Lucky on Friday the 13th: Entrepreneurs inspire

I wanted put up a quick post to reflect on a recent round of inspiration that has hit me, thanks in large part to people in my industry, my geographic community, and circle of friends who are “killing it.”

I am so blessed to be surrounded by such positive and inspiring entrepreneurs in my life (a few examples):

- Kent J. Lewis (@kentjlewis), owner of Anvil Media and Formic Media – SEO/SEM and social media marketing

- Steve Woodward (@nozzlsteve), CEO of Nozzl Media – real-time Web data streams;

- Orest Pilskalns, Founder & CEO of Geomonkey Inc. – social and geolocation mapping (@Streetbrew); and

- Ryan Buchanan (@ryanbuch), Founder & CEO of eROI (@eroi) – e-mail, digital marketing.

These are just some of the sources for my inspiration; others come from professional relationships with top-tier vendors, colleagues in my industry, as well as innovative people in the public sector and private businesses of all sizes.

I plan to highlight some of these individuals over the next few posts and a pattern will hopefully emerge: Sincere, smart, passionate, hard-working people are doggedly pursuing their goals until they succeed while staying true to their core values. They come from all walks of life and from all levels of organizations.

Yet what I’ve found is that all of us trying to make a difference – for ourselves, for the benefit of our organizations, or both – need to stay connected to each other and encourage each other. It’s not easy to stay on the path of innovation and leadership; all the more reason why those of us who have chosen that way need to stick together.

This post wouldn’t be possible without the incredible idea (and execution) of Matt Mullenweg (@photoMatt), founder of WordPress and the creator of the awesome anti-spam tool akismet. I had the pleasure of meeting Matt last year at WordCamp Portland and the pre-conference Beer & Blog event (post here). He has changed Web publishing indelibly, for the better.

On the day of another notable Beer and Blog event (Old Spice ad campaign gurus Wieden+Kennedy are hosting), I can only hope to do my part to inspire others in the same way they have done it for me.