Premise Review

One of the key features to any online business is a landing page that converts. Even if your traffic is low a high converting landing page can give you the possible income to outsource, expand and make your presence online known. I thin this is so important that I purchased Premise – the ultimate plugin for easy landings pages and what follows is a Premise review so that you can have a better understanding of this plugin and what it can do for you. Lets get started.

Premise review

Made by Copyblogger you automatically know that this isn’t just some shitty plugin from the dark side of the internet. Every Copyblogger product is amazing. I know I use them all. When I found out that Copyblogger was making a plugin that makes landing pages easy without a single need to touch a line of code. I was sold, I purchased it immediately and I have never regretted parting with the $165 for the unlimited package. Lets take a look at the plugin and what it can do.

When you install and activate your Premise plugin and add your unique API key you’ll get two sections appear in your wordpress menu on the left hand side. The landing pages option is simply to look at the landing pages you have made so you can edit, delete them etc.

Premise also gives the option of adding a new landing page from this section. You have 8 different types of landing pages to choose from:

• Sales page
• Content landing page
• Pricing
• Opt -in
• Video
• Tab Scroller
• Thank you
• Social Share

Premise-review

For this Premise review I’ll pick the sale page and the social share to show you what’s inside.

Sales page

With the ability to create an online business in your bed it’s never been easier to create a e-book and sell it to try and create some sort of passive income. If you’re doing this then a well thought out  and tested sales page will no doubt increase your sales. Never written copy before? Me neither which is why I love Premise’s sample copy option. It’s like being spoon-fed what to say for a top sales landing page.

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Very cool eh! This copy goes on and on giving you amazing advice on what to include in your copy.

Social share

Want people to share a page via Facebook or Twitter before they get to see the content? Premise can do it.

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Premise Features

Copywriting assistance

A neat little feature which I love is as you make your landing page Premise gives you the option on the right hand side of WordPress for copywriting assistance. Whatever the purpose for your landing page, Premise has you covered in terms of copywriting advice. As you click the desired page a pop up will appear with advice on how best to approach the copy of your landing page.

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Unbelievable graphics library

At present Premise has 1,119 custom landing page graphics ready for you to use.

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Oh, the quality is also top notch. Here are a few examples:

Just a reminder that there’s currently 1,119 custom landing page graphics for use now. With the Premise unlimited package this will aslo increase (no brainer).

Easy landing page design options

Remember there were two options when you activated the plugin? The landing page option allowed you to create a landing page for 8 different options. The Premise button below this is where you configure all the information that you need such as your API key, Aweber API key, Mailchimp API key and many more. You can also add scripts to your header or footer. So you could add a tracking script such as Google Analytics to your landing page to discover how well it’s doing in the search engines or use that to generate new keywords for your landing page. The options are endless.

In this section you’ll find the design options allowing you to design the landing page and also save the style for future use.

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Each section has easy to pick design options – no coding needed 

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Fully SEO optimised

Premise gives you the option to fully customise your SEO settings for each landing page giving you more flexibility in the search engines.

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Premise Showcase

Take a look at some of the best landing pages on the net made with Premise.

Premise Pricing 

Which one is right for you? 

You have two options, Starter pack $85 or ultimate pack for $165 both are a one time fee.

I purchased the ultimate pack for one simple reason. I wanted continuous updates from the Premise team. As technology changes I wanted advice I trusted on how to use these changes to adapt my landing pages. Simple. The graphics library was also a key for me, I have multiple websites and using the Premise API key I can use Premise on all my sites giving me instant access to custom graphics to help the design of my websites and also highlight any promotions/sign up forms that I want to highlight on my websites. I think the ultimate package is right for most people who are serious about using landing pages for whatever reason. With the starter package, after 6 months all educational content, support, updates, copywriting advice, and graphics library access will end after 6 months. Knowing what’s in store for Premise 2.0, it was a no brainer to splash out for a one time fee and reep the rewards that Premise can bring.

A/B spilt testing

 What gets measured, gets managed.” – Peter Drucker

Without a doubt THE most important part of landing pages is to test, test, test, test and test some more. How does Premise let you do this?

Premise-review

Holy crap! More!!

Yup, that’s right. It doesn’t just stop and one of the best landing page plugins for WordPress but Premise also gives you advice and content from the world’s leading experts in the field. This is an ongoing process with more content that’s going to be added over time. This was one of the main reasons I purchased this plugin, technology changes too fast, Google updates its algorithm constantly, with an ongoing supply of quality content Premise will be able to give you access to these future changes at no extra cost. Here’s what you currently get if you purchase Premise today!

• The Premise Guide to Effective Copy by Brian Clark
  This 69-minute seminar and 23-page manual reveal the power of the premise as the start of any effective landing page campaign.
• Magnetic Headlines Intensive with Jeff Sexton and Brian Clark
• An intensive 55-minute webinar on writing content titles that work, plus a 10-page manual and slide deck.
• Anatomy of a Landing Page: The 10 Elements You Must Have with Bryan Eisenberg
• This 50-minute seminar breaks down what you must have for an effective landing page, and why, from one of the most respected online conversion experts around.
• Your “Magic Formula” For Success: The Conversion Trinity with Bryan Eisenberg
• Watch this hour-long webinar, and you’ll see and learn the 3-step process that turns traffic into money (or whatever other action you might be after).
• The Premise Content Marketing Strategy with Brian Clark
• In this 45-minute seminar, you’ll discover the “5A” strategy for attracting an audience with content, and how landing pages help you achieve your goals every step of the way.
• Landing Pages that Work with Google AdWords with Geordie Carswell
• Buying traffic from Google AdWords works, but you’ve got to know what you’re doing with your landing pages to make it profitable (and to stay on Google’s good side).

Do you need Premise?

As I said in my Thesis theme review I think the real question is how much you value your time. There’s no doubt that you could make pretty landing pages without Premise but can you code? If not that most of your time will be spent trying to get the landing page to look nice while Premise users would have already built the landing page and will be spending their extra time on testing their landing pages, testing some more and applying further testing. Who is going to make more money, generate more leads, convert people into customers? I’ll let you decide.

It doesn’t stop there.

Premise are releasing a 2.0 version of the plugin pretty soon that will no doubt blow you away. It’s got so many extra features that I’m very happy to have purchased this plugin knowing that there’s a solid team behind the future development of Premise. Stay tuned for further Premise reviews as I will be posting a Premise review on the outstanding 2.0 updates and I will also be posting some of my own results using this plugin. I hope your questions have been answered during this Premise review. It’s the dog’s bollocks of landing pages plugins.

