One of the major problems our society has is the inability to take responsibility. I don’t say this as criticism because I’m just as guilty of it as the next person – it’s just a fact. When faced with responsibility, we tend to chicken out and run the other way. We try to take the burden of responsibility and hand it to someone else.

This is the reason most of society believes entrepreneurship is risky compared to working for the man. But here’s the thing: risk is different from responsibility. Is entrepreneurship really more risky, or does it just involve more responsibility? It’s the latter that frightens people, not the former.

We’ve been conditioned our entire lives to follow the same “secure” path: graduate college, find a job with a large company, retire 45 years later. That’s why when we’re faced with entrepreneurs doing their own thing, we freak out and label them as unnecessary risk takers.

“It’s too risky” is the lazy argument to make because it relies on false logic we’ve been forced to believe since we were children – that working for the man is the most secure way to achieve financial solvency.

So let’s debunk the myth that entrepreneurship is risky. What we’re actually afraid of is control and the responsibility that comes with it.

Just think about it: what could possibly be more secure than having full control over your business? “Risk” is something that exists when you don’t have control over a situation (i.e. working for the man). I’m not sure how the argument against entrepreneurship exists when faced with the fact that control and risk are inversely related.

We all want more control of our lives, yet most of us continue to show up for our 9-5 jobs, where control and decision-making are nothing more than facades.

Face it: when working for the man, we have no control over whether or not we receive raises or bonuses or get fired. We like to believe merit is enough to receive that promotion, but as was made evident by the recent economic meltdown, hardworking and deserving individuals lose their jobs everyday.

We sell our souls when we choose to work at a place where we don’t have a say in what happens. Our livelihoods can be destroyed without warning for something as vague as “cost cutting.”

Entrepreneurship solves these problems. Unless you fire yourself, you won’t ever lose your job. Logically, what is more secure than having complete control of your life? If you couldn’t figure it out, the answer sure as hell isn’t working for the man!

Emotional solvency

I’ve only mentioned the “security benefits” of entrepreneurship. I’ve yet to touch on its emotional benefits, which could be a whole article in and of itself. The problem with the outdated “secure” path (college -> job -> retirement) is that it only takes into consideration financial solvency.

Entrepreneurship solves the problem of what I call “emotional solvency,” or being happy and passionate about your work life. We’ve been conditioned to think working for the man in a mundane job is how life is supposed to be lived. Let’s face it: life is short, and as Glen Allsop so eloquently puts it, we all die at some point. Doesn’t it make sense to pursue your passion and live happily rather than force ourselves through another 9-5 day?

Yes, entrepreneurship is difficult and requires a tremendous amount of hard work, yet it’s completely rewarding. The thing is, when you chase your passion, working 12 hour days doesn’t feel like work. And better yet, if you work hard enough, you – and you alone – enjoy the fruits of your success; screw those tiny end-of-the-year bonuses!

So if you’ve always considered branching out on your own, I say go for it. People who you love and are close to will surely call you crazy and try to prevent you from taking “unnecessary risks,” but as the saying goes: It’s often easier to ask forgiveness than it is to ask permission.

Tyler Regehr is a 22-year-old entrepreneur living right outside Washington, D.C. He writes about alternative strategies for business and life at On Top The Cage and can be found on Twitter at @tytore.

Image credit

Entrepreneurship: Jobs are Riskier than Building an Empire is a post from: Nathan Hangen

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The short version is that I’ve made the decision to say goodbye to the Beyond Blogging Corporation and that from today forward, I’ll no longer be contributing to the Beyond Blogging Project or to future Beyond Blogging Operations.

I’d also like to emphasize the fact that neither Mike nor I hold hostile feelings towards anyone involved, including each other, and mention that this was a mutually amicable decision.

The longer version starts with me saying how difficult it is for me to even be writing this. Beyond Blogging was the start of major change in my life as a digital entrepreneur. The book launch was a big hit, and to be honest, it was a bit of a coming out party for me. Thanks to the support of great people, Mike and I were able to reach a level of success that we didn’t expect.

So in that regard, I owe a lot to Beyond Blogging and what it’s done both for my personal and my business journeys.

On the other hand, as I’ve continued to grow as an entrepreneur, I’ve found my behaviors and beliefs slowly evolving into what they are today, and what they will become tomorrow. Unfortunately, this also moved me on a path further from what Mike and I were doing as a business pair.

