Author: Karol

In Which I’m Convinced I’m Dying (or That Time I Went To The ER Twice Within 12 Hours)

Here’s a story about 2 ER visits, Brian Setzer, anemia, HIV, and a host of other things that happened in a 12 hour period …

12/11/11; 12:07am; Austin, TX

“I think I’m dying. I need to go to the Emergency Room. Can you pick me up?”

“Yeah, as long as you don’t mind that I’m wearing pajamas.”

“Nah, nevermind, I wouldn’t want to die while you were wearing pajamas.”

And so began my first of two visits to Austin-area Emergency Rooms (and one urgent care walk-in clinic) within the span of 12 hours.

The most expensive bracelets I've ever purchased.

But let’s backtrack a bit.

Anemia, A Death Sentence?

On Thursday, 2 days prior to my ER visits, I found out I was anemic via a random blood test I decided to take independently. I know what you’re thinking. “It’s because you’re vegan. Eat a steak.”

But you’d be wrong. And all I can think when writing this in public is, “God dammit, now people who were on the fence are going to think veganism is unhealthy and they won’t do their own research into it.”

My Mom has had anemia since she was a kid and she has eaten meat her whole life. Of the handful of people I’ve known who were anemic only one was vegan (and that was due to internal bleeding, which is diet agnostic). Anybody can develop an iron deficiency (or any other nutritional deficiency, for that matter) and a well balanced veg*n diet shouldn’t cause any issues.

I’ve been pretty meticulous about making sure I’m getting the recommended amount of iron per day. (Remember when DailyBurn.com was called Gyminee.com? That’s how long ago I started tracking intake.)

Spinach + Oxalic Acid = Bullshit

Non-heme iron (the iron found in plants) doesn’t absorb as well as heme iron (the iron only available in animal tissue). Add to that the fact that I consume a lot of iron absorption inhibitors (like tea) every day and you have the makings of a slowly progressing iron deficiency.

I also ate a lot of spinach. I would eat bags of spinach like they were potato chips.

The truth about spinach: Everybody knows spinach contains a significant amount of iron. What most people don’t know is that it also contains an iron inhibitor called oxalic acid. (I didn’t know this until last week.) How is that for some bullshit? Eating spinach might not do anything for us as far as iron content is concerned. (This depends on your own biology and also what else you eat with the spinach. Test your own blood, don’t take my results for anything.)

What I’m getting at is, as meticulous as I was with food intake, it’s my fault that I didn’t do regular blood testing to see if what I was consuming was also being absorbed.

“I saw few die of hunger; of eating, a hundred thousand.” – Benjamin Franklin

But I felt good so this news was still news to me. I’d been doing the Insanity work out program for about 3 months. If you’ve done Insanity you know how incredibly intense it is. Someone who’s anemic should not be able to complete the full 63 day course and then start it back up again. But I did. Because I felt good.

Who Gets Random Blood Tests Anyway?

You might be wondering, “Why would you be getting random blood tests? You had to think something was wrong.”

Nope. I wrote about this before. I just didn’t swallow my own pill as quickly as I originally planned.

I wanted these blood tests (and others), because our health system is not set up for preventive care. The only way to prevent is to be pro-active. Additionally, as precise as I may be with my food intake, science = truth. The blood tests aren’t going to lie to me, whereas the labels on a bag of spinach or a can of beans might.

I went to DirectLabs.com and ordered their Comprehensive Wellness Profile which tests for a lot of general stuff (CBC, kidney function, iron, cholesterol, and more). This was the first of many tests I planned to take. One at a time though so as not to get overwhelmed.

It was a really easy process. A few days after placing my order I went in for the blood work (Wednesday), about 24 hours later my results were in, and then the fun began.

Tangent: I had to fast for 12 hours before getting my blood drawn. So I fasted for 12 hours, walked just over 2 miles to the lab to get my blood drawn, and then walked 3 miles to get my first meal of the day. I never felt faint or woozy. To be considerably anemic and to not feel it at all still fascinates me.

After I got the news I researched more about iron deficiency, bought some supplements, decided to completely stop drinking tea, stopped doing Insanity, and planned on getting the blood tests again in a couple of weeks.

Like I stated, I felt fine. This simply didn’t make sense.

How Not To See A Concert You’ve Been Waiting 10 Years To See

Saturday I was speaking to my Mom and she freaked me out about anemia for 30 minutes, telling me all of the bad things I already knew (since I spent hours researching it). As much as I tried to fight it I couldn’t. I let all the negative thoughts get to me and I began slowly getting anxious.

I tried to focus on the show I’d be going to a few hours later. I’d been wanting to see Brian Setzer perform live for about 10 years and I always missed him on tour. Finally, I had tickets to the Brian Setzer Rockabilly Riot tour in Austin. Stray Cat Strut live and in person!

I walked the 1.5 miles to the show. No worries.

But the anxiety started bubbling.

When I walked into La Zona Rosa (concert venue) the opening band was finishing their last song. Perfect timing. I walked around a bit and 20 minutes later Brian Setzer and his band came on stage. They immediately started rocking with songs about 39 Fords and girls and fun times.

