Category: Freedom

The Thrill of $10k In A Day (and Why Monetary Goals Are Worthless)

I discuss the thrill of $10k profit in a day and then get into how to set goals that matter …

It’s not pre-launch week anymore. How To Live Anywhere launches tomorrow! I’m so fired up. I’m really looking forward to unleashing this bad assery on the world.

What we’ve covered so far:

Monday – How I Created My First 6-Figure Business For $119.40

Thursday – Why I Quit (or How To Go From $10k/month to $0/month Overnight)

Saturday – Sweet Shit Saturday #009 (Business Building Edition)

Today’s article is about, quite possibly, the most important lesson I’ve learned in life.

“What?! What are you talking about?! Shut. Up!”

I had just told a friend of mine that I pulled in $9,000 in 1 hour and I think her reaction was warranted. By the time the product I was selling had sold out 4 hours later I pulled in just a tad over $20k profit.

I was really proud of myself. It was a crazy adrenaline high and it was almost surreal. By the way, I don’t state any of this to brag, but just to show you what is possible. And, more than that, to show you why monetary goal setting is worthless.

I’ve already discussed building trust, giving good content, and the power of an e-mail list. Well, those things all came together on that day.

But that wasn’t the first or the last time I pulled in over $10k profit in one day.

In How To Live Anywhere I interview a guy named John Reese. I paid $4,500 to attend his private workshop in March of 2004. Later that year he released the core information from that workshop in a huge course called Traffic Secrets that cost almost $1,000.

It was August 17, 2004. John pulled in $1 million that day. Me? I sold 35 copies of his course, getting a $500 commission on each one. $17,500 for selling a product that was not mine. That was my first 5 figure day as an affiliate (also not my last).

That is the power of giving people what they want. If you give enough people what they want, you will get what you want. I didn’t have the biggest audience, but I was one of John’s top affiliates anyway. That’s a recurring theme in my life. Besides the temporary setback I wrote about in Why I Quit, my thinking has always been to give, give, give. And then I always got what I wanted.

The problem: At the time all I wanted was money.

Nothing else mattered. I didn’t need all the money I was making, but my goal was to make more, more, more. Fill the bank account! I wanna see lots of zeros! Sell! Sell! Sell!

Listen, I know it sounds like I’m complaining about money. That’s not it. It’s very hard to tell someone “money, as a goal, is dumb” during a time when so many people are affected financially.

While things may be a little more difficult these days, a fun shift is happening. I see a lot of people who are getting back to basics.

Can’t afford cable TV? Awesome, you get to spend more time reading to your kids, or taking walks, or enjoying true peace and quiet.

Can’t afford to go out partying every night? Sweet, invite some friends over, cook out, hang, bond.

Why Money Is A Useless Goal

Money goals are empty numbers and life is not a contest. Making more money doesn’t make us more special. Making more money doesn’t make us happier.

The happiest wealthy people I know grew that wealth as an aside. It happened because they were focused, living awesome lives, giving people what they wanted, but without a number as an end goal. The most depressed wealthy people I know have only money as the goal.

The happiest “regular Joes” I know are happy because they’re focused, living awesome lives, giving people what they want, and setting experiential goals instead of monetary goals. The most depressed “regular Joes” I know are depressed because their end goal is money.

Do you see the connection?

Monetarily wealthy or not, happiness is not determined by a dollar amount.

Depression, whether someone is a millionaire or not, is rooted in some random dollar amount.

Why You Don’t Need $10k In A Day

I’m not going to say it’s not awesome making $10k in a day. It is. But it’s no more awesome than spending an afternoon in the park (Park Zachodni here in Wroclaw, Poland for example!), taking the time to enjoy the cool breeze and the hot sun.

We do need money to live. And we also need money to Live Anywhere. That’s a fact.

We just need a lot less than we think we need.

Money Goals vs Experiential Goals

A short while ago I talked about Living Dreams vs Chasing Dreams. Setting monetary goals is chasing. Setting experiential goals is living.

For example, maybe you want to do what I did and learn how to build a guitar from scratch in India. Awesome experiential goal!

Now, figure out the cost: $1,200 for the course, $1,000 for an economy flight (unless you do what I did and use Frequent Flier Miles to fly business class), $400 for a room and food for 3 weeks. That’s only $2,600 for an unforgettable experience, complete with take home prize (the guitar!).

Tell me which one of these goals feels better to you:

– I will make an extra $2,600 in the next 90 days.

or

– I will make an extra $2,600 in the next 90 days so I can experience the bad assery of spending 3 weeks hand building a guitar in India!

When you feel a goal something clicks in your brain. Solely monetary goals are unfeeling and soulless. When you set a goal based on an amazing experience your synapses will start firing and help you focus on achieving.

