Greetings from the Atlanta airport, where I’m preparing this post before heading home after a 13-stop leg of the Unconventional Book Tour.

In writing the AONC book, I wanted to highlight the stories of other people who have forged their own unconventional lives. Everyone mentioned below was included in the book, already in its fourth printing in North America and soon going out to bookstores elsewhere in the world.

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DWIGHT. I met Dwight in Bangkok through Cody McKibbon, another of our tribe. Originally from Atlanta, Dwight moved to Bangkok to teach English. He stayed on for several years and is now nearly fluent in the language. Dwight has a quick mention in Chapter 10, but I’m going to do a longer profile with him on the site soon. [Web Site / @insearchofsanuk]

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SUSAN. I met Susan in New York at Seth Godin’s Alternative MBA class, where she was in the midst of a career change. Susan was highly qualified, but in a tight job market, at least one-hundred candidates would be competing for the same job. What to do? Susan turned the process on its head and decided to “hire a boss” instead of asking to be hired as an employee. Brilliant! Read more in Chapter 5. [Web Site / @susanvlewis]

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JEANNE + co. People write me all the time and say, “But how can I travel if I have kids?” Jeanne and her family, who have been living abroad on a relatively low income since 2006, is case study #1. They’re mentioned in Chapter 2 and again in Chapter 8. [Web Site / @soultravelers3]

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ADAM + COURTNEY. Adam and Courtney are the lead story to Chapter 8 on personal finance. Adam took the online world by storm late last year when his young family packed up and moved to New Zealand. I met up with Adam again when he decided to join me as a roadie for four book tour stops last month. Another good friend, J.D. Roth, is also in this chapter… but most of you already know J.D. well. [Web Site / @manvsdebt]

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TIM. I first heard about Tim from a journalist friend. Tim stood up to the oil companies by bidding on a $1.7M contract… with money he didn’t have. Appropriately, Tim kicks off Chapter 4 on “How to Fight Authority and Win.” [Web Site / @dechristopher]

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CRYSTAL. I love Crystal’s approach to voicemail. When you call her, you get a message that basically says, “I hate using the phone, so if you need to reach me, I’m always online.” Crystal’s voicemail strategy is included in Chapter 10, and she was my co-host for our fun D.C. stop a few weeks ago. [Web Site / @bigbrightbulb]

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SCOTT. I met Scott Harrison on his first day in Africa back in 2004. We drove around in Land Rovers and ate at Lebanese restaurants. He took half of the photos of me in Africa that you see on the blog. Then when he left, he said he was going back to NYC to start a water charity. “That’s nice,” I said, thinking of the 50+ water charities that were in Monrovia, Liberia alone. One million people later, and I began to see why everyone should listen to him. Scott’s story is in Chapter 7, and the Charity:Water partnership is explained more over here. [Web Site / @scottharrison]

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SEAN. I met Sean Ogle almost two years ago in Portland. At the time, he was clean-cut and wearing a tie—definitely out of place in the Southeast neighborhood where I live and work. Now he’s semi-retired at age 24, and wears whatever he wants… which is not usually a tie. You can read Sean’s story in Chapter 3. [Web Site / @seanogle]

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SLOANE. I liked Sloane’s story of moving to the Philippines to volunteer for Kiva, and her audacity at creating multiple charities starting at a young age. She is also in Chapter 3, where we look at how to engage with our fears instead of pretending to be fearless.

Sloane and I share a philosophy on fear: don’t ignore it, but don’t let it make your decisions for you. [Web Site / @sloane]

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DAVE. I don’t know Dave personally, but he is one of the original “100 things” guys, where he determined to live with only 100 personal items. Dave isn’t on a crusade to get people to change their behavior—he calls it his own little mission against consumerism. After reading his story, I began a more active uncluttering strategy of my own. [Web Site / @guynameddave]

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MICHAEL. Among other things, Michael Bungay Stanier wrote the fantastic book Do More Great Work. He sent me five copies, which I’ve since given away and ordered more. [Web Site / @boxofcrayons]

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AONC has grown immensely since I started writing about my crazy trips back in 2008. Much more is on the way, and whatever turns out to be good will undoubtedly be the result of the amazing community. One problem I had is that I wrote the book more than a year ago, and since then I’ve been meeting a lot more amazing people that I wish I had put in the manuscript. I guess I’ll just have to write another book! (I’ll actually start working on that in January—stay tuned for details.)

We also have the Postcards project that now includes notes from 20+ countries, and the upcoming World Domination Summit that will bring 440 of us together in Portland.

Oh, and if you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t heard about the actual book, here’s the Amazon link and here’s the independent bookstore link. Translated versions are forthcoming in China, Korea, Bulgaria, and Poland—and we’re not stopping there, of course.

You can also join me on tour as I roam throughout the U.S. for 30 more stops, then 10 stops in Canada after the holidays. I’m having a lot of fun, and I’m so glad that all of you are a part of it.

Question: Who has influenced you in your own unconventional journey?

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Main Image: Elizabeth

I met Jodi at an AONC meetup in Bangkok, where she had just returned from a big trip through Burma.

Jodi isn’t a typical backpacker—she was a corporate lawyer, trained in Quebec and working for a big firm in New York. The whole time she was working, she was also saving for a new life.

I caught up with Jodi again a few months later while she was home in the U.S. and Canada, before heading back overseas to Asia. Check out her great perspective below.

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You’ve undergone a huge lifestyle change from being a corporate lawyer to traveling independently for weeks at a time through Burma. How did you arrive at this big vision of experiencing the world alone?

Like many paradigm shifts, it happened gradually, until one day I was climbing a mountain alone in a quiet part of the Burmese countryside thinking “I cannot believe I’ve come so far.” The seed for this kind of travel was planted quite early, but my independence was a much more latent development. In high school, I saw a series of PBS documentaries about the trans-Siberian trains and they piqued my interest sufficiently that by the time I went to law school I was already ruminating about ways to see the world, with the trains being a small part of my overall journey.

How long were you planning your escape from your corporate job?

As counterintuitive as it sounds, I was planning my escape well before I even took the job. I had no aching desire to be a lawyer, I was just stubborn as hell and when someone bet me I couldn’t get into law school straight from CEGEP (in Quebec, CEGEP is the equivalent of Grades 12 and 13), I took them up on the challenge. As a Quebec resident, law school tuition was extremely reasonable and when I was accepted, I decided to attend. It seemed like a huge act of hubris to turn the offer down, and as there was nothing else I was more interested in doing (outside my dreams of travel, that is), it was an excellent opportunity to train my brain in a new way of thinking.

As a result, I was quite young going into law school and when recruited by a big New York law firm I saw the offer as a great way to start saving for my eventual travels around the world. Though the hours were long and my heart wasn’t tied to the legal profession (especially not in private law), I truly enjoyed working with many of my clients and felt lucky to start my legal career in a city like New York.

What were some of the things you did to make your dream a reality? (Did you open a second bank account, post your goals on your mirror, etc.?) What advice would you give others with a similar dream?