***UPDATE PREMISE 2.0***

Today Premise released its highly awaited Premise 2.0, I quickly updated the plugin and they have done it again, it’s a game changer.

The new features of the Premise 2.0 plugin are:

• Build rock-solid membership sites with WordPress
• Take recurring payments with automated access management
• Automatically drip content out over time
• Securely sell ebooks, software, and other digital downloads
• Confidently create private forum areas with vBulletin
• Quickly set up password-protected content libraries
• Easily build check-out pages for PayPal and Authorize.net

Amazing.

Lets take a look inside

If you go inside the main settings menu you’ll now see an option.

Select this and you will open the doors to an array of cool new features that allow making money online so much easier!!

Now as you can see from the screenshot you have an extra menu on the left. This member access contains the following:

• Settings
• Products
• Orders
• Link Manager
• Reports

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You also have the option to create a forum for your website using the vbulletin software although this must be purchased separately  from Premise 2.0.

Premise-2.0

Another cool setting from this is the recurring payment option. Why is this so cool? Because paid content is the future of blogging! It’s not only blogging that you could set up a recurring payment for. Premise 2.0 lets you sell digital products with ease, use your imagination into what this could open up for you.

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How easy it it to make your exciting content into a membership based site?

Pretty darn easy..

Each post/page has the following option

Premise-2.0

Simply select which posts/pages you want.

How you have the option of creating a membership site what if you want to create a digital product to sell? No problem, Premise 2.0 has you covered for that as well.

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Checkout page

Once you have created your product and added all the details you will be provided with a product ID link. Use this link so that if someone wants to buy your product they will be taken to the checkout page. I have created a test checkout page for you so you can see what it is like. Simply click on this link. Make sure you have configured all the payment options before hand and if you’re ready to go live make sure the payment option in settings is not under test. 

Show content based on membership type

Premise 2.0 allows you to also show content based on membership level by using shortcodes and access level which you can define on your pages. For example if I created a membership group for ‘leaving the rat race’ then I would add the shortcode:

You can also hide content based on membership level and access level using similar shortcodes.

[hide_form accesslevel="leaving the rat race"]

Pretty cool eh!

There’s also more shortcodes for products

[product_description_productid="21"] would display the product you created with the ID 21.

Orders and reports

Premise also allows you to keep track of your orders and also gives you a report showing designated time period, including Member, Product, Date, and Price. This is were you can see what is working and what isn’t and refine your steps for maximum profits.

Thoughts to Premise 2.0?

For a one off payment along with the Thesis theme this has been the best digital product I have purchased. There’s so much potential in this plugin that if you spent the time and effort to create your landing pages, test them over and over again to find out which works best you can build up your email list, send you best content to your list over time and then if it’s good enough and you develop and stable fan base then a membership website might be possible. This is powerful. Premise 2.0 and Thesis in my opinion are exactly what you need to run a successful business via WordPress.

Something special is going to happen on Monday 27th Feb in regards to Premise 2.0. For access sign up for this one time email. You will not be contacted further after this email.

Premise review 2.0 – Landing pages made simple with Copyblogger The Ephemeral Project The Ephemeral Project - Travel photography & inspirational lifestyle choice

Thesis theme review

Since I’m moving my work life over to the internet one of the tools I use the most is the Thesis theme for WordPress.  I’m so impressed and love this product so much that I want others to quit wasting their time trying to find free themes that work (which they mostly don’t). I use Thesis on all my websites, including on one you’re on right now, a few niche websites and a e-commerce website. If you’re serious about having a solid website for your business or your interests then the Thesis theme is for you. I’ll explain why in this Thesis theme review.

Thesis Theme review

Why spend money on a WordPress theme when there’s so many out there for free?

Good question and the simplest explanation I can give you is in the form of another question. How much do you value your time? I have tried free themes for about 6 months, none of them did what I wanted. I had to learn code to get what I wanted. So refusing to pay for a theme I spent countless hours on coding forums asking questions about php and css getting headache after headache when the website looked a mess in Internet Explorer, I’m sure some of you know what I’m talking about. So much time wasted and I still wasn’t anywhere near completion for my website! I came across the Thesis theme and I was blown away, it was exactly what I wanted in a theme. Simple click and drop options. I don’t like parting with money but after so much time wasted with free themes I paid the $167 for the developers option and I haven’t looked back since which is why I’m writing this Thesis theme review to hopefully convince you to ditch those crappy themes, splash out, get Thesis and do something more interesting with your time than trying to get your website to look good in IE.

Thesis Theme Review

So lets get right into the Thesis theme review and why it is in my opinion one of the best purchases I have made for building my websites and also sustaining my businesses.

Thesis site options

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The Thesis site options section comes with various different options. Here you can add your analytics code to keep track of vistors coming to your site. No need to go into the code here, simply just add it to the stats/tracking scripts section (copy and paste), hit the big ass save button and you’re done. Simples. You can add a number of different scripts to this as well, if you are using such tools as Keyword Strategy then this script goes into that section. No more cracking open the theme add potentially messing up your code. Thesis is designed so that you don’t have to touch the core code making it fully optimised for SEO benefits, nice touch don’t you think?

Thesis also gives you the choice of two different types of navigation menus. You can use the WordPress navigation menu or the Thesis navigation menu, that’s totally up to you.

Thesis also allows you advanced controls on what you want to block from the search engines etc by including a robot meta tags section. This allows you further control to fine tune your SEO by giving you the option to exclude certain pages from Google and other search engines. Why would you want to do this? Some pages on your website you do not want to include in the search engines as they will dilute your site and thus you will not rank as high as you could. Thesis has this under control though and gives you the option to control this so that you can rank as high as possible using the Thesis theme.

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Thesis Design options

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The design section is the section which you design your website. No more coding folks. For a simple website you can just select how many columns you want and which side of the website you want your columns.

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Want a huge choice of fonts to pick from so you decide which one looks best on your brand new spanking website? Thesis has you covered.

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Thesis also gives you easy access to pick any colour you want for any part of your site with its simple colour selector

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Header Image

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Add your company logo, your own logo or whatever with ease. Simply upload it and you’re done.

Thesis manage options

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Created a design you like on Thesis and want to start another blog and transfer the design over? No problem, with the mange options section in Thesis you can simply download your current design and upload it on your new site in a matter of seconds. Pretty cool eh!

