More than two years ago, I wrote a free manifesto on becoming a professional writer in less than a year. It was called 279 Days to Overnight Success, and the purpose was to outline the roadmap I had followed in crafting a new career after moving back to the U.S. from overseas and finishing grad school.

Somewhere around 15% of the total AONC readership can be traced to the worldwide interest in this manifesto, so I thought I’d take a quick look back at the lessons from it.

But First, a Disclaimer

I almost never look at my old work. The reason is simple: once it’s old, I don’t like it. When looking back I inevitably find flaws, inconsistencies, poorly-phrased sentences and arguments, and things I wish I had left out or explained better. Nevertheless, I think that most of the advice and storyline in 279 Days holds true a couple years later, even if I might say things a bit differently now.

In the manifesto I made the argument that crafting a sustainable career oriented around creative work wasn’t that difficult. I also shared how I’d been able to earn just under $50,000 in year one of the project, without putting ads on my blog or relying on sponsorship.

As I said at the time, the thing about money is that it is always relative: for some people, $50,000 is a huge amount of money, and for others it’s very little. My point was that I knew I could live off $50,000, and if I could get paid that much to write and travel, I’d be thrilled.

Nearly three years later, the operation has scaled quite a bit, with multiple projects in the six-figure range. As it’s grown I’ve tried to keep the basic philosophy the same. I don’t want to hire employees or outsource my life. I also don’t make much of a separation between “life” and “work,” since I enjoy what I do and don’t have any desire to keep it at a distance.

Overnight Success: The Plan of Action

The plan in 279 Days was presented in six points, noted below with a few comments.

1# Create a Compelling Story and Be Remarkable. No matter who you are, you have a unique story to tell. Your story doesn’t need to be well-packaged or boxed down into a tiny niche, but it does need to be somewhat clear and interesting.

In my case the story initially revolved around my travel goals, and to some degree it still does. I’ve tried to broaden the mission, however, to focus more on non-conformity itself and how people with different interests can live their own unconventional lives. Ultimately, that is the more important mission, and I hope to get even more specific about it as we go along.

2# Clearly Answer the “Reason Why.” If you’re starting an online project, why should your readers (or customers, or followers, or whomever) care about what you are doing? In the case of online publishing, tens of thousands of blogs are started every day. Why does yours matter?

Answering this question is critical, and you don’t have to do it just once—you have to do it over and over.

3# Prioritize Writing and Marketing Over Everything Else. What I meant at the time was that if you want to craft a long-term project, you’ll need to devote consistent amounts of time to it. Instead of marketing, I would probably use the word connecting now, because that’s essentially what marketing is. But the point remains: treat your work with the respect it deserves. Carve out time to devote to it.

Everyone is busy, but we all make time for what’s important to us.

4# Be Bigger than You Really Are. Often, new writers worry that they don’t have much to offer, because they’re “just getting started.” But my point was that you might be getting started on WordPress, but you’ve had your own unique experiences and perspective to offer for a long time. No one is better or more qualified than you to share those things, so don’t be intimidated to jump right in.

5# Build Long-Lasting Relationships. On my first book tour I talked about how I wrote 10,000 short emails to the first 10,000 people who joined the AONC newsletter. I don’t have any delusions that every single person was impressed by a quick personal note, but over time 10,000 individual actions will have a positive effect. You can apply a similar strategy even if you have 10 readers instead of 10,000. (In fact, you can probably do a better job since you’ll have more time to devote to them.)

6# Carefully Introduce Products and Services.There are all kinds of good reasons to do creative work, but if you want to make a living from it, you have to provide opportunities for people to pay you in some fashion. It’s also better to think about this from the beginning, and to keep it as natural and organic as possible.

Last year a company offered a significant amount of money to sponsor this blog. If it was a “bad” company, it would have been an instant no. But in this case, it was a good company doing interesting things. Despite the generous offer, it was still an easy choice: “Thanks guys, I’m honored, but we’re keeping it sponsor-free.” I’m glad to have the store, and I wouldn’t want to operate AONC any other way.

***

Applications may vary, but if you want to get paid for creative work of any kind, I think these lessons will serve you well. The basic philosophy remains simple: Do work that you’re proud of. Care about people and help them. If you have a website, don’t clutter it with irrelevant ads. Instead, make things that people want and offer them for a fair price.

Looking back I can see mistakes and wrong turns, but I try to keep moving forward. I’m a better writer now than I was in 2009, and I hope to keep improving over the next three years and more.

