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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.

This is a fantastic example of how community is pivotal to the success of an entrepreneur.

Or in Jonathan’s case, how to slack off more. (Ok, seriously… I love Jonathan. I’d gladly drop everything to help him out, as he’s helped me out so many times before. Just don’t tell him, ok? I’d never hear the end of it.)

I was fortunate enough to co-found the blog network LifeRemix a few years back. The network has some amazing people, with serious skills in many different fields. Bestselling authors, awesome programmers, marketing geniuses, financial wizards… we’ve got it all. (I’m quite lucky that I was a founder, otherwise I wouldn’t have made the cut!)

We’ve managed to help each other out with our writing and other pursuits of life. In fact, we’re a pretty close little community. We all have unique skills and knowledge about different topics, so really the network is like a massive pool of knowledge. Someone will ask a question in our email list, and usually four to five really smart people will chime in, offering help and advice. So it’s no surprise that when Jonathan told the network he was going on vacation and needed a hand with guest posts, we gladly answered the call.

Here’s the secret to being a successful entrepreneur: You need community.

You need help from other people. People who will challenge you and lend you a hand when needed. People who will expand your horizons with their expertise or particular walks of life. Thanks to this thing called The Internet, you can find people and groups to help you in almost any field and variety.

Forums, Google groups, open source projects… there are literally limitless options for finding a community.

Or maybe it makes more sense to find a local, offline community. There are plenty of options for finding groups of people in your area. Churches, business organizations and memberships, neighbors, etc. Just because someone isn’t in your exact niche–or even know the definition of the term “niche”–doesn’t mean they can’t provide you with valuable support and feedback.

Community helps us fill in those little cracks in our life that we can’t fill ourselves.

I’ll often ask our crew for marketing ideas or feedback. I’m a designer by trade, but my marketing chops are “meh” at best. Guys like Jonathan or Chris have saved my bacon many a-time.

Community also gives us a chance to give back.

I love this. I love the fact that I’ve got a chance to help Jonathan because he’s helped me so many times before. There’s nothing better than receiving and giving. It’s important to note that asking for help is just as important as giving. Oftentimes people feel like they’re being a burden by asking for help. But other people need a way to give back their talents and resources too.

At LifeRemix we’ll ask each other for help all the time. In fact, it’s encouraged. I dare you to find a successful person that did it “all on their own”. Everyone (yes, even Steve Jobs) has had people in their lives that bring the best out of them, both professionally and personally. Finding and surrounding yourself with these people is going to be critical to your success.

So if you really want to skyrocket your career, find a community to be a part of.

If you can’t find one, then start one within your niche. (All you have to do is ask.) There’s always something you can provide. If anything, you can be encouraging and supportive. (Sometimes the thing a community needs most is more cheerleaders.) The important thing is to just get involved. No man is an island. (Though certain renegades do go and live on one for a month or so…)

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Glen Stansberry writes about helping creative people create at LifeDev. You can also find him ribbing Mr. Fields from time to time on his Twitter account.

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.

Each family compound is surrounded by the compounds of other family members until a community is formed. They generally top out at 150 people before needing to form a new community, often just next door or across the road. Which is kind of fascinating, because 150 is a bit of a magic number in the world of corporate culture. There’s strong research that shows coherence falls apart once you exceed that number.

Between 7 and 10 communities of 150 or so people then come together to form a village. Each compound has it’s own temple, and there is one large temple around which the entire village life is conducted. By the way, when I talk about building, almost every structure is either partially or entirely open-air. When issues need to be resolved or ceremonies and celebrations need to be had, like the one that happens every 210 days in the name of Dewi Saraswati, the Goddess of Education, the entire village is called to the temple.

Each village is also known for creating something common to all communities. For example, we were driving along the main road in a village and everywhere you looked, thousands of massive stone and cement statues lined every shop. This, we learned was the stone carving village. Another was known for silver jewelry. Others for umbrellas, batik, woodcarving and more. Our driver, Wayan Santika’s village was known for painting.

The Driving Artist.

Turns out, the wonderful driver and guide who helped us get to know Bali had been painting since he was 10 years old. Driving was his way to supporting his family. He learned the craft from his dad, who also painted his entire life, but earned a living as an elementary school teacher. We asked Wayan if we could come visit his home, meet his family and also see his paintings. He agreed and we spent a wonderful afternoon with his parents, brother, sister-in-law and their kids.

And, when we saw some of the painting created by both Wayan and his dad (also Wayan), we were blown away. They use a process where they draw very fine, meticulously-detailed outilines in pencil on canvas coated with the filmy stuff that cooks off of rice.

They then ink over the pencil. This is done by taking a black, rectangular dry ink stick, grinding the head into a small saucer along with a few drops of water, then taking a cue-ball like black stone and grinding the ink in a mortar and pessel motion for one-minute to get it soft and consistent enough to use.

Next, they dip a fine, metal-tipped quill-pen into the ink and redraw all the pencil lines with ink. Then comes shading with that same black, then finally the color is applied. But, they work with such detail, in order the get the acrylics they use workable on a fine-enough level, they need to be watered down a lot. And, that means each color must be applied 3 to 5 times to get enough saturation.

The final product takes months to create and an insane amount of patience and vision. Papa Wayan, who was about to turn 60 and retire involuntarily from his 40 year career as a school teacher took me around to the side of the main sleeping building where a small, simple, partly-open workshop with a corrugated tin roof presented itself. This was where the two Wayans painted together.

He showed me his colors, a small tray of 4 or 5 tubes of acrylic paint, and demonstrated how he grinds the inks, applies the shades, then the color. Every drop of ink and squeeze of paint was precious, both because of the commitment to the artform, and because, in relation to what most artists in Bali earn, paint is very expensive and cannot be wasted. I have to confess to that making me feel a bit sick about the plastic container loaded with some 20 or 30 tubes of acrylic paint that sit rarely used in a cabinet in my apartment in NYC.

Before leaving, we ended up buying two paintings that were quite striking, one from each Wayan. According to Balinese tradition, we should’ve negotiated a much better price. But…seriously? SERIOUSLY? Though the paintings themselves were breathtaking, knowing the stories behind them and the men who created the canvases, along with their families, lent so much more to the experience.

