I had the great pleasure of interviewing Tara Mohr this morning, and I think you’ll enjoy our conversation. (20 minutes, 17 seconds.)

Some background:

A woman reserves the right to change her mind, and on Thursday, I changed mine.

After swearing I would not sign up for any  new online courses, I handed over my credit card and registered for Tara Mohr’s Playing Big. (I was already proud to be an affiliate partner for the program, but now I’m a paid member, too!)

Have you ever noticed how making a commitment to something changes the energy around it? In a matter of seconds I went from “Ack! I don’t have time! I’m not ready! I don’t have the money! I’m fine without this!” to a sense of serene groundedness. An inner knowing that this is absolutely right for me, right now.

Combined with a fizzy excitement at the big, exciting move I’m making!

Watch the video above for my conversation with Tara about what it means to play big.

Hint: if you’re thinking playing big is just for celebrities, politicians, and CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, that’s not the kind of playing big we’re talking about. As Tara put it, she could have just as well titled her program Liberating Your Inner Creative Voice. Because in the end, it all comes down to the same thing.

If you want to hear more from Tara about the Playing Big program itself, click here to listen to an information call Tara hosted on Thursday (you’ll hear me asking the very first question, which is what helped me come to my final decision to sign up.) And click here to read all about Playing Big (and if you’re ready to take the plunge, join me in the course! As a thank you for buying through my link I’ll give you a 6-month membership in my Creative Ignition Club and ClutterBusters group. :))

Enjoy the video, and I’ll just leave you with…

A message from the Universe

Someone (I think it might have been Tara, originally..?) tweeted recently:

Dear Brilliant Woman:

I made you brilliant so you could heal the world. Please start playing bigger.

Love,
The Universe

Amen.

Let me know your reactions!

Where have you installed your own “glass ceilings”? What if you played as big as you truly could? What kind of impact could you make? 

PS — Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!

The following is borrowed in whole from Jonathan Fields, because I think it’s brilliant and hilarious:

[FTC Disclosure - You should always assume that pretty much every link on this blog is an affiliate link and that if you click it, find something you like and buy it, I'm gonna make some serious money. Now, understand this, I'm not talking chump change, I'm talking huge windfall in commissions, bling up the wazoo and all sorts of other free stuff. I may even be given a mansion and a yacht, though honestly I'd settle most of the time for some organic dark chocolate and clean socks. Oh, and if I mention a book or some other product, just assume I got a review copy of it gratis and that me getting it has completely biased everything I say. Because, books are like a drug to me, put one in my hand and you own my ass. Ethics be damned! K, you've been warned. Huggies and butterflies. ]

I’m still waiting for my mansion and yacht. And bling, too, btw.

So how’m I doing in my quest to re-invent my life, follow my evolving Blisses and create the life I really, really want?

I just spent a week in a time machine.

At least that’s how it felt. The past seven days have gone by in a flash, but on the other hand it feels like last Monday was about a month ago.

Why? Well, Monday marked the start of Action Studio, an intensive course with Sinclair of Self-Activator to hone in on your brand and build a new income stream in 30 days.

Since then I’ve been immersed in exercises to discover my primary and secondary brand archetypes (Creator, flavored by Caregiver, Sage, Every Woman and Lover, if you’re curious), and wrap my head around how that applies to my business.

All with the support of the most loving, brilliant community of women + one guy I’ve ever encountered.

Did I mention it’s intense? Let me tell you: it’s intense.

As in epiphanies popping like popcorn. As in rethinking every single thing we’re doing, from the ground up. As in “cast members” regularly admitting to liberal doses of tears in between the excited revelations.

Yep, major shifts are happening, and it’s a glory to behold.

Want the inside scoop? Check out the gossip from the set, posted Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays by three of my amazingly talented fellow cast members over at the Action Studio site.

The downside of popcorn epiphanies

All this intensity has me bouncing off the walls with excitement as I bubble over with a new sense of clarity of purpose, direction, and ideas.

It also has me utterly exhausted, because when I get in a super-creative phase like this, my insomnia kicks in.

Insomnia. Sucks.

Sometimes, however, exhaustion is a gift. Kinda like getting walloped upside the head with a 2×4 by the Universe is a gift, if you’re willing to take the lesson such wallops are there to teach.

In this case, I’m getting clear that the overextended schedule I’ve been scrambling to keep up with is simply unsustainable.

Yes, I like being engaged in lots of projects. Yes, I prefer being busy to being bored, but this is ridiculous.

So tonight I made some decisions that have been brewing for months. Decisions I’ve been in conflict about, not yet ready to implement.

All of them aligned with my new, clearer-than-ever understanding of exactly what I want to be doing and with/for whom.

Do you know what it feels like to stand on bedrock? To stand right in your sweet spot?

Thanks to a mere week in Action Studio, that’s where I am on the inside. Finally.

It feels amazing.