It’s Not Enough to Say “Don’t Give Up”

A lot of advice about blogging leans toward the “Don’t give up!” mantra. Some of the time, it’s good advice. But if something isn’t working and you don’t enjoy it, there’s nothing wrong with moving on and trying something else. (Hat tip: old-school Seth.) I’ve experienced a lot of freedom by giving up things I was doing only out of obligation or guilt.

Similarly, it’s also not sufficient to say everything will be OK if you just keep going. The way you work something matters, not just how much time you devote to it. (Hat tip: Lefsetz.)

Nevertheless, once you’re on the right track… that’s when you don’t give up. That’s when you stick it out, building a tower every day by working on something that helps people.

Finally, A Note On Being “Too Late”

I often hear from people who feel like they are “too late” to start a new career or big project. Sometimes the concern relates to an advancement in technology (“I wish I had started this earlier”), and other times it’s more of a general feeling that they are just too late in life.

The thing is, that’s how I felt! In 2007 I looked around at successful blogs and wondered, is there any room for me? Fortunately, I’m glad I decided to start sharing my work, and fortunately, it’s improved over time.

This is probably the most important lesson: Forget about being too late. If you have something to share with the world, stop waiting. Your overnight success may be right around the corner.

Question: What is your creative work? Are you building your own overnight success?

Feel free to share your project with others in the comments. (Just be sure to keep links in the URL field, or your comment will be trapped in our active spam filter.)

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*Speaking of making things that people want, our new Unconventional Guide to Publishing is getting rave reviews. Do you have your copy yet?

Image: David

A while back I was sitting in a room with Jonathan Fields, a fellow author and good friend. At the front of the staging area, a publishing executive was talking about the state of the industry.

Does anyone have any questions?

Someone had a question, and a good one: “If I want to write a book, what’s the first thing I should do?”

The consultant started going down the list. These days it’s all about platform-building, he said. You need to make sure you have a good fan base on Twitter. You also need to have a blog. Then you need to think about your marketing plan. You have to write letters to famous authors and ask for their endorsement, and craft your elevator pitch for TV.

“And,” he said, after recovering for a moment. “When you want to write a book, you should also think about what you have to say.”

Jonathan and I looked at each other with the same thought: Uh, isn’t that pretty much the first thing?

I’m not always the best person on stage either, so I don’t mean to blame the guy in front for having a Rick Perry moment (“What was that third thing?”). Nevertheless, I also think it’s fairly apparent that a lot of people work on all kinds of things before coming to that all-important question: what do you have to say? What’s the point of this exercise, and who will ultimately be helped by it?

***

Tomorrow we’re launching a project, our first commercial guide in well over a year. The long wait is partly because I’ve been busy with other things, but also because this one is a LONG time in the works.

The world of publishing is mysterious and strange. I’ve spent three years annoying my publishers with ceaseless questions, and I still don’t understand how a lot of things work. Fortunately, I don’t always have to understand, because I rely on my veteran literary agent, David Fugate.

A long time ago, I asked David if he would jot a few things down: lessons learned, the best advice he gives to aspiring authors, an overview of the book proposal process, and so on. I was picturing around 10,000 words, about the length of one of my manifestos.

Then something unexpected happened: David went into a cave and emerged three months later with an entire book manuscript. “Wow,” I said. “This is… really… big.”

David explained that once he got started, he couldn’t stop. He felt there was no way he could share everything that writers need to know in a short document, so he kept writing and writing.

By the time he came out of the writing cave, we had a much better resource that expected. The finished version clocks in at over 45,000 words, not counting sample proposals, interviews with editors from the big NYC publishers, a long list of marketing strategies and tips, and various additional resources.

Note: Tomorrow I’ll give you the full rundown on what’s included. It’s a big product, but the whole thing is also accessible—the point is to show aspiring authors exactly what they need to do to attract the attention of publishers, and to clear up a lot of misconceptions that are widely held about books.

Speaking of misconceptions, sometimes people ask why I’m still writing books. “Doesn’t the internet allow you to skip that whole process?”

Actually, no. I love the internet, but I also love books—still. My second book launches in May, and I’m seriously excited to go out on the road to meet readers. Perhaps I’m old-fashioned, but there’s something about books that I find special and unique.

Thankfully, I’m not the only one. Every day I get emails from people who have found my book in a bookstore or library. Book #1 is now out in more than a dozen countries, and it also gave me the opportunity to write book #2, which will reach an even broader audience thanks to more attentive distribution.

The Unconventional Guide to Publishing: Tomorrow at 9am PST / 12pm EST

The purpose of the Unconventional Guide to Publishing is to provide a shortcut to learning for anyone interested in how publishing really works. We’ll do our best to make it fun, with discount pricing (three days only) and a couple of special launch bonuses to reward early buyers.

