Merry Christmas and Happy Everything!

Wherever you are and whatever you’re celebrating, I hope you’re having a great holiday week.

This is the final post of the 2011 Annual Review series. Looking back over the year, here’s what we’ve covered thus far:

Overview of the Process
2011 Highlights and First Thoughts
2011 Business Lessons
2011 Travel Roundup

I wrote some of this material in advance (only slightly!) so I could spend much of the actual review week working ahead. I was tired, having literally arrived in vacation-land and meeting up with Jolie a few days after taking a minibus through Somaliland—more on that after the holidays.

After a few margaritas (tequila not being served in Somaliland for some reason), I got serious about looking ahead to the next year. Serious is a good word for the process; I really wanted to think hard about how I can improve and what I want to focus on.

A few things came to mind almost immediately…

TRAVEL. As mentioned during the recent roundup, I’m down to less than 20 countries on my quest to go everywhere. Since I usually visit more than 20 countries a year (in 2011 I made it to 26), visiting only 13-15 should be easier. The challenge, however, is that I essentially have no more backup plans—I simply have to make it to these particular countries. In the past I’ve made numerous adjustments and even big changes while I’m underway. I won’t have that luxury anymore.

BOOK. My next book, The $100 Startup, will hit the shelves on May 8, 2012. Writing it was a herculean effort involving hundreds of interviews and even some actual research (that $32,000 graduate degree may have been worth something after all…).

The book will have a worldwide release, going live in the U.K. and most commonwealth markets at the same time as it goes out in the U.S. and Canada. I’m planning a 30-city tour in North America and an extended international tour as well.

BUSINESS. As discussed during the business lessons post, I have two projects planned for early 2012. The first is the launch of the Unconventional Guide to Publishing, which I’m very excited about. We’re planning to go live on January 10th, and I’ll have a preview available the day before. I’ll begin working on the second project, a sequel to the original Empire Building Kit, soon afterwards.

WDS. In July, we’ll bring nearly 1,000 people together for our second annual gathering of awesome people. Our challenge this year is to preserve the community aspect of a small group, while still opening the doors for more people to be a part of it.

The final wave of registration will happen in late January, offered first to those on the waiting list, and then to the general public if any tickets remain.

Theme of the Year

Every year since 2006, I’ve chosen a word or two as the theme of the upcoming year. In 2009 I had the year of convergence, where I worked to bring together all my different projects into one focus, and 2010 was the year of scale & reach, where I published my first book, went on tour, and ramped up the business. As I finished another book and hosted the inaugural WDS, 2011 was the year of taking flight.

Thinking ahead to next year, I want to get more specific. I want to do more writing, as well as different kinds of writing. Above all, I want to do something that matters and to continue challenging myself—a lot like what I wrote about in The Tower.

As mentioned a couple of times, I do feel somewhat uncertain about how my life and work will shift after I complete my 193rd country, but I’ll keep working on it and will take things as they come along.

With the big book launch and nearing the end of ten years of traveling, I’ve decided that this will be the year of finishing. Throughout this year and next I’ll be moving from one longstanding focus to another, but I want to enjoy the ride while it lasts. After all, I still have 16 countries to visit! And so much more to be done.

Annual Review Roundup – Reader Stories

One of the things I’ve done a poor job at is highlighting many of the great people in our community who are undergoing all kinds of fun projects of their own. I’ve been talking with a couple of smart people about how I can fix that as part of the 2012 plans.

For now, I wanted to show a few of our readers and community who have been undertaking their own Annual Reviews over the past week. I received at least 100 trackbacks to various blog posts, and a selection is below.

Benny Hsu wrote about a busy year of living, including getting engaged and married while starting a new business.

Jermaine Lane wrote about an unrestricted life and his “Poemvember” experiment.

Janelle wrote about losing weight and volunteering.

Milo wrote about a wedding and a blog.

Jill Salahub wrote about her 2012 theme of retreat.

Cynthia Morris created her own end-of-year worksheet that others can download.

Noch Noch wrote about staying alive, getting engaged, and getting a puppy.

Lindsay wrote about joy, working out, and successfully maintaining a long-distance relationship.

Chris Stott wrote about not buying an iPhone and not playing enough guitar.

Ryan Brooke-Bisschop wrote a detailed review of his card collecting hobby and business.

Noah Bonn wrote about letting go of Facebook and compulsion.

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These are just a few posts from our community—you can see dozens more in the comments section of each review post (tip: click on the person’s name to go to their website).

I’m grateful for a big year, and eager to get started on some new things for 2012. Thanks for being part of AONC. Because of you, we’re getting better every year.

QUESTION: What’s your word or theme for next year?

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Image: Harshad

As I look back on the year during my Annual Review, I think about what went well and what didn’t in several parts of life.

This post refers specifically to the business side of AONC, especially UnconventionalGuides.com and related projects. The business grew substantially this year, despite having only one big launch, and despite my working from around the world at a frantic pace.

Here are a few lessons learned while making a living in 2011.

Monthly Pricing: A Good Thing

Much of the business growth came from one important decision: to create a membership site with monthly subscription payments. In the past, the business was humming along well, but depended a great deal on how popular the various operations were on any given day. If affiliates were working hard, or if we had a big product launch, overall revenue would substantially increase. But otherwise, it was hit-or-miss, with income coming in on a fluctuating cycle.

Launching the Travel Hacking Cartel in the beginning of the year, then continuing to draw in new members throughout the year, has brought a lot of sustainability into the business.

Tiered pricing, or offering products at a range of price points, created the most significant improvement last year. My first recommendation to anyone creating digital assets would be: offer your products or services in a (limited) range of prices. Your customers will like this, and you’ll like it too—because people will spend more. But now I have a strong second recommendation: find a way to ensure that at least some part of your income arrives every month, regardless of how popular everything else is.

In fact, this shift helped so much that I now plan to switch most of my business projects to this model in the future. I’ll continue to operate Unconventional Guides under the single-purchase model, but my next big projects will follow the pricing structure I used for the Travel Hacking Cartel.

LESSON: Whenever possible, get paid more than once.

