Every so often I come across something brilliant that needs to be shared. Download this, read and learn, print it and wear it, but whatever you do, don’t pass it over…don’t tell yourself, “Oh, I’ll download it later,” because you won’t; just DO IT NOW and thank me later!

Chris Guillebeau’s 279 Days to Overnight Success:
http://chrisguillebeau.com/3×5/overnight-success

There are three reasons why I find this information so incredibly important:

1. I have been trying to sort out how to organize my schedule (i.e. life) around the new role of being a successful writer and social media expert. This information clearly spells out many of the “How To’s” and should help you get there faster.
2. Chris is a trusted source; I know from meeting him and spending time writing back and forth online that he is true to his word. He is NOT an egomaniac, only wanting an audience to self promote and sell, sell, sell—as many people in my field are (and I not so secretly loathe).
3. The steps are doable. Many times when I read a How To Download, I am overwhelmed and conclude that there is no way to pull it off. With this info, you are sure to get where you need and the reason WHY I’M PASSING IT ON is because I AM DOING IT, Too!

I have done my best to pull featured quotes and info from the download, but you will be best served to go through the original and pull out your own gems. Block quotes are taken directly from his article and the rest of the information I have pulled together to help you determine how to fit it into your schedule and actualize your road to success…

“For me, I relate money to happiness and freedom. Right now I spend
about 10% of my time on activities that are directly related to generating
income. The other 90% of the time I’m writing, connecting with cool
people, traveling the world, and drinking coffee.”

How did Chris get there?  By Taking Daily Action and writing to a Specific Audience.

Step 1: Determine Your Niche Market, Writing Topics, and What They Care About

Niche and Grow Rich—Part of Going Global is determining a Niche, or a specific audience that you can focus your time and attention to. Readers will immediately know if they identify with your information, or they will move on. This is why it is so important to pick who your audience is and make specific and direct posts.
Writing Means Nothing if You Have No Readers—Determine a few themes that your audience will care about and try to keep your posts specific to those topics. For example, in my blog, I focus mainly on Streamlining Your Business, Travel, Living Your Ideal Lifestyle, and Spiritual and Personal Growth. Chris recommends making sure the reader gets what they want by providing solutions.

“I try to think of only a few individual people and pretend I’m writing directly to them.”

What Do Your Readers Care About? Take time to interact with your readers to see if you are answering their basic questions of Why, What, and How. This ensures buy in, understanding, and steps towards a solution.

Step 2: Building Writing and Follow-up Into Your Schedule

I know as a business owner that your first concern is time. I have outlined some of the areas that Chris focuses on and recommend you actually BUILD TIMESLOTS INTO YOUR CALENDAR to make this happen.
When to Write—Chris writes daily. I really admire this philosophy and am going to work it into my schedule. Currently, I have been using the style of “Information Camel” where I think and muse on a topic for, um, ever, then I sit down and write four articles at once. I like the idea of building writing into a daily routine because it means you are taking yourself seriously as a writer.

How Much & How Often—On average, he writes about 1,000 words per day. This takes me about an hour and a half without editing, formatting, or tweaking in Word Press. All told, one blog post (for me) probably runs about 2.5 hours. Add an additional hour if research is involved. Chris posts two or three blogs per week. These also go out to subscribers through email or RSS feeds.
Following Up with Readers—I’m guilty of not doing this and it will change Now  Chris spends about two hours a day building and maintaining relationships online. Part of this is by reading other sites, welcoming new people, connecting and responding to other people. I love this one, and it is true:

He Answers Every Email.

Step 3: Growing Readership Through Social Networking and Marketing

Leveraging Social Networking—Many business owners I talk to are confused by social networking and it’s purpose. Generally speaking (and as a newcomer, myself) I see it as a great way to reach out to your niche audience by giving information, sharing tips, and connecting with people you otherwise would not have met.

” I do this mostly through Twitter, LinkedIn, site comments, 100+ emails a day, and occasional phone calls and in-person meetings
Writing my affiliates to discuss their marketing efforts
Building relationships with journalists — perhaps through Peter Shankman’s
Help a Reporter Out service or people I already know”

Chris’ Five Marketing Actions—

Almost every day, I try to take five actions that will help promote myself, promote a product, or otherwise bring in new readers.
…a selection of actions could include:

1. Publishing a “Daily Ass-Kicking,” passing on good information

2. Connecting with people through Twitter

3. Sending out review copies of my products and manifestos

4. Reaching out to other experts, colleagues, and readers

5. Scheduling and outlining a product launch

Step 4: Products and Final Thoughts

There is a good deal of information in the article about product creation, management, and (my favorite) promoting and releasing FREE INFORMATION. Chris suggests eJunkie, PayPall and using a “No Sell Philosophy.”  I love this approach… honest and not pushy, at all…

…actually I have nothing to sell to you. Sorry. I do have a few products on my site, and you can take a look if something suits you. I also have an anti-marketing policy, which means that you should keep your money unless you have a compelling reason to buy something from me.

