How can such a dichotomy exist? Well, for me, 2009 started in Kabul Afghanistan, while my wife and 2 awesome kids (Gabriel and Annica) were trying to find ways to celebrate even though their father was absent.

Being deployed is different…it’s great because it give people like me a chance to fulfill their duty and obligation, but being away from home is something you don’t really get used to.

We also dealt with the death of a handful of close friends and family members, and I spent a majority of my free time working on a 2nd business, instead of hanging out with those that were still with us.

But…the rest of the year, even when I was in Afghanistan, was fabulous.

Personally, I overcame a lot of issues and setbacks, I achieved my goal of becoming a triathlete, and I started my 30′s off with a bang.

My business has never been better, I just launched a book that got plastered all over the web, and I befriended dozens of awesome people that I wouldn’t have met were it not for this awesome business of social media and blogging that many of us find ourselves in.

Now, it occured to me shortly before today, that while 2009 might have been great for me, it was rough for many others. Others had it better than I did.
So instead of writing to just one portion of that group, I wanted to write to both, so here we go…

If 2009 Was Not Your Year

You aren’t alone. Millions of people suffered in 2009, whether financially, emotionally, physically, or spiritually.

The fact that you’re here, trying to learn to improve, shows you’re on the path to recovery…and I salute that.

Your challenge in 2010 is to not get down, not get depressed, and to not quit. Instead, you need to rise up and meet your fears head on. Take on the doubters, skeptics, and critics, and as Chris Guillebeau posted today…say “watch me.”

More than that though, 2010 needs to be the year that you decide what you want with your life…I mean really spend some time thinking about it and decide…and start taking steps towards making it happen.

Don’t let anyone tell you it cannot be done, and don’t worry about failure. There’s nothing that can’t be undone. Just step up and go for it; what do you have to lose?

Find a Mentor

Find someone that’s doing what you want to be doing, or paving the road you want to travel, and introduce yourself to them. Study them, watch them, and try to get to know them. At first, they might ignore you, but if you prove that you aren’t there just to take, but are willing to work your way up, then eventually they can’t help but to give in.

Develop Skills

Being an entrepreneur means you either have to develop the skills necessary to compete, or you have to pay someone to develop them for you. One path requires time, while the other requires money. Determine how much of each you are willing to invest in your business and get started.

Take Action

Plans are useless without action. Action is useless without plans. Start with a basic 5 year plan, create a series of actions steps, and get started. Don’t worry about being perfect, just get started.

If 2009 wasn’t your year, make sure that it’s the last one of it’s kind. It’s a new year, and a new decade…make sure it counts.

If 2009 Was Your Year

If you rocked it in 2009, then I have just a few things to ask of you:

1. Don’t forget the little guy.

I’m amazed by how many people shit on the little guy once they make the big time. They seem to forget that they were once little too, and if it weren’t for someone boosting them up, they probably wouldn’t have made it either.

Find someone that needs your help and give them a boost. If they become successful, then find another. We were all little guys once, and we need to encourage and develop our brothers-in-arms, not discourage them.

2. Keep rocking

You set the bar high…you set an example for how things can be done…keep doing it. Don’t sit on your bum and take a break. Instead, keep pushing the bar higher…keep breaking through barriers and blazing new trails. We’re depending on you.

3. Celebrate

Don’t forget to enjoy life when you get to the top…or anywhere that closely resembles it. Take time to hang out so I can buy you a beer next time we meet. Work is good, but it’s all for naught if we don’t take some time to kick back and appreciate it.

My Turn

Lastly, I want to spend a minute, or 60, thanking and acknowledgning people that helped make my 2009 a great one…the list is long, so please bear with me.

Professional

1. Chris Brogan – You set the example in more ways than one. Authentic, helpful, and inspirational. Somehow, you find time for everyone. One of these days I’ll find a way to pay you back.

2. Chris Guillebeau – I typed your name so many times this year that I finally figured out how to spell it without looking. You showed me how to do it right, and you were always there to lend a hand. Thanks for kicking the world’s ass on a daily basis.

3. David Risley – Dude, you are easily one of the most approachable and laid back guys I’ve met. You show us how it’s done, and always keep it real. I’m looking forward to hanging out in Tampa.

4. Mike CJ – Who would have thought we’d end up here? Thanks for putting up with my workaholic-ness and keeping me grounded. We’ve made something pretty cool together, haven’t we?

5. Rich Lazzara – Truly underrated, but you don’t complain. You know where you’re at, where you’re going, and where you want to be. Thanks for the Heineken, I owe you one (or several) next time we meet. One of these days, I promise, you’ll be making me a yacht.

6. Lara Kulpa – You deserve much more attention than you get, but you’ll get it soon. Keep being awesome and seriously…thanks for everything you’ve done for me.