***

Webinars: Quick, Easy, Profitable

A few months ago, I had planned to launch something, but it just didn’t come together in time. Then, another project was also delayed—leaving me with a calendar of more than twelve weeks with no product development or promotion. I’ve always operated AONC on a very low-key, no-pressure sales model (the majority of our readers never buy anything at all, and that’s fine with me) but I also like building and launching things on a somewhat regular basis.

That’s when I had the thought: instead of building a huge program, why not find a way to launch something quickly? Every day, people ask me the same questions over and over. Two very common ones are “How can I get started with traveling?” and “How can I work from the road?” Of course, we answer those questions in considerable detail with the Unconventional Guides products, but not everyone wants a whole product.

Therefore, I decided to offer two one-hour classes, one of them a “Beginner’s Guide to Travel Hacking” and the other on “Working from the Road.” I made them simple and cheap: just $29 for each one-hour class, with a free recording and resources page delivered afterward.

It actually took me a fair amount of work to prepare the materials, since I wanted to make sure they were jam-packed with helpful info instead of me just talking about general ideas. Still, it wasn’t a huge effort compared to the thrill of launching something quickly. We filled up both classes within a few days of launching, and it ended up being a lot of fun.

LESSON: If you can easily do something, do it.

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Working from Anywhere – An Observation

Speaking of working from the road, I’ve recently noticed a key point in my own work. This year I visited 26 new countries—many of them fairly difficult ones to get to and work from, such as Somalia, Mauritania, Palau, and others. (The next post will be a full travel roundup of the year.)

Wherever I go, I’m always pounding away, making sure my commitments are kept reasonably up to date, answering lots of emails, and performing various administrative tasks.

What I’ve realized in more than a decade of doing this in one fashion or another is that I can maintain things from anywhere, but I wouldn’t want to develop and launch things from anywhere. The distinction is important: for long-term creative purposes, I need a certain amount of stability and reliable infrastructure.

The biggest challenge is not that I want to take it easy; it’s just that my creative energy is greatly reduced while on the road. I still work at least 4-5 hours a day wherever I am, but much of this work relates strictly to existing commitments. I have a lot less “creative space” on the road to build detailed projects, so I’ve learned to be more clear on scheduling extended periods of writing and building things when I’m not always jetting off.

LESSON: Travel the world, but set aside time to “make stuff.”

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Future Planning: What’s Coming Next

I remain consistent in the core beliefs that have brought AONC this far, many of them originally articulated in 279 Days to Overnight Success: readers are extremely important, so maintaining relationships with them is also important. Don’t outsource your email or use autoresponders to keep people at a distance. Never pretend to be too important to communicate with those who care about what you have to say.

More than anything else, this perspective—and the ongoing commitment to publish and build things—are what sustains the ongoing work. I don’t always get things right, of course, but I try to keep these two principles in mind.

Business-wise, I hope to continue refining processes, moving everything over to our own server, our own shopping cart and processing service—basically our own system from start to finish. This has been a dream of mine for a long time, since every other solution inevitably has shortcomings, and we may even be able to license this solution for other small merchants as well. My small team and I also have other ideas, most of them working in conjunction with THE $100 STARTUP book launch in the spring.

Here are two projects in the works at the moment.

PUBLISHING GUIDE. I’ve been working with my master literary agent / Jedi knight, David Fugate, to create our first Unconventional Guide in 16 months. Yes, it’s been a long time, but this one is worth the wait.

Studies show that more than 80% of people want to write a book, but very few actually do so. Of course, you don’t need a publisher to write a book, but part of what holds people back is that they have no idea how the publishing industry works. The Unconventional Guide to Publishing will demystify the whole process, telling you everything you need to know about how to get a book deal from a traditional publisher, or how to take advantage of the many options now available for self-publishing.

I’ll have more to say about this project very soon—since we’re planning to launch on January 10th. Yikes! I’d better get to work.

EMPIRE BUILDING 2.0. After getting the publishing guide on the market, I expect my most significant business project of 2012 will be the sequel to the Empire Building Kit, our most popular seller in the shop. I’ll be carving out time to work on this soon… preferably not while I’m traveling in Central Africa!

***

I enjoy writing and most of the things that come along with being an author, such as planning tours, doing interviews, and connecting with foreign publishers putting out different versions of my book around the world. But I also enjoy my self-published business work. I feel fulfilled and motivated by the feedback I hear from customers, and I wouldn’t want to choose between the two different “jobs.” Instead, I want to create convergence (my theme of 2009) with everything I do.

How about you… what did you learn in your work during 2011?

Feel free to share a few highlights or lessons of your own.

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Reminder: we’re compiling a list of other blogs doing their own Annual Reviews. If you’d like to share yours, include a link to one of this year’s AONC posts, and we’ll share a few highlights at the end of the series.

Greetings, everyone. I’m finishing up my latest trip to Africa, and I hope you’re well wherever you are.

Below is the first part of the 2011 Annual Review. Two notes on this year’s series: first, at the end of each post over the next few weeks, you’re invited to leave your own response.

Second, we’re compiling a list of other people who are doing their own Annual Reviews at the same time. If you’d like to share yours, include a link to one of this year’s AONC posts. Our system will automagically pick it up, and we’ll share a few highlights from several blogs at the end of the series.

Have fun!

***

As explained in previous posts, the review focuses on looking ahead to the next year, but I first spend at least a day looking back on the year that’s ending. I start with two simple questions:

What went well in 2011?

What did not go well in 2011?

Answering these questions is an easy way to begin the process of being intentional about your choices in the forthcoming year. In case you’re curious, some of my answers are below.

What Went Well in 2011

I wrapped up the 63-city Unconventional Book Tour by visiting every province in Canada. (A brief, simultaneous attempt at visiting every Tim Horton’s in Canada was sadly unsuccessful, though not for lack of trying.)

I finished writing THE $100 STARTUP, my second book. The project involved interviewing hundreds of people and distilling their lessons into a giant research project that eventually became a 70,000+ word book. Naturally, it was a ton of work, but I’m excited to get it out to the world in May 2012.

Business work was great. Despite having only one major product launch this year, the Unconventional Guides business still grew more than 40% from 2010. (I’ll share some specific business lessons in the next post.)

I made it to more than twenty new countries, bringing me closer to the goal of going everywhere. (I’ll do a whole travel roundup with specific notes next Thursday.)

