I’ve spent most of my life either running away from failure or running towards my dreams…often a bit of both at the same time.

It comes at a price though, because I have a restless spirit.

I can’t remember a day gone by in which I didn’t feel some sense of urgency…”you must create.”

I don’t know what it feels like to be at peace with my accomplishments, nor do I know if I could live myself otherwise.

I’ve always been drawn to three things really:

1. Spirituality

Having been raised in a very traditional Christian environment, I know a thing or two about religion, most of which clashes with who I am.

So, although I’m deeply spiritual, I am not religious.

2. Making Music

I’ve been making music since I was in grade school. When I didn’t have instruments, I was making it in my head or on paper.

I played French Horn in High School (crazy right?), trumpet, drums, saxophone, and now play guitar and a bit of piano.

3. Writing

When I wasn’t making music, I was writing songs and bits of poetry. I was planning my next great novel. I was writing, writing, and writing more.

Even though I never considered myself a writer, looking back, I don’t see how I didn’t. I still recall hearing one of my teachers protest my decision to study science in college:

“But you’re a writer Nathan!”

Thank you Mrs. C

So, although I create, and I can’t stop doing it…I’ve got this strange need to see my bills paid on time. Crazy right?

I always thought that in order to do this, I’d have to have a real job or do something that I didn’t necessarily enjoy. I never saw art and money going together.

But then I met people that are doing just that…

There’s Hugh MacLeod, who despite his greatest efforts to the contrary, is becoming known not for his “side hustle,” but for his art.

There’s Danielle LaPorte, who is making art in a way that inspires others…in the form of wisdom.

There’s Seth Godin, Gary V, DHH and Jason Fried, and dozens more.

Sure, they might not all be artists of the painting type, but they are making art in the sense that they’re:

a) following their passion

b) making something remarkable

In my talk recently at the Influencer Project, I said that if you really want influence, then you need to make something worthy of influence. In other words, don’t try to get influence…try to create it.

So here I am, a dude that has done a bit of everything.

I’ve chased the dollar, and I’ve been a starving artist.

I’ve spent time at war, and I’ve spent time in my own personal wars.

I’m a born crusader…it’s not something I can change, nor is it something I want to change.

At the same time, I keep finding myself in a place where I feel pressured to compromise who I am in order to make a living, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Here are 5 promises I’m making to myself right now:

1. I’m going to write a book by the end of the year. I’m just going to do it.

2. I’m going to start making music again, and I’m going to be creating my own music for Blogger Beats and the upcoming Soundtrackster.

3. Every post on this blog will either be art in its own right, or about artists…no more compromising.

4. The people I work with will be artists…they must have a mission.

5. Everything I create from this day forward will be evaluated not on how much money it can make, but how much closer it moves me towards my goal of doing nothing but creating art.

Is this idealistic or overly optimistic? Probably, but that’s what I like about it.

I’m nearly 32 years old, and I’m staring down the rest of my life. I simply cannot afford to negotiate with or to compromise my core in order to appease or to appeal…whether to myself or others.

There are plenty of people making a living doing what they do best, and to be honest, it’s fear that has kept me from following them.

But I’m an artist, and even though I might not be creating oil paintings, I’m still worthy of creating art. I think it’s time that more of us do the same.

When I speak of doing something that matters and of making a difference, this is what I mean.

Less time following the lead, compromising, and making it work…and more time leading…and making it work.

Who’s with me?

Make Nothing but Art 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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I’m extremely motivated and dedicated to success. I’ve spent a decade battling fear, lack of discipline, and indecision…and so far it’s worked.

On my own, I’ve accomplished quite a bit, but there’s a problem…

I can’t do it all, and furthermore…I don’t want to.

Learning how to get out of my own way

For years I was stubborn. I didn’t think that anyone could do things as good as I could.

I didn’t want to share profit because I thought I needed it all.

I thought I had to be a solopreneur.

At some point though, I realized that it wasn’t working, and I don’t know why, but this was the hardest lesson for me to learn.

I fought it tooth and nail for YEARS until finally one day last year I needed a sounding board for an idea and couldn’t find anyone to talk to about it.

