11.17.2008 Tuesday: Show Me the Money?

Picture of: ingredient cans from chili we made yesterday...cans are waiting for recycle bin

Today I: did the post office run- still not completely paid from one of my big gigs a few weeks ago; worked on new ideations of stories, one about worm farming and another about popcorn; submitted ezine articles; followed up with participants from last night's teleconference; spoken on the phone with a potential corporate storytelling coaching client; twittered a bit; ecoached a few folks; made dinner for my family; worked on post card designs for new marketing.

::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

11.16.2008 Sunday: Miss Ellainious, Storyteller

Picture of: price per gallon for gasoline paid this morning at 4:58AM.

Today I: took daughter #1 to work at 445am; went back to bed; worked on storytelling website update; picked up daughter after her 8 hours; finished update for and registration form for the corporate storytelling workshop at www.executivespeakertraining.com; did research project for this week's teleseminars at www.prostoryteller.com; posted new audio files at www.storyteller.net/stories ; cleaned my kitchen for my ADD therapy- heh; twittered a lot at www.twitter.com/storyteller ; welcomed home wife #1 and daughter #4 from their camping trip held at http://www.forttuthill.com/ ; laughed a bunch with daughter #3 about her guinea pig at www.guineapighutch.com ;

::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

11.12.2008 Wednesday: My Advice Has Changed

Picture of: mystery storytelling coaching client (he's standing next to his car) I met with tonight for dinner and discussion.

Today I: did the bank and post office run; worked on new publications for storytelling websites; attended conference calls on marketing; worked on developing new performing-arttist TeleCourse; had "let's talk about storytelling" coaching session with a new client in regards to both performance storytelling and corporate storytelling/business storytelling. He asked me a great question about what my advice to new storytellers is- I realized that my advice to newbies has changed a lot in the last 23 years of storytelling and storytelling coaching- I will blog that soon.


::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

09.25.2008 Thursday: Home Again, Please.

Picture of: my hotel breakfast before I started this long day. Mmmm, oatmeal.

Today I: woke up earl(ier) than usual to finish a project that was bugging me in my brain; grabbed the hotel breakfast and ate it in my room; packed up my suitcases and supplies; checked out of hotel; taxi I prearranged did not come so I took the hotel shuttle to the airport and grabbed a taxi there; missed taxi meant I missed the group bus to go run up (or even amble up) the "Rocky" stairs in Philly; presented my brief workshop on the use of folktales/fables in business and corporate storytelling settings; talked with several people afterwards who might be interested in my services as a storytelling coach; had a great lunch with lots of positive conversation; attended a workshop on the use and development of telecourses; "split" a cab with another person back to the Philly airport; took a B767 plane from Philly to Charlotte- first wide-body (umm, sorta) that I had been on since I was in high-school; barely made it in time for my flight to PHX-which was a cramped, painful trip and otherwise uneventful. BOO to USAirways for the $15 baggage fee. I don't pay it 'cuz I travel so much but others try to get around it by taking everything on board causing chaos and unhappy people. (BOO USAirways for this!); finally got home to my lovely family at the airport and the drive home- just about 10 days straight on the road; ate some late dinner; wrote to you; crawling into bed. Whew!

::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

09.23.2008 Tuesday: Locked In.

Picture of: the hotel van, as I returned back to my cell after dinner.