The Time Has Come

How To Live Anywhere is coming tomorrow. (Yay!) I will post on this blog at 10:30am EST to let you know, but if you want a headstart to get the fast action bonus just get on the Priority Access List below.

By the way, the process for pulling in $17,500 like I talked about above is the exact same process I write about in The Anatomy of a 4 Figure Affiliate Promo case study, which is part of the How To Live Anywhere course. The difference is, this recent 4-figure-in-a-day monetary goal had a purpose. I’ll let you know about that another time. ;)

This has been my first really public launch in a long while. Whether you decide to buy How To Live Anywhere tomorrow or not, thank you so much for sticking around!

And, as always, results are not typical. Your results may not match mine or they might blow mine away. Remember, this is not a contest. :)

Tell me what you thought about it …

Why I Quit (or How To Go From $10k/month Profit To $0/month Overnight)

The story of why I shut down a 6 figure business one day out of the blue …

“I’ll give you $50,000 + 50% of the revenue for life.”

That was one of the many offers I received for the 6 figure business I talked about on Monday.

4 hour work week?

I had that business so automated I think it was 4 hour work month. All physical products were fulfilled by a fulfillment center in Ohio, all customer support was outsourced for $15/hour to a really awesome Canadian company, all digital sales were fulfilled via autoresponder/Paypal/Clickbank/2Checkout, bookkeeping/accounting was outsourced, Authorize.net merchant account deposits came in every day like clockwork … it was completely hands off.

And that’s where the problems started appearing.

My life went from trying to provide as much possible value as I could to each fan, subscriber, and customer to just wanting to make as much money as possible in as little time as possible.

I was turning into a greedy son of a bitch.

I didn’t know what to do, but I began looking for a way out.

I e-mailed a few people who I respected and told them I’m selling. I had a 50,000 subscriber double opt-in e-mail list, so in addition to the business being completely hands off, I had some really valuable assets on my hands.

I got some really great offers. A few were in the 6 figure range, but I think the $50k + 50% revenue was the best one, simply because it was a guaranteed income stream.

From $10k/month To $0/month

One day (June 15, 2005 – did I ever mention my brain remembers everything?), without consulting anybody about it, I just shut it all down. Profits went from over $10k/month to $0/month.

And I felt relief.

You might think it’s stupid “throwing away” that much money. Many people told me I was insane.

But I “bought” something more important than cash: integrity, dignity, pride.

See, that infoproduct business sold the “how to sell on eBay” type products I talked about in How I Created My First 6 Figure Biz. I had all but stopped selling on eBay by 2005. So I had been selling products teaching people how to sell on eBay while I was no longer actively doing so.

Even though my eBay knowledge was vast (marketing is marketing whether it’s eBay, offline, online, whatever) I didn’t feel good about it and quitting this business was the only respectable plan of action.

Going through that taught me very important lessons about treating customers with respect and providing massive value …

How To Be Ignored

The following seemingly has nothing to do with business, but there’s an important message in these words …

A little over a year ago I was seeing a girl. One day, after she had just spent 2 straight weeks at my house, she gave me a kiss, walked out of my house, and went home.

I called her later that day to say something silly, but she didn’t pick up. No big deal. I don’t expect people to answer every single phone call. So I left a message. And didn’t hear back. A day later I called again, wondering if something had happened. Again, no response. A text went unanswered as well.

I didn’t know whether she died or what was going on. Whatever it was, not knowing and being ignored like that was painful.

The Pursuit Of Every Single Connection

It wasn’t until a week later that I heard from her. I’ll spare you the details. The important thing is that being ignored reinforced an important lesson about how to treat people.

That’s why I’m so adamant about responding to every comment, every e-mail, and every tweet. It’s not a scalable strategy at all, but it feels good to get a response from someone you take the time to connect with, doesn’t it? I know how much I hate being ignored and I did a lot of ignoring that last year of running the automated-beyond-belief eBay how to business.

Will I always be able to respond to every single connection? To be honest: no. But I’ll cross that bridge when the time comes. Today? Yes, I can respond. More than that, I want to respond. It’s not a burden. I don’t feel like I’m wasting time. I love it.

I’m fired up about truly helping 100 people achieve Ridiculously Extraordinary Freedom. At its core, that is what this site is about, after all.

A little while ago I talked about establishing trust. Shutting down a $10k/month business instead of selling it or continuing on with it really boiled down to re-establishing trust with the world … and myself.

Today I do my best to over-deliver. That’s why this blog is free. It’s my payment to you. Yes, How To Live Anywhere is coming June 8, and I will release more products in the future. (Although I have no clue what those will be since I put everything into How To Live Anywhere.) But it doesn’t matter to me whether you ever buy anything or not. If you want to connect, I’m happy to connect. I want to rock your world with what I do here. And in return all I ask is that you keep rocking my world by reading / commenting / tweeting / sharing / e-mailing. :)

How To Be Trustworthy, Ethical, and Still Rock Hard and Live Anywhere

You don’t have to resort to underhanded tactics to make money. Yes, there is millions being made by shady marketing, and you can do that if you want. No judgments, it doesn’t matter to me. (Although you should probably stop reading this blog if that’s your game.)

