Words of Inspiration From The Gulf Coast

Have you ever listened to someone speak and simultaneously be inspired and utterly humbled? I was this weekend and I caught the experience on tape to share with you. Go ahead, it's only 90 seconds. Play it. Then feel free to answer the question yourself in the comments and invite others to chime in too.

I had the great fortune of spending the weekend in Gulf Shores and catching the Jimmy Buffett concert  thanks to the fine folks over at Meyer Real Estate. You might remember them -- they were one of my early Free Idea Day winners. But that isn't how this weekend started. It started because one of their owners, Jamie Sandford offered me the use of his house if I'd like to head over and blog a bit. Meyer jumped in to add tickets and help finding folks to interview and the outcome is this post and another I hope to write for my next Ad Age Small Agency Diary post. Ok, FTC disclosure time over.

If you haven't yet, watch the video above. Shaul Zislin is the owner of The Hangout, this really awesome, sprawling restaurant right on the beach with the world's biggest bubble making machine for your kids. Hilarious video of that here. He was such an incredible interview and it will be business leaders like him, not BP that will assure the survival of Gulf Coast tourism.

Another key cog in the Gulf Shores save our coast machine is Sheila Hodges. Sheila is the owner of Meyer Real Estate. A lot of her interview will find its way into that future Ad Age post. Here is a woman whose primary form of making money is utterly threatened by the effects of the BP oil spill. And yet, she's not mad or angry or depressed. She's.... upbeat, hopeful and dare I say, excited about the opportunities ahead.

So check out the video. It's only a 90 seconds long and feel free to share it with someone who need a pick up or a reminder that there is always a silver lining. Just focus on what's important and roll.

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