Surveys show that 80% of people want to write a book in their lives, but only a tiny percentage actually does so. Our mission with this guide is to get more people from the 80% into the percentage who write and publish.

Whether you care about this resource or not, I’d encourage you to think about the main question: what do you have to say? Figure that out first, and everything else that comes next will be a lot easier.

How about you—what kind of book do you want to write?

Feel free to tell us in the comments.

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Image: Karsten

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.

***

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.”

***

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.

I’ve been working on a new, non-profit writing project that I’ll share tomorrow. Here’s a preview of the concept—for more on the project itself, see the note at the end or check back tomorrow.

***

A specter is haunting the internet. Everywhere you go, you hear about how you should slow down. First it was slow food (a good thing). Then there was slow living (not so good) and the rejection of striving and effort (even worse).

The central part of this message is: “There’s plenty of time. Stop hurrying and take it easy. Bake cakes, play in the forest, do what you want.”

I’ve been thinking about this a lot over the past few months, and tomorrow’s project is an attempt to say something different.

The central part of the alternative message is: “HURRY UP. Life is short, so we should put our limited time to good use.”

Why so intense? Because we only get one chance.

Why the rush? Because we’ve got a lot to do and a short amount of time to do it.

***

A common scenario involves imagining that today was your last day on earth:

What would you do if this was it? You have only one day to live.

It’s a good question to think about, but not sufficient on its own. If today were your last day, you might tell someone you loved them. You might try to make amends with someone you had wronged. You might enjoy the time as much as possible, and you might indeed bake a cake.

All of these things are good, but you can do them anytime. No need to wait for the warning of a last day that you’ll never receive. Most of us don’t get the chance to know when our last day is, and even if we do, we’re not usually in a position to make real changes.

Besides, a single day is short-term by design, and you’ll never create anything with lasting value in the short-term. Sure, you can “live in the present”—but if you want to build something beautiful, you’d better be thinking about the future as well.

Instead of watching life as it passes you by, what if you actively worked on crafting a legacy composed of creative work that helps others?

What if there was a systematic method of “legacy work” that allowed you to build this enduring record step-by-step?

Yes, there might be plenty of time left. But what if there’s not?

There is an urgency to life, whether you want it or not. When you embrace the urgency instead of ignoring it, you can create something that changes the world. Oh, and you can do this in a fun way that makes the best use of your own talent and motivation.

In a world of take-it-easy, who needs a life oriented about effort and achievement?

Well, I certainly do. And perhaps you do too.

***

Tomorrow morning I’ll release a new manifesto, the first in more than two years. It’s all about living with urgency and how you can build something over time. If you find it worthy of attention, I’d be grateful for your help in spreading the word.

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Image: Rutty

Here’s a simple, powerful tip for blogging, creating, storytelling, or whatever your art form may be:

Always share the best work you currently have. Never save it for later.

Earlier this year at SXSW I told a story about driving home late at night ten years ago and coming across a set of train tracks. It was a good story that I could have used for a few different purposes, and I wanted to save it for another talk happening two months later.

I couldn’t think of a better one that would work as well… so I told the story. Then I had the problem of needing a different story for the other talk, but that was a future problem—plenty of time to figure it out.

For my blog, I have several posts that are stored up for times when I get busy and aren’t sure what to publish on a particular day. These posts aren’t especially amazing, but they’ll do in a pinch. (The overriding rule is: NEVER break the schedule… the schedule is your friend.)

Once in a while I write something that I think is actually decent, such as this, this, or this. If I don’t need the post right away, I’m tempted to put it in the “desperate times, desperate measures” file, and sometimes I do for a while… but then I go back and think, what am I waiting for? If this thing is good—meaning that it has the potential to be valuable to someone—why save it?

The fun thing about creativity: the more you use, the more you get.

When trying to decide whether to use it or save it… use it.

When you’re trying to figure out what to share next… share the best thing you have.

Your best may not always be amazing or incredible… but whatever it is, use it.

Then move on and do it again.

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Image: Topf

Sometimes people ask about my qualifications.

It’s a fair question with a simple answer: I have none.

There’s absolutely no reason I should be doing pretty much anything I’m doing these days.

I was a high school dropout and a juvenile delinquent. I learned to drive by stealing cars, but since I was a slow learner, I kept crashing them into mailboxes. (A long, true story.)

I wasn’t especially dedicated to my first part-time job as a 14-year-old dishwasher. Whenever I received a pot that was especially difficult to clean, I walked outside and threw it in the dumpster. This strategy worked well until the restaurant ran out of pots. The owner and I had a discussion, and it was agreed I should find another means of employment.