What does matter to me is getting the message out that being ethical is OK. You can still make a ton of money by being cool. You can live an awesome life and have anything you could ever want. Whether that’s a tiny house in the woods, a 10,000 square foot mansion in Beverly Hills, or a non-stop vagabond live-and-work-anywhere-life full of amazing experiences, it is all possible.

And you know what? Every night, when you lay your head upon your freshly fluffed pillow, you’ll have a great night’s sleep. No stress, no strain, just love.

Note: Results are not typical. I don’t know whether you’ll ever be in a position to shut down a 6 figure business, much less actually run a 6 figure business. Hustle, focus, work hard, and awesome things can happen! ;)

How I Created My First 6-Figure Business For $119.40

The first 6 figure business I built would cost just $119.40 to start today. Full story inside …

I’d already been working for myself for a couple years doing Web design (back then a chap didn’t need to have sick skills like Charlie, Norcross, and Reese have), selling on eBay, and just straight up hustling before I started my first extremely profitable business in 2002 for just $119.40 (back then it cost a little more, this is what it would cost today).

If you’re a member of the Freedom Frighters you know a tiny bit of this story, but I’m going to go in-depth now. Strap yourself in and hold on tight! (Err, if you actually do that, please first pull your car to the side of the road before continuing on reading this. Safety first!)

The Beginnings: Hustle

How it all began: In the year 2000 I met a girl who sold stuff on eBay. I’d already been dilly dallying on eBay, but she taught me about a fun little niche. She taught me how to find free stuff to sell on eBay. This wasn’t a hugely profitable business (I’m getting to that part!), but for college students working very part time it was awesome and very consistent.

There were 2 main aspects of this “free auction profits” niche. First was getting lots of free after rebate stuff from stores like CompUSA, Staples, and OfficeMax. Sometimes this stuff was beyond free. We’d actually sometimes get paid after the rebates were sent! The second aspect of the free stuff was going to record stores and getting free stickers/cassettes (yes!)/CDs/posters/paraphernalia that street teams would leave in stores promoting bands. We would never take ALL of the stuff, just a few of everything. There was (and probably still is) a huge market for band stuff on eBay.

All in all, this business could pull in $500-$1000 profit in a good month. Again, not hugely profitable, and it really depended on if the rebates were rocking hard or not, but it was not especially time consuming. (Side note: I was also beginning to dabble in affiliate marketing at this time. Like I said, hustling!)

But I’m getting a little ahead of myself.

More Hustle. Hustle Times Two. Hustle Hustle Even!

All throughout my eBay selling (even before the free stuff) I was a member of a small eBay sellers forum/message board. I spent a lot of time answering questions and also getting help. I had no Web site, and nothing to sell. I was just there because I loved learning about auctions and what others were doing. And I also thrived on teaching new auction sellers the ins and outs.

One day I e-mailed the guy who ran the forum. We’d had many previous contacts, but this time it was something new. I’d read about people selling these things called information products, specifically eBooks. So I e-mailed him, told him about the free stuff I sold on eBay, and asked him if he thought it would make a good eBook. He already had an information product to sell, so I figured I should get advice from someone with experience. (<– So important I did this.)

His response?

“Yes! Write it! I’ll promote it!”

Wowza! Sweet. :)

So what did I do?

I got my ass in gear, wrote the guide, wrote the sales page, designed the Web site/eBook cover, and released that eBook, Free Auction Profits, within 10 days!

Then I e-mailed Jim, the guy who ran that auction forum, with a copy and an affiliate link.

What did he do? He promoted it without the affiliate link! He said it was thanks for all the awesome help I provided on a regular basis in the forum. :)

First Sale (!!!) and Goal Setting

From idea to first sale was just 10 days. This was October of 2002. (In 2006, after I stopped selling that product and quit that business I put up a copy of the eBook for free at FreeAuctionProfits.com. It’s strictly for posterity so please don’t take anything written there as gospel nowadays. It probably isn’t valid. Also, please excuse the formatting and AdSense. I don’t really know how to edit that site now.)

My goal with that information business was to make just $400/week. On top of what I was already making with other stuff, it would mean I’d never have to get a job after University. I hit that $400/week goal within a month. So I doubled the goal to $800/week. I reached that a few months into 2003.

Stepping It Up To 6 Figures

Next goal: $100k/year. It took a little bit longer to reach that goal. If you remember reading Sweet Shit Saturday #004, I talked about a guy named John Reese. With the stuff I learned from him I turned this tiny little information product business into a 6 figure earner in 2004, when I was 23 years old.

