Well, okay, a former car thief, but still.

Who is my hero? Chris Guillebeau, whose Unconventional Book Tour for his new book, The Art of Nonconformity, starts today.

Okay, the car thief part is a bit inflated, though Chris did indeed steal a car at age 15, a tidbit I learned in a Question the Rules (affiliate link) interview. What he’s done in the intervening years, though, is a lot more interesting than this sensationalist factoid.

And truth be told, I have a lot of heroes, both the long-dead kind (Joan of Arc, Queen Elizabeth I, Sojourner Truth, to name a few) and the contemporary kind (Gloria Steinem and Jill Robinson spring to mind).

But Chris occupies a special place in my pantheon of heroes for a few simple reasons:

1) Timing

(Mundane, but true, and the only reason that has nothing to do with Chris. Timing may not be everything, but it’s a big thing.)

When I first discovered Chris and his blog, The Art of Nonconformity, my life was at a turning point. I’d tolerated “pretty good, but not what I really, really want” for years, but a series of personal crises had gotten me to a place of desperation. I was finally ready to make a change, but I had no idea how.

Right at that moment, this guy appeared on my radar who was actually living what he really, really wanted. Not settling for what the world told him he could get, but dreaming big, and really going after his dreams.

And making a living at it, to boot!

Chris showed that maybe what I really, really wanted was possible after all. I was primed to listen and learn.

2) He’s a beacon for the rest of us

Chris isn’t just living the life he wants; he’s also leading the way for all of us who want to live the lives we want. His writing, his impressive line of Unconventional Guides (affiliate link) – all are crafted to help people with big dreams to make them reality.

Chris first shows you that it can be done, and then helps you do it.

3) He makes his own rules

From stealing a car (okay, probably not something to try at home), to dropping out of high school yet still graduating with two bachelor’s degrees in two years, to volunteering in Africa for four years, to creating several profitable online businesses, to setting a goal of visiting every country on the planet by the time he turns 35 (at the time of this writing, he’s at 149/192), to creating a massive following and thriving business through generosity, to self-funding a 63-city book tour, Chris has never done things by the book.

4) He goes after big goals

Did I mention his goal of visiting every country in the world by his 35th birthday? And writing a book? Then there’s the World Domination Summit he’s in the middle of organizing, to bring like-minded nonconformists together in one place for a few days.

Oh, and I think changing the world counts as a pretty big goal.

5) He models generosity

It’s all very well to create the life you really, really want and step on people along the way. Or to make a fortune from exploiting people. Chris is just the opposite.

Not only is he generous with his time (he gave me a fantastic Thriving Artists Project interview), his energy (did I mention 4 years of volunteer work in Africa?), and his information (unlike some people I know, Chris is not tight-fisted here), but he’s generous with his money as well.

The Unconventional Guides affiliate program (yep, that’s an affiliate link), which has paid me back and then some for all of the courses I’ve purchased from him, has a 51% commission – the most generous I’ve seen.

But that’s not all: Chris is donating 20% of all royalties from the sale of The Art of Nonconformity to the AONC partner project with Charity: Water for at least 12 months following publication. And for each reader he meets who purchases the book during the Unconventional Book Tour or World Domination Summit events, he will donate an additional 80% of his royalties, for a total of 100%.

Is this guy cool, or what?

6) He’s a model of running a profitable business ethically, and with customer service that cannot be beat

So this one is kind of embarrassing (for me, not for Chris).

Months back, I wrote a review of the $100 Business Forum, an online course that Chris ran with Pam Slim. The course was top-notch, but I found the Ning platform they were using frustrating. I was writing my review late at night, when I was tired and cranky, and, well, I clicked “publish” when I would have been a lot better off sleeping on it and reading it again with the objectivity that a good night’s sleep can bring.

When you’re tired and cranky, sometimes you don’t realize how much it infects everything you write…

The next morning I woke up to a personal email from Chris, and a complete refund for my course tuition.

Needless to say, I felt awful, and I immediately purged the gratuitous crankiness from the review.

(I also made a mental note to never publish a review when I’m tired and cranky.)

