I want to talk about my recent interview with Chris Coon. I am not sharing the video here yet because I am juggling a few things, and I want to have it professionally edited before I post it here or anywhere else.

Chris Coon has the dream of starting and running a non-profit organization that helps homeless people become entrepreneurs. Essentially, he wants to provide a platform for homeless people to sell their art. Chris himself is an artist. He writes poetry and currently works at a tattoo parlor in Staten Island called Deadly Ink. So, you might want to stop by and say hello, and buy a t-shirt or custom greeting card while you’re there.

Because I was recently coached by the amazing, amazing “Coach’s Coach” Mark Moffitt, I also wanted to share a little bit from that experience too.

Chris in in interim, but he has made the habit of playing big, so I know that he will succeed in getting his non-profit going. A common error that we all tend to make is asking for permission or validation from others before going for our goals. I think that I may have forgot to tell Chris when we met that I was a poet too, and I could not imagine selling copies of poems to passer-byers could work. The idea just does not seem plausible. But, he did it. He’s sold thousands of copies of his poems since making the decision to start selling his work late last year.

So, I want to walk you through the process of seeing a dream become a reality.

STEP 1. Create the vision in your mind.

When we understand that almost everything we see on the planet was once just an idea in someone’s mind, it’s really a lot easier to grasp this concept. The idea must first be conceived with clarity in the mind. Writing it out, mind-mapping, sketching, etc. helps.

STEP 2. Walk through the creation process in your mind.

Literally, picture yourself going through the creation steps, or if that is too much, picture yourself with the finished product or goal.

STEP 3. Stay with it.

The more real the vision or dream is to you, the easier it will be to take the necessary action. So, put reminders up in prominent places  such as your fridge, calendar or phone of that dream. If it will take a few months or years to accomplish the goal, this part is most important.

STEP 4. Get to work.

You will find work which you are passionate about very easy to complete. And, you will find that after you have made the decision to do something and you are working on it without wavering in your decision, the people and resources show up to help you complete your goal. It works out, without fail, every time.

Now, I will not say that this process is easy. I will not say that it is not without setbacks or challenges. But, if you have fully bought into making your dream a reality, nothing can stop you.

“You can do anything you want to do as long as you keep a good attitude and keep working at it. But the second you give up, you’re screwed!” – Dolly Parton

The idea is that your dream is like a seed. It takes time to grow before it breaks the soil and becomes a plant. You have to water it and protect it while it is young and fragile. And, you can’t dismiss it for months and then come back to it. It will die. But, if you nurture it like you’re supposed to and learn as you go along how to take care of it better by those that have had similar ideas and brought them into reality, then you will really know the dreams to reality process and succeed.

Related Article:

http://ajleon.me/the-opportunity-cost-of-not-taking-yourself-seriously

Technorati Tags: business, dreams to reality, lifestyle business, Personal development

Technorati Tags: digital nomad, Four Hour Workweek, lifestyle design

Well, that was an obvious plug for Zemanta, because I love their service and have started using it for all my blogs, but what exactly am I on?

• Setting up local money management classes for people in my community
• Finishing an Amazon Associate website
• Starting two Internet-based businesses
• Testing products on eBay
• Reselling educational products

Let, me share what my experience living just outside of Manhattan has been like for the last few months. I came here at the beginning of June. I had high expectations for finding a high paying job to pour funds into the startup that I founded in April. (I know, I know, how could I just start without funding, but I’m just going to get this 3rd or 4th fiasco out of the way.) Needless to say, I did not find my golden opportunity. I found two part-time contract jobs that are just above slave labor and kept looking. Now, I’m worn out and pissed off that I forgot, even for a minute why I came to New York in the first place. It wasn’t to do this. It wasn’t to complain about a lack of jobs or to burn myself out for $10 and hour.

So, now I have a break from one of my jobs, and I quit the other to focus on what I can create. And, the list above is exactly what I have started. I had to blog about this, because I am a professional educator (or at least my paper from that school in California says so), and now I am purposefully taking that knowledge and applying in more profitable areas.