Now my job is to bring my outside into alignment with my inside. In other words, I have a lot of work to do.

And given that I already have more work on my plate than any sane human would try to juggle at one time, it’s really, really clear that something has to give.

Destruction makes space for generation

Letting go of something (“destroying”) is always hard, even when you know it’s to make space for a bigger dream. But when your goal is to live the life you really, really want, not just the close-but-not-quite life, it’s gotta happen.

The only way to rock out the great is to let go of the good, dump the “almost right but not exactly.”

Scary, and painful, but true.

So watch for changes in this space.

And now I’m off to see if this is the night I finally beat the insomnia dragon. Hold a good thought…

Note 4/28/11: The call with Sinclair already happened, BUT you can still sign up by clicking here and I’ll email you the recording. Major epiphanies were involved!

–

Did you hear the news?

Tomorrow (Thursday) at 5pm PST I’m doing a special call with the brilliant Sinclair of Self Activator, and you’re invited! Register here to join us (it’s totally free, and if you can’t be live on the call, you’ll still get to hear the recording).

Sinclair will be talking about 3 ways she sees creative entrepreneurs stallout between the passion they’ve got, and a strategic lucrative biz that creates the impact they want. (Sound familiar?)

In other words, the stuff that keeps creatives stuck, poor and playing small. (Btw, watch for more on that theme real soon from these quarters… hint, hint…)

Plus I hear the call will reveal some backstage secrets from Action Studio, which is about to relaunch. And who doesn’t like secrets?

Oh, and Sinclair might even “hotseat” somebody – help you pinpoint ways you can get past your own stallouts. But of course you gotta be live on the call for that.

The backstory

(In case you haven’t read it already):

I’ve followed Sinclair over the past year, taken advantage of a number of her free offerings (and gotten enormous, mind-shifting value from them). I’ve watched her grow her business by being totally herself, and totally un-spammy.

I was impressed. More than impressed.

I wanted to be like her!

Or, well, not like her — I wanted to be totally me, but totally rockin’ it as me the way she’s totally rockin’ it as her. Capiche?

So when I decided it was time to level up my business and work with a coach, Sinclair was the one I chose to work with.

The plot

Part of that picture is that I’ll be a participant in Action Studio 2.0. I’m ready to take my creative biz to the next level, and I know Action Studio is gonna help me do that in a big way.

Of course, we’re all on different paths, and that’s cool. Not everyone is going to be in the right place for a course like Action Studio. I wasn’t, when it originally launched some months back. But you can learn a lot from seeing shifts that are happening for other people. Which is, of course, why I share so much about my own journey on this blog!

Plus with Sinclair, you can learn a lot from her free stuff! And she’s giving out free stuff like crazy right now, in the lead-up to the launch.

Including Tomorrow’s (Thursday’s) call. Hope you can make it!

I also strongly recommend you sign up to get your name on the door, so you can get all that free goodness for yourself. Today Sinclair sent a questionnaire that revealed what archetypes you most strongly resonate with, which got the wheels spinning in my head. (I’m a Creator/Caretaker. Surprised?)

The sub-plot

If you are in the right place to do Action Studio this time around, I’ll sweeten the deal by offering 3 hours of my time to drill down into your blocks, uncover your gifts, and strategize how to best use your passions to create total abundance in your life and biz. Plus I’ll include a year of access to the Thriving Artists Project for you or a friend.

At my current pricing, that’s almost $550 in added value. And priceless if you think about how much it will push you and your business forward.

Either way, sign up for the call and be ready to glean some awesomeness from it (and bring your questions). Can’t wait to see you there!

xo,
Melissa

So how’m I doing in my quest to re-invent my life, follow my evolving Blisses and create the life I really, really want?

–

You may have noticed that the Weekly Review went AWOL. If you were wondering why, here’s the story. (And no, the Weekly Review did not get drunk and stumble back to the base with a tattoo it didn’t remember getting. Though that would have made for a good story.)

–

Question: Have you ever had way too much to do and not enough time to do it?

Err.. Let me rephrase that.

When you have way too much to do and not enough time to do it, what do you do?

Aside from feeling stressed out and running around like a chicken with its head cut off, that is.

If you’re smart, you probably prioritze.

I call it Business & Life Triage.

I look at my list of urgent stuff to get done like an ER doctor looks at incoming wounded, then tackle the critical ones first (assuming they’re the most likely to survive, of course) and leave the rest to languish until I can get to them.

Sometimes B&L Triage is pretty easy. Migraines tend to trump everything, which is what happened Sunday night when I finally turned to the Weekly Review.

That doesn’t, of course, explain the Weekly Review still being AWOL on Monday.

Ah, triage.

It’s frustrating at best, and definitely not a good long-term way to exist. And since I seem to keep adding items to my ongoing task list, one of my big priorities lately has been to move as many tasks as possible off of my own plate and on to someone else’s.

