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Last year, in May, we included a seemingly misfit person — someone no longer with us — on our Hidden Heroes series that so many “in crowd” thinkers (let’s call them the ‘comfort-zoned herd’) shied away from.

Why?

Simply because the intensely passionate, self-styled, preaching comedian named Bill Hicks caused them to think DIFFERENTLY.

He had depth and a sense of spirituality, without surface-level drivel and ‘feel good’ musings attached to his messages.

Our ode to Bill has already been written, via our Hidden Heroes #3 post, so we won’t continue to edify him here.

However, we do want to make sure you know that his legacy is soon to be captured by American: The Bill Hicks Story, a new and very promising-looking documentary that combines animation, footage of Hicks’ stand-up sets and remembrances by ten of the people closest to him.

Click the play arrow below to watch the short trailer:

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For selected interview clips from the documentary, click here…

Interesting Report: It’s about intelligence, as it relates to credit. We know a guy in Neveda (who we consider a friend now) who can, without question, clear up any confusion you may have about credit repair. Like Bill above, Jay is a no-nonsense, no-B.S. kinda guy. This report is a fascinating read…

If you missed the INTRODUCTION to our Hidden Heroes series, or haven’t read about Hidden Heroes #1 thru #4, click here. Otherwise, continue below to read about Hero #5…

We’ve heard from a lot of people, especially in the metaphysical community, who think it’s spiritually correct to say, “I don’t watch TV.”

They’re often the same people who say, “I don’t watch, listen to or read the news because it’s all just a bunch of negative stuff.”

Well, if you’re expecting negativity, guess what you get? (Yes, that’s LOA 101, so I’m not going to insult you by telling you the answer!)

However, if you’re confident enough in your own self-discipline, as Barry and I are, not only can you watch TV without getting sucked into any traps, but you can get some great learning experiences:

1. Learn to decipher fact, not only from fiction that’s presented as fiction, but from fiction that’s presented as fact.

2. Discover how layered facts make up truth.

3. Get exposed to empowering and inspirational stories or human triumph and goodwill that you never would have experienced otherwise.

One of the shows we used to watch was Donnie Deutsch’s The Big Idea on CNBC. It gave inspirational profiles of people who made it in business, just because they saw a need, figured “there has to be a better way to do this,” and made it happen.

Well, the show was put on hiatus last year, because the network figured that trying to inspire people with stories of how anyone can start a Fortune 500 business wasn’t really believable in the current economy, when many are just trying to get by. Sliding ratings made them think they were right, although it would have been nice to see a revamped version of people making it despite the economy. After all, fortunes and successes are not just lost in bad times, they’re also created.

But now Donnie’s hosting a new CNBC show — or, rather, a prime-time special, for now — called The Entrepreneurs. Unlike The Big Idea, which featured all kinds of ventures, The Entrepreneurs seems to be focusing on those with a drive to make a difference, rather than just make a buck.

One of the two stories featured on the first episode, which Barry and I watched last night (and I admit, I did so with tears in my eyes), was the tale of TOMS Shoes…

You may have heard of TOMS before, but we never had. And without knowing anything else but that the company was featured on a Donnie Deutsch show, you could reasonably be wondering why on earth we’d pick the founder to be our next Hidden Hero.

What’s so “hidden” about a shoe company, right?

What’s so “heroic” about a guy who runs that shoe company?

And, come to think of it, what’s so emotionally provocative about the whole thing that it could make me cry?

Well, the story begins back a few years, after young entrepreneur Blake Mycoskie appeared on another show we like to watch, The Amazing Race. The reason we watch that one is it shows teamwork, human emotion, strength, drive, and karma in action. You can learn a lot about yourself by watching how others compete and react to adverse situations.

Blake and his sister, Paige, competed as a team in the second season of the show, and missed out on the million-dollar prize by only four minutes.

Can you imagine being four minutes away from being a millionaire, and not getting it? Ouch! Big letdown for some people! Heck, I’m sure lots of folks would spend the rest of their lives wallowing in self-pity over that. But Blake didn’t.

Instead, he was inspired to launch his third entrepreneurial venture, teaming up with Larry Namer, co-founder of the E! Entertainment Network, and Kay Koplovitz, former CEO of the USA Network, to create a cable TV specialty channel called Reality 24/7. Approaching it like a renegade with a passion, Blake was able to raise $2 million in start-up funds from venture capitalists and other former reality TV stars… but he created such a buzz that Rupert Murdoch decided to do the idea himself, which forced Reality 24/7 out of the picture.

But wait… let’s take a step back. What were his first two businesses?

In university, he started EZ Laundry, a door-to-door service aimed at fellow college students who didn’t have time to, or didn’t want to, wash their own clothes. After growing the company to serve seven colleges in the Southwest, with 40 employees and 8 trucks, Blake sold it to his business partner.

Then he went to Nashville, and created an outdoor media company that was inspired by the huge billboards in Hollywood. He aimed it at the Music City’s top country stars, and went about selling his ad space with a rogue attitude. Like with his next project, Reality 24/7, he caught the eye of a big player in the industry; soon Clear Channel came knocking, and bought the rest of Blake’s billboards in Nashville and Dallas.