First and foremost, I thought of every purchase in terms of a plane ticket’s value. “I could buy this, but it’s basically a plane ticket from Bangkok to Bali” or the like. I felt a bit like a salmon swimming upstream with my “means to an end” mentality in a fast-paced, results-driven city like New York. But you do what you have to in order to stay focused, and for me that meant concentrating on the eventual travel as a way of pushing past the city’s obsession with material things. I did open a second bank account, and dumped a set percentage of my salary into it each month.

I was also fortunate for two reasons. The first is that I went to law school in Canada, meaning that as a Canadian resident my tuition was extremely reasonable by North American standards. As a result, I was able to pay off my school debt entirely in my first year of working in New York. The second is that I was in a profession with significantly higher salaries than most. However, the end result regardless of positioning is the same: you put your head down when you can and you work toward your goals. For me, that meant buying kids’ clothes to wear under my suits (I’m small, so it’s a bonus), hiking in Harriman park instead of weekends in the Hamptons and spelunking for cheap eats in a city known for extravagant food options.

None of these were true sacrifices. The true sacrifice was the time spent at my desk, and the nights where I fell asleep under it waiting for a deal to close. But I was bolstered by my goal of seeing the world, and wanted to make sure I saved a sufficient amount to take my time doing so when I finally did quit my job to travel.

What would you say to women who want to travel independently but feel that they can’t because of safety concerns?

It is a valid worry, of course. Safety was among the primary concerns I had when I initially envisaged this trip, but safety can be a worry everywhere. The most important thing is to trust your instincts and when they tell you to get out of a situation, do so at the first inkling of discomfort. If you are wrong, the opportunity cost is minimal.

It’s also worth distinguishing between destinations when thinking about personal safety as a woman. In Asia for example, I felt tremendously safe. Yes, there are muggings (non-gender specific, usually) and people’s belongings often go missing. But in terms of personal safety as a woman, I felt safer in Asia than I did in my years of living in New York. That’s not to say that I became complacent in my time there, but rather that my spidey senses felt more comfortable than in NY or parts of South America.

What do you cherish most about the experience you’ve had over the past two years?

The interactions I’ve had with local people throughout the trip have made it a fulfilling, educational and fascinating experience, more so than anything else. The times I spent living with a family in El Nido’s Palawan—singing Air Supply on karaoke as the monsoons rolled in, or jumping into a banca boat with them to fish for dinner – are among the most smile-inducing memories thus far. Similarly, my nights living with nomads in the Gobi dessert or in my tiny “Sesame Street soi” in Bangkok where almost no one spoke English helped paint a richer, more rewarding picture of each destination and helped me truly understand what it meant to live there.

What is one aspect of solo travel that you wish you could magically change or make easier?

Honestly, the most frustrating part of solo travel is the budgetary penalty you pay for being alone. So many countries have double or triple rooms, but rarely price for a single person, and oftentimes the price for a double well exceeds my budget. The big exception to this rule is Burma, where most if not all hostels, hotels and B&Bs have single rooms or will at a minimum offer a price for one person even if it is the same room that two would customarily share. The cost of bungalows or beach hotels are usually so high that it’s cost prohibitive for me to go alone, unless I find a group to go with or a rare establishment that factors in the solo traveler.

Do you ever feel lonely or anxious on the road? If yes, what do you do with those feelings?

Yes, definitely. I would be worried if I didn’t suffer some pangs of loneliness or times when the fear of the unknown overwhelmed me. It’s the nature of being human, truly. As a starting point, I think that it is important to accept that these feelings exist and acknowledge them as being valid—only then can you move on from the fear. While there were certainly times that I wished I was stronger, technology definitely aids in getting through the low points, the times when the fear gnaws away at you from the inside out.

I don’t mean watching a sunset without someone to share it with, I mean the times when you are alone and sick on the road, or if you are me, when you’re an arachnophobe and your room is covered in poisonous spiders. When I stumble into these feelings, I’ve found the best thing is to think of all the effort it took to get there and to try and reach out to friends or family online to bring my mind back to center.

Does the excitement and novelty of new places, cultures and people ever wear off or become tiresome? (Do you ever just want to pack it in and head back to North America?)

People often ask me this question, and I understand why: travel—with its sensory overload and new people and challenges—is exhausting. I will say that while I’ve felt drained on the road, the energy of new places, cultures and (for me especially) new foods is part of what keeps my spirits high. I went to Burma almost 21 months after I embarked on this adventure, and I couldn’t sleep the night before I left because I was so excited to explore a new country.

If I stopped feeling this way, I would just head home for good—there is no sense in forcing travel when your heart is not in it. Those few times where my patience has worn thin were when I planned a vacation within my trip—a few days on a more remote island, a week of relaxation somewhere away from the bustle. That small resulting ‘reset’ goes a long way to staying positive when traveling long-term.

Have your experiences changed the way you view opportunities, money, or just the world in general?

Absolutely. In my travels, I’ve tried to do certain things in each country: volunteer at a local nonprofit, and learn how to make a local dish. These activities allowed me to forge relationships with locals and truly partake in the culture in most of the places I’ve been. It has also heightened my awareness to the things that we take for granted at home, and inevitably lowered my tolerance for all the complaining we tend to do about things like the weather.

Overall, I’ve found myself happier than I’ve ever been and a large part of that happiness comes from the knowledge that this trip has been ultimately fulfilling in ways that I had not even contemplated. The glory of discovering new and delicious foods; my living with local families in insanely remote places; meeting the other travel bloggers, each stumbling through their own crazy experiences. Each distinct adventure has piled on the colours and tastes and lessons learned, and I have grown exponentially as a person as each month bled into the next. Not in height, unfortunately—I’m still only five feet tall. But in spirit, most definitely.

Last but not least, what’s next for you?

At this point, I’m not entirely sure! I am home for the summer and have just returned from a press trip to the Dominican Republic. Having never explored the West Coast (Seattle and Portland especially), I’d like to do some travel here in the next few months.

Ideally, I’d also like to move back to Bangkok come 2011. Despite the tumultuous red shirt protests this spring, it still felt more like home than anywhere else I’ve been. And Bangkok is a perfect base for further travels through Bhutan, Nepal, India and Sri Lanka, each of which high up on my ‘must see’ list. I’ve also truly enjoyed sharing my experiences through the blog and inspiring others to travel independently, and plan to keep posting about my myriad (mis)adventures.

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My thanks to Jodi for sharing her world with us. You can follow her adventures at LegalNomads.com, or on Twitter here.

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Sometimes I find out about people who read AONC and I think, “Really? They care about what I have to say?” I think it should be the other way around.

Dr. Sarah England is one of those people. She wrote in to thank me for the World Domination manifesto and I thought, “Hold on a minute! I should be thanking you for being awesome.”

After stints in Vietnam, Switzerland, and elsewhere, Sarah moved to China with her family to work against the tobacco industry. As she mentions below, attitudes toward smoking in Asia are slowly changing, but there’s still much less awareness than in the western world.

I asked Sarah if she’d share a few things about her motivations and the work itself, and she graciously agreed. Note that Sarah serves in China at the invitation of the government, so we avoided much political talk in our conversation.

Our Q&A is below.