Break away from the norm & the untouchable Thesis support

 While Thesis gives you the option to create a website with total ease. The full power of what Thesis can do can be unleashed with your imagination and the customs functions, custom css file. This file is where you can add your bits of code to break away from the norm and create something truly unique, like this website . Don’t know anything about code? Me neither, that’s why I always check out the Thesis user guide. It’s a fast growing resource for further customisations of your Thesis website. Need 6 ads on your sidebar to start making money from your website but don’t know where to start? Thesis shows you and gives you the code, copy and paste and start making money today! There are a ton of other code snippets that you can add to your website helping you to break free of the norm, if you run into trouble the forum support is top notch. Godhammer and Girlie do an excellent job in there.

Not just a normal theme

The folks at Thesis don’t want to give you the best theme available. They want you do grow your website into a business and be successful. This is why Derek Halpern from the popular Social Triggers is in control of the Thesis Blog. The blog is aimed at giving users tips about how to run a successful blog.

The Thesis showcase

How far does the Thesis rabbit hole go? Check out some of the best Thesis websites on the planet and see just how flexible the Thesis theme can be.

To be honest this would be more an beginners Thesis theme review. I haven’t even started on the advanced stuff Thesis can do such as the API, custom post types. Once I get my head around it I’ll be sure to post a more advanced Thesis theme review including details about the upcoming Thesis 2.0 which will no doubt set a higher standard for WordPress themes once again.

Oh and Thesis offers a 30 day money back guarantee. What are you waiting for?  

Thesis theme review for WordPress The Ephemeral Project The Ephemeral Project - Travel photography & inspirational lifestyle choice

My last blog post I wrote while in the Black Forest, since then I cycled down to Donaueschingen to meet my travel companion the Danube River. I have followed the river all the way to Slovakia which I’ll follow until Bulgaria and then leave for Turkey.

The Danube has been nothing but a treat. It is mostly flat and well sign posted which is a good thing since I took no map and just assumed that I would find my way. This has worked out pretty well, however, I have been lost a couple of times but that was mainly due to me missing signs and not concentrating.

The ride through Germany was comfortable and relaxing. Heading into Austria was equally comfortable but much more scenic. It started as soon as you crossed the Germany/Austria border. It was like something from a Disney film, I had flocks of birds weaving in and out around my bike along with butterflies riding along with me all while surrounded by green forests and of course the trusty Danube. I half expected people to come out of their homes and start signing to aid my Disney fantasy. The cycle pathway from Passau to Wein was simply stunning and I now know why most people start their cycle trip from Passau.

It was also in Austria that I experienced my first encounter of random friendliness. I was cycling along the river and was going to overtake a local cyclist who was trying to see over a huge box he had in front of him. He started chatting to me and asked where I was going etc. He told me that he was a local fisherman and was going to feed the fish. When his place of work came up he told me that he had family about 60km from there, I thought nothing of it and said it’s nice to have family close by, we then said our goodbyes.

10 minutes later I noticed a cyclist come pretty fast behind me so I moved over, it was the fisherman. He told me that he had phoned his mother and it was ok for me to go and say with her for the night, she would feed me and let me rest etc. He then went out of his way to create mini maps for me including his mothers house address and exactly how to get there. I have read a few travel blogs and I know that this happens quite often but it’s one thing knowing something and another experiencing it. I was taken back by it, I don’t even think that he would have been there. I kept asking myself would I send a random cyclist who stinks and I’ve spoken to for 5 mins to my mothers? Unfortunately his mother lived too close for the distance I wanted to cover that day so I had to thank him but explain that I wanted to cover double the distance. This is something I now regret as it would have been something different to break up my trip.

I’ve also noticed an increasing trust in people the further I travel, so much so that I haven’t yet locked Mariee (my bike), I just don’t feel any threat. Although I feel this trust I have to admit that I did take advantage of it by sneaking out of a camp site in the wee hours of the morning without paying, it was a huge campsite with loads of motorhomes so they weren’t struggling for business and I’m on a budget.

My tent was also put through it paces and failed unfortunately. We had a freak storm about 8am in Austria with the winds getting too much for my tent and it uprooted the whole thing while I was in it and snapped a pole while ripping a hole in the tent. I was rollin’ around in the tent while the wind continued to blow me away. Eventually there was a break in the wind and I managed to gather everything that had blown away, great start to the morning. Although this was one of the things that makes you want to go back to bed I rode that wind until I hit Linz

With Western Europe out of the way I’m heading to places unknown to me. I don’t know a lot about the countries I’m about to visit but it’s exciting and leaving Austria and entering Slovakia you notice the cultural change. I’m really looking forward to leaving Europe and heading further East. Experienced tourers say Europe is a training ground for the rest of the world and I think I’m about a couple of weeks away from taking on the East.

Heading into places unknown The Ephemeral Project The Ephemeral Project - Travel photography & inspirational lifestyle choice

How to make a difference for only £2

With time feeling like it’s speeding up and with only about 4-5 months to go until I leave to cycle across the world, I had to get started on a big part of this trip; raising £10,000 for Action Aid. I love the work of Action Aid and also use their amazing child sponsorship program. Featured below is the girl I am sponsoring. She is called Malai Bo and is from Cambodia. I pay only about 50p a day with this program and it allows Malai Bo to get an education and also helps her small village in Cambodia. I receive regular updates from Malai Bo and her life.

It was because of this program that I wanted to help Action Aid further. So, my goal is to raise £10,000 during my cycling adventure. £10,000 can change people’s lives and is also a realistic target;

• £10,000 could provide a borehole for two schools, providing a clean and safe water supply in Malawi.

• £10,000 would pay for a woman’s empowerment programme in Nepal, which focuses on domestic violence, community support mechanism, awareness of anti-trafficking and seeking alternative income to stop trafficking of children.

While this target is realistic I have to be realistic myself about how I would complete something like this. Anyone who has ever been involved in fundraising will tell you how difficult it can be. I luckily have a few years experience with a couple of different charities about fundraising which is why I decided to opt-out of the more common methods and try something a little more creative and worthwhile.

The bollocks to poverty mosaic

The bollocks to poverty mosaic gives you the chance to be apart of ActionAid’s work at minimal cost. The goal here is to create a huge 5000 photo mosaic of your photos. During collection the mosaic will be continuously updated and the end result will be 5000 photos in the form of the bollocks to poverty logo as seen at the top of this page.

Each photo costs £2 and you can submit more than 1 photo, so 5 photos = £10. The photos can be of anything (no porn etc), preferably though the photos should be of your face. By sending in photos of your face the final result will be a bollocks to poverty image that you will be able to zoom in on and see the individual photos that make this up. The mosaic will be made up of supporters that have contributed to this with one simple message  - Bollocks to poverty!