In other words, delegating. To (get this) an assistant!

Or, more precisely, a Virtual Assistant.

That word may as well be gold-plated, it has felt like such an out-of-reach treasure for so long. But a couple of months ago I started paying my 365 Days of Genius partner’s VA (short for Virtual Assistant), Katy, to do the data entry for the daily “Genius Resources” on that site.

The up-front costs (aside from cash)

This tactic was not without its challenges. I had to put time in on the “front end,” setting up a system to capture the info I needed to load and get that info to Katy (for which I discovered an amazing new technology called a “spreadsheet – maybe you’ve heard of it?) And since I hadn’t been using this system from the start, I had to change my workflow.

At first, all of this required more work from me as I scrambled like mad to get all the necessary info filled in for months of resources.

But, here’s the beauty: once I’d established the system and put my virtual assistant to work, my workload dramatically decreased.

Ahhhh!

All the time I’d been spending loading stuff onto the site? I could now use that time for other stuff.

Stuff I’d not only rather do, but that the Universe would really much rather I do – my special gifts. Stuff that only I can do. Like making my art, writing my writing, recording interviews, working with my clients.

A taste is not enough

Loading the daily Genius Resource links for 365 DofG was time-consuming, but in fact it only made up a tiny fraction of the time-sucking things that have to get done in order to keep the engine of my business humming along.

For a long time I felt stuck around delegating more work, though.

How could I spend more money on getting help with my triage – most of which is stuff that doesn’t directly produce income – when what I needed was to make more money?

Sometimes I’m a little slow. A little resistant. I confess that things often have to get really bad before I finally wake up to reality.

In this case, it took the launching of my new not-quite Daily ArtFix newsletter. Suddenly I had created for myself a whole series of new tasks that had to get done almost every day: putting my art up on my site, scheduling listings of the originals for sale on EBay, scheduling the actual newsletter to send out to my list.

What was I thinking?

When was I going to have time to work with clients, write new content, create the stuff I’ve been brewing behind the scenes, and make my art (let alone exercise, sleep and eat)?!

The old, poverty-mindset me would have said, “Oh my god, this is too much!” and simply dropped the newsletter idea as unmanageable.

The new, big-thinking, creative-abundance-mindset me said, “Oh my god, this is too much! I need help!”

Sure, paying for help felt scary, but when I looked at the amount of time it would liberate for me to work on creating more value – value that would ultimately make me more money – it was a no-brainer.

That doesn’t mean it wasn’t still scary, because it was.

It is.

But scary doesn’t mean bad. It just takes some getting used to.

Getting around internal roadblocks

Never having delegated ongoing tasks before, I had to overcome some internal resistance. What if she did it wrong? What if she isn’t reliable?

I had to keep reminding myself of the payoff: that the more time I liberate from the drudge work that anyone can do, the more time I have to spend on the high-value stuff that only I can do.

Granted, I still had to put a ton of time into setting up the systems in order to be able to delegate: I had to create a method for holding and organizing the data to be entered (did I mention that amazing technology, the spreadsheet?) And I had to train my virtual assistant on exactly how to enter it on the various sites.

Thank god for Camtasia, my video-creation software! Since Katy’s on the other side of the world, I recorded several videos of me walking through & narrating every step of every task I needed help with.

This helped me clarify in my own mind exactly what needed to be done, and showed me additional fields I needed to add to my growing spreadsheet.

Within a few days, the first “trial” batch of tasks was ready. I sent them to Katy (only later remembering to set up sharing in the Google docs so she could get to the data! Doh!)

Quick as a bunny, Katy loaded up my stuff. Now, the next step: reviewing her work.

I was pleased to see that she’d done a great job. Just a few things were not exactly as I wanted them, so I emailed notes, with illustrative screenshots, and we were off to the races!

I have a virtual assistant!

Yep, suddenly, after years of longing for one, and putting a little time and effort in at the front end, I actually have an assistant!

And here’s the most beautimous thing: now that I have a virtual assistant, I keep thinking of new tasks I can delegate to her.

It’s kind of addictive.

Plus I’m seeing how I might delegate other tasks, for which she’s not qualified, to someone else who is.

Did somebody say “leveling up”?

That’s exactly what I’m doing here, and it feels great.

And speaking of leveling up…

If getting going with an honest-to-god virtual assistant is Phase One of leveling up, Phase Two is something else that’s been brewing recently: working with a mentor to help me power forward.

In the past year of blogging, I’ve sought out people ahead of me on the path whom I could learn from. I’ve downloaded more free resources than I can count. I’ve bought several excellent paid resources (the Empire Building Kit, Question the Rules, Engaging E-Courses, a bunch of Dave Navarro’s stuff, to name a few). I’ve taken advantage of free consulting from Catherine Caine, Jenny Bones, Lee Stranahan, Michael Martine, Peter Shallard and Sinclair, among others. (And why yes, I’m affiliates for all of the courses mentioned above. And the lovely Ms. Catherine Caine. I’d be affiliates for the others, because they all ROCK, but I don’t think they have general affiliate programs. Just sayin’.)

