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Check out these timelapses I shot for @garynadeau’s new short film, “Pizza Verdi.” With this stunning view it wasnt too hard to capture some pretty incredible images.

I was lucky enough to get myself an advanced copy of Tony Hsieh’s new book, Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose. Tony is CEO of the online shoe store, Zappos. I hadn’t known much about Zappos previous to reading the book so I wasn’t biased in any way. My experience went beyond the pages of the book. Midway through my reading, I placed my first order online at Zappos.com. What I experienced as an actual customer was exactly what was described to me in Delivering Happiness.

I am an avid reader when it comes to any book related to being in business or being an entrepreneur. Some are simply a bio of how a person got to where they are today. Others are more of a how-to, listing items that you can implement into your own business. This one falls somewhere in between. I always find it refreshing to learn where someone came from, learning how they went from someone like me to running a million dollar business. Tony does not linger in this area too long as he moves on to the greater approach to Zappos later in the book. Zappos is all about customer service. There are countless stories in which I highlighted throughout the book, hoping to retell in my post here. However, I now realize that there are far too many that I’ve liked to attempt to reproduce here. I will only speak from my personal experience. While placing my first order through Zappos, I simply tweeted out that I had ordered new shoes, and I was upgraded to free overnight shipping. Not only that, but I was placed in there VIP program, which entitles me to such shipping priority for future orders. I felt kind of special. I told all my friends about how easy it was to order, and that if I didn’t like my shoes, I could mail them back (with free shipping of course!). I didn’t get how they weren’t loosing money with giving me a lifetime of free shipping. Well, through the 244 pages that I continued to read, it became quite clear. Doing the little things that can actually make a customer stop and say, wow, I never would have expected someone to do that for me.

I believe that is what I got most from Delivering Happiness and the entire Zappos brand as a whole. You know what the #1 Core Value of Zappos is? Deliver WOW through service. If you want to be enlightened on how you can possibly transform your own business, pick up a copy of the book here. Even better.. as if I wasn’t wowed enough when I was sent a free advanced copy of the book just for being a blogger- I was sent two. One for me and one to give to you. Email me (jasonkoontz4@gmail.com) and I’ll send you your own copy. Tony’s words will provide insight and inspiration.. you can’t afford to pass this one up.

Couldn’t be more excited for the World Cup to kick off tomorrow! We will surely see futbol at its best on the biggest stage in the world. I made a schedule of all the Group Stage games for you desktop. Download your own here.

Note: I gathered images from around the web, no rights reserved.

“Find a job you like and you add five days to every week.”

-H. Jackson Brown Jr.

via @zappos

Just got my eyes on the edit from a few weeks ago, compliments of the Driggs Bros. The event itself was a blast, this video does a pretty good job of conveying that.. though there was nothing like being there.. two seats away from Taylor Steele during the world premiere in person.. but we can’t all be that lucky.

I was able to link up with my good friends Spencer and Christian and get in on the world premiere of Castles in the Sky, the newest surf film from Taylor Steele. When I found out they had sold out within hours, I called up the Driggs Bros to see if they had an in. Sure enough, they were filming the event for the New York Surf Film Festival, and they were able to get me in on the production crew. Being a mere few feet from both Taylor (director) and cinematographers Todd Heater and Alex Berger while being interviewed was an unreal experience. I even ended up sitting just a seat away from the crew during the showing in the theatre as I was posted up right in the row they were in. The movie, filmmakers, and entire event proved to be inspiration to me, making me want to create films and travel even more than my current desires.

Freedom gained from doing what you want with your life, not worrying about what other people think is a rare, beautiful thing.

via @nopattern

Found an epic location to shoot yesterday. Didn’t quite get there in time to get a solid timelapse, but it was a good test for next time. The panarmaic on the other hand.. not sure if that could have turned out better. View here.

My new boatshoes arrived yesterday. They’ll be fresh for the summer