Today I: spent most of the day in the hotel just catching up with the mountain of emails, storytelling projects, coaching projects, writings, blogs and so on that I needed to complete; posted this new blog; edited and posted this corporate storytelling video; ate dinner; came back to hotel and kept working; mostly background stuff.
::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

09.21.2008 Sunday. Cramped, Missing Travel.

Picture of: gate 8 at the Knoxville airport

Today I: slept in; checked Email; packed up my bags and boxes for the trip home; drove to the airport from Gatlinburg- freeways closed for construction- many detours; returned rental car; checked in bags and did the security thing; loaded on first tiny, small, little plane which pulled back from the gate just a few minutes late only to go get parked on the tarmac for a 30 minute air-traffic-control-hold. Umm, you couldn't NOT load us up after the traffic delay instead of making us wait on this cramped plane?; plane arrived late and I did not make my connection to Phoenix- bumped to flight two hours later; ate dinner in the airport and worked in the USAirways club for a while; boarded flight out to Phoenix and had uneventful four hours across the US; family met me in airport and youngest daughter ran to greet me as kind of a silly joke- older couple sitting in seats in waiting area were very touched by her gesture- giggle; drove home with stop for quick food; copying VHS video of corporate storytelling presentation this weekend to DVD's so I can edit it during down time over next few days; washing clothes now, repacking for trip in the morning and blogging to you
::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

09.19.2008 Friday: Workshop and Networking

Picture of: the view from the hotel lobby in Gatlinburg, river running below, Smoky Mountains in the background.

Today I: packed up and had the complimentary breakfast at the hotel; drove off to the downtown Gatlinburg conference location; fought with the automatic parking gate; checked in for the conference; networked with some new friends and associates; presented my intro version of the "Ancient Secret" corporate storytelling workshop to this group- was shot in a three-camera video shot; attended the rest of the conference; returned to hotel; drove out for dinner; came back to hotel; calling it a night

::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

09.16.2008 Tuesday: Travel Bug(ging me)

Picture of: the plane parked at Gate 20 that would carry us from Austin, TX to Phoenix, AZ

Today I: slept in a bit after yesterday's long coaching and corporate storytelling day; worked on Emails to clients back in Phoenix; packed up my belongings in my hotel room; cleaned up meself and checked out of hotel; had lunch at the local "casual dining" location; gassed up the rental car; drove to airport in Austin and turned in the car; wanted to poke AVIS in the eye for this crazy "automatic" charge of $14 if you drive less than 75 miles in your rental. They charge your card (holding that money) and *then* ask you if you bought gas so they can refund the $14 to you; checked in, did the TSA shuffle and hurried-up-and-waited at the gate; got bumped up to first-class; took the 2.5 hour flight back to Phoenix; wife and daughter #4 met me there and drove on back home; worked on a problem with delivery of an audio kit; did not respond to more echo-chambering storytelling stuff; ate dinner at home and took my family out for dessert; unpacked suitcase and found large, live beetle bug in my case- musta wanted to leave Texas; calling it a night.
::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

09.15.2008 Monday: Flying to/through Texas

Picture of: Pile of things on the desk of my hotel room. Included is a piece of doll clothing that apparently one of my daughters placed in my suitcase. Odd. Funny.

Today I: woke up early after a rough night of FMS pain; finished the last minute packing things; drove to airport with daughter #4 and wife #1; did the cattle-call loading on to the plane; flew across the southwest in seat 14F, apparently the new improved smallest-seat-we-ever-made seat--I normally don't gripe hard about flying but today I was just reminded how much of a "bus with wings" air travel has become; got rental car; drove to hotel and settled in, Austin Texas style; joined my sponsors for dinner- great great hotel at Lost Pines; presented a short evening presentation (based on the Storytelling 101 Kit) of the essence of corporate storytelling along with a mini-concert of stories; crashed in hotel room;

::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

09.14.2008 Sunday: Packing Up Rewrites

Picture of: new handout for the "Ancient Secret of Public Speaking Workshop." You can download a copy at this link.

Today I: took daughter #1 to work at 5am; stayed up and then rewrote and tweaked the website for the "Ancient Secret" workshop; produced a working copy of the handout pictured left; picked up printing at Kinko's...yes it was wrong. That is rare for them as normally I have nothing but good experiences; went to store to replace my worn out shoes; got upgrade notice for my return trip on Tuesday- woo hoo!; read the pig's blog; took family to inlaws' BBQ and hung out a bit; drove me and daughter referenced above home- me to work and her to take nap; washed clothes for my trip; sorted through and prepared bags and suitcase for my corporate storytelling trip as I have not travelled for at least a month;

::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

09.10.2008 Wednesday: Last Minute Event

Picture of: trays at dining place tonight wherein I took six cousins and sisters, to have dinner.