The gist of how I did that: I stepped up my eBay game by learning about wholesaling and drop shipping and then released a $97 physical (as in, real mail!) product that taught how to find wholesalers. With the higher price point I could offer affiliates a nice commission on a great product and still make ~$30 per sale after all fees. I sold low 5 figures worth on launch day. A few thousand went to affiliates, but along with all of my other income streams, it was my first $10k profit day. We’ll talk about that (and at least one other 5 figure profit day, as an affiliate not merchant) next Monday.

Breaking Down The Costs Of My First 6 Figure Business

Let’s break down the costs of what that first tiny info product business that changed my life would cost today …

1) Domain Name: $9.69/year (or free)

My domain name advice is simple. I like .com the most although I do own a bunch of .net and .org domains. Choose a name that sounds good (RidiculouslyExtraordinary.com) or a choose a name that has a bit of a benefit already built in (HowToLiveAnywhere.com). Length of name doesn’t matter much since you’ll be doing your promoting online.

I’ve been using NameCheap.com to register domains lately. Good prices and free domain privacy. I used to use GoDaddy, but switched for my last 9 domains (including HowToLiveAnywhere.com).

You can honestly use any domain registration service you want. The Web host I use will actually give you one free domain …

2) Web hosting: $95.40/year

For $95.40 per year (including domain name) you can use the same host I use: BlueHost. Many people don’t recommend them. Many people do. They’re not perfect. No Web host that costs less than $10/month will be perfect. Hell, I used to have $500/month managed servers and things weren’t perfect with those either. Don’t get too caught up in choosing a Web host. Every time BlueHost has been down they’ve been good about providing quick status updates. And while my wish is that they’d never be down, I know things happen with computers.

Note: BlueHost is on WordPress.org’s recommended hosts list because they make installing WordPress really easy.

3) Credit Card Processor/eBook Delivery Service: $5/month or $49.95 one-time

When it comes to your first info product I can only recommend these two: e-junkie.com (use coupon EJVIDEOS for a 67 day free trial) and clickbank.com. E-Junkie is $5/month and Clickbank is a $49.95 one-time fee. Each have their benefits and downfalls. For what it’s worth, Free Auction Profits (the infoproduct I talked about above) was launched on Clickbank. I’m using E-Junkie for How To Live Anywhere. E-Junkie has much lower fees (i.e no fees beyond the $5/month) than Clickbank ($1 + 7.5% per sale). But Clickbank take care of paying your affiliates. With E-Junkie you have to login once/month, download a file that you upload to Paypal, and pay your affiliates yourself. It takes less than 10 minutes. :)

4) E-mail list management/Autoresponder: $19/month

Double opt-in e-mail lists have been responsible for generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue for me. Double opt-in simply means that somebody signs up for your e-mail list (for example, my Freedom Fighters ecourse), gets an e-mail asking them to confirm subscription, and clicks a link inside that e-mail before you can actually send them any messages. This is the anti-spam approach to e-mail marketing. It’s permission based marketing and completely on the up-and-up.

More than anything, building an e-mail list is the key to starting a successful long-term online business. I interviewed 2 experts on list building for How To Live Anywhere, that’s how much I believe in it.

I use AWeber.com. It starts at $19/month. As your list grows in size your costs will increase a bit. But that’s a good thing. If your costs are increasing your profits will too (especially if you do what the 2 dudes I interviewed in How To Live Anywhere tell you to do).

And that’s it. Free domain + $95.40/year Web hosting + $5/month e-junkie account + $19/month Aweber account = $119.40

For $119.40 you can get started with your own info product empire. Technology is awesome. :)

Note: Results are not typical. There are too many variables for me to say you will have the same success as me. Forgive me for being honest, but there is no magic pill. Take focused action and hustle! ;)

The Anti-Schedule and MIIMIO Productivity (or Behind The Scenes Of The War Room)

In which I discuss my creative process and talk about computer science and water fights …

By “war room” I mean whatever room (or park or beach) on this great blue Earth I’m currently working out of. :)

I really do feel like I’m fighting a war. My enemy is normality.

Ever since I was a small child I’ve done things a little bit differently, sometimes on purpose and sometimes not. Whether that was playing with weird chemicals that I probably shouldn’t have been playing with at age 8 and creating a stink bomb in a test tube (which I subsequently smashed in our front yard), mowing an Anarchy symbol in my Parents’ lawn and calling it a day at age 13, or quitting my very last job (in the Business School of Wayne State University) when I was 19 and getting fired an hour later. (That’s a funny story for another day.)

Where I’m going with this is that we all have different processes for doing whatever we do. I like reading about how other people create and I think that’s probably why I love reading autobiographies. It’s cool to get personal insights into how and why people do what they do.

