This week: Chapel Hill, Atlanta, Miami, Houston, and Denver.

Tour dates and cities here.

And have I mentioned… THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT! I’m extremely grateful.

***

Continuing the theme of lessons learned, today let’s talk about skills.

In short, no matter what you think, you have them. Not only do you have general skills, you have skills that are marketable. You are good at something that can be parlayed into a business model.

The thing is, these skills may be different than you first realize. They may need to be reworked or repositioned somehow. But the central premise is:

If you’re good at one thing, you’re good at something else. Often the “something else” is where you’ll find the business model.

For example…

In London, Kat Alder was a waitress with good communication skills—her customers were always complimenting her and giving her good tips. She was good at providing recommendations and gently upselling them in a way they were happy about. Then someone said, “You know, you’d be really good at P.R.”

Kat was originally from Germany and wasn’t even sure that P.R. stood for Public Relations. After she was let go from another temporary job at the BBC, she thought back on the conversation. She still didn’t know much about the P.R. industry, but she landed her first client within a month and figured it out. Four years later, her firm employs five people and operates in London, Berlin, New York, and China.

If you’re a teacher, you’re also good at crowd control and discipline. You’re good at lesson planning (teachers don’t have much time to prepare) and you’re good at staying on track. You’re probably also good at seeing the long-term, since the best teachers incorporate an arc in their teaching; what you learn now is related to broader principles that you learn over time.

Similarly, if you’re an engineer, you’re a good problem solver. You’re good at analytical thinking and creating solutions. Brandon Pearce built a multiple six-figure business providing a solution to music teachers who were busy teaching and not as good at running their business.

The point is that sometimes you have to look beyond the obvious—but you already have the skills.

I also wrote about this last month in a post that wasn’t sent by email. Here’s how Scott Adams, creator of the Dilbert comic strip, puts it:

I succeeded as a cartoonist with negligible art talent, some basic writing skills, an ordinary sense of humor and a bit of experience in the business world. The “Dilbert” comic is a combination of all four skills. The world has plenty of better artists, smarter writers, funnier humorists and more experienced business people. The rare part is that each of those modest skills is collected in one person. That’s how value is created.

***

One more thing: if you aren’t sure what skills you have that could be marketable, focus on the questions people ask you. Everyone’s an expert at something, and you may discover your specific skills by understanding what other people already see in you.

That’s it for today… I’m now back on the road to Chapel Hill and beyond.

Wherever you are, have a great week!

###

The $100 Startup is just $14 at Amazon.com. You can also pick up or request the book at your favorite local bookstore.

Lots of people are asking about the Kindle version. It’s been experiencing a glitch that causes it to disappear from the listing, but should be back soon.

Image: James

The book is out, and I’m on the road!

The launch party in New York was extremely fun. Last night I was in Boston at the Harvard Coop, and tonight I’m heading down to Washington, DC.

We’re hitting a new city almost every day for the next four weeks. Tour dates here.

And by the way… THANKS FOR YOUR HELP! It’s going very well so far, and we hope to keep it going for a long time.

Order Here on Amazon
Order Here on BN.com
Order from Your Local Bookstore

***

Over the next month, I’ll be sharing some of the lessons I learned in spending time with all the “unexpected entrepreneurs” profiled in the book. These won’t be promotional posts; I’ll be sharing real lessons and helpful information you can use in your own pursuit of freedom.

One of the first things I looked at was the question of the follow-your-passion model.

Many people talked about building a business based on a hobby or passion. However, others cautioned that “follow your passion” is more complicated than it first appears.

The key is that you can’t be passionate about just anything; instead you need to be passionate about something that other people are willing to spend money on. Here’s how I described it in the book:

As we’ll examine it, convergence represents the intersection between something you especially like to do or are good at doing (preferably both), and what other people are also interested in. The easiest way to understand convergence is: the overlapping space between what you care about and what other people are willing to spend money on.

