web designer she was in business.

But when it came time to train Karen on how to maintain the site with simple changes my phone training left something to be desired.  So I offered to fly from LA, at my own expense, to visit her in Chicago for one on one training.   What had been impossible to teach Karen over the phone about Godaddy Website Tonite navigation proved a breeze in person.

And as long as I was in Chicago I paid Karen a visit at her salon and got her YouTube station up and running.  Take a look.  Isn’t Karen adorable?

Oh, the security at the tower almost tackled me when they saw me taking pictures of how to find Karen in the mammoth structure.  I had to get Karen to accompany me to get the shot.

My visit to Chicago allowed me to old friends, visit old haunts, see my kids and family in Wisconsin.  Everyone took my vision in Italy experience in stride.  Fortunately they can see even if my head is in now the clouds, which happens to the Sears Tower from time to time, that my feet are still on the ground.

Sorry Mayans and ETs, 2013 Here We Come

BuzzBroz Creates Facebook Page / DreamShield: Vision of a Gentle 2012

 

Good news. 2012 is not the end of the world! At least according to social media company BuzzBroz founder Ken Sheetz, me.

How am I so sure...? Well, I had a whopper of a vision while on assignment in Italy covering Souldrama for BuzzBroz client Connie Miller this past May at a spiritual resort and yoga retreat called Santa Maria Del Sole.

NEW AGE VISIONS ARE NEW FOR ME

I'm a regular Joe from Wisconsin who's had an amazing life and career that has included building skyscrapers, Oprah's Harpo Studios, film TV and now social media.

My bread and butter is grounded corporate client work, like tennis shoe company Podi, mega real estate development Museum Park and charity work for The Cool Change Foundation. So, thanks to some heavy duty soul-searching and consulting a lot of people with experience in this New Age stuff, I am happy to report that I still have my feet on the ground. even if my head is in the clouds.

HOW ALL THIS VISION STUFF GOT BUZZING

Besides our corporate work, BuzzBroz produces YouTube HD videos that have gotten over a million views, covering everything from ancient Mayan calendar 2012 predictions of Armageddon to galactic transformation by world renowned ET expert Sheldan Nidle that you can watch for yourself YouTube.com/filippovotaggio, a channel built by BuzzBroz.

Early in 2010 I got a referral for a cool job to travel to Puglia Italy to cover Connie Miller's Souldrama.com with YouTube videos. Souldrama is a group workshop for therapists and lay people that uses psychotherapy, psychodrama and energetic healing techniques. The workshops take place all over the world.

OFF TO SANTA MARIA DEL SOLE - ONE VERY SPIRITUAL RESORT

In May Connie was in Italy and I was thrilled to be there covering the event for her. From the moment my train arrived in scenic Ostuni, located on the heel of the boot of Italy, the 5 star treatment of the Santa Maria Del Sole staff began.

Soon as I met Connie Miller's amazing Souldrama workshop members - who came from all over the world: Greece, America, Brazil, Holland and Italy - I knew I was going get amazing material on matters of the soul.

PASTA TALK OF 2012 FEARS

On one of my last nights at Santa Maria Del Sole, over amazing pasta, the resort is Vegan as well as non-smoking, I learn from Salvatore, a rock star turned owner of the fab resort, that fears of 2012 are just as strong in this peaceful farm land of Italy as they are back in smog-choked-New Age LA.

Salvatore tells me that a survival group recently visited the resort in search of a high ground to build a shelter from the floods of 2012.

The next day, SoulDrama's Connie Miller, whose gift for getting right to your issues and connecting you to your soul are amazing to say the least, surprises us with a treat: A group healing with the resort's world renowned healer Guilia.

VISION FOR A GENTLE 2012

I lay down on my rather uncomfortable yoga mat, wondering if I can lay here for very long with the group.

As Guilia chants over us in Italian. I cannot understand a word she intones, but I find it soothing. My eyes close, the discomfort of the yoga mat forgotten.

Celestial beings, what some might call angels, what some might call ETs, join us, filling the empty yoga mats.

The grid of the amazing group of healers from all over the world, from Brazil, Greece, Holland, America and Italy, plus celestial beings, Connie and Juila is now complete.

In my mind's eye I see a faint, yet powerful, blue energy connect us all. The yellow brick vaulted ceiling of the former horse stables we lay in, now a yoga hall, turn to solid gold.