I abandoned a series of other part-time jobs by not showing up to work. No notice, no phone call, no request for the check to be sent in the mail.

I did make it to college, where I performed fairly well—once I learned to work the system. My degree was in Sociology, a fun and interesting subject that led to exactly zero job opportunities. By the time I graduated, I didn’t want a job anyway, so I bought and sold coffee instead.

I never learned higher math—not any kind, and not at all. No algebra, geometry, calculus, or anything else you’re told is essential for adulthood. I snuck into grad school without taking the GRE, which is a good thing, because when I took a practice test later, I placed in the 15th percentile for quantitative. (To which I wondered: Wow, who are all the people less than the 15th?)

My first quarter in grad school I had to prove competency in statistics by passing a course. This was a disaster from start to finish. Imagine being thrown into a classroom where every word is foreign to you. Sink or swim, right? There’s actually another strategy: just tread water. My strategy was: show up to every class and never be late. I sat in the front row and asked meaningless questions to demonstrate I was paying attention. (“Could you repeat that last part?” “What would happen if you switched those two numbers around?” “Oh, I see. That’s interesting.”)

On the day of the final exam I looked at the paper and understood virtually none of the questions. I wrote gibberish on the front side and drew an arrow to indicate something on the reverse side. On this side I composed a list of “Top 10 Things I Learned During Statistics Class.” I made sure a few of them actually related to assigned materials, even if I didn’t understand them.

I somehow received a B- and placed a thank-you gift of coffee beans outside the professor’s door. Then I dropped out of the program, but that’s another story.

When I first went to Africa, I was given a job carrying boxes around and managing a warehouse. I was fairly good at the box-carrying part, but then I learned that more skills were required. Dude. The boxes need to be placed on pallets. The pallets need to be shrink-wrapped. Talk about bait and switch!

Someone showed me how to shrink-wrap a pallet, and then someone else showed me again. Then the first guy showed me one more time—“Hey, let me give you some help with that pallet”—but soon they could all tell I was a lost cause. I’d dutifully wrap my pathetic-looking pallets, with way too much shrink-wrap and boxes protruding from all sides, then someone would come along after me and do it right.

I never learned any languages, but one time I got roped into doing French-English translation at a conference. I had very low expectations for my ability to handle this task, and these low expectations remained unmet after the first session. I approached the organizers: “Uh, it’s OK if you want to bring in someone else,” I said. “Oh,” they said, “we already have.”

These stories may sound like they are from long ago, before I found my way in the world. Perhaps. But let the record show I still have virtually no marketable skills of any kind.

Among other deficiencies, I don’t know how to do anything mechanical whatsoever. I used to say I could do nothing more than screw in a light bulb, but then light bulbs started getting complicated. It’s off the list now.

All That to Say

If I suddenly had to get a job for the first time as an adult, I have no idea what I’d do. Yeah, I’d figure something out, but the prospect terrifies me.

When I think about what I’m actually qualified for, it’s a very short list. I’m qualified to stand behind a counter and accept your money, preferably in exact change and closely supervised by someone who carefully counts the cash register after my shift. I’m qualified to be the man at the donut shop who informs you how you can acquire an additional, original glazed merely through the purchase of two others.

At best, I’m qualified to make $11 an hour with no benefits.

When I walk through the First Class security line, I smile at the employee tasked with the job of keeping the peasant travelers out. I’d like to think I smile because it’s good to be nice, but it’s also because I know the secret: I should be that guy. I’m just an imposter.

When I’m asked to speak to companies, I look out at the people in the audience. Sure, some of them are occupied with their iPhones, and if alcohol is involved, some of them are a little tipsy. But given a large enough group, I can look and see that some of them are hanging on every poorly-phrased sentence I produce. They write things in their notebooks that presumably relate to what I am saying, as if they should remember them or follow-up on them later. Why? No clue. But this much I know is true: I’m damned fortunate.

Yes, I should be that guy asking if you’d like to add on an order of fries at the fast-food restaurant, the guy who just kept doing menial work with no purpose because he was never qualified for anything else.

But for some reason, I’m not. For some reason, I escaped the life I deserved and found a life on the other side.

What This Means

All of this means a few things for you and me both.

First, forget about what you’re actually qualified to do. It’s irrelevant and no one cares.

Second, if you never learned higher math either, it’s nothing to worry about. You’ll be fine.

Third, if I can somehow craft a livelihood out of virtually no qualifications or marketable skills, surely you can too.

Fourth, when you do find something that works for you, you should be very grateful, every day.

Because when you’re qualified to do nothing but operate a cash register under close supervision, and the world somehow entrusts you with greater duties, you’d better treat these duties with the diligence they deserve.

