In the 12 months I have been making things and helping people I have noticed the three following things

1. That many MANY people see the financial storm clouds on their horizon (or thumping rain down on their heads) and are feeling compelled to make changes to their circumstances. For some it is setting themselves up like I did and leaving the corporate world for a simpler more economical life, for others it’s making a few dollars on the side just to tide them through the “crisis”, and others want to go the whole entrepreneur/start-up hog.  Things aren’t going to get better soon so these people are looking to jump before they are pushed (smart people!)

2.  That those financial storm clouds are affecting everyone and so doing something “on the side” is no longer seen as being disloyal, or downright crazy. I remember in the recession of the late 70′s my father making rocking horses in the garage as his bit on the side (he worked full time as a fitter and turner at a chocolate factory – BEST JOB IN THE WORLD – we got all the badly wrapped ones!) , today people make websites about rocking horses… or apps about rocking horses…or they make rocking horses in the garage. No one is batting an eyelid, you gotta do what you gotta do, and it’s never been easier to do it.

3. That technology has made it possible to live and work just about anywhere (even in the middle of the bush like I am). Not only that…that it is quite natural and normal to pull out some kind of computing device hop onto the internet and go bat-shit crazy pushing work out – anywhere, any time.  Hand held technology has opened so many opportunities out there. Just think, the “big thing” of 2012 isn’t even in existence yet…mind blowing!

There’s a lot of people wanting to do their bit on the side, or leave the corporate grind like I did (and I have known many of them over the years) that just can’t seem to get it together. I got it together, I know what it takes to get it together. I know how to help people get it together.  I am good at helping people get it together…in fact I am GREAT at helping people get it together. Last year I help quite a few people get it together.

What sets me apart from some of the so called “mentors” out there?  I don’t “leverage” my time with mentorees by running group webinars or sessions.  We have all seen how that works within the education system. People are paying thousands of dollars for this kind of disrespect. Just imagine your doctor dragging you into a room with a bunch of others to cure you… that’s what is happening with that kind of group mentor. My time and attention is with my mentoree, and only my mentoree.

I don’t charge enormous amounts for my time (despite being told that this is what I must do by just about everyone). Again this is all about my mentorees, not about making money. I have been trained by two Olympians in my life and neither of them charged more than a few dollars per session. Why? Because they were in it to help others improve, not to line their pockets. I serve in the same capacity.

Lastly, I don’t just take anyone.  Because I don’t “leverage” my time, I have only have so many hours in a day to help you.  I only take those I know are going to be a good fit and who are going to work with me, not against me. You and I may not be right for each other, that’s fine. Like I said I only want the ones that are going to work, and work with me.

I have two open spots to start the year off but you need to apply quickly (and of course I only take people who are capable of that kind of action because this whole post is aimed at getting the right people by making them do the things they will need to do to succeed).

You have until January 6th to click the button and fill in the form. Too late? Too bad.

POSITIONS HAVE BEEN FILLED – YOU ARE NOW WELCOME TO PUT YOUR NAME ON THE WAITING LIST

Apply NOW!

Click to apply

The machine has no soul, and while it makes (almost) identical copies of what the artist made, it can never create on it’s own.

The machine is the favourite of the company that owns it

The machine fits well into the binary world of 1 and 0, right and wrong, good and bad as it never varies in its output unless it is faulty

The machine uses instructions, tips, processes to output

The machine is reliable but unseen and uncelebrated

The animal creates when the urge takes it

The animal is ruled by cycles that it can barely perceive, let alone understand

The animal is all emotion

The animal scares those that see it as it is unpredictable

The animal uses the direction of the wind, the warmth of the sun and smell of the prey to excite it

The animal is never the same from one moment to the next, nor is it’s output

The animal is revered, worshipped and shunned

or both

Bid early bid often. No tyre kickers. Grab a bargainnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

Here’s the sale criteria

- NO RESERVE – highest bid wins – if you are the only bidder and bid $1 then you win – simple

- sale closes 5pm 16th September Coonabarabran time

- offers are to be made via emailing me at domainsale at reallylongurl dot com

- these are to be sold as one lot – no exceptions

- I will invoice you via PayPal for the agreed amount

- I will push these to your GoDaddy account as soon as payment is cleared

- if you want the content on the site I will zip it up and upload for you to download (but it’s crap…really)

- if you are outbid I will notify you via email. If people start doing the “leave bid to last minute” thing then I reserve the right to continue till you tap out or you don’t answer email within 1 hour of me sending it.

