art of nonconformity Archives - Melissa Dinwiddie | Create the Impossible™

May 8, 2012

The $100 Startup & Shattering Self-Installed Glass Ceilings

Today Chris Guillebeau’s second book, The $100 Startup, was released into the world.

Given how much press the man has (deservedly) received, it’s hard for me to imagine anyone might not have heard of Chris Guillebeau at this point, but then Chris also looms very large in my own world. He is, in fact, the role model who kicked off my journey toward living the fully creative life I really, really wanted, rather than the “not quite” life I’d been settling for.

With his writing, his blog The Art of Nonconformity, and his business model, Chris showed me that yes, people actually can make a living doing what they love. And they can change the world along the way.

Of course Chris is by no means the only person doing this, but he’s the first one who landed on my radar when I was ready to take notice. My life was forever changed as a result. I started this blog. I started looking for the sweet spot in my work, where what I love to do intersects with what other people are willing to pay for. I started seeking out other people on a similar path — a supportive community to help me along the way. I started seeking out tools to get me where I wanted to go.

All catalyzed by Chris. Role models can be that powerful.

I have some more to say about Chris, but let’s get back to his new book for a moment.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on an advance copy, and what a treat it is. My own mission is not to get people to quit their jobs and strike out on their own — I want to get you creating, doing the thing (or things) that fill you with joy and make you glow with life; I don’t honestly care one way or another if you want to make your creative thing your livelihood as I’ve done and am doing. I just want to see you doing your creative thing, period.

If you do want to build a business doing what you love, though, The $100 Startup is an essential addition to your library. Using dozens of case studies of all different kinds of businesses — from a guy who sells mattresses and delivers them by bicycle, to a professional dog walker who nets over $88k/year — Chris brings together the major lessons he shared in his groundbreaking Empire Building Kit into an easy-to-use (and fun to read!) guide. There’s also a multi-media component, with additional resources over on the book’s website, 100startup.com.

In short, it’s awesome. Highly recommended. Go check it out.

But back to Chris.

Here’s a guy who created a $50k/year business from his website in under a year (279 days, to be exact — and it’s waaaaaaay beyond $50k/year at this point…), who’s published two books, who created an amazing conference (the World Domination Summit, headed into its second year, also highly recommended), and who is well on his way to visiting every single country on the planet before he turns 35 — mostly on frequent flyer miles, by the way — just because.

From that list of accomplishments you might think Chris is some sort of superhuman. The truth is, though, that he’s no more of a superhuman than you or I. There is one big difference between Chris (and people like him) and most other people, though, and it’s this:

Mindset.

In short, “impossible” is not in Chris’s vocabulary. As a result, he doesn’t limit his dreams. He might be scared of them — scared of failure, scared of success (I don’t know, I haven’t asked him) — but he dreams BIG and (just as essential) he takes real steps to bring those dreams to life, to get from dreaming to doing.

Imagine if Chris had thought (and acted on — or rather, not acted because of) any variation on the following:

“I’m not smart enough.”

“I’m not capable enough.”

“Who am I to try to do this?”

“I don’t have enough experience/the right credentials yet.”

“Other people could do that, but it’s just not in the range of what’s possible for me.”

Any of these sound familiar? I’ll be honest, those are the beliefs I’ve held about areas of my own life, beliefs I didn’t even realize were beliefs. I just thought they were The Truth.

Which brings me to one of my favorite metaphors:

The Self-Installed Glass Ceiling

I call these kinds of beliefs self-installed glass ceilings, because they limit possibilities just as much as any rule or policy designed to keep you down.

Your mindset can be a glass ceiling that keeps you hunched over and playing small, or like Chris, it can be a source of incredible power that enables you to accomplish great things.

Which do you choose?

A Note on Sexism and Glass Ceilings:

It’s important to note that, because we (still) live in a sexist culture, the self-installed glass ceiling syndrome tends to operate in different ways on women than it does on men. No matter how much progress we’ve made as a society, there are still unspoken cultural beliefs and expectations about what women should/shouldn’t do, what women are/aren’t capable of.