Together with a strong Portland team, I hosted the inaugural World Domination Summit (WDS). Even though we expected good things, it’s safe to say that WDS exceeded all high expectations. With 70% of year one attendees paying in advance to return—when we didn’t even know the date, the speakers, or the program—we felt confident that we were building good things. Several attendees said it didn’t feel like a conference as much as a gathering of friends, and that was our intention from the beginning.

To be clear, I’m not taking credit for almost any of this. The attendees, speakers, and team were the ones who made our inaugural event extra-awesome. I’m extremely thrilled to be a small part of it, and looking forward to the bigger-and-better sequel next year.

Earlier in the year, Jolie and I moved to a new home in Portland. We’re still in the same part of the city and remain carless by choice. Our furry companion, the Liberator, is still responsible for comment moderation on the blog, and has recently taken on new duties of attacking Christmas trees, causing them to crash on the living room floor and frighten the neighbors.

Traveling 200,000+ miles a year takes its toll, but I remained in relatively good health for most of the year. All told, it was a great year, and I’m grateful for all the adventures.

What Did Not Go Well in 2011

Thinking about what did not go well is the more important part of the review. Overall, the year was fantastic, but how can I improve? Where are the cracks in the wall?

Here is a partial list from that department.

LIMITED SCALING. 2010 was the year of scale and reach, but it seems I can only scale so far. I’ve encountered this a few times in my work over the years—I can easily build a business or project to a certain level, but have difficulty going further.

I suspect part of the problem relates to a deliberate choice of preferring to do a lot of things instead of focusing on one specific thing. I do see this choice mostly in positive terms, but perhaps a negative is that I’ll remain limited in the degree of growth I can achieve. I’m still thinking about this, and haven’t figured it out yet.

TRAVEL FATIGUE. Overall, another epic year of travel was great, but I also began to long for a time when I can travel more freely, and perhaps less intensely. During October’s trip, I flew 11 segments in 14 days, mostly through Africa on random airlines. Then for last week’s trip, I did it again: 10 segments in 12 days, all in Economy class, mostly in Africa with multiple flights at unfortunate departure times such as 3am. I have fairly good travel stamina, but over time, such a schedule does wear me out.

When I got stuck in Australia, I was initially disappointed about not going to Nauru, but then I found myself with three days to spare in Sydney and I had one of the best travel experiences of the whole year. I don’t want to do only “easy” travel, even after I complete my quest, but if I could limit all the intra-Africa flights and 3am departures, I’d be happy. I’m looking forward to that in another year or so.

LIMITED TEAM-BUILDING. With the exception of WDS, I don’t have much of a team in my business work. Reese is a wonder designer who devotes much of her time to all things AONC, and I often leave her waiting on things. Sean does a good job working with our affiliates, but I don’t give him much to work on—which is entirely my fault.

This relates to my earlier problem…. the question of scale. What am I trying to build here? In some areas of my work, like book publishing, travel, and WDS, I feel it’s fairly clear. In other areas, though, I find myself hindered by my own poor delegation or decision-making skills.

SMALL THINGS. A few small things fell through the cracks. I hand-wrote 500 cards to each WDS attendee earlier in the year, but I didn’t send holiday cards to all 8,000 Unconventional Guides customers like I did last year. The profile series on AONC is badly in need of updating. Our charity project in Ethiopia continues to raise funds, but I haven’t done much to promote it or completed the site visit yet. (I know that Charity: Water continues to do great work there, so I’m not worried—but I also know that the project could be more substantial if I invested more time with it.)

***

Something That Matters

When I think about what’s happened thus far and what I want to do next, the simple answer is that I want to do something that matters. I want to make a positive contribution to the world. These are fairly basic motivations, perhaps, but I find them highly motivating.

Overall, my biggest concern is that I remain motivated. As I wrote in The Tower, I want to wake up every day feeling excited about what lies ahead. When I end the day and go to bed in South Sudan, where I’ve been recently, or wherever I am in the world, I want to look back and remember something I made or contributed to.

This sums up what I’m feeling in the final days of 2011: on track, doing well, still motivated to continue, but wanting to make sure I’m doing the right things.

With that in mind, I’m planning to make a few adjustments in how I write for AONC. Next year I’ll actually be writing more, not less, but in a slightly revised format than the one I’ve used since 2008. Of course, I’ll still keep on track with my commitment (3 years and 10 months without missing a scheduled post so far), but I want to make sure it remains an engaging experience.

I’ll share more about that and other plans as we go through this series.

Your Turn: How Was 2011?

Those are my initial thoughts on 2011. Now it’s your turn. What’s one thing that went well in 2011, and one thing that didn’t go well?

Feel free to share some responses in the comments if you’d like, but more importantly, answer the questions for yourself.

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Image: Foxy

Every year since 2006, I’ve set aside an entire week in December to review the year that has almost passed and look ahead to the next one.

I certainly haven’t got everything in my life figured out, but I can honestly say that this exercise has been the most helpful exercise in all that has happened in the past six years.

The Annual Review is mostly a private practice, but I decided to share some of my thought process starting in AONC’s first year (2008). You can read last year’s series here, here, here, and here.

How It Works

For a good overview, see the original Annual Review outline I wrote in 2008. An additional overview from 2009 may also be helpful. In short, I look back on the year and ask myself a series of questions, journaling the answers in a paper notebook. The questions start very simply:

What went well in 2011?

What did not go well in 2011?

The main part of the planning session focuses on the year to come, but before looking forward I spend at least one of the days reflecting back on the year that is ending. I can usually identify a number of answers for each question—successes and failures, times where I was happy or proud and other times where I knew I fell short.

Next, I’ll review all of the goals that I set the previous December, and write out the results. Did everything happen as I expected? Probably not, but it’s interesting to compare results with expectations and see what overlaps and what diverges. In addition to personal lessons, I’ll also write down a list of business lessons I learned during the year, and a roundup of all the countries and cities I traveled to.

This leads to the next, longer stage of the planning process where I look ahead to the forthcoming year, carefully thinking about which projects I’d like to pursue and which actions I need to take to ensure their success.