After 15 minutes I started sweating. There’s no smoking allowed inside La Zona Rosa, but I was beginning to feel faint. Hard to breathe. What is going on?

So I went to the restroom and splashed water on my face. Still felt like I was going to pass out. Then I went to the bar and drank a glass of water. Didn’t help. Finally, I went outside and sat down in the cold, crisp, Austin night.

“Breathe,” I demanded. “This is all mental,” I reasoned. “Stop being a baby,” I pleaded.

I tried to distract myself with Words With Friends.

Brian Setzer was on stage and I was outside playing Words With Friends.

I thought this was ridiculous so I went back inside and leaned up against a beam towards the back of the venue. “Maybe if I pass out it won’t be so bad since I’m leaning against this beam,” I thought. By this time I had resigned myself to the fact that I’d be passing out. It was just a matter of making it as painless as possible.

A few minutes went by and there was a short intermission while a new backing band came on stage. It was time for Stray Cats songs! While I’m a little bit of a fan of Brian Setzer’s solo work, I’m a much bigger fan of his work with the Stray Cats.

They launched into songs I barely remember. Death was imminent and I couldn’t focus. I thought about leaving. Did you really spend $40 to watch Brian Setzer play for 45 minutes? You’re an idiot.

I decided I’d hold off until they played Stray Cat Strut, my favorite song (and my favorite song to do at karaoke). Maybe that song would distract me enough to where I’d feel better.

They played it. I clapped, walked outside, sat down for a minute, got up, and walked towards Nueces St to hail a cab. I couldn’t handle it anymore. It was only 11pm, the band would probably be on stage for another hour, but I needed to go home.

An hour later, after trying not to die at home, I felt worse than ever. By now it was just after Midnight.

I Decide I’m Dying and Head To The ER

I called my friend. Her and her boyfriend came to pick me up and we went to the ER.

Where we waited.

A nurse took my blood pressure, asked a few questions (“Miss, I’m surely dying, can’t you see?”), and …

We waited.

Two guys walked into the ER covered in blood like it was the most normal thing in the world. (One dude made the unfortunate mistake of wearing an all white ensemble this evening. It looked like someone pissed blood all over him and his white pants. His friend’s head was literally pouring blood out of multiple gashes. These guys were unreal.)

And we waited.

I started to feel better after seeing all these people looking a mess.

“Death is nothing. But to live defeated and inglorious is to die daily.” – Napoleon

I walked around a bit. Got a drink of water.

I Decide I’m Not Dying, Which Only Costs Me $313.75

“You know what? I think maybe we should go,” I told my friend.

I went up to the nurse and asked if I’d be charged for my visit. I said I didn’t feel like I was going to pass out and die anymore. It was nearly 3am by this time. I was exhausted and just wanted sleep.

“Wait just a minute, we’ll admit you right now.”

“Ugh, OK.”

The nurse said this would probably take a couple hours. I figured there was no sense in them staying so my friends left.

Just before getting to the point of being admitted I decided against it. “You know what? This is going to unnecessarily cost thousands of dollars and I don’t feel like I’m dying. I’m just going to go. How much will it cost?”

$313.75.

Ugh.

Called my friend: “Hey, swing back around, I’m leaving.”

Got home, still felt OK, and laid down to sleep. You’re dying. Don’t fall asleep or you won’t wake up. I tossed, turned, struggled, felt nauseous, propped up my head, watched something I don’t remember on Hulu, and finally fell asleep around 5am.

When I woke at a much-too-early-time of 9am it was in a cold, shaky, sweat.

I Decide I’m Dying (Again) and Go To A Walk-in Clinic

Shit, I’m dying again. I thought we went through this already.

This time I figured I’d just go to a walk-in clinic because what better place to die than a walk-in clinic not nearly adequately prepared for any kind of deathly emergency? I’d be leery of going there for a cold, much less death. But I guess I like to take chances.

I took my time, trying to get out of my head about the situation. I took a shower. Did laundry. Ate breakfast. Then took the bus 5 miles to a south Austin walk-in clinic.

The walk-in clinic was an ordeal in and of itself, but I’ll cut to the chase. I saw a doctor at 12:30pm. This is what he told me: “You need to go to the ER. I’m not going to charge you here, but I can’t help you.”

“Oh great. This is wonderful news.”

By the way, the doctor didn’t perform any tests at all. His assistant looked at the blood work I had done at DirectLabs and they must’ve agreed with my diagnosis of death. (I heard them talking about diseases which I will mention shortly.)

Who else is surprised that a doctor in the United States of America did not charge me for my visit? He must’ve felt pity for my impending death.

Now I was sure of it. Well, you lived a solid life. It’s time.

“I shall not die of a cold. I shall die of having lived.” – Willa Cather

I’m Absolutely Convinced I’m Dying, So I Take My Time Going Back To The ER

I guess I could’ve taken a cab or even an ambulance, but I decided if I’m going to find out I’m dying I might as well not rush it. I bussed it 7 miles north to a different hospital than the first.

(Much nicer and much cleaner. The first one was a not quite a hell hole, but also not quite where I’d ever want to spend any length of time.)

The bus ride was 25 minutes, but it felt like 25 seconds. I don’t remember a thing.