Not everything that you are passionate about or skilled in is interesting to the rest of the world—and not everything is marketable. I can be very passionate about eating pizza, but no one is going to pay me to do it. Likewise, any particular person won’t be able to provide a solution to every problem or be interesting to everyone. But in the overlap between the two circles, where passion or skill meets usefulness, a microbusiness built on freedom and value can thrive.

***

The lesson of convergence can be seen in almost every case study in the book, and indeed, in almost every successful business. In Reno, Nevada, Mignon Fogarty created the QD Network, best known for her signature show Grammar Girl. The show was a huge hit almost from the beginning, spawning a line of books, related programs, and non-stop media attention.

But before she was Grammar Girl, Mignon pursued a similar idea in an unsuccessful attempt to build popularity through podcasting. Here’s how she tells the story:

“Before I launched the successful Grammar Girl podcast, I was the host of a science podcast called Absolute Science. I loved doing that show and I was passionate about it. I actually put more effort into promoting that show than I did for the Grammar Girl podcast, and although Absolute Science was well-received, after doing it for nearly a year it was clear that the show was never going to make enough money to make it worth the time required to produce it.”

Mignon changed course, trading science for grammar. The answer wasn’t to abandon her passion altogether, but rather to make sure she connected the right passion with the right audience.

“Absolute Science”: Passion… but not enough audience

“Grammar Girl”: Passion… and a substantial audience

In India, Purna Duggirala found a way to create spreadsheet tools (It’s now a six-figure business).

In Kansas City, Marianne Cascone co-founded Bon Bon Cupcakes, a children’s clothing firm.

In the U.K., Jonathan Pincas founded the Tapas Lunch Company, based on importing food from his partner’s native Spain. They later relocated to Spain and run the business back and forth between the two countries. A love for Spanish food and culture combined with a desire from the marketplace in Britain to get more authentic goods.

The examples go on and on, and the key point is: find convergence! This is the first and most important predictor of success in any business or freedom plan.

The link between passion and value is how you’ll change the world.

Question: Have you found convergence? How are you looking for it?

Tell us here.

###

Image: Tera!

Greetings from midtown Manhattan, where a large amount of coffee is about to be consumed in a corner room at the Doubletree hotel.

Today is the day.

After three years of research and writing, it’s finally here.

The $100 Startup is going out to the world!

Hundreds of people from all over the world have helped in the making of this book. It’s their story of freedom and your blueprint for change.

The central message of the book is:

If you want to create more freedom and security for yourself through a “very small” business, the skills and the money you have are all you need. Don’t wait!

You can pick up the book from any major bookseller:

• Amazon
• B&N
• Chapters/Indigo
• 800-CEO-Read
• Books-a-Million
• Your Local Bookstore

We had a couple of pre-order promotions already, so for now I’ll just mention one thing. Publishing is a strange industry with a lot of quirks. One of these quirks is that the success of your book depends a great deal on what happens during the first two weeks.

If you’d like to help—and if you’re interested in the book—now is the time. I do most of my work for free and don’t accept donations or sponsorship on AONC. I’d like this book to do well, so for once I’ll say: if you’ve been waiting to pick it up, now is the best time.

If you have a blog or website (of any kind), I’d be extremely grateful for your links and reviews as you read the book over the next month. I owe you cupcakes and gratitude.

The Tour Begins Tonight!

The world’s first 7-continent book tour begins tonight with the official launch here in NYC. We’ll be at Housing Works (130 Crosby Street) at 7pm. Everyone is welcome. AONC events are not “readings” and I usually talk for 20 minutes or less. The rest of the time is Q&A and informal hanging out with fun people.

Sign up for an upcoming location over here. (Yes, tickets are FREE!)

Thanks so much for being part of this. The goal for this book is to help thousands of people quit their jobs and find freedom by making something valuable that improves the state of the world.

As I said yesterday, whatever success we’ve had thus far comes from the support of you, the readers. The same is true of this book, and I hope it makes a strong connection with your own journey.

Onwards and upwards!

P.S. No comments today, but you can head back to yesterday’s post if you’d like to chime in.