Those unspoken beliefs and expectations are like a soup we all swim in, and until they’re pointed out to us, we have about as much awareness of them as goldfish have of the water in their tank. It can be hard to recognize them as cultural beliefs and expectations, and as a result, they affect our beliefs about ourselves.

We see them as just the way things are.

A glass ceiling is, after all, practically invisible, but you still bang your head on it when you try to stand up straight. It can take awhile to realize the problem isn’t with YOU (ie, “You’re just too tall, and that’s why you keep banging your head!”), it’s that there’s a sheet of glass in your way!

Men certainly face self-limiting beliefs — I in no way mean to imply that they don’t. But I submit that women have additional layers (or at least different layers) of self-limiting beliefs that need to be peeled away and deprogrammed in order for us to reach our fullest potential. This has certainly been the case for me.

The good news is that beliefs can be changed. Mindsets can be shifted.

Elsewhere I’ve talked about the 3 ingredients that together lead to the fastest mindset transformations:

1) An inspiring role model (like Chris has been for me)

2) A supportive community

3) An effective toolkit

Those are the ingredients that have made the most difference in my own self-installed glass-ceiling busting. (Click here for a blog post and video in which I talk about each of those ingredients in a little more detail.) And not coincidentally, they’re the ingredients I’ve brought together in my new program for women, Time to Glow, which you can read about here.

Perhaps even Chris Guillebeau had to bust through some self-installed glass ceilings to get where he is today — I don’t know, I haven’t asked, though it would be interesting to find out! I kinda like to imagine he did, even though his glass ceilings might be different from my own, because the fact that he shattered them would make him an even more awesome role model.

Not that he needs to be any more awesome than he already is. Love ya, Chris! Congrats on the book launch!

I’m curious, have you shattered any self-installed glass ceilings in your own life? What made the difference for you?

xo, Melissa <3

If you’re ready to bust through your own self-installed glass ceiling, to dream bigger and go from dreaming to doing, join me in Time to Glow, my program for women who want to answer the call of their heart, tame the gremlins, and finally live the fully creative life of their dreams. Doors open tomorrow, May 9. Click here for more info and to sign up.

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

January 25, 2011

Travel Hacking Cartel: How to Be a Rockstar Traveler

In 2007 a friend offered me free ticket to anywhere I wanted to go in Europe.

I chose Italy.

Why? Well, of course, if you’ve been there, you know why. And I’d been there.

The summer I was 15, my family went on a 7+ week trip to 6+ countries, starting with Italy. Our plane landed in Rome, which to my sheltered suburban American eyes felt wild and foreign and uncomfortable (not to mention hot and sticky) — the more North we traveled, the more “at home” I felt.

Switzerland, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, England — they all made me feel more at ease than Italy. It probably helped that I’d had 4 years of German at this point, and of course by the time we took the ferry to England (oy, was I sick that night!) it was just such a relief to hear my native tongue everywhere I could barely keep from crying.

But after we got home, of all the places we visited, Italy stayed most firmly in my mind.

The Renaissance art! The sound of the language! The food!

The more time passed, the more I longed to return. I even studied Italian in college, rather than the more logical Spanish (being a Californian), with the hope it would motivate me to go back… but I never did get back.

Even the year I spent getting my masters degree in England, which I intended to culminate in a solo excursion around the Continent, didn’t work out that way.

Italy waited. I waited.

Then finally, in 2007, when I didn’t really have as much time or money as I needed, I made it back to retrace the steps my family had taken decades earlier: Rome, Florence, Siena and Venice. More decades later than I’d like to admit.

The thing that got me there? That free ticket across “the pond.”

The Travel Hacking Cartel

Well, guess what, if you’re like me, and love to travel but need a little kick in the butt to get you to hop a plane, you’re in luck!