The gold bars above crackle with electrical energy like a superconductor. Overwhelmed by the awesome power of the group energy, I am fully alive for what feels like the first time ever.

Guilia's chanting became ever more passionate.

The floor beneath us becomes crystal clear. Not glass, more like some new kind of super plastic. The room is now a cylinder, our group is floating on the clear floor. The gold energy bricks shimmer with energy waves above and below us.

The north and south the ends of the room rocket outward. On and on the room extends, racing for opposite poles of the planet. The energy bands collide and fuse. They are pure white and circle north and south about the entire earth.

Our international group, I realize in wonder, is the power center of a global band of spiritual energy. Now more energy flash outward from the side arches. They circle the earth in an instant, east to west and back.

I feel in tune with the entire planet. The room turns to pure white light, humming with a spiritual power of great immensity.

"Wow!" escapes my lips as Guilia comes to the end of her healing chant. Her assistant asks us to sit up in English. The first words I've understood in half an hour.

WOW... PROCESSING THE VISION

"Wow what?" Connie asks me with a gentle smile, sitting up on the yoga mat beside me.

I mutter something I don't recall; not ready to talk about the vision yet.

Over dinner I talk to a few of the group students, hoping some had had a similar vision. No dice. My vision is my own. Many students report they simply fell asleep. When asked what I think my vision means I say feebly that maybe the energy bands represent the internet and getting buzz going about Souldrama and the resort.

CONVERSATION WITH MY SOUL

I was not heading out to Venice until the next day for some much needed R&R. Salvatore kindly finds me another place to stay as most of the group has scattered for the four corners of the globe.

In the middle of the night, alone in the strange little and un-spiritual hotel, my vision finds a voice. It's not like something I heard with my ears but in my mind. I drowsily think Connie's workshop must have awakened my soul's voice.

My soul says softly, like its imparting wisdom to a child, "Your vision was not about social media, Ken."

"No?" I answer mumbling in my waking dream state.

"Those energy bands were created to hold the earth together, to make 2012 gentle."

"No Mayan calendar Armageddon?"

"Nope."

"No ET galactic transformation?"

"Also handled. But there is still work to be done on the energy bands."

"This is not over?" I gripe, nearly waking myself to full consciousness.

"On 10/10/10 at 10:10:10 the energy bands must be strengthened."

"What?! Why? How?" I loudly ask, waking from my meditative half slumber, losing my soul connection like a dropped celestial cell phone call.

I feel rattled to my core. I write in my journal about all this amazing stuff before I can forget it and barely sleep the rest of the night.

POST VISION INTERVIEW WITH GUILIA

The next day I head right back to Santa Maria Del Sole and share the vision of a gentle 2012 with Salvatore and Guilia. I filmed it and you can watch and listen me while I am still in shock.



As you'll see near the end of the interview, Guilia shocks me by telling me my vision of a gentle 2012 is exactly what she had been hoping for!

As we part and I climb into the van for the airport Guilia asks me to share any more visions that would come.

"More visions?" I ask, worried this is not over.

And come the after visions did. One night, half asleep back in LA, I saw the energy bands begin to turn with a mighty groan like an echoing of a giant trumpet. Faster and faster the energy bands spun until they became a shield, what I would come to call the DreamShield.

And that's how the Facebook page for a global event on 10/10/10, and for the years leading up to a gentle 2012 got started.

PROCESSING THE VISION OF A GENTLE 2012

Now, it's not every day a regular Joe from a family of Wisconsin welders participates in a series of visions to save our home planet from 2012. So I had a whole lot to process.

I was so shook from all this even went home to the Midwest, my home, to get grounded and tell family and friends about all this.

I was happily not thrown on the loony bin and I found most them surprisingly supportive. Of course a few looked at me with concern. But we got past it and I headed back to Caly, where I felt like all this New Age stuff really belonged.

Back in LA the best advice I got in all my research and soul searching was from a great filmmaker, Barnet Bain, producer of WHAT DREAMS MAY COME and THE CELESTENE PROPHECY.

Barnet was kind enough to help me get a handle on on this New Age stuff. He tells me visions are both real and unreal at the same time. That clicks because it all feels both real and science fiction, which I love and write in screenplays, at the same time.