As I thought about our friendship, and ultimately, our business partnership, it occurred to me that both Mike and I were both evolving, but differently, and in opposite directions. Where I find fault with blogging, Mike feels comfortable, and where Mike finds fault with art, I find comfort of my own.

It’s because of this that I started to notice that Mike and I, as individuals, were capable, talented, and hard working, but as a pair, were diminishing each other’s skills. Apart, we were mighty, but together, we were much less.

Prior to today, we’d talked about this often, but each time consciously made the decision to keep trying to make it work. But in the end, as I felt the freedom of leaving the Army and starting my full-time entrepreneurial journey, I decided that we had to put ourselves out of misery, so I made the decision to leave.

To those of you that know us and were watching, this probably doesn’t come as a surprise, but to many, I imagine it will be quite a shock. Customers will wonder how this affects them. Others might wonder how it affects the old book and future books.

I’ll start with customers first.

We wouldn’t be in business without customers, and we realize that some might worry that they’ll receive less value, particularly those in the BBP.

However, one of the benefits to the decisions Mike and I have made, this will actually benefit the BBP members, as they’ll receive much more consistent education and won’t be impacted by mixed messaging from the two of us.

Mike and I have decided to trim extraneous pieces of the business that did not have an impact on our bottom line, all in an effort to maintain the value that our BBP members have been receiving. Mike runs a 6-figure travel blog, and his advice is top-notch, so I feel good leaving you in his hands.

As to the old book, we’ll still be selling it together. Nothing will change there.

For the new, you’ll hear something soon from me, but know that it’s still going to be written, and it will kick more ass than the last.

There might be another Beyond Blogging book down the line, if not several, and as a publishing company, Beyond Blogging will remain strong. I’ll be paying close attention to that piece of the business, and will support Mike in any way that I can.

Now, to finish my answer to the title of the post, I’ll say this:

I’ve never made it my intention to make promises I can’t keep, or to start something that I wouldn’t finish, but as you’ll see in future writing, this had to happen so that I could both follow my heart and create value in the process.

I’m in a time of change, and now, I have a chance to see that change through. I want to get back to the core of what I do, which will start with the re-tuning of this blog, an increase in Digital Empire specific product offerings, and to be honest, some time back in the lab, which is where I feel at home.

You’ve already seen a hint of this in recent posts, and you’ll see more in posts to come, as well as an upcoming project that I’m working on with Jordan Cooper, who, as I failed to mention, will continue to be a part of the Beyond Blogging Project.

You know how I feel about blogging, and how I feel about making money online. This decision gives me a chance to perfect my strategy and work on things that are much closer to my heart.

Whether you are a fan of me, Mike, or both of us, I hope you continue to follow where this goes, because we’re just getting started.

Why I Left Beyond Blogging is a post from: Nathan Hangen

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Be Careful what You Wish for…

So, I know Nathan likes to talk a lot about “Empire” building, and use testosterone filled words like “Sword,” “Sacrifice,” and “Redemption”… so I figured it was about time to talk about a little empire building myself…

Girl style.

I thought he needed a bit of a woman’s touch around here, hitched up my socks, and volunteered to do the job.

Luckily Nathan agreed, (cripes, thank Jesus, he’s kinda scary!) so… here I am.

I think the whole concept of building a “digital empire” is a worthy goal.  As an entrepreneur, why would you want to create anything less than an empire that you hold the reins to?

Building the Machine

A virtual “machine” that not only makes you money, but impacts others in a positive way, brings enormous personal satisfaction, and can be molded into something you can pass down to your grandkids if you so choose?

And in the world we live in today, digital is just about the only way a single individual can build something so amazing and far-reaching, that can impact so many people, with nary more than a creative thought, and a few inexpensive tools that are readily available to the motivated.

Stop and think a moment about that.

Literally the minute Nathan hits publish on this post it is shot out into the mysterious cyberspace… available immediately to the eyes of anyone in the world who happens upon it.  And a motivated person can make it happen over and over again with varying degrees of impact.

That’s a lot of potential power one person can wield.

Now it’s the smart one that recognizes that potential power, and sets out to wield it with as much skill and effectiveness as humanly possible, to make the most impact they can.  And there’s never been a better time than now to do it.

More than Creative Thought and Handy Tools

Sure those are essential ingredients to building an empire; you simply can’t do it without them.  But what’s creative thought if no one ever hears about them?  What’s the point of tools and “building” something, if you’re building it for a solo audience of one?