Coming Soon: The 2011 Review

The series I’ll publish here over the next few weeks will be written in real-time. I’ll share some of my own answers for those who are curious, but I also encourage you to consider undertaking this exercise yourself in some form. You can either do it the same way I do (I’ll share details as we go along) or modify it to suit your own needs.

By the way, this is not meant to be a restrictive process in any way. Whether you are right-brained or left-brained (an admitted oversimplification), a creative or an analytical, a review like this can help you. It’s your life, so why not be intentional about it?

A good plan allows for plenty of spontaneity and room for change, but without a plan at all, it’s difficult to work toward something significant over time. I want to live the most meaningful and fulfilling life possible, and this process helps me do it.

I’m currently on the road and traveling through Central and East Africa, but by the beginning of next week I should be in a more tranquil setting.

Until then, here’s wishing you well from Hargeisa, Somaliland—I made it to country #175!

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*Are you in Portland or nearby? FREE tickets are now available for the AONC Holiday Party on Friday, December 30th.

Image: Olivander

Greetings, everyone. I made it home from my Annual Review trip and have been enjoying the holiday week at home.

Only two days remain in this entire year… which brings us to this non-commercial reminder:

If 2010 was an awful year, well, it’s all over and now you get a new start.

If 2010 was amazing, well, it’s all over and now you get a new start.

See how it works? Eat, drink, and be merry, for 2010 ends forever tomorrow night. Then it’s time to start working on a fantastic 2011, and if you start today, you’ll be two days ahead of everyone else.

***

This time of year, resolution-bashing is a common sight around the blogosphere. Don’t just make resolutions! Change your life! I know, I know, it’s a good message and I’ve done it too.

But the way you change your life is by deciding (resolving) on change and then taking action toward the change. Yes, some people join the gym and drop out by February. But you’re not “some people” right? Other people stick with it, and the former couch potato is running a marathon by the time September comes around.

So let’s be in the group that makes the change and sticks with it. Let’s make this the best year ever, whether we make resolutions or not.

Forthcoming Adventures

Late next week I head out to meet readers on a tour of every province in Canada. (January is a good time to tour Canada, right?) First stop, Newfoundland, then east-to-west across the whole country by planes, trains, and automobiles.

On January 25th I’m starting a completely new business venture, the Travel Hacking Cartel. I’m pretty sure it will be my most significant biz project of the whole year. Expect good things.

After that, I’ll be back on the road to visit 20 new countries. On the list for the first few months: Libya, Yemen, Turkmenistan, East Timor, Madagascar, and more.

I’m writing my second book (formal announcement soon) while preparing to host 450+ amazing people from all over the world in the great city of Portland.

Those are a few highlights of the first half of my year, and you’re welcome to participate in any of these adventures with me. But mostly I’m looking forward to hearing about your adventures and seeing what happens with all of you over there.

2010, what a year it’s been. But now we need to step it up for 2011. Are you in? What’s your big plan?

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Image: Sally

After looking back on the year that’s nearly finished, I spend most of my Annual Review time thinking ahead to the forthcoming year.

While I wrapped up the 2010 review and looked ahead to 2011, here are a few of the summary notes I wrote to myself:

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As a big 2010 came to its conclusion I felt purposeful and satisfied, but also on the verge of overwhelm. 2011 and 2012 will be even bigger – how can I maintain momentum without forgetting to live in the moment? This is the challenge and the opportunity of the year: to create sustainable growth in all areas while retaining a core sense of identity.

For the main part of the review, I divide my life into a number of categories and then set goals for each. Many of the categories are the same each year, but a couple of them vary. For example, in 2011 I have goals for the World Domination Summit, an event that hasn’t existed until now. A few of my main categories include:

Writing, Legacy Project, Business, Travel, Financial, Friends & Family, Health, Learning & Lifestyle

Some goals may be broken into sub-categories; for example, “Financial” has sub-categories for Income, Savings, and Giving because these are related but distinctly separate activities. In the main categories that relate to this blog, here are a few things planned for 2011.

WRITING

100+ Blog Posts

As discussed here and here, I try to write articles that remain relevant and helpful for a long period of time, as opposed to writing about issues of the day that will lose their relevance over time. Of course, I’m also writing about my trips and business work, which does change as time goes by, but I try to keep those things as the minority. I greatly enjoy writing for the blog and don’t see it as a means to an end. If I could only choose one writing project for the rest of my life, I’d chose the blog.

The Next Book

Thankfully, I don’t have to choose—and even before I finished writing my first book, I knew I wanted to do it again. I’m proud of the AONC book and glad that so many people are enjoying it, but it was also a learning process to write in much longer form. The first one was a presentation of my general worldview, and future books need to get more specific on a given topic.

My next book will focus on the stories of unconventional entrepreneurs, especially people who started a business without a lot of money and often after walking away from a traditional job. I’ll make the formal announcement about this book (and how you can help) in early 2011. Since everything in the publishing industry takes forever, I’ll write the book during the first half of next year, and it will be published a year later in Spring 2012.

Other Writing

Every week I complete various guest pieces for other blogs and publications. I haven’t set this as a major goal for 2011 because I want to keep my writing focus on AONC posts and the second book, but I’ll continue to do guest features whenever they are a good fit.

I’d also like to complete an extended work (likely a PDF manifesto) all about the Unconventional Book Tour. So many people have asked questions about the publishing process, and until this year it was a mystery as well. This project may be a stretch, because I’m occupied elsewhere… but it’s on my “optional and amazing” list in hopes that I can pull it out.

BUSINESS

Travel Hacking Cartel

My biggest business project of the year will be the upcoming Travel Hacking Cartel (now launching in mid-January instead of early January due to “tired author syndrome”). This project will be an all-new business. It will bring the world of travel hacking to anyone who’s interested, and I’m looking forward to hearing many more success stories like the ones I highlighted recently.

I’m also thinking about limiting the initial membership of the cartel to a select group (probably 1,000-1,500 people or so) and then allowing future growth to come entirely by referrals from the initial members. The members will be rewarded with Frequent Flyer Miles and regular prizes for their referrals, and my hope is that the project will become fully self-sustaining.