I plan to film this topic all the way through 2012 and beyond and gather it into a documentary. You'll be able to watch it in pieces on videos we post to the DreamShield facebook page.

DREAMSHIELD 10/10/10: VISION FOR A GENTLE 2012

I hope like I've learned, you can enjoy this vision thing as both real and unreal at the same time. Join us on Facebook. Link is in the sidebar.

Worst case you can all have fun dreaming of a gentle 2012 with us. Best case you'll have helped save the world from Armageddon and aliens.

Namaste.

Vision for a Gentle 2012

Shortly before heading to Italy for a social media assignment for the great Connie Miller's Souldrama in Italy I produced a one hour playlist for YouTube of radio show host Filippo Voltaggio interviewing Sheldan Nidle.  The video chilled me because Sheldan believes that this very year, 2010, "The Shift" as he calls it will begin and the earth and all its inhabitants will be transformed by a superior Galactic civilization.  Watch here as he calmly describes the fall of mountains and the shift of continents.



When I arrived in Italy and the amazing resort of Santa Maria Del Sole I expected to forget all about Sheldan's 2012 vision and lose myself covering Souldrama.  But talk of a The Shift had reached here.  People had even approached the resort owner looking for a safe haven to ride out 2012.  We talked about it many times over the week in beautiful Puglia Italy over dinner after the intense group sessions, a potent combination of energy work, pyschodrama and psychology.

As Souldrama came to a close Connie Miller had a gift for we students, a group healing by the great healer of Santa Maria Del Soul, Guilia.  And what happened is something I'll never forget.  A magnificent peaceful vision that buys mankind more time to properly care for our planet.



So, is BuzzBroz the only social media company  to save the world from Galactic overlords?  I have no idea.  But I won't dismiss the beauty of the vision.  That would disrespect my own soul, the group and Guilia.  All I know is I'm happy I saw what I saw as it gives me peace as I hope it will for you.

Read about the whole trip in greater detail at 7yrsinHollywood.

Italy, Vegas and Pasadena

Building custom YouTube playlists is an amazing way to cover an event. Enjoy some of the BuzzBroz road trips.

Ghost Blogging Can Be Fun

For me, as a screenwriter, ghost writing is similar in that you need to get into the character of who you are writing for. Here's a blog I am proud to ghost as it's for the great Bradley Quick, who helps people battle with addiction.

BRADLEY QUICK

Another grueling week keeping the charity and its radio show and hit YouTube station, The Quick Fix, rolling in The Great Recession. Tough times means tighter purse strings for charities.

But positive action always gets positive results so onward and upward, the economy just adds a challenge that will in the end propel us all further.

You can't keep a great country like America down!

Bradley and Allen Miller - Photo by Ken Sheetz /Buzzbroz.com

And speaking of getting the word out, this week's guest is a genius for just that! Click here to listen to my interview with one of the country's top PR and social media gurus, Allen Miller, CEO of Hitman PR.

Allen was nicknamed Hitman by his clients, that include such greats as Dinah Shore and Farrah Fawcett, and the name stuck. Today Allen makes people a hit with his great PR and SMM work. I am so grateful Allen has been donating some free advice to yours truly that I know is going to mean bigger and better things for our charity.

NEW WORLD FAIR

Attendance was lighter than expected at the New World Fair, but we made the best of it using the slower pace to make connections for future shows with the great exhibitors on hand and we did some fine interviews that you'll be seeing soon.

But the highlight of the event for me was speaking to a receptive crowd as seen in this great photo by my brother for buzz Ken Sheetz of BuzzBroz.com

Variety is the Buzz of Life

The explosion of YouTube success for BuzzBroz and our clients has been amazing. Our strength in this arena can't be beat. In just the past 30 days our videos have generated well over a quarter of a million views, all with links to our clients websites and services.

Here's a taste of our killer buzz the last 30 days.



120,000 views




12,000 views



12,000 views



8,000 views

Are You Cut Out for SMM?

Before we get blogging... Note: the buzz babe pics in this slide show presentation made on Zoho.com's free web-ware are all real samples taken from spammers icons designed to lure viewer clicks on various SMM pages.

Spam-Bam-Ba-Lam!