Simply put, what the hell is an empire, without the people who drive it?

You get one guess.

(OK fine, I’ll answer.  I know pop quizzes are so hard.)

The answer is there is no empire without people.  Duh.

Which then begs the question…

How Do You Find (And Keep) the People?

The short answer, all tied up with a bow?

Promote. Network.  Make connections.  Bleck.

I’m not a fan of “short answers”  when there is so much more to be said on the topic so let’s delve into that a little more deeply.

Sure it’s easy to say just go out and promote, network with like-minded people, and the connections will occur.  But I don’t really feel that’s the case.

At least not real connections, with people you actually like and whose conversation you actually enjoy.  Feel me?

To make real connections, you actually have to be real yourself.

I think it’s been the key to my own fairly fast growth in my own business and digital empire and it’s why I have a handful of clients that come back to me again and again…  and I absolutely believe that it can be the key to your success as well.

I’ve made some amazing friends and partners in the online realm, and I don’t think it would have happened if I’d been trying to be something I wasn’t, or focused only on making a wad of cash.

(Although that is of course a big motivation! I LOVE wads of cash…  in fact, you’re welcome to send me some any time!)

Being the Real Y ou

I actually think it happened because I was brave enough to be real with the people I came into contact with.

And yes I know the words authentic and transparent have been bandied about ad nauseam, so I won’t use terms like that.

But I will use terms like be friendly, be engaging, be honest and down to earth.  Be someone people can reach out to if they feel so inclined… someone that people feel they can trust implicitly to steer them in the right direction.

Hell I’ll even use old school words like be ethical and exercise freakin’ morals.  (Trust me that can be a real rarity in the world at large, let alone online!)

The bottom line is that if you’re in it to win it, it doesn’t matter much what you build or how much effort you put into making it pretty or functional or whatever adjective suits your fancy…

There is no empire without people.

And there are no people if you don’t know how to be real enough to truly connect with them.

Ways to Engage, Connect, and Keep It Real

Everyone in this world is unique.  So what comes naturally to one person may not feel so natural to another…  and forcing yourself to do something that doesn’t “fit”  will not help you relate to people or engage and inspire them to think or do something differently.  So above all, be yourself in everything you do.  Just fight to be your best self and you’ll do great.

With that said, here are a few of the ways I personally engage and connect with others, that work for me.  You’re welcome to try them on for size and see how they work for you as well.

1. I practice a new religion called TMI (too much info) by some folks.

I share things about myself, my life, and my personality with my readers and followers.  While some might say this is dangerous… I say life is dangerous.  And a little danger is good for the soul.

I feel that if I’ve changed my life for the better and if sharing bits of myself and my story could help someone else change their life for the better as well… how can I do anything less?

Not to get all biblical, but a certain timeless old book says we should all be the salt and light of the earth.  (Or something to that effect!) So that’s me being as salty and earthy and as full of light as I can!

2. I’m honest and upfront about the things I do and say.

I don’t try to spin a lot of bull shit and I don’t feel the need to become “besties” with every person I meet that says something nice to me.  However I do have manners and politeness is part of my “Dirty South” charm… so I make it a point to thank people when I feel they deserve thanks and try to always respond to people when I feel a response is warranted.

3. I’m a terrible networker in the real world.

I’m so shy with new people it’s almost laughable, as you’d definitely never expect me to be that way based on how I write.  Luckily (or maybe not depending on who you ask!) I become much less shy as I get to know you better.  Turns out there are a lot of folks who can relate to this, and apparently that makes me likable!

4. I have a sense of humor.

And I’m not afraid to share it.  (Neener, neener!) Do a search of the hashtag #DorkBrigade on Twitter sometime and you’ll see for yourself.  And really, you’d be surprised at how many people there are who areafraid to share it!  They feel it makes them look silly or stupid or “unprofessional” to be a little goofy.  If being professional means being boring with a stick up my butt… thanks but no thanks.  How about you?

5. I have flaws and I’m not afraid to share those either.

I’m not perfect.  My business isn’t perfect.  My life isn’t perfect.  I’m pretty sure even this blog post isn’t perfect, but I don’t give a damn about perfection.

What I do give a damn about is succeeding despite my flaws and imperfections.  I also give a damn about growing as a person and as a business.  Giving my own personal best every chance I get.  Not to mention living life on my own terms, whether those terms happen to gel with yours or not.

