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

…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.

Name:

Email:

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

Listen to the interview below and you’ll understand what I mean.

Segment 1 (0:13) – What Do You Do and What You Do for Money
Segment 2 (1:01) – The Lifestyle Business Podcast (What the!? Skype cuts out…)
>We are changing the meaning of lifestyle business.
>We enable the personal freedom of everyone involved.
Segment 3 (3:37) - The Tropical MBA
>I have a budget to hire people so…let me find an outsource professional.
>People clambered in to apply for the position
Segment 4 (6:40) - I’m about the hustle
>Blogging is fine for some, but I want to get paid.
Segment 5 (8:53) – Me harassing Dan about teaching his stuff.
>Go to the Internet Business Mastery Academy or Smart Passive Income Blog
and leave me alone, okay?
Segment 6 (10:02) - The art of putting your foot in your mouth, or readers buyers?
>(11:38) “the number one problem with bloggers…”
>Blogging’s good for making connections, but what else?
>I don’t live in Thailand. I live in the Philippines.
Segment 7 (12:23) - How did you make the transition from living in the US?
>Global Arbitrage – I quit and set up a remote office.
>a bit of moonlighting
>(15:00) “my personal assistant is a better copywriter than I am.”
Segment 8 (15:43) – What is your best advice?
>There’s two things that you need to have, and there’s one thing that you need to understand…
>I worked my ass off for this
>(18:37) The work is ultimately more important than your strategic idea of how it’s going work out.
Segment 9 (19:50) – What has your been your most memorable experience out there?
>I’m not telling you…but I’ll paint the picture for you. “I can’t even start to tell you…”
>Check out the blog post on…(and Skype drops off)…17 Reasons Why…

“People that have a clear vision and work hard are successful. That’s it.” -Dan Andrews

Connect with Dan on Twitter:
@TropicalMBA -Dan Andrews

Go to Dan’s website now and check out the Tropical MBA Program. The deadline for applications is June 1st!

Dan’s student from the previous semester, from Location 180,  is shining. I’m a educational profession by trade and I swear by learning by application. If you qualify for this program I would tell you to go for it with all you’ve got, seriously. I want to go, but I have some work to do on myself before I qualify.

Did that video pique your interest? Click the link below to watch the others videos on Dan’s blog.

Get with the program!

Technorati Tags: lifestyle business, lifestyle design, marketing strategy

Interview Highlights

“Office Rebel” 0:24
…professionalism outside of the box
…the best kind of personal branding

“The Famous Four Pound Business Card” 1:18
…what I’m about
…minimalism
…carbon neutral?

“The Story Behind Exilelifestyle.com” 2:23
…a mobile business model
…rearranging priorities, a million now or overseas
…journalism student missing writing
…my readers vote where I go next because
…it’s about the challenge

“Colin’s Advice to Students” 4:35
…number one, be very selective about what you study
…go into technology, communications, business, and/or marketing
…diversify, don’t focus on one field

“Colin On Entrepreneurship” 5:55
…do something you like because…(did you notice me grimace?)
…books that have helped you start your mobile business
…thoughts on the 4HWW
…I work very few hours that I don’t enjoy

“Colin’s Choice of Clients” 8:20
…my clients trust me
…fashion mags, eco-sustainability businesses

(…yeah I finally went with low-resolution after this upload failed multiple times.)

Interview Highlights

“Colin’s Travel Secrets” 0:01
…tourist visas and boarder hoppers
…check the embassy

“Colin’s Plans for 2010″ 1:46
…New Zealand
…a new book
…Exilelifestyle.com is my excuse to do crazy stuff
…write books, get speech engagements

“The way I network” 4:06
…party networking?

“Creating Products” 4:53
…the Goodies Section
…people requested wallpapers, my illustrations on t-shirts, books

“I Can’t Act…” 6:21
…do a YouTube Series please
…pitches from television networks declined

“Next Stops…” 6:55
…Estero to Los Angeles
…Los Angeles to New York
…New York to Los Angeles
…Los Angeles to Sydney
…Sydney to Christchurch (holla!)

Some of the Backstory

You certainly can’t forget meeting Colin Wright. The day that I was supposed to be meeting him I was running late, so naturally, I just sped all the way there. I arrived in the area on time only to get lost. I was following Google directions that led me to some retirement community instead of the Coconut Point Mall in Estero. So, I wasted about 30 minutes of his time, and he was more than nice about it as I sent texts (while driving) about being lost. Unfortunately, he was not able to help me find the mall because he didn’t know the area. Then luckily, I got low on gas and stopped to refuel. When I stopped, I asked for directions to the mall only to find out that it was two minutes down the road. If I would have kept driving for two minutes after the retirement community I would have found the mall!