Businesses four and five were created in Los Angeles. First he teamed up with TrafficSchool.com to create DriversEdDirect, a hands-on driver training school with hip instructors and hybrid cars. To help promote that company, he created Closer Marketing Group, a marketing firm specializing in viral marketing and brand development.

And business number six… well, that brings us to TOMS.

While competing in The Amazing Race, Blake got to see some incredible countries for the first time, but didn’t get a chance to experience the culture, so he wanted to go back. Always an adventurer at heart, he took what was supposed to be “just a vacation” to South America in 2006.

In Argentina, he met up with some people who were trying to raise money to get shoes for local children who couldn’t afford them. Blake tagged along, and was deeply impacted by the sight of poverty-stricken kids with cuts, scrapes and serious infections on their feet — the result of walking around the harsh landscape without any shoes.

While there, he discovered the Alpargata, a cheaply-made traditional shoe with rope soles that had been worn by farmers in Argentina for the past 100 years. The two experiences sparked an idea, and he returned to Los Angeles with 10 pairs of the shoes in his bag. He started telling people his idea, and was met with negative feedback at every step.

A UCLA professor he hired as a consultant told him he would need a million dollars to start the company and make it viable. Too bad he didn’t win that prize in The Amazing Race… but Blake didn’t care.

Fabric makers only sold cloth in 1,000-meter minimum orders, but Blake convinced one to sell him 10 meters at a time. He found one manufacturer in Argentina that believed in him enough to make a shoe inspired by the Alpargata, but with a much higher-quality construction, and that allowed him to accomplish his unique goal.

The company motto is “Make life more comfortable,” and the idea behind it is simple: for each pair of shoes he sells, Blake gives a pair to a needy child.

Yup, that’s right… one-for-one. You buy a pair of TOMS, and a kid who needs shoes gets a pair of TOMS. Now they’re running around with fashionable, comfortable shoes instead of injured bare feet.

It started as a project to put shoes on the feet of 250 kids from Argentina, but it soon grew way past that initial milestone.

After selling the first 10,000 pairs of shoes from his Venice apartment — some thanks to a shoe store that liked his mission, others due to write-ups in fashion magazines, and over 2,000 because of a single feature in the Sunday LA Times — Blake went back to Argentina with his family, friends and TOMS staff to make the first TOMS Shoe Drop of another 10,000 pairs.

People told him he was crazy. They said it could never work. They said he’d never make a profit by giving away a pair of shoes for every one sold, especially if the price was going to be reasonable.

But Blake refused to listen to the naysayers.

And it gets even better…

“Shoe Drop” doesn’t mean just dropping off shoes, as the name implies. It involves the team fitting and placing shoes, with their own hands, onto needy kids’ feet. Now, any customer who wants to help can go along and do that, too.

Watch this moving video of that first Shoe Drop:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt3BQQ6dQaQ[/youtube]

TOMS is no longer run out of Blake’s apartment. They now have a 6,000 square foot studio and close to 20 full-time employees.

But at the heart of TOMS, it’s not just your average product-exchanged-for-profit endeavor.

Blake didn’t start this business with dollar signs in his eyes. He started it because it touched his heart when he met kids who didn’t have, and desperately needed, something that he took for granted: shoes.

As he told ConversantLife.com, when asked how he moved from awareness to action, “I had an emotional connection to the children I met in Argentina in 2006. I felt a responsibility to act on it. I realized I could incorporate giving into a business and knew that it could succeed.”

But why shoes, when the majority of charities for third-world children focus on food or medical care?

Because most kids in developing countries grow up barefoot, even though walking is their primary means of transportation. They walk for miles to get water, food, shelter, and medical help. They walk while doing chores, and they walk while playing. This puts them at risk for the leading cause of disease in developing countries: soil-transmitted parasites that get into skin through open sores. Feet that don’t have shoes get more cuts and sores, and eventually risk being amputated.

Shoes allow children to walk greater distances, more safely, and therefore help them with the food, the medical care, and even education, since local schools often require students to wear shoes.

Shoes provide preventative care so those kids don’t have to get corrective care later.

Shoes give the opportunity for a quality of life they wouldn’t otherwise have.

And it’s not just third-world countries anymore. The first Shoe Drops were in countries like Argentina, Ethiopia and South Africa, but people kept asking, “What about kids in the US?” After Blake thoroughly researched the situation, Hurricane Katrina victims in four school districts got TOMS shoes last year.

As of August, 2009, TOMS has given over 150,000 pairs of shoes to kids in need, in more than 15 countries, and those numbers continue to grow.

And that’s why, sitting on the couch with Barry last night and watching the story of TOMS, created by Blake Mycoskie for all the right reasons, I had tears running down my face.

Full disclosure: it doesn’t take a lot to make me cry. I cry at movies and TV shows all the time, both for the sad parts, and the triumphant parts. This, again, was a mixture of both: tears of sadness for the kids with no shoes, as I imagined our one-year-old son using his new-found walking skills to stagger barefoot over rough, rocky ground; and tears of joy for what Blake was doing with TOMS.