6. And finally, I’m thankful.

I’m a firm believer that actively practicing the art of gratitude, striving to be a giver rather than a taker, and putting a positive spin on things even when they feel pretty bleak can wreak an amazing and exhilarating bit of havoc in your life.  Try it sometime… you might be pleasantly surprised.

And when you begin giving more than taking, and expressing your gratitude for the life you’ve got and spreading a little positive cheer… you’ll find that more wonderful connections begin to surface than you ever thought possible.  You’ll attract amazing people like a magnet and before you know it…  your empire will be overflowing with awesomeness.  (Alright, so it begins more as a trickle, but hey… gotta start somewhere!)

In a Nutshell

Testosterone and muscle isn’t the only way to go about building something amazing.  Ever watch the movie 300? (Yes I know it’s a friggin’ movie, but every movie has a kernel of truth people, stay with me here.) Sparta was backed by some pretty strong and amazing women.   Women who weren’t afraid to show a little vulnerability and who were just as willing to fight for their lives and their empire as their men were.

Girl style if you will.

So operate your business and grow your empire from a place of integrity… throw a little salt and light around… be willing to laugh a little and give perfection the middle finger… and keep on keepin’ it real… and you’ll find that your people begin to appear and multiply naturally, before you even realize it’s happening.  And that’s how you begin to grow your own digital empire that has actual staying power… and how you begin to build a life you can be proud of.

So how about you?  Are you honest with your people?  Do you share pieces of yourself with your readers?  Or are you too scared to show people who you really are?  Drop your thoughts in the comments below, I’d love to hear them.

Cori is a wildly hire-able freelance ‘ghost’ as well as the creative brains and dubious brawn behind her blog Big Girl Branding. If you’d like to harness her creative brains and dubious brawn and put it to work for you, just stalk her on Twitter and ask her. I’m “almost” sure she doesn’t bite. Well… like 95% sure.

Image Credit

The Secret Sauce to Building an Empire – Girl Style is a post from: Nathan Hangen

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Editor’s note: Who doesn’t love talking about ninja and businesses…I mean really…it’s a match made in heaven, especially considering the fact that I just watched the movie “Ninja Assassin,” which was one of the loveliest bloodfests I’ve ever witnessed. So, without further adieu, I present this kick-ass guest post from Jonny Gibaud.

Why Are The Ninja Successful?

This is the basic questions asked of all ninja, save for the “How the hell did he do that?” one that often precedes it. Let’s take a look at some of the traits of the successful ninja and see if we can’t relate it to successful business.

Here are six killer disciplines of the Ninja and how they can be applied to business.

1. They Keep Things Simple

One can’t really get much simpler than the trusty Ninja blade, fairly simple concept – stick the pointy end into the other guy. Same goes for the throwing stars, bladey swipey things, choppy things, stabby things, and dicing things. Nothing complicated, just simple death served up effectively under the cover of darkness.

How many people try to complicate their business unnecessarily? The Ninja don’t, they do things simply and effectively. We should do the same in our business. It is proven again and again that the simplest business plans and models are almost always the most effective.

If you can’t sum up what your business does and how it serves your customers in under 3 sentences then you are too complicated. You won’t see a ninja using an M16 for technology’s sake. They go with the proven winner, the trusty katana.

2. They Are Incredibly Dedicated

No-one is more dedicated to the task at hand than the Ninja. 15 to 20 years of solid training, usually from a very young age and under less than agreeable conditions makes the man, so to speak. An unsuccessful ninja is a dead ninja, which means they have a very compelling reason to do their job well.

Though a failed business is unlikely to result in death, I am still alive and kicking after all, we would do well to note that we must be equally dedicated to our businesses if we want them to be a success.

It is a cut throat world out there and we need to be dedicated to the task at hand.

3. They Are Highly Schooled In The Arts Of The Ninja

Don’t ever try to best a ninja at the regional Assassin Pub Quiz as they will own you, literally.

The Ninja knows everything there is to know about being a Ninja. Granted, it is unlikely that they would have a working knowledge of Shakespeare or keep up to date with the local magazine gossip, but this is ok because a Ninja’s main focus is kicking ass, so who gives a damn about trivia?

How many of us who own businesses or are thinking or setting one up are thoroughly schooled in the art of running a business? I know for one that I am not…not enough for my tastes.

How many of us are dedicated to learning everything there is to know about running a successful business and what it takes to build and keep it successful? I for one, could do more.