Affiliate Growth, EBK Anniversary, and Webinar Series

In the Unconventional Guides business, I expect most of the growth to be vertical (through improving the business) as opposed to horizontal (by creating a lot of new products). As mentioned last week, Sean does a great job working with our affiliate partners and is only limited by my time and inattention. I’d like to fix that in early 2011.

I also plan to experiment a bit more with webinars next year, starting with a low-cost project on building community that we’ll do after the Travel Hacking Cartel launch dust settles. I’ve been making notes on this idea for months, but the all-consuming book tour kept me from doing it sooner.

Lastly, April will be the one-year anniversary of the Empire Building Kit. Since it’s been such an influential resource (many active businesses have been started by EBK owners), I want to celebrate the anniversary in some way. Because of everything else happening in my life, I may not be able to do a proper relaunch, but we’ll at least try to do something fun.

(By the way, during the review it’s also good to think about what you won’t be doing for any particular category. Because of the THC, the next book, and my plan to grow the business more vertically, I don’t expect to create a lot of new products next year.)

TRAVEL: The Next 20+ Countries

I have 41 countries left on my 192-country goal, and for the first time I’ve found myself needing to be strategic about how and when I get to them. I’ve made countless mistakes and false starts on the quest so far—last year I went to Fiji, which was great… until I found out that I can only get to Tuvalu and Kiribati from Fiji. Oops—so now I need to go back to Fiji. It’s also increasingly difficult to handle the visa applications for various countries, since some of them take up to a month to complete.

At any rate, I’ll be working as hard as I can to make it to at least 20 countries in 2011 and 20 countries in 2012, to ensure I’m on track to visit #192 as scheduled in 2013. A number of interesting places are on my list this year, including Iran, Yemen, Tajikistan, Libya, Madagascar, and hopefully fifteen more.

In addition to these trips, I have a book tour of Canada in January (every province!), and I’m considering a similar tour of Australia in October or November.

Lastly, I’ll be leading a (very small) group to visit our Ethiopia project, also in October or November. The details will be finalized a few months prior, and we’ll have a contest to bring along at least one AONC reader with us.

Legacy Project and Personal Goals

I don’t make an effort to separate my life and work—all of my goals are personal. But aside from the things mentioned above, I want to continue good habits of health and exercise (hopefully improving from the vodka-and-almonds diet of the book tour), maintain good relationships with my family and close friends, and keep learning as much as possible.

With AONC, I want to continue growing the community in a deliberate (but active) way. The Postcard project from this year has been fun, and I want to do something similar next year to highlight many of our great readers from all over the world. And of course, there is the small event I’m hosting next summer to bring together world-changers of all kinds.

Most importantly, I want to be aware of my surroundings and truly live a life of gratitude. This is the goal that supersedes all the others. I live a life organized around things that are important to me; nothing listed above is done out of obligation but rather a sense of purpose. I try to make time to be open to new things while focusing on the things I already know to be meaningful.

Year’s Theme

Every year I choose a theme to accentuate the goals I’ve chosen and provide a broad structure for the year. The theme of 2010 was scale and reach. I wanted to take what was working well and shift it to a higher level.

I struggled a bit with deciding on 2011′s theme, because in many ways it looks the same as 2010—I plan to continue the process of careful growth, keep traveling, keep challenging myself, and so on. But every year needs its own theme, so I can’t use the same one.

Earlier this year I had the idea to take flying lessons and eventually earn my pilot’s license. I don’t think I’ll be able to take all the lessons I need and accomplish the goal of learning to fly for a while (I’ll be spending enough time as a passenger!), but I like the analogy and the challenge it presents.

Therefore, I decided to make 2011 the year of taking flight. It will better than 2010 because I have learned a lot and will keep learning. I intend to fulfill the challenge, and I’m grateful for everyone who is such a big part of it.

Oh, and thanks for being part of a great 2010! Happy Holidays to all.

What is your theme for 2011? What are you most looking forward to?

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Image: Charles

As part of the Annual Review series, I look back at everywhere I went in 2010.

It’s a long list! From my usual 20+ new countries to a book tour to every U.S. state, I spent a lot of time on the road this year. In rough chronological order, here’s everywhere I went in 2010:

United States, Canada, New Zealand, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Maldives, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Germany, Ukraine, Cyprus, Cape Verde, Lithuania, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, Morocco, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Thailand

Of these countries, exactly 24 were new to me—I tend to go back to places like Hong Kong, Germany, and New Zealand frequently.

Experiences

Fun things (and misadventures) happen almost everywhere I go, so you’d have to read the whole year’s worth of travel archives for the whole story. I’ll assume you won’t torture yourself that much, so here are a few highlights:

• Getting to Belarus required a herculean effort of three separate attempts. When I finally made it, I paid for the most expensive tourist visa I’ve ever heard of (anywhere!) and was admitted to the country after a—wait for the travel cliché—Kafkaesque exchange of epic proportions.

  After I wrote about the trip, someone translated my post and the ensuing backlash prompted the ministry of information to write an official response. I then heard from more than fifty Belorussians with apologies and their own stories of encountering bureaucracy—approximately 70% of responses—along with comments on my own incompetence—approximately 30% of responses. Thanks again to everyone associated with Belarus for making my visit a memorable experience.

• Algeria was also a close call with the visa—after I left the U.S. with my duplicate passport and no Algerian visa in sight, I ended up having it FedEx’d to me overnight in Frankfurt, arriving the evening before going to the airport to fly out. Yikes! But it made it, and that’s what counts.
• One of my favorite adventures arrived via the midnight train to Georgia from Azerbaijan. My time in Georgia itself was enlightening; I had the impression that Tbilisi was a fairy tale city. I also especially liked Lithuania (I wish I had more time there—it’s on my list to go back), and Kazakhstan was surprisingly welcoming as well.
• On a couple different trips, I spent a lot of time back in what I call “real Africa” – this time in Equatorial Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Cameroon. I could do without Equatorial Guinea and its $500-a-night hotel rooms, but the other West African stops were fun.
• I’ve been to Thailand probably ten times in the past decade, but never to Chiang Mai until this year. The photo shoot with a few feline friends was worth the whole trip and was a great way to transition away from international travel for a while.

Update on the Quest to Visit Every Country

My total number of countries visited is now 151. I use the U.N. standard, not one of the larger lists that includes various islands and other “non-countries.” By the inflated list standard, my total would probably be around 175.

