Highlights of 2010 – A Magical And Full Year! [PICS]
As one year ends and another begins, it’s often all too easy to just jump right into what’s new and focus on the future. Whilst proper planning for the future is certainly essential, I think it’s equally important to reflect back on all that we created during the past twelve months, celebrate the wins, learn from the “mis-takes,” and consciously create a bright New Year!
2010 was a magical year for me with many, many high points including traveling to likes of Barcelona, Spain to speak and train on social media marketing and launching my first book with a publisher.
My speaking schedule had gotten a tad out of hand in 2009 – some weekends I spoke at three events in three different cities! So, I made a pact with myself and my team that I’d accept only one major speaking engagement per month for 2010 and that worked out well. I’m on track for a similar path for 2011 with speaking engagements booked through August!
As I look back over my 2010 calendar and large collection of photos, here are just some of the highlights of each month:
January
- 31st: Attended The Grammys LIVE with a group of awesome entrepreneurs. We got all glammed up, walked the red carpet and enjoyed the after party too. By far, the highlight of the show was watching one of my favorite performers, Pink, do her magical trapeze number Glitter In The Air (still moves me to tears watching the video!!).
Wearing Amy Michelson. Photo by CeCe Canton taken at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
- 1st – 30th: Got in super shape via a 30-day rigorous bootcamp with my dear friend and personal trainer, Ashley Mahaffey!
February
- 11th: Met Seth Godin in person at Bryan Elliott‘s LinkedOC networking event with a mega turnout! Seth gave a memorable keynote about his book, Linchpin. [Seth is coming back to LinkedOC on March 2, 2011 – see you there!]
Seth Godin and Mari Smith
- 12th-14th: Presented at the National Speakers Association Winter Conference in Nashville, TN. Met the talented and adorable Steve Spangler (Ellen DeGeneres‘ “Science Guy”).
Steve Spangler and Mari Smith
March
- 12th – 14th: Attended my favorite spiritual retreat for the third time – Mastering Your Life; began a whole new connection with my older sister. 🙂
- 5th: Keynoted Total Networking Seattle – professional women’s conference.
- 26th: Presented at T. Harv Eker’s Guerrilla Business School with 1,000 attendees. (I first met Harv in 2003, attended many of his powerful training programs and was one of his SuccessTracs Coaches from ’04-’06. It was such a treat to then be on his stage.)
T Harv Eker, Keith Cunningham, Mari Smith, Bill Walsh
Mari Smith on stage at T. Harv Eker’s Guerrilla Business School
April
- 8th – Presented at the Loveland Chamber of Commerce, Northern Colorado Social Media Social.
- 12th – 16th: First visit to Albuquerque, New Mexico – loved it! (Private mastermind retreat). Had to buy second suitcase for all my turquoise goodies!
Mari Smith at San Felipe de Neri Parish, built in 1793
- 16th – 17th: Presented at Peggy McColl’s Ultimate Success Event at the lovely Château Cartier in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada (close to Ottawa).
Peggy McColl, Judith Cane, Joyce Bone, Mari Smith, Lisa Larter, Roslyn Franken, Dr. Deborah Barry
May
- 3rd – Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day virtual book launch party with my coauthor Chris Treadaway!
Mari Smith and Chris Treadaway – Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day virtual book launch party!
- 4th – 25th: Presented at Social Media Success Summit 2010 – my second year in a row teaming up with the inimitable Michael Stelzner!
- 26th: Attended my friend Ken Druck’s special annual fundraiser for The Jenna Druck Foundation. Met Suze Orman [we agreed we both have a penchant for fabulous jackets! :)].
Suze Orman and Mari Smith
- 28th: Spirit Walk Day with Esperanza Universal of the SOUL Institute then went on a 3.5 day “digital fast” for the first time… ever! No technology whatsoever, completely unplugged. It was a life changing experience that helped me see how enmeshed I’d become in being “ON” every waking moment. I’m still a work in progress, but have much more structure and discipline in place and have since gone on a couple more digital fasts! 😉
Mari Smith and Esperanza Universal
June
- 11th – 12th: Lead my two-day training event Social Marketing Mastery Immersion with attendees live and virtually from around the world!