All of these have been more than great. They’ve each been stepping stones on my journey to where I am now.

And now I’m ready to take it up a notch.

I’ve known for awhile that I would eventually want to work with someone more closely, and this week I actually took the leap.

A little before I was prepared to, but that often how these things go.

Whom did I choose?

The first consulting session I can remember having was just about a year ago, with Sinclair. I remember sobbing into the phone, knowing I wanted to get… somewhere… but not entirely sure where.

I wanted what she had: confidence, clarity, and the ability to make a difference for other people.

At the time, I think she was charging $180/hour.

Now she offers intensive month-long mentorships, to the tune of $6,000.

She’s grown from a $100,000 business last year, to a $250,000 business this year.

All without a whiff of spamminess.

That’s what I’m talkin’ about.

So when Sinclair sent her list the info for a free coaching call, I jumped with both feet. And when at the end of the (awesome) call she offered a steep discount on a 3-hour intensive with her, I gritted my teeth and handed over my credit card.

And when she invited me to be an affiliate and offered me early entrance into the upcoming session of Action Studio, I jumped again.

Now listen up

Not only will I be sharing my experiences with Sinclair and Action Studio over the next several weeks, but on Thursday, I’ll be interviewing Sinclair (who will reveal some secrets from the set of Action Studio). AND I’ll be opening the phones up for questions too.

From YOU, that is!

Yep, we’ll talk about creative, profitable biz-building – how to be more authentic than ever and build your business around that.

Not much cooler than that!

Again, that call will be:

Thursday, April 28
5pm Pacific (that’s 8pm Eastern)

Want in? Just sign up below and I’ll email you the dial-in info.

Oh, and one more thing: if Action Studio feels like a good fit for you and you decide to join me in this session, I’ll actually sweeten the deal and give you a free year of access to the Thriving Artists Project ($97 value) and a 60-minute consulting session with me ($150 value). That’s almost $250 of rock-your-creative-business value on top of the supercharging you’ll get from Action Studio.

The catch? You just need to make sure you use my affiliate link to sign up for Action Studio in order to get the bonuses.

Can’t wait!

So how’m I doing in my quest to re-invent my life, follow my evolving Blisses and create the life I really, really want?

Talk about creative abundance: on Monday I interviewed artist and shaman Laura Hollick, of Soul Art Studio, for the Thriving Artists Project, and added yet another shining star to my growing constellation of impressive role models.

In fact, Laura found me, rather than the other way around. She stumbled across the Thriving Artists Project website, saw that we are doing the same thing in our own unique ways, and reached out to say hello. We made a date, shared stories on Skype a few days later, and I knew I had to interview her for TAP!

(That interview did not disappoint – Laura’s story of going from poverty and “starving artist” thinking, to a job as a letter carrier, and ultimately to wild success as an artist and shaman, a 3,000 square foot studio, a worldwide following and a thriving income is gripping and inspiring. TAP members, watch for it soon!)

A Brief Review of the Comparison Trap

Often when I look at someone who’s steps ahead of me in creating their vision and developing their business, as Laura is, I find myself caught in the Comparison Trap. Envy, that familiar green face, rears its ugly head, and I inevitably feel badly about myself for not making as much money/being as prolific/having as large a following/being as successful/[insert envied thing here] as the person I admire.

Since my entree to the Blogosphere just over a year ago, I’ve intentionally sought out role models to help direct me, putting myself in a prime position to be caught in the Comparison Trap, consumed with envy and bad feelings. When I set about to create the Thriving Artists Project, my opportunities for getting trapped increased even more, as I regularly found new thriving artists to interview.

Don’t get me wrong – doing the interviews has been an extremely effective way to get to know more about other thrivers, learn their secrets and new tricks to apply to my own business and life. It’s been a huge boon, and given me exactly what I’d hoped it would: inspiration and real-life role models.

But sometimes I’ve still found myself dragged down by the Comparison Trap.

“I should be doing things like [Blogger X].”

“No, wait, I want to be like [Artist Y]. That’s how I should do things.”

“Damn, I wish I were as successful as [Life Coach Z]. I need to be more like her.”

“Ooh.. I love how [Slasher Q] combines her blogging, art and coaching! She’s the one I want to emulate!”

Of course I emulate aspects of each of them – that’s why they’re role models – but much as I might envy a given person’s success and want to copy it for myself, one thing I’ve always known is that, in fact, I’m not copying someone else’s model, nor do I want to.

I am creating my own, unique model, and the more I can vibrate at my own energy and create a model that’s uniquely mine, the more I will attract the people who resonate with me.

Building My Constellation

So yes, I do want to emulate my role models. I just don’t want to try to be a carbon copy of any of them.

