Community Builder's Manifesto I don't know why I am surprised that my work centers more and more each year on my major in college -- Community Economic Development, with a focus on Non-Formal Adult Education. Rather than reject the wide-eyed aspirations of my youth, I am running more firmly toward them, convinced that many answers to our questions lie in the way we choose to belong to each … [Read more...]

One of the big benefits of the Internet entrepreneur revolution these past 15 years is that we have so much more control over how to design a business. No longer relegated to cramming ourselves in uncomfortable blue suits to eat rubber chicken lunches in dim hotel rooms with coffee stained carpets, we can do business and build businesses where and how we want to. Working while camping out of a … [Read more...]

A couple of weeks ago, I was walking to Jarrod's, one of my favorite downtown Mesa coffee shops. A new vintage store was preparing to open between my place and his, and had been slowly filling their display windows with furniture. When I saw this turquoise couch, I stopped in my tracks. I know the color had something to do with it (turquoise is my favorite and is all over the walls at K'é). But … [Read more...]

Pictured: My Dad Lewis Stewart at my wedding. Photo: Sergio Lopez For those of you who don't know, my Dad Lewis Stewart passed away on June 1. He had been facing a private journey with a terminal illness. I don't think we are ever prepared for the death of a parent, as much as we might wonder what we will do when the inevitable happens. If you read Body of Work, you will remember that my Dad's … [Read more...]

Jeremy Whittaker, A local council member in Mesa, introduced me to Carlos Mateos, who is a sophomore at Red Mountain High School and co-founder of High X Incubator. Carlos had met with Jeremy and his council assistant Blaise Caudill to discuss his team's ideas for creating a student-run incubator program. I agreed to meet with him as well, to provide some guidance and mentoring. As I wiped the … [Read more...]

My coach Mark Otto is not one to pussyfoot around. A big reason we started to work together (after me coaching him in his business for years, and loving his approach) is so that I could manifest some bigger goals in my business. I have gotten to a stage of my life where I want to make a bigger impact. To do that, I need to change some well-worn creative habits that are fine when I am working on … [Read more...]

A couple of years ago, I spoke about ecosystem marketing at a Nashville conference for authors, organized by my friend Tim Grahl. I shared the model I had developed after taking a 25 city tour to research a book I am writing on network and community building. In a shout to my friend Scott Stratten, I called it the UnBook Tour, since I was doing the book tour before writing the book. At Tim's … [Read more...]

  My son looked me with some slight desperation in his eyes last night. He had gone straight from school to boxing practice, where he jumped speed rope, then hit the heavy bag for an hour. From boxing, he went straight to soccer practice, where he ran around the field doing drills for 90 minutes. "I have a lot of homework, Mom. I don't know how I am going to do it all," he … [Read more...]

My senior year of high school, I was an exchange student in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. I lived with a host family and attended Swiss high school, where I studied 11 subjects in French, including chemistry and Italian (try learning Italian while learning French -- it is very confusing!). As part of my graduation requirements for Sir Francis Drake High School back home in San Anselmo, California, I … [Read more...]