Today’s weekly guest contributor is my friend and go-to tech-genius, Glen Stansberry. Glen is the co-founder of the LifeRemix blog network (which I am incredibly grateful to be a part of), he writes about helping creative people create at LifeDev and Tweets regularly. Today, Glen shares some killer wisdom on the importance of community.

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Can you believe the nerve of this guy?

While Jonathan’s lazily propping his feet in a hammock, we’re here slaving away for him. He’s sipping drinks with tiny umbrellas and playing with his family while we’re grunting away at our own jobs. I mean, it’s bad enough that he keeps rubbing it in that he’s in a tropical paradise, but what really chaps me is that he’s taking a vacation and asking others (like myself) to do his work for him.

It’s easy to be a little really jealous of Jonathan, but the truth is that we’d all be in Bali right now if we could. Vacations and breaking out of our normal routines are like espresso shots for our creativity. I expect some high-caliber stuff out of Mr. Fields once he returns.

It takes a lot of work to be able to relocate for a month to a somewhat-remote place, and the fact that Jonathan is pulling it off is pretty impressive. What’s most interesting about Jonathan’s trip is that he was able to effectively use “peersourcing” to help him get away.

Click here to read the full post (894 words, 1 image 3:35 mins)

This week’s guest contributor is my friend, Alexis Neely. On the outside, Alexis is a driven mom entrepreneur who has built two million dollar plus businesses, trains lawyers, and appears frequently on television. On the inside she’s got dreadlocks, at least half her body tatted, and lives a Burning Man life.  You can grab her life and business growth kit on her blog and follow her on Twitter @alexisneely.

This week she shares some great insights on getting unstuck in business…

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If you are reading this blog, it means you are a pretty smart cookie.  You love to read, think, critique, improve.  Me too.

Reading at three.  High school and college, a breeze.  Graduated first in my law school class (more to do with over-studying as a result of massive fear that I was the dumbest person in the room than to innate smartness).

A smarty-pants.

With all this smarts, I was baffled by how hard it seemed to get ahead in business.  I saw people who were clearly not as smart making way more money, serving more people and making a bigger difference.

What was I missing?

It took me a few years to learn a reality that may be hurting your business success … in business, smart often translates to stuck.

As a business strategist to lawyers and other very smart people, I see it all the time – the smarter we are, the harder it can be to experience business success.

Click here to read the full post (1340 words, 1 image 5:22 mins)

Imagine having no last name and more than 25% of the population having the same first name as you…

That’s how it works in Bali. Here, kids aren’t given any old name. Each of the first four children, in any family, receive the same name. The first kid goes by Wayan, the second by Madé or Kadek, the third by Nyoman or Komang and the fourth by Ketut. Instead of last names or family names, at three months, parents then choose a second name that represents either a quality they’ve noticed emerging in their infant child or one they wish the child to embody.

One person’s second name we met was Apple, because she apparently looked like an apple. Another’s was the Balinese word for Wisdom. So, with so many people sharing the same first names and having no family names, how do tourists and Balinese know where to find each other? Part of it lies in the community structure.

Villages, Crafts and the Rule of 150.

Balinese villages are organized on two levels. By family and by craft. When Balinese marry, it’s not unusual for the wife to move into the compound of the husband. And, it’s also very common for that compound to belong to the husband’s parents, and for them and all other male siblings to live there with their families. The set-up is part a function of tradition and part about the huge different in how much money it takes to buy your own home in Bali versus how much the average Balinese person earns.

Click here to read the full post (2411 words, 48 images 9:39 mins)

This week’s Friday guest contributor is positioning and creativity guru and blogger, Mark Levy of Levy Innovation, who’s also a friend and author of the newly-expanded, and re-subtitled bestseller, Accidental Genius: Using Writing to Generate Your Best Ideas, Insight, and Content.

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In the past few days I’ve talked with a dozen smart people who create content for a living. They write posts and e-books, record podcasts and vlogs, and are on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

These pros aren’t trying to produce one lone idea a day. They need to generate lots of lively and practical ideas that can be spread across multiple platforms every day. Their livelihood depends on it.