You can get involved in a number of ways:

• If you do not want to be involved financial then you can tweet this or share it on facebook and let people know about it. I want to try and create a real mosaic made up of people from all walks of life.
• You can subscribe to the main website Bollocks to poverty mosaic
• You can donate to the mosaic here and I can upload photos for you from your facebook or something else.
• You can submit your photo via this link and follow instructions to make the donation.
• You can also join the Bollocks to poverty Facebook fan group.

You can see the latest stage of the mosaic over at this link. 5000 photos is a lot of photos but the end result will be worth it. Please share and spread the news and donate to get your photo into the mosaic 

How to make a difference for only £2 The Ephemeral Project The Ephemeral Project - Travel photography & inspirational lifestyle choice

I have been away from home now for just over 2 months and I have been on the road now for 6.5 weeks of that time. I would like to share my first thoughts on life on a road. Although this is a small time in terms of bicycle touring I’m planning on writing this post every 2 months that I’m on the road. What follows is my thoughts on life on the road mixed with stories of my time on the road.

I have just finished Europe after 5,000km and now heading further East.

Life on the road can be empowering.

Now that I’ve reduced my life to living out of 4 bags life is pretty simple. I’ve also noticed though that although my daily routine is simple it is also the simplest of things that can completely change my day for the better or the worst.

Being held back by the humidity of the Black Forest I spent all day trying to cycle up the hills and made a total distance of 25 miles all day. I stopped off in a restaurant thinking that I just needed some a kebab and pizza so I rested at the first one I saw. I took this chance to hydrate myself after losing an enormous amount of water through sweat. I went into the restaurant and placed my order, the guy behind the counter, a Turkish fella looked at me with big eyes and disbelief. I just assumed that I stunk and looked like a tramp no doubt, I didn’t think much of it. My food came and he was still looking at me in disbelief, firing glances at me and Mariee. I finished my food and went to return my plate when he started speaking to me,

“Where are you from?”, “Liverpool, England” I replied.

“You came on bicycle”? Yeah heading to New Zealand”

“New Zealand!!!”

He turned to his friend and told him in Turkish he replied with a srug, he wasn’t that arsed. I asked to fill up my water bottles, he declined and gave me a big bottle of water instead. He came outside and looked at Mariee again with his eyes even wider with a smile and nodding up and down in approval. He looked at me and said,

“Respect”

That was it, I felt as though I’d had a weeks rest, completely hydrated with the best food in the world and plenty of it. In 3 hours of riding I’d managed to knock off another 40 miles and made it to my destination which I thought I wouldn’t reach until the day after. Mariee felt so light like she didn’t have panniers on. I’ve come to learn that unexpected motivation can be powerful and can completely change your day. 

Life on the road can be extremely varied.

This is without doubt my favourite part of life on the road. You never know what’s going to happen in the space of 10 mins. In Hungary while riding through some deep gravel, I came off Mariee and landed pretty funny on my hand to the amusement of the locals who were laughing. About 15 mins later I was lying on a secluded beach on the Danube river with only about 5 locals present. I had asked at the bar if there was a place to camp they let me camp for free on the banks. Life is random. It was the perfect way to say goodbye to the Danube as I was leaving the day after looking for a more direct route to Istanbul. I said goodbye with a quick midnight skinny-dip under the stars, amazing.

After saying goodbye to the Danube in Harta I had planned for a big day to try and get to Serbia. The day started well and I’d managed to get rid of all my Hungarian money by stocking up on the 3 C’s, coffee, coke, cookies. I had about a 70 mile cycle to do on the backroads but it I calculated that I should be in Serbia by 5pm. So off I went, after battling a head wind all day I made it to the border crossing after 72 miles of cycling and pretty exhausted. At the border crossing the women looked at my passport and walked over to the other border crossing officials. In broken English I was told that I wasn’t allowed to cross because I was from the UK. I was confused, tired and I just couldn’t work out why. Eventually we understood each other; that border crossing was for Hungary – Serbian nationals only. Totally gutted! I’d gone to the wrong one, I had to cycle back! After 72 miles of cycling my heart sank but there was nothing I could do, I had to cycle to the next border crossing which I was told I would be allowed through. As I started to make my way to the other crossing which was about another 25 miles away I was pulled over by a police car who demanded my passport. He took it and started looking at every page and every angle, I guess making sure it was real. He took it and then on his walky talky started talking. I could only wait and see what would happen. I waited for about 20 mins while he was on the phone constantly flicking through my passport. I was getting more and more annoyed as the sun was falling and I had another 20 odd miles to cycle to get back on track and I needed to find a place to stay as I wasn’t going to attempt to cross an international border at night with no money and heading straight into a city. Finally he got off his phone and asked me where I was going, I told him the actual border crossing which I was supposed to go in the first place. Right answer, he seemed to understand in his broken English. He gave me my passport back and I set off again only to be shouted at to stay. What now! I had been waiting for about 25 mins and just wanting to get back on track and rest. He was waiting for a phone call, after a quick call with someone I was allowed to go and they smiled and said their goodbyes.

Although frustrated at having been delayed they were only doing their job. After a bad afternoon and tired legs I got back on track and again the randomness of the life of the road showed its head once again. With no money I arrived at a hotel too late for food the people at the hotel insisted that I had to eat something and phoned a pizza for me to eat which they converted some of my euros for me in order to pay.

You have good days and bad days.

I got organised and woke up at 6am and headed a couple of miles to the McDonalds that I noticed the day before to take advantage of the free Wi-Fi. I name my destination and find a campsite there on the internet. I add the directions to you GPS and off I set. Knowing where I’ll sleep at night brings in some comfort on some days. So I set off early for a 80 mile cycle fully stocked on food and water knowing that I’ll be on a cycle path all day with no hills and the sun is shining. I start to make progress but 80 miles is a tiring day for anyone. Soon enough I arrive at my destination just before sunset, time to find the campsite. I see a sign for camping and I’m looking forward to a shower and a rest and hopefully a chat with come other cyclists hopefully doing crazy distances. I follow the sign for a couple of miles and nothing, no more signs or anything. I stop to ask and no one speaks any English or can understand my gestures. I continue to ask around and are told that the nearest campsite is another 15km from here in the opposite direction that I want to go. Stranded in a city before sunset and refusing to pay for a hotel I have to find somewhere to wild camp in the city. I end up in a cementry which has some woods just by the side. I wait until the last people leave and just lay my sleeping mat out and sleeping bag hoping that the rain doesn’t come. What should have been a straight forward day now turns into an all nighter as I can’t sleep as there’s too many strange noises in the forest and what sound like footsteps. I lay awake in the forest unable to sleep no doubt fuelled by the days cycling and all the endorphins pumping through the body. What little rest I did get that night was interrupted by a slug type thing who decided that its next meal would be my scalp, trying to find this thing through my think knotted hair was quite a challenge but eventually I found it and flicked it away.