What I really want is to emulate bits and pieces of each of them. And it felt to me like some kind of concrete… thingy… might help with that.

So here’s what I did:

Tuesday morning, while writing in my journal, I decided to put all of my heroes into a sort of mind map, in order to see all of them in one place. In woo-woo terminology, every one of the people I admire is vibrating at a different energy. A unique color, let’s say. When I look at them one at a time, I automatically start vibrating to match that particular color. (In non-woo-woo terminology, I start thinking I need to do things their way, try to be more like them.)

But that color isn’t actually my color vibration, it’s theirs. And when I vibrate too intensely at that color (which happens a lot if I’m operating out of envy!), it’s all too easy for me to forget that there are other colors that make up my personal spectrum too.

All of this may sound very abstract (and yes, woo-woo – gotta love it), but here’s what I did to make it concrete: I wrote in the center of the page:

“People who are doing their own version of what I’m doing, very successfully, a few steps ahead of me, and whose energy I want to match.” (Or, in non-woo-woo terminology, people whose business models I admire and want to emulate.)

I drew a box around that statement, and in the space surrounding that box I proceeded to write the name of every role model I could think of.

The very act of creating this mind map – my Constellation of Role Models – shifted something for me. (There’s a reason human beings have created rituals since before recorded history: they’re powerful, and they work. Not necessarily in a The Secret I-think-certain-thoughts-and-the-world-changes-for-me kind of way, but in a my-inner-world-changes-for-me kind of way.)

Suddenly, with all of my role models on a single sheet of paper, I could see the entire constellation in one place. If I imagined that each of them was vibrating at their own color, for the first time I was able to see the whole spectrum.

And seeing the spectrum laid out on the page (even though I didn’t actually color them in – it’s an imagination thing, see?) allowed me to hum at my own vibration, while drawing energy and inspiration from each of them, no one of them dominating my vision.

Instead of comparing myself negatively, from a place of envy, something about seeing 21 different names on the page allowed me to feel inspired. Inspired in a multitude of different ways from this diverse group.

Here’s another metaphor (for those who relate better to food than astral bodies)

(Because one can never have too many metaphors. Plus I’m hungry.)

“I’m creating my very own brew,” I wrote in my journal. And the individuals floating around the perimeter of my Role Model Constellation mind map are ingredients that contribute different flavorings to the soup.

I haven’t decided whether they’re vegetables that go into the stock, or spices that go into the soup.

But that’s neither here no there. The point is, I figured out a way to turn the Comparison Trap into a source of strength. And that’s pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

–

Who are your role models and heroes? Do they inspire you, make you envious, or both? If they make you envious, have you found a positive way to deal with that feeling?

If you enjoyed this post and would like to receive more right in your inbox, subscribe to my email updates.

Please share this post across the web so we can inspire even more creative thinking – and creative living. Feel free to Tweet it, Like it, Stumble it, or Forward it to anybody who might like to join in the conversation. Thanks!

Photo by ganesha.isis at Flickr

Dave Navarro (aka The Launch Coach, aka @RockYourDay on Twitter) rocks my world.

Why?

In my quest to create the life I really, really want, I’ve searched high and low for mentors and teachers who could help me create a business model where I’m doing what I love, and making money from it. It took months of research to sort the wheat from the chaff (there are a lot of sleazemeisters out there), to find the people I want to hook my train to.

Dave Navarro is one of those people. His content is always excellent, much of it is free, and the stuff I’ve paid for has proven to be some of the best buying decisions I’ve made this year.

(Time-sensitive note: if you’re interested in super-helpful free content, today is the last day to see three awesome videos Dave made to promote his More Buyers Mastermind. Yes, he made these videos to promote a paid course, but the videos are not in the least bit spammy – they’re pure content, not sales. You’ll learn a lot from them. But Dave is taking them down when he opens the doors to More Buyers Mastermind tomorrow, so you better catch them quick!*)

Here are 5 specific reasons Dave rocks my world:

Awesome Free Stuff

1. The LaunchTips Newsletter

Every few days Dave publishes a newsletter with a link to a highly informative post, and frequently a video and workbook. The content is always top notch, packed with information you can use to make real improvements to your online business. Over 7,500 subscribers is some pretty good social proof. And it’s all for free.

2. The “Stop Settling” Newsletter

Over 3,200 people subscribe to this newsletter, which Dave calls “Your Monday Morning Kick In the Ass.” This bite-sized chunk of inspiration/motivation is a great way to start your week. And again, it’s free.

3. The Launch Coach Library

If you’re interested, even slightly, in learning about the world of making money online (in a non-sleazy way), Dave’s free Launch Coach Library* is a no-brainer. At the time of this writing, there a four excellent (and free) workbooks to download: 7 Steps to Playing a Much Bigger Game, 7 Steps to Networking Your Way to A-Listers Fast, 7 Simple Income Streams (That You Can Actually Create), and Start Making Money With Your Products in 3 Days.

