Site Update: September 2008
Live from Seattle
I went to Egypt and Sri Lanka this month, but I’m now resettled back in my home city – and I expect to be here until mid-December. It’s nice to stay in one place every so often.
Each month I look back at what’s happened with ChrisGuillebeau.com in the previous month. If you’ve missed some articles, you can catch up here.
Writing
LIFE – I wrote about Swimming from Regrets, Developing Your Own Philosophy of Travel, and Beware of Potential.
WORK – I wrote about Insane Business Strategies (the Roundup), Your Questions on the Next Unconventional Guide, 15 Resumé Mistakes that Can Cost You a Job, and Time Is Money.
TRAVEL – I wrote about Productivity and Vacations, Five Days in the Valley of the Kings, and Midnight Notes from My 100th Country.
I also posted a Travel FAQ that provides more information about how and why I travel.
Travel
My final overseas trip of the year took me to Egypt and Sri Lanka, along with brief stays in Panama and Qatar. (I didn’t spend much time at all in Qatar, but since I have to go back there sometime next year, I decided to go ahead and put it on the list.)
I traveled on my OneWorld Round-the-World ticket for most of the trip, but between Doha (Qatar) and Colombo (Sri Lanka) I bought a one-way ticket for about $180 on Qatar Airways.
Sri Lanka was my 100th country, an important personal milestone. I came back home after a short visit in NYC and will now be in Seattle for at least three months. The whirlwind travel of the summer was fun but tiring, so I’m happy to be home for a while.
The Affiliate Program
Now that the Discount Airfare Guide has been out for a while and my second product is coming next week, I have created a low-key affiliate program that pays 51% commission for a few carefully-selected partners who wish to offer my products for sale to their readers or customers.
The program is still in beta mode, but several travel bloggers are using it to promote the first product with good results. If you have a blog, other web site, or newsletter list and are interested in learning more, read this here and then contact me.
What’s Coming Next
Travel – I expect to stick to a 20-mile radius over the next month, and my passport is safely tucked away in the filing cabinet. Rest assured that I’ll be dusting it off for some good trips in early 2009.
Essays – The thrice-weekly essays will continue to be posted each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
This month I’ll write about the following topics, among others:
- How to Do What You Really Want
- The Hidden Messages of Passport Stamps
- 880,000 Frequent Flyer Miles for a Few of My Closest Friends
- Entrepreneurship for the Chronic Procrastinator
I hope you enjoy my writing, and I always welcome your feedback.
The Unconventional Guide to Working for Yourself
Thanks to everyone who sent in title suggestions, questions, or general feedback about the next information product. After much consideration, I decided that the title will be the Unconventional Guide to Working for Yourself with a subtitle of “Creating Freedom through a Very Small Business.”
In addition to the written material (which is currently more than 50 pages), the guide will also include at least two 25-minute audio sessions I’ve recorded to help in a different way.
I’ll have a lot more to say about all of that over the next week and a half, and I expect to launch the guide next Wednesday, October 8. Before then I’ll be giving you several reasons why you might not want to get this product, and a special guarantee that will be included for those who do. As usual, I’ll also share more information with the newsletter list before the launch.
Audience Participation
You can participate in the development of this project in several ways:
Leave a comment at the bottom of any essay. Feel free to add to the discussion at any time, and include a link back to your own site if you have one.
Join my newsletter announcement list or add me to your RSS reader.
Follow my real-time updates on Twitter.
Send other feedback. Use my contact form here to tell me what you think so far.
Tell your friends, or tell the world by submitting my essays to StumbleUpon or other social networking sites.
I appreciate the time you spend here. Don’t forget to change the world the way you think it needs to be changed.
-CG
Catch up on Previous Updates Here:
August 2008 (Seattle)
July 2008 (Karachi)
June 2008 (Amsterdam)
May 2008 (Vancouver)
April 2008 (Syria)
March 2008 (Los Angeles)
February 2008 (Seattle)
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Guild Theatre Image by Godzilla
9 Comments
Looking forward to the Guide and Entrepreneurship for the Chronic Procrastinator.
I took my first big step toward entrepreneurship last week by attending the Seattle (Entrepreneur) Company Picnic.
“Creating Freedom Through a Very Small Business.”
I love the subtitle you’ve chosen. I read many freelance writing/marketing blogs for tips on running my business, but it’s tough to find a blogger who doesn’t advocate going all out to make your business consistently grow.
I want my business to grow, but not necessarily in size…like you imply, I don’t want to lose freedom — freedom was the reason I started working for myself in the first place. I’m excited to learn more about your book!
Chris,
Love the blog, your mission and the effort. I’m still trying to get my head around the flights you take. I’m not allowed to download anything at work so I will have to wait to get home to buy it. So, that aside, did you just do the following inside of 2 weeks?
Seattle, -> Miami -> (Panama City, Panama) -> (Madrid, Spain) -> (Cairo, Egypt) -> (Doha, Qatar) -> (Colombo, Sri Lanka) -> (Bangkok, Thailand) -> (Hong Kong) -> NYC -> Seattle?
Do you provide examples and case studies within the PDF? If not, that would be a great and worth-while addition. I am very interested in the Travel ROI – the amount of travel you can do based on investment.
Also, could you provide a table on the days you spend? For example, you tend to state ‘a couple of days’ or ‘a while’ here and there. A great summation might be a table of days, including travel overhead, and destination. It would break up the posts nicely, too.
Finally, your earliest posts on working for yourself are phenomenal. What do you do (aside from unconventional guides) to supplement your income now?
Thanks for all you do!
Looking forwards to the The Unconventional Guide to Working for Yourself, I will be purchasing it the second it becomes available!
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Friday evening’s party was absolutely perfect!!!!!
Thanks for this post.
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