Why? Because today Chris Guillebeau launches his Travel Hacking Cartel!

Chris Guillebeau, world-traveler and author of The Art of Nonconformity book and blog, is such an expert “travel hacker” that he earns more than one million-mile Frequent Flyer miles every year.

Now he’s put that knowledge to work for me and you, with this new membership club. As Chris puts it:

The goal of the cartel is to democratize free and low-cost travel. We’ll do this by telling travelers exactly what they need to do to earn large amounts of Frequent Flyer Miles (without flying) and then how to redeem those miles for high-value trips.

Here, in Chris’s words, is how the THC helps its members:

Regular “Deal Alerts” sent via email and SMS/text message (when a big opportunity comes up, our members will be the first to know)
Tutorials and an extensive Knowledge Base to get people started (our research showed that most people have no idea what to do with miles and points… we’ll tell them)
The Refer-a-Hacker Program that pays members 500 Frequent Flyer Miles for each referral (we’ve tried to make this process extremely easy – everyone has their own referral link directly in their account settings)
The “World’s Greatest Guarantee” – if members follow our directions and spend at least 30 minutes a month travel hacking, they’ll earn enough miles for at least 1 plane ticket every quarter, or 4 plane tickets a year (we also provide info on how to redeem miles for great awards)

Plus, for just $1 you can check out the entire program for 14 days, for FREE.

In the interests of transparency, I should let you know that I am an affiliate in Chris’s THC program, which means that if you click through one of the links here I’ll earn a commission. That said, I’ve looked through the THC site and am so impressed that Miss Frugal here fully intends to continue my membership after my free trial period runs out.

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m throwing ALL of my money right now at growing my business, paying bills, and paying down debt. Period.

But in this case I’m making an exception.

Yep, the THC is that good. (Plus the site design is incredibly beatiful and easy to use – when I have the budget to outsource my website designs, I am totally calling Reese!)

Check it out. I hope you and I will soon be racking up gobs and gobs of Frequent Flyer Miles and exploring the world!

I’ve always wanted to go to Paris. Maybe I’ll see you at the Louvre… or back in Italy.

December 17, 2010

A Hero’s Welcome: The Art of Nonconformity Road Show

It’s not often that you get to meet one of your heroes in real life.

Even less often, I’d imagine, that said hero, upon meeting you for the first time in person, says, “You’re awesome.”

(I’m awesome? Can you say “disarmingly charming”?)

But Chris Guillebeau, author of The Art of Nonconformity (the book and the blog), is known for being unconventional in most things, so no big surprise that he’s also unconventional in his approach to hero-dom.

A Hero of the People

The very term “hero” conjures up images of someone apart from the rest of us. Chris, though, doesn’t set himself apart, but instead endeavors to make every single one of his followers and fans feel special.

I daresay he does an awesome job at this, which is one reason why he’s my hero.

The Unconventional Book Tour

At the time of this writing, Chris is still in the middle of his Unconventional Book Tour, visiting 63 cities in stops in all 50 US states plus all Canadian provinces on a self-funded tour to spread his message of unconventional living and changing the world.

A week or two before his San Francisco meetup last Wednesday (where I got to meet him), I opened a hand-addressed envelope to find a notecard with the following message on the outside:

You=Awesome

And a hand-written note on the inside:

Melissa –
So glad you’re coming to #WDS! (And thanks for being so amazing.)
CG

How could I not be totally inspired and impressed? The guy just has class.

Walking the Talk

If you’ve read much on this blog, you’ll know that Chris Guillebeau is a big reason why I’m finally on the path I’m on, following my evolving Bliss(es) instead of settling for what Tara Sophia Mohr calls a B+ life.

Truthfully, any number of amazing people could have served the function of setting me off on my Right Path, but Chris landed on my radar at a time when I was primed to leap off a cliff. He provided a model of how that leap might actually enable me to fly, rather than face-planting, and a model was exactly what I needed in that moment.