What inspired the above in-your-face presentation? Well, as Regan used to purr, recently I produced a sexy, but PG, little viral for a company. I was stunned when the firm owner's ad agency found the clever viral too racy. I think the ad agency hotshots were just trying to keep BuzzBroz from taking over their job.

After a lot of unneeded hand wringing and hours of Dutch Uncle talks, the client (who shall remain nameless to protect the worry warts) finally listened to us as his SMM experts. The overly long 2 minute ad agency spot, which cost 50 times what our viral spot did, was downright boring to the typical short-attention span YouTube viewer.

BTW, the above is not a criticism of YouTube viewer habits. People don't go to the web to watch long form entertainment. The web's for surfing. So I doubt few people watched to end where the client's logo finally appears.

We got a chuckle out of the ad agency's press release bragging about the thousands of views their two minute "portfolio" piece got. Why were we laughing? Because BuzzBroz worked behind the scenes on the client's behalf to give the bloated high budget spot all of its thousands of views!

Good to Bee Blogging

Guest Blogger Client Bradley Quick of The Quick Fix Radio Show blogs about how Buzzbroz got him blogging!

I was shocked when Ken Sheetz, founder of Buzzbroz.com, my social media expert, informed me there are over 13 million blogs now and that I must get in the swim.

So thanks to Ken here I am. I'm so excited to be on Blogspot! This is going to be fun. I love how, as Ken explained it, a blog is way to connect with my audience in long form way I can't on Twitter and Facebook.

I may be new to the game but I promise you that my blog will take you behind the scenes on my radio show, book tours and speaking engagements. You meet exciting world renowned authorities on everything from holistic healing to good old fashioned physical fitness.

Let's get started with the first part of an interview I did this past Sunday with acclaimed best-selling author Don Miguel Ruiz. Don Miguel wrote the 4.4 million New York Times best seller THE FOURTH AGREEMENTS. Which are:

1. Be Impeccable with Your Word

Speak with intergrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

2. Don't Take Anything Personal

Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others you won't be victimized by needless suffering.

3. Don't Make Assumptions

Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement you can change you life.

4. Always do your Best

Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you avoid self-abuse, self-judgment and regret.

All of life as Don Miguel teaches in his book, agreements that we make with ourselves, others and the world is what shapes our reality. Change you agreements and you change you reality. I love how his elegant philosophy takes the fear out of living.

Available in 36 languages THE FOUR AGREEMENTS stands as one of the most important works in the field of modern consciousness.

So you can imagine my thrill when Don Miguel and his son Don Jose Ruiz agreed to a private interview about their new book called THE FIFTH AGREEMENT, which is...

5. Be Skeptical

Don't believe anybody or yourself. Use the power of doubt to question everything you hear: Is it really the truth? Listen to the intent behind the words and you will understand the real message.

The interview with Don Miguel and his family was amazing. These people are so warm. Their positive energy filled LAX Hilton Hotel room as it had when they were in my studio to talk about the book on my weekly radio show, that can be heard at 24/7 on the web at BradleyQuick.com.

Here then our entire 45 minute interview with Don Miguel Ruiz and his sona. Enjoy! And be sure to subscribe to the blog and pass it onto your friends and family.


To learn more about Don Miguel and his sons' work please visit MiguelRuiz.com

And be sure to drop by BradleyQuick.com where you can learn more about me and the good work we do to help kinds and famlies lead better, happier lives at The Cool Change Foundation.

Smile...









Photo by Ken Sheetz
BuzzBroz.com


Right to Left: Bradley Quick, Karla Ruiz, Don Miguel Ruiz, Don Miguel Ruiz, Jr., Don Jose Ruiz

Let's See What's on Radio

BuzzBroz is pioneering bringing radio shows and podcasts to YouTube with smashing results of over 50,000 view in just a few weeks!  Stellar radio interviews we've learned generate stellar video content. Considering the ten's of thousands of radio and Podcasts out there this looks to be lucractive new business area for BuzzBroz.

BRADLEY QUICK OF "THE QUICK FIX" INTERVIEWS DON MIGUEL RUIZ

Two weeks ago, following radio talk show author, host and motivational speaker Bradley Quick around as his videographer, I was so proud to film Bradley's masterful interview with famed author Don Miguel Ruiz whose best-seller THE FOUR AGREEMENTS sold over 4.4 million copies that has been translated into 36 languages.

