February 19-21, 2010

Yes, it’s here! The week that we celebrate those acts of kindness, big and small, that often make the difference in someone’s day and sometimes, even in someone’s life.

We love the notion of acts of kindness being random and taking a whole week to celebrate it. Truth be told, we endorse any act of kindness no matter how or why it comes. Kindness is kindness, for goodness’ sake!

Boom Boom! is also kindness, it’s intentional kindness. It’s purposefully looking at a person, a situation or a moment and deciding, very consciously, that you are going to make a difference with your unique contribution for that person in that instant. Intention is powerful and it’s what makes change.

And change is happening out there with all of you. We are inspired every day by what is happening on the front line of this uprising. So, what better opportunity than this week is there to celebrate what YOU are doing, very intentionally, to change the world?

Every day this week we are going to highlight a Boom Boom! Revolutionary who chose to step forward in a very intentional way and commit an act of kindness for someone else. Thank you all for joining the Revolution. Together, and with intention, we can do anything. To that end, we leave you with the famous words of Margaret Mead. She didn’t know about Boom Boom! but we’re pretty sure she would have approved of the concept.

“Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.”

- Margaret Mead

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Day 1:

Revolutionary: Shelleyann Keelean
Story Title: “A Running Stop”
Card #15: Wildcard

Summation: Jogger helps return a crying, lost child home

“I had just gone through all my Boom Boom cards on Monday and was thinking about which one to start with and i just couldn’t decide… Then on Tuesday the…” Click here to read full post!

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Day 2:

Revolutionary: Z13167
Story Title: “Goodbye”
Card #4: Write a Thank You Letter to a Mentor

Summation: Student writes thank you letter to teacher who re-ignited his passion to write

“When I was younger I used to write stories a lot, and I even won a place in a statewide contest that I was sure I would lose. I loved writing, it was a…” Click here to read full post!

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Day 3:

Revolutionary: ryry796
Story Title: “Being a Hero”
Teen Edition – Card #13: Stop a Rumor

Summation: A friend stops a rumor from running wild at school

“I already knew that this card would be difficult from the start. Stopping a rumor? Not too easy…” Click here to read full post!

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Day 4:

Revolutionary: Tendercrisp317
Story Title: “A Big Load Off My Chest”
Card #24: Apologize (you know to who).

Summation: A brother apologizes after 12 years.

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Day 5:

Revolutionary: Mallory
Story Title: “Stick Together”
Card #20: Leave a note of praise, encouragement or love for someone to find in an unexpected place.

Summation: Teen reaches out to a new friend who’s feeling down

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Day 6:

Revolutionary: FlowerChild
Story Title: “Haiti”
Teen Edition – Card #17: Find a charitable cause that interests you and dontate your time or money…it can be $1, $5, or pennies…just as long as you support something you believe in.

Summation: Teen inspires her class to raise money for Haiti.

Want to know more about Random Acts of Kindess Week? Here’s an article written by Tonic about it’s origins & the folks behind it today.

…is love sweet love, it’s the only thing there’s just too little of.

Remember that song? Yep, it’s pretty dang old, but still so relevant, even today.  This is EXACTLY what the world needs. Everyday. For every person. That’s why we love Valentine’s Day here in the Boom Boom! Room, because it’s a great reason to talk about love!

We’ve had a few people contact us to let us know they are using Boom Boom! Cards this year for Valentine’s Day instead of the traditional cards and we thought this was such a great idea, we couldn’t keep it to ourselves. It makes sense, of course…why not celebrate Valentine’s Day by spreading some Boom Boom! After all, Valentine’s Day is all about the love and so are Boom Boom! Cards.

Yeah, we know, traditionally, Valentine’s Day has been more the time to recognize that romantic love in your life and, while we think that is obviously, awesome, this year why not open up Valentine’s Day to love in general and share it with Boom Boom! Cards?

So, here’s a run down on ways in which other Revolutionaries have used their cards that make sense to do on Valentine’s Day. Reading these will hopefully inspire you to find a way to use your cards for the Big Day of Love. And, when you do, please, let us know!! We love to hear how the Revolutionaries on the front lines are playing their cards. It always inspires us!

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Card #4:

Write a letter to a mentor who inspired you

What better day to show love than by acknowledging appreciation for that special person in your life who has helped you become the person you are today? Could be a teacher, a parent, a best friend, or even your partner. Use February 14^th as the reason to reach out to them and let them know. Here’s a Boom Boom! that did just that…and check out what happened.