Incidentally, if you’re heading to Bali and you need a driver/guide or are interested in authentic Balinese art, you can find Wayan Santika at wayansantika@hotmail.com or  call/skype him in Bali 081 7974 0580.

Balinese Dance and Gamelan Music.

Earlier that day, we’d also gone to see a Balinese dance performance at a well-known temple and outdoor performance area. The costumes were incredibly elaborate, the dance and the show was presented as a story, much the way a Greek tragedy would unfold, except with more acts. It was amazing to watch how much weight they gave to the placement of the hands and feet and to see how each hand position changed with each movement of the body.

In yoga, there is an entire practice called “Mudra,” much of which is derived from Hindu, that associated a wide variety of hand positions with specific changes in the body’s energy and vital status. I thought I recognized some of those Mudras as the dancers moved the show forward.

And, the “band” jammed behind the actors and dancers to ethereal Gamelan music that’s really hard to describe without hearing it. I’ve shared some images in the gallery below.

The Brooklyn-Bali-Berlin Furniture Connection.

A little more than a year ago, I shared a video interview with my buddy, Jason Lamberth, who makes furniture out of giant teak trees that were buried by the Dutch for shipbuilding years ago, recently discovered, dug-up and reclaimed. Back then, Jason was about to move his family from Brooklyn to Bali, where his workshop is.

They had an incredible year-long adventure (which I’ll write about another time), but by the time we arrived, Jason’s wife and kids had just moved to Berlin, where he was about to follow, then spend large chunks of time bouncing between Bali, Berlin and NY. Check out the pics of his workshop and some the the stunning teak furniture he’s creating in the gallery below.

Location Independence and Workflow Project.

So, if you’ve kept up with earlier dispatches, you already know that finding good internet connections, let alone places where the lights stay consistently on has been a challenge. Uploading video and audio from hotels, houses and even upscale resorts in central Bali was essentially impossible. Even text posts with images had its challenges.

So, partly in an effort to remedy that and in to find places where there were more kids for my daughter to connect with, we headed from the heart of Bali down to the coast where far more “real” tourists tend to frolic with higher expectations about conveniences and less interest in the heart of the Balinese culture and people.

We started out in a big resort that looked great, boasted in-room wifi, had tons of families with kids and was very affordable. Or, so the brochure said (noticing a pattern yet, lol?).

While the grounds were quite lovely, the rooms were so nasty I chose not showering for 3 days over having to use their shower…and wondering if I’d come out with some rare tropical fungus. And, mind you, I’m a pretty clean guy and this was in the tropics where “bathed in sweat” is a persistent state of being!

The wifi worked…when it was turned on every day…after 11am. And, the only place you could get it was down by the pool. I’m fine working with noise around me, so it wasn’t a problem getting everything I needed done for my own ventures and my clients, once I settled in. But, my one attempt at a skype call from that location ended up in a quick rescheduling.

After 3 days, we couldn’t take the room and most of the “kids” were actually late-teens on holiday, partying from Perth, so we gave in…and took our selling out to a whole new level!

People, Productivity and Luxury.

We moved to the Intercontintental, a massive 5 star luxury resort on the ocean in Jimbaran, about 45-minutes away from our previous scary place.

Died and went to travel heaven. The rooms, stunning. The grounds, awe-inspiring. The food, yum. Activities, lots (my daughter actually participated in a baby turtle release program that was run in conjunction with a local conservation group). In-room wifi, four bars.

We made instant friends with a couple from Western Australia, which is where most of the folks who visit this part of Bali are from, since it takes only 3 hours by plane. Actually, my wife made instant friends, then brought me into the loop after a morning on the computer in our room. And, they had a daughter the same age as ours, both girls had to be pulled form the pool hen it finally closed at 7pm.

I came to three realizations as the day unfolded.

One, much as we love exploring culture and new places and the idea of roughing it a bit…we’re still travel wusses at heart, meaning we still really like the nicer things in life. It’s very weird to own up to that when you’ve just left a part of a country that still lives around the poverty-level. But, it is what it is. And, I suspect that after this trip, we’ll find ourselves being more actively-involved in helping to have an impact on people and families who are less fortunate, one person at a time.

Two, at least for me, I create better when I’m able to build a consistent routine…and I’m not sweating like a bastard all day long. Which is why I kept rotating around to try and create routine and find cooled places to settle into whenever and wherever possible. Thankfully, too, being on the water brought a constant breeze, which changed the way I experienced the heat fairly dramatically.

And, three, no matter where you go, it still always comes down to the people. Our two best days in Bali were when we spent time with Wayan and his family and when we spent time with our new Aussie friends.

I’ve been asked many times what the best part of being an entrepreneur is and my answer is always that you get to pick the people you surround yourself with. It’s no different in life than it is in business. Nothing matters more than the relationships and experiences you build with great, likeminded people.

Great people can turn a bad trip or job into a rich adventure. And evil people can turn what looks on it’s face to be a dream job or trip into pure hell.

Which brings me to some changes we’ve made in our trip.

Sadly, we could only stay at the Intercontinental for one-day. I’m writing this from a cabana…at the Hard Rock Hotel Bali on the beach in Kuta…which is about the closest thing to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, circa 1988 I’ve ever seen. It’s a madhouse, but it’s got a ton of energy, the biggest pool in Bali, a town that’s buzzing with bodies, great wifi and, yes, even some serious shopping.

And, like it or not, it’s yet another expression of what parts of Bali have become, a tourist mecca and a linchpin in the country’s ability to survive economically. It’s one of the four Balis we’ve discovered.

Plus, we’re only here for 2 days.

Heading to Australia.

Why’s that? On the 20th, we’re jumping from Bali over to Melbourne, Australia for a whole bunch of reasons that include spending time with friends, connecting with and giving a talk to the vibrant social media community there and interviewing a few people for my book. Plus, my daughter spent a month studying Australia in school this year and we thought it’d be great to enrich book knowledge with actual knowledge.