I don’t care if you’re a religious person or not, every day you should pause and ask the powers that be “Really? I get to do this? I’m not living on the streets, begging for spare change?”

If that’s the case, and you are in fact doing anything other than handing out donuts, inspecting tickets, or sitting on the sidewalk all afternoon, join the club of the surprised. You’d better say to yourself, as I regularly do: I have no idea how this happened, but damned if I won’t do everything I can to preserve it.

Regardless of your actual qualifications, there’s one thing that no one can give you and no one can take away: the will to keep going. For that task, you are supremely qualified.

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Update: The “Working from the Road” class mentioned on Friday is now sold out—thanks for your interest.

Image: OW

Last month’s low-cost travel hacking class filled up quickly, and I’ve had a lot of requests for another. This time, I’d like to do something different—the topic is: “Working from the Road: How to Make a Living While Seeing the World.”

If you’re interested, you can sign up here:

NOW SOLD OUT — Thanks for your interest.

–>“Working from the Road” Class

This class is for the hundreds of people who write in every week asking how they can get started with a career that allows them to travel.

For the past ten years, I’ve made my living while working from the road. The past five years have been even more nomadic: more than twenty countries a year, and now 163 out of 193 countries in the world.

The reality doesn’t always match the fantasy. I don’t work from the beach—most beaches do not provide WiFi, and it’s awkward when sand gets in your MacBook.

Yet, if you are determined and committed, you can make this happen. It’s not a fad or new craze… I’ve done it for ten years, and so have thousands of other people. You’ve probably heard some of their stories, but how does it actually work? That’s what this one-hour class is all about.

Everywhere I go, I work and I travel—the two are completely linked. Can you do it too? Maybe… but some careers are much easier than others. You have to make the right decisions in the beginning.

Our time together will include:

• The truth on passive income (almost everything you’ve heard is wrong, one way or another)
• Your 5-step plan to hit the road while still getting paid
• Is it better to provide a service or create a product?
• Different forms of work + different travel styles
• What do you do about taxes, mail, and health insurance?
• Non-Profit and For-Profit business building
• How to volunteer around the world
• To freelance or not to freelance
• Answers to 40+ frequently asked questions (I talk fast)

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Until it sells out, the price is just $29 and you’ll get a recording afterwards if you can’t make the live version. Join us?

NOW SOLD OUT — Thanks for your interest.

–>“Working from the Road” Class

P.S. The service I use to host the class limits the number of attendees. Once we reach the cap, I’ll update this post and the offer will no longer be available. My apologies in advance if we can’t fit you in!

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Image: Stephanie

For the past three years, I’ve written at least 300,000 words for publication.

It’s not that difficult, and you can do it too—it mostly requires an ability to focus. If you don’t have this ability at first, fear not: it’s a learned process.

Why Write?

Someone once said, “I hate writing, but I love having written.” I tend to think you have to love at least some of the writing part too, but I get the idea. In my case, I write because it makes me feel good, and because I feel like it’s what I’m supposed to do.

If you want to write consistently and thoroughly, you must learn to make writing your job, regardless of whether it has anything to do with your income. It must be what you think of at different times throughout the day, even when you’re doing other things.

You may have heard the advice about carrying a notebook everywhere and writing things down as you think of them. This advice falls into the category of “extremely helpful tips that almost no one follows.” Trust me, it helps: I have my notebook when I ride my bike, when I go to a restaurant, and with me on the seat of two-hundred airplanes a year. Never keep anything in your head—keep it in the notebook instead.

Once you start recording information, you’ll likely find that ideas are not the problem. For most writers (or anyone doing most kinds of creative work), execution is the problem. Therefore, the framework I write from can be summarized in this quote from Jim Rohn:

“We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret and disappointment.”

In choosing to write, you must choose the pain of discipline. Good news: it’s not that painful, once you get used to it. You just have to make it more important than other things you could spend time on.

Make your art your obsession. Fall in love with it. Experience withdrawal symptoms when you don’t give it your attention.

Say no to other things so you can make art. Learn to view sacrifice as an investment. Writing is a joyful experience that will bring you comfort and satisfaction, but you must put the hours in.

Think about what you know how to do, and write down all the steps that someone else should take to do the same thing. Spend your vacation outlining the novel you’ve always wanted to write. Start a blog, even if you abandon it later.

Do not worry about quality, especially when you’re getting started. Quality will improve as you put in the hours. (For evidence of this fact, read the first year’s archives of almost any blog, including this one.)

Worry instead about getting your words in. Wake up early, stay up late, use that notebook you are carrying, appropriate those ten and fifteen-minute breaks in the day with nothing scheduled.