So what’s the solution? Approach your business in the same manner a Ninja approaches his art…with tenacity, discipline, and a desire to be the best.

4. They Operate In A Niche Market

It goes without saying that there is a very small, but hungry, market for dark green clothed jumping men that go around in the dark and stab people. I suppose you could call this a niche market, because for most armies, employing a horde of Ninja for a full scale frontal attack on a tank regiment is probably not an effective battle strategy.

But…that doesn’t mean there isn’t a need. The Ninja are successful because they dominate their market. They own it. They don’t try to operate outside of where their strengths lie.

In business it is the companies who focused on becoming the best at what they do within their niche market that are usually successful. Those that try to do everything can rarely compete at everything and are soon out maneuvered.

Your business, or the business you are thinking about setting up, should fully exploit the your strengths in a way that also fills the needs of that market – that is the way you must complete in the fast paced world of today.

5. They Look The Part

When was the last time you saw a Ninja doing business in business casual or a football jersey? It would be hard to take a cold blooded and highly trained killer seriously if he was wearing a kilt, even if said killer happens to think he looks particularly good in it…right?

The same goes for business. You cannot expect to be taken seriously unless you and your business look the part. One of the most common mistakes in networking functions is that young business owners come dressed down while everyone else is smart or in a suit. No matter how good the business, their brand takes a hit when they don’t look the part.

The same can be said of how your business operates. Using gMail email accounts or having your signature as the Founder and CEO, screams small company and you won’t be taken seriously.

Even if you are small you have to look the part and act professionally. Just as you would never see a ninja in a kilt, so too must we ever see a small business acting like a small business.

6. Quitting Is Not An Option

The Ninja would rather die instead of quit and although this is generally not an option in the real world it is worth taking to heart. If you want to be successful in business, or anything in life, it will take dedication. Not everything will run smoothly all the time.

In fact, most of the time it will not run smoothly at all and could go very wrong, very quickly.

This is where your metal gets tested. To be successful in business, you will have to have failed many times. In fact, you’ll probably lose a few businesses along the way. It is part of the game and should be expected. This is no reason to quit on your dreams just because you have minor setback from time to time.

Build Your Empire With The Mindset Of The Ninja

Jonny writes for love of Helping People, Inspiring People and Katie Holmes. He honed his unique writing style through his refusal to read for fear the words would attack him and borrowed his life philosophies from the local stray terrier but plans to give aspects of them back. Download his free book “How Teux Keep Small Puppies Alive”.

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The 6 Disciplines of an Empire building Ninja is a post from: Nathan Hangen

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This is a guest post by Jason Fonceca.

Let’s get right to it. Chances are you’re interested in these things: Blogging, Niche-Marketing, Passive Income, Traffic, Comments, Tweets, Content, Success.

Awesome, but are you wasting your time? Like really, really, wasting it?

Thinking Like a King Brings Success

We’re going to address this, but first some background…

Chances are you’re not only open, but eager for knowledge, instruction, and guidance on actions you can take to do more in the above areas.

That’s the key though – chances are you’re focused on action. We have a world running around like chickens with their heads cut-off, constantly, mindlessly, seeking more actions to take.

And this is great in a way, because without action, nothing gets done. This is a simple, straight-forward, and easy to understand principle. A whole bunch of people sitting in a room meditating, don’t generally do much.

It’s worth noting though, that this intense and almost habitual focus of so many people on action, has consequences. People forget about thought, and they forget that thought and action go hand-in-hand, they are inseparable. Even our reflexes come from sub-conscious thoughts, which are thoughts that were once conscious in humanity, and have been programmed into our subconscious through evolution and repetition and necessity. There’s one more thing people these days tend to forget, and that is that thought is more powerful than action.

Thoughts are More Powerful than Action

Thought-management is one of the most powerful things you can do, and thought-management and empire-building go hand-in-hand.

That’s right. Thought is way, way, way more powerful than action. Many bloggers, businesses and experts discuss the power of using your highest leverage resources, or getting the highest leverage you can out of any particular action. This is a fantastic principle, but are you neglecting to leverage your thoughts by replacing intentional thinking with an unconscious habit of chasing after the ‘best action’?

How many thoughts do you have in a day? Is it even possible to count? I’ve heard estimates of 50,000 to 100,000, but it doesn’t really matter — the point is that there are a lot, and there are far more thoughts than actions a person can achieve each day.

