If you travel light and for extended periods of time your shoes are going to stink. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Here’s how I got rid of that rancid stench wafting up from my feet…
“Those are rank!”
“What?”
“Your shoes man!”
“Oh, right.”
Here’s the thing: if you only take 1 pair of shoes on a long trip and wear them for 12-18 hours/day they’re going to smell.
Really. Badly.
In an effort to pack light, taking the bare minimum of what I need, and find multiple uses for every item, I never bothered with shoe deodorizer.
I mean, come on.
How could I possibly tell people I pack light if I’m traveling with freakin’ SHOE DEODORIZER?
But I had to do something. Even I was embarrassed by the smell emanating from my shoes. That’s coming from a guy who once wore the same 2 shirts, 2 socks, and 2 underwear for 8 days in Germany without washing them. (haha, gross!)
Dr Scholl’s wasn’t going to do it for me. Although it does work well, it’s a single use product.
Same with Febreze. I’ll use the stuff in my home, car, or shoes when I’m not traveling. But taking a bottle of Febreze on the road just isn’t practical. I’d go so far as to say it’s outright stupid.
TSA Agent: “Sir, why do you have a bottle of Febreze in your backpack?”
ME: “My shoes smell.”
TSA: “Sir, this is no time for jokes.”
ME: “Seriously, smell ’em!”
TSA: “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to follow me.”
In an effort to keep myself from backroom strong-arming and demoralizing cavity searches I settled on a travel sized bottle of baby powder.
Baby powder is just talc and fragrance.
But what’s important is that it’s a drying/deodorizing agent. In other words, it soaks up foot sweat and stink.
That sounds all well and good but here’s what I’ve also found: if I load up my shoes with baby powder and put them on, my feet start to feel “weird” after a while.
Is that the talc eating away at me? (Could be, supposedlytalc causes cancer!)
So if you’re going to follow my lead then do what I do (hmm, that’s the definition of “following my lead,” huh?):
Toss the baby powder in your shoes at night before going to sleep. Really coat the insides of your shoes. Be sure to sprinkle some on your shoe laces because they absorb odors too.
When you wake up get rid of the excess powder.
What I’m saying is, don’t dump a bunch of baby powder in your shoes, then put them on and go on with your day. Or do it and then come back here and tell me I was right and your feet feel “weird and cancerous.”
In a pinch baby powder can be used for deodorant, a quick dry for clammy hands, or countless other awesome uses. (Good, there’s my multiple use requirement taken care of.)
Yes, yes I did just spend a whole RidiculouslyExtraordinary.com article writing about baby powder. You’re welcome. ;) And…
At 19 years old I was pulling in over $1,000/week on eBay selling bootleg copies of my one of my favorite TV shows. Stupid? Probably. But I rationalized it like this…
I thought long and hard about writing this article. On the one hand, I essentially admit to violating copyright laws. On the other hand, it happened almost 10 years ago, it was a good life lesson, it’s a pretty fascinating story, and I believe in being completely honest about my past. Currently, I’m probably one of very few people who actually pay for music and movies instead of downloading illegally. I’m not a fan of the iTunes store, but love AmieStreet.com and AmazonMP3. Now, with that all said, the original article specified the exact product I was selling. I decided to edit that out because I live in the land of lawsuits. I know it makes for a more difficult read, but that’s the way it has to be. Even though the product I was selling still isn’t available for legal sale, the copyright owner (I’m a big fan, I follow his blog) gets pissed about the consistent rampant sale of his material (and rightfully so). So with all of that out of the way….
At 19 years old I was pulling in over $1,000/week on eBay selling bootleg copies of my one of my favorite TV shows, [Show In Question].
Being that I was on a full academic scholarship and living with my Parents I didn’t exactly need $1k/week. But when your family moves to the US with 2 suitcases, no grasp of the language, and almost no money, you either hustle (as Gary Vaynerchuk says, “CRUSH IT!”) or stay impoverished.
My Parents hustled (learned English, worked their asses off) and reached a nice middle class standard of living.