One last thing as I wrap this week’s dispatch…

No matter where you go, in any of the four Balis, the tradition and ritual is just below the surface. Incense burns, Gods are worshipped, temples adorn every building, even waterparks and malls…even the Hard Rock.

This journey continues to be filled with surprises at every turn. But, stepping back, what an adventure it’s been…and there’s still more to come and share.

Stay tuned for next week’s dispatch. And, if you’re in the Melbourne-area, come play with me, Stephen Johnson and a cast of social media characters on Thursday night at 7pm.

And, here’s this week’s expanded gallery (click on any image to enlarge it)…

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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.

In the end, they’ll have pages of thoughts and prose. Much of it will be junk. Some of it, though, will be startlingly original, and may well be the best stuff they’ve ever created.

Whether you’re blocked or not, you might like to try the marathon yourself. Here’s how it works:

Set aside a stretch of five to eight hours. If you’re a morning person, begin it in the morning. If you’re a nighttime person, schedule it for the evening.

Get a timer and a computer. You’ll need the computer, because if you try doing the amount of writing I’m asking you to do with pen and paper, you’re hand will cramp.

Now, set the timer for twenty minutes, open a blank document, fix your subject in mind (for instance, “How can service firms sell to mid-sized companies”), and start typing.

Attack the subject from a spot that, for you, has energy. In other words, don’t start writing about it from some point out of obligation. Begin where you want to begin.

No one is going to see what your writing unless you want them to, so be honest and bold.

Don’t worry about spelling, punctuation, or grammar. Don’t worry if what you’re writing is interesting or even coherent.

Write as fast as you can, without stopping for any reason. And, if during the writing you feel like digressing, by all means follow those digressions.

What you’re doing is using the writing to watch yourself think.

When twenty minutes is up and your timer rings, stop. Now’s not a time to rest, though. Take a few minutes to read through your writing and note language and concepts that catch your attention.

If a line interests you — if it’s well-said or contains an idea you might want to develop — underline it. If a line strikes you as a considerable insight, bold it.

Once you’re finished making annotations, look the page over once more. The reason? You want find out what to explore next.

• Do you see a thought you’d further like to pursue?
• Is there an underdeveloped idea that needs elaboration?
• Do you notice a relationship between ideas that needs writing about?
• Are you struck by a thinking-error that’s apparent only now that you’ve written it out?
• Has a question occurred to you that bares investigation?

You’re searching for a new starting thought. It needn’t be profound. Again, you just want to begin writing from a spot that has energy. A spot that intrigues, delights, or annoys you.

Once you’ve come up with a starting thought, fix it in mind, set your timer for twenty minutes, and start writing about your starter thought.

As always, follow the dictates of your mind. If you want to stay on topic, fine. If you feel like going off topic, do it. Have fun. Be irreverent, provocative, even scandalous.

When twenty minutes is up and your timer rings, stop. Again, read through your writing and underline and bold the notions that grab you. Find a new starter thought. Repeat.

That’s the marathon. You do twenty minute sessions, punctuated by the search for starter thoughts, over and over for five to eight hours. Why that long?

You want to clear the brain. You want it to dig deep for facts, opinions, people, stories, scenes, details, ideas. By doing so, you’ll burn off the obligatory surface thinking that can’t be avoided. The party-line stuff. Your mind will have to start reaching. That’s what you want.

One of the keys to making the marathon work is by following Ezra Pound’s rallying cry, “Make it new.” Each time you formulate a starter thought, demand that it sends you in a new direction. I can’t stress this point enough.

You don’t want to merely parrot what you’ve already written because, if you hit “Save,” you have that writing forever. Why duplicate it?

You want new. Force yourself into uncharted waters, even if doing so seems artificial or uncomfortable. Pursue novelty and uncertainty. Head towards anxiety. Make yourself write and think about ideas that aren’t traditionally “you.” Get beyond the point where you write about what you know.

As Ron Carlson wrote, “ . . . if you get what you expect, it isn’t good enough.”

By the end of the marathon, you’ll likely have pages and pages of language and ideas that you can use as raw material for dozens of significant projects. The honesty and power of your exploratory writing may surprise you.

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Mark Levy, who founded the marketing strategy firm, Levy Innovation, is called, by David Meerman Scott, “a positioning guru extraordinaire.” Mark’s latest book is a revised, expanded, and re-subtitled edition of his bestseller, “Accidental Genius: Using Writing to Generate Your Best Ideas, Insight, and Content.” It liberates readers from their status quo thinking.

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.

And, that’s not a bad thing, because once you move past the dream, you become a lot more open to learning from the actual experience. In fact, it may well be the single biggest reason to stay in any one place longer than the time it takes for the walls of your fantasy to fall.

In Bali, we’re basing out of Ubud, also known as the country’s cultural and arts center. The world better knows it as the sleepy little, deeply spiritual town brought to life in Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray Love (her healer’s shop is #30 on the tourist map now).

I had visions of a quiet place where life moved at a gentle pace, fueled by ritual and conversation and a main street traveled by bike and lined with cafes, local artists and temples.

And, while it’s still a fascinating town, that Ubud no longer exists.

According to our driver, Ubud has undergone a fairly substantial transition over the last 5 or 10 years into a busy hub with a complex mix of locals, expats and tourists and shops ranging from Dolce & Gabana to hand-carved Buddha purveyors, roadside food stands and galleries.

From the café in the front our hotel on Monkey Forest Road, the main thoroughfare, the sound of our voices is largely drowned out by the tide-like prattle of motorbikes. I’m told that for many years, locals relied on buses to get around, but public transportation has been abandoned by many in favor or affordable automatic transmission motorbikes and scooters.

That’s led to a serious increase in the ambient volume on streets with a slight uphill bent, which Monkey Forest Road has, as riders throttle their way up the slope. And, the dozen or so streets that define central Ubud are lined with thousands of parked and moving two-wheeled vehicles.

There are also no traffic lights or stop signs (and very few street signs), so driving there is a harrowing experience I plan not to endure or put anyone else though. And crossing any given street is a bit like playing a video game. Except you’ve only got one life.

