Friends and Readers, if you’ve been with me for a while, you may be wondering about the sequel to the World Domination manifesto.
Blame it on ADD, the book proposal that took 11 drafts, or my habit of flying around the world, but I now have good news — it’s nearly done.
The new manifesto is called 279 Days to Overnight Success, and will launch out to the world on Wednesday, April 15.
Who It’s For and Why I Wrote It
279 Days is not a mass-market publication. It’s free, but it won’t help everyone. Instead, it’s primarily for bloggers, writers, artists, and anyone interested in social media.
Why a specific readership? Because 279 Days is a case study of AONC. I wanted to explain in full detail how I started the site last year, how it grew to a full-time career, and how other people with the same aspirations of getting paid for what they love can do something similar.
There are no affiliate links and nothing for sale in the report. Also, there is no back-end or ‘hidden’ agenda. The agenda is simple: I want to help more people create unconventional careers, and I want to expand my network. If you like the report, then I’ll ask you to help me spread the message. That’s it.
By the way, I realize that not everyone wants to support themselves through online work, so the report will also help if you just want to increase your influence. In my case, I didn’t begin this site to make money — I wanted to establish a platform for my writing and encourage the spread of unconventional ideas. It was only after I had recruited an initial following that I realized I could create additional solutions in the form of products while still continuing to write for free. My thinking is that if you can do what you love and also get paid, so much the better.
The Central Questions
I frequently meet with people who want to know “how it works” — in other words, how do I write full-time, travel the world, and give away 90% of my work for free. I always say that the basics of how it works are right here for all to see. I write for free. I help people for free. I also create products on the side for people who want additional help with specific topics.
That’s really how it works; there is no secret formula. But it’s true that there is a lot of process to it.
Because people want to know the specifics, I decided to write everything down. It started out as a long blog post, but when I came to 20 pages, I decided to use a different format. In the end the report comes to 11,000 words and more than 50 pages. I’ll share the mistakes I made, the things I did right, how much money I make, etc.
In other words, it is highly specific and I’m going for full transparency here. Not everyone will relate, and that’s OK – but I think it will help people who have similar world takeover goals.
Here are the central questions I attempt to answer in the report:
- How can you make money doing what you love while still being true to your core values?
- Why do some projects succeed and others fail?
- If you do want to establish freedom through writing, blogging, or another kind of social media, what is the best use of your time?
Breaking down the answers into a four-sentence super-condensed version, this is what 279 Days will teach you:
- If you want to, you can create your own full-time career in social media (or otherwise greatly expand your influence)
- It takes more than 30 days or 12 steps to do this, but you can probably do it in one or two years
- Unless you can regularly generate enormous levels of traffic, forget about advertising
- Instead, ask your followers what they want and find a way to give it to them
That’s pretty much it… but as mentioned, there is a lot of process to it. If you don’t know where to start, you’ll probably make a lot of mistakes and false starts — I know I certainly did. Some of the mistakes may be unavoidable, but I like to simplify learning processes to their most basic level. That’s what I’ve tried to do in this report.
How Are You Doing? (”Oh… not bad”)
I’m fortunate to know people from all walks of life. From a financial perspective, I know some people who are extremely successful, and others who are really struggling to make it. I’d say the range of people in my circle now goes from struggling students who make $5,000-$12,000 a year to a couple of business owners who make more than $500,000 a year.
The funny thing is that if you ask, “How are things going?” — referring to their business or their income — they will each give the same, non-specific answer: “Oh…. not bad.” In other words, you won’t know any more than before you asked.
I’m not blaming them for being vague – most of us don’t like to talk openly about money, and beyond a certain point, happiness and money are not highly correlated. But even though everyone has a right to their privacy, the “It’s OK” answer doesn’t really help anyone else who is trying to establish a similar lifestyle or career. Making money isn’t everything (far from it), but naturally any career planning resource should discuss money in an open, transparent manner. That’s what I try to do in the report.
I mentioned recently that there is no competition in this business. The thousands of people who read this article today could start up thousands of new blogs tomorrow, and I would not be harmed in any way. In fact, I would probably benefit since many of them would credit me as a source of inspiration.
(In the 279 Days report, I’m going to name all my sources of inspiration and give credit where credit is due. I’ll also have a follow-up post where I specifically thank more than 20 people who have been of particular help.)
Launch Plan
The report is currently in the hands of Reese Spykerman, designer extraordinaire, who is making it look awesome. As you know, Reese always does great work, but the mockups I’ve seen for this project are especially nice.
On Wednesday morning (9am EST / 6am PST) we’ll launch it to the world. Your FREE copy will be available here for download. Oh, and if you’re on my email list, you might get a sneak preview the evening before.
How You Can Help (If You Want)
The World Domination manifesto was a success because so many cool people helped to spread the word. The last time I checked, it had been downloaded by more than 100,000 120,000 people from 120 countries.
Since the audience is more targeted for this one, I don’t necessarily expect the same reaction to 279 Days. But I do want it to go out in the world and help people. If you have a blog that attracts an audience of other bloggers, entrepreneurs, or artists of any kind, I’d greatly appreciate a link and a review of the report after you’ve read it.
Oh, and I don’t expect my word to be the last on this subject. I have some strong opinions in the report, and I’m sharing my case study so that others can use what they like and improve what they can be better. You’re welcome (in fact, encouraged) to share your own perspective as well.
Next, if you’re active on a social network and you appreciate what I have to say, I’d appreciate an endorsement to your followers. Twitter is now the fourth-largest source of traffic to the site, and every day people join my “6 Ways” newsletter from Facebook even though I don’t even have a Facebook account. The fun thing about social networking is that YOU have more influence among your friends and followers than any so-called expert does.
(This is also why the barriers to entry in new media careers are lower than ever before… but I’m getting ahead of myself. More about that on Wednesday.)
And of course, if you don’t fit into those categories or if the report isn’t for you, no problem. I’ll continue writing my regular articles, and I’m headed out on another big trip next week where I’ll be posting more international travel essays. But for now, this is my project of the quarter… and I’m really glad it’s nearly done.
Thanks, guys. Sorry this one took so long, but I think you’ll like it. See you Wednesday!
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Overnight Success Image by KevinThoule
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