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What drew you to uproot your comfortable home and life to crusade for the health of millions of people you would otherwise likely never meet?

When I took this job and left my comfortable life in Geneva I got an email from a friend saying “You are still changing your clothes in telephone booths!” I loved it. I printed it out and carried it in my wallet and when things were very tough here my first year, it kept me going. I guess there is a kid inside me who still wants to be Superman and do something selfless and heroic.

What, if anything, prepared you to tackle this challenge? What do you wish you had known in advance?

I had spent many years working on political advocacy in the fight to stop tuberculosis (Stop TB). That work taught me how important it is to build coalitions to tackle a huge problem like TB or tobacco. I had worked in Asia previously, in Japan, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, so I had some familiarity with the region and especially with communist systems of government.

I wish I could have come to China being able to speak, read and write Chinese fluently. I still can’t speak or read Chinese at more than survival level. That is a major regret, but there are just not enough hours in the day.

Your passion and ambition have brought you to many places. Do you ever crave greater stability or a more traditional lifestyle? If so, how do you deal with these feelings?

I fantasize about building a log cabin on a lake in Canada that we could all call home.

How did you talk with your family about moving to China, and how did you eventually decide to take the leap?

The kids were excited about coming from the start. They were three and five and at that age, it was just a big adventure. My husband is a physicist, and once we knew we were going to China, he managed to get himself invited as a visiting professor to China’s top science university. He’s been having quite an adventure here, too.

How is your family enjoying your new lifestyle? When there are problems, how does it affect your relationships?

The kids miss some things about the countryside near Geneva where we lived before, like our big dog (big dogs are not allowed in Beijing), and playing in the woods. But China is a fascinating place and Beijing can feel like the center of the world. Since we came in 2008 we have been to the Olympics, the World Expo and we have seen two total eclipses of the sun—one in Xian and one in Hangzhou. The craziest thing about moving here is that after a couple of years, China is beginning to feel like home.

Some schools in China are sponsored by tobacco companies. How do you deal with that potential conflict?

The Chinese public health community is taking this matter very seriously. But the Chinese government owns the biggest tobacco company in the world, and produces by far more tobacco than any other country in the world. This earned the government about 65 billion dollars from tobacco last year, so you can imagine the forces at work here.

There are Chinese NGOs that are very active on this matter, such as the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control. We support them as much as we can, but they are the leaders, not us.

What has been your biggest frustration of working in cooperation with the Chinese Government?

The National People’s Congress of China has ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control which means it is binding law in China. The Ministry of Health is fully committed to tobacco control and we do our best to support them with high level political advocacy.

However, there are always issues of policy coherence within any government. Differences in interpretation of the Convention and implementation issues can lead to frustrations for anyone working closely with any government on this issue. China is no exception.

Do you find that your outsider status is a benefit or a challenge for your work?

The benefit is that I am a voice of the World Health Organization. This matters in China, where WHO has gained the appreciation of the Government, particularly for its role in the SARS crisis.

How do you fight against such a pervasive issue—do you ever feel like you aren’t making a difference? How do you cope?

There are definitely days where I doubt that I am personally making any difference. But I know that as a group, the tobacco control community in China is moving forward. There is a sense of solidarity and community among us. It is easy to get tired, but we keep each other going.

Why focus on tobacco?

Based on current trends, a billion people will die from tobacco this century. Tobacco causes more preventable deaths than anything else. The epidemic is growing at a shocking rate. It is spreading to the poorest and most vulnerable, with African countries and other middle and low income countries becoming a major target of tobacco companies.

Not only is the tobacco epidemic a humanitarian catastrophe, but it is also a threat to the global economy. The World Economic Forum set chronic diseases, many caused by tobacco use, among the top five risks to the global economy in terms of both likelihood and magnitude of risk.

How does the Chinese public respond to your anti-tobacco message? Is it gaining traction?

I think so. Surveys conducted by the China Centers for Disease Control show that there is substantial public support for policies like smoke-free indoor environments. It is a case of policy trailing behind public opinion instead of the other way around.

You told me earlier that “Sometimes the world just asks more of me than I can give.” When you are feeling like this, what do you tell yourself to keep moving forward?

If you want to be highly ineffective, quitting is the best thing you can do. I have wanted to quit this job many many times, but hey, Superman never quit, did he? And on a good day, I feel like the universe is unfolding as it should.

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I appreciate Sarah sharing her time and energy with us while pursuing this important work. My favorite part is her quote at the end: If you want to be highly ineffective, quitting is the best thing you can do.

I also know it’s not just Sarah—among the big group that shows up to read these posts every week, there are a lot of you out there doing all kinds of faraway work in service to a greater cause.

Since I did it for a while too, I know the secret: it’s insanely rewarding and you wouldn’t trade it for the soft life at home. But nevertheless, since I’m usually living the soft life myself these days, I also thought I’d say thanks for being awesome. I give respect!

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It’s a new month, and time for a new profile. My friend Tsilli Pines recently quit her job to go full-time with the side business she’s been building for the past three years.

Yay! Congratulations to her.

And when we were talking, she told me how she had worked at the job for eight years, and has spent the past three years carefully building her business to the point where she could take a big leap.

Entrepreneurs are often thought of as embracing risk—but I think this is a bit overrated. In Tsilli’s words: “I’m very conservative about making decisions. I probably could have quit the job last year, but I wanted to wait until I was absolutely sure.”

I thought this was fascinating, so I asked her to tell me more. You can read her answers in our interview below.

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One month ago you left your job of eight years to strike out on your own. How does it feel? 

It feels like freedom!

However, I had a great job working with great people, so leaving was bittersweet. I learned much of what I know and became the designer that I am working with Fine Design Group, and they gave me a lot of room to grow in the years I worked at the studio. 

Then I hit my stride as a designer and started thinking about what I’m meant to do in the long term. I found myself yearning for total authorship. So while the client work I was doing in the studio was challenging and fun, I wondered what I could do if I were my own client.

Tell us a little about your business. What’s a ketubah? Who are your customers, and how do they find out about you?

A ketubah is a Jewish marriage contract. It was traditionally used as a legal document and is now regarded more broadly as a statement of commitment, ritual object, and work of art.

There is a long history of the ketubah being interpreted as an illuminated manuscript, but there aren’t many takes on the form from the perspective of modern design. My clients are design-minded folks who have a hard time finding something that fits with their style but want to include this tradition in their wedding. Most of the pieces I make are for Jewish or interfaith couples (where one person is Jewish and the other is from another tradition), but I’ve also made Quaker wedding certificates, which are similar documents.

Many people find me online—this is a product people search for pretty specifically. Now that I have been doing this for several years, I’m also getting referral business from happy clients. I try to take really good care of people, so it’s the highest compliment when someone recommends me.

How did you build the business on the side while working full-time?

I built the business really slowly and organically and fit it between the cracks. Two years before I launched my website, I met the owner of a Judaica shop in California, who encouraged me to try out my designs through her store. I worked up two prototypes and the day after I dropped them off, I had my first order.

For those first two years, I only had a handful of clients, because it was all I could handle while getting my head around the process. I learned the ropes by putting one foot in front of the next, getting guidance from the Judaica shop and a few rabbis, and making lots of mistakes.