- domain list

I’ll update the page with the current highest bid so keep coming back if you are interested in buying

Update: Closed and Sold!

Basically it comes down to me ratcheting up the activities that got me to where I am today. Refining what I already know and and throwing myself willingly into the open maw of the volcano of the unknown and really-truly trusting in myself. Up till now I have still been flying with what I consider a safety net and I want to try it with the bare hard ground below me. Time to go hard-er.

The things that make me wet…things like RISK, OUT OF MY DEPTH ENDEAVOURS, STEEP LEARNING CURVE… these are part of what I consider “fun” (even if at the time they are terrifying..), and any hope of moving to the country for the quiet life was just me fooling myself. Where extreme sports people get their kicks from crazy dangerous type things…I get mine from setting goals then going after them …hard. Sometimes I wonder if it is healthy to be like this…and then I remind myself I will be dead a long time and I want my kids and grand-kids to see that accomplishing things really is all about action and not about throwing your power around.

Over the last 2 days I have been working on the “plan” for my next 5-7 years.  I have one more day of planning to bring some of those down to monthly goals but I have the skeletons of where I want to go. Just like I did with quitting my job and moving to the country I am putting these goals out there publicly for accountability and proof that “I told you so”.

Not all of my goals are listed below, some are personal commitments to my children and that’s between me and them. But the rest?…well here are the “end” goals…the ones before I set the counter back to zero in that area and start on the new

• On or before December 1 2013 I shall have completed writing 3rd book in youth fantasy series
• On or Before December 1 2015 (my 50th birthday) I shall run a marathon under 4 hours
• On or before December 1 2018 I shall have set up a $1 million foundation to help young women entrepreneurs into the market
• On of before December 1 2018 I shall have a net worth of $5 Million+

To do these things I will be doubling down (or more) my current efforts. I know I have not reached anywhere near my capacity for work (or anything really!) and I want to see what it is like to redline with the pedal to the metal with full engagement. This means that some of the activities that I currently enjoy will be modified or discarded….no more Words With Friends or Hanging With Friends during the day, just the move before bed time…no more push notifications….email once a day at a given time. Ta-ta to social media unless it is business related.. everything that is extraneous to my efforts is to be sold or let expire. This also means curbing my inner desire to share interesting stories, and read media feeds about things outside of my interests…that will be a hard habit to break. No more blog commenting, forum moderation, answering questions at onStartups or Quora. It’s time to be really into me and my efforts – selfish? you betcha but I HAVE to know how far this rabbit hole goes.

So to most people I will be gone, but I do hope, not forgotten. I will be there and active in my business places and for sure I will be posting here as I tick off goals on the way to my major goals (all goals have yearly goals).  The 6 month mourning period for my old life is well and truly over now and it’s time to find out what I am REALLY made of.

To rectify this I have linked all of the books on Amazon, and if you feel like sending me a present then feel free to select one at random in Kindle version (if available) or paperback and send to allisonr at bigpond dot net dot au and I shall receive it via the magic of the Whispernet. I shall also thank you profusely and link liberally to your nominate website or Google+/Twitter page…or where ever.

It works for porn stars, why wouldn’t it work for me?

“It’s really your job to have mind-blowing, irresponsible, condomless sex with whatever idea it is you’re writing about at the time.” Lady GaGa

You know what pisses me off? The idea that emulating the exact process that others use to be creative will somehow magically transform the emulator into an artist themselves. BULLLLLLLLLLSHIT!

Think of all the MILLIONS of little kids playing their violins Suzuki method and being squeezed out of that sausage maker as a small being that can make a violin work, but have no feeling about whatever it is they are playing. Just because you can paint-by-numbers a Michaelangelo painting, doesn’t mean there’s one drop of fucking talent in you.

I am ALL FOR process, don’t get me wrong. Process is GREAT for churning out the same shit day after day…that’s what process is all about. You need process to do the secondary work, the back office stuff, the getting-you-through-the-day tasks that you don’t feel or care for.

But to be different, unique, spell binding, captivating, smarter-than-your-average-bear you need to DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY. You need to let your guard down and your senses go. You don’t need to do the drink-drugs thing to squash your inhibitions but you sure-as-fuck need to figure out a way to drop all of your NICENESS and roll in the mud Woodstock style. Tap your talent, not your to-do list!

Those that succeed have a glossy outer veneer or a jaggy crystal encrusted exterior created from their insides. That’s why we know their names!  We acknowledge them as different, we put them on pedestals and throw our damp knickers at them…have you every wondered why???