So far along, but yet so far to go—and the closer I get to the goal, the harder it becomes. This year during the review, I spent some time to think through how I’d get to each of the remaining 41 countries before my deadline of April 7, 2013. It’s going to be tight with several big logistical challenges, but so far, so good.

The 53-City, Unconventional Book Tour

I don’t usually do a lot of domestic travel, since I spend so much time around the world. This year was an exception with the all-50-state book tour (more on that in a moment). I also went to Austin for SXSW, to Pittsburgh for TedX at Carnegie Mellon University, to Seattle for a travel industry talk, to Southern California for a short vacation, and up to Vancouver, B.C. in Canada because it’s awesome.

On September 7th, I set off on a different kind of adventure. The launch of my first book, The Art of Non-Conformity, happened that day, and I wanted to travel to meet readers wherever they lived. Most Americans don’t get to visit all 50 states in their lifetime, but the tour took me to all of them in a few short months.

The book tour was self-funded and collectively-organized, mostly by AONC readers and a number of great co-hosts. In most stops we kept it very informal, with a 15-minute talk, lots of “Questions and Attempted Answers”, and often discussion over cupcakes and wine afterwards.

A few highlights of the tour:

• Driving eight hours through the mountains from Salt Lake City to Missoula (I pulled off the interstate near a “Rest Stop” exit… then I saw a sign that read “Rest Stop, 6 Miles.” I guess that’s a Montana thing)
• Driving through tornado warnings and talking with a professional train-hopper I met from Oklahoma City to Little Rock
• Attempting to smuggle a big-ass sign on 15 flights (success rate: 12/15)
• Great crowds in unexpected places: Lawrence, Kansas; Portland, Maine; Tampa, Florida, and so many more.
• This fun mini-documentary that Crystal made in Durham, North Carolina
• Spending time with my brother and Adam, who both joined me for several stops of the midwest portion of the tour (and then with my sister who came to Birmingham and Atlanta)
• Houston, Texas, now known as “highest per-capita alcohol consumption by participants of any AONC meetup”
• Seeing Pace and Kyeli at the Dallas, Houston, and Phoenix stops (after that, I told them I wouldn’t be surprised if they showed up in Alaska)
• Driving from L.A. to Phoenix and catching up with longtime friend Stephanie
• A full-size mural of AONC in Atlanta… an amazing AONC cake in my hometown. And the list goes on.

I’ve only been off the tour for a few days and am still reflecting about all the conversations and experiences. I have a lot of big commitments in early 2011, but I’m hoping to make some space to write an in-depth report on the whole process of publishing a book and going on tour. In short, it’s been an incredible 90 days and I’m extremely glad I did it.

Whether I write the report or not, the book tour will continue to every province in Canada starting January 14th. (I’m bringing a warm coat.) Canadians, I hope to see you on the road—details here.

Your Turn

Feel free to share your own travel list, stories, or misadventure of 2010. And by the way, don’t worry if you haven’t been to 50 states and 24 countries this year… remember, I’ve been doing this a while. This year was especially manic with the book tour, but every year lately has been manic one way or the other.

I’m grateful I can do this and looking forward to another great year of travel in 2011.

What about you—where did you go in 2010?

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Image: GlobeVisions

As I look back on the year during my Annual Review, I think about what went well and what didn’t in my business work.

I’ve been self-employed for most of my life and have never had a real job, but the learning process over more than a decade now has been entirely through trial and error (lots of trial, lots of error—but I just keep trying things).

This post focuses entirely on the business side of AONC. In the original 279 Days to Overnight Success, I outlined how I created a writing career in less than a year (also through much trial and error). It’s been nearly two years since I published that manifesto, and the business has grown quite a bit since then.

It’s still a deliberately small business. Aside from design and branding, where Reese does a fantastic job, I do almost everything myself. But with a carefully-expanded product line and a much larger reach through the blog, it’s also grown to a more sustainable level. This year our products served more than 5,000 customers from 22 countries. More than 500 affiliates market the guides on their websites, and many of them report that our guides convert much better than other offers.

Even though it’s still intentionally small, it’s also now a fairly sustainable business. I don’t trade time for money, I’m not looking to be hired by anyone, and I pretty much do what I want with most of my time. (I choose to spend a lot of time working, writing, and creating, but that’s because I like the work I do.)

The AONC Business Model and the Lesson of Leverage

By far, the biggest lesson from the careful, deliberate growth has come through the establishment of a strong platform. Because of the hybrid model of the business and blog, I can effectively work for free and get paid indirectly. This is critical. At the 53 meetups I just wrapped up in every U.S. state, I never talked about the business side of AONC unless someone asked about it during the Q&A. I do at least 80% of my work for free (this blog, 200 emails a day, group and individual meetups everywhere I go, etc.) and only launch a few commercial products a year.

It’s a beautiful model that relies on a key mindset: if you structure your business around something more than just making money, having someone pay you is just one of many ways they can help you. In my case, it usually helps me more when people tell their friends about AONC.

A number of people have tried to emulate this model with varying degrees of success. Often what happens with those who are unsuccessful is that they copy the tactics without understanding the broader strategy. The strategy can not be short-circuited! The key part (what some people miss) is that you have to have a REAL MESSAGE. You have to actually do something meaningful that’s worth talking about—it can’t be a hook designed to capture people’s wallets by means of their attention. The difference is subtle but essential.

***

Other Lessons

Here are a few other business lessons I learned or was especially reminded of this year, in no particular order.

Ignore Google. I don’t mean Google the company—but for the most part, I ignore Google the search engine. I’ve never done search engine optimization for AONC, and I don’t think about keywords when I write. This is because the greatest traffic source for AONC is other blogs who write about what’s happening here. Because the business isn’t dependent on Google (less than 15% of AONC or Unconventional Guides site traffic comes through search results), I’m grateful for the readers they send me, but I don’t try to target certain phrases or manipulate the search results.