But… I’m hoping this story might move you, even if you don’t have water-works flowing as freely as mine.

So who’s Tom?

There is no Tom. The brand name “TOMS” references that these are “shoes for TOMORROW.”

Expanding on what Wimpy from the Popeye cartoons used to say, “I’d gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today,” this takes things to the next level of social conscience with the concept of, “I’ll gladly give a child shoes on Tuesday when you buy a pair today.” (Okay, it takes a few months between each Shoe Drop, but you get the picture!)

While now I would still consider TOMS to be a hidden gem (hence Blake being eligible as a Hidden Hero), I think that with the help of the media — including shows like The Entrepreneurs, and maybe even our humble little blog here — the word could get out in a much bigger way, helping many more kids, and snowballing every year.

If you still think that TV and other media are bad, and not worth your time, consider this:

Without TV, newspapers and magazines covering Blake’s story, and celebrity endorsements from actors and musicians, TOMS would never have sold the number of shoes they have to this day. As a result, there never would have been so many kids who had formerly been running around with cracked and bleeding feet, now able to wear comfortable shoes for the first time in their life.

The headline could be, Mass Media Helps Hero Save Children’s Feet.

And that wouldn’t be a stretch, or any amount of hype, at all.

To help Blake’s mission, purchase your own pair of TOMS at TOMSshoes.com. Heck, if you’re a fashionista, shoe lover, or just want to lend a… um, foot… buy several pairs in different colors! They have an affiliate program, but we didn’t sign up, because we don’t want to take away any of their profit… we want TOMS to be able to continue to help kids for decades to come.

Want to help even more? Host a Style Your Sole party, and you could put shoes on the feet of 25 or more kids, while you have fun with friends and showcase everyone’s creativity. We’ll call that Shoes Without Limits…

And if you want to volunteer to help with Shoe Drops, visit FriendsOfTOMS.org.

Your Partner in the Quest For
Living a Life Without Limits,

If you missed the INTRODUCTION to our Hidden Heroes series, or haven’t read about Hidden Heroes #1 thru #3, click here. Otherwise, continue below to read about Hero #4…

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Diane Dupuy. It was the early 1970s, and the puppeteer was having a talk with comedian Bill Cosby about her career.

“You know what you should do?” asked Bill. “Start a theater company featuring blacklight puppets.”

Blacklight puppets. Puppets created with flourescent colors, and performers dressed all in black, so when the UV light was turned on, all you could see was the puppets… magically floating through the air.

Diane took things one step further…

====== Continued =======

As a show biz professional who had overcome learning disabilities, she decided to give the same opportunity to people who were developmentally challenged, mentally and physically. It was her way of proving they were regular people, and integrating them into society.

Diane’s new theater group, the Famous PEOPLE Players, launched on June 1, 1974 with an ode to Liberace called Aruba Liberace, featuring a life-size caricature puppet playing the piano. The company consisted of Diane, her mom making costumes and props, and 11 performers.

When Liberace saw the show, he was more than impressed… he was blown away, so he invited the troupe to perform with him in Las Vegas. At the time, he had no idea the performers were developmentally challenged… and when he found out, he made sure they understood that he wanted them on stage because of their talent, not their disabilities.

So in October, 1975, the Famous People Players – the little group from Toronto, Canada — debuted in Vegas, baby! Over the years, they performed with Liberace there many more times.

In 1980, the troupe re-opened New York City’s Radio City Music Hall. In 1982, they toured China. In 1984, their story was broadcast as a CBS Movie of the Week called Special People. In 1986, they performed on Broadway, and again in 1994, to rave reviews.

They had a seven-month run at Orlando’s Sea World, breaking attendance records, and have toured around the world — in Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, Chile and Hawaii.

They’ve been seen on A&E, the Jerry Lewis Telethon, the Academy Awards, the Phil Donahue Show, Regis and Kathie Lee, Good Morning America, Entertainment Tonight and the drama 7th Heaven, where Diane made a guest appearance as herself.

Ann Margret hosted a CBS documentary about them called A Little Like Magic, and it won an Emmy. They appeared in an ABC Feature Film called Different. And CBC TV made a documentary for their 25th Anniversary in 1999, called Black Light Dreams. Also appearing in the movie were Phil Collins, Paul Newman and Tom Cruise.

But despite all that success, they’re just a bunch of dedicated performers, doing what they love to do and entertaining people along the way.

Recently they decided to move their Toronto-based dinner theater for their 35th Anniversary. The new theater is supposed to open next weekend, but after being slapped with a bill for almost $200,000 from the City of Toronto, they had to ask for help from fans and community members. A gallon of paint here, a $60 donation there. Ironically, the bill is because of a new development charge that came into effect May 1, the same day they took possession of the new building.

No doubt they’ll pull through and open on time. Their dinner theater has always been loved by those who experienced it. The entire staff — the chefs, the waiters, the dining room management, the arts administration, and all the cast and crew — have physical and mental disabilities.

Following their hearts is what has caused people like the Rolling Stones, Paul Newman, Tom Cruise and many others to take notice, and donate parts of their original theater, kitchen, and dining facility.