Final Thoughts and Recommendations—As a business owner, consultant, and “Entrepreneur- Turns- Blog-o-preneur”, I have a few recommendations that will help you work these seemingly daunting ‘to-do’s’ into your schedule. If you were following the math of about how much time it takes to go this route, I added up approximately 22 hours/ week. This is only the writing, posting, follow-up, and some social networking. I would add more time if you are just starting to grow your readership, create products and learn new technology. With that, I’d like to answer your Inevitable Question:

“HOW AM I GOING TO FIT THIS INTO MY SCHEDULE?!?!?”

• Put new time blocks into your schedule for: writing, editing/posting, social networking, follow-up and outreach. I like to lump my tasks together so I can be efficient and stay in the same mode. For example, I write several articles at a time, post and schedule them all at once, and spend separate blocks of time on networking sites.
• Set a goal for How Much and How Often you want to write. Currently, mine is once per week until my readership grows.
• Set a Goal to Increase Your Readership through Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media sites. I get a lot of comments by posting my blog links to Facebook. You can integrate and update all of these tools at once by using www.Ping.fm.
• Reach out to your contacts to Find Opportunities to Write and Publish your articles. You can write on other blog sites, contact journalists, and write to reporters. Helpful links can be found on the download.
• If your goal is go create a product (Book, eBook, or Workbook) I recommend spending time BEFORE you start to write and come up with a detailed outline for your writing topics. I advise my clients to have 10-12 topics and then bullet point 3 or 4 subtopics below. Each of the subtopics can become a blog post and it will help you immensely to have this organized for compiling, tagging, and finalizing your product. I am in the final stages of my products and know it would have taken a very long time to generate my work another way. BTW: stay tuned for my eBook releases:

Return on Life: Reclaim Your Business and Your Life
Spiritually Rich: Building a Business to Help Others

…and my Book and Workbook are coming soon, too!!

Be in touch if you need help with any of this and definitely check out and subscribe to Chris’ site. For now, I’ll end wit a quote I pulled from his article:

“Be yourself, because everyone else is already taken.” –Oscar Wilde

Got Questions or Comments? Don’t be shy, post ‘em below!!

Thomas More published this book in 1516. Remarkably, he has produced such a timeless piece of work that we can learn even today from the society that he describes in Utopia (or, no-place). Because his ideas are outside of the box and very much in alignment with many factors I agree with wholeheartedly, I am going to describe briefly my favorite parts of Utopia….

Utopia

More’s story begins when he and his friend Peter come across the most interesting worldly character: Raphael Nonsenso. After engaging in pleasantries, Raphael begins to go into a long account about his travels and experiences all around the world. Naturally, he had seen many cultures and could assimilate what worked in various societies and what did not. Many societies were based on money, power, and greed and because of this he saw a huge dichotomy between the rich and the poor. Countries focused on growing and taking over land and vast territories by force creating wars, death and economic hardship. These societies had many faults—all of them but one: Utopia.

Raphael had spent years in Utopia after discovering it. It was, in fact, the only sustainable culture and community he had ever seen. Not only were the people well educated and advanced, but they loved learning and seemed to be the happiest people he had ever encountered. How could a society be so fulfilled and the people so incredibly happy? Here are some of their secrets:

• Utopia functions as a whole—all goods and services are made and distributed freely to families as needed.
• Their society and GDP was not compromised by having a fashion or entertainment industries.
• Land is equally distributed & maintained. There is no ‘cost’ for property, it is evenly distributed in small villages or compounds.
• Money is unnecessary because the town’s labor all goes towards the common good of providing ONLY what is necessary.
• Because less consumables are needed, there is less work that the overall population must do. (Much of this labor is cut out because they do not need to mass produce clothing, electronics, or such things.)

“They never force people to work unnecessarily, for the main purpose of their whole economy is to give each person as much time free from physical drudgery as the needs of the community will allow, so that he can cultivate his mind—which they regard as the secret of a happy life” (p. 59).

• The people are taught detachment when it comes to material goods and signs of wealth. In fact, it is instead a sign of something dreadful or even childish to display such garishness. Toilets are made of solid gold and those that have broken the law and become slaves wear huge chains of gold and gold jewelry. Sometimes children will wear gemstones but as they grow older they realize these are childish and give them away to the ‘babies’.
• Utopians believe in taking care of oneself and creating your own happiness. They consider it their right to enjoy life and seek out pleasure (as long as it does not hurt them or anyone else).

  Since their basic needs are taken care of (food, shelter, water, community) one can focus more on serving others.

“Nobody owns anything, but everyone is rich—for what greater wealth can there be than cheerfulness, peace of mind, and freedom from anxiety?” (p. 110).

The location of Utopia is unknown, or else I would surely try to find it. But, if you decide to take on some of the timeless lessons displayed in this book, such as: not putting money towards fashion or entertainment, letting go of some of your personal property, working towards the common good of society, reducing your spending thereby reducing your work, detaching from material goods and signs of wealth, cultivating joy, pleasure and happiness, and serving others—my guess is that you may find yourself in Utopia when you are not even looking for it.