As a result, I learned to hustle at a very young age.
In 3rd grade, my elementary school had a Readathon for Multiple Sclerosis. Anybody who raised $500 or more got a Nintendo Game Boy (it was 1989). I was the only kid in the school of 400+ to do so.
In 8th grade, one of my gifted nerd classes had a fundraiser selling chocolate bars to raise money for a trip to Chicago. The rest of the kids went door to door selling bars one at a time. Or had their Parents sell the bars at work. Me? I called local businesses (salons worked best) and sold them by the box. I bought one of my favorite Nirvana bootlegs on that trip. :)
And maybe the ultimate teenage hustle: While most of my peers relied on Parents or student loans to pay for college I “studied” (high school was such a joke I didn’t really have to) hard enough to get the aforementioned scholarship.
So, you see, the hustle is in every fiber of my being.
The seeds to my foray into the underworld of copyright violation were planted in my Senior year at Adlai Stevenson High School in Sterling Heights, MI. My friend and classmate Samantha (name has been changed) was a big fan of [Show In Question] and turned me on to its hilarity.
This low budget show consisted of [Proper noun1] and [Proper noun2] and their friends being so off-the-wall-weird most people probably had to be drunk or high to enjoy it. It was one of the few highlights of [Cable TV Station] in the late 90s and I was neither drunk nor high.
By the time college rolled around [Show In Question] was off the air and we couldn’t watch it anymore. I’d check the show’s Web site regularly for video release dates, but it didn’t look promising.
So I did what any smart young lad would do. I searched eBay.
And there it was.
Seasons 1 and 2 of [Show In Question] available for sale. Bootleg VHS, of course. I wasn’t above watching shitty versions of the best show ever made.
The price was unreasonably steep. $70 shipped. For 2 VHS tapes that cost $1 each.
No matter. I immediately clicked Buy It Now, for I had a plan.
“Don’t say you can’t afford something, ask yourself how you can afford it.” – paraphrased Robert Allen quote which I probably use way too often and took a little too far in this situation.
A few days later the videos came, I watched them to verify they were decent quality (while laughing my ass off, of course) and put my plan into play.
I logged into my eBay seller account and put up a Buy It Now ad:
“[Show In Question] Seasons 1 and 2 – Great Quality! Free Shipping!”
Within hours I had $70 (less credit card fees) in my Paypal account.
It was too easy.
I put up another ad.
Again, within hours I got that beautiful “You’ve sold item #123814883” e-mail.
The next morning I rushed out to Best Buy, bought the most expensive VCR they had (~$120), took my Parents’ VCR from the living room and hooked them together.
I’d never copied VHS to VHS before but it was surprisingly easy. For the next few weeks these VCRs were my own personal ATM machine, spitting out $70 3 times/day.
If I timed my school/sleep schedule just right I could get 4 copies of [Show In Question] done in 1 day. At my peak I pulled in almost $2,000 in one week.
It all came to a crashing halt when I got a “Your eBay Account Has Been Canceled Due To Multiple Copyright Violations” e-mail.
eBay had sent me warnings on two separate occasions.
Unfortunately, begging for forgiveness didn’t work. Try as I might they wouldn’t reinstate my account. And if you don’t know anything about eBay, their customer service is customer service-less, so it took days to receive responses to my communications.
I created a new account, but my bank info (used for account verification) was black listed, and the new eBay account was immediately canceled.
I wasn’t sure what to do. I’d already been out of business for over a week and it was getting to me.
I just couldn’t leave well enough alone. There was gold in them thar VCRs and I was gonna mine it! The tools of the trade at this gold mine were wit, piss, and vinegar. Me vs eBay. Let’s do this!
“Hey Mom, I need your bank account information and a credit card!”
Being the trusting Parent she is, she handed it over like it was the most normal thing in the world.
I was a straight A student, disciplined, a hard worker: my Parents didn’t really have a reason not to trust me. (Yes, I realize how stupid it was to get anybody else involved in this. Sorry Mom, I love you!)