A model of doing what you love, and making a good living.

A model of doing what you love, and making a difference.

A model of not settling for B+, but really living full-out.

Ten months later and I’m well on my way to doing all of the above, so of course I had to make it to the Unconventional Book Tour / Art of Nonconformity Road Show!

“He looks about 12!”

I invited my friend Fawn, who knew nothing of Chris Guillebeau or the Art of Nonconformity (except what she might have heard from me).

Her tweet from the event:

At the Rockit Room with @a_creative_life for a reading by someone who’s apparently a major blogger. He looks about 12! It’s v cute.

“Apparently a major blogger!” Ha! In my (admittedly narrow) view, that’s kind of like saying the Beatles are apparently a popular rock band.

An Adult Fan-Girl

Knowing there’d be a crowd, I insisted we get there early, and was able to snag front-row seats upstairs in the bar where the meetup was held. A quick glance around the room revealed some A-list bloggers (whom Fawn also knew nothing about) making me feel like a fan-girl extraordinaire.

Ah, what ten months in the blogosphere will do to a girl…

Leo Babauta of Zen Habits did the honors of introducing Chris, and except for the fact that we were all in jeans in a dark bar rather than black tie in a fancy Hollywood theater, I might as well have been a bit player in the audience of the Academy Awards.

Heroes! Heroes galore!

Then Chris took the mike and gave his “ADD-Friendly” 15-minute talk about the Art of Nonconformity, in which he addressed several of us in the audience by name, called a few other people up to speak, and referenced the importance of connecting with the amazing people in the room probably more times than he referenced his own work in bringing us together.

Did I mention he’s my hero?

And he’s right, too: the people that I met that night played as much a role in the specialness of the evening as meeting Chris did. I met three very cool women, Michelle, Sophia and Shanna, bloggers all, each of whom was excited to write a guest post for my site-in-progress, 365 Days of Genius.

Hot damn!

The Introvert Effect

During his presentation Chris talked a bit about being an introvert, and how these kinds of gatherings have stretched him.

Yeah, I get that. Though many people have done their damnedest to argue with me on this point, the truth is I’m an introvert as well.

(Yes, it’s possible to be a “people person,” and a performer, and also be an introvert! If you don’t believe me, you just don’t know the true meaning of the word.)

So, at the end of Chris’s talk and my mini-schmooze, when I turned to face the specter of the very long line of folks waiting for Chris to autograph their books, my Inner Introvert told me in no uncertain terms that she was done for the night.

I felt kind of badly to miss out. I knew I could have dived into the crowd and met a whole slew of other amazing people, not to mention getting Chris’s signature in my copy of the book.

But the prospect of trying to penetrate the crowd was just beyond me at that moment. It’s something I’ve learned how to do, and even do effectively, but it drains the hell out of me when I’m fresh, and I was fully cooked.

So Fawn and I meandered off for a cup of tea at her place (while ogling shoe porn on her laptop) before I hit the road down the Peninsula to my own comfy bed.

A Summit of World Dominators

I confess, part of the reason I was able to concede to my Inner Introvert’s needs over my Fan-Girl’s desires was that I knew I’d get more opportunities to rub shoulders with Chris and a passel of fascinating, unconventional people in the not-too-distant future.

Six months from now, in fact, when about 400 of us will converge on Portland, Oregon for the World Domination Summit.

I’ll pack my copy of The Art of Nonconformity in my suitcase, and maybe I’ll get an autograph then.

Or not. As Chris so wisely pointed out, it’s the interactions that matter most. The other stuff is just frosting.

Yeah. Heroes.

September 7, 2010

7 reasons why my hero is a car thief: Chris Guillebeau & The Art of Nonconformity

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!

May 3, 2010

The First Month of Building My Empire: Empire Building Kit Review

So in my goal to follow my evolving Bliss(es) and create the life I really, really want, I’ve spent a lot of time and energy looking for models and inspiration. Who’s already out there living their dreams, and how did they get there?