I wonder how many people are in LUST with the work they create.  Talent is getting that LUST from inside you and out to the audience and igniting their genitals (and your brain is a HUGE sex organ). Most of what I see is timid as a mouse and just as grey. Who wants to have sex with a mouse? (apart from Richard Gere haha that was a joke)

Frankly I don’t see many of my friends and peers having sex in public and I am disappointed. That shit turns me on and there’s plenty like me that get their jollies playing stacks-on with hot, sweaty, crazily creative people. I have started seeking out people that are this way – staring wide-eyed and openly admiring how they get their shit out there with no prophylactic support and guess what? There are people out there that LAP THAT SHIT UP.  There’s a whole bunch of companies and people that are loud, opinionated, caring and not playing it safe who are selling truckloads to eager, lusting customers. I think you can see which direction I am heading in yeah?

It is possible in our business to be an artist; totally absolutely, you can be…but I have never ever seen one artist that has not delved into their inner places to bring out something of themselves and hold it up for the delight of everyone one who eats/sees/hears/feels it. That stuff is what sets the leaders from the followers. The leaders hoist aloft their beating hearts and dare you to shoot arrows into it. The followers follow the process and expect to be able to shit happy diamonds first time/every time because that that’s what they are promised. Sad.

I hope post inspires just one person I know to throw off their clothes and paint tribal symbols on their face and dance around a fire with me (metaphorically of course) . You are NOT ALONE, and you are free to leave the herd at any time and join me.

This last month I have been moving from one level of capability to the next level and I have started again doing exactly the opposite of what I have done in the past. In the last week I have been reaching out to help people rather than waiting for them to come to me, looking to lead rather than get answers from somewhere else, and to stop writing like I am still creating words for IBM and letting my personality show through (more than it ever has before).

I have the utmost confidence that not only will money come to me while I am being me, but that I will be so much happier not having to be concerned about what people think.

This happily coincides with the kick-off of my next app development project at AppShipper and I will be doing and saying what needs to be said to get the project done, not what I think will keep my customers passively chewing cud like fat pampered cows. I want to work with people who are gung-fucking-ho about kicking arse in the app development world, and if that means 2 customers instead of 20 so be it. They will get the best of training and I will have a shit-ton of fun.

So au revoir to those of you who are offended by bad language and a strong female personality. I still love you whatever you choose <3

Rock on!

That is, I have a foolscap notebook that I have ruled into 3 columns. The first column is Me.  In the ME column I put all the changes and to-do’s I am am going to do on myself. Losing weight was in the Me column, that’s been replaced now with reduce the mummy-tummy and discover my long-lost abs. Improve relationships, catch up with friends and relatives sit in the me column. Develop a specific habit or learn a certain skill also goes in there. Each time I succeed to my satisfaction then a tick goes next to the notation.

The next column is the Business column. This will have all the things that I want or need to do to improve my business. There’s a lot of content creation type notations in that one at the moment…lot’s and lot’s of content. There’s also lists of tasks that I want to hand over to other people to do. While I want to record a podcast, I don’t want to produce it, so finding someone who can do that is on the list. Each task is measured for whether it takes me towards my business goals or not; if it doesn’t push me forward then it doesn’t go on the list. Pretty simple.

The last column is the House column, because not everything I need to do is business related (even though it feels like it some days). The house column has the largest amount of things in it, but it does have things that I can’t do (as opposed to the “don’t want to” do in business column). I can’t plumb in a new kitchen, but it will need doing sooner or later. Building a compost heap, saving the kitchen grey water somewhere  and weeding the rockery is in there as well.

Listing the things I want, and need, to do gets them out of my head and allows my mind (which is always trying to close those open thought loops) to tick off that they are on the completion production line. If it goes on the list it gets done, and so my brain can let it go and work on other things. It took a while for the habit to solidify, while I was working at IBM I had a whiteboard that for 2 years had two words on it and nothing else…it said “Organise bowling” – which I had done but not rubbed off the board. No wonder my brain didn’t trust that things written down would get done, always ALWAYS tick it off when completed.

Lastly is the 20 minute constraints thing.  For the things that I know I have to do, but don’t really want to, I have found that 20 minutes works for me to make sure it gets done. I can do anything…for 20 minutes at a time. 20 minutes of vigorous exercise? No problem. Write 750 new words of the book? Absolutely, I can do that in 18!. Dig a garden bed? Sure, for 20 minutes. Housework? 20 minutes a day is all it needs! I do these kind of things after I have stopped working, like after meals, or after a shower so I don’t create resentment against having to do it when I could be working on something else.