It looks like this:

We can clarify the situation further…

(Okay, so I like design )

Despite the above clear views (reminds me of the 80/20 rule applied to thoughts & actions a bit,) everyone’s still so focused on action. You know what I’m talking about… there’s a million how-to’s on the web about “how-to start a blog,” or “how-to travel cheaply,” how-to take THIS action, or how-to take THAT action… They’re all over the place.

Ah, but there’s a good reason for this:

Supply-and-Demand.

Supply-and-demand is the basis of niche-marketing. Supply a “niche-with-a-need” with what they’re demanding (a perceived-solution,) and you’re golden.

But let’s look deeper, what exactly is a niche and what is supply-and-demand?

What Is A Niche?

A niche is a group of people with a common ‘problem’.

A group starts from one person, connecting with another person, and it grows from there. Niche’s start with one person.

When a person begins desiring something passionately, they become a niche of one. This desire is a thought. When they connect with another through community/word-of-mouth of some kind, and the two people share the same desire, they are now a niche of two. Then three, four, and it expands and amplifies, often virally.

So How Does a Niche Demand Supply?

So when a group of people all desire the same thing, it is picked up on by others in society, and those others see it as a niche. They are then inspired and motivated to create a solution to satiate the desire of the niche.

This is a graceful and powerful aspect of our current economy.

Use of this understanding, is how niche-marketers make money, and simultaneously how “the niche’s” improve their quality of life in a sweeping, way.

So a niche has a common desire and demands a solution, and as word spreads, a niche-marketer steps up to supply the demand. Simple eh?

Desire and Niche-Marketing Success

People tend to gloss over a niche-market’s desire and how it came to be. It’s like “Ok, this group has a problem, let’s make money!” — Sometimes it can really help and enlighten to know a bit of background; let’s look at desires a little deeper.

A desire is not really noticeable/apparent to most of society when it is just 1 person, with 1 fleeting thought, it requires more focus/energy.

Let’s look at this through a fictional person named John, who really wants to Tweet like a Rockstar because he feels like he’d be a lot happier in life if he could get some followers.

Let’s say ‘John’ thinks “Oh, I could really use a guide on how to Twitter Like A Rockstar“, that’s great, but society won’t take notice, and it was just a fleeting thought so John likely won’t bring it up in conversation with other human beings, and no one will care to solve this problem (or satiate this desire.)

If John becomes miserable and unsuccessful with twitter, he may think repeatedly “Man I wish I knew twitter, man I wish I knew twitter, man I wish I knew twitter…” over and over, sometimes frustrated, sometimes hopeful. When this happens, his desire is strengthened. He will almost certainly mention his Twitter issues in conversation, actively search it on Google and forums, and send out other subtle signals to society for help. John does these things because of his powerful, incessant, practically habitual thoughts. He may not even realize he is doing these things, but they are real choices, real actions, that have real effects on society.

He now begins to connect with others sharing a similar desire, and a niche starts to form.

As this niche grows, now society takes notice. Now the resources of humanity and humanities main motivator can come into play. Now people realize there is a community of people willing to pay them to solve this Twitter-dilemma, and they realize they can make a living for themselves by helping this niche.

What started as a fleeting thought, became the desire of an entire niche, and hit a tipping point where other members of society were inspired and passionate about solving the problem.

A single thought is the foundation and seed for society’s greatest accomplishments, and combined with our economy, we can see it’s poetic effect.

Okay, still with me? We’ve got the basics:

1. Thoughts are more prevalent than action.
2. Thoughts are higher-leverage than action.
3. Thoughts are the foundation for action, and ultimately inseparable from action.
4. Thoughts are our primary tool for evolution and advancement in ANY area of life.

People, especially in cities, are focused on the rush-rush, fast-paced, GTD-promoted idea of taking action after action for success.

After all we’ve looked at here, it seems at least ‘vaguely productive’ (read: this is a universal principle people, use it!) to give some attention to the foundation for all this action… our thoughts.

They’re the key to true success.

There are millions of successful people in life, and they all execute very different, very creative actions to achieve their success. There’s not a huge amount of similarity in each successful person’s particular chosen actions, save that they all generally leverage well. So that’s it? Successful people leverage well, and that’s why we have millions of successful businesses and celebrities? Trying to compare each of their actions is dizzying.