With that all stated, here is my creative process. It has changed over the years and continues to change, but here it is at this very moment:

Don’t Force It, But Force It

I’ve mentioned it many times already, but before this blog started I spent 30 days writing at least 1,000 words every single day. It was my way of forming the habit and getting into the flow of writing blog posts. Nowadays I don’t work like that. Sometimes I write 5,000 words in a couple hours because they keep coming and sometimes I only write a few hundred words in a few minutes and stop.

I don’t force anything. When inspiration comes I grab hold and go along for the ride. That mofo might take me places I didn’t expect to go or it might drop me off exactly where I was expecting in a timely fashion. Whatever happens, I stick around for the duration.

I force everything. Because I’ve honed inspiration in such a way, I know it will come. So in a way, it’s almost like I forced it. A better way to put it may be that I ordered it to pay me a visit. This is part of going pro. Once you tell yourself you’ve gone pro, a mental shift happens in a way that I can’t explain unless it has happened to you.

It’s important to force it until you form the habit. Then you don’t have to force it anymore. Remember when I quit drinking last September? Since that time I’ve had a few drinks, but the habit of not drinking is in place and I don’t have to force it anymore. You can do the same, with literally anything.

The Anti-Schedule

I dislike schedules and I don’t use a calendar. But I do have a work schedule. It’s this: every day (for as little or as much as I feel like that particular day). I may not stick to it gung-ho 365 days/year, but I do work on something most days. Here’s the kicker: it’s not because I have to. It’s because I want to.

When I was in high school I worked at a car dealership doing all their computer stuff. To everybody else at that dealership it was rocket science. To me, it was like 1st grade math. In other words, I’d get a week’s worth of work done in a day. Instead of sticking around (and getting paid more) I’d leave and play guitar or hang out with friends. Why? Because I hated that work. I just wanted it to be over.

What I do nowadays keeps me up at night with excitement. It’s not work when you love it.

Even if you’re currently working a dreaded day job you can actively seek out projects and a way of life that you’re passionate about. (That’s not an affiliate link. Use code ‘freedom’ to get 25% off for a few more days.)

MIIMIO (Most Important In Most Important Out)

Now I’m getting all computer-sciencey and coming up with acronyms based on data storage algorithms. Shoot me. (Please don’t, unless it’s with a water gun, in which case, I challenge you to a duel!) If you’ve had a math or computer background you’re probably familiar with FIFO: First In First Out.

My take on FIFO is MIIMIO, Most Important In Most Important Out. That is, I have a most important task that I need to complete and everything else is ignored until that’s done. BUT, and there is always a BUT, that doesn’t mean I don’t work on other things. Huh? Whatchyou talkin’ bout Karol?

For example, my current most important task is getting How To Live Anywhere finished (almost done, I’m loving it!). But I still have blog posts I want to write and awesome people to interact with (that’s you) via comments/e-mails.

What I mean by MIIMIO is that I don’t take on another big project while I’m already focusing on a big project. Do I have ideas for other big projects? Yes. Can they wait until this project is done? Yes.

Do you take on too many tasks at once? Don’t worry, most people do. Just remember MIIMIO and you’ll be golden.

Is There A Better Way?

Yes. Whatever works for you is the better way.

That’s where you come in. I want to know, what does your creative process look like? How do you structure (or un-structure) your days?

Is Ridiculously Extraordinary Freedom Possible At A Day Job?

In which I talk about the possibility of day jobs *and* freedom. What? It’s inside …

“Understanding that your job is to make something happen changes what you do all day.” – Seth Godin in Linchpin

The answer is yes, Ridiculously Extraordinary Freedom is possible with a day job.

Surprised?

Here’s why: Ridiculously Extraordinary Freedom means you are able to do what you want to do, but are not forced to do anything you don’t want to do. If you want a day job, if that is Freedom to you, then it’s all good.

A couple months ago I created a list on twitter: http://twitter.com/KarolGajda/only-person-id-work-for

It’s the only list I’ve created thus far and it consists of exactly one person: Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, HDNet, Landmark Theatres, blogger at BlogMaverick.com, and all around bad ass.

And when I mean I’d work for Mark Cuban, I mean if he wanted me to clean his house or scrub the floor of the American Airlines Center, as long as I had access to his brain in some way, I’d do it. (There’s the rub!)

I know I would learn a lot from him. I know I could execute a lot of ideas for his businesses that others wouldn’t be willing to try. And I also know it would be hard work, but fun as hell.

But let’s get off that for a moment because, well, although I would accept if Mr. Cuban contacted me, I’m not looking to get my first job since the year 2000. :)

Where this is coming from: I’m currently working on the anti sales letter for How To Live Anywhere and it starts with a story of two of my friends.

