2015 : The Art of Non-Conformity

1 Comment

Et Cetera

Big in Japan: The $100 Startup Is Now in Manga!

I haven’t spent nearly enough time in Japan, but we have a great community there and I hope to visit more often in the future. When the local version of The $100 Startup came out two years ago, it was a mega-bestseller, selling 100,000 copies in a short period of time.

I went over for a 36-hour visit that consisted of meeting journalists and talking to business magazines. In the evening we had a small meetup with friends (hosted by M.E. Hori, a popular blogger) and I left thinking: “I should have stayed longer.”

116 Comments

Et Cetera

Giveaway: Win a “Boarding Tote Bag”

Win a Boarding tote from Airportag, an online business started by "Captain Greg"—a flight lover and designer who got creative with the world of airport codes and made a fun shop.

You can find a ton of airports represented on totes, coffee mugs, and pillows over at Airporttag. Naturally, I have a lot of favorite airports, so it would be hard for me to choose a single one... but on the tote bag page, I especially like the styles of MEX, BKK, LHR, and LAX.

1 Comment

Profiles

30 Peaks Before Age 30: Ashley Gossen’s Quest

This is a quest case study. (Read others or nominate yourself.)

In The Sound of Music, Mother Reverend sang "Climb every mountain." We're not suggesting that was Ashley Gossen's inspiration for tackling 30 peaks before her 30th birthday—but it came to mind when we heard her story.

I've been fascinated by mountains and the outdoors since I was a little girl growing up in rural Pennsylvania. As I got older, I dreamed about moving west and spending time in the beautiful places I only ever saw on television. When my dream became a reality, and my then-boyfriend (now husband) and I moved to Seattle, I became hooked on hiking. Spinning on that love, I decided to hike 30 peaks before I turned 30, the last peak being on my actual birthday.

Life

Hate Paying Taxes? It Could Be a Lot Worse: You Might Not Have to Pay Them

I do wish it were simpler. I was surprised last year to learn that I agreed with Donald Rumsfeld on something.

Part of it is my own fault: I keep starting new businesses and entities. I have a tax return for my career as an author, another for my entrepreneurial work, another for WDS, another for the WDS Foundation (a separate organization), and now another for Pioneer Nation. Who knows what else I’ll have next year!

Why can’t Amazon or Zappos or Apple figure this out for the federal government? Imagine the possibilities.

Profiles

No Money, But a Rich Life: On the Road with Nate Maingard

This is a traveler case study. (Read others or nominate yourself.)

What's it like to live and work as a nomadic, traveling musician who relies on crowd-sourced support? We found a guy doing exactly that. Here are his stories from three continents and counting.

I was raised barefoot and wild on the tip of South Africa, in a little village called Scarborough. My early days were spent in my father’s guitar making workshop as he crafted some of the world's top custom guitars.
My boundaries were the ocean and the mountain, and my whole life has been shaped by those first years of raw nature and unfettered adventure.

Life

To Cross the Railroad Tracks, Go Against Everything You’ve Been Told

One time, long ago, I had a hard year while living in Memphis, Tennessee.

Ever since then, especially when I’ve been at events throughout the south, I’ve met a lot of people who also lived in Memphis for a time. When the subject comes up, once in a while I mention something about my hard year there, and I always add a disclaimer: “Probably it was just me.”

There are good people everywhere, and you never want to insult someone’s city. More than once, though, they’ve said “I had a hard year in Memphis too!”

As the song says, maybe it was Memphis, but maybe it was just me. Whatever it was, it wasn’t only a hard year: it was actually a terrible year where I felt very alone and afraid.

Travel

5,000 Word Travel Hacking Resources Page Now Available

Over the past ten years I’ve used millions of Frequent Flyer Miles & Points to go everywhere—literally, everywhere.

I write a lot about travel hacking in the archives and also through our paid service, the Travel Hacking Cartel, which has served more than 16,000 members and counting.

I'm also co-teaching a brand-new bootcamp called Make Your Dream Trip a Reality, which you can watch for free every weekday morning for six weeks starting on April 26.

If that's not enough, we recently published a new page on the blog that includes 100+ links and a general overview of getting started in this world.

Profiles

The Amazing Marriage Adventure: Liz and Ryan Bower’s Quest

Liz and Ryan Bower are wedding photographers who believe in the marriages they document—and not just that first special day. They noticed that champions who might share the realities of life-long partnerships seemed to be few and far between.

They decided to hop in an RV and find true stories of loving marriages to share from every state of America.