Tim Ferriss will tell you that you can succeed taking direct action for only 4 hours a week, Nathan implies in his blogging-crisis podcast that success in blogging requires a lot of hard-work to succeed.

Donald Trump has said “Everything in life is luck”, and Richard Wiseman claims to have determined scientifically that anyone can be lucky. Creative types such as visionary artist Alex Grey will tell you to allow inspiration to come and to put little focus on deadlines.

Blogger-God Seth Godin will tell you deadlines are vital – so vital they should be renamed life-lines, and all this is just tip of the iceberg. With all these contrasting actions, it makes it nearly impossible to sort out the ‘correct action(s).’

What we can do though, is examine the foundation of these people’s thoughts, and when we do, we can see that successful people have some very similar thought patterns.

1. Successful people believed they could succeed long before any physical signs of their success actually showed up. That’s right, successful people generally appear delusional for a period of time before the success arrives.
2. Successful people believe they can trust god/life/themselves, and give their all through fear and risk to pursue their passion.
3. Successful people go the extra mile, whether that means saying “no” to that client who is pushing you too far even though you need the money, saying “yes” to that client out of love and care when your mind is screaming that you should take care of some other thing, or even if it’s guest-posting for a blog you feel good about when you have many other irons in the fire (Mad love, Nathan )
4. Successful people accept success of all kinds. They accept the success of people who’ve taken a spiritual path, they accept success of those who may’ve committed crimes to achieve their success, they accept their friends success and their enemies success. They may not encourage the actions involved, but they accept success in all it’s forms, without judgment.
5. Successful people have thoughts and ideas about thriving joyously, whether they can see it or not, they truly believe that they can thrive in life.
6. Successful people realize and acknowledge the value that they provide to the world. They have no problem marketing their message because they see every contact with another human being as them providing value and giving others a gift. Whether its with fans, clients, customers, or whoever they are connecting with, they think about and appreciate the value they offer the world.

There are many other thoughts that successful people think, but this is a great start, and if you haven’t been thinking anything even remotely like this, and you are currently not experiencing the success you know you could be, try them out.

And hey, if you really want to know some actions you can take that will help you manage your thoughts, check out all the free resources at SpiritSentient.com, we love ideas and thought-management, and they’re provided to help you.

It’s high-leverage.

It’s high-value.

It’s high… fun.

Note: Thought-management is a massive topic, and I could talk on the details of it for ages, but hopefully this primer will serve its purpose.

Thank you all for reading, (and thank you Nathan for this opportunity to share with your audience,) you’re all already Kings in my eyes, and this is just a reminder to keep rockin’ – Shape The World.

Jason evolves humanity, he really does. That’s his conscious, intentional vision. When people get stuck talking rules, he speaks love. When people’s habits are panic and fear, he injects spirituality. He provides help through tremendously helpful Free-Resources, and is about to launch a new Digital Affirmations product and a book called Idealution & Thoughtsperity on Thought-Management.

Image Credit

Think Like a King is a post from: Nathan Hangen

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This is a guest post by Nunzio Bruno.

I can honestly say that I am feverishly trying to build a community around my blog. I’m not ashamed to say that I am constantly striving to be bigger and to increase the distance my digital voice carries in the financial blogosphere. I want to spread financial awareness and provide readers with a means to living a healthy financial lifestyle. It’s what I’m passionate about.

I know that I can’t do it alone. I hope that like everyone else that comes across Nathan’s site, you are looking for motivation to keep building your own digital empire. The idea here today is to explore building your empire as building a community. Even at his worst, Julius Caesar was beloved by the lower and middle class communities of the Roman Empire which was, demographically, almost all of it.

In the traditional sense and as a planner, creating a community around a cause isn’t something that is foreign to me. Success of a digital community can be gauged by basically the three standards I would use to help foster a physical community: the strength of your belief system, engagement, and emulating the cultural identity.

Strength of Your Belief System

Whether it’s a blog or an e-storefront, your values should show through with absolute transparency. One of my beliefs is that I will always provide the highest quality of financial and business coaching knowledge.

If your consumers (of product or information) can’t identify with why you are doing what you are doing then why should they spend any time there?

The key is providing a real value. It will be easy to spot those that have no integrity in their belief systems because we do it every day. How many Twitter spammers do you see trying to sell you something? I bet you wouldn’t follow the link of a person or company that you didn’t relate to on some level.