One of them, who makes a very nice amount of money online in only a few hours (usually less than 10) per week (*ahem* thanks to my teachings), doesn’t want to quit his job. I think that’s awesome. He has the option, the Freedom, but he likes his job, so why quit?

It’s almost the ultimate Freedom: knowing that the second he doesn’t like his job he doesn’t have to worry about what he’ll do. He can move on.

When To Stay and When To Kill a Day Job

If you have a business that is generating enough cash to live on and you hate your job, you quit.

If you have a business that is not generating anything, and you hate your job, and you have no savings, you stay. And you get your ass in gear to start generating that cash!

If you have a business that is generating some cash, but if you worked on it harder you could ramp it up, and you hate your job, you quit. And you get your ass in gear to start generating more cash!

If you have a business that is generating some cash, but if you worked on it harder you could ramp it up, and you love your job, you stay … and reevaluate that decision when your business is generating job replacing income.

Or if you’re Dave Navarro, you wait until your business is rocking so hard you’d be crazy not to quit your high level management day job.

Your Turn …

Seriously think about this: What is Freedom to you? I write so much about Freedom, but I don’t think I’ve ever directly asked you what your version of Ridiculously Extraordinary Freedom looks like. I’m excited to read what you have to write!

Are You Living The Dream or Chasing It?

Is it difficult to be happy if you’re chasing dreams? Yes. How to start living them …

I cracked a big dopey smile while in my almost free Business Class Finnair seat last week. (I’ve caught myself doing this often in the past 8 months.)

Heading back to my birthplace (Wroclaw, Poland), it hit me again that I’m living my dreams. I wrote down the question “Are you living the dream or chasing it?” in my notebook and reflected on that for an hour while dozing off to sleep.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting older, wiser (ha!), or what it is exactly, but I love my life. Which is interesting, because growing up my only goal in life was to own lots of sweet shit and have lots of money.

So I chased the dream.

When I “chased the dream” and acquired a BMW, a bunch of guitars, a big screen TV, a 2,500 sq foot home (WTF, I’m single!), and all the other trappings of the “good life” I was depressed.

I was 24 and should have been living it up.

But I was horribly depressed.

Hard for anybody to understand unless they’ve been there depressed. What I mean is, it wasn’t just a week or two of feeling sad.

It was years of “just get it over with and end it” darkness.

When I finally started getting down to what I really wanted in life (some time in late 2007/early 2008) I began to see the light. It was a slow, but beautiful, process.

No matter where you are in life, you can make steps towards living your dreams right now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not next year. Today.

First Step: How Stop Chasing The Dream

I’m a “do it or don’t” type of person. I know almost anything can be broken down into black/white, good/bad, right/wrong, easy/difficult.

If somebody were to ask me how to stop chasing the dream, I would give them the following series of tests. These tests are about getting back to basics.

They seemingly have nothing to do with dreams, but I promise they will force you to focus on what’s important.

When you’re focused on what’s important you’re no longer chasing dreams.

This test is difficult. If living your dreams instead of chasing them is worth anything to you that won’t matter.

But you’re free to quit right now. If you read on and don’t actually follow through on the test you’re just wasting your time.

Test #1: Cancel Cable TV and don’t watch free TV

Life Lesson #76: Stop watching so much TV.

Unless your dream is to be a screenwriter TV is getting in the way of you living your dreams. Why? Too many reasons to list, but the strongest is that watching TV conditions you, in a mostly subtle way, to want.

I’m not referring to the advertising (although that doesn’t help matters), but the actual content. It’s poison.

That includes the “news.” Watching the news seems to make people feel cultured. That’s bullshit. The news is a waste of your time and you’re getting nothing of value from it. Except maybe fodder for depressing “watercooler” arguments.

Any important news you really need to know you will hear about somehow, someway, while you’re living your dreams.

If you need more reasons to stop watching TV check out Joshua Becker’s “Ten Reasons to Watch Less Television.”

Test #2: Stop eating out

Completely.

If you’re interested in a healthy lifestyle (for yourself, the planet, the future) you’ll cut out meat and dairy, but that’s not what this is about.

This is about living the dream. And living the dream means you respect yourself.

Eating fast food is disrespectful to your mind and body.

Whatever you want to eat, prepare it yourself.

– No pre-mixed sauces

– No preservative-laden microwaveable shit-boxes

– No frozen dinners

– No store bought soda pop or booze

Eat whatever you want, but prepare it yourself. Want cookies? Bake them. Want potato chips? Fry them. (It’s not healthy, but you’ll appreciate and savor them more than fast food fries.) Want an extravagant 7 course meal? Make it.

The point of this test is to be mindful of what you’re fueling your body with. I’m willing to bet 99% of Western Civilation can’t pass this test. Be that 1%.

You’ll be thrilled with how good you feel when you fuel your body with nutrients instead of garbage.