I arrived at the hospital at approximately 1:15pm and within 15 minutes of checking into the ER a Doctor was already discussing things with me. It was nothing like the ER I’d heard about from most people, and not even close to the ER from 12 hours prior.

“Your symptoms? What you call death? They’re not real. You are having an anxiety attack.”

“Sir, I beg to differ. I don’t have anxiety. I’m dying. If you would just evaluate the situation a little closer surely you’ll agree.”

“Sure. Let’s just run some blood work and see what’s going on.”

“OK. I’ll just be here reading Mindfulness In Plain English 20th Anniversary Edition and trying to distract myself from my impending death. Take your time, because if I’m dying I want to finish this book first.”

Karol Meet Caroline. Or Carol Meet Caroline. Or Karolina Meet Caroline?

A nurse came in and introduced herself as Caroline. “Hey Carol, I’m Caroline.”

“Hi Caroline, it’s Karl. Although my Parents wanted a girl and called me Karolina growing up.”

“Oh, I was kind of excited for a Carol. Caroline and Carol.”

“You get excited about weird things Caroline. What has this hospital done to you?” ;)

Caroline “1, 2, 3” stuck me with the IV needle like I was a 7 year old, drew enough blood to feed Team Edward, and it was waiting time.

An Unnatural Fear Of Charts, Drawings, and Photos

I don’t mind needles, getting my blood drawn, or getting injections, but I don’t like hospitals or doctor offices. Or photos of medical things. Or biohazard waste containers. Or charts. Or drawings. I was a sweaty mess every day after 1st period Health in Freshman year of High School.

I tried to distract myself from the beeps and charts and photos and images in my head, but this Mindfulness reading was not to be. Back to Words With Friends. If I’m going to die I should probably beat someone in Words With Friends soon. I should also get morphine.

“Caroline, why isn’t my IV hooked up to something cool like morphine? If I’m going to die I don’t want to feel pain.”

“Are you in pain?”

“No, but this IV tube is just hanging here doing nothing except hindering my Kindle holding capabilities.”

Finally, My Doctor Tells Me The Bad News

40 minutes later the Doctor came back to tell me the news.

I thought I had everything from Hepatitis C to HIV to Leukemia to lots of other things the doctors at the walk-in clinic were talking about.

I don’t know if they were talking about me, of course. I assumed they were, because even though there were a dozen other people being treated, I was the only one being treated.

I probably heard something about the Black Plague as well. I prepared for the worst and secretly hoped I had a combination of everything and then some.

If I’m going to go out it should be extraordinary.

I don’t want a “10% chance to live,” diagnosis. If I get a death wish I want a, “you are a medical mystery, you are going to die very soon, and there is no chance we can do anything for you,” diagnosis.

This isn’t some macho thing. I’m probably the least macho guy you’ll ever meet.

It’s two things:

  1. A 10% chance wouldn’t let me relax about the situation. At least if there was no chance I could just continue doing what I was doing and let things happen as they would.
  2. I want my body used for science. (Anywhere except the Wayne State University medical school is OK with me.) How fun would it be to be the reason scientists cured an illness? If nothing else, hopefully they’d learn something.

“No one can confidently say that he will still be living tomorrow.” – Euripides

But it was not to be.

“You’re anemic. That’s all. I’m going to write you a prescription for iron and you need to stop giving yourself panic attacks.”

Oh the irony of my iron tattoo! :)

“What about my BUN/Creatinine Ratio? It was a bit low in the other blood test. That probably means I’m dying.” [Sometimes I think I’m a person who knows stuff when I’m talking to people who know stuff.]

“I checked that out. It’s fine. But you need to get blood tests again in a few weeks to make sure you’re absorbing this iron.”

I don’t actually know what blood tests they performed. Caroline took three or four vials of blood (vials make me queasy – I didn’t take a close look) so hopefully they tested for every horrible possibility.

They surely missed something. Fucking doctors.

My head’s starting to hurt. Why am I sweating? I’m pretty sure I’m gonna pass out.

“Can you pick me up and take me to the ER? I think I’m dying … sure, wear your pajamas.”

The End and The Beginning

In which I discuss endings and beginnings …

This is about the end.

But every end has a beginning.

So this is about the beginning.

Nearly 2 years ago I launched a free eCourse, calling it the Freedom Fighters. In a way, naming it after a well known (and many times violent) political resistance movement was a bit brash. Obviously we’re not fighting a government with heavy artillery.

Although, in a way, we are, aren’t we? Fighting for your personal freedom is the most important movement you will ever be involved in. Your heavy artillery is your brain power.

Even so, this is the end.

The information in the Freedom Fighters eCourse is nearly 2 years old and it’s time for a change. You have 48 hours to subscribe if you want to receive all the messages. In early January I’m deleting all the messages (they arrive over time which is why you only have 48 hours to subscribe and get them all) and they’ll be gone forever. No amount of begging or pleading will help as I won’t be able to undelete them. I don’t keep a copy on my computer.

The e-mail list will still stay alive and I’ll send messages as I have been. I may even continue to call it the Freedom Fighters.