7. Karl Staib – Thanks for reminding us all to be thankful for what we have, and to stop always looking ahead.

8. Michael Martine – We just missed each other at bwe, but I still feel like I know you the same. I’m looking forward to your 2010…keep rocking man.

9. Ed Dale – We haven’t met, but your 30DC was a huge help to me early on in my career. You’re one of the good guys.

10. Frank Kern – People love to hate you, and hate to love you, but you are a true marketing traiblazer. Keep teaching people that it’s OK to make money and live well.

11. Jeff Walker – PLF is amazing, ’nuff said.

12. Brian Clark – The man behind the curtain…your 3rd Tribe teachings are going to be huge for people like me that want to sell without being sleazy.

13. Sonia Simone – Thanks for putting up with my repeated emails and for giving me a chance to shine on Copyblogger. Your writing is awesome, and it’s an honor.

14. Drew Bennett (Ben Spark) – Love your attitude man…you give so much more than you take. Keep up the good fight.

15. Lisa Morosky – I’m going to need you sooner than later…thanks for all of your support.

16. Dave Navarro – All this time you’ve been hiding out in my state without telling me. Love the way you do business, as I told CB…I hide behind you when the marketing flak gets too rough.

17. Dean, Jana, Kimb – Thanks for all of yoru awesome design work this year.

18. Gary V – Thanks for teaching us how to #crushit.

19. Shama Kabani – You keep changing names so much I can’t keep up, but your help has been amazing.

20. All of you probloggers that I only recently met, but look forward to working with again: Darren, ChrisG, and others. Thanks for being awesome.

To everyone else that I just met, but have already begun to love hanging out with: Jordan, Srinivas, Oleg, Tim Jones (The Real One), Gordie, Robert, Beau, Antti, Kevin, Ittybiz, Derek, Sarge, and ayone else I’m forgetting…THANK YOU.

Personal

1. My wife and kids, for understanding why I’m always on the computer…and for being there when I made it home safe.

2. My entire family, for always believing in me.

3. Anne Moss Rogers, for being there from the start.

4. Steve and the BT crew, for helping me reach my goals this year.

5. McHenry, Sackett, Debo, and Big Willi Style, for hanging in there for a long 8 months.

6. Ginger, for helping me get ready for the suck at REV3 (get your minds out of the gutter).

7. All you fast assholes at Augusta an in the NCTS, for keeping me going.

8. Who am I missing? There has to be someone that I’m missing, that will point it out nicely, and I’ll feel like an ass…but I tried. I’m running out of daylight here!

To 2009, for being awesome, and for 2010 for laying down so soon. It’s on baby.

-Nathan

Image Credit

Ringing in the New Year – A Different Kind of Post is a post from: Nathan Hangen

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I’ve got a confession to make:

I’m human…I make mistakes, I have flaws…strengths and weaknesses (just don’t tell my wife).

I get excited, frustrated, defensive, self-conscious, and all that other good stuff that people aren’t supposed to admit. It’s part of life, and I take it for what it’s worth.

The reason I say this, is because as you probably know, Beyond Blogging launched just days ago (seems like an eternity already) and Mike and I have seen our names plastered all over the net, in both good and bad fashions.

Frankly, it’s more press than I’m used to, and considering I’ve written for some pretty large blogs, that’s saying a lot. However, when I write for Copyblogger or Problogger, I’m familiar with that audience, and they with me.

In this instance, I’m being shoved in front of thousands of new faces that don’t know me from Adam, and I think it scares both of us.

Great Discussion

What I love about this, is that thanks to Google Alerts and Twitter, I’ve been able to find almost every mention of my name, Mike’s name, and the book’s name. I click the link and head over to see what’s going on, and when I do, I usually find a great conversation going on.

Thanks to these conversations, I’ve learned a lot, and, I think, so have many others.

Perceived Value

For instance, on Chris Brogan’s blog, his defense of our price caused him to write a really interesting post about perceived value. In essence, people were complaining about the price of our book, and he was defending it for us. I didn’t ask him to, but he did (thanks Chris).

I can understand the complaints, and it’s something that Mike and I struggled with when we priced the book. Frankly, we weren’t sure if we were comfortable with that price, but here’s the deal…

Information Isn’t Free to Those that Offer It

Writing Beyond Blogging cost Mike and I 5-6 months of laborious writing, which we enjoyed, but which we did nonetheless. From there, we spent several hundred dollars on book design, more on web design, and more on everything from the shopping cart to a domain name. This book cost us both time and money, and because I don’t want to spend time away from my family any more than I have (In Afghanistan and working 2 jobs), we decided we wanted to make a profit.