Ten years ago, for their 25th Anniversary celebration, they did their first full-length musical called Leave the Porch Light On. I was lucky enough to attend the opening night performance, and interview Diane face-to-face.

Then, as now, she was a woman just following her dream, and helping others to follow theirs… people that normally wouldn’t be given a chance in the working world, let alone the cut-throat entertainment industry.

Diane has written several best-selling books, been invited to speak around the world, and has received numerous awards, accolades and recognitions, including the Order of Canada — the highest award a Canadian citizen can receive.

“She can take complex matters of the heart and make them simple, beautiful, entertaining and inspiring” – Brenda Hampton, creator of the TV hit series, 7th Heaven

But Diane’s not about the recognition. She’s not about the spotlight… she’s about staying behind the black curtain (or rather, the black lights) and giving all she has. And she’s about inspiring others to do the same thing.

Her message is to always strive for new heights of excellence, and to achieve even the most impossible of your dreams.

Here’s a video of Diane and some of her blacklight pals:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoG5m1pEW10[/youtube]

“Truly inspirational straight from the heart. Diane is warm, passionate and delivers her thoughts with utmost emotion and charm. This is a remarkable woman with a will to fulfil a lifelong dream.” – Scotia McLeod

What dreams do you have that you’ve put on the backburner, or decided it was probably too hard?

When in her life do you think Diane Dupuy ever gave up because things were too hard?

She takes responsibility, figures things out, and does what needs to be done. So do all the developmentally challenged people she employs as staff and performers.

So you’ve just gotta ask yourself: if she can achieve everything she’s done — and affect as many people as she has — just what exactly can you do?

Leave your comments below…

Your Partner in the Quest For
Living a Life Without Limits,

If you missed the INTRODUCTION to our Hidden Heroes series, you can read it by clicking here. Otherwise, continue below to read about Hero #3…

It was just over 10 months ago.

I read a passage in a book, by an author who is undoubtedly the most controversial thinker of our time. An author that has been vilified by the media ever since he started exposing the dream world we believe to be real, in 1990.

David Icke wrote (and this caught my eye in a big way):

“People can quote all the mystics and crossed-legged people they like, but this guy understood as much, if not more, than most of them…”

Fun stuff — ironic actually — coming from a guy who, well, is not too shabby himself when it comes to taking people into the unknown area of life that leads them down some pretty dark (yet truth-infused) rabbit holes.

The guy David is referring to was the most legitimate (uncensored and raw) social critic of the 1990s: a renegade thinker who tried to make people laugh, but usually ended up pissing them off, or drawing blank stares.

Well la-di-da, how ’bout that:  another guy speaking out against mediocrity, incompetency, and the proliferation of so-called leaders getting in their own way… yet, because they (the masses) associate intensity and biting language with negativity and unenlightenment, Hero #3 figuratively caused most to “run for the hills.”

When I mentioned the name Bill Hicks to Heather, she immediately responded with:

“Hey, I actually think somebody we know wrote an entire book about him!”

“Yeaaaaah, baaaaaby” I said while smiling, “now, this is getting fun. Tell me more.”

So, I heard about how our friend Ben Mack — the marketing genius credited with having sold a quarter-billion-dollars in yo-yo’s in two years — produced a Bill Hicks fan page which was turned into a book.

The site asked…

“If Bill Hicks were alive today, What Would Bill Hicks Say?“

I immediately told Heather that there was no need for us to be the trumpeters for Bill’s legacy, when somebody we know (and magically enough, somebody who is also endeared to marching to a different drummer) already has.

So, without further ado…..

* * * * * *

Bill Hicks is Good Energy
by Ben Mack

“We are the facilitators of our own creative evolution.” ~ Bill Hicks

Engineering our own success is the work of a hero. The late great comedian Bill Hicks was not only heroic in his self-creation, he paved the ways for others to lighten the load for more to follow…

Bill Hicks (December 16, 1961-February 26, 1994) is considered one of the most influential comedians of the 20th century. However, he is far better known in Europe and Canada than in his homeland of America.  His outspoken candor kept him from widespread fame and mass media attention. However, his legend is building.

On 1 October 1993, Bill Hicks did his twelfth gig on the David Letterman show. What the audience in the studio didn’t know was that Bill Hicks had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Later that night, Bill Hicks became the first comedian censored from CBS’ Letterman show.

Perhaps fitting for the Ed Sullivan Theatre, where Elvis Presley was censored in 1956. But, while Presley wasn’t allowed to be shown below the waist, Hicks was made to disappear.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have censorship in America, not good energy.

To David Letterman’s ultimate panache, he took complete and utter responsibility for this mistake. David Letterman apologized to Mary Hicks, Bill’s mom here…

The New Yorker reported Letterman greeted Hicks as he sat down on the couch with, “Good set, Bill! Always nice to have you drop by with an uplifting message!” But, there was trouble in the air and Letterman knew it. Letterman went to commercial with, “Bill, enjoy answering your mail for the next few weeks.”

Back in his hotel, Bill stepped out of the shower to answer the phone.  Robert Morton, the producer for the Letterman show, explained the show was not running his set.