After that initial period of incubation I felt confident that I had the basics under control: how to work with different texts and what the rules were around them, how to make the pieces, how to package and ship them. But I had never worked directly with any clients because I had the shop handling the first steps of the process. It was a wholesale relationship and I wanted to create a direct relationship with my clients.

I requested a chunk of time off from my job—a combination of vacation I had built up and unpaid time—so that I could focus on taking things to the next level. I got a month off and in that time, I developed a few more designs, designed and coded a website, figured out how I would take direct payment, researched ways to improve my process, and started doing PR to get the word out. 

Knowing that people were increasingly looking for their ketubah online, and being a web designer by trade, I focused on how to make myself most visible online. I decided early on that besides having an easy-to-use website that was optimized for search engines, blogs would be the best way to raise awareness about my work. I already followed a lot of design and wedding blogs because I was interested in their content, so I wrote a very simple email introducing myself politely, with a few images of my work. The response was wonderful and I immediately became visible.

Tip from Tsilli: For folks who are looking to market their work online, I highly recommend Grace Bonney’s generous notes about how to approach the press and most especially this round-up from design bloggers about they like to be approached. In fact, the entire Biz Ladies series is a huge help.

Having an online business makes it easier to do on the side. I determined a reasonable process for fulfilling orders, and then I built a minimum turnaround time around that. Having limited time forced me to think about how to do the work most efficiently. I batched my email responses and did the work that could be done in bursts in the evenings and early mornings. The more involved work of actually producing the pieces was done on the weekends when I had entire days to get into the flow.

But I won’t lie: the beginning was insane. I was basically working two jobs, and my husband was helping me build the infrastructure—also on the side, since he has his own day job. He continues to support the project to this day. I couldn’t have done it without him.

It got to the point last year where there weren’t enough hours in the day, and I could only be reactive in fulfilling orders, rather than proactive in my business planning. It was clear that something had to give. But after four years of growing slowly, I finally felt confident that I had a viable business, and that allowed me to leave my day job.

When did you first think about quitting the day job—was it something you planned from the beginning of the startup, or was it after things began to grow? 

I am a very cautious person and entrepreneurship always seemed risky to me. For many years, I focused on finding the best possible job working for other people in order to avoid that perceived risk. I found the perfect job, but after putting in a good chunk of years, I started to wonder what was next for me.

I always knew I wanted to create something of my own and was drawn to the dream of being a working artist rather than a commercial designer. But I didn’t really see how the money side would work. 

As I’ve grown my own practice, I’ve become increasingly entrepreneurial about it, and the small successes have encouraged me to push ahead. I now see the larger picture and realize that there are so many directions I can take things. This was harder to see when I started out. The path has appeared beneath my feet.

Did anything go wrong in the early development of the business? (If so, what did you learn?)

Oh, so many things have gone wrong. Luckily, they have all been fixable. Packages have gone missing, equipment has failed, mistakes have slipped past both me and my clients, all kinds of things! But with determination and a positive attitude, nothing has been insurmountable.

A lot of the learning process about my internal process revolved around the technical side of things—figuring out the best materials, gear, and process. Often revelations and improvements came out of failures. It’s been a constant learning curve. Tools change, materials are discontinued. So the biggest lessons there were:

Stay nimble. Designing a product means that available materials and tools will change. Keep your eye on the prize and know what you’re trying to do overall, rather than getting hung up on exactly how.

Invest in the right tools. Bootstrapping was critical to the early stages of my business. But I also held out longer than I should have on gear that helps me do my work. 

Stay engaged. Keep trying to understand how your clients experience your product and service, and always work on how to solve more for them. Don’t get complacent.

The things that went wrong externally were often related to factors beyond my control, like shipping mishaps. Any problem that came up was mitigated by taking good care of my clients. I used the following principles to guide me through every situation:

Be clear. If a misunderstanding happens and causes a problem, assume it’s because you weren’t clear, understand why it happened, and adjust all future communication. 

Manage expectations. Be very explicit about how you work, and why. Do exactly what you say you’re going to do, or exceed expectations.

Be generous. Once you’ve set up all the basic rules of engagement, there will be times when something goes wrong, anyway. Go above and beyond what you have to do and make people happy.

The most important thing I got right quickly was knowing what kind of business I was in. It allowed me to say yes to the right things and no to the wrong ones. For example, I decided right away that I was not in the custom design business. This was an important decision because my schedule didn’t allow for it. Just knowing that gave me a framework for what kind of work I could do, which set the stage for everything else. I referred people who wanted a custom design to other artists I respected who did do that kind of work.

What is the greatest thing about your new self-employed life?

The freedom to finally work on all the projects I’ve been scribbling about and thinking about for so long. The ability to take care of other aspects of my life besides work because I am no longer working two jobs. The feeling of total control over my time and my future.

What is your advice to someone who wants to “escape” from traditional work and start something like this?

Find what you love to do, and then do it, even if it doesn’t bring in money at first. Experiment on the side, experiment on the cheap. It’s the single most important concept to grasp if you are looking to build something from scratch.

What worries you?

Everything! I’m a chronic worrier. But there’s a bad way to worry, and a good way. 

The bad way of worrying paralyzes you. You worry you won’t make the money side work, and it seems so overwhelming that you decide not to even try. I used to worry in this way, and did nothing.

The good way of worrying keeps you competitive, keeps you striving. For example, I still worry about making the money side work (especially now that I’ve thrown my weight into my own business completely). I still think, “What if all the work dries up? What if a competitor comes into the market that takes away my market share?” But I worry about it differently now. I worry about it by thinking ahead of the curve, recognizing what my strengths are and what I can do to mitigate that risk.

Now that you have more time to devote to the business, what’s next for New Ketubah and you? Do you plan to hire people or stay small? 

I plan to keep things small, but do big work. I’m energized by the idea of scaling talent, in the model Jonathan Fields describes as Simplicity Driven Entrepreneurship.

I have big plans for this breakout year of mine. Some of them have to do with New Ketubah, and some are new art and design projects. Among other things, DIY Ketubah just launched today! I am giving my most popular ketubah texts away for free as a download and inviting people to share the pieces they produce with it. I want to help accelerate the growth and exploration of this centuries-old tradition by enabling more people to make their own pieces and share their projects to inspire the community as a whole.   

My weekly practice is still ongoing. I regularly post pieces that I make on a rolling basis—these include cards for people I care about, free desktop calendars for anyone to download, and my newest project: visual conversations with other artists.

I’ll also begin offering some of my design work for sale as prints, and will be rolling out a new collection of products that I am making to recast the expressions of Jewish identity I grew up with.

And that’s just the first half of the year! There are some super secret things brewing thereafter, and I hope some of the great people from AONC will join me in the journey.

***

Congratulations to Tsilli!

If you like Tsilli’s work, you can join her newsletter here or follow her on Twitter here. You can also post any follow-up questions for her in this post.

And good luck to everyone else out there who is pursuing a dream of your own. I’ll look forward to hearing about your story one day.

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February is Black History Month in the United States, where we recognize the achievements of African Americans and honor our culture of diversity.