And Chris instantaneously became my Customer Service Hero, because I realized that with that $100, he had bought himself a customer for life. And isn’t that what all of us business people want?

7) He doesn’t let fear stop him

On page 59 of The Art of Nonconformity, Chris shares a few of his fears:

• I’m only on chapter 3. Will I ever finish writing this book?
• What if it sucks? What if I get bad reviews? (Or worse, what if no one pays attention?)
• I’m afraid of the forces of mediocrity and lethargy. I’m afraid of becoming too comfortable or getting lazy.
• When I travel, I’m afraid of trying to speak another language.
• Sometimes I feel paralyzed. People say they want to travel with me, and I think, “Oh no–then they would figure out that it’s not always that exciting.”
• I’m afraid that people will think I’m faking it.
• I’m scared of getting older and missing out on something I should have already done. (In the words of John Mayer, “I’m only good at being young.”)

Did you see the one about being afraid of trying to speak another language? Yet Chris has been to 149 countries (and counting).

Rock on.

****

In short, Chris is my hero because he inspires me, and helps me believe that I can set big goals and achieve them too.

Would you like to be inspired? Do you want to set your own rules, live the life you want, and change the world? (And help out a great cause at the same time.) If you’ve ever thought, “There must be more to life than this,” The Art of Nonconformity is for you. It’s an easy read, but the kind of book you’ll want to go back to again and again.

In the words of Tyler Tervooren from Advanced Riskology, it’s How To Change The World for $10.08.

You can’t get better than that!

PS – I also recommend catching up with Chris in person on his Unconventional Book Tour. If you make it to the San Francisco stop, I’ll see you there!

On guitar: Chris Gramp and Mike Wollenberg

On bass: Karen Horner

As is the case with all camps, the humor here is mostly in-jokes.

A couple of keys:

1) All week long I was in guitar classes taught by Chris and Mike: Chris taught a class called “Your First Lead,” and Mike taught beginning jazz guitar. As you’ll probably deduce from this recording, there was much discussion in Chris’s class about not using too many notes, and not forgetting to breathe. And yes, we all had to sing our guitar solos.

2) The big news around camp for a couple of days was when Chris’s wife, Nina, lost her wedding ring in the river. Much joking was made around them now being single again. Then, lo and behold, someone actually found the wedding ring in the river, and they were restored to their marital state.

(And apropos my July 15 post on comparing yourself to where you used to be, rather than to your heroes or your goals: listening to this track, though a bit painful, was great validation of how far I’ve come vocally in the past two years. Onward!)

Oh, and btw, although you can’t see this on this audio, Chris and Mike were beet red during much of this song.

Enjoy!

Teach Me Tonight-CCMC 2008

Unless I’m there with 100+ independent music artists who are serious about our music and learning from Tim Sweeney & Associates how to develop our music careers. Then Vegas is the place to be.

The info Tim has to share is priceless, but the connections with other music artists is, if anything, even more valuable. I’ve been invited to perform in New Jersey and Chicago, so watch my music schedule for some out of town gigs later this year.

One highlight of the Music Strategies conference is always the concerts where every participant gets a chance to perform. Enjoy the video below, filmed live on Saturday night, and let me know what you think!

(Kinda cool that I get to say I played Caesar’s Palace.)

And now, after an exhausting day of trying to catch up with emails and client deadlines (yeah, right), I’m going to keep this post short and head out for a walk by the Bay.

Steve Myerson on keyboard, Kristin Korb on bass, Jay Setar on drums.

And in case you can’t understand the words, here are the lyrics:

Online Dating Blues

Late one night, you’re all alone at your machine,
Suddenly a website appears on your screen.
It’s a dating site. (You know the kind) You think, “What have I got to lose?”
(Well, $34.99 a month, it turns out!)
That’s how it starts, you’ve got the Online Dating Blues.

So you type in your credit card to start shopping for men.
You check off what you’re looking for: handsome, rich and thin.
Only three guys pop up. And honestly, if you had to choose… 
(Maybe being single isn’t so bad after all!)
That’s how it goes, you’ve got the Online Dating Blues.