Life on the road is everything I thought it would be and more.

Rewarding, frustrating, liberating, tiring and so much more I highly recommend it.

First thoughts on life on the road The Ephemeral Project The Ephemeral Project - Travel photography & inspirational lifestyle choice

Turkey

Europe was a walk in park compared to Turkey but with new challenges comes great rewards. Turkey will always have a place in my heart for my time spent there and along with my time in Rennes it remains my favourite country to date for one simple reason – the people.

After 5,000km on the road and passing through 9 countries already Turkey opened up a new level of pleasure, euphoria and surpassed my previous thoughts that people are good people.

Example:

While trying to sleep at the back of a café I experienced one strangest nights of my life so far. With my tent all set up and ready for bed I heard sniffing around my tent, the sniffing doubled, then tripled – then the barking started and I was trapped in my tent surrounded by about 6 or 7 dogs. It was more of a pain in the ass as I was trying to sleep. 15 mins past and the stupid mutts were still barking. Although now I had a serious problem, I really needed the toilet. My options were to get out of the tent and go Chuck Norris on their asses, stay in my tent and wait or use some sort of Scrapheap Challenge mentality and try and concoct some sort of device out of the contains in my tent to relive myself. I went for option 2 and waited. Thankfully dogs being stupid one of them got distracted and ran off barking in the other way and the rest followed I was free and ran to the toilet. Job done.

Around 12am I was in the twilight zone of sleep when I was woken up by a shaking of my tent to be greeted by around 6-7 young lads all standing their looking at my bike and my tent.

“Do you speak English?”

I replied “Yeah”

“What are you doing?”

“Trying to get some sleep, what do you want?”

Still half asleep in the middle of nowhere behind the café, no one could see me and I was now facing 6-7 young lads in their 20s, my thoughts turned to concern. I was helpless, they could quite easily have taken anything they wanted, in other words I was f*cked.

“Pack up your tent, you’re coming with me!”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s not safe you have to come with me, it’s not safe!”

Half asleep I tried to review my options I could either go with them and see what happened and just hope for the best or I could stay where I was knowing that they knew my location which meant I was likely to get no sleep or I could find somewhere else to sleep in the middle of the night, this option presents problems though as how I would get rid of these young lads.

I picked option 1 and went with the flow. If anything happened then it would happen, luck of the draw really, I was in the wrong place at the right time and it could happen to anyone anywhere.

I agreed to go with them and they all rushed to pack up my tent and gear. Once my gear was in the car I was told to get into the car while one of the lads rode my bike to his house. This was something I simply refused to do as my tired brain came to the conclusion that the lad would ride off with my bike, I would be driven a few miles away maybe beaten and pushed out of the car with nothing. If I could keep my bike at least I could get to the next town to tell someone about what happened.

Finally I was allowed to ride my bike but the young lad tried to get on it with me.  After some miscommunication I finally got my point across that I wasn’t going to ride him to wherever we where going.

I set off in the pitch black with no lights with all my gear in a car of 5 young lads with another guy running beside me. Thankfully after a short 10 min ride we ended up into what he said was his house.

All my gear was then taken out of the car and the young chap that could speak English said:

“You must be very tired, please come inside my house and get some rest”

He showed me around and gave me the tour,

“Here is the shower if you need to wash, here is the kitchen if you are hungry, please help yourself to as much food as you wish”

I was taken to my room and he got out some fresh blankets while all the other lads watched me and spoke to each other all smiling. Finally he ordered the young lads out and asked me what time I wanted waking up so he could prepare breakfast for me.

Things could have been a lot worse but during this trip I have had similar incidences, which as a solo traveller I have to be cautious about, it’s a defence mechanism that we all have. Thankfully nothing bad has happened during this trip and it has been completely overwhelming by the friendliness of people in every country I go to.

Cycling through Turkey The Ephemeral Project The Ephemeral Project - Travel photography & inspirational lifestyle choice

I once heard that a friend of a friend had cycled to Prague and it hit me that this was the answer I was looking for. I went back to University in order to save money for further travels, which I had a done previously with the aim of getting a degree and doing something different but not the typical backpacking trips I had done previously.

With the seed now set in place I started to research long distance cycling trips and found a whole new way of seeing the world. So it was done, I would cycle from Liverpool To Tanzania for READ International. Of course this never happened I think the fear prevented this from ever taking place but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. A couple of months later I decided to start reading books on the topic and quickly polished off ‘Moods Of Future Joys / Part 1: Riding Into Africa’ and ‘Thunder And Sunshine / Part 2: Riding Home’. That was it; I would start my cycle trip but I wanted to go around the world not just to Tanzania.

The months passed by and my confidence grew with what I was doing. With about 3 years in order to prepare I find it funny that upon the day of my departure the furthest I had ever cycled was 20 miles, I had no experience of riding with traffic and extremely basic bike maintenance experience. Still I didn’t consider these problems in any aspect just a little inexperience like when I applied to study a degree course which I couldn’t spell (mild dyslexia) at the time, yet after 4 years I received an honours degree.

I built a website and told everyone. My girlfriend flew to South America while I tried to cycle across the planet. I couldn’t back out. I sold pretty much everything I own, what do I need a lot of possessions for anyway? I have talked about this elsewhere. I started getting kit together and started the frustrating experience of getting sponsors. I soon learnt one of the most important lessons that most people do not share the same vision as your trip. This knocked me down into a more realistic frame of mind and I’m glad that I went through that experience. My website changed as a result and the outlook on my trip had also changed. I no longer saw it as an expedition I just saw it as another means to travel the world. I think the planning and preparation that went into this (practically nothing) are indications of this.

They say the first day is the hardest day, however, I didn’t think this was the case. The months and weeks leaving up to the departure date were easily the hardest. I found myself thinking about the worst and yet there was nothing I could do except thinking about it. The panic in trying to get everything ready in time, which I realised in the midst of everything that I didn’t actually have to do that much. My first life lesson of the trip was learnt – I worry too much.