Test #3: Read.

Books. (Life Lesson #25: Successful people read books.)

Every day.

Ridiculously Extraordinary People are in a constant search for knowledge.

I have a strong feeling that if you’re in the 1% that passes Test #2 you already read books. If you don’t, it might be something to consider. :)

It doesn’t matter what kind of books. Choose subjects that interest you. And every once in a while choose subjects you know nothing about. New languages. New cultures. New sciences. New people.

Some of my favorite books are autobiographies. Even autobiographies of people I’m not particularly interested in. I love learning other people’s life stories, especially when it’s directly from their mouths.

Second Step: How To Live The Dream

Before you can ever get to the point of living your dreams you have to stop chasing dreams. Get back to basics as in Step One and don’t worry if you’re not ready for this step yet.

The Honest Truth About Dreams

I didn’t mean to lead you on, but the truth is I can’t tell you exactly how to live your dreams. They’re yours. And that’s an important point. Don’t let anybody force their dreams for you onto you. Nobody knows what’s best for you. Not your Parents, not your friends, not your teachers, and not me.

If you’re unhappy in any way with your life the first thing you have to realize is that nothing will change overnight. It’s a process. I don’t know how long it will be for you, but just know that progress may be slow. It may take years like it did for me. Accept that. Take action.

No matter how difficult it is, remember this: the dream, your dream, is attainable.

A Great Example of Someone Living The Dream

Somebody who I know is living the dream is Benny Lewis. You’ve probably seen me mention him quite a few times in the past couple months. Benny has been traveling the world for 7 years and learning lots of new languages (7 and counting!). Hence his moniker The Irish Polyglot. I have the utmost respect for what Benny is doing with his goal to help bring language learning to the masses by making it accessible and fun. I spoke to him on Skype for about 30 minutes a couple weeks ago and the passion that comes across in his writing I could also hear in his voice.

Benny is releasing his 7 years-in-the-making Language Hacking Guide today. I had a chance to read a pre-release copy and I’m excited to start using Benny’s language hacking methods to help me learn Polish better. If you’re at all interested in learning languages, without stuffy high school or University home work assignments, I highly recommend you check out the Language Hacking Guide here.

How To Climb (or What I Learned From A Pair Of Rambunctious 5 Year Olds)

An important lesson I learned from my 5 year old nieces …

The past few days I’ve been 50km outside of Wroclaw, Poland playing with my 5 year old twin nieces (+ 3 cats and a dog) for 12 hours/day. (Children don’t get tired?)

Being that I don’t have kids and don’t know many people who have kids I can’t say I’ve ever been impressed by them.

But watching these kids live and play has taught me a few things.

Most importantly, to get what we want, we have to be willing to climb.

For a child trying to get to the cereal in a cupboard 10 feet high, this is literal. Most of us have less tangible obstacles, but they’re obstacles none-the-less.

Just like children sometimes we’ll slip and fall. If we get up and climb again we’ll eventually make it to the top.

Is there something currently stopping you from reaching your peak?

It’s simple: channel your inner child and start climbing.

Stop Fighting

Stop fighting yourself. Be you …

Stop fighting who you are.

The sooner you stop fighting the sooner you start living.

Obviously there are things we can all change about ourselves.

I submit that we need to undertake these changes from a position of contentment as opposed to a position of self-hate, guilt, or unhappiness.

Being who you are is OK.

Until you accept that life will never get any better.

Stop fighting.

Then you’ll be free.

The Absolutely, Positively, 100% Guaranteed Way To Hit Home Runs In Everything You Do

Hitting home runs is fun. Here is how to do it the right way …

“Stuff that I do, if I have one or two or five or eleven peaks, as long as I’m productive and make enough stuff, maybe I have more chances at making some really good peaks, whether they’re sketches or jokes or drawings.” – Demetri Martin

I gave you the answer to the title of this article without even writing anything unique. Damn. I guess you can stop reading now. ;)

Demetri’s quote really resonated with me because of how closely it’s associated with blogging and virtually any other form of work or art.

Let’s say you’re writing a blog: most of your articles will receive an average (relative to you) level of visitors and comments. This is your core audience and they’re very important. Then some of your articles will resonate with another, larger, audience and you’ll get an extraordinary amount of traffic. These are the home runs, Demetri’s peaks.

You could take the stance that it’s better to focus only trying to hit home runs, but a lot of it has nothing to do with you. I’m consistently surprised which articles get lots of visitors/comments and which ones don’t.

As artists we have to focus on producing what we believe to be quality content for our core audience.

We’ve prepared. We’ve gone to batting practice. We’ve hit the weight room. We’ve shot the steroids. (Oh wait, not the part.) There is not much left to do.