As with all of Dave Navarro’s productions, these articles/workbooks are top-notch, “consultation quality”; the kind of thing you’d expect to pay money for. But they’re free.

Paid stuff

4. Awesome workshops

Back in April, after checking out a bunch of Dave’s free offerings, I decided to give his paid stuff a try. I bought Creating Products That Sell and Building A Responsive List (affiliate links), not knowing quite what to expect.

What I got kind of blew me out of the water. These are not just PDF e-books, but full workshops with several modules each. Dave walks you step-by-step through everything you need to know, from what works and what doesn’t, to the nitty-gritty technical aspects (ie, how to make a recording, how to set up a mailing list in AWeber). Solid stuff I highly recommend.

5. More Buyers Every Month Group Mentorship

When I figured out Dave was someone I could trust, whose products offered tremendous value, I signed up for his advance discount list, and the waiting list to get into his 2010 More Buyers Every Month Group Mentorship program. And when he opened up the doors for a brief time awhile back, I upgraded and snagged my spot.

What is the 2010 More Buyers Every Month Group Mentorship? It’s where you have access to every single workshop Dave creates, plus a group forum (which I confess, I haven’t even tapped into yet, being rather occupied already with the awesome Third Tribe (affiliate link) forum.)

Dude. Seriously worth the cash.

Upshot

In my personal Pantheon of blogosphere gods and demigods, Dave Navarro occupies a very high position indeed. He has earned my trust and respect, I’ve learned a ton from him (both from his content directly, and as a model of how to run my own business), and I look forward to seeing what he comes up with next!

*Disclosure: If you click through my link and end up buying something, I’ll get a commission, but I only affiliate with things I know and trust, and can wholeheartedly promote. I’ve bought a lot of Dave’s stuff myself and stand by it, and if you’re not happy, you can complain to me directly.

I admit it: my hero is a car thief.

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!

Last week I had the pleasure of lunching with Ann Rea, successful painter, artist business coach and owner of ArtistsWhoTHRIVE.

Ann went from zero to profitable in one year of painting full time, and has been profiled by none other than Fortune Magazine. I interviewed her awhile back for my Thriving Artists Project, and I already knew she was one sharp cookie, but in person she’s even more impressive.

Ann takes no prisoners. She’s as creative about business and marketing as she is with her art. She thinks outside the box. She coaches other artists on how to make their own art careers financially successful, and of all the things we talked about over lunch, one thing really stood out:

The number one problem most artists have is not setting their goals high enough.

Think about it.

How do you achieve something remarkable? First, you pretty much have to imagine that it’s possible, and set a goal to achieve it.

If you don’t allow yourself to believe that something is even possible, how can you expect to make it happen?

Reality check: guilty as charged

Um, yeah. Confession time.

Case in point: I realized maybe a year or so ago that, without any conscious thought on my part, I had installed a glass ceiling over my earning power for my entire adult life.

In other words, I realized that somehow I was operating under the belief system that I was incapable of earning a lot of money.

I never actually articulated this thought to myself, but that didn’t make it any less powerful. The belief was still there: other people made a lot of money, not me. Making a lot of money just seemed … beyond me.

From a purely logical standpoint this belief is patently ridiculous. I’m intelligent, capable, multi-talented, good with people, driven — surely at least as much if not more than a good chunk of the global population. If other people could make a lot of money, there was no logical reason why I couldn’t, too.

But for whatever reason, the belief was there (no doubt installed very early in life [yay, something else to work on...]) As a result, I set my money-earning goals way, way too low.

How low? “All I want,” I remember thinking during my divorce, “is to make enough money to get by, and to have time to do the things I love to do.”

That’s right, just enough money to get by.

And guess what? I built a business around my art that made just enough money to get by.

In Silicon Valley, granted, which is nothing to sneeze at in the scheme of things, but just enough is not a high enough goal for me anymore — I want to pay off my debt. I want more security. I want the option of taking time off to travel more. I want to be able to buy things I want without agonizing over every purchase.

Call me un-zen, but I want more!

(As for time to do the things I love to do? Well, yes and no. It depends what day you catch me on. I’m still working on that one.)

Time for a reset: the Debt Elimination Project

Building a business around my art was no small accomplishment, and it’s something I’m still proud of. But now it’s time to change the picture, and allow myself to believe that I can make a lot of money. From my art, and other things I love to do.

It’s time to set my goals even higher.

Which brings me back to lunch the other day. Ann suggested that it’s always a good idea to tie a project to a concrete goal. When I mentioned that I have a big goal of paying off my enormous mountain of debt and being debt free again, Ann didn’t skip a beat.

“Then why don’t you make your Thriving Artists Project your Debt Elimination Project?”

[Shocked pause.]

But… but… but… my enormous mountain of debt is… well… enormous. Making enough money to pay off my personal debt from one project? — my first big information product? — surely that cannot be done.