###

Greetings from East 42nd Street in New York City.

I’m here to begin a new journey as The $100 Startup goes out to the world tomorrow. Here are a few notes on the early beginnings.

***

It all started back in 2009. I had established the blog and began a new way of life: writing for a living. Or mostly, writing because it was what I wanted to do more than anything else.

I was traveling a lot, working my way through the middle part of going everywhere. I wrote posts and created products, adapting as I went along.

Not everything I wrote was amazing; not everything I published was a mega-hit. I made some mistakes.

But I kept learning, asking questions, trying different things.

A couple of things helped, and the best thing was that I met people. Introvert that I am, I learned to host meetups and connect with readers as I went on the road. This made a huge difference. I suddenly realized that it wasn’t just faceless people out there on the other side of the screen—they were real people with fascinating lives.

It was no longer just about my own little blog or quest to see the world; in many cases these people had their own quests and big projects. They were doing exciting things of their own.

I went back and regrouped, determined to learn more about them.

Among others, many of these people were what I called unexpected or accidental entrepreneurs—those who had created freedom for themselves by following their passion and creating something valuable. Most of them didn’t have MBAs or any real business training; they just did found a way to craft a business model around something they loved.

Since I had always worked for myself, I was intrigued with their stories. I collected a couple dozen of them of them and created a product called the Empire Building Kit.

J.D. Roth and I launched EBK on board the Amtrak Empire Builder train, selling $100,000 in copies on day one as we rolled along through North Dakota. Then we closed it for a month and did another $100,000 the next day it was open. It was clear we had a hit, but more important, it was clear that people were eager to learn about a specific way to create their own escape plan.

***

My first book, The Art of Non-Conformity, came out that September. I went on the road to all fifty states and all ten provinces in Canada, meeting more readers and hearing more stories at every stop.

There was James in South Carolina, who had packed up from Seattle and drove a Mustang “down south” to open an authentic coffee bar in the land of iced tea and biscuits.

There was Bernard from Croatia, who answered my survey questions from a beach in Thailand while working for clients in the U.S.

In California, Brett Kelly told me about making $120,000 from an ebook. The money was great, of course, but what it represented was even better: It allowed his wife Joana to quit her second job. Brett now works at home and the ebook continues to sell by the bucketload, at least $300/day in largely passive income.

Most of these people had started on their own, without a lot of money, but in a few cases, they needed money and found a creative way to get it. Emma in Hong Kong couldn’t get a bank loan for a business, so she asked for a car loan instead. She used the money to start the business and repaid it early. (There never was a car.)

Shannon Oakey told me about going to her community bank to ask for a loan. She had all her finances in order and had supported the bank for many years, but they still turned her down. Shannon decided to do it herself through a Kickstarter campaign. She got more money than she needed and mailed a printout of the result, with a lollipop wrapped up inside, to the loan officer who turned her down.

The stories went on and on, and I began paying closer attention, asking for details and filing away various notes. Then I realized the obvious: this needs to be a book.

***

While I was in the middle of the first book tour, I drove from North Dakota to South Dakota. We were in the final negotiations for what would become The $100 Startup, and I had to make a choice between competing offers. I talked to my great literary agent on the phone, made a decision, and that was it—the deal was done.

I pulled over in Brookings, South Dakota and made a stop at the “Choco Latte” coffee shop. I ordered an Americano (“no choco, please”) and felt a rush of relief as I settled down to relax for the first time in a while.

This feels great, I remember thinking. Now I just need to write the book.

Fast forward to last year. I rearranged my travel schedule to be home for three whole months, a world record. We began a comprehensive research study, looking for people who would fit our model of “unexpected entrepreneurs.”

The respondents had to be able to talk about money in specific terms. How much did they make? How did expenses compare to income? What was the initial startup investment? What went right—and wrong—along the way?

Most important, what could the rest of us learn from these people? What were their secrets?