When you finish at night (or whenever you pause for a while), try to end in a place where you know what you need to do when you return to it later.

Why 300,000 Words?

In my case, I want to write 1,000 words a day, six days a week. I often write more, but rarely less. The 1,000 words a day is my own metric—yours may vary, but it’s a good one to steal. In the end I’m not necessarily concerned with exact figures; it’s just that having a number helps me to keep working.

Also, 300,000 words ensures I can write a book every year, 100+ blog posts for AONC, 50 or so guest posts elsewhere, at least 2-3 business projects that require a lot of writing, and a few long-form essays or magazine pieces. I don’t count emails (200 a day) or short entries for social media sites.

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I wrote most of this post when I was stuck in the Nairobi airport last month. Kenya Airways is actually a decent airline—on an hour-long flight to Rwanda, I was served a full vegetarian meal in Economy Class. In the U.S. I am upgraded to First Class 80% of the time, but I can’t even request a vegetarian meal in advance.

But I digress—the point is, while the national airline is nice, Nairobi Airport sucks. Sitting around for four hours, I knew I had two options:

a) keep whining to myself about it

b) use the time well

I knew I’d feel better if I used the time well, so I sat down and wrote. I made myself do it, camping out in a sea of people. There were no outlets, so I worked fast to conserve battery power.

I wrote 1,200 words, and then I wrote another 500 words for something else, and then another 500 words for this post. Four hours went by and I boarded my flight to Jo’burg feeling great. I was behind on my emails as usual, but ahead on my art. I drank bad red wine (shoutout to Kenya Airways again) and didn’t feel guilty about taking a short nap on the way down to South Africa.

I hope some of you write 300,000 words over the next year—then you can write the post about how 300,000 words was easy.

Most important: Love your art and it will love you back.

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Image: Brandice

If you’re looking for a way to make extra money or start an all-new business, I’m working on a project that will help you do just that. Until then, the best ideas are usually free, and I learned long ago to give away as much as possible.

To start with, read through all of these responses. Many of them won’t work for you, but I’ll bet some will. And here’s another one, from me.

You can become a consultant for hire in less than a day—this post will give you everything you need to get started.

First, understand an important principle: most consultants aren’t actually trained as such. There is no “consulting school” or consulting degree. Instead, a successful consultant is simply someone who has learned to craft their knowledge into a marketable offer.

Therefore, your first and most important step is to identify something you can offer that other people will value so much that they will gladly exchange money for it.

Areas of expertise that people will a) be interested in, and b) pay good money for include the following:

Dating | Wellness | Lead Generation | Data Recovery

How to get out of traffic tickets / jury duty / other undesirable action

How to get something for less, or make some kind of substantial improvement in a shortened period of time

Whenever possible, avoid generic concepts—don’t be a “life coach” or a “small business consultant.” Be SPECIFIC. Hone in on the skill you choose, and be able to clearly explain what you offer.

An example: while I was writing the manuscript for my next book (we’ll get to that at some point—it’s still a long ways off), I was impressed with Gary Leff’s story. Gary is a travel expert and one of the few people more experienced than me at travel hacking (he’s the guy I go to when I get stuck). Gary noticed that his friends and family kept asking for help with their reservations, so he decided to try offering it as a service.

I think this idea is fascinating, because the service is essentially something you could do on your own for free—yet there is a long line of people happily willing to pay for it. Why would you pay someone a significant fee ($250) to do something that you could do for free? It’s simple: Gary is very good at his job. He books international, premium class plane tickets for people that would ordinarily cost $5,000 or more.

This kind of specialized service is a perfect example of crafting knowledge into a marketable offer. (He told me in a recent interview that his biggest challenge is having far more demand than he can reliably meet.)

Figuring out a clear value offering is the most important part of becoming an instant consultant, so if you get stuck at some point, it’s what you should come back to. However, it’s also true that many smart people with marketable skills never get around to doing anything about it, simply because they fail to take the NEXT steps.

Therefore, once you have a specific skill, or at least something close, you now move to these specific steps:

1. Create a basic, one-page (or less than 5-pages) website.

It doesn’t need to be beautiful or overly complicated. Your goal is not to create a masterpiece, but to create something that works—you can worry about the design awards later, because first you need a way to get paid. Go to WordPress.org to get your free site. Just need a header? Reese now does that on the cheap.

2. Get a PayPal account for free.

You may already have one, so you can safely skip this step if that’s the case. Bonus! If not, PayPal works in almost every country I’ve been to… currently 163. (They have their own count of the number of countries, which shows that they are better at helping people exchange money than they are in traveling the world.)