In light of all this, as I mentioned earlier, you’ve often got to look past the surface to see, then meld into the deeper cultural and spiritual energy that underlies anywhere new. And, that energy is abundant throughout Ubud, in both the people, the offerings and the pace of life.

Every morning, you’ll find small flower and incense filled coconut leave boxes lining the fronts of every store and home, infusing the early-morning town with a bit of an ethereal feel, as sinews of scented smoke filled the air.

I loved waking early to sit on a step in the middle of town and watch shop-keepers lay out the boxes, lighting their incense then gently sprinkling water, while making smoke-wafting circles with their hands in a ritualistic motion ingrained over decades and generations. On certain days, offerings were also placed on newly washed motorbikes as blessings to keep them safe. Not the riders, the bikes.

Shortly after, the occasional food vendor would amble down, carrying crates of rice flats, small portions of cooked rice with spices in folded banana leaves and other fare for the shopkeepers on their heads. I marveled at the strength they had to have built in their necks and their ability to balance the crates as they walked along jagged, undulating sidewalks barely wider than their strides.

Passing each shop, they’d look in to see if the keeper needed breakfast, stopping often to prepare a package and exchange it for what amounted often to less than $1 US. Visits to shops shortly after often found the employees sitting toward the back eating together on the floor or on a counter, the aroma of Indonesian spiced fare filling the shop.

Many shopkeepers leave their shoes at the door and remain barefoot inside the store. A lead I loved taking, since I’m genetically disenchanted with shoes and will take any and every opportunity not to have to wear them (just one of the perks of having owned a yoga studio for so many years).

And, with the exception of the newspaper kid who conned my wife out of $10 for a paper on the first morning, the people are generally warm, honest and they tend to gravitate toward kids. It wasn’t unusual for a shopkeeper to cup my daughter’s face and comment on how long her lashes were, something that would lead to an abrupt hand-swatting or intimations of inappropriate behavior back on the streets of Gotham.

One of the things my wife and I have come to learn, too, is that while we love learning about other places and cultures, we tend not to be all that experimentally-inclined when it comes to food (which is funny, since she worked in the restaurant biz in NYC for nearly 10 years). We’ll try a bit of local fare, but tend to play it safer in our gastronomic adventures. This is especially true in a place still known for the way it’s water wars with the typical Westerner’s intestinal flora. There’s a reason the term Bali Belly exists.

So, as we eased into the local restaurant scene, we were really psyched to find a few fantastic cafés, like Bali Spirit Kafe and Ja Juice Café on quieter side-streets with lush menus of organic, locally-farmed eats, reverse-osmosis filtered water…and free wifi.

And, with the wifi at our hotel being nearly non-existent, I was pretty inclined to make these my makeshift office for as long as they’d have me…or until we found a house to move into.

As our first day unfolded, we visited The Green School, which is the brainchild of expat jeweler, John Hardy and his wife. It’s stunning campus built on the dream of providing an extraordinary, alternative education with a strong emphasis on sustainability. In fact, the entire school is built almost entirely out of bamboo and boasts what is purported to be the largest bamboo “building” in the world. To stand in it is nothing less than mindblowing.

The technology to build these structures literally had to be invented as they were built. The Hardys ended up having to found their own bamboo growing and fabrication company, PT Bamboo, in order to satisfy the needs of the school. And, together with the school, they’ve started a bamboo seedling buyback program. They’ll cultivate bamboo plants, then give them to locals with the promise of buying them back at fair market value once they’re large enough to harvest for use in building.

And, though the 23-acre campus, which lies in the middle of a jungle, boasts end-to-end wifi and modern amenities, it’s electric use is minimal and it draws a substantial chunk of it’s power from a hydro-electric vortex that generates electricity by shunting water from the nearby river, swirling it into a whirlpool that turns a turbine, then pouring it back into the river. It also apparently provides a mini fun-park for the monitor lizards that line the banks.

Back in Ubud, we’ve begun looking for a house to move into for the balance of July.

Turns out trying to work from sporadic internet connections and cafes isn’t the easiest thing to do. Especially because part of the way I earn my living is by consulting. While it’s relatively easy to coordinate schedules, when folks are paying you serious money to help them grow their businesses, it’s important not to be dropping calls and skype video left and right. Plus, I need a place that I can go to both connect and write without always having to go “somewhere else.”

Note to others looking to explore a location independent lifestyle – think seriously about generating as much of your income as possible not through direct access to your expertise, but by commoditizing and distributing your knowledge on a more automated basis online. Or, if you’re building an organization, think more about building it around product, instead of service.

In any event, we anticipated this potential workflow challenge before leaving so, much to the muted horror of friends and family, we only made hotel reservations for a few nights, during the peak season in Ubud. Figured we’d wing it from there, and either rent a house or continue on in the first or another hotel.

So, this morning was spent checking out a few houses (siiiiick!). For better or worse, the only houses left tended to be much larger than what we needed, but since I plan to film a bunch of footage for some upcoming trainings and products wherever we land, I’m sure I’ll end up putting the space we have to good use. And, we’ll all be able to settle into more of a rhythm.

I hope to be able to share video from our new abode with my next dispatch.

Until then, here are a few pics from around town (click on each for full-sized image)…

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…

___________________________________

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.

Plenty of people will tell you about the benefits of the work anywhere / location independent / off-the-grid lifestyle. Fine. But most of them will leave out the hard parts. (Most of them haven’t actually done it either, but that’s another story.)

Before you join Jonathan and co. in the Indonesian treehouse, here are a few things to keep in mind.

Misconception #1: Work Anywhere, Make Money.

I’ve been location independent for nearly ten years, but I could actually make more money (a lot more) by staying in one place instead of roaming around all the time. Working in North American time zones is more profitable than Indonesian time zones. Despite the welcome presence of the banana pancakes, money and working from Southeast Asia are not correlated.

Misconception #2: Passive Income = Cha-Ching!