From a pool of more than 1,500 respondents, I chose the top 100 for further interviews. I made phone calls to Thailand, Dublin, London, and elsewhere. I wrote and received email after email. After a month, we had thousands of pages of data in Google Docs, Evernote, and scattered around various hard drives.

And then I wrote. 1,000 words a day for 90 days—not all consecutive, but almost every day. (This is how you write a book. The basic process is pretty simple.)

And then we edited. Wow. Talk about process. The whole manuscript was rewritten three times. Entire chapters were discarded. It was painful but worth it, all in pursuit of something that would be both inspiring AND useful to those who wanted to create their own independence and freedom.

Fast forward another six months. After returning from the Sudan, I spent the entire month of April at home in Portland. I got up at 6am and went to Crossfit with J.D. He drove while I made various notes about the launch plan, MacBook sitting on my knees. Back at home, I made breakfast and answered more emails.

Then I settled into a daily 5-hour routine. Every day, I did back-to-back media interviews of various kinds and wrote all sorts of guest posts, Q&A features, and op-eds, all set to go out over the next two weeks.

I did this every day, six days a week. On Sundays I went for a long run and to brunch with Jolie, but then I got back into the written interviews in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, Wes Wages was traveling the country, visiting New York, South Carolina, Oregon, and California to document some of the people in the book. The initial results were compiled into a great book trailer (240,000 views so far!) that featured several of the inspiring stories from the book.

Finally, the day came—yesterday. I got on a plane and flew to New York, capital of planet earth and a place I love dearly. I’ve been going on walks, seeing friends, going out to dinner, and getting ready.

Tomorrow morning I’ll go for a run in Central Park, and tomorrow night we’ll begin the tour.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow

I thought I’d share the backstory behind this project for those who were curious, but make no mistake—the book isn’t about me at all.

This is truly a revolution, friends. The best is yet to come, and The $100 Startup is just one part of the story. The rest of the story is up to you.

The goal of the book is to share these case studies and teach readers to do this too. One of the best things I hear is when someone quits their job to go it alone. I’d like to hear it a lot more often, and I think this book will help.

It’s not a self-help guide, it’s a blueprint for change and action. It’s a mission to connect the twin concepts of freedom and value. You create value by helping people, and you can earn a good living for yourself.

I’ve done everything I can to make the book a success, but now it’s up to the rest of the world.

See you tomorrow?

###

*The $100 Startup debuts tomorrow—look for it online or ask for it at our favorite bookstore. Tour dates and cities are here—all tickets are free. There may also be cupcakes!

Image: See-ming Lee

If you’re trying to figure out what you’re good at, or trying to start a business for the first time, there’s a simple strategy that will help.

Start by listening.

Pay attention to what people ask you about. Chances are, there’s something you’re good at that other people want to learn.

Gary Leff, profiled in my upcoming book, never knew that people would pay money for him to manage their Frequent Flyer accounts… but at least once a day, he books an award for someone and earns a $250 fee.

Brett Kelly, also in the book, wasn’t sure that people would pay to learn how to use a software program that was free… but as he listened, he kept hearing the same questions over and over. He put together a comprehensive solution that contained all the answers, and now earns more than $150,000 a year from this “side project.”

There are business models and opportunities all around you.

Pay attention!

###

*Don’t be a stranger: Join the AONC community of 30,000 fans on Facebook, or circle me up on Google+.

*Next week we’ll launch The $100 Startup and I’ll be on the road to 20+ cities. I hope to see you somewhere! Until then, check out the official video trailer.

Image: Highersights

It took a ton of work, but we have now pared down a few highlights from the interview into a two-minute trailer that you can see below or directly on YouTube.

In this video…

Emily Cavalier left a six-figure job in New York to run Mouth of the Border and Midnight Brunch.

Michael Hanna was unemployed and started an unconventional mattress store that offers delivery by bicycle.

Sarah Young founded a yarn shop at the height of the recession. She now employs seven people. In the video she talks about calling her dad after having her first $1,000 day. Last month, she had her first $10,000 day.