3. Create an offer.

An offer is where you put your skills and knowledge into a here’s-what-you-hire-me-for summary. The message you send with a good offer looks like this:

Dear Prospective Client,

You have a problem, and I have the solution. My fee is [x]. You can hire me over here.

In Gary’s example, the problem is “we have all these miles but don’t know how to use them.” The solution is proven through Gary’s own trips and all of the happy clients he has served. His fee is clearly listed, and to hire him, you simply click a button. This leads to step 4:

4. Make sure it is very easy to hire you.

A lot of consultants (of all kinds) don’t post their fees, requiring prospective clients to inquire first. This only makes sense if the person is truly booked up most of the time and is not actively seeking new business. If you want new business, like anyone becoming an instant consultant, be sure you a) post your price, and b) make it easy to be hired.

Think of it like this:

Basic Website –> [PayPal Account] –> Offer –> Hired

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These four steps are all you really need, but to be safe, make a test purchase from your very-simple-website to ensure all goes well. Ask a few friends to carefully review your basic website for errors or suggestions for easy-to-make improvements.

Congratulations! You are now a consultant for hire.

You may wonder what comes next. If clients do not immediately come running, it is probably for one of two reasons:

a) Your offer is poor or unclear

b) You haven’t done enough hustling

If a, refer to the earlier section. Have you really identified a clear, specific need that other people are willing to pay for? All roads lead to this question.

If b, read up on hustling. The not-so-hidden secret to hustling is helping people. Becoming an instant consultant is a way for you to help people and get paid for it. To learn about building real relationships, read Chris Brogan and try to keep up (he writes a lot, and it’s all good).

As you serve your clients, ask them for referrals: this is where most new business will come from. You can improve your site and your skills, learn about increasing income, consider expansion opportunities, increase the systemization of how you deliver services, blah, blah, blah. But mostly you need to get started and retain your first client.

With the information in this post, you can open your consulting practice tomorrow. Oh, and one more thing: don’t actually call yourself a consultant, because that sounds boring. Better titles: strategist, solution-provider, alchemist, magician.

I hope this plan of action is helpful for someone out there. If you become an instant magician, come back and let us know.

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Image: Beaver

As expected, I received a flood of responses to Monday’s question on paying the bills. In addition to hundreds of site comments (I posted at least half that came through, but it’s tough to keep up from the road), we also had hundreds of additional suggestions come in through Facebook and Google+.

You guys are so productive! And so smart, too.

Naturally, I outsourced the sorting of responses to my furry assistant Libby, now working back at home while I’m on location in Asia. (Anecdotal reports indicate that when her assistance is virtual, she slacks off even more. I’ll get back to impose discipline as soon as I can.)

Suggestions ranged broadly, and included everything from selling various bodily fluids to begging on street corners. Others suggested prayer or “manifesting” the money. Personally I am more of a “take action” kind of guy, but it’s all good. If manifesting money from the sky has a proven success rate for you, let it rain.

Here are a few interesting comments from our group:

Andrea said:

I’m a former math teacher. With a bit of hustle I can make $300 – $500 tutoring in a month. Particularly since it’s currently August and the next round of SATs are coming up.

Austin Bishop said:

Troll the “gigs” section on Craigslist to match someone’s need with your skills. Especially if you have creative talents (e.g. graphic design, photography, copywriting) it’s easy to make quick money doing something you enjoy. The beauty of this is that some of these gigs will lead to more consistent jobs with that customer, generate referrals, and build your portfolio. I’ve done this with photography–it’s a terrific way to make some supplemental income.

A.J. Parker said:

Focus groups! (seriously) have made as much as $400 a pop just for my humble opinion on stuff. Research and Development departments in companies pay well for your thoughts and ideas.

Tracy said:

I would take my camera to the park and offer to take portraits of people’s kids. I’d give them my card, which shows the url of my photography blog. At $15.00 per digital image, I could easily email them a proof online and send them a PayPal money request that afternoon.

Sarah Russell said:

I’d head over to the Problogger Job Board and respond to a few of the postings there. I’ve been doing that for the past few months, and it’s put *much* more than $300-500 in my pocket lately.

Karen said:

I’d go straight to my travel journals (I have several years’ worth) and write a few travel articles. Before I get told that there are no travel markets that pay up front and have a quick turnaround, I’ll share a few faves I’ve sold articles to that fit the bill: Transitions Abroad, BootsnAll and the Matador Network.

Kate Courageous said:

I’m a runner, so I’d contact locally owned athletic stores and ask them to sponsor me, with my promises that I’d run through downtown San Francisco, during morning rush hour when everyone’s getting coffee, wearing their brand. I’d have to commit to a certain number of miles per week to get decent sponsorship, so there would also be the win-win of keeping me really in shape.