My wife doesn’t really understand my business, and I’d been working in isolation for so long that I didn’t have any peers I could hollar at.

So on a whim, I found someone I’d been talking to in blog comments, and sent him an email.

Turns out that email resulted in almost $50,000 in profit in the past 6 months and has led to the development of a business that I believe will reach not just 6 figures, but 7, in the next 2 years.

If you haven’t figured it out, that partner’s name is Mike CJ and he’s my partner at Beyond Blogging.

Where I might be an idea guy, he’s an execution master and he’s got a keen business sense that I was lacking. His unique way of looking at things has done nothing but improve the performance of the Beyond Blogging Corporation.

When Opportunity Knocks

I was at Blogworld Expo in 2009 when David Risley introduced me to someone he knew from the Blog Masters Club.

The guy was smart, and had a lot of experience in the business world, and as I talked with him it was evident that we had a lot in common.

At the time, my partnership with Mike had yet to create anything of substance (we were still writing the book), but I was smart enough to know that Rich would be an asset to my business, which is why we continued to talk post-BWE and developed what would later become Roark Media, which is now a digital marketing agency that both works with clients and develops software and training programs.

Follow Your Heart

I’ve always been a musician at heart, but unfortunately I’m not talented enough to go pro. However, when I found Oleg Mokhov, who was cranking out electronic mixes with bits of his own original tunes blended in, I knew I had to approach him about something. I didn’t know what I had to offer…I just knew he was going to do great work.

Eventually the idea of Blogger Beats dawned on me, and I approached him that very same day. We had a bit of conversation about it, implemented his ideas with mine, and within a few months Blogger Beats was born.

But we’re not just Blogger Beats, we’re AudioBot, and we’re working on some ninja stuff that I can’t share with you, but is sure to be awesome.

Right now, Blogger Beats is gaining tons of traction with very little marketing, and best of all…I love doing it!

The Moral of the Story

I’m not telling you all of this because I want to brag, or because I’m trying to sell you something.

The point I’m trying to make is that you can’t do everything on your own, and as alluring as the idea of 100% profits sounds…the truth is that you aren’t talented at everything.

If you get in the habit of finding and recruiting talented people to your business, then you not only fill in education and experience gaps, but you also more than double your horsepower.

You have someone to bounce ideas off of.

You have someone to share the workload.

You have someone that can see hidden angles that you can’t.

You have a CEO or President.

You have a business.

Steve Jobs doesn’t run Apple on his own. He recruits talented developers and executives.

If you truly want success, then it’s time that you adopt a similar mindset.

Being a solopreneur is great, but it’s boring and leaves you prone to burnout. On the flipside…I like being a CEO and/or President.

I like being in the music, publishing, and software business. I like doing things I’ve always wanted to do instead of trying to settle for less.

What about you?

Image Credit

How to Use Recruiting to Build Your Business is a post from: Nathan Hangen

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Regardless what people might tell you, it takes money to make money.

This is true both for brick and mortar and for digital emipres.

However, just because you need money doesn’t mean you need to have it, and this is where a lot of people get hung up.

Blogging is great because you can get started for less than 20 bucks. But getting started isn’t enough. You want to actually make money, right?

The Digital Side

A digital empire is more than just a blog. Here are some example of tools you might need, and/or expenses you might incur:

• Screenflow for Mac (recording screencasts) – $99
• Skype Call Recorder (for interviews) – $99
• Microsoft Office or iWork – $99+
• Information products (how you learn the real stuff) – I’ve spent thousands
• Shopping Cart – $5-$99
• Putting a Product on Clickbank – $50 or so

This is just some of it. We haven’t included buying or hosting multiple domains, design, or merchant and licensing fees, all of which are nearly impossible to avoid.

Brick and Mortar

Brick and mortar is much more expensive because you have office space and physical conditions to deal with. Still, it’s not as bad as you think. You can actually avoid much of the startup costs by working from a home office and arranging methods of dropshipping or working virtually.

For example, a consultant is neither digital nor brick and mortar…a phone works just fine.

Zappos built the early phases of their business by creating dropshipping arrangements.