A lot of attention during this time is focused on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and rightfully so. Above my desk is one of his most famous quotations:

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is this: what are you doing for others?”

This question troubles me, as it should.

As much as I love MLK, though, I’m also a big fan of another martyr of the Civil Rights Movement: El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, or Malcolm X, as he is more commonly known.

I’ve been intrigued by Malcolm since I first began learning about social movements more than 10 years ago. If you’ve never read his autobiography, I highly recommend it. The movie by Spike Lee with Denzel Washington is also good.

The conventional narrative on Malcom X is that he was a bit too hard-core for a while, but then in the end after he went to Mecca and adapted his belief system to be more inclusive, he turned out alright.

The logic breaks down like this:

Militant Leader – Not Okay. Threatening. Unwilling to give deference to generally recognized leaders (President Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., etc.)

Conciliatory Leader – Okay. Socially acceptable. “He’s finally come around,” etc.

If you’ve studied sociology or history, you probably know that this kind of categorization is fairly typical of anyone doing anything militant. The idea is that it’s acceptable to be outspoken in your early days as long as you calm down later in life.

Like other interesting people throughout history, Malcolm was a seriously complex guy. I hesitate to categorize him one way or the other in a short blog post, so watch this video to get a few snippets of the early, militant side:

It was extremely unusual for a black leader to criticize President Kennedy, but here Malcolm calls him a “trickster” and accuses him of helping “everyone except the people who put him in office.”

Here’s another clip, following Kennedy’s assassination and a 90-day period of silence that Malcolm was subjected to –

This one includes one of my favorite statements. When the interviewer asks him if progress is being made, Malcolm says:

I will never say that progress is being made if you stick a knife in my back nine inches and pull it out six inches… there’s no progress. If you pull it all the way out, that’s not progress. Progress is healing the wound that the blow made, and they haven’t even begun to try to pull the knife out. They won’t even admit the knife is there!

And finally, watch this last one from towards the end of his life, after he had left the Nation of Islam and returned from a trip to Mecca –

In this clip, Malcolm discusses meeting white Muslims for the first time, his split from the Nation of Islam, and the threats on his life. “I have no fear whatsoever of anybody or anything,” he says at the end.

***

We have a lot to learn from people in history who have fought against the status quo under challenging circumstances. The case of Malcolm X is especially interesting, since at times he dealt with several different battles simultaneously. Even now, his role in the Civil Rights Movement and American history in general lacks consensus.

In the end, Malcolm X was a modern-day Julius Caesar, murdered by the same people who helped him get started as a spokesman. Just imagine: Not only are you fighting for equality and justice, you also have to deal with mainstream black leaders who say they disagree with you… and then you find yourself being accused by the same group you tirelessly supported for years. (Talk about being alone.)

Muhammed Ali, a former friend and apprentice, refused to shake his hand or acknowledge him when they were both in Africa at the same time. (Talk about rejection.)

And when you talk about sacrifice, Malcolm X walked the walk, showing that there was more than one way to fight against injustice. I’m grateful for people like Malcolm who were willing to give so much for equality in my country.

The United States, and probably the whole world, is much better off because of his courage and service. I give respect!

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It’s no secret I’m a big fan of author and change agent Seth Godin. I’ve been reading his books since my years in West Africa (2002-2006), and he continues to produce excellent work almost every day on his great blog.

I had the chance to speak to Seth’s “Alternative MBA” group last year, and when the invitation came, I rearranged my schedule and dropped everything to fly to New York. (Never pass up a major opportunity for personal growth.)

Today, Seth’s new book, Linchpin: Are you Indispensible?, launches out into the world. Instead of doing the usual media interviews, Seth decided to promote the book exclusively through the blogosphere. Together with his sidekick Ishita, he recruited a bunch of big-name bloggers – and then me – to publish a group of exclusive interviews today.

You can read the other interviews here, you can buy the book here, and if you’d like to ask Seth a question yourself, you can do so in the comments section of this post.

Let’s get started.

• Linchpin begins with the statement, “This time it’s personal.” This seems to be a departure for you. Among other things, you’re writing about love, binge drinking, urinals, and art. What led to this book?

I’m pretty sure I’m not writing about binge drinking. What I am writing about is the ability of each of us, without authority or permission, to do work that matters, to have an impact and to create a place for ourselves in a society that’s brainwashed us into doing something that’s an easily replaced commodity.

A big part of that is acting like an artist. Being personal, making change, communicating a vision.

I wrote this book for every single person who’s frustrated with the status quo and wants to do more and better work.

• “The system is a mess.” Which system? How does our art change that?

The system of factories churning out stuff we can no longer afford to buy, or to store in our houses overstuffed with junk. The system that turns out college grads who are eager to follow instructions, not blaze a path. The system that depends on spam or churn to grow a product or a brand. And the system that treats employees like disposable cogs in a giant machine.

You know what changes this? Humanity. Connection. Caring. Doing work that’s not easy to replicate. That’s what an artist does.

• According to Linchpin, how do I become an artist? (What if I don’t know what I’m really good at?)

You do art when you make change that matters, and do it via a connection with an individual. A great waitress or conductor or politician can make art. So can David, who cleans the tables at Dean and Deluca. Art isn’t the job, it’s the attitude you bring to the job and work you do when you’re there.

• Are we all really geniuses? If so, what do we do to stop choosing stability over genius?

Well, if a genius is someone who solves a problem in a new and original way, then sure, you’re a genius. And the first step to making that choice is to know it’s available.

• I liked the example of Thomas Hawk putting so much of his work in the Creative Commons. I know that you publish most of your writing for free, too, but what do you do when you run into issues of plagiarism or people otherwise directly stealing from you?

I ask them to stop, or to give readers a link so they can see where it comes from. Of course, if they’re selling it, that’s a different kind of theft, and I ask them them to stop, because then not only am I being ripped off, but so is the buyer.

• “Art is a personal act of courage, something one human does that creates change in another” and “Art is a gift that changes the recipient.” — Would you say that if someone has a talent they keep to themselves, never sharing it with anyone, that they aren’t really making art?

That’s exactly right. According to my definition, doing private stuff doesn’t count… unless, and perhaps, you’re changing yourself.

• Can you tell us more about emotional labor?

Physical labor is digging a ditch. You don’t do it cause it’s fun, you do it because it’s your job. I don’t care if you’re in the mood for it.

Emotional labor is smiling or engaging with someone or bringing insight to your job. Sometimes you do it for fun, but you always do it because it’s your job. I don’t care if you’re in the mood for it.

• “The second person to install a urinal wasn’t an artist, he was a plumber.” Aren’t most of us, in some fashion, plumbers building off each other’s work?

  [A personal example: I read your books while I was in Africa. Now I'm getting ready for my own book launch. Editing the manuscript in December, I could see some artistry and some plumbing, building on the influence of you and other thought leaders. Am I an artist or a plumber?]

I think we surely build on each other. BUT, plumbers don’t really. They don’t strive for a better toilet install, or one that changes the recipient. They strive for a cheap, fast version of the standard and then they move on. Artists take it farther than that, much farther. That’s our assignment.