Wake up to the inflow of funds before heading back to the hammock—what a life. Actually, Jonathan’s already been over this before… better take that post down quickly, man! (Unfortunately, he’s right. The reality is that most of us work pretty hard for that “passive” income. We have to feed the funnel, keep prospects coming in, and be available for clients or customers no matter where we are in the world.)

Misconception #3: If You Build It, They Will Come.

All you need to do is open a storefront and put out your shingle. W00t! Except not. Viral marketing means “spend a lot of time talking to everyone you know and hope they’ll do the same.” Building your project is 50% of the task; spreading the word is the other 50%—and that’s hard to do when you’re working from the road.

Misconception #4: The Whole World Is Wired.

Alas, “wired” means different things in different places. True, I had a surprisingly fast WiFi signal in Erbil, Iraq—but I’ve also been at a loss to get online in Tokyo, supposedly one of the world’s most wired places. I also spend a lot of time worrying about internet connections, especially when doing video interviews or uploading large files. If you need to rely on a constant, consistent pipeline to the world, you’re better off at home.

Misconception #5: You’ll Spend Your Days Chillaxin’ in the Hammock!

OK, this one is real… sort of. Here’s where we get into the reality of working from anywhere. By far the main benefit of establishing your plan of freedom is the ability to go anywhere, sometimes more than the actual going.

Remember the words of the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland: “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.” With that in mind, here are a few things to think about before you book your Thai Airways flight and head out across the Pacific:

• What are you really after? What’s the goal?
• How will your business bring joy to your customers?
• What does freedom look like to you?
• How will you build sustainable practices into the biz, so you can actually book that flight… or do whatever else you want?

Don’t get me wrong…

Location independence is awesome! Sign me up. But the best part of a freedom business is the freedom itself. You can be free wherever you are, or you can be stressed wherever you are. Better to solve that problem first…. then, start picking out your dream hammock.

When this post goes up, Jonathan will be in Bali, and I’ll be working from the road in West Africa. Sign me up for some banana pancakes! That’s no misconception.

###

Chris Guillebeau travels the world (without a hammock) and writes for a small army of remarkable people at The Art of Non-Conformity. He is also the Chief Troublemaker of UnconventionalGuides.com. Reserve your copy of Chris’ forthcoming book, The Art of Nonconformity, at amazon now.

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

This Friday will start the official Summer Guest-posting Festival, too, so stay tuned for some amazing insights, thoughts and stories from folks who are doing powerful things with their lives…

I’m also starting on book number two (which was just sold, formal announcement to come soon) and is on a totally different topic than Career Renegade. I’m really psyched to dive into this one, it’s going to go a lot deeper into some pretty powerful lifestyle and business phenomena. And, it’ll be kinda interesting to see how Bali effects how and what I write.

Why Bali, btw? How can we pull it off? What will else will I be doing while I’m there?

I’ll answer these questions and a whole lot more once I’m there and I can show you, rather than tell you (but, let it be known, it had nothing to do with Eat, Pray Love. LOL)!

While I’m gone, I’m also going to experiment with some pretty “renegadey” changes to my writing and online work-flow in an effort to create the most compelling content possible, while also dramatically streamlining my processes. That’ll free me up to write the book, take skype calls with my consulting clients and spend a whole lot of time playing with my family and exploring the nooks and crannies of this stunning island.

As part of this work-flow evolution, I’ll be doing a lot more video blogging. For two reasons. One, so I can take you along on my Balinese Renegade Adventure and share my experiences with you guys as vividly as possible. And, two, because it takes me a lot less time to create compelling video, from shoot to publication, than it does to write. Especially the way I’m about to do it.

For those interested, my process for video content creation will be:

• Film video segments in HD with either my Flip Ultra HD, Canon Vixia HFS100 or iPhone 4 (if the Gods favor me with one before I leave),
• Upload them to my Dropbox account at night (when I’ll have wi-fi access and less competition for Balinese bandwidth),
• Ask my virtual assistant (VA) to drop the footage into iMovie on her computer, add in my standard intro and outro and upload the final segments to YouTube then embed them in a video post, set as draft for me to add a few sentences to provide context and post the next morning.

I’ll also be experimenting with a move to audio as source for both podcasts and text posts.

Here’s my planned work-flow for audio and text:

• Hike or ride my bike to some place that inspires me (or, lie in a hammock on the porch),
• Speak my posts into either an Olympus LS-10 recorder or iPhone voice recorder app and record direct to mp3 format,
• Dropbox the mp3s to my VA, where she’ll download it, edit in standard audio lead-ins and wrap-ups, publish the finished audio as podcasts to my media-hosting site, which then gets picked up by iTunes,
• Then She’ll: (1) Transcribe the audio, copy-edit the text and drop it into WordPress as a text post for this blog, (2) Source a relevant Creative Commons image from Flickr for the post, then (3) Crop and insert the image into the post, awaiting approval for final editing and publication.

And, the last big change, I’ll be folding in a new weekly featured guest post, which is something I almost never do on the blog, but the few times I have done it, it’s been really well recieved. So, for at least the time I’m in Bali, I’ll be featuring some amazing bloggers and their mouthwateringly good content.

Contributors will include Danielle LaPorte, Chris Guillebeau, Alexis Martin Neely, Leo Babauta, J.D. Roth, Glen Stansberry and a handful of other amazing thinkers and writers.

It’s going to be a fascinating experiment for me. I’m sure there’ll be bumps along the road. Both technological and human. For example, it’ll be interesting to see how I do with being able to speak posts that are articulate enough to edit into really solid text posts. And, I have no idea how easy it’ll be to upload HD video almost daily on a connection that’s not known for it’s consistency.

But, the cool thing is, once the kinks are worked out (if it all works, lol), the net savings to me in time, effort and mental space will be huge. And, I’ll very likely keep these processes in place upon my return.

So…more to come as the journey unfolds. We’re all going to Bali this summer!

Just wanted to bring you into the Great Summer 2010 Balinese Blogging Adventure and Renegade Work-flow Project that’s about to come to life.

And, as I mentioned, I’ll share a bunch more about why we chose Bali and what I’m really doing there…once I’m settled…and wearing my sarong (so sorry for the mental image)!

