Postcard #27: Jodi in Ojai
Leave your thoughtsThis week's featured postcard comes to us from Jodi in Ojai, California. Here's what it's all about.
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Notes from AA 476
Leave your thoughtsGreetings from the early-early flight (6:05am departure) to DFW, where I'll transfer to an American Eagle jet up to Des Moines, Iowa. Over the next 14 days I'll be in 13 cities, taking the message of AONC on the road through the midwest and the Great Lakes, meeting readers, and trying to keep the plates in the air.
Why Do You Do This Every Day?
93 CommentsFor a long time I kept this image on my desktop so I’d see it whenever I opened my computer. It’s a good question to ask when you’re evaluating your…
Notes from the Road, Vol. II
Leave your thoughtsI wrapped up the first part of the Unconventional Book Tour with ten stops in ten days. Now I'm home in Portland for a couple of days before heading back out on the longest leg of the whole trip.
If you're new to AONC, regular articles are posted on Mondays and Thursdays. I often use Sundays for a weekend update about my business, UnconventionalGuides.com. For the rest of 2010 I'm not doing much business work, so I'll use this space more often for updates from the book tour.
Postcard #26: Kyle and Bessie in Bali
Leave your thoughtsThis week's featured postcard comes to us from Kyle and Bessie in Bali, Indonesia. Here's what it's all about
What’s Your Message? Why Not Share It?
107 CommentsGreetings from Burlington, Vermont. After today, I have a few days home in Portland, Oregon, then I'll set out to visit the midwest and Great Lakes region starting next week. In this (very windblown) video update, I talk about social media and why if you're trying to build a platform, you should talk about yourself more than others. Stay with me, because this idea is definitely contrarian to the conventional wisdom.
Travel and Social Privilege
126 CommentsPat from the UK writes in on the growing discussion about “Why You Should Quit Your Job and Travel Around the World”. To say the least, the concept of investing in expanding your worldview as opposed to investing in a career draws a range of perspectives. I thought it was a good comment, so I'm including it here with his permission.
This is a fascinating idea but such traveling can only exist because most other people cannot do it. For example, that airplane you use to travel is built by non-traveling factory workers who earn low incomes and have families to support. It's flown by pilots, staffed by stewards who work full-time. When you land, you are staying in a hotel or hostel ran and maintained by non-traveling staff. The taxis you use, the buses you use, all staffed by non-traveling people. I can go on about restaurants, etc. If the whole world decided to live like this, it would be an unsustainable way of life.
Postcard #25: Hannah in Portland
Leave your thoughtsThis week's featured postcard comes to us from Hannah in Portland, Oregon. Here's what it's all about.
If You Love Something, You Have to Protect It
42 CommentsYou might have heard this advice before: “If you love something, set it free.” But I'm not so sure about that. It seems to me that if you really love something, setting it free is exactly what you don't want to do. I've been thinking about this idea ever since a friend gave me the opposite advice recently:
“If you love something, you have to protect it.”
Calm Before the Storm
82 CommentsIn the time leading up to a big day, you do everything you can. You make plans. You consider contingencies. You supply, you restock. You practice, you rehearse, you try to anticipate. You ask for help ... a lot of help. Good planning goes a long way. Giving a speech is a lot easier if you know exactly what you want to say. Laying the foundation for maximum impact comes through careful work done over the course of weeks, months, and years.
Postcard #24: Chelle in Orlando
Leave your thoughtsThis week's featured postcard comes to us from Chelle in Orlando, Florida. Here's what it's all about.
Strategy, Tactics, and the Plan for the Next 97 Days
60 CommentsHave you heard the news about the death of publishing? Books are going extinct! Paper will cease to exist! Buy stock in digital ink.
Seth Godin, a mentor to me and the rest of the internet, recently announced his retirement from traditional publishing. Seth is perpetually ahead of the curve, so as usual, most people completely missed the point in responding to the news. When I read his interview, I thought “Wow, I need to catch up.” If I had twelve bestselling books, I'd say farewell to traditional publishing too. So everyone else in publishing, traditional or otherwise, who doesn't have twelve bestselling books needs to get to work.
Postcard #23: Tim in Melbourne
Leave your thoughtsThis week's featured postcard comes to us from Tim in Melbourne, Australia. Here's what it's all about.
How to Use Frequent Flyer Miles for Low-Cost, High-Value Trips
22 CommentsAs regular readers know, I use Frequent Flyer miles to go all over the world several times a year. I've written before about how to earn miles without flying, and how you can become your own travel ninja through mass mileage accrual. Once you earn miles, however, you need to make a plan for using them. One of the saddest facts in the Frequent Flyer world is that every year, millions of miles go to waste. Help stamp out mileage expiration! Use your miles ... but use them wisely. Here's how.
On Hustling
52 CommentsSometimes people ask what hustling is. This great poster by Joey Roth provides one answer:
This “hustler” image is what I try to do every day: lots of work, lots of messaging. The messaging isn't always directly related to the work at hand—sometimes I'm supporting other people with their own hustling. But on a good day, there's plenty of work and and plenty of messaging.