James Kirk packed up everything he owned and drove from Seattle to South Carolina to start a coffee bar in the land of biscuits and sweet tea.

Note: the book is fully international, with case studies from all over the world—but despite repeated requests from Wes, I did not fly him to the beaches of Croatia and Tahiti to film people there. You’ll have to get the book to read those stories.

My favorite part of the whole project, from writing the book to reviewing this footage, was hearing the stories of people who have created freedom for themselves by making something valuable for the world. Most of them aren’t professional bloggers. None of them went to business school. They are ordinary people from all walks of life who now work full-time doing something they enjoy.

A Note on Killing the Dream

I’ve been reading a lot of blog posts lately that serve as reality checks on the concept of “quit your job and do what you love.” I always have mixed feelings about these things. Yes, it’s true that self-employment requires a lot of work and isn’t always what employed people perceive it to be.

In fact, in the book itself I tried to be fairly specific about the “follow-your-passion to the bank” thing. (More on this later. The short version is: sometimes you can do that and other times you can’t.)

But I also think it’s pretty important to be clear that working for yourself is awesome. In researching and writing The $100 Startup, I heard from hundreds of people who are all living the dream. Therefore, my message is “Don’t kill the dream! Don’t reality-check your life.”

As I said about failure recently, who says you’re going to fail? Success is better, and there’s no reason you won’t succeed.

Thanks again to Wes for his great work! We’ll be sharing more of these stories over the next few months.

###

*Our friends at Only72.com are kicking off another epic sale today… and this one benefits the book! Check it out starting at 12pm EST today and lasting until… 72 hours later.

One week from tomorrow, it all begins! I’ll be visiting 22 cities to meet readers on The $100 Startup tour! Everything is frantic over here, but I’m also super excited about kicking things off.

We all know there is a problem in focusing entirely on the end result.

When you reach the end, what comes next? What if the end wasn’t what you really wanted?

That’s why you have to love the milestones along the way, reminders that you appreciate what you’re doing and that it’s all for a good cause.

But there’s also a problem in focusing entirely on process. Working strictly on process takes you away from the big picture can lead you astray. Besides, it’s OK to have goals, right?

The third way is to love the act of creation itself.

When you love the act of making things, of bringing something to life, you’ll find that it loves you back.

No matter what, you’ll encounter setbacks and experience disappointments. But when you encounter them, your response is to keep creating. Use the setbacks for greater good.

Write your 1,000 words, paint your painting, build your business, lead your team—whatever you do. Focus on the act of making things.

The act of creation is where joy and effort intersect.

See you all next week for the debut of The $100 Startup book trailer, the road to NYC, and more.

###

Image: Amie

“I haven’t been everywhere yet, but it’s on my list.” -Susan Sontag

Over the past seven years, I’ve been traveling to everywhere: all 193 countries, and plenty of other places along the way.

The journey has been even more amazing than I expected. Over the next couple of months I’ll be on book tour in the U.S. and Canada, and I’m actually glad to be taking a break from seeing the world… because I’m not ready for it to end.

After trips earlier this year to Sudan, Turkmenistan, and the South Pacific, there are now only 8 countries left! Here’s the list:

Guinea Bissau
Sao Tome
Republic of Congo (Brazzaville)
Seychelles
Yemen
Tuvalu
Kiribati
Norway

The book tour will keep me on familiar ground for a while, but at the end of July I’ll be heading back out to visit these final countries. Next April we’ll be in Norway for the big finale—if you’d like to come along, put your name on this list. (Note: at this point we have no idea what’s happening or how we’ll manage it, but there WILL be a big party.)

***

I was going to write a long post explaining how to visit anywhere in the world. For example, here’s how you fly to such-and-such a place. Here’s how you get a visa. Don’t get the visa? Whatever. The worst thing that can happen is you get thrown in jail and never get out. (But this is unlikely.)

Maybe I’ll still do that, but for now, I think a few things are more important. At the top of the list is mentality, and the simple decision to take action. Here’s a common theme from would-be travelers that regularly arrives in my Inbox with many variations:

“Where should I start?”