As far as tough jobs go, it may not rank with working in a coal mine, but it’s no cakewalk.

Many of these content creators are burnt out. They feel that, within their field, they’ve reached the end of their thinking. They’ve said everything they know how to say, and anything that comes out now is only a mild variation of what they’ve said before.

What might they do to revive themselves?

As a writing coach, I’d give them the same counsel I give myself when I’m working on an important project and find myself – not just stuck – but empty. I’d tell them to conduct a writing marathon.

Based on Peter Elbow’s Loop Writing Process and the technique of freewriting, a writing marathon is an exhausting yet liberating day-long writing session that’s part information dump and part exploration into ideas that they may have never thought about before.

Click here to read the full post (1062 words, 1 image 4:15 mins)

So, remember how I said we were gonna get a house to settle into in Bali?

Yeah, well that didn’t happen. This adventure is teaching me so much about being fluid. Actually, it’s kinda banging me over the head with the concept. But, in the end, I think that’s a good thing…at least it will be, once I’m totally done morning the loss of my routine.

And, the need to know what comes next!

See, here’s what happened. Our entire trip was built around a critical assumption, that our daughter would be in what seemed like a very cool camp that blended Balinese culture, sustainability and all sorts of cool outdoor activities. After visiting the camp, we were all incredibly impressed…with their marketing.

Man, those brochures looked good.

But, the vibe we got from the actual place wasn’t so good. Not horrible, it’s just that our expectations had been raised so high, the reality of what appeared to be something closer to a “half-decent” experience just didn’t cut muster. We got the feeling our kid would be a bit of a pioneer as the camp figured out what it was going to be when it grew up. But, that’s not what we signed up for.

There’s a great lesson in here for marketers and entrepreneurs, by the way.

Great marketing can get people in the door. But, if you can’t deliver the goods once they’ve arrived, you’ll likely not only lose a potential customer, you may also lead them to feel conned…and tell everyone they know.

Click here to read the full post (2126 words, 21 images 8:30 mins)

Today’s post is the second in our summer guest post extravaganza. It’s from my friend and contract limitation-killer, Danielle LaPorte, the creator of WhiteHotTruth.com and The Fire Starter Sessions. You can also find her on Twitter @daniellelaporte

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“You can’t change the world from the rear-view mirror.” – Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop

When I get a group of entrepreneurs together in a room we kick off with introductions, and here’s what I request of people:

When you introduce yourself, please give us:

• Your cocktail line. Describe what you do in just a sentence or two.
• One word that might describe your “brand”—don’t worry if nothing comes to mind, or if you’re compelled to throw out some strange word like velvet or spicy. Just go with it.
• Your current business challenge. It could be cash flow, life balance, writer’s block, or staffing—whatever.
• And here’s the catch: You can’t talk about your past. It doesn’t matter how many Masters Degrees you’ve earned, or how the economy walloped your sales last year. Focus on what you’re doing now, on who you are today.

Here’s why. (WARNING: instructive, but unsympathetic cynicism ahead.)

When I hear a business introduction that starts like this, I can predict that cash flow is stuck, or that work-life balance is way outta whack:

Click here to read the full post (1189 words, 1 image 4:45 mins)

It’s 10:20 on a gorgeous Bali morning, our second real day here…as I write this dispatch from my bed.

Not because I want to. But, because I can’t move…

See, here’s the thing. I love my new Ogio Epic pack. It’s got a billion compartments that allowed me to jam it with nearly 25 pounds of technology to record and share my Hong Kong-Bali adventure.

But, it should come with a disclaimer that reads…

“Attention Over-40 Dumb-Asses: Just because this pack can take 25 pounds of gear doesn’t mean your back can, too!”

Turns out a week of traveling with a mobile TV studio on my back took a wee bit more out of my body than anticipated. Yes, my rational brain should’ve realized it ain’t the smartest thing in the world to strap a 25 pound spinal compression machine onto my 44-year old body, then add in long-haul flying and erratic (read, minimal) sleep.

Oy.

At least the rest of the Fields clan is enjoying a lovely morning at Ja Juice Café while I lie hear waiting for my back to uncoil. So, with the gift of time, let me share more of our travels.