My overactive brain went into overdrive, thinking of reasons why eliminating my personal debt with the Thriving Artists Project is impossible.

Enough with the excuses, already

Now, I’m too embarrassed to state an actual number, but when I stopped panicking long enough to think about it a little, I realized that the truth is, if I were to create something really successful, if I put into practice the marketing lessons I’ve been studying hard to learn, it’s not inconceivable that I could make enough money from a single project to pay off my debt.

But my list is tiny, and the idea that my first big project could be that successful is, well, hard to imagine. So I said, sure, great idea — maybe the second or third or fourth information product could be my Debt Elimination Project…

“Hell no!” retorted Ann. “I don’t want to wait around for the next project! It’s this one, or none at all!”

Clearly I could benefit from some regular coaching, because Ann made me realize I was doing it again: not setting my goals high enough.

And so I thought, why not?

Why not make the Thriving Artists’ Project my personal Debt Elimination Project?

Why not set a really big goal, and go for it?

What’s the worst that could happen? Sure, I could fail. (Indeed, I still need to work on allowing myself to believe it’s even possible!)

But here’s the thing: if I seriously make the effort to make the Thriving Artists Project earn enough to eliminate my personal debt, I’ll sure as hell be working hard on it! A helluva lot harder than if I didn’t tie the Thriving Artists Project to the Debt Elimination Project. I’ve got a concrete goal to reach, after all, and a big one at that.

Brilliant.

The official unveiling

So it is with a fair amount of trepidation that I unveil for you my Debt Elimination Project.

Bold indeed, especially since I’m still in the process of creating the Thriving Artists Project, and don’t even have a launch date yet.

What I do have, though, is interviews completed, scheduled with, or agreed to by a whole slew of fascinating, creative people, including:

• Aimee Golant, metal artist
• Anna Kuperberg, photographer
• Chris Guillebeau, writer/traveler/fighter of the status quo (and owner of The Art of Non-Conformity)
• Cosy Sheridan, singer/songwriter
• Derick Sebastian, ukulele virtuoso
• Kristin Korb, jazz musician/singer
• Michael Nobbs, artist/blogger
• Phil Johnson, comedian/musician
• Verity Price, singer/songwriter
• Will Edwards, singer/songwriter/web designer

… and the list is growing.

Plus more ammunition in my arsenal (or whatever)

Not that I’m big on military metaphors, but what I also have is some excellent mentorship, inspiration and motivation along the way, including:

- The Third Tribe, an online resource (regular audio seminars and a rockin’ user forum) for internet marketing strategies that work (without being obnoxious)

- Guest Blogging, Jon Morrow’s brand new apprenticeship course in, you guessed it, guest blogging!

- Dave Navarro (The Launch Coach)’s More Buyers Every Month Group Mentorship

- The Empire Building Kit, Chris Guillebeau’s course and longest-autoresponder-in-history, which delivers an email in my box every single day with inspiration and tools to grow my business. (Plus more courses from Chris Guillebeau’s Unconventional Guides line: The Unconventional Guide to Art + Money, The Unconventional Guide to Freelancing.)

- Question the Rules, Johnny B. Truant and Lee Stranahan‘s audio course, which I return to again and again for inspiration and reminders that there are lots of ways to be a successful entrepreneur (or in my case, ARTrepreneur).

[Note: many of the links above are affiliate links, which means that if you click through and then buy something, I'll make a commission. I'm always grateful to the anonymous purchasers who buy through my affiliate links, but if you don't want your purchase to earn me money, just do a Google search on the thing and click through that way.]

Yup. I’m basically in self-paced grad school for using the internet to reach my Debt Elimination Project goal. Watch and learn.

And the wrap-up

So there you have it: the number one problem most artists (including me) have is not setting their goals high enough. Solution? Set higher goals, and work to achieve them.

Here we go!

And as Ann said at lunch the other day, once I’ve eliminated my debt, I can make the next goal my Mortgage Elimination Project.

Um, yeah. One thing at a time…

Here’s the deal: about four months ago I made a decision to change my life. I wanted to do a better job following my evolving Blisses, and I needed some help.

I found that help in the form of two courses, The Empire Building Kit and Question the Rules. (See my review of the first month of the EBK here, and my review of QTR here.)

I have no business writing this post, because I’m still in work fugue mode and really should be working on my deadlines, but in case you’re interested in changing your life and starting (or growing) a sustainable “lifestyle business,” I wanted to let you know about some special offers that won’t be around for long.

Read on for details…

The Empire Building Kit

What is the Empire Building Kit? The EBK is the brainchild of Chris Guillebeau, owner of the blog The Art of Nonconformity and creator of Unconventional Guides. It’s made up of 15 case studies (some video + transcript; some PDF) of “emperors” who earn $50,000 to $150,000 a year in net income from a “lifestyle business” (everything from dog-walking to art), combined with a behind-the-curtain look at how Chris runs his own business, plus 365 daily emails from Chris with tips, tools, techniques and motivation to keep you on track.