The difference is you’ll be receiving messages from me because you want to receive messages from me and not because I bribed you with receiving the free eCourse.

You can subscribe in the sidebar to your right or by clicking here.

Ch Ch Ch Changes and 20% Time

There are a lot of other things changing. I’m working less on the information product business and more on other businesses. Businesses that don’t live and die by my name. In other words, I want to create things and be able to step away if I want. I don’t want to be the “face” of the business.

Additionally, as much as I love the information product business, my ego wasn’t seeing or feeling the direct results of what I was trying to accomplish with it. I’m not saying I’ll never release another information product and I’m not saying that it’s not a legitimate business. (Hell, I’m working on a couple Kindle eBooks and those count as information products.)

Maybe this sounds a little selfish, but it’s important to me to see I’m making an impact. Otherwise I should just go back underground and do what I used to do. (Not going to happen.)

The main thing I’m working on is still under wraps, but I’ve also been testing out “20% time” ideas. I’ve found these quicker projects help me focus and generate ideas for the 80% project.

Let’s talk about the only 2 “20% time” projects that have seen any light of day.

@QuickGig, Quick Launch, The Results After 5 Days

I’ve received a lot of great feedback about how to improve or grow the QuickGig website. I launched it in under an hour so that is to be expected. I also directly asked a handful of people for their feedback. It was 90% positive. Some of it was exceptionally positive.

I’m considering all of it, but I don’t have any huge goals for QuickGig. A lot of the QuickGigs I post will probably be for little jobs related to that “80% time” startup. ;)

Sure, there are a lot of ways QuickGig can make money in the future, but I’m happy making it a free service that I can utilize myself even if no other employers ever use it.

In other words, it doesn’t need to grow for it to be a valuable project to me and lots of other people. (Maybe you!)

In a way, it’s the co-op business model. If an employer wants to use it to hire someone for a small job, they can. It’s free, after all. If a QuickGigger wants to use it and get paid, it’s free and they can. We’ll see if it will expand over time.

That said, I’ve refined the idea a tiny bit. Instead of projects that earn at least $10 per hour it is now for projects that earn $10-$20 per hour. Subtle, but important, difference. This means if you’re a highly skilled programmer or designer who demands $45/hour you won’t waste your time following @QuickGig and getting notices about research projects that pay $12 per hour.

The perfect demographic for QuickGiggers is stay-at-home moms and dads or college students who want fairly easy and quick gigs (hence the name) they can do for extra cash here and there. There’s no commitment for long term work and it’s an easy way to pick up a little extra to pay for a night on the town, or dinner, or even to pay down debt or stash away in savings.

The First Public Mention of BandVine.com

I’ve also been working with the one and only Norcross on a project called BandVine. This is a fun project for us as we’re both huge music fans and want to help bands make more money. (They are notoriously bad at business.)

We’re actually very close to launching in beta so if you’re in a band or know someone in a band that plays live shows let me know and we’ll let you/them test out the system for free.

“OK, OK, But What About That Startup?”

It’s not quite the type of thing that can be successfully launched in a 0.1 version and I won’t be talking about it in any specific terms until we’re launched. This is not some cheap hype or anything like that. You’re not even necessarily the proper demographic for the website so you probably won’t even be interested in it from a user standpoint. That said, I’m excited to launch it, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do!

Thanks, as always, for your support. And feel free to get in touch. I’ve been getting a lot of funny responses when I respond to e-mails, along the lines of, “You actually respond to your e-mail?” I’m not the President. Just a dude. Yes, I answer all e-mails and am happy to help where I can.

On Thinking

In which I discuss thinking “too much” …

My Mom has always said I think too much. “Stop philosophizing.” or “You’re such a philosopher.” I’ve heard those statements hundreds of times in my 30 years.

It’s true. I think a lot. But it’s a positive thing as opposed to her negative view. I need answers. I need facts. I need proof.

I knew Santa wasn’t real when I was kindergarten age; essentially as soon as I could think for myself. Nobody could show him to me.

“Where’s Santa?”

“He comes when you’re sleeping.”

“No he doesn’t, I found the wrapped presents in your closet.”

Yeah, I was an asshole even as a little kid. I played along though. What the hell, free GI Joes are free GI Joes.

“Where do babies come from?”

“The stomach.”

That didn’t make any sense to me, but I didn’t push the issue. The uncomfortableness was palpable. I figured it out eventually. (Thanks 6th grade health day!)

Thinking is what gets me what I want.

If you aren’t getting what you want you’re probably not spending enough time thinking through your problems.

When people ask me what I do I’m going to start saying, “I think a lot.”

How Thomas Edison Taught Me To Think Better

A lot of the work I do is actually thinking. I learned how to think better about 10 years ago after reading about how Thomas Edison came up with ideas/inventions and solved problems. He would go into a dark room and half-sleep for hours. I don’t quite do it like that, but my process is similar. Quiet time. Cell phone off. Focus. I need a lot of distraction-free alone time.

You probably need it too.

How Distraction-Free Focused Thinking Helps You

  1. Thinking breeds ideas.
  2. Ideas breed action steps.
  3. Action steps breed actions.

Coffee shops, TV, the Internet – these destroy our thinking capabilities.