Bill was terminally sick and knew it. He imagined his Letterman show to be his swan song… what he would be remembered for. In many ways he might have been right. This debacle brought him more attention in The United States than his previous 11 Letterman appearances combined.

In the next few days after the censorship, Bill Hicks performed three shows ranting harder than ever before. These three “post-Letterman shows” as they’ve been called, have long been thought not captured.

A few years ago, one of these three historic shows emerged… the middle show from 10/5/93, recorded by an audience member who happened to be an audio engineer. There is a brief gap in the recording at the one-hour mark when he switched tapes, but the quality is as high as can be expected from a covert recording.

Click here to hear the Bill Hicks audio, finally available more than a decade after Bill’s death <=

Bill Hicks has been popularized by such bands as TOOL and Radiohead, cartoonists Jeff Danziger and Martyn Turner; writers Neal Pollack, Robert Newman, and A.L. Kennedy; and essays by Thom Yorke of Radiohead.

As Heather and Barry introduced me, I came up with the idea of a website, WhatWouldBillHicksSay.com

It was an experiment in idealistic social engineering. We were naive enough to believe we could change the course of an election by popularizing the great humanitarian Bill Hicks and spreading the seeds of his knowledge.

Here’s how it all came together…

I met Amelia Smith, a.k.a. blogger Amelia The Great, during a summer hurricane in 2004, at the Hard Rock Casino outside Tampa. Trapped, we spoke for hours about everything from philosophy to sex to “our” Iraqi invasion. I played for her a clip of Bill ranting about President Bush.

Amelia  was blown away when I told her Bill passed away 10 years earlier. I said that if more people heard Bill Hicks, we might be able to get folks to see the stupidity of what’s going on now. She said she would build the site, Joseph Matheny stepped forward with expert help and the servers from sTaRe Network.

And, so the experiment began…If Bill Hicks were alive, What would Bill Hicks Say?

Over 300,000 unique visitors came by the site, more than 300 folks entered the contest and Bush was reelected. Damn. Its not that I wanted the puppet on the Left, I just didn’t want another term with the grandchild of Satan.

“People often ask me where I stand politically, it’s not that I disagree with George Bush and his foreign policies or his economic policies, it’s that I believe he’s the child of Satan sent here to destroy the planet earth.” – Bill Hicks on Elder President Bush

Bill Hicks introduced me to Noam Chomsky, showed me how blatantly the media lied about Waco, and taught me to relax into love. If Bill were alive today, I think he would be asking how come the four planes that crashed on 9/11 were never investigated by the FCC, the ONLY plane crashes not investigated; how could a Boeing 757 only leave an 18′ hole in the side of the Pentagon? Where did the wings go? I think Bill would be asking just how sleepy Americans really are.

So my recommendation to you, dear reader, is to stop reading about my intellectual hero, gently back away from your computer. Crack open your beer and enjoy the new version of Gladiator we have on TV, its called The News, and it’s brought to you free of charge by your friendly government that promotes prescription-mind-altering-substances that are not to be mistaken for untaxed-drugs. Go back to sleep America, your government is under control.

Or, you can choose to facilitate our own creative evolution.

Bill asked that we continue to evolve ideas. WhatWouldBillHicksSay.com was an experiment to that end. Sure, I love a good Goat Boy every now and again, but what keeps his words alive are the striking truths that persevere.

Bill Hicks unabashedly said, THEY’RE FUCKING LYING TO YOU!!!

When I get dispirited that there is so much deception and corruption, I put Bill on and I hear my friend remind me that we have a lot of bright and creative people on our side… the side who believe in the power of love and good energy…

“I’m gonna share with you a vision that I had, cause I love you. And you feel it. You know all that money we spend on nuclear weapons and defense each year, trillions of dollars, correct? Instead — just play with this — if we spent that money feeding and clothing the poor of the world — and it would pay for it many times over, not one human being excluded — we can explore space together, both inner and outer, forever in peace. Thank you very much. You’ve been great, I hope you enjoyed it. Good Night.” ~ Bill Hicks

Bill Hicks closed several hundred performances with the inspirational words above. Bill’s words heartened the bright and creative during a spell when intelligence had gone out of style. Bill Hicks ignited Promethean sparks among followers whose loyalty is sometimes described as obsessive. Bill promised listeners that his ideas will, “Squeegee your third eye.”

CLEARly CHANNELing just 4 profits SUCKS.

Bill resented more people not seeing and honoring his perspective. Bill didn’t have the Noam Chomsky grace of simply accepting the level of denial he found in his lack of supporters. Bill raged against the denial, cracking open the terministic screens of some listeners, and feeding quippy phrases to those who would repeat his jokes the next day in the office. And his intelligence came through a curmudgeon tone of an unstoppable rage against the machine.

We live within the thought debris of our puritanical, tyrannical forefathers, force-fed to us primarily through television. Bill reminds us, “Watching television is like taking black spray paint to your third eye.”

Liberty and the American dream of Freedom was founded on our right to pursue happiness as we see fit.

