unconventional guides Archives - Melissa Dinwiddie | Create the Impossible™

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.

May 13, 2010

Headstands, Training Wheels and the Quest for Ever-Elusive Balance

Funny: although I have crazy fear of doing a headstand in the middle of the room, I can float my legs up no problem when I’m near a wall.

It’s psychological, of course, but that wall also serves a useful purpose: just knowing the wall is there to catch me lets me push further into an unknown space — the space of total balance.

The thing is, unless you’re perfectly vertical, headstand is a lot of work. Your arms really need to press into the floor to keep the full weight of your body up in the air. It’s tiring!

When you’re in balance, though, it feels effortless. Free. Like you’re floating. You could stay in headstand this way forever.

Training wheels

Remember learning to ride a bike with training wheels? My training wheels were always slightly off-kilter, so my bike (purple, from Sears, with streamers coming out of the handlebars) leaned either a bit to the left, or a bit to the right. Very uncomfortable. But oh, the stomach-churning panic when I first tried to ride the damned thing after the training wheels came off!

Getting to balance is scary.

Learning where perfect balance is — how far to launch your legs up without toppling over onto your back; how to make those two wheels go fast enough to keep the bike vertical and the skin on your knees intact — takes practice. It’s a learning curve, which for some people is easy and natural, but for others (like me with headstand), not so much.

Those of us in that second group might fall a bunch of times before we hit that sweet spot.

Which is where training wheels can help. For headstand, that might be a wall, or someone to spot you, or hell, just a big ol’ pile of pillows.

Some yoga teachers insist that headstand learners should start out in the middle of the room, the very first time they try, so that they never get psychologically dependent on the wall (like me!) There’s merit to that philosophy.

I, however, tend to be a gentler soul. If using some kind of “crutch” or “training wheels” helps you find that balance point and feel it in your body without hurting yourself in the process, I say more power to you!

This is not just about headstands and bicycles, of course

You may have figured out, 250-some odd words into this post, that the principles here don’t just apply to yoga, or riding a two-wheeler. Whatever your big goal is, when you’re in total balance, everything feels easy. Everything flows.

It’s getting to the balance that’s the challenge.

Where are you still looking for that balance point? Is there something big you want to accomplish, but fear of toppling over is holding you back?

Or are you struggling with something, working really hard at it and feeling like you’re not getting anywhere?

If so, maybe some training wheels are in order. Along with permission to use them. (That part’s key.)

Balance is the ever-elusive goal in every area of my life. Ever-elusive because the only constant is change, and since I’m always changing, what constitutes balance for me is always changing.

Right now the big area I’m focusing on is balance in my work and money spaces. I’ve been making huge changes, and since I’m tired of crashing my proverbial bike and scraping my proverbial knees, I’m making no qualms about the fact that I’m attaching some training wheels to get me going!

Here are some of my training wheels these days:

• Chris Guillebeau’s The Empire Building Kit and other Unconventional Guides

• Chris Guillebeau and Pam Slim’s $100 Business Forum (also an Unconventional Guides product)

• Johnny B. Truant and Lee Stranahan’s Question the Rules

• Dave Navarro’s The Launch Coach Library and workshops

• Naomi Dunford’s Marketing School

They’re making the transition from three-wheeler (my existing business life) to two-wheeler (my ideal vision of my business life) a lot more stable.

Specifics?

I’ve already written a preliminary review of the Empire Building Kit (preliminary only because the EBK is a year-long kit, and I’ve only been doing it about a month), and as I dig further into the other wheels of training, I’ll give you my honest opinion. (Or opinions, plural, because I’m not always of one mind.)

…And back to headstand

Because I feel a lack of closure if I don’t come full circle.

Cool thing: I have now experienced perfect balance in headstand a few times.

Near a wall, of course. (Which I have no plans to abandon anytime soon.)

You may be the Torpedoes-Be-Damned, Learn To Do Headstand In The Middle Of The Room type, but I, for one, am grateful for training wheels!

—

And yes, in case you’re wondering, those links in the bullet list are affiliate links. [With the exception of Naomi’s Marketing School, because I couldn’t find an IttyBiz affiliate program. Anyone?]

That means if you click through and end up buying something, I’ll make some money, and you’ll be helping to support me in my quest to create a sustainable life doing what I love. How cool is that?

Just one of the many tools I’m learning from my Business Training Wheels.

I’ll provide a more detailed review of each of these products later, but suffice it to say that I think they are all good products. I only sign up as an affiliate for products I can honestly recommend without feeling all queasy and gross about it. Just sayin’.

Will they be the right products for you? That I can’t say. But I will share a lot more details about each of them in the weeks to come, so watch this space.

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.

—

*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.