You can build a contracting business out of your garage.

All of this can be done relatively easily, but at some point, you will need some cash for:

• Office space
• Inventory
• Tools/Software/Hardware
• Licensing
• Vehicles/Gas
• Secretary/Assistant

Get Real

If you’re serious about getting out of debt, getting out of the cube, or just living a life that you design, then you’ll need earn some cash to invest in your business.

So how do you do it?

My Story

In the early days of my business, I set up a small desk under a bunk bed (don’t believe me, look at these videos) in a small house in Kabul, Afghanistan. I didn’t have a lot of cash to spend because I was sending it home to my family, so I started writing articles for $3. That’s 500 words, for just 3 bucks. I did that 15-20 times per day.

When that became overwhelming, I found someone who would pay me more and then found someone who would write in my place. I set up an article arbitrage business making around $2 per article.

Eventually, I got tired of articles, so I set up a few niche blogs with some AdSense. They each made me around $1/day early on, which wasn’t great money, but helped.

Finally, I got smart and found some high margin activities to invest my time in, such as affiliate marketing, creating ebooks (Twitter Rockstar being one of them), and even selling scarves from Afghanistan (was a great busines making decent money until the Army told me to stop).

Although these activities would work for you, the point isn’t that you should write articles in a sweat shop, but that each of you have a skill or trade that you can use to fund the early phases of your business.

Thanks to my early ventures, I built a nice warchest of several thousand dollars that I used to build my business into what it is today, which includes:

• Digital Empire and it’s affiliates
• Beyond Blogging Corp
• AudioBot (Blogger Beats and upcoming new kick-ass royalty free music store)
• Roark Media (Silo, Mobile frameworks, iPhone apps)

Funny how that works isn’t it? Playing Monopoly really works.

The Tips You Need to Find Success

Bootstrapping is my thing. It’s how I made my living, and oddly enough, I met a friend that does the same. Her name is Susan Baker, and she teaches people how to do this for a living. Between her and I, there’s an amazing amount of knowledge that we can’t wait to share with attendees of our upcoming Boostrap Sessions workshop.

Not only are we going to share stories like this, but we’re also going to answer your questions and help you formulate a winning plan of your own. It doesn’t matter if you have a business or not…what matters is this:

“Are you profitable?”

If you aren’t, come join us and learn how you can change that.

I managed to pull Susan’s arm and sneak a discount code in for readers of this blog. If you sign up by Friday, you can use the code “earlydiscount” to save 25% on the cost of the Bootstrap Sessions, which is already incredibly inexpensive.

I’ll see you there.

Photo Credit

How to Build a War Chest is a post from: Nathan Hangen

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Building a business isn’t easy.

There’s the fear of getting started, as in:

• What if I fail?
• Can I really do this?
• What if people laugh at me.
• What if I can’t do it?
• I’m not ready yet.

Then there’s the actual pain of trying to find the money and time to get started.  No one wants to spend a few grand to build a business, and we hate giving up our TV and XBOX to spend time blogging or marketing.

But let’s cut the bullshit.

If you aren’t doing something you love, then you shouldn’t be doing it anyway.

You probably didn’t wake up this morning with a dying urge to blog. Maybe you like writing, but that’s different.

If you aren’t doing it in your spare time already, then you’re either not committed enough, or you don’t love it.

I’d like to help you figure that one out.

The Bootstrap Sessions

I’m not interested in trying to convince people that they need to start a business. You’re either a born entrepreneur or you aren’t.

But if you’re committed, and you just need a little help to get you on your way, then I want to share a few thoughts with you.

1. I built a business while I was deployed to Afghanistan, writing articles for clients at $3/pop until I had enough money to invest in the tools I needed to create something cool.

2. If I can do it (I’ve always been destined to find the hard way instead of the smart way), then anyone can. As long as they are passionate about what their future holds.

3. I’m tired of the same old shit being peddled to you online. I’m not trying to make a fortune selling this workshop. In fact, I’d probably offer it for free if it weren’t for the fact that I have a great partner involved (who’s hourly rate is way more than this thing costs) and that if I did, I’d be doing the real game changers an injustice. We’re doing Q/A, and providing real guidance…no need for non-entrepreneurs to show up.