And I was back in business.
For 2 days.
I got another copyright violation warning and this time there was no messing around. eBay must have done a manual review because almost immediately after the warning e-mail I got an account cancellation e-mail.
Unfortunately, to this day [Show In Question] isn’t available for sale legally, although bootleg copies and torrent downloads are easily available.
I did procure another eBay account so I could continue selling strictly legal items, but I was out of the copyright violations business for good. That is, until 4 years later when I became a search engine spammer…
There comes a time in a young boy’s life when his shower companion will be a beautiful woman. This wasn’t one of those times…
It was our last night in Munich, Germany. In less than 12 hours I would be heading back to Orlando and my friends Jason and Adam (NSFW) would be heading to Chicago and New York City, respectively.
Adam and I had early flights out the next morning and he decided not to get a hostel for the night. With the total trek (including walking and waiting) to the Munich airport being at least an hour there was no point in sleeping. Being that it was an International flight, he’d have to get to MUC around 5 am to be on the safe side for his 7 am departure.
I thought about it for a few minutes and decided I’d pull an all-nighter as well since my flight was at 9 am.
With all of that settled we went out for the night to our new favorite bar, Schwabinger 7, king among dive metal bars.
The music is loud, the bartenders are amazing, the drinks are cheap, the people are friendly, and the place is very small and very packed every night. Always the makings for a good time.
Side note: the men’s bathroom is pure filth. Just like a dive bar should be.
We sat down with a large group of German students who were in Munich for just a few more days on some kind of school trip. Their English was good, but I didn’t understand if this was a Winter break or if they were in town to study.
Whatever the case, they were definitely in town to drink.
By 3 am, with a sufficient amount of Germany’s finest flowing through our systems, we headed back to Jason’s hostel. After getting some food at the only place open this time of night (Burger King, so I had fries and salad) Adam and I picked up our bags from Jason’s room and said goodbye.
With a night of drinking and, unfortunately, close-quarters in a smoke-filled room behind me, I really needed a shower. I knew there were showers at the Munich airport so I was really looking forward to getting there quickly.
Adam and I had both spent our last Euros on food and the ticket machine at the train station didn’t take credit cards. In a lot of places that would be a problem, but Germany’s authority figures seemed to be pretty lax about actually checking to see if anybody’s public transport tickets were valid.
So we chanced it, didn’t pay for the 9 Euro train tickets (sorry Munich, I love you, and I will repay you somehow!), and got on the next train to MUC, a 40 minute ride.
I clutched an old train ticket in my right hand and went to sleep, hoping if an agent actually came around, he’d see the ticket and wouldn’t wake me up to check it.
At the airport, I said bye to Adam and went off to locate those showers. It was now 5am and in my slightly drunken and definitely very tired state, it took me a few circles around the airport before I found them.
Being that it was so early the showers were empty so I made my way to the very last of 6 stalls.
I once paid $7 for a shower at a dirty truck stop in the middle of the Arizona desert. The MUC airport shower was free and didn’t have the “truckers use this shower for unmentionable acts of biology” vibe. A clear winner in my book.
After my much needed shower I started brushing my teeth half-naked at the sink just outside my stall when a short man with shoulder length, curly hair, walked in.
He headed straight towards me, opened my stall door, walked inside and started laying his things down next to mine.
Each stall is separated into 2 “rooms,” so you can have all of your belongings with you in the stall, but they won’t get wet.
I quickly spit the soap out of my mouth, opened the stall door, and asked the man what he was doing.
He responded in a language I didn’t understand. It definitely wasn’t English or German so this didn’t bode well.
I pointed at the things strewn about the stall, said “That’s my stuff, what are you doing?” and then pointed at the other available showers.
He looked at me, said something in his indecipherable language, and continued unpacking his shower essentials.
Again, I pointed at the other showers and angrily asked him what he was doing. None of this seemed to matter to him and it was clear this conversation wasn’t getting anywhere.
I gathered my gear and left thinking “this feels like it would only happen in a movie.”
