There’s something really cool happening every day this week – 2 are in Austin, 2 are virtual. I’m going to write more about each of them individually, but I wanted to go ahead and get the whole list out while it’s still Monday.

Monday – My client Sharpenz is launching today, offering engaging, effective and affordable sales training that sales managers can deliver in just half an hour. You can download a free sales booster and try it with your team. You can also get a second free sales booster by helping spread the word. More in a separate post later today.

Tuesday – The incredibly awesome Donna Fox is speaking at AIMEN (Austin Internet Marketing Entrepreneurs Network). This is one of the best monthly events in Austin and Donna is truly a rock star of internet marketing, credit repair, business credit building and real estate investment. It’s free, but you have to register in advance.

Wednesday – My friend Sharon Drew Morgen has an awesome new book called Dirty Little Secrets: Why buyers can’t buy and sellers can’t sell and what you can do about it. It actually comes out on Thursday, but on Wednesday she’s doing a free webinar entitled “What’s Stopping You From Closing All the Sales You Should Be Closing?” (a question I’ve asked myself often). The webinar is part of Maestro Month, a month of free teleseminars from world-class thought leaders – definitely worth checking out. You can also follow Sharon Drew on Twitter.

Thursday – Game On Austin is “A fun-packed night featuring video-game tournaments, demos, and raffles from some of the most creative independent video-game studios and developers in Austin, Texas.” It’s for all ages, so break your teenager away from their Xbox or PS3 and come on out.

Yes, Ben Mack is an extremist idealist, and that’s a good thing. Frankly, I’ve known that about Ben Mack as long as I’ve known him.

Why is Ben Mack an extremist idealist?

Well, for one thing, Ben believes that every person on Earth deserves clean drinkable water.

So do I.

So do the supporters of WaterAid America, who contributed just over $2.6 million last year to “programs and services that benefit people in need of safe water, sanitation, and hygiene education.”

So do the supporters of charity:water, who last year contributed just over $1 million directly to “hand-dug wells, deep wells (boreholes), rehabilitations, spring protections, rainwater harvesting schemes, and biosand filters” around the globe.

So do the hundreds of people who are talking about clean drinkable water on Twitter.

So does Michelle Greer, who helped raise $8,868 for charity:water through Austin Twestival. By the way, that effort helped Michelle become the overall winner of the Texas Social Media Awards this year.

That’s a whole lot of extremist idealists.

Good.

As Margaret Meade once said:

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.

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