Whether any piece of content ends up being a home run or not is mostly out of our control after that point.  That said, hitting home runs is fun! Let’s start from the beginning …

How To Never Hit Home Runs

Before we can figure out how to hit home runs let’s talk about how not to hit home runs.

Don’t swing. Ever. Keep telling yourself: “I’ll do it some day. Maybe tomorrow. Next week sounds good. Oh, but next year. Next year will be amazing.” And so it goes. (Life Lesson #11: Some day never comes.)

My friend John used to say, paraphrased, “Just do something. Create something. Anything. Throw shit at the wall and see what sticks. Then figure out what works and do more of that.” There is a lot you can do as far as research and planning that will make the “sticking” more likely, but if you’re at a point where you haven’t swung the bat, the time is now.

When you’ve taken a swing, know this …

Base Hits Are Better Than Home Runs

Ask any baseball coach if he’d rather have 10 base hits or 1 home run, and unless he is an utter fool, he will go for the base hits. A hit is an opportunity. A home run is a rarity.

Take lots of swings, because most of the pieces of content you create will be base hits. Every base hit is a step closer to a home run. (You’ll probably also have a few strikeouts, which are creations that simply don’t resonate at all with your audience. Don’t worry about it. Keep swinging.)

Consistently getting base hits is important because they put you in a position to win. And they help you deal with the strikeouts. Home runs, or massively popular pieces of content, can be complete game changers, but they won’t happen often.

I submit that if we’re going to think about hitting home runs then we should focus on hitting game changing home runs. Otherwise known as Grand Slams.

A Home Run Is Only A Game Changer If …

What happens if you hit a home run with no men on base? Game changer? Not at all.

So here’s the rub: A home run isn’t a game changer unless you’re consistently getting those base hits.

Let’s say you run a small blog and are consistently writing good content. One day you write a really awesome article that explodes your site traffic. If not for all of your consistently good content the visitors from the really popular article probably wouldn’t stick around.

My goal is to consistently hit base hits. I’ve had a few strikeouts and I’ve had some home runs (again, this is relative). But the base hits are what will win this ball game for me.

And I like winning.

How about you? Do you consistently produce so you have more chances at reaching the peaks? Do you hit lots of base hits and some home runs? Let me know what you’re up to below …

Fear Of Competition Is Bullshit (or Why Competition Is Your Friend)

I will abolish your fear of competition using the 551 words inside …

“Fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in the mind.” – Dale Carnegie

I get a lot of e-mails asking if particular niches are good. Usually it goes something like: “Should I launch a Web site/blog/product in a competitive niche? Isn’t it too difficult if there are tons of competitors?”

Competition doesn’t matter. In many cases, the more competition the better. The fear of competition is all in your head.

Get out of your head and take massive action.

Let’s say you wanted to start a new blog in the simplicity niche.

How many blogs are already in that niche? Too many to count.

How many are successful? Quite a few.

Let’s start at the top: ZenHabits.net. Leo Babauta has 170k+ subscribers! And a print book. And eBooks. And a blog coaching program. And 2 other successful blogs! Leo has created a massive movement. That’s scary competition, right?

Or maybe not.

When you find a “competitor” who seems like they have a stranglehold of the marketplace that’s a good thing. It means the niche is thriving and you have a better chance of getting a piece of the pie.

Know this: The pie is not finite!

The pie grows to support new thought leaders. It will feed as many mouths as is necessary. If you provide the new ingredients, it will take care of the rest. Bigger pans, bigger window sills (for cooling, duh!).

Why You Shouldn’t Fear Your Biggest Competitors

The people at the top aren’t usually evil. (And if some of them are, who cares?) The more success more people have in a niche, the more the pie grows and the more everybody succeeds. Again, the pie is not finite.

Successful people understand the abundance mindset. They know the pie is not finite, and they’re happy to share ideas to make the pie bigger.

More than likely if you talk to some of the top dogs in your chosen niche they will be happy to provide you with some advice. That doesn’t mean you should abuse this ability to connect with them. But a short, succinct, e-mail (short e-mail = very important) asking for a bit of specific advice (also very important) will usually be met with kindness.

I’ve e-mailed some people who I never thought would e-mail me back. Much less with quality suggestions/ideas/tips instead of a simple “cool, keep doing what you’re doing!” or whatever.

Destroy Your Fear Of Competition In The Next 7 Minutes

This is what you need to do:

1) Choose your 3 biggest “competitors.” It doesn’t matter who they are, how famous they are, or how much you look up to them. Get out of your head! As the guys from The Ren Men Show (<– amazing) would say: “Get off the bench!” Meaning, play the game!

2) Come up with a very succinct question that you need help with.

3) Send each a personalized e-mail. Your whole e-mail should be no more than 5 sentences. No long diatribes. Brevity is key.

I think you’ll be happily surprised with what happens. :)

Do you still fear competition?