“Here is my final point. About drugs, about alcohol, about pornography and smoking and everything else. What business is it of yours what I do, read, buy, see, say, think, who I fuck, what I take into my body – as long as I do not harm another human being on this planet?” ~ Bill Hicks

Bill was painfully aware that he had to pepper his routines with dick jokes to earn the right to speak his truth about the cost of Bush taking us into the Iraq War. Bill’s material made many people mad. And, to those who were spreading their Truth, as they saw fit, Bill heartened us by reminding us that we have bright and creative people on our side, who are constructing more harmonious ways of spreading good energy.

Despite Bill’s rage, he remained optimistic to the end, singing his comedy to ears that might hear:

“It’s just a ride and we can change it any time we want. It’s only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings and money, a choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your door, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as one.” ~ Bill Hicks

With the help of many Good Energy friends, we’re launching a New Thought experiment inspired by Bill Hicks & Mark Joyner’s Construct Zero.

We’re organizing on FaceBook =>  http://ConstructHero.com

Give us 23 seconds and we’ll help you spread Good Energy in a free LIVE LEARNING EVENT, hosted at Albany State University, starting at exactly 9:09 am and 9 seconds, on the morning of September 9, 2009, aka 9/9/9. Announcing Good Energy Day 9/9/9, empowering the world with positive thoughts.

You can get involved by Twittering #GoodEnergy or simply by sharing Bill Hicks with your friends. Thank you for your considerations, and for your Good Energy.

To Bill Hicks, you are missed, and your good energy lives on. We love you Bill. You taught many of us to Love all the people. Thank you for your good energy. Your seeds are growing.

If you missed the INTRODUCTION to our Hidden Heroes series, you can read it by clicking here. Otherwise, continue below to read about Hero #2…

They say that people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones that end up doing it.

They also say it takes 10 years to make an overnight success.

Both are true for this week’s hidden hero, Grammy Award Winning Producer / Engineer and Award Winning Film Director Mark Johnson, and his Playing For Change movement.

Mark first got the idea to inspire people to come together as a human race by uniting musicians across continents in 1999…

Like all great ideas, it came in a seemingly random moment… as he walked through the New York subway during morning rush hour and saw two monks, painted white from head to toe, playing a guitar and singing a foreign language while 200 commuters stopped to watch — people from all different cultures and backgrounds, who were suddenly no longer consumed with getting to work on time.

Wow… what an a-ha moment!

Suddenly he realized that music was the bridge that could unite all people.

He also realized that it was his calling to go out and find as many inspiring musical moments as possible.

= = = = =

After sharing his idea with the right combination of people, Playing For Change (a play on words that brings to mind both street buskers and the musical ability to effect change) was born — a multi-media movement to inspire, connect and bring peace to the world through music — and travel around the world began.

They set off with the  idea that an open mind and positive intentions would allow them to find ways of uniting people as the human race… and since music is the Universal language that knows no boundaries, that idea traveled with them from California and a post-Katrina New Orleans to Europe, Asia, and Africa; through streets, subways, native Indian reservations, African villages, the Himalayan mountains, and more.

The musicians involved never met in person, but were brought together by the music, and the belief that we can do a lot more for the world working together than we can apart.

They created a documentary, Playing For Change: Peace Through Music, and several “Songs Around The World”, as well as the Playing For Change Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to connecting the world by building music and art schools equipped with cameras and recording studios in communities around the world.

Mark Johnson and his team can certainly take credit for helping to build a global village, as prophesied by Marshall McLuhan, and taking it to new levels.

Now, after circulating through friends’ inboxes and being featured on mainstream media, their first “Song Around The World”, the John Lennon version of Stand By Me, has received 9 1/2 million views on YouTube alone (and the video is available for viewing in numerous other places).

If you haven’t seen it yet, turn up your speakers and watch it here:

* For a higher-quality, full-screen version, click here *

Your Partners in the Quest For
Living a Life Without Limits,

(( Life Design Consultants,
Agents of Higher Learning &
Catalysts For Change ))

If you missed the INTRODUCTION to our Hidden Heroes series, you can read it by clicking here. Otherwise, continue below to read about Hero #1…

He had a corporate job many people would have envied — good salary, great benefits, working for one of the richest men in the world at Microsoft.

But he followed the true Hero’s Journey — not the one you read about in myths and storybooks, but the one that countless former lawyers, accountants, bankers, CEOs and other people (who were doing what people told them they “should” be doing) have taken when breaking away from “the American Dream” to live their own Personal Dream.

I’ve interviewed several of them.

And I’ve noticed a few surprising patterns that recur again and again: like Lawyer to Actor/Comedian, Lawyer to Motivational Speaker, and Accountant to Personal Development Author.

But this guy — our first Hero in our Hidden Heroes series — didn’t just uncover his purpose and follow his true passion.  He’s not just helping people by entertaining or teaching them.

He took on a hugely monumental task…

====== Continued =======

John Wood had an almost decade-long fast-paced and distinguished career at Microsoft, during the peak growth years from 1991-1999. He used to be in charge of marketing and business development teams throughout Asia… and now he’s in charge of a different kind of development there.