In other words, everything you need to build a meaningful lifestyle business in one year by doing one thing every day.

The Empire Building Kit originally launched for 24 hour only, with a second 24-hour launch a month or so later. Starting today, it’s back on sale, this time permanently.

HOWEVER, if you’ve been thinking about getting it, then today would be an especially good day to do so, because everyone who buys the Empire Building Kit today will also get Chris’s guide, Backyard Biz Profits.

Backyard Biz Profits is a 60+ page guide all about combining online marketing with local businesses. It will go on sale later by itself for at least $50, so it’s a pretty cool deal.

‘Nuff said.

Question the Rules

At around the same time that I got the Empire Building Kit, I bought another course called Question the Rules. The creators of QTR, Johnny B. Truant and Lee Stranahan, did interviews (18 and counting, as they seem to keep adding more) with a slew of really cool people who are doing really cool, unconventional things and making a living at it.

The two of them also recorded 9 additional conversations on such topics as The punk rock, DIY mindset; Setting your real goals; Belief and faith; Networking outside of the box [3 parts]; and The Wrap-Up and the Aftermath)

PLUS, Johnny and Lee recently added a whole slew of Bonus Material, including some more audio recordings (Best of the IttyBiz SpeakEasy; Charlie and Johnny Jam Sessions), some e-Books (Beyond Blogging; 52 Weeks to Awesome; Idea Catalyst), and discounts on a bunch of cool stuff (20% off a Great Bowl o’Fire; 50% off How to Get A-Listers on Speed Dial; 25% off everything Beyond Blogging offers; and possibly some other stuff I’m leaving out because I don’t have time to check).

Basically, you get a lot of shit. I mean stuff.

And it just so happens that QTR is going on sale today through Friday for $200 off (using the discount code qtrftw). So if you’ve been thinking about buying it, now would be a good time.

Who are these courses for?

Anyone who wants to build or grow their own business, especially if you’re interested in doing things in a more unconventional way.

If that idea has no interest for you, and your goal is to climb the corporate ladder, these courses are probably not for you.

Which one should I get?

If you could use some step-by-step guidance, and you’d benefit from a daily reminder to stay on track toward your goals, get the Empire Building Kit.

If you’re just looking for some inspiration, get Question the Rules.

If you’ve got the money, get both. Seriously. I’m glad I did.

And if you get either one, please let me know – I’d love to compare notes!

*Disclosure: If you buy either Empire Building Kit or Question the Rules from any of the links in this post, I’ll get some affiliate income, and will be forever grateful. If you don’t buy at all, or you buy through another link, I’ll never know, so don’t lose sleep over it.

If you’ve read much on this blog, you’ll have figured out that I tend to dive into things head first. Case in point: I’m actually doing Chris Guillebeau and Pam Slim’s $100 Business Forum and Chris Guillebeau’s  Empire Building Kit at the same time.

Insane? Maybe. Not only do both of the courses require time and attention, but many of the same lessons and business principles are covered in both.

However, I actually really like the duplication of info. I was in the first group of emperors to buy into the EBK, and we’re now on day 50. The May $100 Business Forum started on May 10, several weeks into the EBK for me, and I’m benefiting a ton from having the concepts I learned in the EBK reinforced by the $100 Business Forum and presented from new perspectives.

Pam talks about things differently than Chris does, and let’s face it, business concepts are obviously not my natural strength, or I’d be rich by now. I can use all the help I can get! Plus there have been some fantastic interviews and coaching calls that are totally different from what I’m getting from the EBK.

If you’re considering these courses, what’s the main difference?

The EBK is daily emails from Chris, PLUS a bunch of video interviews with, and PDF case studies of, a wide variety of unconventional entrepreneurs, PLUS video tips from Chris. It’s a full year of lessons, but there’s no real community component. You get an email from Chris every day, but other than that, you’re on your own.

The $100 Business Forum, on the other hand, is much shorter, at only 28 days, but more structured and intense. There’s a lesson each day, with homework (examples: a personal SWOT review: list your personal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats [day 4]; how to develop business ideas; and much more), PLUS occasional coaching calls with Pam and/or Chris, which offer an opportunity for direct feedback if you can be on the call (plus you can listen to the recording if you can’t). Because of its group forum format, you also get to interact with other attendees, which is extremely valuable (even though it’s an imperfect system for doing so — see yesterday’s post for more detail).

Upshot? Two great courses = exponential growth.

(And probably not enough sleep.)

Anyone else out there doing both? What are your thoughts?

–

*Disclosure: If you buy a product or course through any of the links in this post, I’ll get some affiliate income, and will be forever grateful. If you don’t buy at all, or you buy through another link, I’ll never know, so don’t lose sleep over it.