We are millennials, story-tellers, wedding photographers, and dream believers. Most of all, we believe in helping to create amazing marriages that stand the test of time.
Our love of love dates back to our teenage years. We were high school sweethearts with an entrepreneurial spirit and a passion to live a more meaningful life. So we started a photography business, Liz and Ryan. Six years later, and after 100 weddings captured, we realized there is a lot of hype surrounding weddings, but not a lot of hype surrounding marriages.
This eventually led to our quest: The Amazing Marriage Adventure. For 2015, we are living in an RV and traveling the U.S. to document at least one married couple’s story in all 50 states. Along the way, we’ll host couples' coffee-shop meetups to encourage community and truly open the lines of communication in celebration of marriage.

Life

Paradise by the Runway Lights: Notes from Childhood and 25 Hours of Flying to Melbourne

It was long ago and it was far away, and it was so much better than it is today.

I had an eclectic taste in music when I was a kid. Much of it came from my dad, who introduced me to Bob Dylan before I became more of a fan than he was. There was also Tom Petty (early years), Warren Zevon, and Bruce Springsteen at some point.

I was growing up at least ten or fifteen years late, in other words.

But our generation had an edge on the previous one when it came to technology, or so it seemed at the time. I'd saved for a Sony Walkman, a prized possession acquired at age eight, and over the next few years I recorded songs off the radio for later listening. Late at night, I’d play myself to sleep on many of those songs.

Life

Win the Way You Won Before

When you encounter a setback and need to regroup, think back to a time when you won. You mastered a skill, navigated a tricky negotiation, or otherwise came out on top.

Can you use the same skill or strategy now? Can you adapt that skill or strategy to a new situation?

Sure, circumstances may have changed. But you haven’t always lost or struggled, so think about that time when you got it right.

Profiles

Travels With a Hospitality Career Consultant: On the Road with Kimberly Ramsawak

This is a traveler case study. (Read others or nominate yourself.)

Tell us about yourself.

I’m a career consultant specializing in the tourism and hospitality, and I'm a passionate advocate for people of color in this industry. A common misconception is that industry jobs are only available at hotels, airlines or agencies—with really low pay.

As a result I started Tourism Exposed, an online career development community that shows students and professionals how to break into the travel industry. While doing this since I was 23, I have traveled to over eighty cities across five continents.

Et Cetera

New! Sign Up to “Make Your Dream Trip a Reality” (A 30-Day Creative Live Course)

Link: Register for Free "Dream Trip" Course

Attention, everyone! My travel hacking colleague Stephanie Zito and I will be teaching an all-new online course starting later this month, and I'd love for you to join us.

We previously taught a one-day workshop that was watched live by more than 12,000 of you. The feedback we got after that one was: “Whoa, this is great—but there’s so much info!”

For this one, we’re teaching everything through 30 short, action-packed lessons (a new one unveiled each weekday once we begin on April 26) and focusing on something more specific. It’s not just “earn a ton of miles and points,” although we'll certainly show you how to do that. More importantly, it’s about taking a dream trip, going somewhere you’ve always wanted to but haven’t planned for or thought was too expensive.

Et Cetera

6 Discoveries from Near and Far: Volume XL

Things I found on long walks in foreign cities, or perhaps when someone posted them on Twitter.

5 Secrets of a Successful Ted Talk — Hint: Being a famous person has little to do with giving a popular talk
Hacking Weight Loss — What Jeff learned from losing 30 pounds
10 Places to Go Before They’re Gone -- Don’t miss Madagascar! I once stopped off in every domestic airport on the island/li>
Changing Perceptions of Time While Dying (Video) -- A Stanford neurosurgeon who was diagnosed with lung cancer in his mid-30s reflects on the experience
The Most Aspirational Miles Award -- Use your Virgin miles (a lot of them…) to book travel on Richard Branson’s Necker Island
Gifts for Highly Productive People -- My choice would be: more iPhone cables. I leave them everywhere!

Work

How Much Money Do You Need to Live Abroad? 13 Questions to Ask Yourself

This is an excerpt from Working On the Road: The Unconventional Guide to Full-Time Freedom by Nora Dunn.

Traveling full-time can actually cost far less than it does to live in one place. This is due to a number of cost-saving factors, ranging from volunteering in trade for free accommodation, using frequent flyer miles, spending time in places where the cost of living is cheaper (sometimes), and judiciously monitoring your spending.

There's no template solution to how much money you’ll need to begin your life working abroad, but you can use these questions to help gauge the expenses you’ll have and how they will vary based on itineraries, priorities and travel style.

84 Comments

Et Cetera

Giveaway: Stridebox – A Treasure Chest for Runners

Friday is giveaway day. Comment to win!

This week's giveaway comes from Oregon-based company, Stridebox. This runner-lovin' business collects the latest racing goodies and sends them monthly to subscribers (...in a box, hence the name). It's a fun idea and only costs $15 a month.

Even if you're not an avid runner, you could use this box as inspiration to get started, or just use the reflective laces and lights in your hip-hop dance class.

« Previous 1 … 8 9 10 11 12 … 18 Next »