Steven Petersen said:

Try Gigwalk. They pay $4-7 for you to walk around your neighborhood and verify business information and take panoramic photos of the business locations. If I were to do this in my neighborhood I’d earn $500 in roughly two days.

Felix said:

Here is something I actually did during my student years. I walked into the city park and picked up tree seeds. I went to a supermarket and bought exotic fruits and got the seeds out and dry them.

I packaged them in small portions about 10 – 25 seeds per pack and sold them on ebay for $1.50 to $3.50 and mega-packs for $9.99. Customers usually bought for $6 on average to save on shipping. This turned out to make me between $400 to $600 per month.

Eric Walton said:

I purchase used vintage mechanical watches, restore them and sell them on Craiglist. You can easily make $100+ with each transaction doing this if you know the value of what you’re buying (many don’t know the value of what they’re selling).

With the economy as it is people are rediscovering the value of quality craftsmanship right now and appreciate these older wristwatches. These can be maintained for a lifetime of use vs. throwing a cheaper watch away and buying a replacement.

Jodi said:

I’d offer high tech support to low tech people!

1. Go around to local boutiques in town and offer to set up their Facebook business page. Offer extra small fee for taking digital photo of business or their product.

2. Offer to take flattering profile pictures of friends and local business owners with my iphone, upload to their Facebook page and/or LinkedIn page.

3. Create a HOW TO USE YOUR IPHONE class, $15 for 15 minutes. Set up private lessons at the local coffeeshop.

Sarah in Prague said:

Offer some small group tours of Prague’s literary pubs and cafes. I had a column in the English language newspaper here for several years in the early ’90′s and wrote the first English language pub guide to Prague in ’91, so I can legitimately claim some expertise. Advertise on various tourist and expat oriented sites and in English-language newspapers.

Leah said:

My husband and I had this situation when we first bought our house and I was 6 months pregnant with our son. He had just lost his job, but happened to have a box truck, so we printed up a few cards which he handed out to all the local furniture stores, antique dealers, etc. offering his services delivering furniture. It worked so well he had to get a business license, insurance, etc and it is now his full time job.

If you are willing to do work (labor especially) that other people don’t have time for or don’t want to do, you can make a few hundred the first week easily.

Nathan said:

When I really need cash and I’ve already squeezed my monthly bills, I do this: first I post on Facebook to tell everyone I know that I am available for odd jobs (fixing computers, babysitting, help with yard work, etc) and wait for responses. If you have a network of 100+ Facebook friends you will definitely get some bites. After that, I go on eBay and sell off items I am no longer using.

Finally, Sandy R had a good idea:

Bookmark this comment thread and come back here and select the best fit suggestion for my current circumstances.

“It’s So Easy…”

A number of people said that making extra money is easy. I have mixed feelings about this sentiment. In some ways, I agree. Whenever I need money for something, I find a way to go out and make it.

However, I also think we sometimes skip steps in explaining what’s involved in a project, and therefore cause people to feel bad about their own financial difficulties for no good reason.

I’m not sure that most people could easily earn $300-500 in a short period of time from busking, for example. Some can, certainly, but it’s not widely replicable. That’s why I prefer suggestions that don’t rely on special skills or access to existing contacts.

(Like manifesting money, if you can busk your way to the bank, don’t stop on my account.)

The $100 Bounty

I promised a $100 bounty to one smart commentor. Naturally, there could have been many winners. You all win! But the cat and biased judges could only choose one person. Following much angst, a split decision was awarded to DARLENE.

After first posting an idea on Monday about renting out a spare room to a student and taking public transportation for a few weeks, here’s what she had to say on Wednesday:

So here’s an update — I posted an ad for our room for rent and just rented it for two months and $1200!!! I actually DID it. And it didn’t take 30 days, it only took two.

I know that not everyone has a room they can rent, but I liked the spirit of her suggestion-followed-by-immediate-action. As promised, I just sent Darlene her $100 winning bounty by PayPal.

My congratulations (and my hundred bucks) go to Darlene on her big payday. And for those who said the question was highly relevant to them, well, now you have some ideas.

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As you might expect, I have a business project behind all this brainstorming. However, I’m not nearly as strategic as I sometimes get credit for—the business project is indeed in development, but with no target launch date. Sorry. In the meantime, you all have 300+ recommendations on what you can do if you find yourself in need of extra cash to pay the bills.

I’m in Singapore this weekend and heading on to East Africa shortly. I hope you have a wonderful week, wherever you are.

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Image: NTR