As I said goodbye to family and friends from my house I didn’t feel nervous or anything, I felt ready. After years of thinking about it, worrying about it, I was finally doing it. I felt a huge weight was lifted off my mind as I started to pedal ever closer to New Zealand.

With 20 miles cycling as my current pathetic record, my first day would smash this. I decided to try and cycle 80 miles on my first day with a fully loaded bike and absolutely no training at all. I kept saying to myself ‘If I can complete my first day in one piece then I can complete the rest of the trip’. With my GPS guiding me through all the lovely cycle routes through the North West of the UK and avoiding yet another fear of mine (cycling through traffic) I quickly broke my current cycle record in no time at all. Maybe things were going a little too perfect, which is why my GPS track route ran out about 40 miles into my route. I had no map, I had to make up my route as I go along, something I have become used to now. What was supposed to be an 80-mile cycle on my first day turned into a 105-mile cycle. I didn’t make my destination of course and ended up sleeping under some bushes in a local park in Buxton. Yet it filled me with confidence. I arrived at midday to my friend’s house having completed a 105-mile cycle over of course of 1.5 days with no training and with no road cycling experience. I was ready to cycle to New Zealand.

The rest of the way down England I was staying with friends all the way down until Dover to say my goodbyes to people that couldn’t make it up to Liverpool. From meals at Hooters to staying with Dan Martin who is training for a global triathlon my cycle down England was a pleasant one.

Hooters

I envisioned myself leaving my home with tears in my eyes and a lot of mixed emotions but it wasn’t like that until I was on the A2 heading to Dover. As soon as I saw the English Channel I burst out crying not because I was saying goodbye to the UK but because I had just cycled from Liverpool to Dover. I had done it and I was so proud of myself for this very short distance.

France

I heard a few accounts of people becoming lost once they arrive in Calais, thankfully due to the fact that a couple of years previous I had hitchhiked from the UK to Prague I knew Calais quite well and knew where I was going. Although I was now going completely off route from New Zealand I had to make my way down to Rennes to stay with a friend. I took to cycling on the other side of the road pretty well and followed the yellow brick road all the way down to Le Treport were I got the train down to Rennes.

My time in Rennes was blissful. I had in my head that I would stay for 3 days pick up my parcel and head off East to New Zealand no problem. However, things didn’t work out that way- 5am walks down by the canal and cycling through the city at similar times made me seriously question whether or not I actually wanted to continue with this trip. 3 days off turned into 1.5 weeks off and I would have been a lot longer if I felt that I wasn’t outstaying my welcome with the other housemates my friend was staying with. For the first time in many months I was actually happy and I spent a long time trying to justify why I wanted to continue with this trip. I did expect this sort of questioning at some point during this trip but I didn’t expect so soon. Of course logic kicked in and I knew that I had to leave due to people sponsoring me to do a job and my girlfriend that I had to meet in New Zealand.

Leaving Rennes was one of the hardest things I ever had to do though, I didn’t think it would be so hard and I was unprepared. After what seemed like a couple of years standing on a street corner trying to say goodbye I finally left my friend and headed East. It wasn’t until I was alone again that the floodgates opened. I didn’t want to leave but I knew that I had to; I guess all the emotion of the whole trip came rushing out all at once along with saying goodbye to a friend who I feel our time together had created a new meaning in our friendship.

I set off East again and crossed width of France in 6 days but my head still wasn’t right. I felt I’d lost all reason for doing this trip and I was just doing it because I’d backed myself into a corner and wasn’t brave enough to say ‘OK, sorry guys but I don’t want to do this anymore’, I felt trapped. The time across France was very confusing for me, I just wanted to go back to Rennes and pick up that smile I was using during my stay. I continued with my trip however and just less than two weeks later I’m starting to get my head back together and get back into this trip.

After leaving France I made yet another detour from my actually plan and headed to Baden-Baden in the Black Forest in Germany to stay with a old friend I once meet in India while trekking the Himalayas. Baden-Baden is a sexy lazy town, very designer and slow paced and right at the top of the Black Forest so it attracts different types of tourists.

So here I am as of writing in the Black Forest heading down to Donaueschingen to try and find the start of the Danube River, which will take me all the way to the Black Sea. So far I’ve smashed my cycling record and covered over 2000km so far.

I would also like to thank everyone for their support during the start of this trip.

The End of one chapter and the start of another The Ephemeral Project The Ephemeral Project - Travel photography & inspirational lifestyle choice

Cycling Iran

Since the start of this trip I was looking forward to Iran the most due to amazing reports from previous travellers here. I have to be honest though because I had such high expectations from this country I think it hindered my experience somewhat. It has been the countries I knew nothing about that gave me the most surprise and the most enjoyment. I loved my time in Iran don’t get me wrong but I couldn’t help feeling that because it is a country that is tainted with a certain image that positive stories are somewhat inflated to compensate for that image. Just my honest opinion.

I started to realise the extent of this image the closer I got towards Iran. Turkish people would tell me I would get my hands cut off, or my personal favourite that I would get circumcised. I got warnings from back home telling me to be careful in Iran. I have had no other warnings for any other country on this trip. I found it funny that I was getting warnings in a place I felt completely safe while watching the riots happen in my own country.

Iran

The people of Iran are amazing, I felt like a king while in their country and have never experienced such hospitality.

Arriving late into the city of Tabriz I wondered around trying to find a park I could camp in. I was told of a few parks that camping was allowed. Finally I found the park and was quickly kicked out by the security guy, I’m still not sure why. After being directed to a 5 star hotel by the a few locals I went in to ask for a cheap hotel. The women behind the desk gave me a map and off I went to find a hotel. I wasn’t present more than one hour in the city before an Iranian came up to me and asked if I needed a place to stay. He first took me out for dinner and took me to his friends house and then back to his house. I learnt of the struggles he and his family had faced with life in Iran and with all the problems he was the most positive person I have ever met. He spent the next day with me helping me to cross off my to do list. He gave up his time, his money, his food and his house to a smelly stranger in the streets for no other reason than to help me.

Sometimes cycling Iran can get a little too much with everyone being so friendly and you try and get away but eventually it will catch up with you. After ignoring an invitation while cycling a local guy got on his motorbike and chased us down, he pulled us over simply to give us a melon and quickly rode on back to his shop. Ten minutes later  he must have thought, “shit! I wasn’t friendly enough” and chased us down again to offer us a place to sleep for the night.

Sometimes you would experience a panic in an Iranian. While having a small break in the middle of nowhere a bus driver slowed down stopped opposite us and his head popped up with a bottle of water. Having plenty of water we refused, he looked around the bus looking for something to give us. He head disappeared again and he re-appeared with fresh sweetcorn, we had to laugh.