Speak for fun, not for money. Last year I wrote about how the coaching/consulting model wasn’t a good fit for my business. (I know lots of great people who do it well; it’s just not for me.) This year I am beginning to come to the same belief about speaking opportunities. I get offers to speak at various conferences several times a month, so if I wanted to create a business model out of it, it would be fairly easy. But I also don’t think it would be a good fit for me—in addition to the fact that I travel enough as it is, I’d rather create resources that can sell anytime.

I did a few paid talks this year, but I also did 53 free talks on the book tour, not counting all the extra meetups everywhere, lots of coffee or lunch meetings with individuals and small groups, etc. Speaking is fun and it can be a good challenge for me personally, but I don’t think it will ever become a core business model; I’ll continue to do it only when the gig is a good fit or serves to achieve another goal.

Create a winning formula for affiliates. I’m proud of the fact that many of our affiliates report that the guides convert better than any other offers. You shouldn’t ask affiliates to endorse something that doesn’t convert well; in the long-run you will burn bridges with people if an offer doesn’t clearly benefit them. (Affiliates have to build the audience first, though—without an audience, no affiliate program will be successful.) I brought on Sean Ogle to serve as our Affiliate Wrangler this year. His work is limited only by my inattention to creating a strategy for future growth… but more on that in a moment.

Always tell stories. The Empire Building Kit launch earlier this year was so successful first because we had a great product. When you take the case studies of “regular people” who have built successful businesses by following a passion, ask them to be very specific about how much money they make and how, then combine that with a series of 365 daily emails with additional specific lessons delivered over a year, you know you have a good offer that will attract a lot of interested prospects.

But telling a good story to go along with the launch was also important, which is why I ended up going on a big adventure to West Africa that then took me back to the East Coast and finally to Chicago, where I boarded the Empire Builder train to Portland. During the launch I got fan mail from people who wrote in to say they weren’t interested in the EBK itself, but they really enjoyed following along with the story. (I consider that to be a success of its own—the goal of my work isn’t to convert most readers to customers, but rather to help readers live unconventional lives in whatever way makes sense for them.)

That’s All Great… But What’s Missing?

Lessons learned should always be about continuous improvement. We have a good thing going, but how could it be made better? As I see it, there are two key issues I want to work on:

a) No recurring revenue model

b) Limited growth due to busy author syndrome

To ensure the business remains sustainable, I need to create a recurring revenue model, and that’s what I’m doing with the upcoming Travel Hacking Cartel. We’ll be launching this in a special “preboarding” phase right after the holidays in early January, and then it will be available on a referral program from existing members after that.

I need to do a better job managing small teams, or at least setting up a structure that allows the other amazing people who are a part of this project to thrive better. Reese and Sean (and also Nicky, our genius developer) have been very patient with me while I’ve been trekking around America on the epic book tour, but I don’t want to take them for granted or keep them waiting on things as much as I’ve done recently.

***

I’m glad the year has been so successful. I’m excited about 2011, and it will be fun to see what happens next. Looking forward, I still think I’ll spend more time on my free writing and other non-commercial work, but since I love my business work too, I hope to improve it by addressing these two issues in the coming year.

What about you… how was your business or work year of 2010?

Feel free to share a few highlights or lessons of your own.

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Image: KMonkey

After a great time with a fun group in Seattle last night, I drove down through Washington and crossed over the Columbia river… hello, Oregon—also known as state #50 on the 50-state book tour.

States #1-49 are now complete, and tonight is the grand finale at Powell’s in Portland.

***

Since time is short and the year is long, I started thinking ahead on the Annual Review even though I don’t leave for the actual trip until tomorrow. As explained in previous posts, the review focuses on looking ahead to the next year, but I first spend at least a day looking back on the year that’s ending. I start with two simple questions:

What went well in 2010?

What did not go well in 2010?

Answering these questions is an easy way to begin the process of being intentional about your choices in the forthcoming year. In case you’re curious, here are some of my answers.

What Went Well (A Long List!)

Last year I identified 2010 as the year of scale and reach. In previous years I had the Year of Convergence, the Year of the Revolution, and the Year of the Cantaloupe (long story). In 2008 I started AONC and built it to a respectable level in the blogging community. 2009 was also a good year… I wrote the book and transitioned to working on AONC full-time. With 2010, I wanted to take what was working and make it better—thus the theme of scale and reach.

This theme held true from start to finish. In the first half of the year I focused on international travel and growing the side business to a more sustainable level. The launch of the Empire Building Kit, first on an epic train ride with my friend J.D., and then a month later with 40 affiliate partners, was a big stepping stone in this process.

During the second half of the year, I focused on the book launch and related 53-city book tour to every U.S. state and a few bonus stops (to be followed by a Canada tour in January). Both of these projects have taken the community to a whole other level, and I’m thrilled that they have been received well. I’ve wanted to write a book for at least five years; to hold it in my hands and (even better) hear from people who have enjoyed reading it is extremely rewarding.

The other interesting thing is seeing that when you take the time to build a strong platform, as I did in 2008 and 2009, the platform eventually becomes self-sustaining and one thing tends to feed into another. (I’ll explain more about this in the Business Lessons post, coming next week.)

I also met my goal of visiting at least 20 new countries before September. I try to make it to at least 20 new countries every year, but this year was especially challenging due to losing an entire quarter from September—December. (I’ll have a whole post about travel lessons and where I’ve been this year after the Business Lessons one.)

Other Good Things

Our Ethiopia project has raised more than $70,000 so far, including a big donation of $24,000 that came from one blog post a couple of weeks ago.

I hosted the $100 Business Forum with my good friend Pam Slim four times. Our Facebook community grew to more than 17,000 awesome people. Everywhere I went, I tried to meet with friends from Twitter and elsewhere.

I gave talks at TedX Carnegie Mellon and several colleges. I feel like I’m improving in my speaking (it helps to give 53 talks in a row and 50 radio interviews in a month) and am looking forward to doing it more next year.

I formed an action team for next year’s World Domination Summit and opened registration. More than 375 people are now registered from 13 countries—I expect we’ll sell out of the remaining tickets in the next 30 days, nearly six months in advance of the event.

Last but not least, as I was writing these notes, Jolie reminded me that I’ve become much more relaxed about big things than I used to be. I used to feel stressed and need several days to prepare for a major activity or event—this year, I didn’t have that luxury, and ironically I think it helped me to feel more comfortable in overcoming my fears. If you’re nervous about speaking, it helps to give 53 talks in a row. Forced deadlines also help—I had only one big day in April to launch the Empire Building Kit, and I know if I had more time, I would have taken it and it might never have happened.

