This week, Oddpodz shares the reality of keeping a business together while getting ready for an important trip. If you missed last weeks wrap up, click here.

1 – I’m going to Saudi, join me! Get the inside scoop of marketing, communication, travel & cultural lessons.
2 – Blog breakthrough – What does it really take? And what is the magic move that turns pondering into reality?
3 – How to get unstuck on a writing project – 10 ways. Learn to practice what you preach in a stress-free way.
4 – Forgive me, I’m using an excuse card tonight. Use these funny excuses if you’re having an off day.
5 – A road warrior’s check list, so the journey is a joy. What to pack when you’re always on the go.

For more on-the-road lessons view:
Networking in the sky. How to turn a seat mate into a good connection.
5 inspirational ideas and 2 revelations from an adventure to Chicago
What I learned from going to see Oprah

This week, Oddpodz took advantage of the simpler things in life and learned how fulfilling they really are. Here are some ways you can look at your business half full too:

1 – Fox TV calls for a 30-minute live interview. Will you be ready? Learn how to interview like a pro, here.
2 – How reincarnating an old idea can be a BORN AGAIN HIT. Check out word-smithing at its best.
3 – Birthdays, gifts and marketing – an interesting trio. Do you have a way to remember your customers’ special days?
4 – Can being happier change your entrepreneurial success? It’s true! Identify the small things in life and make them happen.
5 – Don’t forget to Celebrate loving being an entrepreneur everyday. And start making your own life choices.

If you missed last weeks wrap up, click here.

For more ways to fulfill your life, check out these posts:
Why creatures of habit are champions in sports, business and life.
Work less, accomplish more!
Money, money, money!

Karen has joined the daily blogging club! Use the RSS feed to get everyday insight or sign up for the Oddpodz ezine, which is a summary of blog posts that is sent out bi weekly.

Here is a wrap-up of the last 15 days:

1 – In Mystery of pricing exposed. How much would you pay to look smarter?, Karen Post highlights the fact that we tend to forget: behind every decision we make, there is a price. From this standpoint, ask yourself ‘How much am I ready to pay for a particular situation?’ In order to do so, Karen recommends Eduardo Porter’s book The Price of Everything: Solving the Mystery of Why We Pay What We Do. Check out Karen’s literature choice and the awesome trailer, here.

2 – In You know you are engaged when you take your laptop and Seth Godin to the bathroom, Karen shares with us 4 tips she learned from the Seth Godin’s recent webinar she attended (and could not get away from…!). Engagement is one of the primary sources of success. Even during challenging times, do your best to keep engaging in what really matters. The four tips also discuss guest bloggers, blogging frequency, Twitter and not giving up. Learn from Seth and Karen here.

3 – In 10-steps to making writing your blog easier, Karen gives great tips to help each and every one of us to enhance our blogging experience. Keeping up with a consistent daily post is harder than what we can expect. Try out Karen’s 10 ta-do’s and bring your A game when blogging. Check out Karen’s list here.

4 – In The #1 strategy that is giving me more money, influence and balance, Karen discusses her focus on trying to align all of her business ventures. These strategies can be good for your business as well. See how she does it with Oddpodz here.

5 – In 3 productivity tips to prevent eye strain & pain from your computer, Karen shares a few tips on how help your eyes if, like the average business worker, you spend more than 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, in front of a computer screen. See what Karen does to avoid painful eyes and how to stay productive here.

6 – We have all asked for feedback on a project and found that good feedback does not always necessarily mean nice feedback. In Hard candy advice. Why sweet is not always better, Karen tells us about the feedback she received from a recognized author concerning her book proposal. Although it might not have been nice to hear, she definitely received helpful tips. See how she used her advisor’s insights to the fullest here.

7 – In 4-simple habits of champion goal-getters, Karen lists 4 qualities that a well-driven person should have. From setting clear objectives, to surrounding themselves with focused people, some day-to-day habits are essential for anyone who attempts to be a successful goal-getter. See what makes Karen a goal-getter here.

8 – Productivity is a powerful thing. In Save at least 5 hours a week. Subscribe to RSS feeds, Karen tells us how to increase our weekly productivity and to save precious hours. Stop surfing the web looking for pieces of information you want from your favorite websites. Make the news come to you – learn to use RSS feeds here.

9 – In Feet and footers should both be sexy, Karen mentions one of her pet peeves: feet! And also the footers on web designs. Have you checked your website/blog footers lately? You might want to reevaluate and see if they’re eye catching. But before doing so, see what Karen thinks about feet and footers here.

10 – In A crazy combination that works. Bad spelling+psycho cats=$30M in cash, Karen tells us about a crazy success story. Ben Huh, former journalist, bought a website: I Can Has Cheezburger and turned this misspelled domain name into a venture that just raised $30M! See how Ben did it here.