You check your mailbox in the morning. You stay up late at night.
You know you should be working, but instead you’re on the site,
Reading profiles, and checking email every hour for any news.
(On the hour, and the half hour, too!) 
That’s how it goes, you’ve got the Online Dating Blues.

Now you’ve browsed three dozen profiles, and you’re starting to wonder
Why all of the men your age want someone fifteen years younger!
It’s enough to make a girl just want to give up and go out shopping for shoes!
(Time for a little retail therapy.)
That’s when you know you’ve got the Online Dating Blues!

–

You decide to take a gamble, so you email seven guys.
But your ego takes a beating when not one of them replies!
It’s like playing the slots in Vegas: most of the time you lose! 
(But you keep trying for that jackpot.)
That’s how it goes, you’ve got the Online Dating Blues.

Now you’re deep in correspondence, the best you’ve had in years.
You start to get your hopes up then the guy just disappears!
He won’t return your emails or your phone calls, it’s like he handed you a Rubik’s Cube.
(Now you’re obsessing, driving yourself crazy trying to figure it out.)
That’s how it goes, you’ve got the Online Dating Blues.

You check your mailbox in the morning. You stay up late at night.
You know you should be working, but instead you’re on the site,
Reading profiles, and checking email every hour for any news.
(Ah, hell, you know you’re checking it every five minutes!)
That’s how it goes, you’ve got the Online Dating Blues.

Now you finally get a date, but when he walks in the door
You realize his pictures are from 20 pounds ago!
(And he wasn’t a stringbean then…) I guess it’s just called “paying your dues.”
(This kind of thing happens to everyone online.)
That’s how it goes, you’ve got the Online Dating,
That’s how it goes, you’ve got the Online Dating,
That’s how it goes, you’ve got the Online Dating Blues! 

©Melissa Dinwiddie 2009

Serendipity! As I leap off into the abyss and wrestle with self-doubt, I treasure word-gems like this to keep me moving forward.

Enjoy!

–

Lean In

Standing on the edge
The precipice of change
Anticipation vibrates
Reaching out to touch
The misty veil of old
Becoming new

Lean in

Comfort and familiar
Whispers safety behind
Uncertainty, unknown
Beckons from beyond
One step, one moment
And all the world can change

Lean in

Let go and fall
Feel the wind rise up
Lift me out of darkness
Arms reach out and become
Wings that catch the wind
As I soar above

Lean in

Lean into life
Into uncertainty and fear
Reach out, into and through
The misty veil of doubt
To find the space between
Where magic lives

–

Blogger, poet and time rescuer Emily Long is a social media master, who helps busy professionals, artists, managers, agents and entrepreneurs with her services and Social Media Kickstart Program.

She also offers an e-book, A Beginner’s Guide to Facebook, Twitter & Beyond!, which I’m looking forward to reading (but have not rescued enough time to manage as of this writing!), and which you can get for free by subscribing to her e-newsletter, Rescuing Time.

–

(This post is cross-posted on The Dating Queen.)

In today’s AONC newsletter Chris posted a poem by the amazing Mary Oliver, whose work has always moved and inspired me.

What perfect, serendipitous timing!

Oliver expresses exactly what I’m feeling right now. I’m reposting it here in the hopes that it may inspire you, my imaginary audience.

The Journey

One day you finally knew

what you had to do, and began,

though the voices around you kept shouting

their bad advice–

though the whole house

began to tremble

and you felt the old tug

at your ankles.

“Mend my life!”

each voice cried.

But you didn’t stop.

You knew what you had to do,

though the wind pried

with its stiff fingers

at the very foundations,

though their melancholy

was terrible.

It was already late enough,

and a wild night,

and the road full of fallen

branches and stones.

But little by little,

as you left their voices behind,

the stars began to burn

through the sheets of clouds,

and there was a new voice

which you slowly

recognized as your own,

that kept you company

as you strode deeper and deeper

into the world, determined to do

the only thing you could do–

determined to save

the only life you could save.

~Mary Oliver