And here’s a good answer for almost all the variations:

“Does it matter?”

You can continue this theme for related questions.

“What should I pack?”

Well, there are plenty of lists out there, but you could also say:

“Who cares? The less, the better.”

It even works well for troubleshooting:

“What if something goes wrong?”

It will probably be fine, but even if it isn’t:

“You’ll figure it out.”

***

We often feel paralyzed by choice and make no choice. But the thing is, no choice is a choice. If you’re not doing something about it, you’re doing something about it.

So if you too want to travel and you’re trying to make a choice, just choose. If you want to go somewhere, what’s stopping you? That’s right, nothing.

Everywhere you look, people are breaking down barriers. Married couples, people from different ethnic backgrounds, solo female travelers, seniors, and anyone you can think of—even people like you.

Stephanie Dodaro is walking 800 miles through California right now. The Vogel family cycled from Alaska to Argentina.

Steve Kamb recently exercised all over the world, using Frequent Flyer miles to travel for almost free. Stephanie Zito has been to more than 100 countries, many of them on her own.

So it seems it is possible, at least for most of us who are able to read this. Here are a few options.

Want to Serve?

Great. Start by reading up on ReliefWeb. Consider a trip with Habitat or a similar organization.

For a more in-depth commitment, apply to teach English for a year (host organizations will often cover your costs and pay a small stipend). Apply for the Peace Corps or similar opportunity in your own country.

Want to Learn?

Join the Semester at Sea. Study abroad. Apply for a Fulbright (U.S. citizens use them to study abroad, non-U.S. citizens use them to study or teach in the U.S.).

Of course, you can also learn on your own. Take a pilgrimage, a sabbatical, an escape-my-life, whatever you need to do.

Just Want to Travel?

That’s fine too. So hit the road! It’s not that complicated. Throw a dart at the map if you must.

You really can go everywhere—or at least, you can go anywhere.

How about you—where are you going next? Feel free to tell us here.

###

Today is the final day of The $100 Startup mega-sale. Pre-order 3 or more books and receive… everything. Next week, our friends at Only72.com will be having a different sale that also benefits the upcoming book launch.

Image: Joe

Home for a month before setting out on a new adventure, I resolve to make some changes in my life.

It starts with exercise. I’m a committed runner, a casual yogi, a beginning swimmer, and every week or so I head to the gym for an unfocused session of strength training.

In other words, it’s too random—so I resolve to change it up.

I now wake up at 5am, usually without an alarm. Am I that well-rested? Not at all… I’m just paranoid of being late for an appointment, worried I’ll sleep clear through to 8am if I don’t constantly wake up throughout the night to check the time.

I answer a few early emails, say hi to everyone on Twitter, and then fly out the door on my bike in the pre-dawn streets.

My appointment is 6:10am, outside an apartment building next to a storage lot and Portland’s own Voodoo Donut. From there I’ll meet my friend J.D. Roth, and we’ll hop in his car for a 20-minute drive outside the city to a small gym in the interior of a parking garage.

The first day I made the appointment, I also made a big mistake—no jacket. Yikes! Icicles formed on my legs and two of my fingers become frostbitten on the short ride to J.D.’s place, or so it seemed. The next day I put on the jacket and switched my running shorts for tights. Much better.

J.D. and I go to the gym to do Crossfit. The interesting thing about Crossfit is that it will kick your ass… and you’ll go back again the next day. You’ll spend 50 minutes warming up and learning various exercises, and then 10 minutes getting hit by a truck.

You will gladly pay $200 a month for this ass-kicking. You will hobble out the door feeling vaguely nauseous, and you’ll say, “That was great!”

On the second day I went and didn’t feel it was that difficult. No truck! Yeah, I’m tough… it was just that first day that killed me; I must have still been a little jet-lagged from the last trip. But then I returned on the third day, and the truck was right there waiting for me. Bam!