- 21st – 23rd: Attended and spoke at SANG – Speakers and Authors Networking Group – for the third time! Met the legendary Harvey Mackay!
Jeffrey Hayzlett, Mari Smith, Harvey Mackay
July
- 8th: Presented at Tribal Truth women’s group in San Diego on “Taming the Ego in Social Media.”
- 15th – 18th: Presented at eWomen Network 10th Annual Conference in Dallas, TX.
- 27th: Filmed first episode of Social Media Examiner TV!
Mari Smith and Michael Stelzner at BlogWorld Expo
August
- 7th – 11th: Trip to Barcelona, Spain to speak to 250 ActionCOACH leaders. Fell in love with la Sagrada Família – the stunning church by famed architect Antonio Gaudí; the church has been under construction for over 120 years!
Stunning stained glass window of la Sagrada Família
One of the many facades of la Sagrada Família
- 15th – 14th: Hosted my big sister for a lovely vacation at my home in San Diego.
Mari Smith and Moira Hutchison – San Diego Safari Park (Giraffes are my favorite animal!)
September
- 3rd – 4th: Lead my two-day training event Social Marketing Mastery Immersion with attendees live and virtually from around the world. (I first began this training in 2007 as a webinar series and it has evolved over the years into a 2.5 day live event that I also livestream through a private webinar. Next dates are March 31-April 2).
- 10th – 11th: Presented at Hispanic Business Showcase, San Diego, CA.
Rodney Rumford (Plixi), Mari Smith, Ramon DeLeon (Domino’s Pizza)
- 18th: Attended the Southern California Association of Transformational Leaders inaugural meeting (an offshoot of Jack Canfield‘s Transformational Leadership Council). Met many incredible new friends!
October
- 5th – 26th: Presented at Facebook Success Summit 2010 – a delight to team up again with Mike Stelzner for this inaugural summit on my favorite topic! 🙂 Be sure to also check out Mike’s upcoming inaugural Blogging Success Summit 2011, starts February 1st, 2011!
- 13th – 17th: Attended and spoke at BlogWorld Expo for third year in a row. My talk was on “The Brand Of You: How To Monetize Your Personality Using Social Media”
Social Media Examiner dinner at BlogWorld Expo
- 23rd: Presented at my buddy Jim Bunch’s Ultimate Wealth Workshop in San Diego, CA for the second year in a row.
Mari Smith and Jim Bunch
November
- 5th: Attended Ray Blanchard’s Super Seminar III and a power women’s luncheon for a dozen wonderful girlfriends!
Lynn Rose, Mari Smith, Kim Castle
- 12th: Appeared on KUSI Good Morning San Diego “Top Tweeters” segment with Alexis DelChiaro and on the 29th for a “Cyber Monday” segment with Brad Perry.
Alexis DelChiaro and Mari Smith on KUSI TV
Brad Perry and Mari Smith on KUSI TV
December
- 4th: Saw preview of Discover The Gift (inspiring new movie due out Spring 2011) at Janet and Chris Attwood’s Discover Your Destiny Program in San Diego.
Janet Attwood, Mari Smith, Debra Poneman, Marci Shimoff
- 9th: Signed my next book contract with John Wiley & Sons for my first solo authored book!! Current working title is The New Relationship Marketing: How To Build a Powerful, Profitable Network in the New Media Age. Publication is set for August 2011 – very exciting!!
- 22nd – 31st: Hosted my mum and step-dad for the Holidays in San Diego. They drove down from BC, Canada on a lovely sightseeing journey!
Along with celebrating and anchoring the wins, while reviewing the past year we can also look to see what didn’t work out quite the way we’d hoped and reflect on the lessons learned. In 2010, I only had one major “learning experience” when I chose to dissolve a business venture/partnership. I’m a great believer in everything happens for a reason – sometimes the reason is not apparent when we’re in the midst of the situation. But proper reflection can certainly help us grow stronger and make more empowering choices in the future.