Oh, I almost forgot the dude I wanted to feature or talk about for a minute. I have been plugging into this dude Eric Thomas since January this year, when I suffered a catastrophic break up with the love of my life. I was listless. It’s actually the reason why I stopped blogging. I wasn’t motivated to do much of anything. I was just confused about what to do with my life after that.

But, then one of my friends shared a video of ETthehiphoppreacher on Facebook, and it rekindled some of the fire I had to do stuff. Big stuff. Crazy stuff. I’m not fully recovered, but I am inspired and managing my life and emotions a lot better now. He’s been talking a lot about imagination lately, and the reality is that everything starts there. I’ve been imagining things done. I’ve been using this energy to propel me past the wall of “fear of the unknown.”

Fear of the Unknown definitely stops us. It’s why some people refuse to try new foods. Crazy, right? But, if you can just imagine yourself enjoying it…when you have those bricks of cement piled up in front of you, it’s your will and your imagination that sees your hand just below the last brick that crumbles them. Not your physical strength, your mental strength does it. It’s always those with a strong mind that fare better in life. Do you work harder on your mind than you do on your body? Or do you neglect it and numb it with sitcoms and Facebooking.

Listen to his story of dogged determination, and tell me if you think your circumstances can stop you:

Technorati Tags: business, Personal development

…limits

…this is my first gallant fail at creating a post outside of WordPress and attempting to import it.

Technorati Tags: business, digital nomad, lifestyle design, new rich

View Map on Google!

I was just thinking about how if I had a traditional job this would not be possible. I picked up my old sales job, joined another coaching program (All champions have coaches/mentors), and I enrolled in a Sales and Marketing AA online. I’ll be starting that in early April. I am getting education to sharpen my skills and give more options for where I want to live and what I want to do with my life.

On a side note, I’m totally psyched about Tim Ferriss’ new book The 4-Hour Body:
The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman

I’ve already started handing it out as a gift to people I care about. I’ve been getting up earlier these days because I want to accomplish more this year, namely: A new apartment. 10K monthly residual. A trip to the Maldives (come with me in December if you’re free). These things are possible for people that spend time on themselves and really think through how they are going to spend the hours in their day.

This is the dude that I’ve been listening to regularly to keep me pumped and focused:

Looking for more interviews? I think I’ve got the message from the few people I was fortunate enough to talk to last year about lifestyle design. I’m going to need to do some rebranding on the website; think I’ll focus on personal development.

Technorati Tags: lifestyle business, lifestyle design, Personal development

The fabulous Wan-Chien!

Jia-Lung the studious!

Yu-Wen the Adorable Accountant!

Hmmm…don’t remember the name of the last one, but it was a spicy noodle dish made with green bean noodles. The first one is cow stomach soup and the second one is tofu and iron egg.

So, I met these three friends back in 2004 and 2005 while working in the national parks. I worked at Mt. Rushmore in 2004 in the gift shop. And I worked in the Grand Canyon in 2005 in the Retail Distribution Center. I supposed that they invited all the people they met to visit them in Taiwan. Now, five years later, through the power of Facebook I was able to coordinate a trip with them.

Dessert Spot had a crazy line…

The line went far into the street. It was wait at your own peril.

Red bean or custard cake snack served up hot.

Had to give you the name of the place "Red Bean Cake," fairly original.

HERE’S A RANDOM MONEY SAVING TIP THAT YOU’VE PROBABLY HEARD BEFORE:
Buy SIM cards for your cellular phone when you go to different countries (not available for all models). Last time I visited Taiwan I just used my global roaming. Can you say expensive? It is 2 dollars a minute and 50 cents a text message with good ole Sprint. The SIM card cost me 350 TWD, about $11.60 USD. The hotel owner set it up for me.

Did I say hotel? I mean temporary room rental guy. Yeah, I used hostelbookers.com, but I definitely didn’t go with a hostel. This guy is smart. He has these low-end apartments that he basically rents out monthly, and he gets extra cash by filling the rooms that are empty with temporary guests like me.