What a perfectly memorable way to cap off my last night in Germany.
I’m just thrilled he didn’t make my acquaintance 15 minutes earlier.
Health care is a huge social and political issue, and one thing is certain: nobody agrees on anything when it comes to reform. But the politics doesn’t matter to me because I’ve taken health care into my own hands.
The most pressing problem with health insurance here in the States is that a lot of people think they can’t afford it when they most certainly can.
Being that I’m self-employed I’ve been purchasing my own health insurance for my whole post-Collegiate adult life.
I’ve never paid more than $82/month for health insurance and you shouldn’t have to either…
Health care is a huge social and political issue, and one thing is certain: nobody agrees on anything when it comes to reform. But the politics doesn’t matter to me because I’ve taken health care into my own hands.
The most pressing problem with health insurance here in the States is that a lot of people think they can’t afford it when they most certainly can.
Being that I’m self-employed I’ve been purchasing my own health insurance for my whole post-Collegiate adult life.
I’ve never paid more than $82/month for health insurance and you shouldn’t have to either.
There are some caveats, of course.
If you’re a smoker, for example, should you really expect cheap health care?
When you play the lottery and lose do you expect to get paid anyway?
Smoking is to cheap health care as playing the lottery is to winning. The odds aren’t in your favor.
If I smoked I would expect health problems. Therefore, I wouldn’t expect a for-profit (the key word) company to play the lottery on my health.
They should, can, and do charge almost whatever they please.
I’m not trying to sit on a cloud of judgment handing out life lessons to all the sinners, but the truth is, if you want low cost health care, you should strive to be in generally good health.
It’s a give and take.
You show you’re willing to work on your health and health insurance companies will take risks on your health.
That’s fair, don’t you agree?
Your Health Insurance Needs
Another benefit of striving to be in generally good health is that you won’t need the “everything plan” insurance.
What I mean is, you won’t need the $0 copay, $0 prescription, $0 hospital, full coverage dental and vision, insurance plan.
Why?
Because if you’re in generally good health you won’t need to visit the doctor very often, take regular prescriptions, or get treatment for preventable issues.
If you’re in generally good health, all you need is what I call catastrophe insurance.
If something unexpected or tragic happens the medical costs won’t bankrupt you.
What is unexpected or tragic?
Any type of accident, be it car, motorcycle, bicycle, sports, the list goes on.
We can’t control everything that happens in our lives, so it’s good to be covered in case something does happen.
What else?
Cancer and/or other terminal illnesses.
While your diet does have a profound effect on your health sometimes you’ll get gravely ill no matter what you do.
Sometimes the non-smoker gets lung cancer and dies.
Sometimes the constant smoker lives to the wonderful age of 100. (George Burns anyone?)
But would you rather take your chances with cancer as a smoker or a non-smoker?
Your health insurance company feels the same.
When you boil something down to its essence like that doesn’t everything become clear?
So if you’re ready to pay less than $100/month for your health insurance here’s how:
1. Strive to be in generally good heath. That means regular exercise and lots of living foods (fruit, vegetables, greens) in your diet.
2. Research high deductible insurance plans available in your area. (A Google search for “high deductible insurance” will get you a ton of results.)
My insurance plan has a $5,000 deductible. That means the first $5,000 in medical bills per year I have to pay out of pocket. If it wasn’t for catching on fire my 2008 medical bills would have totaled $0. (Yes, that story is coming. :) )
You will be able to find a high deductible health insurance plan for less than $100/month. Mine is $82/month through Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, the top rated health insurance in Florida according to J.D. Power.You also want to make sure the insurance plan you’re choosing is HSA compatible because you’re going to…
3. Open a Health Savings Account (HSA). This allows you to save your money TAX FREE up to a certain amount every year. I believe it increases every year, but it’s currently capped at $3,000 for individuals.