It’s a bit overwhelming, really, because once you start looking, a metric ton of experts and phenoms start crawling out of the woodwork, usually hawking their own magic must-buy-it-now-before-the-price-quadruples key to “multiple streams of income,” happiness and “total fulfillment.”

(Seriously. That’s verbatim from [at least] one of these so-called experts.)

Whom to trust? Who’s got the goods that will really help me, in my unique situation, and who’s just trying to squeeze me for my hard-earned cash? (Okay, I know they all want my cash, but some really do offer value in exchange for it.)

After some months of intensive research, I’ve hand-picked a number of teachers to cast my lot with (in addition to the countless others whose free blog posts and newsletters I read), so consider this post the start of an ongoing review.

Teacher #1: Chris Guillebeau

My first inspiration in this journey was Chris Guillebeau of The Art of Nonconformity. His free downloads, A Brief Guide to World Domination and 279 Days to Overnight Success are top notch in content, prose, and design (which, as a smart, literate artist-type, I really appreciate!), and I resonate with his generosity of spirit, and his un-sales-pitchy approach to marketing.

Most of all, Chris is doing exactly what I want to do: living the life he wants, doing what he loves, and making a living at it.

Not freelancing, not exchanging his time for money. No, Chris has figured out the convergence between what he loves to do, and what other people are willing to pay money for.

Clever monkey.

I’m one of the people willing to pay for products that Chris puts out. Why? Because he earned my trust with his free downloads, his blog posts, and the personality and values that come across in his work.

Plus, of course, the very fact that he’s doing it speaks volumes for his credibility.

First off, I dove right in and signed up for Chris’s $100 Business Forum, which he co-facilitates with Pam Slim of Escape from Cubicle Nation. However, this 28-day online group of 150 fledgling entrepreneurs doesn’t start until May 10, so I have no reviews of it yet. Watch for those later in the month.

Though I was sorely tempted by several of Chris’s Unconventional Guides, in my first trip through the Unconventional Guides store I reined in my covetousness and limited my purchase to this one $100 “product.” I kept a tight grip on my credit card. I would be strong. I could wait until after the $100 Business Forum before deciding on any future purchases.

Ha.

Famous last words.

The Empire Building Kit

Wouldn’t you know it, savvy Chris is continually in the process of creating cool, new products, and when he announced his Empire-Building Kit, a 365-day course for building your “empire” in one year by doing one thing every day, I knew I’d been well and thoroughly hooked.

It didn’t help my pocketbook that Chris is very good at building pre-launch excitement: he teased his mailing list for weeks with details about the upcoming launch, tied it with an epic train trip across the country on (believe it or not) The Empire Builder, then opened it up at special pricing for 24 hours only. (Are you taking notes on this launch? I was!)

Naturally, I couldn’t resist. And not only that, but I confess I sprang for the top-of-the-line “Hail Caesar” version, which cost (if memory serves) almost twice the price of the the middle, “Alexander the Great” version, and about four times more than I was consciously budgeting.* Yikes!

As if that weren’t enough, I’d forgotten that the Unconventional Guides shopping cart has a sneaky tendency to offer cross-sells — special combo-offer packages at special prices if you BUY NOW.

Damn!

Yes, I didn’t call Chris a clever monkey for nothing. I have much to learn from you, Master.

I’ll admit I couldn’t resist the package deal of two guides I’d been wanting, Art + Money and Working for Yourself, especially when combined with a special report, Marketing School, by none other than Naomi Dunford of Itty Biz.

(In case you haven’t heard of Naomi, she’s pretty much a god in the world of marketing and making a living as an online small business.)

Final damage: $449 for the EBK (gasp!) less 10% “secret discount,” plus $97 combo offer = $501.10.

Ouch!

That represents a big chunk of change to me right now, when money’s tight and business much slower than I’d like.

However, the goal is that these purchases will help my pocketbook, and my happiness, in the long run.