How about you? What were the highlights of your year? What would you do over again in a heartbeat? Did you have any “learning experiences?” I’d love to hear from you – please do share in the comments below:
P.S. Each year I choose a one-word theme that governs many of my decisions and my course throughout the year. 2011 is my year for “Commitment” – and I’m stepping up my game in several areas, one of which is publishing more blog posts! My initial goal is two per week; alas I’m behind this week as I had a setback… recovering from getting sick over the holidays. 😐 I should be back on track next week and will aim to publish many Facebook marketing tutorial posts!! 🙂
Mari,
I am awed by your accomplishments and how beautiful you look wearing Amy Michelson.
Dr. Erica
Thanks heaps, Bryan!! See you again soon! Your Linked OC lineup looks fabulous already. 🙂
Hello Mari,
Thank you so much for sharing what is important to you. Your year has been a thrilling year offering many opportunities to congratulate yourself for what you have achieved! The “learning experience” has certainly been another wonderful opportunity for you to shine in another facet of you and start something different and more suited to you as well. Finding the gift hidden behind each situation is truly an empowering exercise.
On my side I stepped into Facebook in 2010 and had many great opportunities to explore new powerful ways of sharing a new concept and a new virtual game as well as meeting incredible people like you! This I would do over again in a heartbeat!
Now the “learning experience”: I remember subscribing to a business consultant’s free article or something to learn a little bit more of technical English vocabulary (as I’m French) and the consultant kept asking me to move forward and hire her services which I wasn’t interested in so she deleted me as a friend on FB. I was quite surprised by her reaction and what can be perceived as a lack of professionalism, at the same time as I have a great ability of not feeling responsible for other people’s emotions, this gave me an opportunity to start blogging and write a great blog post on human emotional responses.
Happy New Year Hugs to you Mari ?¸¸.•*¨*•??•*¨*?
Christiane
WOW Mari! What incredible accomplishments you completed 2010! Is this Heaven to Earth, or earth to Heaven? Congradulations, you’re muy awesome! Now lets fly higher and higher in 2011 as we engage in vibrational shifts of 2012!! Amor y Paz, Esperanza
YESSS – we are going higher and deeper, higher and deeper in 2011 and on into 2012. It’s an honor to be on this journey with you. And thanks for visiting my blog!! xx
This blog post is such a great idea. I blog for my company and after a two week break I’m having a hard time getting back into the swing of blogging and social media. But this blog has inspired me! Also, I love your idea of having a one word theme. What was your theme last year? My boss established one for our company this year and I’ve adopted it as my own: self-confidence. We’ll see how it goes 🙂
Oh thank you!! Last year was all about TEAM – I ended up letting go of my virtual assistants and hired two wonderful local support staff. They’ve made a huge difference to my business. 🙂 2009 was a landmark year with “Influence” being my theme!)
teheee – “turquoise and bling, that’s my thing!” Even when out shopping or on vacay. Lol. Thanks for your kind words!
Aw thank you kindly, Nicky!! 🙂 xx
Mari this is such a good year in pictures and memorable. Yes it’s selfish but of the Guru’s that I listen to, you are the one who I listen to most ardently. Mari you have helped us so much in what we are trying to do and this year my sense is that the numbers will come in to the community and that a lot of folks here in rural North Louisiana are gonna appreciate what you do. God bless you Mari Smith – you are for sure the best of the best. – Dana
Thank you, Dana! You’re so precious and have such a way with words!! hehee
Hey Mari, loved going down the magical mystery tour with you!! Thanks for sharing. I really feel I know you virtually. Again, if you are ever in Houston, you have a place to stay…or lunch…or coffee.
Shelley w/Springboard
Thank you so much, dear Shelley!! It would be lovely to meet up in person for sure! 🙂