Any of you that are friends via Facebook or Twitter may have seen that I started the year with my first skydive. It was a once in a lifetime experience I’d recommend for everyone.

Any of you that are friends via Facebook or Twitter may have seen that I started the year with my first skydive. It was a once in a lifetime experience I’d recommend for everyone.
Investors, employees, partners…everybody enjoys doing business with an entrepreneur who has successfully built multiple companies. If that serial entrepreneur kicks off a charity contest involving a bathtub full of cereal, even better.
Checkout what Ted is up to now. He’s announced a contest to give away a bathtub of cereal (52 boxes) to one lucky participant and, if his post generates 500 comments, another 52 boxes of cereal to his local food bank. To enter, just blog, comment and tweet about the contest — easy. Like many of the post comments, I also plan to donate anything I win to the local food bank. That’s over 100 boxes of cereal for some hungry kids and families as we head into the holidays.
More details are included in this video…he even has a “making of” video over at his post.
So, check out Ted’s post, comment, blog about it and retweet it. Everybody loves a cereal entrepreneur…
I woke up this morning to messages that IZEA CEO and friend Ted Murphy got jumped in New Orleans by as many as 8 guys. It sounds like IZEA’s Travis Andrews saw the commotion and jumped in to help — resulting in a beat-down of his own. Wallets and camera stolen, bumps, bruises, blood and a hospital all-nighter.
Early this morning, Ted shared this twitter stream (read from bottom, up):
canceling all credit cards. about 1 hour ago
I would so stick my face in some cake right now. travis…… wake the F up!!!!! about 2 hours ago from web
nothing to do. just makes me sad. one minute I am having a great time. 5 minutes later I am strapped to a gurney bleeding all over. about 2 hours ago from web
26 hours of no sleep. beaten by 8 guys. Happy to be alive. http://tinyurl.com/6m3gbm about 2 hours ago from web
@john_reese this is my last trip here. great food. good atmosphere but the risk outweighs the reward. about 2 hours ago from web in reply to john_reese
@taralamberson I will. just need to keep us awake to make sure we are ok. both took lots of hits to the head; about 2 hours ago from web in reply to taralamberson
@Social_Citizen no. not at all. about 2 hours ago from web in reply to Social_Citizen
my eyes are so red and both are so tired but can not sleep. New Orleans hospital almost as scary as the robbery itself. about 2 hours ago from web
eyes and face bloody. but both are ok. i was kicked mostly in the head. travis mostly in the body. both alive and breathing. thank the lord. about 2 hours ago from web
http://tinyurl.com/6hnw2w My wallet after theft in new orleans about 2 hours ago from web
police. hah. they wanted to arrest travis for helping me. dragged out of urinal by 8 dudes. crazzzzzy stuff. i was like what!?!?!? about 2 hours ago from web
just realized they stole my camera too. about 2 hours ago from web
rolled over and beaten. both of us. bad. blood all over. about 2 hours ago from web
pocket that is. i hope we are ok. about 2 hours ago from web
OMG I got jumped in new orleans. Travis jacked too. went to the hospital. just released. both wallets stolen. staying up to make sure ok. about 2 hours ago from web
It made me sick. I’ve been on the bottom of a multi-booted kickfest before and it sucks. Even so, I wish I’d been there with Ted and Travis. We’ve fought a lot of battles together for PayPerPost/IZEA, but this is something different. These guys weren’t after linkbait, subscribers or sponsored bloggers — they just wanted somebody’s stuff that wasn’t theirs. If they got to dole out some physical punishment as well, all the better.
Ted has taken a lot of grief from a lot of people while building IZEA and always comes back swinging. As a result, he’s pioneered an industry and helped a ton of people put food on the table, pay tuition and make house payments while doing what they love, blogging. I’m just glad he kept his head down this time.
Get well guys!
Related images: ted murphy, travis andrews, new orleans
So, today’s the day Sparky is let out of his private alpha chains…
IZEA’s latest innovation is being unleashed today at Ad:Tech, San Francisco, and the stars of advertising and blogging are already lining up to meet Sparky and the world’s first Social Marketing Network: SocialSpark.
I gave you a hint of what to expect when the site was being designed back in November, and as you can see, my tone has shifted from Ricky Bobby to The Rock. This is a seriously powerful platform for bloggers and advertisers, the likes of which hasn’t been seen before. In fact, before I even describe it, go signup and come back, I’ll wait…
OK, now that you’ve signed up and, possibly, reviewed the video above, what more can I share. There’s so much in SocialSpark, I’ll just focus on a few innovations that get me excited:
What else?
Well, I can share that advertiser appetite from the private alpha is already gobbling up sponsorship of the best tech, mommy and daddy blogs. If you are a tech blogger, a mommy blogger or a daddy blogger — the sooner you signup, the more likely you are to be added to relevant advertiser street teams. As the marketplace grows, competition will be tougher and getting noticed by your favorite brands could take more effort.
I’ve shared plenty here, but I probably also prompted some questions — let me have ’em…
Oh, and given my post title, I’ll leave you with a video montage of Method Man’s tribute to The Rock — “Do you Smell What the Rock is Cooking?” He reminds me of Ted Murphy, but with muscles, good looks and personality 😉