Most people can’t think well with distractions, but I’m willing to believe some people can. (Maybe, but not likely, you’re one of the few.)

If you’ve ever been to the Zappos.com headquarters outside of Las Vegas you know what I mean. That place is fucking insane. Which is cool in a way. It’s not what you’d think about a billion dollar company. But it’s a madhouse. It was stressful just walking through for an hour. If I worked there I’d be put in the loony bin within weeks. Or I’d shoot up the place. Note to Tony Hsieh: Never hire me. Just in case. ;)

But I digress.

Your Thinking Mission:

Having trouble with an idea? Trying to solve a problem? Not sure what your next step should be?

a) Turn everything off. Your cell phone. Your computer. Your TV.

b) Find a quiet, comfortable place. It should be so comfortable you might fall asleep. And it’s OK if you do fall asleep.

c) Think. Don’t worry if your mind wanders from the task at hand. Bring it back if you want or let it wander. This mind wandering is actually where magic can happen.

d) Do this every day for at least 1 minute. (More is better, but best to start slow.)

e) E-mail me in 30 days to tell me how this has affected your reality.

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@QuickGig and Putting Thinking To Use

Yesterday, in a short fit of thinking/inspiration I got this idea.

I needed a bit of web work done. I tweeted about the gig. $25 for ~2 hours of work.

An hour later I thought, “Hey! I’ll bet other people could use a service that connects web workers with entrepreneurs who need short term work.”

So I created @quickgig and QuickGig.org.

Follow that twitter account and I’ll be sending out short 1-8 hour jobs that pay at least $10/hour.

And if you’re looking to hire a short term web worker get in touch (karol at ridiculouslyextraordinary dot com) with your gig. If it’s up to snuff I’ll post it to the @quickgig twitter for free.

If you know somebody who’s looking for short term work I would, of course, appreciate you letting them know about this project.

What If You Lost Everything?

Sunday, November 27; 6:10pm
Austin, TX 

About 90 minutes ago I learned that on November 23 at 1:08pm someone wrote a cashier’s check and closed one of my bank accounts.

What am I doing about it?

I’m drinking Oolong tea and listening to The Runaways on repeat. First it was Live In Japan, but now it’s their self-titled. Both very solid rock records. I highly recommend them if you’re into good hooks.

What else can I do, you know? I’m sure there’s an explanation for it.

Lest you think I’m being perfectly calm about this, I’m not. I’m a bit freaked out, but again, nothing I can do. No sense in freaking out too much.

Assuming it’s gone forever? I’m not destitute, so don’t worry about me. (Please don’t send “oh no, hope you’re OK” e-mails. I’m feeling pretty outstanding.)

This situation has caused me to think about what I would do if I lost everything.

When I say “everything” I mean what the typical person would think. Money and possessions.

I can honestly say that, besides the annoyance of having to start from scratch, it wouldn’t affect me much. Maybe I’m lying to myself, but I don’t think I am. Otherwise I’d probably be crying right now.

This isn’t to say I don’t care.

I care a lot about a lot of things.

  • My brain.
  • My health.
  • My family and friends.
  • Fuji apples.
  • The pursuit of one arm pushups.

Money and stuff? Pretty easily replaceable. Maybe annoying to replace, but replaceable none-the-less.

We at the Only72 camp have learned this lesson well lately. Baker, my partner-in-fun at Only72, had his MacBook Pro stolen 2 weeks ago. That was no fun, but was it the end of the world? Nope. Get a new computer and get back at it.

Why am I not too freaked about about having one of my bank accounts completely emptied? Because entrepreneurs are used to starting from zero. The bank isn’t my ATM machine, what I have in my head is my ATM.

If you’d like that same confidence there aren’t many better ways to go about acquiring it than to become an entrepreneur. It can be scary and it’s not easy, but it’s the only way I know and a highly recommended life path.

Update (12/4): I have a new bank account. I also have the money from the old bank account in the form of a cashier’s check. Now I just need to deposit the cashier’s check into the bank account. Almost all set! :)

An Extraordinary Collaboration (Free Prize Inside!)

Let’s work together and create something that will help us all …

Note: submissions have been closed.

This is an updated repost from this exact time last year. The result last year ended up as Extraordinary Insights Volume 1, over 6,000 words of answers/ideas/advice/suggestions. It was a lot of fun. Let’s do it again!

###

Here’s what this looks like:

  • You ask a question (or questions) about anything that you think I might have insight into. Basically anything I write about here is fair game, and since I write about almost everything here, almost everything is fair game. The more specific the question the better.
  • The only caveat is that said question/answer must be something others can benefit from as well. This way you’re forced to think about others when formulating your questions.
  • I answer each question as thoroughly as I am able to. I don’t claim to be an expert about anything. More and more I’ve been trying to answer questions with “I don’t know” instead of theory. But as far as this goes, “I don’t know” doesn’t count as an answer.
  • I’ll compile all the questions/answers into an eBook that will be available for a short while for free, and then through the Kindle Store for $0.99 (the Kindle version will include Volumes 1 & 2). Among other things, this is an experiment in collaborative Kindle publishing. (To be sure you don’t miss the free release subscribe to the RSS feed here.)