What Did Not Go Well

Overall, the year was fantastic. I’m extremely grateful, and the notes above are just a small selection of highlights. I can trace “what did not go well” to a few things: health, more back-and-forth travel than usual, and a growing tension between conflicting interests.

Because of the travel, and especially the 53-city tour, my diet and exercise definitely saw a significant decline. I used to run marathons; now I run six miles and consider that a major workout. Early in the year I had planned to attend a weekly yoga class; I stopped going after a few months. There were a number of evenings on book tour where I had only vodka and almonds for dinner, usually around midnight back in my hotel room (and then I often had to get up at 6am or earlier to shuttle to the airport—I was definitely one tired non-conformist at a few stops on the tour).

By comparison’s sake, I’m still relatively healthy. I’ve been vegetarian for more than three years, I don’t smoke, and if I fail to exercise for more than a couple of days, I start feeling anxious. But comparison is the key word—if I compare myself now to myself a couple years ago, I know I was in better shape then.

I spent a lot of time away from home in 2010, which was good for my adventures and career, but wasn’t always easy for Jolie or even my own emotional well-being. I don’t travel as much as some people think; I’m actually in Portland more often than I’m wandering around the world. But it’s true that I was away more than usual this year, and I don’t want to pretend that it is without consequence.

Challenge for the Future

I’ve also begun to experience some minor tension between conflicting interests that I’m not sure how to resolve. I sometimes say that I’m a “maximalist” who wants to do everything. My strategy in growing AONC has been “say yes to everything,” and this strategy has served me well for the most part. But try as I have, I’ve learned that sleeping only 4-5 hours a night on a regular basis doesn’t work well for me.

Perhaps a story will help to illustrate this dilemma. Last week I was in Alaska and Hawaii for the tour stops, and I flew home to Portland for the weekend before heading out again. The next stop was in San Francisco, but before going there, I went to Milwaukee to give a talk at an author summit hosted by the great team at 800-CEO-Read.

During my weekend at home before heading out, I heard about a concert I really wanted to attend. I thought the concert was happening while I was still home, but alas, when I checked further I discovered it was on the Monday I had to fly to Milwaukee. I felt sad to miss the concert, I knew I would likely be even more sleep-deprived than usual by the time I made it to San Fran, and a big part of me really wished I could skip the extra trip—but I had already made the commitment, so of course I went.

The interesting thing—and therefore the challenge—is that I really liked the group I met in Milwaukee. They were fun people, I learned a lot from them, and I felt like I was able to contribute something as well. That’s why I know the answer to this dilemma isn’t simply “take on fewer work commitments”—because I greatly enjoy the work I do. I had a meaningful day at the author summit and was glad I had made the trip. I was still sad about missing the concert, but also happy to meet other authors and be a part of the event.

In other words, I didn’t want one or the other; I wanted both. This dilemma caused me to think more about this post I wrote earlier this year. Some people can answer the dilemma by saying “eliminate what’s not important”—but what if you’ve already done that? I went to San Fran and was sleep-deprived for a couple days, but I got to talk at Google and then had another fun event that night in the city. I don’t regret the trip at all, but I wonder if next year I should try to go to a couple more concerts.

At any rate, this isn’t a settled issue, so I’ll be thinking about it more as I plan my next year during the review. But first, to Powell’s tonight for stop #53 of the 53-city U.S. tour. We made it, everyone! Every single state, and a few bonus stops along the way. Thanks so much for being a big part of this.

Now, over to you… How was your 2010?

Feel free to share a few highlights or lessons learned.

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Image: NRG

Every year since 2006, I’ve set aside an entire week in December to review the year that has almost passed and look ahead to the next one.

I certainly don’t think I’ve got everything figured out in my life, but I can honestly say that this practice has been the most helpful exercise in all that has happened since then.

The Annual Review is usually a private practice, but I decided to share some of my thought process starting in AONC’s first year (2008). You can read last year’s series here, here, here, here, and here.

I said last year that so much happened that I had to take two weeks. This year was even bigger, but I don’t have the luxury of two weeks this time. My 53-stop U.S. book tour is ending in Portland, Oregon Thursday night, and literally the next morning I’m heading out with Jolie for a week away to work on the review.

How It Works

You can read the original process I wrote here. In short, I look back on the year and ask myself a series of questions, journaling the answers in a paper notebook. The questions start very simply:

What went well in 2010?

What did not go well in 2010?

The main part of the planning session focuses on the year to come, but before looking forward I spend at least one of the days reflecting back on the year that is ending. I can usually identify a number of answers for each question—successes and failures, times where I was happy or proud and other times where I knew I fell short.

Next, I’ll review all of the goals that I set the previous December, and write out the results. Did everything happen as I expected? Probably not, but it’s interesting to compare results with expectations and see what overlaps and what diverges. In addition to personal lessons, I’ll also write down a list of business lessons I learned during the year, and a roundup of all the countries and cities I traveled to.

This leads to the next, longer stage of the planning process where I look ahead to the forthcoming year, carefully thinking about which projects I’d like to pursue and which actions I need to take to ensure their success.

Coming Soon: The 2010 Review

The series I’ll publish here over the next few weeks will be written in real-time. I’ll share some of my own answers for those who are curious, but I also encourage you to consider undertaking this exercise yourself in some form. You can either do it the same way I do (I’ll share details as we go along) or modify it to suit your own needs.

By the way, this is not meant to be a restrictive process in any way. Whether you are right-brained or left-brained (an admitted oversimplification), a creative or an analytical, a review like this can help you. It’s your life, so why not be intentional about it?

A good plan allows for plenty of spontaneity and room for change, but without a plan at all, it’s difficult to work toward something significant over time. I want to live the most meaningful and fulfilling life possible, and as mentioned, this process has helped me more than anything else.

I hope to see some of you on my final three tour stops—details here—and here on AONC, I’ll look forward to hearing about the fun plans that many of you have for 2011 as well.

Until then, here’s wishing you well from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

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Image: Olivander