When my good buddies Angela Susan Anton and Jason Feinberg, the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of this fine publication respectively, first asked me to write an online blog I didn't know exactly what that would entail.  After all, I'd never written a blog before and thus have no knowledge of the rules.  Fortunately, as Jason put it, there aren't any.  He said "just write whatever you want to write about".  Sounded good to me...a chance for a new adventure and an innovative way to reach out to new friends...so I said "I'm in!".
 
Truth be told, I'm always glad to work with The Boulevard magazine because it's staff has been very, very good to me.  I was profiled in their December/January issue and they highlighted the Success Made Simple keynote seminar I do with my multi-talented partner Fran Capo, who's also the Guinness Book of World Records' Fastest Talking Woman, in their August/September issue.  Props to the cool folks at The Boulevard!

For my first entry, I'm going to blog and vlog.  How's that for multi-tasking?  A "vlog", as the web savvy peeps say, is a "video blog".  While many of you may know me from those Fitness Made Simple TV commercials that have been clogging the national airwaves for years, I'm now branching out with some exciting new ventures.  As I always say, challenges make us better, keep us positive, and help us to reinvent ourselves so we can reach heights beyond our wildest dreams.  One of the new challenges I've taken on is creating videos, not just appearing in them, but actually doing the shooting, editing, and posting.  In this ever changing age of technology where a single person like Ashton Kutcher can have more Twitter followers than a multimedia global news empire like CNN, the amazing power of the individual is becoming increasingly more apparent.  Anyway, I'm new to all of this so my little vids, mostly shot with my personal Flip camera, are "ghetto-style filmmaking" at its finest.
 

Recently, I had the chance to meet one of the people I look up to in the competitive entertainment biz...Miss Kathy Griffin.  When asked during TV and radio interviews about people I admire, I generally respond with altruistic icons such as Oprah Winfrey and Joel Osteen.  Then, I add Kathy Griffin to the list.  At that point the interviewer usually giggles as if they were playing that Sesame Street game "Which one of these things is not like the other?".  I receive their reaction, return the chuckle, and then explain.  What I like so much about Kathy, in addition to her unique way of relating to her audience, is something few people comment on or even recognize.  Hers is an awesome success story.  Kathy Griffin has been told no (actually HELL NO!) and you're "too this" and "not enough that" at every turn throughout her career.  When most others would have packed it in to "settle" for another path in life, she never quit, she never lost her focus, and she never gave up on her dreams.  Now, she's riding a wave of success bigger than any she's ever experienced and she proudly tells her detractors to just "suck it".  While I may not always agree with her word choice, that's chutzpah, that's the drive which leads to success, and that's why I love this woman.

Kathy Griffin is one of a kind and I had the pleasure of meeting her in the dressing room at one of her shows recently.  Of course, I came armed with my Flip cam and her Tour Manager, Tom Vise, did the hon ors of taping our encounter for an episode of my web series Walking with John & Fran, which of course co-stars another gifted comedienne,

Fran Capo.  Click on the link below to see what hijinx abound as we chat with the creator of Bravo TV's My Life on the D-List.  And, Bravo execs, if you're watching, keep in mind one of my goals is to have a show on your network one day...subtle hint...but hey the universe only delivers what you put out there.  :)
 
Until next time my friends...always remember...As long as you believe in yourself, you can accomplish anything!
 

Your Friend,
                 JB

For more info on JB, visit http://www.FitnessMadeSimple.com.
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