Today I: had a surprise phone call from a client in (Austin area) Texas who wants to hire me for Monday night- last minute opening in an event, etc. I am the *perfect* person to do what they want and I have astongishingly, the time open before I head out for nearly two weeks travelling; spoke with potential corporate storytelling client; wrote and email proposal to same client; spoke again to same client and other decision maker some more- if nothing else in this business of being a full-time storyteller, I do get to talk with very interesting people- gotta love that part; spoke with another client for to expand my role for another project later this month; went to lunch to have business meeting with staff; began new writing project; took daughters/nieces to dinner and walked home with them; heard from youngest brother and his wife who expect new/first baby tonight some time.
::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

09.09.2008 Tuesday: Digging In

Picture of: fresh, real flower on the table of the fast food restaurant I spent time at today while writing.

Today I: had a cancellation from a coaching client; went and sat at above referenced fast-food place and was struck by the corporate storytelling that the flower represents and so added a need for a new article/blog post I need to write; spent most of the day making decisions on projects-what needs to be done, what I want to do, what won't get done; answered some postings about the state of storytelling; didn't answer some that I could have answered- glad to have stepped away from some things; talked with another storytelling coaching client on the phone; ate late dinner with my wife

::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

08.14.2008 Thursday: Gettin' Ready For Boot Camp

Picture: the schedule page of the new workbook for the "Outside In Storytelling Marketing Boot Camp."

Today I: put together all the parts and pieces for the OISBCamp; reorganized the handout pages into one workbook; cell phone is broken; office phones broken; assembled bags for OISBC guests;
went to Kinko's to get new workbook printed and bound there. Kinko's wants you to believe they are a great support for the small business person....and I completely agree. Me love Kinko's; spoke with a potential client on the east coast (U.S.) about coming out to them for a corporate workshop-talked with different potential customer yesterday also across the country on east coast. Busy.

::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

06.17.2008 Tuesday: Posted

Picture of: why I don't want to leave the house.

Today I: negotiated hotel costs for the upcoming Philly event; finished the website and the flyer for the September "Storyteller.net Live!" event coming soon to Philadelphia, PA; posted the pre-release deal for the "Outside In" Marketing Camp Audio kit; did the bank and post office run; shopped for groceries; weeded through some audio for a new corporate storytelling project I am doing; posted a new blog;
::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

06.02.2008 Monday: "Greatest Storyteller in History"

Picture of: thank-you letter a 3rd grader wrote at school after one of my performances.

Today I: dropped my kids off at the summer movies; went through my mail and found a package of thank-you letters from a school where I did five shows in a row- I love reading these little notes; went to lunch with my wife; worked with a new corporate storytelling client to get documentations to them about my two-decade plus experience in the field of storytelling; sorted through some new ideas for the next series of free conference calls at Storyteller.net- I will post that on Tuesday; cleaned out my suitcases from previous trips to get ready for next week's trip.
::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

05.28.2008 Wednesday: Swing. Of Things.

Picture of: view through the front window of my van as I pull into the garage at my house, finally done for the day.

Today I: finally got caught up enough to get back to my updates, sorry for the delays, I am still here; booked airfare tickets to a storytelling gig in Houston; took care of my parents' dog while they were away; talked via Email with a potential client who knows they want corporate storytelling but doesn't know what they really want- typical beginning of the process; booked hotel room in Philly for upcoming event there; twittered; did the bank and post office runs; talked with my wife about the plans for daughter #1's ungraduation party this Saturday; got my hair cut; did some brainstorming on a new idea for group corporate storytelling training
::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

05.11.2008 Sunday: Mother's Day FlyOver

Picture of: the sign at the gate of the Austin airport. The flight was actually delayed about 30 minutes, but hey, who is counting?