Now, when you take a $47 book, split the commission with an affiliate at 50%, and then subtract merchant fees and expenses, you aren’t left with much. So, those of you that thought we were doing this to get rich are probably off the mark. Would I like to get rich? Hell yes. Did I expect this book to make me rich? No, but we’ll get to that…

The Value Debate

Now, I realize that I can’t price on our effort, because that’s not what you pay for. You pay for value. I think we provided value, and in fact we haven’t had a single negative comment about the book from a single buyer, but to some, even that isn’t enough.

They wanted a $9.99 version. Could we have created one? Probably, but I can tell you it wouldn’t have been as solid. Not because we don’t care, but because when creating something like this, you have to weigh opportunity costs.

Bloggers give for free, in heaps already, but we have to make a living, which is why, from time to time, we sell $47 E-Books.

Creating Your Own Products

I say this because when you create a product of your own, you should consider this debate before creating a price.

We felt our content and our marketing could support that price tag…and from the looks of our early sales numbers, we were right…but I’ve also sold $12 books, and $97 courses. Each had a value and a purpose, and were priced accordingly.

Have there been complainers? Yes, in fact there’s an interesting debate about the rise of the $100 E-Book over at The Ideas Blog, but that goes with the territory. You have to go with what you feel is right.

Marketing Style

The next topic I’d like to discuss, is our sales page. Some called it “MLM,” some called it “scammy,” and some called it “salesy.” I’d like to think it was exactly what it was supposed to be, which is a page designed to send a message to a specific target audience, and prove that the book was worth buying for them.

As I said on another blog…I don’t like writing long sales copy. I didn’t want to for this project, but it’s what I know, and it’s what I know that works. Some people don’t need that much to make a decision, and I get that, but there are a lot of people that do. There are a lot of people that still print out sales pages before they buy.

Me? I scroll to the bottom and check the price, and based on what I believe the content to be, and what I know about the author, I either buy or pass. What’s your style?

Could we have gone with a quick blurb, like they did at How to Be Rich and Happy, and be done with it? Sure.

Could we have thrown the book on Amazon and let the reviews do the talking? Of course.

But why not say what needs to be said and let the reviews do the talking? They’re still out there, on Twitter and on blogs. You can find them at search.twitter.com or via Google.

We did what we did because it’s how marketers market, especially if they are marketing to people that don’t know them. I’d like to think that we could have sold a thousand copies based on our reputation alone, but that’s just not the reality.

But, I’m a believer in the 3rd Tribe marketing mentality. My content speaks for itself if you want to read it. If you like it, cool…check out the book. If you don’t, no problem…read Crush It or Trust Agents (read them anyway).

I’d like to believe that there’s a middle ground, and as a marketer, you’ll have to do your best to find it.

Honestly, I’m not sure if a few lines of text would have given you enough information with which to make up your mind…at least for $47.

What’s your take?

Getting Rich

I said I’d get back to the topic of getting rich, and here’s what I have to say about that.

You can make a living as a blogger…you might make 30k/year, or you might make 200k. If you’re lucky, you’ll come up with a theme like Thesis and sell 3 million in a year.

But, it takes a lot of work, and although it can be done, I’d like you to think bigger. Use your blog as a tool to build an empire, so that you can move beyond blogging as a way of life.

I don’t mean give up blogging, I mean that you should take the pressure off a bit by building other portals and projects. Beyond Blogging is just one of mine. I have the Rockstar series, a consulting gig, and a few other secret projects. But they aren’t all based around blogging.

Blogging is just a start…it’s where you can begin to build your influence.

Think big.

Summing it Up

I know I’ve been a bit long winded today, but I wanted to speak to you from the heart. I wanted to be honest and upfront, so that you can not only learn from what I’ve done, but understand it.

What did you think? Did you pay attention to the launch? Did it speak to you? Was it too spammy, too casual, or just right? If you read the book, what did you think? Hell, have a question? Ask away, I’m here for good.

Image Credit

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It is no secret that the economy is struggling, made worse by the pundits on TV telling us how bad things are getting. It seems that for every 1 person talking about the great times in which we live, there are a thousand talking about how the world is on the verge of collapsing into dust and ruin.

I happen to be one of those that doesn’t mind standing alone on an island proclaiming how lucky we are to live at this very moment. Although the economy is in shambles, it is nothing more than a natural cycle of ups and downs. Eventually, things will even out and those of us with the inspiration to capitalize on this downturn will be sitting pretty when it all evens out.

This brings me to the point of my story, which is that in times of crisis when it seems like there aren’t any buyers, why not turn to the one company that you know isn’t going anywhere? Why not turn to the company that seems to single handedly hold the Internet together?