See, one day John decided to take a vacation from his high-profile, high-stress job. What was going to be a trek through Nepal turned into a spiritual journey, and then a mission:

To change the world one book and one child at a time, by setting up libraries in the developing world.

This hits home for us, because many years ago Barry and I (separately, before we even met each other) each stated our mission in life as:

To change the world for the better, one person at a time, by empowering them to live the life they want.

When we first learned that we both had the same vision as change-makers and value-givers, we were flabbergasted. Talk about synchronicity gone wild!

And that’s still our mission at LWL Worldwide.

In fact, the kinship I feel with John Wood goes another level deep, as well.

Two years ago, I was also working a cool job for good money and great benefits in the technology industry — as an Account Rep for Nokia mobile phones. John worked for an American company and had a territory in Asia; I worked for a Finnish company and had a territory in Canada.

But as fun as the job was, for a J.O.B., I was becoming severely disenchanted with it after three years. I felt like training salespeople on the features and benefits of cell phones was incredibly superficial compared to the life-changing teaching that I really wanted to be doing in my heart.

Sure, I was doing what I wanted to do after work and on weekends — first launching Success Unwrapped, then Internet Marketing Unwrapped, then hooking up with Barry for Masters of the Secret — and all these projects allowed me to interview people, create valuable life-changing content, make money and have fun.

But I was scared to leave the safety net of the full-time gig.

One weekend I went to Dr. John F. Demartini’s Breakthrough Experience workshop as his personal guest, after interviewing him twice for Masters of the Secret.

And during each break, I would phone Barry — who, at the time, was just my best friend and business partner — to tell him what I was learning and, yes, the breakthroughs I was experiencing (appropriately enough for a workshop called The Breakthrough Experience!)

Barry asked me several times during those calls to quit my job the following Monday and work full-time with him on ramping up Masters of the Secret and some other LWL projects.

And I kept telling him no, I wasn’t ready to quit — and even if I did, I would have to give two weeks notice, since it was in my contract… but that the conversation was moot because it wasn’t going to happen anyhow, as much as I wanted it to.

So what happens Monday morning?

In the most amazing fast-turnaround manifestation I had ever witnessed up to that point, I got laid off!

John Wood didn’t wait for that to happen though.

His vacation-cum-spiritual journey through Nepal brought him into a library that had no books… and face-to-face with a man who unknowingly issued him a challenge.

So with just a loose vision of the change he wanted to bring to the world, he was soon driven to leave his career voluntarily.

But, like most visionaries who ditch a career for a dream, he used the best of what he already knew to further that dream.

In John’s case, he brought Microsoft business practices to the world of non-profits to create Room to Read, an organization that has spawned a network of over 5,500 schools and libraries throughout rural and poor communities in Asia and Africa.

The organization is now one of the fastest growing, most effective, and award-winning non-profits of the last decade. John has been recognized in the worldwide media as a “21st century Andrew Carnegie,” building a public library infrastructure to help the developing world break the cycle of poverty through the lifelong gift of education.

As the Founder and Executive Chairman of Room to Read, John brings a vision for a scalable solution to educational problems in developing countries. He has an intense focus on results, an ability to attract world-class helpers, and a knack for long-term strategy that have all allowed him to achieve the seemingly impossible.

John was selected as the second recipient of the Draper Richards Fellowship, has twice been chosen for the Skoll Foundation award for social entrepreneurship, and has led Room to Read to three consecutive selections for the prestigious “Social Capitalist” by Fast Company magazine and the Monitor Group. In 2004, he was named as one of Time Magazine’s “Asian Heroes” — the only non-Asian ever selected to receive this award.

And along the way he wrote a book called Leaving Microsoft to Change the World (Harper Collins; September, 2006).

He might not fit the standard definition of a “renegade”, but we feel anyone who bucks the system to do things their own way is deserving of the Renegade title — including John.

In fact, it’s to inspire his kind of thinking and action-taking — against all odds, despite what anyone says — that we created our Renegade Growth Pak.

Our mission to change the world for the better, one person at a time, is coming true with every Renegade Growth Pak we sell.

And, like the many top-rate media outlets that have profiled John, we believe in his mission too.

So what better way to prove that we stand behind him, every step of the way?

See, we want to help him change the world.

How about you?

We’re re-opening Renegade Growth Pak, at 20% off the price we’ve been selling it for, exclusively to our in-house list (that’s you!) until March 27, 2009.

And we’re giving 20% of the profits to John’s non-profit, Room to Read.  At the end of March, we’ll upload a SCREEN SHOT of our Paypal donation for all to see.

Once you’re at the site, click on the link inside the dashed red table titled “Details On Our ‘Room To Read’ Donation Offer“. We’ve ADDED some content, including TRANSCRIPTS of all interviews and made it as enticing as possible for you to take advantage of this incredible learning package, while supporting John at the same time.

Watch John’s story in his own words ( 3 1/2 minute video ):

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dckCyNVanJw[/youtube]

And then grab your copy of the Renegade Growth Pak here to help fuel his mission too.

Your Partner in the Quest For
Living a Life Without Limits,

“…the world does need another HERO.“

While it just might be us that are actually willing to SEE and HEAR — with clear eyes and critically-open ears — the foolish antics and head-shaking monkey-business that DOES indeed AFFECT our world, we DOUBT it!