Alex has been extra nice to me. He set up my SIM card with his info, though I read that as a citizen from another country you only need two forms of ID to do this. So, I’m going to give him a shout out. The place I stayed for about $20 USD a night is called Alex’s Oceanview Stay/Alex’s Oceanview Village Home/Alex’s Village Home (in Google Maps).

Oh, one other thing…I found out at dinner that I basically got robbed on the taxi ride to my temporary home. The dude that runs the place, Alex, was like take the bus to the MRT (something like a subway, metro). The taxi guys at the airport were like, “There’s no bus that goes out there!” And one of them just grab the phone from me and hung up. Anyhoo, I had changed over some money for Alex’s airport pickup service, and I think I ended up spending around the same amount. But, when my friends heard that I had paid 1250 TWD or 41.50 USD they gasped and said I paid way too much. A 15 minute cab ride in New York from the airport runs around 60 bucks, so I thought that I had made out okay. They were saying I should have paid only 700 TWD /23.25 USD. A lot of things are cheaper in Taipei.

…going to Taichung tomorrow. Hope to hit up some night markets there.

Technorati Tags: lifestyle design, taipei, taipei taiwan

Interview Snippets:

• Rob’s Take On Lifestyle Design   2:40

• The Heart of Marketing    3:14

-Who you are
-Who you serve
-the value you give them

• Getting Specific to Deliver Value   5:16

• Market Mix and High-Priced Goods   6:07

-personality driven vs. personable 7:20

• Advice to Work and Travel Newbies   8:09

-Clarity of who you are
-Tell people what you want to do
-The way you want to travel, how you want to fund it

*BONUS MATERIAL*

Did you hear me mention that I spoke with Rob before? You heard right. I interviewed Rob before my trip to Myanmar. That 45 minute interview was a Vodburner disaster! Email me if you’d like the audios from the full interview.

Topic Covered Included:

- Purpose (How do you define your purpose?)
- Lifestyle Design vs Traditional Careers Advice (How Rob got started? Influences?)
- Creating businesses that support your lifestyle goals
- Personal / Spiritual Growth (Importance and how it ties into lifestyle design)
- Travel (Fun stories…)
- Wrap up (Final tips and how to contact Rob)

Rad Housing Tip:
Share Your Travel Plans Before You Go.
Rob says that he is currently experiencing, “Silly things that shouldn’t be possible.” This interview was captured while he was cat sitting in a very nice apartment. No housing costs?

A Moment of Honesty:
Rob says traveling can be tiring. When you don’t have the simple things. You have to figure out where’s the supermarket every time you move. It’s difficult to have the creative space for business, because you spending all the energy on those types of things. Consistently meeting new people is quite tiring, because you’re having the conversation.

Connect with Rob At:

http://robozanne.com

Twitter: @robozanne
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/robozanne

Technorati Tags: lifestyle design, marketing strategy

A little background: I went with my school, we toured, and did some volunteer work. It was amazing.

Mu mu (far right, baseball cap) helps us brave the dangerous roads on the way to an open market.

What you see: the backs of me and my roommate's heads. What you probably can't see: The gorgeous hill tribe women with brass rings on their necks and legs opposite of us.

In search of coconut jelly. Fail.

Lights, camera, wind tunnel, cow pattys, go!

Some things are priceless, like getting soaked and having to change into tribal clothes and then getting applauded for changing:)

I think I ate more dessert than all eight of the other people there.

Julie, Rita, and Kevin playing hand games after lunch.

Can you see how enthused I am to practice this song in another language?

I call that the picture of Jebus. The religious fervor in this country whether Buddhist or Christian was only rivaled by the spiciness of the food! The bigger the images and statues the better:/

We were very happy that was not raining while we were in the taxi.

Not having air conditioning in a tropical country was fine for me, walking through puddles in my nice shoes--okay, but getting into the dirty taxis and watching them speed down the half-paved roads only following the rule that everyone needs to get out of my way-that was rough.

