People Caught Doing Good!

Sometimes, security cameras catch something totally different.

When I first started watching this video, I expected to see some crime footage or some horrible accident, but much to my surprise I saw what no one ever seems to highlight when is comes to security camera footage. 

It showed the complete opposite perspective of what I'm used to seeing. People were doing good, living and enjoying life! From Dancing in the streets to being a good Samaritan, It helped remind me that a lot of people can be caught doing something good in the world. 

In the news and media we see so much negativity in the world we live in. At times it can be difficult for me to spend more than a few minutes watching the news because I end up feeling more depressed about the world in a matter of minutes. 

I'm not saying that we should shut out the world and never watch or listen to the news. Im saying that sometimes I think that we, as a society and as individuals tend to focus so much on all the bad things that are happening around us, that we tend to think that the simple and joyful things are not noteworthy. Sometimes we just don't notice those things at all.

To learn more about the "Love Everybody Campaign" visit:  www.loveeverybody.com

Our Family Fusion Moment - TV Commercial

October 20, 2012 - Our Familiy Ford Fusion Moment

It all started as just an ordinary weekend with the family; We got up and got ready for the day. We had planned to go up to the lake for the day to go boating like we have done many times before and this was our last chance to go for the year.

The day before we got a call from my sister and brother-in-law that they wanted to Skype us the next morning to make a special announcement. So before leaving to go boating for the day we got together in the living room to have a Skype call with my sister, Sharlene and my brother-in-law, Dustin who live more than 700 miles away in Anaheim California.

My Sister-in-law, Tanya was in on the surprise to help make sure everything went smoothly and convinced me to make sure to used my professional cameras to film and capture this special announcement that Sharlene and Dustin were going to make.

We tried to guess what this announcement might be. We thought that maybe they were going to announce that there was going to be a new baby in the family. Then as we watched the screen, we saw to our surprise that they were sitting in our driveway in front of our house!

All  the footage that you see in the commercial of my family in the living room and on the TV screen during the Skype call was footage I filmed on my tripods. Luckily I was convinced to do that and now what I filmed became essential footage in improving the video for Ford's Fusion Moment commercial!
They were so grateful for my footage and I was really hoping they would use it. So now I can officially say I helped film a national commercial for Ford, and I didn't even know it!

Im so thankful for family and that out of all the extravagant things that Ford could have made happen, my sister and her husband choose to use this special opportunity to spend a day doing the things we always used to together, as a family.

To learn more about "Random Acts Of Fusion" and possibly enter to win yourself, visit: www.randomactsoffusion.com

A Nation of False Entitlement

This Is a subjet that I see as probably the biggest problem in our world today. Its a problem that keeps us from living life with a true perspective of ourselves and keeps us from seeing the things that are truly important in this life.

In today’s society we are all affected by the common mentality called, False Entitlement, a belief that you deserve to have something you didn’t necessarily earn.

The race is on. Everyone is looking for the smartest phone, the coolest car and the biggest flat screen. Add the latest computers and you've created a list of America's growing "necessities."

We live in a society heavily marketed, rushing to keep up with “The Joneses” the problem is, the Joneses are broke! 

The Media uses entitlement to convince you that you deserve to spend, whether you can afford it or not. You see it every day as you turn on the TV: “L'Oréal: Because your Worth it!” Burger King: “Have it your way” Or the luxury vehicle commercial with the word “RESPECT” in big letters on the screen. The chant “I want it all, and I want it now!” rings in our ears. 

Scott Hannah, President of the Credit Counseling Society said,
“The problem is, that it’s hard, often impossible to detach the emotion from the purpose of spending and to separate the rational part of spending on genuine needs.” 

The problem I want to express is that False Entitlement creates overspending. 

The first evidence of this wide spread problem, is the number of home foreclosures that popped the housing bubble in 2008. 

Jonathan Kohn & Sarah K. Bryant Of The University of Pennsylvania said: 

“Consumers went on a spending spree driven by higher and higher, real and perceived home equity values, as well as equity market increases. In the US market, “bigger is better” or “as much as one can afford” became the mentality of home buyers.” 

According to RealtyTrac.com (as featured In The Huffington post)
On average, 104,000 homes have entered the foreclosure process each month this year. 

The second piece of evidence is the nation’s massive credit card debt. According to the U.S. Federal Reserve, The Total U.S. credit card debt is $793.1 Billion, the average credit card debt per household is $15,800, and the average credit card debt carried by undergraduate college students is $3,173 

We live in difficult times. Our society’s mentality of Entitlement as a nation has helped damaged our economy, but there are solutions, and hope for a brighter future for us and our nation but, it requires each of us to be responsible for our individual actions. 

It is an everyday dilemma weather to use cash or plastic for a new outfit, a dinner out, or perhaps a vacation. Since plastic postpones the moment of reckoning. We should limit credit card purchases and practice self control. We must come to grips with the reality, that feelings of entitlement emotionally grants us the ability to buy without guilt, whether we really need the item or not.