***

Wrap-Up

I wish Seth well with the launch of Linchpin. It’s a book that deserves wide attention — I received a free review copy, but I also paid full price for an additional copy that’s being sent out from Amazon today.

My work is better because of Seth’s influence and your readership. I’m grateful for both.

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Martin Luther King, Jr. famously said this in response to questions about civil rights and the law. The point was that morality and the law are not always on the same side.

I often think about this as I ponder the social and political issues of our time. The question that comes to mind is:

What about now?

In retrospect, we can look at bold decisions that were made in support of freedom and fail to see any moral ambiguity. Years or decades later, it’s easy to see now which side was right. Of course it was right to help slaves obtain their freedom, even if it was against the law. Of course it was right to demonstrate for civil rights, no matter the consequences.

Politicians of all stripes claim Martin Luther King as a hero now, but during his lifetime it was much different. The FBI maintained a file on him and worried about him being a friend of communists. Despite tapping his phone line and keeping tabs on his travels, they were unable to prevent his murder.

Because the benefit of history makes everything clear, the challenge is to get it right the first time.

Where did I stand on the Iraq war? I opposed it, but not very forcefully. To be honest, it seemed to make sense at the time with the information we were given. I should have been more openly skeptical. Whether or not my stance could have changed anything is somewhat irrelevant.

Where do I stand on equality and the right to marry whomever you want? I support it, obviously. My choice in marriage doesn’t affect anyone else, so why should I be threatened by anyone else’s choice? The people who oppose gay marriage are usually the same ones who support limited government—which of course is ironic.

Where do I stand on healthcare reform? Judging from my email, I know that many international readers don’t understand what a big deal this is in the U.S. Our country is the only rich democracy in the world that doesn’t have some form of universal coverage. I read the papers wherever I go, and everyone wants to know, what’s the problem?

The problem is that most of the people who are upset about healthcare reform already have good coverage. If they get sick, they can go to the doctor. They are also good at defining the debate to make people think that money will be taken from the rich and given to the poor.

Personally I think poor people deserve healthcare too, but the fact is that the poor are not the only ones who lack good healthcare in America. I’m not poor, but because I’m self-employed, my options are limited and I’d love to have more of them.

If anything, I’m worried that whatever plan comes out in the end will be so watered-down that it won’t produce the real change we need. If Obama can actually achieve real reform of the U.S. healthcare system, he deserves a lot more than a trophy in Norway.

***

These aren’t all of the important issues of our day, of course, and I don’t think I’ll change anyone’s mind about them by writing on a blog. Other than getting people to think for themselves, I’m not really interested in persuasion.

It just makes me think, where is my responsibility?

What would I have done in Nazi Germany or in the early days of the Civil Rights Movement? I’d like to think I would have been on the right side of history, but there’s no way to know for sure.

If there was one thing that MLK taught us, it’s that change doesn’t usually happen by itself. It’s better to speak up than to be silent; better to be wrong than indecisive.

Fast forward a few decades, and now it’s time to make new choices. Have you made yours?

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Update: Thanks for all the feedback. Since we already have a broad range of comments below (positive, negative, and variations), I’m going to close the section so we can move on to other things.

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This is the story of John T. Unger, a working artist who actually makes a good living. Despite the recession, each month in 2009 he’s made more money than in the same month last year, in addition to more than he did in every corporate job held long ago.

But that’s not the most interesting thing about John.

What’s interesting is what happened before his art business started taking off. The way John puts it, the best thing that ever happened to him was nearly being killed in a diner by a crazed taxi driver who held a gun to his head. (It taught him perspective, he says.)

The second best thing was suddenly losing his entire freelance workload in 2000. (He decided to stop freelancing and go all-in with his “real” art.)

The third best thing was having the roof of his studio cave in while he was standing on top of it, which nearly brought him to bankruptcy but ended up as the catalyst for the full-time art career he has now.

To learn more, go and read this article on John’s site—it’s excellent and deserves wider attention. (If you have to choose between the rest of this post and the article, read the article.)

***

I caught up with John last week to talk about recovering from disaster (and a few other things). The Q&A is below:

• Why do you think you were able to create an opportunity where other people would have only seen the disaster?

In a word: “practice.” I’ve started over with nothing more than once. In fact, one of my favorite lines about how I started my art career is “I did it with nothing, because nothing is free.” The world is full of stuff that no one wants or that no one sees. Learning to use those to build something is the same kind of thinking that goes into turning a disaster into an opportunity.

Part of my resilience is that I know from experience that just because it seems like the apocalypse, it doesn’t mean tomorrow isn’t coming. I figure that the world ends every second, and it starts over the very next second. I’ve seen the end of the world so many times I’m just not impressed by it anymore.

It takes some faith, courage or self-confidence to walk through a fire, sure. But you decide to keep going, and then you figure out how. My experience as an artist is really helpful for me in this because in some ways I view my job as “building a world.” Not the whole thing, but the parts that are important to me. I work mostly from found objects, and so my creative life isn’t just about inventing, it’s about re-inventing. I take what I find and I build.

You don’t notice opportunities if you limit what you’re looking for to a specific goal. It’s vital to maintain some fluidity, so that you can act on unexpected opportunities. Because I’m in the habit of always looking for new ideas, possibilities or opportunities it comes naturally to do so in times of distress.

• Is there ever a good time to give up? If so, when?

Yes and no. If your current plan or strategy or practice really isn’t working then it may be time to redirect your energy and focus. I don’t think you should ever give up on your core values or dreams, but sometimes it turns out that there’s a better way to implement them.

For instance, my first career was as a writer and poet. Despite some fairly high profile gigs, I was unable to support myself financially with words at the time. But those skills have made my current career as a visual artist possible— the fifteen years I spent pursuing poetry had a direct effect on how I deal with subject matter, meaning and metaphor as a visual artist. They bring a greater depth to my sculpture which makes it meaningful to people.

Also, my ability to write about my art helped enormously in building a successful career. Almost all of my sales, including galleries, come through my blog. I’ve shipped my work to all but a few states and at least seven countries. That reach would have been impossible for me before the internet, and if I had been limited to the local economy I would probably not have been able to make a full time living in the arts.

The irony in a way is that I’ve had my work included in ten books now as an artist, and am starting to see opportunities for finally publishing books of my own. So now it finally comes full circle.

• You said that the advice your friends gave you when you were in the middle of the disasters wasn’t helpful. What would you say to someone who’s in a similar situation?

In the article, I wrote, “The only way you can tell the difference between disaster and opportunity is to decide to make an opportunity out of every event.” That’s both easier and harder than it sounds. It’s easy to decide to make a change when your back is against the wall, but unless you follow through with acting on the decision, it won’t save you. Taking action is the hard part, especially if you lack resources after a fall.

When things fall apart, it usually requires an extremely creative approach to build the world again. There are techniques I’ve developed that make that easier for me.

The first thing I do is assess the situation unemotionally and try to see it for exactly what it really is. With any problem solving situation in my creative work, it’s important to look at what things do rather than what things are supposed to do. The same is true for problem solving in life events. You have to know what you’re working with in order to successfully influence it. Or subvert it.