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Card #8:

Contact someone you haven’t spoken with in a while*

*Revoltutionize it. Make it someone with whom you’ve had a rocky relationship

Okay, we know this is a hard one, and might not seem very “Valentinesy”, but check out this Boom Boom!. It’s pretty cool. This awesome woman used Thanksgiving as the reason to play her card, certainly Valentine’s Day is just as good a reason!

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Card #20:

Leave a note of praise for someone to find in an unexpected place

Check out how Revolutionary Michelle Gannon used card 20…and it wasn’t even Valentine’s Day, just a random day of the week. It sure could have been, though. She does a beautiful job making Card #20 a romantic homage to the love of her life…and you can too!

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Card #15: Wildcard!

Well, this really doesn’t need any explanation, does it? Card #15 is the perfect excuse to do something wild, whimsical, fun and kind for a person you love this Valentine’s Day.

Hopefully these posts above stirred up some fantastic ideas within you of how to spread all kinds of love this Valentine’s Day. Don’t be afraid to put it out there. Because, afterall, it is what the world needs now. And, it’s our job to deliver.

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Still curious about the song referenced above? There have been a lot of versions of the song by a myriad of people, but this is the first and remains the classic. Here is vintage footage of the original version sung by Jackie DeShannon, circa 1965.

It’s fun to watch, and the message timeless. The world will always need love.

Whatever you end up doing this Valentine’s Day we hope it’s full of Boom Boom!

Maybe it’s because I live in Santa Cruz, but I see the most interesting things on my way to work. Sometimes it’s a work of art provided by mother nature, like this:

And sometimes it’s a work of heart provided by a human, like this:

Although seemingly different, I believe both of these masterpieces have similar origins. In fact, I believe they come from the exact same place…the place where the very best of us resides. These pictures celebrate and demonstrate the potential of what we can be and communicate the exact same message: whether it’s Mother Nature or a human being, there is greatness in everything and everyone.

Sometimes we uncover this greatness on our own and sometimes it takes a little  inspiration to help us see it. But, make no mistake, it’s there. Our challenge is to recognize it when it shows up. Let’s face it, it’s easy to see greatness in these examples, I mean, what’s not to admire? But greatness comes in all varieties, whether it’s in the form of a simple, every day sunrise or in the gesture of someone offering an umbrella to another in the rain. Both are great.

Think about if for a second… the sun comes up every day. That alone is great. Someone helps someone out every single day. Also great. But we forget how truly great these things are because they seem ordinary, common place. We’re used to them. So, my theory is that every once in a while we get a reminder, like these here, to help us recognize both the stunning and the every day greatness that exists around us. But that’s not all.

More than that, I think examples like these have a much higher purpose. Their purpose is to inspire us to recognize and uncover our own, unique greatness.

Not every sunrise looks like this. But every once in a while the light shines through the clouds in such a way as to illuminate everything around it, casting so strong a radiant blaze that everything touched by this light has no choice but to respond. Whether it’s the glowing stately rock perched on the ocean cliff or the smallest grain of sand shimmering in the light, both are inspired by the sun, to be more.

The same holds true for us. If we choose to, we can reflect the greatness of people like this man who has decided to dedicate his life to serving others because he “just wants to help”. There is a light that shines from within people like this and, like the grain of sand shimmering in the glow of the sun, we can be inspired by the light emanating from this man to do more and to be more. Does this mean we follow his lead, cast off the life we know to support a particular cause? Absolutely not. It just means we have the opportunity to reflect the greatness seen here and find our own unique version of it. Because it’s in every one of us.

Every heard of the Streamys? We hadn’t either until a “Journey to Ellen” fan emailed us to say: “I think you guys are hilarious so I nominated you for a Streamys for ‘Best Comedy Series’. Good luck!”

We had no idea what she was talking about so we looked it up and we found out that the Streamys are the internet version of the Oscars, Golden Globes, Emmys, etc. and past winners have been the likes of none other than the brilliant Neil Patrick Harris for, “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”.

Really? Whoa. We were honored. We couldn’t believe someone thought that much of our quirky little series to nominate us. We thought it was cute at first. And then, we thought a little bit more…

What if we could win? Something…anything? Stranger things have happened.

So, we decided: WE’RE GOING FOR IT!

If you are a “Journey to Ellen” fan and you’d like to see it win the Streamys Award for Best Comedy Web Series, vote here. When prompted for url put in http://JourneytoEllen.com

Thankfully the geniuses behind the Streamys have made voting remarkably easy. Just go in and vote. Seriously, it will take you like three seconds.

BUT WAIT! There’s more…

Voting ends on the 18th! (you can vote once per day, per computer) So we need to act fast! So please, vote, pass this on to your friends and recruit more “Journey to Ellen” fans. We’ve decided, we want to win!