Today I: took in a few extra winks of sleep; packed up my things and checked out of the hotel; ate lunch at Denny's next door with many families celebrating Mother's Day; returned the rental car; hurried up and waited for the plane to take me home; flew across the southwest, collected my things and made my way home; hung out for a few moments at my mother's house for the tail end of the family party; sent and email to a corporate storytelling client; took a nap; wrote an article for Storytelling Magazine; chatted with Dianne on one of them late night phone calls; made a huge giant commitment to a new program that will open up new horizons, I believe; happy Mom's day to the mother of my children and also to my mother. I love you both.

::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

04.30.2008 Wednesday: Home Again. Jiggity Jig.

Picture of: my glass of hotel-room iced tea. Much like prison liquor, I make my own tea using the common household items you find in a hotel room. I shall blog that for you later.

Today I: actually slept last night in this hotel; dealt with some Emails and billing issues; made my survival iced tea in the room; called and set up appointment with new corporate storytelling sponsor for next week; cleaned up and packed up for the trip to the Miami airport; checked out and took the hotel van back to airport; security was fast fast fast; ate in the food court, terminal h, in the airport- real mashed potatoes in a food court- will wonders never cease; upgraded to first class- loyalty pays; flew to Philadelphia; made phone calls between flights for inquiries about storytellingproducts.com and with another previous school show sponsor; flew Philly to Phoenix- sat on tarmac for an hour "ladies and gentlemen, from the flight deck, we are number 22 in line for take off"; Ipod conked out 1/2 way through 5 hour trip; home where my daughter #4 still runs to greet meet at the airport- musta been high on Star$s; drove home; going to bed; really liked this last sponsor
::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

04.29.2008 Tuesday: Aha Moments

Picture of: my prison dorm-style hotel room in Miami Beach. Clearly these rooms are not designed with the sober in mind. I'll blog about it later.

Today I: woke up in Miami Beach to the sound of the trash trucks picking up garbage outside my hotel room window; realized the smoke I was smelling was from the smoking people standing in the alley right at my room window; ate breakfast in my room for $35- paid $25 too much; tweaked the last minute parts of the PowerPoint presentation for the afternoon gig; walked to the drugstore about 1/2 mile down the road to get a couple of sodas that didn't cost $5 per 8oz bottle; answered email from another sponsor that wants to use me for a corporate storytelling gig in September; packed up the supplies and rolled my way to the presentation; had a great, "a ha!" filled presentation with corporate clients who came from all over the world to participate in this seminar (I was one piece of several days); one of the leadership had great insight into the idea that companies and products have their own folklore- inspires and affirms me when people grasp the concepts so fast. Have I told you that I love my storytelling and coaching work?; moved hotels to one closer to the airport and one friendlier to business travellers (nb: the staff at first hotel were very nice people); had a full conversation with my wife now that my phone has a signal; had dinner at hotel for a much more reasonable price; going to bed now
::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::

04.25.2008 Friday: Hot Dog

Picture of: the "world's most wanted wiener" cup.

Today I: picked up a rental car for a few projects; had an early lunch with daughters #3 and #4- daughter #4, who we have nicknamed Miss Adventure, was fascinated to find out there were fast-food places that specialized in just hot dogs-hilarity ensued; had a coaching session with a corporate storytelling client helping him to fine-tune his story of his business success so far followed by lunch with same client. Great session with a client who really understands how corporate storytelling works. Coaching people is both "drawing out" and "adding in" if the two are that different; waded through Emails; worked on itinerary changes for next week's trip; listened to some of the huge stack of CD's I need to go through; late dinner with family.

::C2008. Picture blog for storyteller Sean Buvala ( www.seantells.com). My written blog is at www.seanblogs.com::