11 – In How to scale up the experience you deliver in 4 dramatic steps, Karen deals with a notion that is really important in the start-up world: scalability. How can a company use all the space available to communicate and sell their products? Learn more about scaling-up your business here.

12 – Want to be a standout brand? Avoid these 5 costly mistakes discusses tips every business should follow if they want to standout from the pack. To become a memorable brand, Karen Post talks about what to do and what not to do here.

I was craving a good escape last night, a movie fix. So I went to two.

Tampa is fortunate to have a fabulous dinner, drinks and movie venue called Cine Bistro. It’s so worth the extra few bucks, no kids, no cramped seats, no kidding. Plus the food ranks up there with any nice, foodie, hip dinning spot. If you live in Tampa, check this place out and support them, so they stick around.

My first flick was Unstoppable with Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. Two fine guys and actors. I loved the movie. Great art directing, awesome sound, good casting and an energizing story line that as an entrepreneur was very inspiring.  The movie had nothing to do with running your own business, but it had everything to do with fundamental principles that are very relevant to being a successful  entrepreneur.

Highlights and my take-aways -
The movie had a simple idea, “a train that could not be stopped”. The simple idea was transformed in a two hour compelling story.
What simple concept do you have in your biz that can be transformed into a masterful story?

The two main characters were regular working class guys both with a skill set, one with limited experience, but had miles of determination.
Sound like someone you admire?

Both characters were dealing with significant personal challenges.
At the moments where stepping up and taking on danger head on, these issues were not present, but the will to succeed was.

Nothing could stop this train.
Does this sound like you? Resilient, tough as steel. If not, make some adjustments.

It was a scary, high risk, against all odds journey.
I know what that feels like. If being in business was easy, every person would be doing it.

Need a little adrenaline rush this week, see this movie.

The second movie I saw was Love and other Drugs
Well for me this flick was not a walk out movie, but, certainly not a must see either, on a 1 to 10, I’d give it a 6. What I would give it is “The trailer was much better than the actual movie award”. Which is always disappointing.

The love story was sappy and predictable. The sex scenes were very present, along with some great camera shots and editing. Ann Hathaway and Jake Gyllenhaal seem to have good chemistry, even though the story was on the light side. What stuck in my head most about this film was not a dating, love relationship message, but the state of how sometimes creepy and corrupt the pharmaceutical companies and doctors relationships are. See CNN story on branding of conditions,  Kind of made me feel sick.

Anyhow, Movies are good medicine for entrepreneurs. They keep you grounded with moral messages and can expand your mind with some extreme fantasy all in the same day. Movies can teach us, about market segments, typography treatments, promotions, product placement, casting and character creation, creativity, brilliant story telling  and remind us that sometimes even boring and stupid things can make money too.

If your brain needs some feeding today, take a break and go see a movie.

For more on how to be unstoppable, view: 5 things that helped us get our creative mojo back.

This week, our team has produced 7 articles for your success. For those of you who might have missed them – some of us are busy as hell during the week! – here is your weekly OWW-UP:

1 – In Liar Liar is your brand on fire, Joe Melle digs into the evolution of advertising over the past 50 years, focusing on infomercials. Joe wonders how marketing professionals look at their peers’ work. He also questions the extent to which Ethic impacts infomercials messages and he challenges every one of us to think twice about the way we communicate about our products? See Joe’s post here.

2 – In Leadership: the quality of your presence, Thomson Dawson highlights how leadership is an effect of a quality presence. He tells us why determined people are time-oriented and how they get to the next step. See Thomson’s post here.

3 – In Business Requirements Doc & Website Dev RFP Example, Karen Post follows up her last week article How Two Websites Almost Killed a Baby. Our CEO tells us what Oddpodz has learnt in IT adding some insights from Allen Clary and Brian Burridge

See Karen’s post here and download Business Requirements and Oddpodz Request for Proposal as examples.

4 – In Why you should master the art of “downloading people”?, Kenji Crosland develops the concept of “downloading people” – or how to get as many pieces of information from anyone as you can. Among the tips Kenji gives us: don’t focus on narrow objectives and remember that everyone has valuable information. See Kenji’s post here.

5 – In If it ain’t broke, break it…, Jocelyn Rings gives us 7 lessons she implements while brainstorming. Through the story of the successful startup SeamlessWeb, Jocelyn’s advices make a lot of sense for those of us who live through a continuous brainstorming mode! See Jocelyn’s post here.

6 – In How QR barcodes make it easy to attract & keep new online friends, Lauren Angrick shows us a Japanese way to communicate through mobile devices which is going worldwide at the speed of light! See Lauren’s post here

7 – Lauren brings it back in A little known way to spruce up your Facebook page for free. In this post, she adds up a great tool to the Oddpodz FREE biz findz blog with Facebook TabSite. A website that allows you to create for free a tab within your Facebook pages. See Lauren’s second post of the week here

Seven days, seven posts! The O-team has given its best for your success. Which insight has been the most helpful for you this week?