Why am I doing this?

2 reasons.

1) This is my way of saying thank you even though I know I’ll get a lot out of this as well.

2) I get a lot of e-mails with a lot of questions that I think others would benefit from.

Sometimes I can steer the e-mailer in the right direction via a blog post I’ve written or the Freedom Fighters email course, but a lot of times it’s a new question that I actually have to think about. (I love when that happens!) This is an opportunity for us to collaborate as Freedom Fighters and build up a massive collection of information for the benefit of all of us.

If you haven’t already read Extraordinary Insights Volume 1 please check it out. But feel free to ask the same or similar questions because my answers/ideas/advice may have changed.

(Submissions have been closed.)

Limits & Limitations

What do Nirvana’s Nevermind and the Apollo Guidance Computer have in common?

Most limits & limitations that we think are in place for our lives and our businesses are self-imposed.

Think about some of your all-time favorite pieces of music. (Bear with me if you’re not a music fan.) A few of my favorites are Black Sabbath’s Vol. 4, Death’s Symbolic, Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Green River, and Nirvana’s Nevermind.

My little Macbook Air has more processing power than the studios that recorded & engineered every single one of those albums. And yet I’ve found myself saying, “Ugh, I can’t make good sounding music on this thing.”

It’s less about the equipment and more about the user.

If you’ve ever done technical customer service then you’re familiar with the term “user error.” This is when the equipment works just fine, but the user is to blame for any alleged technical difficulties.

The issues in our lives and businesses are nearly always the equivalent of user error.

I don’t make good sounding music on my Air because I haven’t mastered the equipment. It’s not because the equipment is lacking. (Sure you could argue an audio interface and a good mic will go a long way, and you’d be right, but let’s not go there for the purposes of this article.)

The Apollo Guidance Computer had 64 Kbytes of memory and ran at the turtle-like speed of 1.024 Mhz. If you have an iPhone or any other smartphone you’ve got a stronger/faster computer in your hand than what put a man on the moon.

If you haven’t put a man on the moon and you’re worrying about not having good enough equipment to accomplish whatever it is you’re after, then I have some important news for you. It’s you.

Stop setting limits and there are no limitations.

What Do Sunblock and The Art of Persuasion Have In Common?

In which I get schooled in the game of persuasion even though I already know the rules …

She's very pale. Obviously uses lots of sunblock. Also, sex sells.

You’re going to have to bear with me as I get science nerd on you for a minute. But at least you can never say, “Karol never learns me nuthin.” You can also never say that because you didn’t grow up in the backwoods.

A few months back I had been reading about the importance of vitamin D and I stopped using chemical sunblock when I went outside. Our bodies use the sun’s UV rays to produce vitamin D, but sunblock blocks the production of vitamin D by blocking these UV rays.¹

Sunburns, Cancer, B-12 and an Offer I Couldn’t Refuse

Normally I was near-OCD about using sunblock. If you met me anywhere sunny in the past few years I had a sunblock stick in my pocket. (“Is that a sunblock stick in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”) I used sunblock religiously.

You can see the conundrum.

On the one hand I didn’t want to use chemical sunblock because, among other things, I wanted my vitamin D! But on the other hand sunblock protects us from the harmful effects of UV rays, such as cancer. What to do?

During my short no sunblock experiment I only got a slight sunburn (my first sunburn in years), with skin peeling off my neck. I went out in the sun regularly, but I did try to find shade as much as possible. I was still torn. I don’t want skin cancer, but vitamin D isn’t present in most foods, and supplements aren’t my favorite way to get nutrients.

B-12 supplements being the exception. B-12 synthesis doesn’t happen via plants or animals, only bacteria. Most of the world’s production of B-12 is added to animal feed or directly injected into animals.² If you eat animals you might get enough B-12 without supplementation. Since I don’t eat animals I don’t have this benefit. Note: Microwave radiation kills B-12, so if you microwave your meat (you know, if you eat fast food or TV dinners) you’re probably not getting enough B-12 either.

“Shut It With The Science Karol, Let’s Talk Persuasion!”

According to a variety of sources, we only need 15-20 minutes of exposure to sunlight 2-3 times per week to get our vitamin D requirement. In other words, going outside without sunblock is all good for short periods of time.

Anyway, a couple months ago I mentioned on twitter that I was becoming more leery about using chemical-laden sunblock than being out in the sun sans-sunblock. Basically, I wanted to continue to be my pale old self without using chemical sunblock that may also cause cancer and is nearly always tested on animals. Almost immediately Jed Bickford e-mailed me about his and his wife’s raw vegan beauty products store. Specifically he mentioned their chemical free sun block.

Did that get my attention? Of course. The message to market was spot on. For whatever reason I never looked into raw & cruelty-free forms of sunblock, and immediately started reading about & researching the stuff.

But Jed went a step further by sending me an e-mail:

“Hey Karol, Send me your address and I’ll send you a few products to try. If you like them it would be cool if you let people know, but no worries either way.”

My response in my head: “Son of a bitch, I know what he’s doing. Jed’s cool, but dammit (the art of persuasion in action!). I want to try this stuff, but I don’t want to buy it because I might be leaving the country soon and these are not airline sizes.”