The next step is to see if there is some way to leverage the force of the disaster itself to provide a solution. I regard this as a form of Tai Chi. I’ve never formally studied Tai Chi, but the core concept of redirecting an external force rather than meeting it with an attack has worked for me in all kinds of contexts. Any real disaster has some momentum, and if you can find a way to leverage that force, or turn it to your benefit, you may be able to accomplish a solution more quickly or easily. When my studio caved in, I was able to use the situation to find a solution that just wouldn’t have happened otherwise, and both the bank and I came out ahead the long run.

Finally, as an artist, I believe that almost nothing is impossible but many things are less than obvious. Ultimately, the solution to many problems is to approach from the side, or behind, or upside down or backwards. Part of what makes me good at this kind of problem solving is that I practice all day long by reversing and inverting ideas to see what else they hold when held up to a mirror.

• You say that things are going well now, but what does that mean? Can you be more specific?

I’ve built enough of a reputation for my work and ideas that I find I can easily reach out to other artists, thinkers and people who interest me. Having the respect of my peers is probably the most rewarding aspect of what I do. I’ve gotten a lot of nice media attention, had my work profiled or featured in books, radio, TV, magazines, etc.

Sales of my work have increased every year, and I now have a comfortable and reliable income. In fact, I’ve done better every month of 2009 than the same month in 2008, so even during the rough economy I’ve done better than I would have in a more traditional job.

I continue to try new projects, some of which succeed and some of which don’t but it keeps the work interesting and it’s nice to be able to make new work without having to worry about money like I used to.

I’ve been able to provide a lot of work for other people, both my own employees and other business who supply me and I feel really good about that. I like the fact that my business generates opportunities and income for other people as well.

***

To me, John’s story represents the triumph of the human spirit and the creativity of the desperate. As John points out, it’s not just about optimism, at least not in a passive sense. Mere optimism doesn’t pay the rent. When you come to the point of desperation, you do more than just hope for something.

As John puts it:

“The only way you can tell the difference between disaster and opportunity is to decide to make an opportunity out of every event.”

Disasters suck. No one thinks the recession is good. But sometimes the best things arrive in disaster form, and it’s up to you to decide how to respond.

Big congratulations to John for making it out of three big disasters—not that he needs validation from me or anyone else. And good luck to all of you with your next disaster.

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Image courtesy of John T. Unger

It’s time for another Profile in Nonconformity. In this series I look at people who are challenging authority and changing the world in unique ways.

***

The Professor in Handcuffs

How does a tenured, full professor lose his job? First, he throws out the grading system by deciding that every student gets an A+.

Next, he tells students to rebel by showing how they, collectively, have more power and authority than any of the administration. Then, he gets arrested and taken away in handcuffs by the police just for showing up for a film club on campus.

Denis Rancourt is the professor, and I first read about him from the Globe and Mail, Toronto’s largest newspaper. I tracked him down in Ontario and he agreed to answer my questions – but he responded with the qualifier, “Hope this does not overly frighten your readers.”

Hmmm, what do you think… are you frightened? I didn’t think so – but be sure and read the notes at the end for a reminder about unconventional thinkers.

OK, here is the interview.

How is it possible to give every student an A+? Don’t we need some kind of evaluation system?

You put “A+” in the box where it says “student grade.” It’s quite easy. And with that simple move, you remove the instrument of power and oppression in the classroom. My job description says nothing about rank ordering students for employers or graduate school. It says “optimize education.”

You talk about students accepting an inferior system out of the desire (or need) for a degree. What can they do to change the system?

Students have as much power as they want in the classroom. They can impose whatever syllabus or grading system they want. Try it and see. If you are the only one in the class to openly challenge the professor’s absolute control then you will also be the only one to get an education. Better to learn freedom than to degrade yourself by obedience to an absurd order.

When you returned for the film session, were you expecting to be escorted off the campus in handcuffs? What was that experience like?

No, I did not expect it. I did not expect the administration to be so bold as to have dissidents arrested in an auditorium full of students and community members. I did not expect the police state mentality to extend to white male professors.

My main reaction to being cuffed was noting how gentle and polite the police were compared to how I have seen them cuff and arrest students and community members on campus, always under direct orders from the upper administration. I actually think they have special “prof cuffs” that don’t cut and hurt your wrists. I have seen what the regular cuffs do.

What is your vision of higher education?

Liberation. Independent thinking. The present prison system of education is a concentration camp that first teaches obedience, followed by indoctrination at the graduate and professional levels. Farber’s essay from the 60s The Student as N—– is dead on in my book, only it has gotten much worse since the 60s, as explained in Churchill’s essay Pacifism as Pathology.

If you are really an anarchist, what would you say to someone who argues that rules and social order are necessary in an institution like the academy?

I agree. Anarchists are not against order and organization, but they fight impositions of undemocratic structures. Anarchy is not chaos. Anarchists are against illegitimate and self-preserving power structures (hierarchies).

What do you expect will happen next in your case?

The present media debate will be stifled as soon as the other side senses that some people risk catching on, as soon as the Lie begins to be exposed.

***

Wrap Up

Many of us feel threatened by unconventional ideas. Whenever I mention Ayn Rand, for example, several people always send me notes expressing their concern or disappointment in me.

My response is that you don’t have to be afraid or threatened by controversial ideas. If your belief structure is threatened by someone else’s ideas, then it probably wasn’t very strong to begin with. If you still feel threatened by alternative ideas despite having a strong belief structure, then perhaps the alternative ideas contain more truth than you initially want to admit.

I’ve got a few other features like this scheduled for the rest of the spring. Among other things, we’ll look at passive versus active resistance, objectivism, and the life of Malcolm X. For now, the point is that we can learn a lot from people who are unconventional or controversial. When a member of an elite group (tenured professors) appears willing to forfeit his position over the right to teach as he sees fit, I think he’s worth paying attention to.

Speaking of Professor Rancourt

I’d love to know what you think of Denis Rancourt’s ideas. If you have any additional questions for him, post them up and we’ll see if we can get him to respond. To track the status of his legal case against the University of Ottawa and watch a recent press conference with him, head to AcademicFreedom.ca.

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Monasteries all over the world have been self-supporting for centuries, and the practice of monks running a small business is nothing new. Most of them, however, don’t end up experiencing 700% annual sales growth, selling 30,000 products, and competing with Fortune 500 companies.

Instead of baking fruitcakes for the occasional visitor, the monks from Our Lady of Spring Bank Cistercian Abbey sell laser toner and business supplies throughout the United States. They’ve creatively branded themselves as LaserMonks, but they offer more than just a great story. They also help businesses save an average of 40% off printer ink and toner, and in turn, the monks donate all of their profits to charity.

There is nothing conventional about the LaserMonks web site. Next to “fax supplies” and “inkjet cartridges” is a link to send in prayer requests. The content is devoted equally to product details and information about the monastery. In addition to business supplies, they also offer fun monastery items like “Benevelent Blends Coffee” and “Holy Hot Chocolate.”

The LaserMonks operation offers a genuine third model between profit and non-profit businesses, and I have been intrigued with their operation ever since first learning about it in a business magazine a year ago.