Pulled over by the police – “Do you want a cup of tea”

Welcome to Iran.

Every country has its own rules and different meanings and it’s always interesting to see what they are. Due to language barriers you often resort to hand signals to communicate. Since a common signal in the West is the thumbs up it’s natural to do this without thinking too much. One problem, a thumbs up in Iran means f*uck you. Sometimes you notice doing it but sometimes you don’t. If you get invited into a house you can predict that you will get food. The melon comes out.. mmm it’s good, f*uck you! You will then get chai most likely.. mmm chai good, f*uck you! Next up dinner… mmm really good, a double f*uck you! Ahh travelling.

On drunken night on non-alcoholic beer I planned to strap a bear called Wilson (see below) to my bike and help him escape the evil prison he was captured in. The plan was to strap him to the back of the bike and drop him somewhere in China. It seemed like a good idea at the time but the morning after after recovering from my fake hangover we decided to leave him in his prison in Mashhad.

While talking to a local in Mashhad he said something that has stuck with me throughout this trip and will do the rest of my life, I’ll leave you with what he had to say.

Everyone in the West thinks we are all terrorists and want to destroy the world. No one is like that in Iran, we are all just human beings the same as everyone else. It makes me sad that everyone thinks this of Iranian people.

Cycling Iran – So misunderstood The Ephemeral Project The Ephemeral Project - Travel photography & inspirational lifestyle choice

With the heat increasing and Bulgaria being the most hilly country yet I have cycled through I have often found my mind drifting into fantasies, something which I can not control. I get lost in these fantasies hoping that every corner I turn they might come true. Here’s an example of one.

I’m cycling down a long and distant road that has no end, the sun is melting the road and I’m dripping with sweat. As I move slowly down the road I see something, a building a some kind. Hopefully it will be a shop which I could fill my water bottles in.

“Hello Mr Hughes we have been expecting you.”

“Your room is ready.”

“What room?” I ask

“Your special room that we have arranged for you, please make yourself comfortable your food is nearly ready.”

“Food?”

“Yes sir, for starters you will be having 2 roast dinners, for the main course you will be having 4 roast dinners and for desert you will be having 4 cheesecakes, all free of course. Please rest your legs in your jacuzzi while the chef finishes up.”

As I enter the jacuzzi a projector comes out of the wall and a huge screen follows and starts playing George Carlin live.

“Ahh your food is ready, please relax you can eat it in the jacuzzi.”

“We have also spoken to the governments of the countries you plan to vist and have worked out a system in which we can make the rest of the trip flat for you without losing any of the scenery. A team a highly trained individuals are working around the clock to change the landscape so that it is a very high quality road with no bumps whatsoever.”

“Ahh the masseuse is here, please finish your food and watch the rest the stand up comedy first.”

“Thanks.”

“Sir, I have just got off the phone with the military and they have finished a new chemical spray for you. One tiny bit of this spray will kill all mosquitos and flies within 50 miles from you. They have also confirmed that all visas have been added to your passport and you can stay as long as you like in each country with 100% guarantee of entry for each one.”

“Why thank you”

“We have also had a special team of engineers working to turn one of your front panniers into a refrigerator. They are using a special material that makes it super lightweight yet doesn’t comprise its insulation ability. They have made it possible to work off your dynamo hub so as you ride you are keeping everything cold. You can carry as much ice cream as you want with you and it will never melt.”

“We have also installed an external fan so when camping this fan with act as a AC for your tent. Simply keep your Reecharge powered up and connect it up and you should have AC in your tent all night long”

If Carlsberg made adventure cycling tours.

If Carlsberg made adventure cycling tours The Ephemeral Project The Ephemeral Project - Travel photography & inspirational lifestyle choice

Moleskine Legendary Notebooks review

Moleskine have a respected reputation for their notebooks and it’s this reputation that make them a favourite for travellers wanting to record their thoughts while away. I was lucky enough to be supplied with 3 different types of notebooks from Moleskine to keep a journal of my trip and keep a record of everything such as important numbers, contact info etc. This blog post will look at the notebooks in depth so you can judge for yourself why they have such a good reputation.

As you would expect with a journal you would get the same setup in a lot of them but Moleskine goes that extra step and I’ve found the notebook to be useful in many ways other than recording my thoughts.

The first page is simply incase you lose your notebook. Out of all the things you take travelling with you the notebook will be of no use to anyone who steals it but it will be one of your prized possessions. A nice feature is the reward part giving anyone who finds it more of an incentive to return it to you.

Moleskine notebook review

The notebook continues with more important information such as your family doctor info, your visa information, health insurance, travel insurance, emergency contact info etc.

Moleskine notebook review

This is following by an outline of your itinerary for your trip allowing your to make notes complete with dates etc.

Moleskine notebook review

The best part of the notebook for me is this section, a list of international holidays for the year for 44 countries.  This could be a time saver when applying your visas or planning your trip. Take note of the times of holidays in countries you are in.

Moleskine notebook review

Another handy feature is the map of the world with times zones. Perfect for checking what time it is when calling home.

Moleskine notebook review

More useful information is apart of the notebook before the actual journal starts. This is a distance section showing the distance from city to city, handy if you want to check how far you have left or travel time which you can plan accordingly to.

Moleskine notebook review

Next up is dialling codes, internet and plate codes of countries. Useful again if trying to ring embassies in the next country on your trip or or family and friends trying to ring you.

Moleskine notebook review

What follows next is the standard measurement conversation chart followed by the actual start of the journal. Each day of the week is on the left of the page and the right is blank for extra notes.

Moleskine notebook review

The final part of the notebook is a handy address feature. You can keep your friends & family important contact info there and also useful for adding future contacts from sits like Couchsurfing.

Moleskine journal review

The notebooks are well built and will last for quite a long time. I look forward to using them on my journey to record my trip. I’ll be using them as a personal journey and I’ll be using the other plain notebooks to plan future blog posts and my free-books.

Moleskine Legendary Notebooks review The Ephemeral Project The Ephemeral Project - Travel photography & inspirational lifestyle choice

Joby – Makers of Gorillapod, Gorillatorch and Gorillamobile

Joby Gorillapod SLR ZOOM review

I’m very happy to provide a product review for one of my sponsors for my cycling adventure –  Joby. Joby have supplied me with an awesome Gorillapod – SLR ZOOM.