Sounds like a fantasy, right?

Well, that’s the promise that’s been made by many who operate in the internet marketing waters known as article marketing. I’ve heard so much about this approach to driving traffic, both good and bad.

Bloggers, internet and affiliate marketers and real-live brick and mortar businesses I’ve known have tried it in one form or another. Some successfully, others flat out fail. Clients ask me about article marketing all the time and, frankly, I’ve never had a great answer.

So, I decided to turn to article marketing expert and founder of Pajama Team, Elysia Brooker, to try to unpack the truth about article marketing as a way to drive traffic.

I learned a lot from our conversation, and, as you’ll see at the end of this in-depth interview, issued a public challenge to her to “prove” article marketing works…and she said YES! This is gonna be fun!

JF – Article marketing first came onto my radar as a way to drive serious organic traffic bunch of years ago. What exactly IS article marketing?

EB – Article Marketing (in my world) involves creating keyword-targeted content and submitting them to a variety of high-powered directory websites to gain links, search engine exposure and consequent traffic to your blog or website.

JF – Okay, so let’s go a bit deeper. How, exactly, does it work as a source of traffic, both directly and organically?

EB – The stand out feature of article marketing for me is the dual-purpose results you can achieve with minimal time and effort. The way I see it, there are four major sources of traffic to be found in article marketing.

1)     Organically… as your article becomes syndicated, as more links are pointing back to your site, as more people are utilizing your content on their own directory or website, the links pointing back to your blog become more and more powerful – helping the overall authority of your site.

2)     Search engines ranking the articles for the high volume terms (a surprisingly regular occurence) and then people being able to follow through your author bio links back to your website.

3)     You can receive traffic from people who go to the directory website itself to seek out information on a particular topic. Most of the major directories have a search bar (similar to Google, Yahoo etc) but instead of bringing up a variety of different website results, it will find you related articles – one of which could be yours!

4)     Content providers (generally other blog owners) may use your article as content on their own site, keeping the author bio intact and spreading your content out throughout the web for more link power.

JF – But, here’s the thing, if you’re going to write articles, why not just put them on your blog instead?

EB – Posting to your blog is obviously a crucial and irreplaceable aspect of any online business, but your efforts can be in vain if noone is getting to your blog to see the posts in the first place.

If your blog/website is new then you’re going to need a helping hand to start getting the page rank and SE authority you need to have your blog drawing in the traffic (and getting the Google tick of approval) you need to make it a standalone success.

You need to think of it like spreading seeds, seeds that will create a trail for people to follow, all the way back to your website. The way I see it is, the more trails that are leading people back to my site – the better.

To put it another way, article marketing is like advertising… Posting solely to your blog, would be like creating a product (your blog, website, opt-in page) and doing zero advertising. You’ve got a killer product ready, waiting to be found, but without advertising noone will know its there!

And it’s not akin to just plain old advertising either, it’s advertising that (assuming your content is good) is engaging with your reader, giving them a taste of what you know and how valuable it can be to them… beginning the process of having them love you and your product/website.

Posting solely to your blog is putting a LOT of hope behind people being able to find you in that one very specific location – something that is less and less likely the newer your website.

JF – Got it, so what types of articles tend to do well and why?

EB – Interesting question! There are lots of different schools of thought with this but the following are the major points I consider important..

• WORD LENGTH: 300-400 words is fine. Some people may disagree but I have experienced fantastic results from 300 word articles and have seen no proof that longer articles produce better results. This is especially important if you on a tight budget or have little time to commit to your article marketing activities, I’d much rather see you put 10 x 300 word articles out there than 5 x 500 word’ers.

• TONE: Keep it casual. The tone of the article will greatly influence your reader’s perceived connection with you and most importantly, the click through rate. I like to go with what I call a “blog-like” tone. Informal, personal and friendly while still informational at its core. Don’t write like you’re preparing for a Harvard examination, keep your language simple and conversational – your readers will pay you back in visits.

• NEUTRALITY: Be careful to not talk at your reader.  Obviously you will need to be casting a positive light on the product/strategy/website but be sure to do that from a seemingly neutral standpoint. Avoid shoving the idea down their throats, you want to appear as a neutral third party who is providing helpful information and not as a “seller” which can deter people VERY fast.

In terms of a “style” of article, there are quite a few that seem to work well:

• The “How To” – These are great to give readers a taste of your product/service by providing useful tips to help them solve their issue or fulfil their need. When you provide helpful tips people are more inclined to want to find out more and thus click through to your website.

• The “Review” – This has to be one of the highest-converting article styles around – when it is done well! Providing a neutral/unbiased review on a product or service with pros and cons, previous customer testimonials, a first person angle and an overall positive tone can convert big time.

• The “FAQ” – This style follows along the same lines as the “how to” article. Providing info while solving your readers unanswered questions about the product/service can quash any remaning fears and encourage a click-through, and maybe even a purchase!

• The “Story” – A little trickier, but great when its done right… a “story” article weaves your product/service subtly into a story about a person’s problem or experience. Readers can relate to the emotion conveyed and feel connected to the writer and thus be more inclined to trust their recommendation.

JF – How often do you need to create articles to make a real dent, and for how long?

EB – I would argue that this depends almost entirely on the keywords you are targeting. The more competiting sites targeting your keyword, the more articles you will need to make the headway you need for killer rankings.

If you’ve done your keyword research well and narrowed in on some great low competition keywords then you can start to see traffic results from as little as 15-20 submissions. And the traffic flowing in from these 15-20 articles will continue to grow as the articles age and the content is syndicated further throughout the web.

Article marketing is definitely a long term investment when done right!

JF – So, I get that article marketing is a long-term commitment and most people bail long before they’ve done enough to see real results. But, one of the big complaints I’ve heard recently about article marketing is that (a) even though the biggest article directory sites have good PR, google’s algorythm doesn’t pass that much juice from the links that appear on the directory sites anymore, and (b) most of the sites that pick up/syndicate your articles and publish them on their websites have little or no authority, making the links worth very little in google’s eyes and adding little to your search ranking.