So here’s the deal, I’m passionate about helping people build something real…something meaningful…and something life changing; not just for their customers, but for themselves.

If you’re doing what you love, and you’re creating something you are proud of, then it’s only natural that you’ll be creating something that improves the life of your customer. There’s no way around that.

I like watching people decide to be happy, and gain the courage to change their life for the better.

And most of all, if you and I can stand up and make something great, recruit a few more to do the same, then guess what we’ve got?

An empire baby.

Will You Join Me?

The Bootstrap Sessions is only 47 bucks, and if you bring a friend, you can save quite a bit of that ($75 for 2 tickets).

The event is 2 nights, and will span the course of 3-4 hours (including Q/A), and I promise…there’s no pitch. Just real information to teach you how to build a business on a dime.

If you want to learn the art of building a passion based business, as opposed to how to build a pump and dumb ebook pitching business, then you’ll love it.

If you just want to learn how to create more garbage and be miserable, then please, stay home, because you won’t like this.

Want to learn more? Great, here’s the link.

But Wait! There’s More!

God bless Billy Mays and his marketing lines. I’ll miss you man.

We’re also having a little fun on the Friday before the event. We call it virtual happy hour, and it’s a chance for you to mingle with us, our awesome host Erica Swanson, and the rest of the bootstrappers ready to build an empire of their own.

You can sign up for that here…don’t worry, it’s free.

Tony Hsieh’s (Zappos CEO) Book Giveaway

Want to win a pre-release copy of the new book Delivering Happiness? The cover even says “Advanced Reading Copy,” which is pretty cool.

We’re giving away a copy, and all you have to do is blog about the event. The details are here.

Thanks everyone. I’ll see you there.

How to Build a Business on a Shoestring is a post from: Nathan Hangen

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Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Catherine of Be Awesome Online, who just announced a really cool project called “Awesome Fear Wrangling.” Check it out!

There’s a simple equation for making ethical money* online:

Problem + Solution = Profit

Step 1. People have problems:

• itchy scalps
• disobedient dogs
• boredom at work
• credit card debt
• pants that don’t fit
• doorknobs that don’t match
• social anxiety
• strange rattling noises from their engines

Step 2. People will pay for solutions to those problems.
Step 3. If you create a website that provides a solution, people will give you money.

Done. Simple. So why isn’t the money rolling in?

You have to answer one more important question:

Why should I choose YOU?

If you have a half-decent idea, you are guaranteed to have a lot of competition.

There are, at last estimate, over 110 MILLION websites on the Internet. Most – let’s be generous and say a hundred million – are obscure derelicts that have never had more than 50 visitors, and you don’t need to worry about them. That still leaves thousands of people who are providing similar solutions to your own.

Put on your plumber’s hat for a second. And the Mario moustache too, why not.

Here I am, on the Internet, looking for some information and help so I can solve my persistent dripping-tap problem. (It’s keeping me awake at night, dammit! This will not do!) There you are, with your No-Drips-No-Plumber-No-Worries e-book. You’re confident it will be exactly what I need: it’s easy, doesn’t need special tools, and is much cheaper than a plumber. It solves my problem excellently well.

So why haven’t I bought it yet?

Because there are 156,000 results on my Google search for “how to fix a dripping tap”. For me to choose you over all the free tutorials and government articles and other paid resources, you have to stand out in some way. Unless you’re comfortable with taking the odds that I’ll choose you over the 155,999 other options…

… plus the really seductive option to do nothing at all.

What the heck do you do?

Provide something unique. Something no-one else can provide.

You provide you. At full volume.

Are you patient and good at explanations? Then brand yourself as The Helpful Plumber: no-nonsense, never patronising, practical plumbing advice for scared laymen. Like Mr Rogers, with a caulking gun.

Are you excitable and dramatic? Then you’re The Singing Plumber! Handy tips, delivered with an operatic twist, tell your friends!

Are you a dog lover? Hello for the Joanna and Barksalot Show: you, a pipe wrench, and your Labrador. (Bark, bark!)

