58 Comments
Greetings from East 42nd Street in New York City. I'm here to begin a new journey as The $100 Startup goes out to the world tomorrow. Here are a few notes on the early beginnings. It all started back in 2009. I had established the blog and began a new way of life: writing for a living. Or mostly, writing because it was what I wanted to do more than anything else ...
Read More
If you're trying to figure out what you're good at, or trying to start a business for the first time, there's a simple strategy that will help.
Start by listening.
Pay attention to what people ask you about. Chances are, there's something you're good at that other people want to learn.
Read MoreOver the past six months, my video mastermind Wes Wages has been traveling the country on behalf of The $100 Startup. Along the way he met with several of the people in the book to document their stories ...
Emily Cavalier left a six-figure job in New York to run Mouth of the Border and Midnight Brunch. Michael Hanna was unemployed and started an unconventional mattress store that offers delivery by bicycle. Sarah Young founded a yarn shop at the height of the recession. She now employs seven people. In the video she talks about calling her dad after having her first $1,000 day. Last month, she had her first $10,000 day.Read More
We all know there is a problem in focusing entirely on the end result. When you reach the end, what comes next? What if the end wasn't what you really wanted? That's why you have to love the milestones along the way, reminders that you appreciate what you're doing and that it's all for a good cause. But there's also a problem in focusing entirely on process. Working strictly on process takes you away from the big picture can lead you astray. Besides, it's OK to have goals, right?
Read More
66 Comments
“I haven't been everywhere yet, but it's on my list.” - Susan Sontag
Over the past seven years, I've been traveling to everywhere: all 193 countries, and plenty of other places along the way. The journey has been even more amazing than I expected. Over the next couple of months I'll be on book tour in the U.S. and Canada, and I'm actually glad to be taking a break from seeing the world ... because I'm not ready for it to end.
Read More
Home for a month before setting out on a new adventure, I resolve to make some changes in my life. It starts with exercise. I'm a committed runner, a casual yogi, a beginning swimmer, and every week or so I head to the gym for an unfocused session of strength training. In other words, it's too random—so I resolve to change it up.
Read More
A long time ago, I was a jazz musician. I listened to Thelonious Monk and Bill Evans. I loved what they had done for the jazz world, and for the joy of music in general. If only I practiced or memorized enough, I thought, I might not be an original, but I could at least reproduce what they had done. (At least in this case, I decided, individuality is overrated. If I could be like one of them, I'd be happy.) But no matter how much I practiced, I could never be Monk. There was something about the technique, the choice of notes, phrases, and syncopation that couldn't be imitated. I got the feeling that even if the imitation was perfect—mine certainly wasn't—something would be missing ...
Read More
92 Comments
Want to become wiser? It's fairly simple and closely resembles Brian Tracey's formula for being luckier: “Luck is quite predictable. To have more luck, take more chances.”
To become wiser, therefore, take more risks and stop letting fear rule your life. Change it up a little.
In honor of last week's dual birthdays, here are 34 things I wish I knew years ago ...
Read More
Four years ago I started the AONC site, and my biggest fear was that I'd get bored with it. I was worried because that's what I had done any number of times before. I'd build a business to a certain level, then I'd feel myself moving away from it. The work I did in West Africa was the same—I loved it and gave it all I had for a while, but then drifted toward something else. Graduate school, for all I make light of it, was fun and interesting for a time. But after a few quarters where I applied myself, I shifted into focusing merely on completing the degree requirements as quickly as possible. Thankfully, four years into this project and I feel more motivated than ever. Lesson: Craft your project around what you are excited by, but keep it flexible.
Read More
"The reward for conformity," Rita Mae Brown said, "is that everyone likes you but yourself."
Thankfully, it's not always quite that bad.
Things are super busy here at World Domination HQ. I'm getting ready to roll out a book tour schedule, a book trailer, a giveaway for 100 free books, and several other fun things ...
Read More
66 Comments
Happy with your life? Everything's perfect? That's great. This post is not for you.
Everyone else, keep reading.
There are two popular theories of change-making:
#1. Make small and incremental (but regular) changes. Mix it up.
#2. Do it all at once. Quit smoking immediately. Take cold showers. Enter boot camp for the soul—whatever you need to do, don't wait.
Read More
53 Comments
The Olympics are in London this year, but in the U.S. we're gearing up for our own non-stop spectator sport. It's a lot like a reality show, complete with advertising and corporate sponsorship. Many candidates enter, but only one remains when it's over. At the end, one competitor will win by a slim margin. The next four years will be spent fighting about what happened, all the while building up to the next installment in 2016. The competitors belong to different clubs with marginally different beliefs, but they all share the same commitment to “restoring the American dream.”
Read More
I often think in airport codes, and I know at least a couple hundred of them by memory. Name an airport, even a fairly obscure one, and there's a good chance I know its shorthand.
But even I was stumped when it came to Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. Until a few years ago when I had racked up my first hundred countries, I wasn't even sure where Turkmenistan was.
Answers: Turkmenistan is in Central Asia, bordered by Iran, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and the Caspian Sea. The airport code is ASB, for the two people out there who are curious.Read More
Dear Reader,
I found these letters in a beautiful book based off this website. There are a variety of stories expressed in the letters, some hopeful and some painful. I thought I'd share a few with you ...
Read More
Greetings from Austin, Texas. Later today I'll be presenting the first public debut of The $100 Startup here at the SXSW Interactive Festival. If you're around, drop by Convention Center Ballroom G at 5pm local time. Afterwards, I'll be signing my first book and giving away a few galleys of the new one. First thing tomorrow, I'm heading back to Dallas and beyond for my last overseas trip of the spring. I'll be going to Turkmenistan (definitely) and Sudan (hopefully).
Read More