When you happen to have a medical bill you can easily pay it from your HSA with a debit card. My HSA is with Fifth Third Bank and costs $3/month. The interest rate is terrible, but the tax savings make it worthwhile. Fund your HSA regularly, up to the limit if you can. You can also use your HSA to pay for dental and vision care. I don’t have dental problems since I brush and floss daily, so my biannual cleanings cost less than $200/year. (Side note: I absolutely love getting dental cleanings.)
Beware: if you use your HSA funds for anything not health related you will have to pay taxes + penalties.
It really is that easy to get cheap health insurance right now in the United States. No need to wait for the government to bail you out.
There is a story about a man who went to see the Buddha because he had heard that the Buddha was a great problem solver. Much like you and me, this man had some problems in his life and he hoped the Buddha would solve them…
The following is a Buddhist story that can help with your problems. If you’re not interested in learning from the Buddha, you have 2 choices:
1) Stop reading. No hard feelings.
2) Hear (read?) me out.
(Adapted from Buddhism Plain and Simple by Steve Hagen.)
There is a story about a man who went to see the Buddha because he had heard that the Buddha was a great problem solver. Much like you and me, this man had some problems in his life and he hoped the Buddha would solve them.
This man was a farmer.
“I like farming, ” he said, “but sometimes it doesn’t rain enough, my crops fail, and my family lives on the constant brink of starvation. On the other hand, sometimes it rains too much, my crops die, and my family lives on the brink of starvation.
The Buddha listened patiently as the man went on.
“I’m married too,” said the man. “She’s a good wife whom I love, but sometimes she nags me too much and I get tired of her. I also have kids. Good kids mostly, but sometimes they don’t show me enough respect. I feel like my family doesn’t respect me or the land, and just sits around being lazy and uncaring, eating my food and spending my money.”
The man went on telling the Buddha his problems. Finally, he stopped on the brink of tears, and waited for the words that would take care of everything.
The Buddha simply said, “I’m sorry, my friend, but I can’t help you.”
“I don’t understand. Why? What do you mean?” said the man.
“Everybody’s got problems,” said the Buddha. “We’ve all got eighty-three problems, in fact. Eighty-three problems, and there’s nothing you or I can do to change that. If you work really hard on one problem another one will pop up in its place. For example, you’re going to die some day. That’s a big problem, and there’s nothing you, or I, or anyone else can do about it.”
The man was at wit’s end. He’d poured his heart and soul out to the Buddha, expecting to find relief in his wisdom.
“I thought you were a great teacher!” he shouted. “I thought you could help me! What good is your teaching if you can’t help me with my problems?!”
The Buddha said, “To make it up to you I will help you with the eighty-fourth problem.”
Curious and frustrated, the man asked, “What’s the eighty-fourth problem?”
Buddha replied, without an ounce of sarcasm or condescension, “You want to not have any problems.”
—–
I read this story every time I have a problem that starts affecting me emotionally.
Without fail, the anxiety and worry about my problem goes away.
Taking Action
The problem, of course, doesn’t go away on its own. Not until I take a very simple, but important step. The problem doesn’t go away until I take action.
What’s the point in taking action on solving a problem if, as the story says, another problem will take its place?
If you frame it so you enjoy being a problem solver, no problem will truly affect you.
Trying Until You Succeed
Problem solving is the essence of life. You’ve been a problem solver since birth. When you were hungry or needed a clean diaper, you’d cry. Problem solved.
As you got older and you were learning to ride a bike, you most likely fell off. What did you do? You solved that problem by getting back on and trying again.
You tried until you succeeded.
In the paraphrased words of Tony Robbins “trying until you succeed is the magic step.”
What would happen right now if you took your biggest problem and “tried until” you solved it?
How would you feel?
At first it might seem overwhelming and difficult, but don’t you agree that just by moving forward with the problem solving process your problem will grow smaller?
If there’s a solution, you’re going to find it because “trying until” means nothing less. There are no failures, only setbacks.
Reframe Your Problem
If you lose your job, for example, that’s a problem. Give yourself a little bit of time to wallow, and then reframe it. You’ve just been given the freedom to find a new job, start a new business, travel the world, or pursue a lifelong passion.
