Earlier this week a friend sent me a link to participate in a microPITCH twitter Competition with a grand prize of round trip airfare to Los Angeles, accommodations at the Ritz-Carleton, private business coaching and tickets to The Perfect Pitch 2009 Entrepreneur & Investor Conference featuring  Sir Richard Branson!

Seeing how the conference is to take place October 26th – one day prior to my birthday – this contest seems well-timed and will make for a great birthday present.

I’ve been a fan of Sir Richard for some time ~ which I like to think has to do with the facts: (a) I was technically born in the UK (on a US Air Force Base), (b) I began my entrepreneurial career at the age of 12 (Shilling’s Super Spray) and (c) we both appear to share the desire to break from the status quo every chance we get to create amazing experiences designed for the world to enjoy.

Mainstream media likes to portray Sir Richard as a wealthy, self-promoting, enigmatic adventurer – therefore it was genuine treat in 2004 when Fox aired The Rebel Billionaire: Branson’s Quest for the Best reality show which provided a rare glimpse inside the world and mind of Sir Richard.  Despite the show not doing all that well with US viewers I tuned into every episode for the opportunity to witness the true nature and leadership ethos of this business pioneer.  Despite friends and relatives often telling me I should apply for The Apprentice I only watched a couple episodes of that show.  I did glean some good info. from The Art of the Deal though I learned a great deal more from books penned by Sir Richard.

Ever since that brief window into his life I decided one of my big, hairy audacious goals would be to attract Sir Richard as my personal business mentor.  To many such an aspiration is wishful thinking however I subscribe to the “if you can dream it you can do it” ethos coined by my Dead Mentor Walter Elias Disney.  Having worked at Disney World it’s hard to deny the fact that despite the phrase “it all started with a mouse” the Disney empire originated inside the head of a single man with a giant vision.  Therefore I figure if they can do it, so can I ~ and just as in their case, my vision entails creating enjoyment for people around the world.

The microPITCH contest will be judged by clarity, creativity, innovation, market viability and response across twitter.com.  If you enjoy my microPITCH (see below) help me attract Sir Richard Branson’s attention by commenting, re-tweeting and/or blogging about it and Odyssey Spirits etc. We have great deal of fun in store for you and attracting Sir Richard’s participation will go a long way toward helping Odyssey Spirits bring the fun and excitement to you sooner vs. later!

My microPitch:

@perfectbusiness Records were to Virgin, cartoons to Disney & street theatre to Cirque du Soleil as liquor is to Odyssey Spirits #micropitch

Enthusiastically,

Jeffrey Shilling
Chief Experience Officer

Follow us on twitter @odysseyspirits to participate.

Ok friends of Odyssey Spirits ~ welcome to our inaugural first post on our new blog, that just happens to be on the topic of  “Free Ice Balls”.  Well . . . seeing how I’ve made a bunch of friends who happen to be fantastic bartenders and cocktail aficionados ~ I figured when I saw that the Founder of IceCaters^® was offering such a sweet deal that they could benefit from I figured it was a great time for a helpful blog post!

Ok bartender friends ~ here’s the scoop (ha!) straight from the mouth of the Founder of Ice Caters himself :

“Have you experienced the Ice Ball?

Alright there’s the deal, now it’s up to you to take advantage of it . . . AND if you happen to bartend in Western Washington and you’d like to test out an Ice Ball for yourself I’d be happy to offer you one from the case Michael is shipping me, then we can photograph your cocktail so you may receive your own free case & after which I’ll gladly sample your creation! Leave a comment on this post if you’re interested!