My challenge to you is to revisit your belief system and if you don’t have one, sit down and really think about what you are passionate about and how you are going to handle keeping yourself accountable.

Engagement

So you have your little piece of the interweb. Now how are you going to get people to see what you’ve done with it? When you do, how are you going to get them to stay? If this were an actual neighborhood, what kind of community would it be if no one mowed their lawn or came out to visit? Not really a community at all.

It’s human nature to want to belong to something and to belong. The better you present your community as a place where people can speak out, be heard, and be valued for their ideas, the greater the ownership impact.

At the heart of it, successful engagement can be determined by the depth of the relationships within it. Building a digital community is the fostering of these relationships and the common thread holding everyone together is the wanton desire to share information so that others in the community can learn and grow from it.

Cultural Identity

After you establish a belief system, then hold yourself accountable to it. After your patrons begin to engage, there is one more piece to building your community. That is the development of its cultural identity. This concept is more than just the engagement of your patrons; they are now identifying themselves with your brand.

An example of this would be Apple and its world of all things Mac. People start to identify with what being an Apple user means and the status that goes along with it. It’s a brand that has a very specific way that it does business. Through the development of apps people have a chance to take ownership (outside of consuming) in the brand and create an individual identity from it.

Think of all the forums, blogs, and support websites that exist for Apple; if you are having trouble just throw something Apple related into Google and see what happens. This is what you are aspiring to create when building your empire, or at least this is what I’m shooting for. Having people identify with the culture of your empire transcends place, gender, race, religious beliefs, and sexual orientation. People are coming back for the experience not just to see the next post that you put up or the latest sale items.

Those are the big three in building a community and ultimately an empire. I’m working every day towards creating a culture that people can identify with and be proud of. There’s no cheating your way around building a community, which is why I like to identify with it. What you say, how you act, and what you produce all have an affect on the community you’re building and how responsive the members of it are.

If this inspires one blogger or internet marketer out there to challenge their beliefs system and work harder to carry on with a greater sense of integrity, then this was a mission well done.

Nunzio Bruno is the owner of Financially Digital, a business consulting firm, as well as producing http://www.financiallydigital.com. FinanciallyDigital.com is a resource offering information on relevant financial issues, personal finance, and the latest in tech and social media. The goal is to make people better consumers of goods, services, and information in real life and on the web. Feel free to contact him at nunz.bruno@gmail.com.

Building an Empire is Building a Community is a post from: Nathan Hangen

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Similar to religion, bloggers must not only talk the talk, but they have to practice what they preach…become a “blogger.”

What is a Blogger

A blogger is someone that writes what they think and/or feel. Blogging is a hobby…blogging is passion.

A blogger is an author, a poet, a writer…an artist.

Bloggers do what feels right because it’s feeling good that’s important. Money is secondary, it will come when it is ready to come.

How do you feel good?

You post every single day.

Posting every day accomplished two things:

It gives you an excuse to keep talking, even when you have nothing to say.
It adds to numbers, and as we all know…Numbers = Happiness

The more you post, the more it feels like you’ve been working. Working, even if it’s just the appearance of doing so = Happiness.

And mark my words, even though the benefits of posting every day might not be obvious…they are…trust me.

The more you post, the more traffic you can build. Even if that traffic doesn’t convert, the important thing is that your numbers are growing.

Comments go up.
RT’s go up.
Pageviews go up.

Total win, for you…the blogger.

Blogging every day gives the appearance that you are a professional, even though you might not be. It allows you to fake it until you make it. It allows you to feed the machine that needs your content.

Must…have…more…content.

In a consumption happy society, what better way is there to lure them to your Internet opium than by posting every single day.

What if I don’t have anything to say?

That doesn’t matter. Just say something.

Copy if you have to.

Borrow ideas. Write list posts. Crowdsource your content. Reveal private conversations as posts because your audience will respond very strongly. Linkbait by calling people out or bashing them.

Instead of “Just keep swimming,” it’s “Just keep blogging.”

There’s a reason we say to do this. It’s the same reason that everyone repeats the same messages over, and over, and over, and over again…because of trust.

It feels right.

Blogging works in the same way that the Law of Attraction works. If you just keep doing what feels right, then good things are sure to come your way.

There’s no need to worry about metrics, products, or services…just keep posting.

Post every day.

If you aren’t…then you don’t deserve success.

Are you getting the message? It’s not where you think it is.

Blog as if Your Life Depended on It is a post from: Nathan Hangen

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