Do you agree gaining your freedom makes you feel a lot better than losing your job?
Simply reframing alone won’t solve the problem, of course. You probably have bills that need paying and food that needs buying. But reframing your job loss is that first action step that will give you the motivation to follow through until you succeed.
Where To Go From Here
The next time you have a problem that affects you in any way take a minute to think about the Buddha’s Eighty-Fourth Problem. (Better yet, bookmark or print this page and reread the story.)
Can you reframe your problem in a positive action-producing manner?
Would you rather be like the farmer and put the blame on somebody else or would you rather take control, take action, and obliterate your problems?
INTERIOR LIVING ROOM COUCH – CALLING CREDIT CARD COMPANY
“Hello, how much are your transaction fees when traveling outside of the United States?”
“3%”
“3%?! Does that include Canada?”
“Yes, sir.”
“But Canada is so close! Can’t you work out some kind of deal? They’re nice people, I’m sure they’ll work with you.”
“Sir, that’s not exactly how it works.”
“OK, well, can you give me a discounted fee?”
“No, sir, I’m sorry we can’t do that.”
“I’d do it for you.”
“I’m sorry sir. But please keep in mind that while traveling if you ever have any problems. Should you need a replacement card or some other assistance, for example, our concierge is ready to serve your needs 24 hours/day 7 days/week. Just call the toll free or international collect numbers on the back of your card.”
“Thank you, yeah, I’ll use that…”
And so it goes.
I called 7 credit cards.
How Many Credit Cards Had Fees Between 2-3%?
If you guessed 7, you’re right. (I’m disappointed in you Amex Platinum, we’re such good friends.)
Let’s think about that for a minute. If I’m traveling and end up spending just $1,000 I pay an extra $20-30 in fees just for the “privilege” of using my credit card.
That negates any points I receive on the spending and it’s money I could use for a decent meal or two (or more, depending).
Next I called the company with those annoying TV commercials. (Are they still on TV? I haven’t watched since 2006.)
The Capital One No Hassle card I hadn’t used in years has 0% transaction fees around the world.
Period.
End of story.
Now, I’m not saying you need to get a Capital One card for your travels.
What I’m saying is if you don’t get a Capital One card for your travels you’re being stubborn.
No international fees and the No Hassle Miles card DOES earn you points after all.
ATM Fees
If you’re using your Capital One card as an ATM card to withdraw cash (as I do) you will have to pay the cash advance fees. I get around that by paying my bill ahead of time. i.e. I keep the credit card balance at $0 at all times.
Most foreign ATMs have their own transaction fees which you will also have to pay. These can be steep (I paid $10 for an ATM withdrawal in Germany!) so instead of making lots of small withdrawals make infrequent larger withdrawals.
How To Get Around ATM Fees
I don’t have a comprehensive list, but Bank of America has relationships with foreign banks. If you use those ATMs you don’t pay ATM withdrawal fees. I know this because I’m visiting Australia soon and somebody told me WestPac Bank in Australia doesn’t charge ATM fees to Bank of America customers. I called BoA to confirm and immediately signed up for a free BoA checking account.
10 Second Recap:
– Use a Capital One No Hassle card for credit card purchases
– Find out if Bank of America (or any other bank) has relationships with banks in whatever country you’re visiting to save on ATM fees.
Bonus: Digital Nomad, Location Independent, Etc, Etc?
If you work for yourself from your laptop you’re going to want another credit card in addition to the Capital One. Not for actual purchases but for all the other benefits.
The American Express Platinum card ($450/year annual fee) has a slew of features, but the most useful are:
* Regus Gold Card – The Regus Gold Card gets you access to over 1,000 business lounges around the world. Free wifi, coffee/tea, and a quiet place to get work done. This normally costs $300/year from Regus. www.Regus.com for locations and more info.