Plus, we love the irony of possibly winning this thing and STILL not being on her show. Thanks for helping to make it happen!

Boom Boom!

We have great news for those Revolutionaries who purchased decks with the intent to pass out or gift individual cards BEFORE they have been played! There is no longer the need to register each individual card to your account before you pass it out. Now, all you need to do is just register the deck, and then go ahead and pass out those cards! Once the cards you passed out have been played you’ll receive an email letting you know. Then, you can go to your “My Decks” page and read the posts. Great news, eh?

So go ahead, pass those cards out to whomever you want, whenever you want, however you want and then sit back and wait for those Boom Boom! deeds to show up in your “My Decks “page, where you can read their stories and smile about the chain of goodness you started.

Now, that’s some good work!

Boom Boom!

Recently, this question’s come up a bit, most recently on our Facebook fan page.

Believe us, we asked ourselves this same thing in the beginning. It is certainly something we wrestled with in the early formation of Boom Boom! Revolution and, while we have always known our intention and the why’s of our choice, this post reminded us that we didn’t really ever communicate it to everyone.

Duh. Our bad.

So, we’d like to take this opportunity to share a little bit more with you the reasons we went this route.

We did a lot of research, thought long and hard about it and, ultimately, decided not to declare 501(c)(3) status. Why? Well, the simple answer is this: we wanted to have more flexibility than non profit status allowed. As an S-Corp, we have more influence in the structure of our company, the products we create, the money we give away and how we do it.

So, that’s the simple and easy answer.

Satisfied? Great. We’ll see you around.

Not entirely happy with that and need more? No problem. Read on…

In forming Boom Boom! we thought about two things: 1) why we were forming the company and 2) what we wanted our legacy to be. It didn’t take long to realize that the answers to both questions were the same: to make good and lasting change in the world.

This answer set the course for every decision after that.

We felt the most effective way to achieve that goal was to become part of an emerging sector of our economy consisting of socially responsible and societally beneficial companies; these companies are literally changing the way the world does business (think Tom’s Shoes, for instance). Part of the “good” we wanted to impart was to be on the forefront of an exciting shift in the marketplace that is helping re-define what it means to be a “for-profit” company and changing the perception of what it means to “do business”.

Traditionally there have been 3 sectors of commerce:

1. For-Profit corporations whose mission is to make money.
2. Government service whose mission is to meet citizen needs.
3. Non-profit organizations whose mission is to provide a social need that is not addressed by either of the former.

We wanted to be a part of the newly emerging 4th Sector of commerce: For Good and For Profit. Businesses in the 4th Sector offer product and services for social good at a sustainable price. They not only boost the economy by creating business in the marketplace, they also apportion profits for social good. In this way these businesses are economically self-sustaining, relying solely on the value they provide and the revenue they generate from their consumers. In other words they don’t need to constantly be searching for grants or donations from outside sources because they create their own source of funding.

Essentially, everyone who buys products from a 4th Sector company is a benefactor because their money is going to a company who turns around and gives money away to charities and causes. Essentially, customers of 4th Sector companies are partners and investors in making the world a better place. It’s a new and emerging business model and one we are thrilled to be on the forefront of.

Currently, 10% of profits from Boom Boom! Cards goes to multiple charitable organizations chosen by people when they register their decks. We are in the process of creating other Boom Boom! Revolution products with the same intention. Our goal is to have a variety of products in which the after tax profits goes to our varied non-profit partners.

Ultimately, our mission is to make sure that, at every single level possible, Boom Boom! Revolution serves societal good…from the products we put to market, to the building of a healthy business that breathes life into our economy, to changing the way business is done, to gifting profits to our non-profit partners. We want to be as effective as possible in contributing to and creating good.

So, the next time you buy a product, check it out. Find out where your money goes beyond the day to day operations of running that business. You know how you can buy products with the symbol the indicates that it’s “eco friendly” or “green”? Tamara Gordy, our friend from another 4th sector business, Lovin’ Scoopful, proposes that there be a symbol that indicates whether a company is “socio friendly”, something that lets the consumer know that they are buying from a socially aware and socially generous organization.

We think that’s a great idea…what do you think?

Boom Boom!

Yes, YOU. It’s almost the end of the year, and you know what that means…time for us to reflect on 2009. You know, think about what it brought us, both the good and bad, and to also consider 2010 and what incredible things await us.