Are you snarky and sarcastic? Then start Don’t Be A Damp Idiot, where you caustically describe other people’s mistakes and how to avoid them.

Think I’m going too far?

Really? Spend five minutes getting a drink of water (it’s important to hydrate), then before you come back to the computer try to remember the plumbers. I bet you remember most, if not all, of them.

Do you remember the last plumber that worked on your pipes? Or was it “just some dude”?

I rest my case.

But I’ll alienate people!

This is very true. I would never, ever give money to the sarcastic plumber, because caustic wit makes me edgy.

The plumber-and-dog I might hire because they seem cool, although I’m not a big dog fan.

The singing plumber I would be overjoyed to give money to.

And the patient plumber? I would hire them even when my plumbing was perfect, just to hear them talk. I would tell all my friends. I would tell my 1200 Twitter followers. I would tell anyone, ever, who mentioned plumbing. I would be their biggest fan.

The biggest advantage

If you provide decent, useful advice: there are tens of thousands of people who can do what you do.

If you combine decent, useful advice with your personality: there are maybe a hundred people who have the same combination of personality traits and expertise? Maybe four. Four. Out of six billion.

I like those odds!

So how do you do it?

1. Choose an aspect of your personality, a hobby, an interest or a quirk. It should be:

• compatible with your topic (Vegan butcher? Maybe not.)
• a positive or neutral trait (Nothing that interferes with the perception of how well you can do the job – like alcoholism, or sloppiness)
• easy to describe (Mime artist. Geek. Astronomy-loving. NOT “collector of late-Renaissance duelling swords”. It’s a pity, because that sounds kick-ass, but it’s too wordy. “Sword collector” would be fine.)

2. Turn it up to eleven.

3. Make it a part of your domain name, business card, products, profile, everything.

How have you made sure you’re hard to replace? Tell me in the comments!

*There are equations for making unethical money, but I am not going to talk about those, thankyouverymuch.

Catherine teaches people how to grow an awesome website and then high-fives them. She’s about to launch her first big product, Awesome Fear-Wrangling: tame your website fears, grow your kick-ass website. Ironically, she’s petrified about it.

Image Credit

Image Credit

How Easily Can You Be Replaced? is a post from: Nathan Hangen

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Buckle in folks, this might be a wild ride.

I’ll start by being honest about the fact that I’ve been a bit down over the past few days. What made it worse was that I couldn’t pinpoint it.

Things have never been better. Business is doing well, I’m a month away from permanent self-employment, and I just got back from a killer conference where I got to have lunch with one of my business heroes.

Doesn’t get much better than that right? So I just chalked it up to a “phase,” and left it at that.

But then, as is often the case when you stop thinking about a problem, it hit me…

I don’t recognize anyone

Have you noticed all of the backlash regarding the people that have chosen to quit Facebook?

I joked around today that it reminds me of what happens when someone’s drinking buddy decides to get sober.

Instead of cheering them on, the drunks try to bring them down. They don’t want you to get sober.

That’s the way I feel about Facebook.

Personally, I’m not really interested in Facebook for a variety of reasons. I wasn’t finding a lot of value there, and I prefer Twitter by far.

However, when I made my decision to try and leave Facebook behind, it was for a different reason entirely.

I don’t do business with entities I can’t trust or that live outside of my ethical boundaries.

Facebook is one of those, and I choose not to support them because it would violate my integrity to do so.

Yet, when I share this with people, I get the following response:

“Awesome!” (these people understand)

“Facebook helps me make money, and they are the largest social network, so I’d be a fool to leave.”

“Quitting Facebook is so not the answer.”

To the third I say really? Then what is the answer? If I don’t take action, then why the hell would they believe a word I say? Something tells me that these people, the “pushers,” have a business that relies on the existence of Facebook, which would explain why they don’t want any of you to get sober.

To the 2nd group I ask: “Would you sell your soul for success?”

It doesn’t make sense to me that you’d not stand against something simply because it’s convenient not to.

Sure, I could run a product launch in order to make millions selling a steaming pile of shit, but that doesn’t make it right.

Being Different

I was at LessConf this weekend, and I watched a handful of speakers get up on the stage and talk about how they built 6 and 7 figure companies.