As featured in The Wall Street Journal, Here are 7 helpful tips provided by MoneyCrashers.com to help you cut back on spending: 

1. Rarely use credit cards or other lines of credit. using cash, forces you to consider how much you’re spending.
2. Withdraw cash from your bank account yourself, so that you can see the dwindling balance.
3. Pay for everything as it comes, and you’ll better understand how all that money  “gets away from you.”
4. Be vocal about your savings goals. If you tell close friends and family how much you intend to save, they’ll hold you accountable. You can even use personal goal setting tools like stickK.com
5. Reward yourself when you meet your goals, but only by spending a small percentage of what you saved. This can help prevent “frugal fatigue”.
6. Stop and ask yourself before each purchase “do I truly need the item or not.” Know the difference between needs and wants.
7. Look at the future, no matter how uncomfortable it is. Ask yourself “how much money do I need to retire?”, or “how will I pay for my child’s college education?”

If we can practice these steps, we can overcome the guiltless effect of false entitlement and be better equipped to tackle overspending.

I challenge each of you to make a difference in your own life and in society. Take responsibility for your individual actions and by seting financial goals, budgets and limiting spending.

If you or someone you know, needs more information to take control of personal debt and spending, go to the website for the The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors:
napfa.org to locate an advisor near you and start making a difference today.

Videography

Video By: Josh Stephens - Idaho Falls Temple

I film professionally as a videographer. This is a sample of one of my favorite wedding videos I have produced this year. The couple was really energetic and friendly as well as photogenic. It always enhances the final product when I film a couple that are both attractive and have a great attitude. It was my first time filming in Idaho Falls and it is definitely one of the most beautiful locations I've filmed.

I started filming wedding videos in early 2008. I have always had a desire to love the work that I do. No matter what job I have I will always want to film on the side.

I took several College credit classes my senior year in High School and one of them was an entrepreneurship class.  I was also in DECCA (Distributive Education Clubs of America) and we were asked to come up with a business idea and write up a business plan with charts and projections for possible income.

After competing in DECCA several times in different locations, I unexpectedly came home with several awards.  It was not long before I realized that I could actually put my hypothetical business plan into action and maybe make a little money in the process. 

I filmed my first wedding for free asking only for permission to use their images in the video as a sample to start my business and to use for the DECCA competitions. The video was the first to go on my website. I won some State awards and trophies and went on to nationals in Atlanta Georgia.

Everyone loved the video and the more weddings I filmed, the more I put on the website.  And the more I put on the website the more weddings I booked.  I’m still keeping busy and making enough money to get through school and cover other expenses including upgrading my equipment as often as possible.

After several years of filming and editing videos, I continue to enjoy producing wedding videos for all the people that come to me requesting my services. A big part of what makes me love this business is the satisfaction that I get from creating something myself and how happy my customers are with their new personal treasure.  Not only is it important to know what footage to capture and to have a steady hand to film it but, editing is the most important part of video production.  If you were to watch hours of unedited, raw footage it would be boring. The trick is to making it cinematic and entertaining.

To see more video samples of my work and to learn more about my professional services, please visit my company website at: www.reflectionweddingvideos.com

The Falling Leaves Outside my Window

It’s late on a typical fall night; I go to bed once again in the early morning hours tired from the constant days and weeks of demands. I greet each day stressed and pressed with too much to accomplish and tired of spending so much time working in front of a computer. I feel trapped, in a seemingly never ending cycle of work and stress, never looking outside but to gauge what to wear as I rush to my next destination.

One morning as the fruits of my labors were beginning to lift the pressure and I was finally digging my way out of tests and work projects, I began to feel a slight release from my usual gripping schedule. I took in a deep whiff of the autumn air as I rushed to start my car for another hectic day. The fall leaves blew effortlessly off the car as I backed out of the driveway. Still on auto pilot, I paused for a few moments to check passing traffic. I looked down the street; I was momentarily struck motionless by the site in front of me.

I sat there spell bound by the beauty of nature, the sun brightly shinning over the majestic mountains, the fall leave that just days ago were barely notice outside my window. “Look what I have been missing,” I told myself. I had literally been trapped in a vortex that was sucking vitality out of me. In this fast paced, competitive world, we are so harshly judged by our success and accomplishments or rather by the lack there of.

How do we find happiness and peace if we don’t take a moment to recognize the good things that are right in front of our faces? It’s the little things in life that make it beautiful. Too often they go unnoticed when we are too busy. Many of us are too focused on the tasks of life, to live life to its fullest. Every once in a while it’s therapeutic to take the time to stop and step outside. Seeing the beauty outside our windows may require stepping outside our boxes we have built, whether literal or metaphorically speaking the challenge is the same.

Photo by: Josh Stephens - Fall Leaves at Snow Basin.