* Airport Lounge Access – Relax in the American Airlines, Continental, and Delta/Northwest airport lounges whenever you’re traveling on those airlines.Here’s what you get in the lounges:
o Free coffee/tea.
o Free fruits/snacks.
o Clean bathrooms (some with showers).
o Comfortable chairs and quiet areas.
o Multiple TVs if you don’t feel like getting work done.
o Some of them have free alcohol. (I though alcohol was free in all the lounges, but I got charged for beer at the Chicago O’Hare (ORD) AA Admiral’s Club bar.)
o Some of them have free WiFi.
But the best aspect of the airline lounges is their employees are tremendously more helpful than the “regular” airline employees and gate agents. This is most useful during flight cancellations.
While everybody else is fighting for attention outside, you can walk into the lounge and get taken care of quickly.
Lounge access is $50/day or ~$400/year per airline without the Amex Plat.
* Concierge – Need tickets/reservations/anything? They can do it. Lose your passport? They’ll help you. Forget your wallet in a Haitian cab? They’ll find it. Or maybe you need to settle a silly bet between friends in Vegas? No request is too crazy.
* Lots of other features I’ve never used like room upgrades when staying in fancy hotels.
Conclusion
Whether you’re a casual traveler or a nomad the most important card in your travel arsenal is the Capital One No Hassle Card. And it seriously took everything in me to write a full article instead of just leaving it at that. :)
Do you have any other money related travel tips? Do you, maybe, prefer a different travel credit card?
My notes from Tim Ferriss’s How To Build A High-Traffic Blog Without Killing Yourself presentation at WordCamp. I hadn’t planned on launching my blog with a post about Tim or anybody else, but…
Don’t write about what your readers tell you to write about. Write about what you’re passionate about. – Mark Cuban
I’ve written over 30,000 words of Ridiculously Extraordinary content thus far and hadn’t planned on launching with a post about Tim Ferriss or anybody else. I had planned on launching with my own content, of course.
Why Post “Rehashed” Content?
I felt compelled to post these notes since I learned a lot from Tim’s presentation that will help launch the Ridiculously Extraordinary brand.
Keep in mind these notes aren’t necessarily comprehensive. While I did take notes regarding most of the things I already knew about (to reiterate them to myself) I may have missed some things that will benefit you.
On the whole, there are a lot of useful nuggets of info synthesized from a 50 minute viewing to a 5 minute read.
With all that out of the way, following are my notes on Tim Ferriss’s How To Build A High-Traffic Blog Without Killing Yourself presentation from WordCamp.
The full 50 minute presentation is available at the end of my notes.
(Timestamps on the left are approximate.)
3:20 – Use blogging for access to people / resources. Not necessarily income.
3:45 – “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it’s time to pause and reflect.” Mark Twain
6:15 – Measure the things that matter. You can spend all day testing and tracking every little thing on your blog but spend most or all of your time tracking what will benefit you the most. This has to be in line with your own goals for your blog.
7:00 – Best times to post to the blog: 10 am EST and 6 PM EST. (In the video Tim says 7 am PST and 6 PM EST.)
Best days to post: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday
8:20 – Changing Category to Topic improved click activity / average page views per visit.
9:20 – Current Hits on his upper right sidebar changes every 30 days. If you put all the focus on All Time Hits then it’s self perpetuating. They will always get clicked, and always have more visitors. Top posts in past 30 days gives you a better shot at spreading the page view love.
10:00 – Removed Twitter link from upper right hand because working hard to get a visitor and then sending them away from your blog isn’t a good idea.
10:40 – 7 Reasons To Subscribe (to RSS) link is on upper right. Tim says RSS subscribers are fickle and not optimal if your blog’s goal is advertising revenue.
11:20 – RSS subscriptions are becoming less relevant with microblogging tools like Twitter. (This confused me a little because on the one hand he’s promoting RSS over Twitter, and on the other he’s saying Twitter is better than RSS. Disclosure: Tim is a Twitter investor.)