Set one of the routine was tough. If it was my own self-directed workout, I would have been done after set one was over. I would have congratulated myself for pushing it and had an extra slice of pizza that night. Yeah, I’m hardcore! But no—I still had two more sets.

By the end of set three, I was the last guy in the gym to finish the workout. Everyone else was cooling down and cheering me on, which I hate. It reminds me of running marathons, where complete strangers call out your number on mile 22 and say that you are “looking good” when obviously you aren’t.

“Excuse me, do I know you? Why are you cheering for me?” I always want to ask.

Apparently some people feel that this kind of support is helpful, so to be polite you are supposed to smile and wave.

At Crossfit I somehow manage to finish the hardest 10-minute workout in the world (Truck 1, Chris 0), and then I collapse on the ground. I finally stagger out to the car to meet J.D., who doesn’t look tired at all and has been glancing at his watch while I bring myself to a near-death state on a workout he has already mastered.

***

The next day I run to my regular gym and swim laps. Then I do yoga. I’m going all-out, exercising 40 days in a row and choosing active over passive whenever possible.

It’s not so much about getting fit, although that’s certainly a good thing.

It’s also that I am trying to make more conscious choices. Making conscious choices means that I ask myself conscious questions.

Do I really want to eat that cookie? Do I need a second drink? Can I switch the mid-morning coffee to herbal tea?

These choices matter. If I really want the cookie or the extra drink or extra coffee, I’ll have it and won’t feel guilty at all. But if I don’t want it, I won’t do it out of habit.

In just a few weeks, I’ll be back on the road, hitting up almost one city a day. New York, Boston, Washington, Arlington, Chapel Hill, Atlanta, Miami, Houston… and so on.

Until then, every day I come home from exercising and think, what needs to happen today? Which actions will take me closer to achieving my goals?

I have a spreadsheet with 2,800 data points so far—names, addresses, scheduled media, pitches in progress, etc. I do interviews and write posts that will go live next month. It’s fun and intense.

Whether exercising or emailing, I am reminded of Joseph Campbell’s philosophy:

I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances within our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive. That’s what it’s all finally about, and that’s what these clues help us to find within ourselves.

Riding my bike over to J.D.’s at 6am, I feel alive even when I’m freezing. Planning a big project, I feel alive. Hearing from friends and readers around the world, I feel alive.

Back at home, I lie on the carpet of my office for 15-minute cat naps. I get up and complete two more tasks and drink more water. I write the answers to another interview. I keep filling up the spreadsheet with more possibilities and confirmations.

Keep your head in the game, I tell myself. The actions you take now will determine the options available to you in the future. Plan, act. Work smart, but also work hard.

***

One of the questions I am asked in an interview is, “Why has your blog been so successful?”

Fair question, but it’s hard to answer it directly. First of all, there are plenty of blogs that are much more successful. Comparison on any level is poisonous. There will always be someone with more. When you focus strictly on more, you instantly set yourself up for failure.

At the same time, not focusing on more doesn’t mean you abandon the whole concepts of goals and success.

I have very real goals for what I hope to achieve with next month’s launch. The stakes are high. I need to deliver for my publishing partners and for everyone who is pitching in to help.

The real reason this project has been successful, such as it is, is that it took two years to figure out what I wanted to say. Most people give up much earlier; I kept going.

Remember: to have more luck, take more chances. To become wiser, take more risks.

I take more chances by getting up before dawn and riding my bike through the empty Portland streets. I take more risks by challenging myself to go further, in exercise, in career, in relationships, in the quality of what I offer to the world.

Flawed as the finished product may be, I will keep taking chances and risks. Wherever you are, I hope you do the same.

###

Thanks for your support of The $100 Startup mega-sale.

Until next Monday, you can order 3 or more copies of the upcoming book and receive bonuses + our undying love and gratitude. Our goal is 10,000 copies sold before launch, and we’re halfway there!

Image: Jesse

UPDATE: This sale is now over. Thanks for your support and I’ll see you at the launch!