Of course, the company I am talking about is Google, and you can bet that even though the Dr. Evil of the technology world might be sitting in a dark corner plotting their every move behind a veil of secrecy, they aren’t going out of business anytime soon. This means that revenue models, such as AdSense, the Google Affiliate Network, and any other business associate with Google are going to be surefire ways to get paid during these difficult times.

If you are in the consulting business, then take the ever loving giant arms of Google and use them to your advantage. Google always has a new product in the pipeline, and let’s face it…they own the search engines. Master SEO, using Google’s content network (knol for example), or use the iGoogle API to develop applications. There are a million ways that you can make money with Google. Heck, I hear that working for Google isn’t so bad either.

The bottom line is that if you aren’t sure where your next paycheck is coming from, switch to a revenue model that won’t disappear. Google isn’t going anywhere and the more ways you can get your hands in their pockets the better.

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Image by Fort Photo

Since I will be in Afghanistan for some time, I have begun to do some reading in regards to high altitude training to see what, if any, benefits I may experience in the short and long term. Many people I have spoken with mention that by training in high altitudes here a mile plus above sea level I will dramatically increase run and cycling times upon my return to the states. A majority of the rationale is based upon the obvious lack of Oxygen at higher altitudes and the assumption that your body would learn to permanently adapt to this problem. The problem with these assumptions is that they just might be wrong.

After reading several fitness journals and physiological studies, I have found that high altitude training may not be all that it is cut out to be.

From Rice.edu

The first thing that happens is your respiratory rate and heart rates speed up. This occurs both at rest and during sub-max. exercise. This helps offset the lower partial pressure of oxygen. You will not be able to reach your max VO2 so don’t get frustrated. The faster breathing rate changes your acid-base balance and this takes a little longer to correct.

The longer term changes are

1. a decrease in maximum cardiac output a decreased maximum heart rate
2. an increased number of red blood cells
3. excretion of base via the kidneys to restore acid-base balance. (Unfortunately, the net result is that you have less tolerance for lactic acid.)
4. a chemical change within red blood cells that makes them more efficient at unloading oxygen to the tissues.
5. an increase in the number of mitochondria and oxidative enzymes.

Although there is the benefit of an increase in your body’s red blood cells, which carry oxygen throughout your body, resulting in an increase in your blood’s oxygen carrying capabilities, two of the physiological changes are negative and could be very disruptive to long term training goals. Take for instance the lowered tolerance for lactic acid. Lactic Acid is what causes your muscles to feel worn out or sore during effort and usually the goal is to try and increase your body’s tolerance rather than lowering it. Lowering it will cause you to tire quicker during training and/or races, which is a definite problem. A decrease in maximum cardiac output also poses another problem, as it reduces the maximum capacity at which your body can operate under stress.

My Strategy

Although there are a few negatives to high altitude training, I believe that the positives outweigh the negatives. However, being that I have no choice but to train in high altitudes for a year I am going to use the opportunity to study and report the effects that running, swimming, and cycling will have on my long term training. Studies suggest an extra amount of carbohydrates to give your body more fuel, while also supplementing your diet with additional iron to support the growing red blood cells.

By planning my training properly, I can offset the decrease in lactic acid threshold with a routine designed to increase it, thereby balancing out the effect. My theory is that by focusing on endurance and stamina, I will be able to return to the states with physiological changes that will benefit me in the short term for sure and possibly in the long term. I will be chronicling my results in order to find the real answer to whether or not high altitude training works.

Already I can feel the effect of the altitude just by climbing stairs. Where before I could run a 30 minute 4 mile at a moderate pace, I am now running 16:30 2 mile times and sucking wind badly. As I begin to acclimate to the altitude and my times resume some sort of normalcy, I look forward to completing this experiment.

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Racewalking…really?

So I am attempting to watch the Olympics (more on my disapproval of China later), and I stumbled upon an event I thought was a joke. I started watching this race and burst into tears I was laughing so hard. I mean really, is racewalking serious?

I apologize if you are an avid fan of racewalking or even a racewalker yourself, but I just cannot let this pass. Young and healthy “athletes” should be running or jogging and I am quite sure these racewalkers can.

It is not that I have a problem with the walking fast thing, because I don’t mind laughing at race walkers as I drive to work in the morning, or that I believe running to be a superior sport (it is), but I really cannot understand what makes someone interested in race walking and furthermore how it can be called a sport? An Olympic Sport no less!

I was watching and listening to the commentators talk about the technical aspects of race walking and as I watched these people distort their body in such an unnatural way in order to achieve this form, I was not amazed, but disgusted.  Surely this form must have long term effects on the body. Is it that these people can’t run? Are these people afraid to run? Is this really a sport?

Now that I have been made aware of this monstrosity, I am terrified by the thought of what lies beyond. The horror of racewalking clubs and racewalking world cups keeps me up at night. Someone please help me make sense out of this nonsense.

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