Don Miguel's new book THE FIFTH AGREEMENT, authored with his son Don Jose, is already in the top ten on the New York Times best-seller list!

What was cool was Don Miguel beautiful niece, Karla Ruiz, pictured below, also had a Flip camera. So I devised a strategy to film a two Flip camera interview that you'll soon see on the blog!

Apple Ipad is Rad!

OK.  Apple's the coolest.  I can't believe I was ever a PC guy before I got into the film biz in '96.

You have to jump about 3/4 through this video to see what we care most about at BuzzBroz, the Apple Ipad's awesome new interface with YouTube.

This makes me so glad I held off getting Amazon's Kindle.   Check out the newest toy from Apple the Ipad, sadly not due in stores until March:(

Web Heartbreakers

Yikes. There's so many horror stories I've heard, seen and experienced since I first pioneered CAD (Computer Aided Design) as young interior architect for Chicago's leading firm in the 1970s -- back when Bill Gates' Microsoft was but a twinkle in his eyes -- that I hardly know where to start.

Genie Trouble

Shortly after I moved to LA 7 years ago to make movies at the tender age of 50 -- after a billion dollar real estate career that included building Oprah's Harpo Studios and a 38-story $162 million skyscraper that I lost my shirt on -- I met a beautiful woman who had a beautiful idea for a website devoted to helping families deal with the grief of losing a loved one. 

My lovely well-intentioned friend lavished tens of thousands of her hard earned dollars on a web designer who lived and worked in India.  But she was distraught when after months and months of broken promises the Indian web designer vanished like a Genie.

After 5 years hunting for the Genie scoundrel, who fled for parts unknown, my gal pal's wonderful grief site for the dearly departed remains a useless wreck of babble code. 

Before we move on, I don't mean to knock Indian web builders.  There's good ones, I'm sure, just as there are plenty rotten American based web designers. I just feel anyone is begging for trouble using overseas labor for the web where clear communications is so vital.

How BuzzBroz Got Started

I first started making my own websites 2 years ago for Kids Talk Politics.  Why?  The show was unexpectedly passed over by PBS even though they aired my 2000 show in prime time!  My solution was to put the show on the web, using what was still the infant YouTube to power the videos on the kids' webpage.

But the project's funding never anticipated the PBS debacle and I could not afford a web designer.  So I had to learn to web design or let the project perish. 

GoDaddy to the Rescue! 

Then and now I find GoDaddy people well trained, available 24/7, Americans based in America, patient and knowledgeable. 

GoDaddy made KidsTalkPolitics.com a breeze.  The show flourished throughout the 2008 elections, with rave reviews from The LA Times, Reuters, YouTube and Parent Magazine.  And the adorable kids' show grows to this day where our viewership via YouTube is nearly 350,000 people.

For now it looks like 2012 will be a better year for Kids Talk Politics than for President Obama. 

GoDaddy Rocks

I've learned the best way to help clients avoid heartache is to create simple easy to navigate pages from stock GoDaddy templates that clients can update on their own or inexpensively have BuzzBroz update.  No knowledge of code is required.  No high priest or Genie of the web to hold BuzzBroz clients hostage. 

With simple typing and mouse skills, cut and pasting of hyper links, the tech support at Godaddy and a good eye... freedom and safety awaits you as a BuzzBroz client.

Men From Mars Help BuzzBroz With the Big Stuff

For clients with elaborate sites and large businesses, BuzzBroz has friendly state of the art web designers at our disposal via our strategic alliance with Mars Studios.  Best of all I met the men from Mars via that rarest of all things relating to web designers... a happy client. 

So big or small websites BuzzBroz has you covered.

Good Social Media Begins on Your Home Page

Why have I spent all this valuable web real estate talking to you about web page design? One simple yet vital reason. 

We create enormous buzz for clients using our Hollywood Ninja social media marketing skills of distributing DVDs and popular web series, hard earned with blood sweat and tears, but unless we can get client's web site is cleaned up and ready to serve the buyer, making purchase of goods or services a breeze, it means nothing.

What I am saying is simply this, unless you and your company are ready to have us asses your website for smooth functionality and to invest some time and money taking our recommendations we'd rather you to take your business elsewhere.