Bali first impression – interesting…

I’m realizing more and more that an important part of traveling to very different parts of the world is the ability to let go of preconceived notions. Because, the more you walk in with a vision of exactly what a place is or isn’t going to be, the more inclined you are to end up spending the first few days morning the loss of your idyllic fantasy.

Click here to read the full post (1795 words, 16 images 7:11 mins)

1. More location independent workflow realities…

“Hey man, can you hear me?” I asked.

“Yeah, I can hear you along with a really loud karaoke version of Justin Bieber or something.”

Thus went my first experiment in location independent skype-based consulting. I was sitting on the mezzanine overlooking the lobby in the Sheraton, Hong Kong. My wife and daughter had crashed a few hours earlier, working hard to adapt to the 12-hour time change from NYC, and the 15-hour flight.

For the next few minutes, I wandered around the mezzanine, laptop in hand, headphones wrapping my ears, trying to find a location where the free wifi was strong enough to carry the skype signal, I could plug-in long enough to last the 1-hour call, but the guy in the lobby crooning along with his guitar was muffled enough to allow me to carry on a reasonable conversation through what I now know is not a noise-canceling mic.

My location-independent workflow takeaways:

• Free wifi doesn’t necessarily mean “in your room.”
• Buy a really good noise-canceling headset if you don’t want to sound like a total amateur on consulting calls
• Try not to schedule clients within 72 hours of completing a 15 hour flight with a 12 hour time difference. It creates a lot of tension between your obligation to serve them well and your relentless desire to sleep.

2. Coinus Interruptus…

Click here to read the full post (959 words, 2 images 3:50 mins)

Today launches my Summer Festival of Guest Posts…aka…my way of slacking off while I’m in Bali and pleading with friends who have amazing voices and insights to share their genius with you.

Kicking off this new “every Friday” feature is my friend, Chris Guillebeau. Many of you know Chris already, but if you don’t, he’s the guy who travels the world and writes for a small army of remarkable people at The Art of Non-Conformity. He is also the Chief Troublemaker of UnconventionalGuides.com.

And, he’s also about to become an author with the release of the forthcoming book, The Art of Nonconformity. I’ve seen an advance copy and it’s fantastic, reserve your copy today at amazon.

So, without further ado, I’ll turn it over to Chris…

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There goes that Jonathan Fields again… heading out to beautiful Bali while the rest of us hold down the fort with guest posts. What a lucky guy. I’m guessing his schedule today looks something like this:

10am: Wake up in the hammock

11am: Eat banana pancakes, Jack Johnson style

1145am: Quick email check

12pm-6pm: “Brainstorming time”

6pm: Post a TwitPic of the hammock

615pm: Quick email check

630pm: Begin drinking beer

8pm: Bonfire and barbeque prepared by the local Career Renegade staff

That’s how the “work from anywhere” life goes, right? Yep, that’s the life… of pretty much no one I know.

Click here to read the full post (859 words, 1 image 3:26 mins)

By the time you read this, I’ll be in a plane to Hong Kong…

The great Bali Renegade Workflow Project has officially launched. For the better part of the summer, I’ll be operating out of Bali, working part of the time, exploring part of the time and enjoying my family and the pace of life all of the time.

In my post last week, I shared some the ways I’ll be experimenting with my content creation pipeline and workflow in order to get the most out of my time on the other side of the world. But, today, I wanted to spend a few minutes sharing with you all 21 pounds of technology that’ll be coming along on the adventure with me. Normally, I’d never travel this heavy, but since we’ll be more “living” in Bali for a month or two, rather than “visiting” for a week or two, it made sense to bring what I needed.

Also, because this is such a lush, rich part of the world, I wanted to make sure I was able to capture it with a level of technology that really did it justice. Which is kind of funny, because the other “capture” technology I’ll be leaning on is a few old moleskine journals, aka, the anti-technology.

For a more detailed review of the Ogio Epic bag I’m using, check out Chris Brogan’s great new travel site, ManOnTheGo.com

Click here to read the full post (265 words, 1 image 1:04 mins)