What I meant was, I don’t usually accept free stuff because then I feel obligated to talk about it. I don’t like feeling indebted to people.

So, of course, I responded with an address.

Note: I have no idea if Jed knows about the art of persuasion. I assume he does and he’s smart to use it in situations like this. This is not a character assassination against Jed in any way.

Nobody’s Immune To Persuasion Techniques, Even People Who Know You’re Persuading Them

One of the key tenets of persuasion is getting the other party to feel an obligation to help you or give you what you want.

It’s human nature to want to help someone who does something nice for us and we can’t do anything about it. Even when we know what’s happening it doesn’t matter. It’s known as reciprocation and both Robert Cialdini and Jay Abraham discuss this extensively in their respective works. (I recommend Cialdini’s Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion more than any other book on this topic.)

The only thing you can really do to combat this is to refuse the help or the gift.

Take notice:

We feel this obligation if the gift or help we received didn’t really help or do what we expected. And we even feel this obligation when we didn’t even want the gift in the first place.

Think about it. How do you feel when a homeless guy gives you a silly little American Flag on a toothpick or a small flower and then asks you for change? Alternately, how do you feel when a homeless guy doesn’t give you anything and asks you for change?

I didn’t know how to deny Jed’s offer because:

  1. I met him in Portland a few months back and he’s a nice dude. It’s always more difficult for me (and you) to say “no” to nice people.
  2. I support vegan products as often as possible.
  3. I wanted to try these particular products.

I knew by accepting the offer I’d mention Jed’s site somehow, somewhere. Yup, I guess I can be bought.

That said, the benefits of not staying in one place for long is I use it as an excuse when someone asks me if they can send me something. I know the psychology and want to avoid it.

Thankfully, I liked Jed’s products (and use the sunblock almost every day) so I don’t mind mentioning them even though he doesn’t know I’m mentioning them. And I’m pretty sure, considering it has been about 2 months since he sent them, he isn’t expecting me to mention them.

As I’ve mentioned before (how many more times can I write variations of the word “mention”?), especially to the Freedom Fighters, I like to support good people doing good things. So there it is. Persuasion. Nobody’s immune.

7 Things We Learned In This Article (Or in Reddit speak tl;dr)

(Hat tip to Dan and Jeff for teaching me tl;dr – I still haven’t been sucked into Reddit!)

  1. Vitamin D is important.
  2. B-12 is synthesized via bacteria not animals or plants.
  3. Chemical sunblock sucks and Karol doesn’t want to use it.
  4. You can persuade someone by utilizing human nature and they have almost no recourse. (Use this for good please.)
  5. Jed and his wife sell a big selection raw beauty products so if you’re also looking to keep your body as chemical and cruelty free as possible check it out.
  6. My website is obviously turning into a trashy gossip mag, hence the bikini clad model.
  7. Send me your products to 666 Lies Drive, Noiwont, TX, 78701 USA and I will write about them.

Honestly? Honesty.

Truth, lies, and other mischief …

“Lies beget other lies. Unlike statements of fact, which require no further work on our part, lies must be continually protected from collisions with reality. When you tell the truth, you have nothing to keep track of.” – Sam Harris

There I was on a bench at Centennial Park in Nashville, TN overlooking the world’s only full-scale replica of the Greek Parthenon, reading a Kindle book called Lying by Sam Harris, and nodding my head in agreement after every turn.

I had just posted a very honest article 2 weeks prior and hadn’t posted anything since. September 2011 would go on to be the only month in the history of this blog that I didn’t post a single article. I’d been second-guessing myself about being so honest about how I felt on that particular topic and if I should continue that trend. I questioned whether it was the right thing to do for myself and my future. As much support as I received on the article I still felt a bit at-odds.

I knew then that I needed to do 2 things:

  1. Write about the eBook Lying. If I could send it to everybody in the world I would. (I did send a copy to my friend Markus because I knew he’d appreciate it.)
  2. Get more uncomfortable more often. Be more honest.

Prior to reading Lying I’d been inspired by James Altucher. James is so open on his blog you’d think nobody would ever do business with the man. I would, and obviously other people do as well. (Note: This article was written before James posted this article about honesty yesterday. Crazy, huh?)

“Honesty is a gift we can give to others.” – Sam Harris

The last few articles I’ve posted I’ve written things I was actually scared to post publicly. Most of the reactions have been exceptionally positive.

Here’s a bit of revelation: It doesn’t actually matter what I think or what anybody else thinks about what I think. That realization was very freeing.

A lot of people hide behind lies white and otherwise because it’s seemingly bad for business. When your goal isn’t to squeeze every possible penny out of everybody this no longer matters.

I’m intelligent enough to know that I’m intelligent enough to make things happen no matter the barriers set before me. I’m also intelligent enough to know that by being honest I could be consciously placing obstacles in my way. Maybe these obstacles make it more difficult, maybe they don’t. More than likely these obstacles are just figments of my imagination.

Everybody’s Bullshittin’

Most online personas are fake. What we write and who we are diverge completely because we tell ourselves, “I can’t get anywhere if anybody found out the truth.”