So, let’s talk about these criticisms head on. What’s been your experience with these two claims? True, false, somewhere in the middle?

EB – Some answers…

1. Google not giving as much weight to the links from article directories

This claim would fall into the category of “somewhere in the middle” that you mentioned. Certain article directories may have lost authority, but others have certainly gained authority and are bigger and more authoritative than ever. That’s why that whole phenomenon started of people trying to make money by ONLY submitting content to directories with no site of their own. It was possible because certain directories had so much authority that just publishing a piece of content there was enough to generate a front page ranking for low to mid range competition keywords. That’s not a strategy we recommend at all but this point is evidence in the case for certain article directories growing rather than diminishing in authority.

2. The sites that publish your articles not having alot of authority…

The question contains the assumption that the sites that pick up your content to publish are lower quality, less authoritative sites. This of course CAN be the case, but its not ALWAYS the case. Some sites that publish your articles will be higher quality and some will be lower quality. In any case, as long as they’re relevant and not spam sites, they’re all links to your site that have value.

Again, I refer to a point we made earlier that yes, Article Marketing isn’t shooting fish in a barrel like it used to be, it’s just changed in such a way that it takes a little more skill, a little more know how, and a little more focused effort to generate great results. It’s the same for virtually every method of traffic generation online: search engine optimization, pay per click, social bookmarking, heck, banner advertising… they all had their hey-day but none of them have stopped working. It’s only become harder for the people doing it badly to make them work.

JF – Got it. Now, a lot of my tribe are entrepreneurs, not bloggers, does this make sense for a more traditional entrepreneur or solopreneur who’s trying to drive prospects to a more commercial type of website. Or even for affiliate sites?

EB – Definitely! In fact, in markets that some entrepreneurs are in, that are less popular online and amongst content creators (bloggers) article marketing may well prove to be MORE effective than otherwise. The thing about article marketing, is that it isn’t just about the articles themselves, its about improving your site’s authority and allowing your site to climb in the Google ranks – something any online business requires.

PR and consequent Google rankings are heavily influenced by the number of links leading back to your website… Article marketing is the perfect opportunity to build powerful, multi-purpose links without trawling the web and handing out big money for paid ads or links on high PR sites – many of which have a limited lifetime unlike lifelong article directory links.

At the end of the day, if you have a website/blog and you want traffic, then in my opinion you can benefit from article marketing in some capacity.

JF – The big question I get asked on article marketing (and I’m guessing you get asked all the time, too) is, “how long do you need to wait before you see real, sustained search-driven traffic coming to your site from article marketing?”

EB - Again, it really does depend on the nature of the keywords you are targeting as to how fast you will see results.   I’ve seen results within 2 weeks for low competition keywords, but generally speaking I would say 3-4 weeks to start to notice traffic trickling in and it will grow exponentially from there.

And don’t forget that its not just the traffic from the articles themselves that you can expect, its the improved rankings of your website/blog in the search engines that you will start to see and enjoy benefits from.

JF – So, let’s get this out there, you’re in the business of helping people not only create articles, but pretty much overseeing entire campaigns. But, I’ve seen a bunch of websites out there promising article marketing help and content creation…and heard horror stories. How to you know who’s for real and who’s not?

Yep, I’ve heard a ton of horror stories too. Unfortunately in the veil of anonymity that the internet often provides, it can be tricky finding the right provider.

Major things to look out for:

1)     SEO and content creation experience… These are not mutually exclusive skills, you need someone who is in touch with both worlds.

2)     A clear guide of the tasks they are actually performing… You want to know exactly how much content is being produced and where it is being submitted.

3)     Don’t be swayed by big numbers… Don’t be tempted by big numbers of articles submitted AND big numbers of directories submitted to… Submitting 100 crappy, badly written articles to 1000 article directories, might not have the same effect as 20 well written perfectly styled ones submitted to a select group of the very best article directories.

JF – Last question, I know some people who used to swear by article marketing 3 or 4 years ago, but they’ve moved away from it, because they say it just doesn’t work the way it used to. True or false? And, if false…what gives? These are smart people. Put another way, got any proof, case-studies, evidence that this stuff still works in the massively content-clogged world of social media?

EB - We can be honest and say that it may not work as well as it used to years ago when there were so few publishers and each article was given so much authority – but that’s not to say that it doesn’t work, and shouldn’t still feature in your traffic generation efforts.  I don’t advocate making article marketing your only traffic generation method, but I think its an easy and affordable means of achieving multi-faceted traffic results.

The great thing about article marketing too is that the articles (and the links) don’t just have an immediate benefit, they continue to bring in traffic for months if not years after submission. Many of the current traffic generation techniques come with a very specific lifetime such as monthly ads or high PR links that are only valid for 12 months or if you’re really daring – the length of time it takes for your spammy Twitter account or excessive forum posts to get taken down.

Obviously in my line of work, my client’s confidentiality is of utmost importance so I can’t disclose any url’s or keywords but below are 3 different case studies…

Case Study #1 – My partner and I had a weight loss site we set up back in late 2007 and we did a targeted article marketing campaign over a few months, solely to one directory. We eventually stopped working on the site (both posting and article marketing) back in mid-2008 and I just checked the stats today and we’re still hitting 400-500 unique visits a day, a third of which is coming solely from one directory – 2 years later. The quality of the links has improved over time to the point where despite the site being 100% inactive, it is still receiving traffic daily!

Case Study #2 – Another client of mine, has an article ranked on page 1 of Google for a term with 35.5 million results – just 5 weeks after submitting it. A second article we submitted, is ranked in the top half of page 2 for the same term. This is an example of the power of article marketing, because publishing the content where we did was able to receive a page 1 ranking whereas publishing to his website (which is thus far less authoritative and less established) wouldn’t have had these same results in as little time.

Case Study #3 -  More recently, a client of mine got his site ranked to page 1 of Google for his two major keywords (and brought in new sales from these keywords) within 2 weeks of beginning our promotion. Obviously these were low competition keywords, but that’s the point I’ve been trying to make about the ability to receive traffic and Google ranks FAST when narrowing in on a very select type of keyword.