And, we’re also pretty sure, dear fine reader, that ya’d like to DO something about it, if you’re not already. Yup, as crystal-clear sure as we are that we’ll NOT be hitting on 17 at the BlackJack table.

But hey, we already said something like that, didn’t we?

Yeah, well, sorta… maybe 10 days ago, in the midst of hoping to build up an inspiring case of having more Professor Keatings around us, our appeal got clouded— after all, we had to go and sprinkle in politics… one word (Obama) used to represent and put a face to rewarding incompetency (the “bailout”) and, holy moly, STOP THE PRESSES (again!)…. aaaarrrrghhh, the inspiration train got derailed.

Okay, so we’re gonna take a HERO-mulligan, put this puppy back on the green, and try it again.

======

Hey, come on already… some leeway is deserved here. Sure, we naturally get juiced-up by taking potshots at the, ahem, anti-hero-like complacency, limiting habits, ho-hum norms, pervasive mediocrity, and dare we say “weirdness” hanging around folks these days.

Or, as Stephen Colbert would say:

We’re just doing our part to find that “attractive vessel through which the river of truth can flow.” (And, no, some guru-like Mary Poppins-sorta nicety like “the truth is within us all” just dun’it cut it).

This time around, our pitch for admiring Heroes in your life is all going to start with, by golly, accentuating the virtues, story, and results of a real-life HERO.

We’re NOT here, this time, to sell you on WHY you, your family, your friends, your dog, or anybody else for that matter NEEDS a HERO.

Noooope, that takes too much work and greases up our soap-box (something, we tend to like, for its slipperiness, anyway) to sometimes unbearable levels. And, like we said before, there’s a song out there that has these words:

“Everybody’s searching for a hero.”

So, we’re just gonna go with that  mass conscious validation and be done with it already … admittedly, if we would have listened to the words in stillness, we now realize we never would have felt the need to sell you on having one by mentioning anything (regardless of how slight it was) anti-hero in the first place.

So, bottom line:

We’re NOT gonna ask, cajole, or dance around the issue anymore… instead, it’s coming at you in full force, baaaaaby!

At least two people a month that we feel are worthy of our Hidden Heroes Series.

What is such a person?

In our minds, someone brave, daring, and committed to effecting change — not so much by being on center-stage telling, teaching, and inspiring; but, instead by being involved at a grassroots, face-to-face level.

The Heroes we highlight will be everyday, authentic, fallible people who are so busy helping others face adversity, take risks, and stretch limits, that they don’t have a lot of time to be SEEN.

They instill hope and inspiration that anything is possible when your heart is in the right place, you follow your gut/dreams, seek out/focus on solutions, and dream big.

Speaking of dreaming BIG…

There is the story of the kindergarten teacher who asks a child what she is drawing. “I’m drawing a picture of God,” the child replies.

“But, sweetheart,” says the teacher, “no one knows what God looks like.”

“They will in a minute!” says the child.

Now, that is a perfect example of Thinking BIG !!

Big Thinkers possess this childlike faith. Not a childish faith that lacks maturity and understanding, but an attitude of deep faith in themselves.

If you are a big thinker, you have an inner voice that asks, “why not…” and “what if…” and you’re in tune with your own skills, talents, and abilities to SEE the unseen or create the uncreatable.

The foundation of a true Hidden Hero starts at this level.

The triumphs, setbacks, lessons, and make-a-difference qualities of our Hidden Heroes will inspire you to be more, do more… be and do better.

Seeing an example of what is truly possible — what amazing things have already happened — will help you give yourself permission to emulate that, and it then becomes much easier.

But, ya know… here’s the rub (yes, Heather and I will always find something for you to “consider” or think critically about):

Regardless of what I’ve already said above (i.e., about NOT only relying on yourself to find the truth about life), we’re pretty confident in saying this:

You’re never going to appreciate, adore, or much less “get” the Hidden Heroes around (and “outside”) of you UNTIL you first recognize you do indeed have one little mini-me hero “inside” of you.

So, how bout this idea… BEFORE we tell you about Hidden Hero #1 (which will come on Friday, by the way), try this one for size:

After you finish reading this post, go to YouTube, type in “Mariah Carey Hero” (just like that, minus the quotes) and LISTEN to the words of this song.

It rattles the soul in a energetic self-worth sorta way. In other words, you can’t help but be reminded that you must FIRST love your own skills, talents, and abilities BEFORE you can love (or even see) somebody else’s.

So, after you get your fill of Mariah, stay tuned for our post tomorrow where Heather will give you the true account of a man who gave up an envious corporate job and the business fast track, security, a personal life, and his dream of owning a house to change the world through books in the most unlikely places.

An inspiring and brave story !

As one supporter said about tomorrow’s Hidden Hero:

“In every life there are a handful of defining moments, junctures at which you and you alone define the person you become. So much of modern literature is an elegy of regret about failing to recognize these moments or lacking the courage to grasp them. John did neither.”

Your Partner in the Quest For
Living a Life Without Limits,