I recently caught up with Fr. Bernard McCoy, the CEO of LaserMonks who also uses the title “Steward of Temporal Affairs.” In the interview below, Fr. Bernard answered my questions about the toner business and the monastery.

Interview

When you started out meeting a need to provide recycled toner at reasonable prices, did you ever think that business would increase so quickly?

We did see the potential for growth, but never expected it to occur so quickly. Nearly every building, and certainly every business and institution had printers that could use our products – and save money by doing so – and help the environment. It was simply a matter of getting our story out there, and helping people to make a good decision.

What causes do you support through profits from LaserMonks?

We have consistently tried to find ways of providing charitable support in three categories: care of the body, care of the mind, and care of the spirit. At least once a month we find appropriate programs, non-profits, individuals, or even start our own projects that fit into these categories.

Examples include: domestic abuse shelters in the U.S., a school in Vietnam for orphans and street kids that teaches computer skills so they can get jobs and avoid prostitution and drug trafficking, equine therapy programs for kids as well as leadership development retreats for adults using horses, prison ministry support, scholarships for young people and adults, funding for micro business in the Dominican Republic, character building work and activities for disadvantaged kids in Wisconsin, medical and education support for the families that pick our coffee beans in Panama and Costa Rica, among many others.

Fr. Bernard with Prayer Book & Ink Cartridges

On your site you mention that the business grew too fast for a while and the monks were spending all their time packing up toner instead of attending to monastic duties. Can you give an example of the struggle between business and monastic life, and how have you been able to reconcile the two?

We never neglected our monastic duties – our times of prayer and study were always observed, because that is essentially who we are and what we do. But it was stressful trying to manage normal domestic duties, and I often didn’t get enough sleep. We had to step back and determine what we could do, what we couldn’t do, what we were good at, and what we needed to outsource. It was the outsourcing model that really was a “God-send” for us. And then when Sarah and Cindy appeared, Our Monk Helper Angels, it all fell into place.

The monks do well at telling the monk story, financial management, and behind the scenes work – photography, marketing ideas, media relations, etc. We outsourced the day-to-day work – answering phones, processing orders, vendor relations, etc. to Monk Helper Marketing, Inc. (Sarah and Cindy), used major wholesalers and fulfillment centers for product fulfillment, and focused on what we do best – being monks, marketing products under our Commerce with Compassion and Purchasing with a Purpose umbrella.

It’s also important to understand that monks are required by our monastic Rule (The Rule of St. Benedict) to be self supporting. Work is not separated from our life as a whole. Much like Adam and Eve, we tend and cultivate our garden to produce fruits for our table and many others that we support. It’s a labor of love and creativity that is part of the balance needed in any human life – meaningful work that is self-supporting, helps others, and develops our own gifts and talents.

Was there any resistance from anyone to the idea of building the business to the level it has reached? Did any other church leaders (or anyone else) ever feel that it was inappropriate for monks to be selling printer toner online?

The monks discussed the question of how big would be too big. This question was easily resolved by the fact that the growth of the company really didn’t affect the monastery as such. More money would be more to use for charitable works. Our lifestyle has changed little since the business started. Our European brothers always look across the big pond with curious expressions. “What are those Americans up to now?”

The interest was more in the Internet based business, which at the time was a really new thing for our more low-tech brothers over there. The marketing of toner (or office supplies in general) has never been a question for the monks. Keep in mind that my brothers 900 years ago were making their own paper and ink and copying manuscripts for pay. We’re just doing it a little more high-tech or efficiently today.

The lay and business public in the United States, however, often do a double-take. For most, monk products are limited to fruitcakes, candy, and retreat houses. Having a monastery that is a major competitor in a major product market is a little new in the New World. But keep in mind that Cistercians have always been on the edge of enterprise, commerce, and product marketing.

For example, we controlled probably 80% of the sheep/wool market in the British Isles for several hundred years. We were largely responsible for introducing milling (water wheels, etc.) into Europe. Today we have monasteries that have international ski schools, some of the world’s best beers, wines and liqueurs. (our Belgian beers are consistently the best in the world), health spas in Germany, etc.

Cistercians have always been enterprising. Most economic historians would agree that it was the Cistercians that really began to move Europe from feudalism into a market economy on a large scale. We were also among the first to implement modern accounting/bookkeeping techniques into our endeavors, along with being the first “multi-nationals” by using capital between abbeys/countries to maximize our enterprising efforts.

Americans are used to Franciscans and Dominicans, who are technically called “mendicants” — beggars. These “new” orders (13th/14th centuries) lived off donations and traveled about the country preaching and helping the poor. They did not have businesses. Monks have a vow of stability, stay put in monasteries, operate income producing industries, and do charitable work with the proceeds. We have a serious dedication to the pursuit of excellence in all aspects of human life – body, mind, spirit, art, study, and enterprise.

What’s an average day like for a LaserMonk?

We rise around 4am. Begin our prayers at 4:15. Have a break for an hour, another prayer at 6am, then another at 7:45. Work/study time 8-11, prayer/Mass at 11:15, lunch, siesta, afternoon prayer, work 2-5, prayer at 6 followed by supper, then final prayer at 7:30, in bed around 8-9. Recreation is fit into the schedule, desert days where a monk can have a day or two of solitude and no work are allowed once a month for each brother. We allow vacation time of 1- 2 weeks a year for appropriate time off (family, etc). So we spend about 5 hours a day in prayer/Gregorian Chant, and 5-6 hours in work.

What sacrifices have you made in building this project, either for the business or for abbey life?

Sleep is certainly one for me. At the beginning I had to work late nights trying to put it all together and make it work. Travel and talks that pulled me away from the Abbey more frequently than I would have liked – though I have been able to pull back from some of this over the past year. Having numbers/cash flow/bills/etc. on my mind when times were tough – can be very distracting.

What are the long-term plans for LaserMonks? Would you ever sell the business?

We will continue to grow our toner/inkjet market position nationally, and have even considered going international. We will continue to add ancillary product lines – products by other religious communities, other international products that help us continue our Commerce with Compassion / Purchasing with a Purpose endeavors. Other product lines that have an existing outsourcing industrial structure are being considered. We look to be kind of the social entrepreneurial version of Amazon.com.

Our charitable work will continue to develop in the body/mind/spirit categories, and we especially hope to assist other religious communities to become more self sufficient, along with encouraging other groups to find for-profit work to support their non-profit endeavors. I give talks nationally to business and organization leaders about our monastic enterprise example of social entrepreneurism.
Several offers have been made to buy the business, as well as encouragement to go public with an IPO. We really can’t sell the business because it is so tied with who we are as monks – and more importantly is a direct relation to the world in relationship to us – we couldn’t let an outsider “represent” us without our overseeing how they do business and relate to the world in general. The possibilities for bad pr are too great and quite frankly the business would lose its real essence if it wasn’t ours.

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I really appreciated hearing the LaserMonks story direct from the source, and I don’t have anything to add to Fr. Bernard’s great story. The next time I need printer toner, I’ll definitely skip the Dell store and head over to LaserMonks.

What do you think?

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