You can still pre-order direct from Amazon or your local bookstore.

*** *** ***

In just a few more weeks, we’ll release The $100 Startup into the world.

It’s a book I’ve been working on for years, and it’s almost ready to go.

Early reviews and industry feedback are extremely favorable. We’ll be debuting a video trailer and hitting the road to everywhere starting on May 8.

But first! A sale!

For this week only, I’m offering a special sale for those who’d like to pre-order extra copies to give to their friends. In exchange for purchase, I’m giving away the store with a big list of bonus items.

–>Head over here for the mega-sale

***

If you’ve ever wanted to pick up something from Unconventional Guides, you can cover the cost with this purchase and get extra copies of the new book for your friends.

How It Works and What You Get

I don’t use discounting as a strategy and usually have only one sale a year. This time, though, I’m going all-out. I want the book to do very well at launch (see below on why it matters) and I’m willing to do anything I can to encourage early pre-orders.

In other words, you can help me by ordering the book now, and you’ll get a number of things I’ve never offered before. The offers are below, and all of them include FREE SHIPPING and a 20% discount from the $23 list price.

Buy 3 books and get a free online class on how to see the world and work from anywhere, featuring completely new info based on The $100 Startup model.

This is what I’ve done for 10+ years, and in the 60-minute online class, you’ll learn the basics of setting up an online business that can be run from home… or the jetway.

You’ll also get a $20 gift certificate toward anything in the Unconventional Guides store (no restrictions, no expiration date).

Order Now | Read More

Buy 10 books and get two free online classes and the original Working for Yourself guide (recently updated with all-new info). You’ll get 120 minutes of instruction and 10,000 words of an immediate action plan. The second class will provide a detailed overview of travel hacking, including seven new ways to earn free plane tickets in 2012.

You’ll also get a $50 gift certificate toward anything in the Unconventional Guides store (no restrictions, no expiration date).

Order Now | Read More

Buy 50 books and get a FREE copy of the Empire Building Kit, $270 in additional products, and everything you need to take over the world.

You’ll also get our unending gratitude, and my cat assistant will come to your house and make pancakes—subject to her cooperation, of course.

Order Now | Read More

There is also an offer to buy 500 or 1,000 books for even more bonuses. I know that most people can’t do that, but for those who are able or interested, we’ll offer two spots to the sold-out World Domination Summit and even come to your city for an additional tour stop if you’d like.

Contact me if you’d like to place an order in that quantity.

Why It Matters

You may wonder why I’m offering such a big sale three weeks before the book is out. In short, it’s because publishing is a strange industry, and what happens now will help the book later.

Pre-orders matter a great deal to The New York Times and other bestseller lists. If we get enough sales in advance, it will help the book continue to do well for weeks and months to come. My goal is to have more than 10,000 copies of the book sold by launch day on May 8.

Also, writing and researching the book was a labor of love for several years, and the book tells the stories of more than 50 other people who found freedom by starting a small business. I want them to be proud of getting their message to as many people as possible.

A Note on Promotion

If you’re just joining us, I don’t promote commercial things very much, and I never ask for your money directly. The AONC blog is free and doesn’t contain advertisements or sponsorship. We do have a store and various products for sale, but I’m proud that more than 90% of the community reads for free. I always say that the best way people can help is to tell other people about it.

For this book, however, I’m very excited and I do hope that you’ll consider picking it up. It’s been in the works for a long time, and my greatest hope is that it will help a lot of people. To do so, we need to debut well in May and show the publishing industry that the book is a serious product that will go far.

That’s all I have to say about the big sale—but do me a favor if you don’t mind. In addition to buying books, would you share the news about the sale? I’d be grateful for any sharing on Twitter, Facebook, and your blog. I won’t make this request again for three more weeks, when the book is actually available.

***

UPDATE: This sale is now over. Thanks for your support and I’ll see you at the launch!

You can still pre-order direct from Amazon or your local bookstore.

Have a great week!

###

Image: Tera Wages