So that’s how I did it…3 columns and 20 minutes…

I did a fair bit of driving over the last week. 6 hours to my old home from my new home, then all over town for 4 days, then 6 hours back. In that time I listened to a bunch of podcasts and some audio books, but in the back of my mind I was ruminating over where I wanted to take myself for the next 6 months. Stray information from those podcasts/books allowed me to see and understand some of the “old thinking” that was still hanging around and allow me to start planning my next moves. In fact, I was so motivated and excited about what I was going to do that i had to keep slowing myself down while driving because I kept creeping up to 20/30km over the speed limit!

Epiphany #1

The vast majority of the world are consumers; that is – they are trained to think that everything will come to them if they follow the rules (get a job, save money, buy real estate, retire and claim your benefits during the small amount of time you have left). They don’t see the point in producing, because consuming is where it’s at, the TV says so. Producing is effort, and there’s no need to expend effort…if you play by the rules…. so the TV says. Just ignore the fact that most people will retire on or below the poverty line in western countries.

Consumers are pessimists, they live with the knowledge the only choices they have are shrinking and there is no certainty working for someone else, no matter who that is.

Producers can clearly see that playing by the rules is a form of slavery, and that living means more than being in bondage in exchange for ease. Producers are aware that consuming can become a bad habit, a habit that can get in the way of producing. Producers know that the “resistance” they feel when producing, is the brain trying to return to that fat-cow-grazing-on-grass-consuming-lifestyle.

Producers create wealth out of thin air and are eternal optimists because they see opportunities everywhere.

I wish I had been able to put these thoughts into words when my children were growing up so I could make them see these things, instead of overtly trumpeting the consumer line – finish school (even though I never did) – get a job (even though I hated it) – save money and retire (even though I bailed out and started my own business).

Epiphany #2

“Profit is what happens when you do everything else right” Yvon Chouinard . Don’t focus on the profit, focus on getting everything else right. So simple…so FREEING

Epiphany #3

I must produce more. The more I produce, the more feedback I get, the better I get. And that helps getting things right…

Here is what I consumed in the last week, not all are fabulous, but most gave me something to think about. If I can’t produce because I am driving then I consume to improve my production [my new motto]

Podcasts

The Advanced Selling Podcast

Back To Work

Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders

The Foolish Adventure

HBR IdeaCast

Internet Marketing Speed Blog Podcast

PreneurCast

The Skeptic Zone

Small Business Big Marketing

This Week In Startups

WNYC’s Radiolab

AudioBooks (affiliate links)

 The Art of Profitability

Reality Is Broken

Stirring it Up

Tell to Win, Connect, Persuade

Win Your Case

Kindle eBook

Millionaire Fastlane 

This motivation to writing this post came from listening to Dan Benjamin and Merlin Mann speaking yesterday on the Back To Work podcast about whether it is possible to give something 100% attention, say to a new enterprise, while working in a job.  At around the 50 minute mark Dan is talking about how he believes he succeeded in creating 5by5 is because of the timing. How if he had started even “a month before” he may have failed….and as he turns back to Merlin for his opinion you can hear that Merlin is thinking long and hard about what Dan just said, you can hear the gears grinding in his head; and I think that Merlin disagrees. I certainly do.

As I just wrote in a response to Ed Dale on Google+

No! timing is just when it happens.. There isn’t some magical “time and place” where it will happen no matter what- “time and place” is just where you happen to be after you have been putting the work in to make it happen.

Dragging this back to the post title, if you haven’t actually done these things then it’s hard to imagine that they can actually be done. Just like living with an incurable disease. If you haven’t REALLY had to work two jobs, moonlighting your passion so to speak, then it must seem impossible that you could improve, progress and get to the jumping off point.  On behalf of those of us that did work a job and work on the “enterprise” in the time left over (and I consider that i did it for years and years) I say to you Dan Benjamin, you are wrong.  The only thing you don’t put in 100% is 24 hours a day, but if you are using all the time you have then that’s still 100% effort!

I am not going to claim that working your passion 50 or 100% of the time will guarantee success. Nothing guarantees success. But don’t tell people they might as well not even START because they will be doing a half arsed job and that’s not good enough – so NOT true.

If you want to do this crazy stuff, then do it, for how ever many hours you have.

p.s. Ed was talking about an article about the advice John Mayer had given the kids at Berklee and it iis really worth reading if you are one of the ones that want to make it for your art or enterprise . Basically feel the SUCK but do it anyway