12:00 – Clicks on Top Nav: 1) Gear (page is empty, he put it there as a test) 2) Resources and 3) Forum Note: Tim tracks with CrazyEgg.com for heatmaps; Google Analytics and WordPress Stats also
12:15 – The date is missing from the top of old posts. Posts on home page have the date at the top, but single post pages have date at the bottom. Dramatically improved visitor’s time on site.
13:00 – Test against convention. In other words, if everybody else is doing something one way, test doing it a completely different way and see what happens. Completely useless if you’re not using stats programs to actually track.
14:33 – How I Research: Twitter, Slinkset, Evernote
15:40 – Twitter for polling and quick research. That research is then shared for the benefit of followers. Also uses Twitter as a sort of personal diary.
16:00 – Evernote is used for saving thoughts, ideas, drafts. You can copy text / images to Evernote.
17:00 – How I Write
17:40 – Tucker Max (from TuckerMax.com): “Important thing is not being a good writer, but having a voice.” Tim: communicate your personality to the written word. This probably won’t happen right away and Tim says his writing has gone through a few phases before finally settling into his real personality.
18:16 – Passion beats polling and focus groups. Mark Cuban (blogmaverick.com, owner of Dallas Mavs): “Don’t write about what your readers tell you to write about. Write about what you’re passionate about.” Tim says that when he’s followed what people have wanted him to write about the results were always subpar.
19:00 – Po Bronson (author): “When you’re blocked write about what makes you angry.” Tim: “Caveat: don’t attack other people.” Attack the problem, not the person.
19:40 – Biorhythms: measure output. Tim does his best writing from 1 am – 5 am. Collects data during the day and writes at night.
20:30 – For important posts edit by hand. Type, print, edit. Remove 10-20% of post with each revision.
20:45 – Ignore SEO on 1st draft because it stifles writing quality/flow. Then edit by looking up synonyms in Google Keyword Tool. Sort by average monthly volume and use the highest traffic words. Use these words where relevant in your posts.
22:15 – Video/Photos: Time spent does not equal impact. Some of his videos that he spent lots of time on have gotten marginally less traffic than quick spur of the moment videos. His examples: Chocolate tasting vs Egg peeling vids. Egg peeling has ~2.5 million views, his biggest hit and least amount of time spent.
23:00 – No video only posts. Have value added text below the video. Text spreads quickly and sticks around (gets indexed).
23:50 – StumbleUpon: cheapest source of traffic and works well. (I feel like Tim is an investor in SU but he didn’t mention anything about that so I’m probably off base. That said, I’ve heard lots of people say nothing but good things about SU traffic.)
24:30 – Don’t chase news. Write evergreen topics that will stand the test of time.
24:50 – Where to get good photos. Flickr > advanced search > select creative commons > sort by most interesting
25:05 – Comments: The Living Room Method
26:15 – Your blog is like your house/living room. Keep it clean. Poor etiquette? You’re out. Tim utilized a zero-tolerance policy against negativity and attacks.
26:45 – Save good blog comments in Evernote. ~10% of comments should be good enough for future posts in their own right.
27:07 – Comment rules at top (end of post, before comments) and bottom (after comments) to encourage quality comments. Also to discourage using keywords and URLs in posts which looks like spam and will get deleted.
30:08 – Thing Big But Play Often. Take Fun Seriously!
30:40 – Listen to people who’ve done it. That is, if you want a successful blog take advice from people who have successful blogs.
Q&A section of presentation
34:52 – How Tim Manages Twitter
– Doesn’t use desktop app
– 10-15 minutes on @replies
– Follows a minimum of people. Currently ~140.
– Uses Greasemonkey script to view multiple pages at the same time. i.e. no need to click at the bottom of twitter to get more posts.
– Open each link in a new window because when you click home Twitter takes you back to the top of the home.
– Go into Twitter with a specific purpose.
– If you’re wasting time but you’re having fun you’re not wasting time. That doesn’t mean you’re being productive though.
39:00 – Brand blog in broad terms so you can write about multiple topics. Tim’s blog isn’t just about the Four Hour Workweek even though that’s the domain. He branded it as Experiments in Lifestyle Design.