So I arrive there (at Starbucks) and walk around. I was thinking geez all these ritzy folk, this is nothing like my town. I round the corner and there’s Colin with his i-Pod and fancy brown carrier bag. Play it cool. Play it cool. I was hyperventilating because this was the same guy I had seen in the Mixergy interview; high society. Don’t panick. Be cool. I managed to muster up a “Hey.” And right after that point, he greeted me with that crystal white smile, and all my anxieties melted away. Colin was cool peoples, and not mad at all that I was 30 minutes late. He helped me find a good shooting location, and then you would think that things would be cool from there, but no. I didn’t know how to use my video camera, and I didn’t have my interview questions.

So, Colin had to help me set up the camera and show me how to use it. And then, because I had brought a crappy old Dell laptop that wouldn’t start without an outlet, Colin offered his iPod so I could find the interview questions. The interview went relatively well, besides my weird expressions and staring at the people that walked by multiple times to listen in. After that came the most important lesson; Colin said he was not busy and that he had his whole afternoon open. My thoughts…a CEO not working on a work day, this is odd. This doesn’t normally happen folks! Colin had made time for small talk, that was the most important lesson. I was planning on jetting home right after the interview to finish my term papers, but I made time too.

We headed back over to Starbucks and Colin got his favorite doughnut (regular), and he got me some junk food from Starbucks too. And then we chatted about random stuff for a couple of hours. I have some of the videos from the rest of our conversation on my YouTube channel. When the sun started setting, I made the comment about it probably being time to go. Colin had walked to the mall. I know I was like, “walking?” Who does that? He was very nice and walked me to me car, and then he gestured inviting a hug. PANIC! No I don’t want to hug you, I’ll spontaneously combust! I give him a hug and tell him to be safe. So ends or begins the tale.

More Exciting Stuff!

I got a chance to be a contributor to Colin’s new book! So naturally I have to tell y’all about it, and yes this huge pic here leads to the page where you can buy it now. It’s an affiliate link, just so you know.

My Thoughts On Networking Awesomely

Let me be in the ranks of those that suggest an alternate title for this book:
Life Will Get Easier After Reading This Book
Yep, that should be the title, hands down. When you’re reading this book you can tell that Colin has done a lot of personal research on the topic of networking in every situation. Not to mention, the countless other stories and tips that are included on the topic. He gave one tip on how to make yourself a magnet to others, and it doesn’t even require “writing a book so you’re considered and expert” like I’ve heard so many times before.

The book is written in straight forward language that anyone should be able to understand. Trust me, when he breaks down many of the intricacies of social interactions you’ll be saying, “It can’t be that simple!” And then you’ll be saying, “This is pure genius!” I was also impressed by how beautiful the book was; the pictures were so vivid and each one told a little part of the story. If you need a laugh and you truly want to understand how to forge new and valuable relationships then you should pick up this book today.

What Others Are Saying About Networking Awesomely

“Colin’s book is actually about something far greater than networking–it’s about getting out there and learning how to become a mover and a shaker in order to proactively take control over your life.”

-Ash Ambirge of The Middle Finger Project

“Colin employs the help of countless other bloggers…the result is nothing short of remarkable.”

“Colin takes a look at effective networking techniques that are equal parts entertaining and practical. He not only shows how to network awesomely but points out many of the common pitfalls that people make by “networking douchebaggedly” [and I thought all the variations of douchebag had been uses up]. Colin employs the help of countless other bloggers to weigh in with their thoughts on networking & the result is something nothing short of remarkable.”

-Joel Runyon of Blog Of Impossible Things

“I…came out feeling like I’d just read an enthusiastic how-to guide on life.”

“Honestly? Networking Awesomely defied my expectations. I went in expecting a comprehensive manual on the intricacies of business networking, but came out feeling like I’d just read an enthusiastic how-to guide on life. Looking beyond the networking terminology, what you’ve crafted here reads like a pretty slick primer on just being awesome – being the kind of person who can captive a room and establish lasting friendships everywhere he goes.

-Matt Madeiro of MattMadiero.com

So How Do You Think Colin Did On Executing His Plans? And What’s Your Best Networking Tip?

Technorati Tags: how to socialize, lifestyle design