But it’s not relegated to just online personas. Most personas are fake.

Sometimes I’m out and I think, “There is no way the online Karol would act like this or do this. Quit being a baby.”

We (I’m at fault here as much as anybody) hide specific things and highlight (or “white lie”) certain aspects about life or our pasts or our businesses because it’s supposedly good for the girls/guys we’re dating or trying to date, the employer we’re trying to impress, or to attract more clients to our business.

The Bullshit Industry

There are whole books, seminars, and training courses devoted to this art of persuasion & presentation. The best, maybe only, way to combat it is to study it yourself. You can’t know it’s happening to you except when you know it’s happening to you. And when you know it’s happening the fog you didn’t even know was there breaks up and you see things clearly. (I’ll talk more about persuasion this coming Monday.)

Interestingly, we all know lying sucks. White lies like, “Oh, yeah, that shirt looks great on you” when it really doesn’t. And more hurtful lies like, “No, I’ve never cheated” or “I’ll never do it again.” They may not all hold equal weight, but they’re all problematic.

“The moment we consider our dishonesty from the point of view of those we lie to, we recognize that we would feel betrayed if the roles were reversed.” – Sam Harris

It makes it that much more difficult to lie when we think about it like that. I know I won’t always tell the whole truth, but I’m much more conscious of it now. Particularly of the white lies that “don’t matter.”

I’ve already quoted Sam Harris to high heaven so let’s end with another:

“How would your relationships change if you resolved never to lie again? What truths might suddenly come into view in your life? What kind of person would you become? And how might you change the people around you? It is worth finding out.”

It is worth finding out, don’t you think?

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In case it wasn’t clear in the previous 800 words, I think every thinking human being should read Lying by Sam Harris. (I get paid 20 cents if you buy it, no lie.)

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Commenting suggestion:

Let’s try something. “Great article!” or “I agree!” type comments, while very much appreciated, don’t continue the conversation. Instead, if you have thoughts on the topic let us know. If you have questions, ask them. It’s also OK to stay quiet.

Don Lapre and the Possible Pitfalls of 7-figure Status

In which I discuss an early business and the pitfalls of making money by any means necessary …

When I was 18 a friend and I bought one of Don Lapre’s infomercial programs.

If you don’t know Don Lapre, he was a slick, if cheesy, late-night salesman. Most of his infomercials were about how to make thousands of dollars per week from your bedroom. You know the drill. It was nothing new then and it’s nothing new now. Mr. Lapre was just really good at it.

One of the things Mr Lapre’s program taught us was how to sell advertising to local businesses.

My friend and I went door-to-door to local businesses and did just that. After a day we only made about $100, which amounted to less than minimum wage. If we’d kept at it we might have been able to refine the process and make more, but neither of us enjoyed face-to-face selling.

Even though this initial business was a success (it did turn a profit, after all), as the years passed I lumped Don Lapre and most other informercial “make money” marketers (including those who only work online) into the scam artist category. Let’s be honest, they were/are. Most of them. Even some of your favorites. The ones you might look at through the proverbial rose-colored glasses.

Don Lapre died yesterday in an apparent suicide while in Federal custody for fraud.

He was looking at up to 25 years in prison, most likely well-deserved.

I can only speculate, but my observation is that his unofficial motto was, much like it is for many marketers, “Make money by any means necessary.”

It’s sad that it came to what it came to, but it’s just more proof that striving for just money isn’t worth it. When all your self-worth is tied to your bank account’s worth you’re playing a very tricky game. While it won’t always end in suicide it will always end in unhappiness.

And yet, when I talk to people who want to start businesses the biggest reason is usually, “I want to make a lot of money.” They don’t get it. There has to be something more to it than that.

Money is great and I’m not advocating living like a pauper. If you want to be filthy rich, more power to you. But don’t expect life to improve any more than you can improve it right now.

It doesn’t take much to improve your life.

You obviously need enough money to not worry about money. For most of us that’s not an incredible amount. Rent/utilities in many great cities can be had for less than $1,500/month (usually much, much less). This is even true in really expensive cities like NYC if you look hard enough.

Then you need enough money to feed yourself quality food. Along with that you need to stop eating the Standard American Diet (S.A.D.). Quality food (whole food, not restaurant/fast food) costs $50-$100/week. By the way, it doesn’t have to be organic to be nutritious and you don’t have to shop at Whole Foods to eat whole food.

Then you need enough money to do things you love. Sometimes those things don’t cost much, like reading. Sometimes they cost a bit more, like traveling. Whatever it is for you, you need that much. For most people I’d say this is less than $500/month. Actually, for most people it’s probably less than $100/month. I don’t have any data to back this up as this is my own observation.

You also need to exercise, but that’s nearly free. If you don’t like exercise then read this.

Relationships are important as well, but quantity pales in comparison to quality. So add one or two good friends into this mix and you’re set.

I hope people look at Don Lapre’s death as a wake up call. You have the ability to do good things, get paid to do those good things, and inspire others to do good things.

Doing good things does not require being filthy rich or giving up your integrity and ethics. I know it’s difficult, but, if nothing else, I’m in your corner.