After getting over my fears of becoming filthy and dying on the busy roads of Yangon I really enjoyed the taxi rides.

I threw a royal princess hissy fit at the Shwedagon Pagoda because it was rainy and we had to take off our shoes. I didn't care for all the buildings, Buddhist services, or little monks following us around. I was mostly mad about being barefoot though.

I was one of the few, the proud, to ride on the old elevator at the renowned Strand Hotel in Yangon.

Chinatown in Yangon

On the grounds of the Karaweik Palace Buffet. The show had great food, dancing, and a puppet performance. Too bad I was too ill to enjoy it:)

There was a turquoise heart on this boat, so we called it the love boat.

Kevin, Tanner, Mark, and Sam playing with knives.

We voted not to visit this pagoda at Inle LaKe.

Cultural lesson. Women are not supposed to talk to monks. Jenn said it was a fake monk because he was so chatty.

Most memorable person from the trip, Mu Mu. He took care of us: Kept us dry and actually tried to speak to us in broken English.

Technorati Tags: lifestyle design, world travel

MAIN MESSAGE: Be open to explore the possibilities instead of just doing what you’re told.

Technorati Tags: lifestyle design, Personal development

My goal when starting this blog was to interview online business owners so that I could figure out how to create a muse and start living a location independent lifestyle. A few days ago my goal changed…

So I’m going to do affiliate marketing, but my product will be offering the best customer support ever*^^*

CLICK HERE TO GET MLM BLOG SECRETS TODAY

My friend and mentor, Steve Schuitt, The Tube Ninja, is also giving you a 1 hour webinar training on video blogging and video marketing. He will be answering any questions you have about video. He usually charges $300 an hour for his time people! So, your knowledge for how to use a blog as a muse (with or without affiliate marketing) will be complete after this training.

Yes, give me that product, and Steve’s training, and your support thank you!

I Guess I Should Tell You More About The Product Huh?

MLM Blog Secrets is the name. What is it?
It’s the only click-by-click training program
out there that breaks down every aspect of
blogging for prospects into doable steps…

Easy To Copy Video Tutorials!

It Is…Ty Tribble spoon-feeding you the exact methods
he’s used to build a $100,000.00/year income with his blog…

It’s Not…a book that leaves you with more questions than
when you started. Complicated coding and HTML tutorials.

Click here to get MLM Blog Secrets before the June 19th special launch pricing deadline ends!

DETAILS, DETAILS
The course, created by Ty Tribble,
one of the top 100 business bloggers
in the world.

This is what he’s done for you…
He’s divided it into three modules.

And the first module is all about setting
up your blog for maximum effectiveness.

Ty starts off with a quick introduction
that’ll put you in the proper mindset.

Then right after that…

He’s going to show you how to get a domain,
set-up hosting, and install WordPress.

And not only that…

He’s going to show you the best themes,
plug-ins, and widgets to use.

And if that’s not enough…

He’s also going to show you how to create
your first blog page and first blog post.

So by the time you’re finished with the
first module…

——————————————
You’ll Have A Blog That’s Up
And Running And Working Perfectly!
——————————————

Now, if you already have a blog set-up
the first module might seem pretty basic.

But Ty swore he would start from the beginning
and not leave anyone behind.

(Besides, I think you’ll learn some stuff that
no one’s ever taken the time to show you before.)

Now, let’s move onto the second module of where
things start getting more advanced.

The second module is all about…

——————————————
Creating Content That Generates
Leads, Sales, And Sign-Ups
——————————————

Even if you’re NOT a writer!

Ty does most of the work for you by revealing a
long list of websites you can use to copy other
people’s content – without them getting upset!

In fact, when you practice this technique the
way he teaches…

There’s a good chance the person who wrote the
article will actually thank you for using it!

Oh, and by the way…

These articles aren’t just any old articles.

——————————————
They’re The Most Popular Ones On The
Internet Related To Your Specific Niche!
——————————————

Think about that for a second.

You’re providing value to your prospects.