“Mai Pen Rai” is elusive in its meaning and description and can be understood to mean any of the following: it’s OK, it doesn’t matter, no worries, or it is what it is. This gentle acceptance of life that the Thais emit has made for a country that attracts travelers from around the world. Thailand is known as “The Kingdom” and “The Land of Smiles” and the signs of happiness are everywhere here. I had forgotten what it was like to see people so genuinely relaxed and happy. I hear people whistling, singing, and merrily humming to themselves as they go about their day. Having a tonal language, the words are literally sung here, as well. People in Thailand are not just happy individually, they do something that many western cultures have forgotten, they share. Meals are shared, work is done in groups, and there is comradery instead of competition.

When something is out of stock, or has stopped working, it is “finished”. Your hamburger might be as finished as your internet service, and there is no telling when or why. The Thais do not trouble themselves with the explanation or trying to make unknown guesses of remedying the situation into the unknown future. Initially, I was annoyed by this, but then I came to appreciate the brilliance of the statement. When flashed a smile and told, “finished”, I have no unrealistic expectations to put in place. I no longer have to go through the mental crisis of trying to figure something out that I do not have the answers to. I can just accept it and relax.

Relaxation is built into the Thai society. Restaurants and resorts have names like The Easy Room, Come Sea; Let’s Relax, and you will frequently see people sleeping on the job. The streets are dotted with signs for massage and reflexology and posters remind you to “Enjoy Unlimited in Your Life“. Even my phone texts me messages from Mr. Happy and reminds me emphatically when I refill my calling card, “Make sure every day is HAPPY and don’t forget to bring your HAPPINESS with you Everywhere!”

Westerners that have made Thailand their home all have the same story: “I was tired of the grind, and the stress.” After being here for just over two months now, I am finally starting to unwind from all the years of stress. I don’t even think I realized the amount of constant pressure I was holding onto until I got away. I can now see it in my friends. All of my friends and colleagues first response to a ‘How are you’ in an email or IM responded with “BUSY”. I would hear only of how busy they were, or how much work they had to do. And even though I am no longer there, I have still been feeling the pressure of needing to produce at lightning speed. My mind has a running audio loop of “I need to get my website updated; I still haven’t posted that blog; I need to figure out my internet”.

I also want to see the country at lightening speed. My brain has yet to register the fact that I am living here. I still have the mentality of a speed traveler, trying to see the whole country in couple of weeks. Operating on overdrive and having the mentality of constantly trying to produce things runs deep in my psyche. But, really, what good does it do?
After being exposed to the “Mai Pen Rai” society, I have learned that the bulk of these items circling in my head really don’t need to happen right now. It is an unnecessary stress built up from years of trying to “push through life.” I think because many of us don’t enjoy a task, or have so many tasks to do, we believe, “If I could just get this thing done, then I would be able to _____ (insert: relax, enjoy, have the life I’ve always wanted). And just because everyone else around us is playing the same game, we choose to participate. But, the reality is, this is simply a choice.

I’m convinced at this point that the Thai culture was blessed by their “Mai Pen Rai” attitude. They are relaxed enough to take a midday nap. They are smiling when you look at them because they aren’t thinking of the eighty-million other places they ‘need’ to be. They are working together. They are enjoying their days, as well as their moments. The culture, in essence, is present.

So when you find yourself racing around, trying to swim upstream, or generally trying to fight the way of the world, remember the phrase, “Mai Pen Rai”, and just let yourself be “finished’.

Our first mini-view comes from Chris Guillebeau, author of the blog ‘The Art of Nonconformity’ and creator of the following products:

• Create Your Own Freedom: Break Out of the 9-5

• Fly More: Spend (Much) Less

• Become Your Own Travel Ninja: Go Anywhere, Anytime

At the time of this posting, Chris has visited 103 of 197 countries. We were lucky enough to meet up with Chris on his way thorough Bangkok. It was a wonderful evening of sharing ideas, thoughts, and inspiration about leading an ‘alternative lifestyle’. I hope you enjoy the questions and comments below and feel free to get in touch with Chris, details below.

How did you know you didn’t fit in to conventional society?

I tried to fit in but never felt comfortable. I always had the feeling that “there must be more out there.” Everyone agrees that life is short, but most people don’t take actions that reflect that belief. I wanted to join the club of people who are not only unsatisfied with the status quo but also brave enough to step out and do something about it.

What do you currently do & please describe a brief roadmap of the haphazard leaps of faith that got you here today…

I am a writer, world traveler, and social entrepreneur. I’m very fortunate that most days of my life, I pretty much do whatever I want. I work hard (30+ hours a week wherever I am) but on projects that matter to me, not things I do for a job. There have been many pitfalls along the way – I have to deal with insecurity and depression from time to time – but I know I’m doing the right thing. I’m glad so many other people are enjoying the journey as well.

Your most life changing travel place & why?

I don’t have just one place, but definitely the four years I spent in West Africa served as the foundation for my worldview.

Encouraging words you would pass on to readers: If you could have had someone there when you took the leap of faith, what would you have needed to hear the most?

Don’t be afraid. You don’t have to live your life the way other people expect you to.

Get In Touch With Chris…

chris.guillebeau@gmail.com

http://chrisguillebeau.com/3×5

http://www.twitter.com/chrisguillebeau

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… Brooke & Cody