For the Boom Boom! Room, we cannot think about the year that was 2009 without thinking about you. That’s right, all you amazing people out there who saw or heard about Boom Boom! and thought to yourselves, “How can I get in on that?” All of you who heard the word “revolution” and didn’t shirk away saying, “Nah, that’s not my gig,” but rather, shouted, “Heck yeah! Sign me up!”

You are the reason someone smiled today. You are the reason someone’s day was made just a bit better. You are the reason Boom Boom! exists. You are the reason we love showing up to work and turning on our computers each day. And, YOU are the reason the world is going to change.

Seriously, make no mistake about it…you are on the cutting edge. You are among those who know something is happening out there. You also know that whatever it is, it’s going to change everything. We couldn’t agree more. And we couldn’t be more thrilled to be on this joy ride with you. Hands up, people! It’s going to be a wild one!

We are so excited for what’s next, and we are even more excited to share it with you in 2010. A sincere thanks to you. Not only for believing in Boom Boom! but also for being a part of promoting good in our world. Let’s be honest, it needs it and, without you, it just simply won’t happen. So, the human race thanks you and so do we.

Boom Boom!

Saw this guy on my way to work today; he was smiling, standing on the corner and holding a simple, hand made sign. He made my day. But not at first.

You're Perfect.

Now, I am not sure why he decided to make the sign. Or why he spent his morning greeting commuters with it. Or why he was so dang happy. All I know is he brought a smile and created joy for every single person that passed him. People were honking, waving at him and yelling things like, “Thanks” and “So are you!”

You might be thinking, “Aww, that’s nice.” Which would make sense and it’s probably what I should have been thinking. But it’s not. When I first saw him, my immediate reaction was one of guilt, like “Sheesh, I suck.”

I mean this guy obviously got up this morning and thought, very intentionally, “What can I do to make people happy today?” I didn’t think anything like that. Not even close. I thought things like, “Where’s my coffee?” and “Man, I hate working out,” and “Okay, okay cat…I’ll feed you. Hush!” Not once, not even for one second, did I think about how I could enhance someone else’s life experience (the cat doesn’t count). Boy. I felt like a jerk.

But then I realized, I am not alone here. It’s the rare person who wakes up and wonders what they are going to do today to make someone else’s day better. And it makes perfect sense why…life doesn’t really lend itself to that; most days it’s just about trying to get done what needs to get done. And if that happens, victory! It’s hard to think about everyone, all the time when you need to take care of what’ s happeing for you. I get it. Boy, do I get it.

So, what’s the answer?

I don’t know.

All I know is that it’s easy to get mired in the day to day and hard to find the time to break out of the, “Go, go, go” mentality. But, maybe, just maybe, all it takes is one singular moment of intention. Just that one thought, at any time of the day, “What can I do to make someone’s day a bit better.” Notice I said “a bit”, because it’s not about changing someone’s life (although great if you do) or that sweeping grand gesture. Sometimes it’s about the littlest thing. A simple thing. A note. A kind word. A gesture of appreciation. A sign. That’s all it takes.

And that’s when I came to the conclusion that the guy with the sign did, indeed, make my day. His intent wasn’t to make me feel guilty. His intent was to make me smile. It was a simple gesture and it did its job…and then some. Because it got me to think about how I can create that experience for even just one other person each day.

So tomorrow I am going to ask myself that question (hopefully I’ll remember). It might not be first thing when I get up in the morning, but at some point throughout the day I’ll do it. And then I’m going to see what happens.

In honor of World Kindness Week (November 9-13, 2009) we have created a daily video series documenting organizations and people out in the world that are spreading kindness and doing good. We’ve featured five organizations that we believe in and that are on a mission to help change the world for the better. Our fifth and final feature for the week highlights an organization that unites corporations with users surfing the net to give to charities of their choice. Their mission & name: Better the World. Good stuff.

http://bettertheworld.com

Do you have your own “Kind Find”? Do you know of an organization, a group of people, or an individual working hard to make the world a better place? Tell us all about it in the comments below. Got a link? Add it so everyone can check it out (plus, we might like it so much we’ll want to do a segment on it in the future). Thanks for letting us know what’s good out there.

Boom Boom!

In honor of World Kindness Week (November 9-13, 2009) we are excited to bring you a video series documenting organizations and people out in the world that are spreading kindness and doing good. Today, it’s the story of Virgil Robinson and his vision of being a Possibility Advocate.

http://possibilityadvocate.com

Do you have your own “Kind Find”? Do you know of an organization, a group of people, or an individual working hard to make the world a better place? Tell us all about it in the comments below. Got a link? Add it so everyone can check it out (plus, we might like it so much we’ll want to do a segment on it in the future). Thanks for letting us know what’s good out there.

Boom Boom!