So what’s the verdict?

Well, I’m only 27 days into the EBK, so I can’t give a complete review, but so far I can say it’s pretty damn awesome.

What’s in it?

6 lengthy video interviews with folks who’ve built successful (but achievable-seeming) “lifestyle businesses,” discussing their route to success, mistakes along the way, etc.
Transcripts of same.
18 PDF case studies of other “lifestyle business” owners, with a variety of businesses ranging from a dog trainer to a guy who hosts murder mystery parties.
9 short videos on very useful online business tips, from finding prospects, to crossells and upsells, “tools I use,” and more.
a 43-step product launch checklist
an interview with The Launch Coach, Dave Navarro (another teacher whose courses I’ll be reviewing in a future post)

(Note: I believe some of these items are only included in the “Hail Caesar” version, but am not sure which ones, since the EBK sales page was taken down after the initial 24-hour launch.)

Upshot: You get detailed financial information of 15+ other emperors. From Chris: “We asked everyone how much money they make and how they make it. This touches on a taboo subject (talking about money specifically) that everyone is interested in but few people address directly.”

That’s not all, though. One of the cool elements of the EBK, and one of the reasons I decided to invest in it, is that every day I get an EBK email from Chris. That’s 365 days of emails.

I’ll admit that at first I was a tad disappointed that the emails don’t always have a specific tip or actual step to do toward building my empire; sometimes it’s just a reminder of the message in yesterday’s email, or a wrap-up of the ideas covered in the previous week.

That said, I think the most important thing about the daily email concept is simply that it keeps me focused on my goals. In a way it doesn’t actually matter what’s in the email.

Don’t get me wrong — many of the emails are awesome; several have had exactly the concept or idea that I needed right then to move me forward in my thinking. Chris has clearly put a lot of thought into them, and I find many of them very worthwhile.

However, perhaps the greater value is just in the daily reminder, the daily validation that yes, I am going after this, and I have someone walking next to me on the journey for the entire year.

In addition, precisely because the EBK is set up as a year-long course, I’m not finding myself succumbing to the usual overwhelm that enormous projects like this normally stir up. I don’t feel anxious to watch every single video and read every single transcript and case study RIGHT NOW, because I know they’ll be “assigned” one by one over the course of the next several months.

Whew. What a frickin’ relief!

Seriously, this is huge. In the past couple of months I have amassed an e-library of countless e-books, special reports, mp3s and videos, and it’s doubtful whether I’ll ever manage to get through all of them.

But the EBK? I know I’ll get through it, because I’m on a year-long journey, and I’ll be assigned each of these modules eventually.

Deadlines are magical things.

Rating so far: 4 7/8 stars out of 5

(And not 5 stars only because the marketing led me to expect an actual step to do in each and every email.)

It’s early days yet, so this rating could change, but suffice it to say I highly recommend the EBK to anyone who has a dream of creating a sustainable business and “empire” of their own.

The EBK will be re-launched on May 18 for 24 hours only. I’m not sure when and if it will be on the shelves again after that, so if you’re serious about living your creative life and need some inspiration, motivation, and a partner on the journey, mark your calendar to check it out.

Full disclosure: if you use one of the links on my site to click through and buy any of Chris’s Unconventional Guide products, I will earn affiliate income. But I believe in his products and stand by them. If you buy them and don’t like them, feel free to complain to me.

And then ask for your money back from Chris, because he offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

But I seriously doubt you’ll feel the need to do that.

Wrap up

This post got long, so I’ll hold off on my review of Art + Money for another time. I haven’t finished it anyway. But just 13 pages in, it’s already changed my outlook in a dramatic, and positive way. And that alone is worth $39.

If you’ve gotten any of Chris’s other guides, I’d love to hear what you think.

Now it’s back to empire-building.

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*Why did I spring for the Caesar version? Mostly because it’s the only version that contains behind-the-scenes views of Chris’s entire business model, something I really, really wanted to see.