———————

One last thing, I want to believe, really I do…

And, I think many in community want to believe this thing called article marketing is a viable channel for long-term traffic, authority-building and, for businesses, lead generation.

So, I asked Elysia if she’d be up for a public article marketing challenge…

On one of my other websites, I am already ranking on the front page of google for my top keyword, but I’m ranked #9. And, for another keyword, I’m nowhere near the front page. I asked Elysia if she’d be willing to take on the challenge of running an article marketing campaign designed to move my #9 ranking to #3 and put me on the front page for my second choice keyword.

I gave her 60 days to make it happen, with me not involved in any substantial way.

She said…YES!

Over the next 60 days, I’ll be updating you on the progress of that campaign, then I’ll do a wrap-up post and de-briefing interview with Elysia once the challenge is over to find out what she did and why. So, be sure to stay tuned (and make sure you subscribe, so you can follow along).

Last thing, if you guys have more questions, I’ve asked Elysia to check-in on the comments over the next few days and answer whatever she can.

So feel free to not only share your experience with article marketing, but ask more questions below…

Flash forward to May 2010—Zen Habits has exploded into one of the top 25 blogs in the world with more than 170,000 subscribers! Leo’s got a bunch of other ventures humming happily along. And, here’s the important part, his efforts are generating real money. Enough to support his family…with 6 kids!

One of my credos as a student of just about everything is this…

Find the people who’ve done what you desperately want to do (not just written about it or told others how they think it should be done), then beg, borrow or steal (okay, maybe not steal) to make them your teachers, mentors and guides.

So, if you’re looking to build not just a blog, but a serious attention asset, then build a business around it…

Wouldn’t it be nice to learn directly from a guy who’s vaulted into the top 25 in the world?

Well, Leo’s made that possible with his A-List Blogging Bootcamp venture. It’s a series of 5-day virtual trainings, supplemented by a private interactive training environment that provides support and access, two things that make success substantially more likely.

The next training starts on May 16th, it’s called How to Make Your Blog Pay the Bills. And, Leo’s bringing a few new people onto his faculty this time around. Well, okay, one of them is me. I’ll be talking about leveraging your blog to generate consulting clients, launch live events and more. And, getting very specific (Leo’s orders).

If this sounds cool to you, check out the detailed topic outline – Click Here Now.

[You should know that (a) Leo is a friend (b) I'm not really sure who has more hair anymore, but I do know he dresses better than me, and (c) I'm also an affiliate, meaning when you sign up, I get a referral fee. But, if you've been kicking around here long enough, I'm guessing you already know I don't make recommendations lightly.]

Ever wonder how to make yourself stand out from all the other business puppets?

One of the most compelling ways to launch and build a business or brand is to create a legend around it. Tell a deeply compelling story that draws in not only clients and prospects, but employees, partners, collaborators, mentors and evangelists.

I’m not talking about fabricating a story from thin air, but, rather, bringing substantially more art and deliberation to the way you craft and share yours. Done right, with integrity and authenticity, it can transform the way you do business and make everything from day to day operations to sales and marketing infinitely more easy.

There are many powerful story lines around which to build your legend.

The reluctant hero is a classic example. Elements include:

• Setting the scene
• The ordinary Josephine or Joe stepping into the role of protagonist
• Exploring and deepening a pain or yearning for something
• Being forced with great reluctance into action by the inciting incident, which creates…
• The unlikely hero/adventurer/discoverer, vision-quester…you… and
• Sets in motion the quest for an answer, during which there comes
• The inner struggle, which inevitably leads down the wrong path
• That circles at the last possible moment back to
• The revelation, an awakening or moment of discovery, which leads to
• The solution, that sets in motion a new fully-awakened path, then
• Salvation, innovation, creation and adoration

When we tell this story in the context of defining, launching and building a brand or business, the purpose is not to provide a respite, escape or moment of entertainment, but rather to so closely pace the experience of the reader that they actually step into the story, they experience a sense of transference that goes beyond rapport.

They become the protagonist. And, in pacing their current experience, you are telling their story, sharing their tale of woe, their pains, frustrations, emotions and deep need for resolution.

You bring them to a place where they’re hanging on every word to find out just how the story resolves itself.

Because in the story’s resolution, they find their own resolution.

And, this is the moment you bridge the gap from pacing and agitating the readers’ current experience, from telling their story through the lens of your own quest to leading them into the part of the story that’s yet to unfold. The events, people and solutions that will bring solace, remove pain and deliver them into a place of exaltation. Salvation. Respect. Success. Devoid of pain.

And, guess who those people, events and solutions are?

They are you, your ideas, your products, your services, your solutions.

This is just one example of how to tap the power of a well-crafted evolutionary metaphor, the reluctant hero, to build a connection between you and your prospects, then deliver them into what seems an irrefutable desire to buy what you’re selling as the only logical way to resolve their own pain, to solve their own problem.

So, my question to you is…

What’s your story?

Your legend?

Your journey of discovery?

The one capable of defining your quest and revelation, fueling the growth of your community and driving them to action?

___________Wednesday’s Awakened Shout Outs_____________

• Pro Blogger Book 2nd Edition – Speaking of story, my friends, Darren Rowse & Chris Garrett have just released the 2nd edition of their book Pro Blogger. Among the many revisions and new material, Darren spent an entire chapter revealing a side of his own journey, the launch and growth of his massive Digital Photography School venture, that forms the foundation of his own business. It’s all new material, and incredibly compelling as both proof of what can be done and strategies that can be leveraged. Go check it out!
• World-Changing Writing Workshop - Pace & Kyeli from the acclaimed Freak Revolution have put together a very cool 6-week online writers’ workshop where an intimate faculty of top online writers and well-known authors will be sharing strategies, tactics, insights and ideas designed to take your writing to a whole new level. You can learn more here (disclosure – I’m one of the presenters for this program and I’m also an affiliate, so if you register using the above link, I’ll not only get to play with you in the program, but make gobs of money and likely retire to a small island off Puerto Rico shortly after)

_________Seriously, You Guys Rock…You Know That, Right?!_________