You’re getting leads, sales, and sign-ups
WITHOUT having to write much of anything.

And the person who wrote the article is happy
because you’re plugging them on your blog.

It’s a win-win for everyone involved!

But Ty doesn’t stop there.

Because in the second module he’s also going
to show you exactly how to create your own
content just in case you want to.

So by the time you’re finished with the
second module, not only will you have a blog…

——————————————
You’ll Have Killer
Content For It Too!
——————————————

Content that generates leads, sales, sign-ups,
and keeps prospects coming back!

Now let’s talk about the third module.

The third module is all about getting qualified
prospects to visit your blog…

Now that you’ve set it up the right way and have
good content waiting for them!

Ty’s going to show you lots of different ways to
get the best kinds of traffic.

——————————————
Including The Most Up-To-Date Traffic
Generation Methods He’s Using Right Now!
——————————————

This is stuff he hasn’t shared with anyone else
before other than his team and a small number
of coaching clients who pay him $200/hour.

He’s going to openly show you…

His latest SEO strategies.

His latest social media strategies.

His latest social bookmarking strategies.

His latest blog commenting strategies.

His latest forum commenting strategies.

So by the time you’re done with the third module,
not only are you going to have a blog with great
content on it…

——————————————
You’re Going To
Start Having Traffic!
——————————————

Real traffic and dependable traffic.

And better than that, you’re going to know how to
convert that traffic into loyal affiliates and repeat
customers!

Is Affiliate Marketing For You?

Let’s go through the steps that Timothy Ferriss describes for finding your muse.

Income Autopilot I: Finding The Muse

Running a business vs. owning a business
Decide what you want. Do you want to work 10-14 hours a day in your business or do you want to own a business that you check in on every once in a while.

Find a market – define your customers – then find or develop a product for them.
Don’t be that guy that has this great product idea and then has it made and manufactured only to find that there is no demand for it.

Be a member of your target market and don’t speculate what others need or will be willing to buy. A lot of people have made a fortune by solving their own problems and then selling the solution.

1. Which social, industry, and professional groups do you belong to, have you belonged to, or do you understand, whether dentists, engineers, rock climbers, recreational cyclists, car restoration aficionados, dancers, or other?

2. Which of the groups you identified have their own magazines?

People can dislike you–and you often sell more by offending some–but they should never misunderstand you.

Pricing $50-$200

Option 1: Resell a Product
Option 2: License a Product
Option 3: Create a Product

Option 1 is easiest. Option 2 is easy too, and best if you work out a license deal rather than just buying a license that has been sold to thousands of others. Option 3 is easy if you get help:)

The Back Story:

Watching Simon Sinek’s TEDx speech has had a profound effect on me (I think I must have replayed it 10 times over the last couple of months). I really believe his words which I quoted in the beginning about doing business with people that believe what you believe. That’s only part of the story. Over the course of the last week I’ve been back and forth on doing this promotion because after taking all these teaching courses for my Masters degree, I know that one-on-one is the best model. Not to mention, some statistics Kern put up about people not actually using the products that they purchase.

I was drawn to a few videos on excellent companies while reading Gary Vaynerchuck’s Vook CRUSH IT! So, I was looking at videos of Tony Hsieh of Zappos, Oprah, Steve Jobs, and Simon Sinek talking about Southwest Airlines. All these companies had something in common – superior customer service. Gary Vaynerchuck even had an unusually high standard of service. He to touted this idea of “legacy over currency” and what your grand children will read about you. So my goal is simple, now, I will out-serve every person in my niche and work with people that believe what I believe. I believe in running an online business so that you will always be able to go wherever you want whenever you want.

Hey! When you comment on this post, tell me what you liked and what you didn’t like so that I can deliver you better content!

 

What’s This? This Is An Opt-in Form. Use It To Get Updates And Bonus Trainings From Me In The Future.

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Technorati Tags: ann sieg, gary vaynerchuck, lifestyle design, marketing strategy, start with why, Timothy Ferriss, ty tribble