Guess what, not a single one of them was selling ebooks. They were, as Seth Godin says, selling Art.

When I look around my Twitter stream, it seems like most of what I see is not Art.

I see prophets trying to teach you how to be a prophet. Each following a system, and trying their hardest not to deviate from that system.

Just follow the rules, use marketing speak, double the price after a week, take their money, and smile.

What I see is

Step 1. Create product overnight

Step 2. Take money

Step 3. Repeat

What’s Missing?

The Customer.

All this talk of marketing strategies and building alliances (i.e. social whoring) completely disregards the fact that if you aren’t improving the lives of your customer, then you haven’t accomplished anything.

Does scarcity work? Yes, but does it send the message you want to send?

Does recruiting a team of A-Listers to pimp your shit work? Yes, but that product better be kick-ass awesome.

I’m a firm believer that in building a product driven business instead of a marketing driven business.

Steve Martin said “Be so good that they can’t ignore you,” and he’s so spot on that he could launch a rocket attack with that one.

If you want to build lasting success in this business, or in any business, then you need to remember that it’s not your buddies or your marketing that is going to keep you afloat 10 years from now.

No, it’s the customer, and the story that you tell when interacting with that customer.

Focus on what you can control

We’re sending the wrong message. In fact, CJ and I talked at length about that this morning.

Instead of focusing on the things we can control, such as our products and customer experience, we learn that we should focus on the pitch.

In all this talk of influencing the influencers, we start to play a dirty game of “look at me,” which is one that ends up in bitter disappointment.

Why?

Well, when trying to compete in a popularity contest, someone is always going to get left behind, and at that point you have two choices:

a. Step up the sucking up
b. Quit

In both of those cases, you leave the customer out.

Again, wrong answer.

Here’s an interesting fact.

Over the past two days, I’ve been acting like a degenerate asshole on Twitter. I even told people to unfollow me.

I called people out in my podcast, and threw down the gauntlet.

Do you know what happened?

I gained followers and blog subscribers.

How does that even make sense?

I’ll tell you. It’s because people are craving real and in many cases, are caught up living a lie.

It’s like Stepford Wives…everyone else is smiling, so maybe I’ll just keep smiling.

But really, all they want is for you to make a difference.

How do you do it?

Step 1: Stand on your own.

Be you, and don’t apologize for it.

Step 2: Be remarkable. Don’t ask for permission, just do it.

Not sure how to be remarkable? Go back to step 1. The answer lies there.

Step 3: Make art, and treat your customers like royalty.

One of my favorite parts from LessConf was listening to Clay Hebert talk about the fact that everyone says they are going to do something, or should do something, but only 1 actually does it.

If you have an idea, don’t wait for others to tell you it’s OK. Just do it.

Want to be a painter? Then paint, and kick ass doing it.

Want to create the most amazing vegetable garden in the world? Do it.

Great ideas are a dime a dozen. People to execute them are priceless.

Anyone can write an ebook to teach people how to take advantage of someone, but only you can write one about why you shouldn’t.

There’s the easy road, then there’s the one less traveled.

You know which one to take.

My Own Contribution

I never wanted to be a cheerleader or a preacher, but as I move further from clients and closer to products, I end up doing just that.

I like being able to work with hundreds of people at once, but I also feel compelled to get back to the basics and work with you 1 on 1.

I want to get down in the trenches and talk with people about their business.

I want to help people overcome obstacles…directly, and with extreme prejudice.

Even though I do some consulting, I don’t offer it in a way that makes sense to everyone.

I want that to change.

For the next several months, I’m going to open up 3-5 weekly consulting slots so that I can help you make a difference.

There’s nothing quite as rewarding as talking to you on Skype and kicking some ass together.

So, if you’re interested, I’m going to offer 30 minute and 60 minute consulting sessions.

Just you, me, and your business.

We can do 30 minutes for 60 bucks, or 60 minutes for $90 bucks.

If you’re interested, send me an email and we’ll set something up.

Talk soon

Image Credit

Would You Sell Your Soul for Success? is a post from: Nathan Hangen

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