Yeah.  We feel that strongly.  We want to do more than bring people to your webpage.  We want you to make sales.  At BuzzBroz we want you to flourish!

Doritos Crash Super Bowl - Genius Social Media Marketing

I was at my favorite Starbucks on Ventura Boulevard in LA when I noticed about three conversations going on around me about the newest Doritos competition.  Last year this was our entry.  It stars Antonio Charity who's been on THE SHIELD and is a solid actor both on stage and film and TV and BuzzBroz client Pizza Salad's owner and my pal Nick.



We weren't picked as there are thousands of entries and they favor amateurs. Talk about brilliant social media marketing thousands of amateurs sending their links out for views of their home made commercials.

Top prize if you win the top spot and it airs for the Superbowl? $1 Million. Sounds like a lot but there are conditions. It has to be the #1 spot ratings wise going up against all the other spots from professional agencies. Yep. I bet lot of the amateurs don't read that fine print.

Here's this years finalists. All talented amateurs.

DORITOS CRASH THE SUPER BOWL 2010!

Paul Beilter's Views on Economic Recovery

Before I began social marketing via BuzzBroz to support Overactive Imagination Pictures I was a real estate broker and developer. Back in 1990 I was deep into building Oprah's Harpo Studios and a $162 million skyscraper. One cold December day, near the end of that year, I had lunch with my friend, past client and former mentor, Chicago great Paul Beitler.

Left to right: John Lamb, Oprah Winfrey, Jeff Jacobs, Ken Sheetz

I remember the sinking feeling I had when Paul told me that 1991 was going to be a disaster of a year for all of us in commercial real estate. He was right. In 1991 I lost everything I owned in the first of a wave of friendly, and not so friendly foreclosures, that devistated almost every property in Chicago, including the mighty Sear Tower. Nothing was "too big to fail" in the real estate crash of '91.

So imagine my horror when Paul warned me in late 2008 that 2009 would be a worse economy than 1991. And darned if he wasn't right again. In 2009 I had a lot shorter distance to fall than 1991 but the sheer lack of capital made it sting far worse. I gave up many things I loved to survive 2009.

But fearing the worst might not yet be over despite the new year, I asked Paul if he saw 2010 as a year of recovery. Luckily for you, dear reader, Paul has graciously consented to share what he had to say to me. But first a little about Paul Beitler, president of Beitler Real Estate Corporation, pictured below.

Over the course of Mr. Beitler’s 30 year real estate career, he has achieved a remarkable financial success record for his partners and investors. Mr. Beitler has been responsible for the development of over 10 million square feet of Class A office space, including some of the largest and most architecturally distinguished building in the City and suburbs. Many of these developments sold for the highest values in the history of Chicago providing unprecedented financial returns for investors.

In addition to his success and involvement in the business world, Mr. Beitler is extremely active in many prominent civic, cultural and business institutions. He has served on the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Science and Industry, Board of Trustees for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Member of the Architecture Committee of the Art Institute of Chicago and is on the International Board of Directors for the Frederic Remington Art Museum in New York.

Paul Beitler's Thoughts on Economic Recovery

2010 is going to be a transition year. While viewed as being better than 2009; it won’t be putting the world on fire.

The main problem is the Obama administration who continues to send mixed and unclear signals to corporate America. When in doubt do nothing. And that is exactly what most decision makers are doing - - nothing.

The commercial real estate industry will not expand. Most of the trading that will occur will be the buying and selling of second position paper for properties with the intent of blowing the original developer and equity holder out of the deal. Nice hummm.

Residential properties will continue to lose value. I estimate that the residential market will lose another 15-25% in overall value.

Banks are continuing to hold on to the money they have to balance against their bad debts which they are refusing to write down against their profits. So there will be little if any new money for borrowers.

As always those people who manipulate money for the benefit of the public investor will do well. Hedge fund and derivate operators will continue to make a lot of money.

Unemployment may drop to 9% but the general public will not return to their old spending habits which means the single saving grace called American Consumerism will not come riding in to rescue the economy.

2011 will start to show the first signs of recovery with the real benefits realized beginning 2012.

Well, there you have it. While Paul doesn't see a quick recovery I'm happy, given how he's usually bang on in his predictions, that he sees a recovery coming at all given some of the doom and gloom I've been reading of late. So chin up!