Delivery:

Delivery was very fast and took just 4 days all the way from San Francisco to the Wirral, UK. It was delivered via Fed Express and was secured so that no damage would occur during shipment.

Why the SLR ZOOM?

Well, for the trip i’m doing I wanted something lightweight, the SLR ZOOM comes in at 241g (8.5oz). I wanted something small – 25 x 6 x 6cm (9.8 x 2.4 x 2.4″) and also something that could support my Canon 7D (SLR ZOOM holds up to 3kg!) and have flexibility that I can produce interesting camera angles. One of my concerns was due to the flexibility of the SLR ZOOM I was a tad worried about getting my photos off balance. However the SLR ZOOM comes with a nice bubble level feature which allows you to correctly align your camera for the perfect shot. This used with the Canon 7D’s Dual-Axis Electronic Level means that it would be pretty hard to take photos mis-aligned. The SLR ZOOM gives me everything I was looking for as a tripod to cycle to New Zealandwith and makes it a pretty decent part of my equipment kit list.

What is the strength and flexibility like?

A review wouldn’t be complete without my own tests. I was using my Canon 7D along with a Canon 50mm 1.4mm lens. Although it’s not the heaviest lens in the world, it is all I have so far to test with. My first test was looking at the strength of the SLR ZOOM to be able to support the Canon 7D while set up like a normal tripod. I first set up the tripod so that the Canon 7D was tipped to the side. I found that after adjusting the legs of the SLR ZOOM I was able to find a comfortable in which the 7D was perfectly steady. Another test in this position showed again the camera was perfectly steady. Now for the interesting part. What can I attach it to? In this test the SLR ZOOM was wrapped around my banister. There was a 4 foot drop onto hard wooden floors if it didn’t hold the camera. I was quite nervous doing this test as if it went wrong there goes my camera. I wrapped the tripod legs around the banister and after some adjusting and playing around until it got to the point where I felt safe I let go. I was pretty happy that the camera stayed in the postion I put it in! As you can see from the image the Joby did a fantastic job of keeping my camera in the required position. Another test shot this time with a new position for the camera. Again, after some trail and error I finally wrapped the legs of the tripod in a secure enough position to support the camera body and the lens. Another image showing just how well it supports my Canon 7D. Overall thoughts? Pleasantly surprised at the strength of the SLR ZOOM. I felt comfortable taking my heads off and allowing the tripod to do its job.

Accessories

The SLR ZOOM has some pretty nice accessories as well. These can be seen below and are called spike feet. You can assemble the spike feet onto the legs of your SLR ZOOM and you get a pretty funky looking camera setup, like below. What’s great about the spike feet is that they are perfect for macro photography and can add more stability to your camera if on the right surface such as grass etc. I’m pretty excited about using the SLR-ZOOM and what it can do while on the road. Stay tuned for future updates of this product while on the road. For more information about the SLR ZOOM and other products that Joby offers such as: GorrillaPod, GorrillaMobile  and GorrillaTouch you can visit the Joby website.

Joby Gorillapod SLR ZOOM review The Ephemeral Project The Ephemeral Project - Travel photography & inspirational lifestyle choice

“With every continent explored, every coastline chartered and every river mapped it’s challenges like these that set the benchmark for modern adventures.

What Lee is about to undertake will undoubtedly change his life; but not in the way he expects. Nine months and over 10,000 km since leaving Australia on The Cycle Strongman Expedition (CSX) and I know that it has already changed my life in ways I could never have imagined. Change is always unexpected: one day you’ll go hungry to the point of exhaustion and the next you’ll be eating like a king with a cheeky broad grin from ear to ear. A wise man once told me “…on the road, a smile is your best friend.”

You have to learn to say yes to it all; and smile, at yourself, at your situation and at others. It is perhaps the greatest lesson of all and one i am still learning to fully appreciate. What is it that drives one to explore the world around us? Is it simply answering questions to the unknown? Is it searching inside yourself to find what you are capable of? This ‘call to adventure’ takes many forms. For some it may be discovering the cure for cancer or perhaps following your passion to become an artist, a writer, a musician or a doctor. While for others the passion and joy might be in following the adventure itself. To hit the road, to explore and to learn is the essence of an expedition. Whatever the ‘adventure’ represents we all follow a similar path, leaping into the unknown, conquering our own doubts, fear and anxiety and, as the well respected mythologist Joseph Campbell once put it, either being swallowed up in the process or emerge to see world in a different light.

Cycling around the world is unlike most other expeditions. It’s not tackling Everest, it’s not sailing a feeble wooden vessel into the Antarctic and it’s not journeying to distant foreign lands in search of wealth or material gain. Whatever the reasons individuals decide to undertake such adventures, answering the ‘call to adventure’ is in itself, a bold and commendable undertaking. Apart from the extremes in weather and variety of landscapes, the obstacles are many. You often have to dig deep and search within yourself for that strength to go on. Sometimes you go without food and water; sometimes you have to adapt and other times you have to simply improvise. You’ll need to learn dozens of languages, dodge packs of wild dogs, avoid getting killed by drunk drivers, confront thieves, evade police, avoid those that cause terror, make friends with complete strangers, and tactfully negotiate checkpoints manned by trigger happy and often boarded armies in foreign languages. At times you’ll be completely lost, not shower for weeks and sleep in a gutter. You’ll need to push yourself further and harder than you ever thought possible, and then you’ll have to do it again.

Most of the time you don’t know where you’ll end up. You live outside of any definition of a ‘comfort zone’ and in doing so continually challenge yourself. And within all of this you have to simply have faith (because everything will be OK). Say yes to it all! Constantly confronting yourself each day is a hard and sometimes painful process but at the same time both a liberating and insightful experience. Conquering your own fears, spending long hours on the bike and often being alone for weeks in remote environments is not for the faint at heart. But there is magic is heeding the call to adventure. The magic that is found in the journey and the experience rather than any particular destination. A little over a year ago, in a similar situation to Lee, I found myself busy planning routes, finding sponsors, researching gear and preparing for the adventure. However quietly inside I was struggling to grapple with what I was about to do. At the time i didn’t understand the ‘why’. Yet i was equally so certain that there had to be a why. I even had a few people who thought they knew the answer tell me why: “…because you can” – which was almost the inverse of the question itself. One colleague at work even went as far as calling it “life avoidance” which couldn’t be further from the truth. It was perhaps the hardest question I kept getting asked. In my head I thought I had lots of answers. But i couldn’t really qualify the feeling inside that drove me to sell everything i owned, leave all that i loved behind and heed this, for lack of a better word, ‘calling’. Once on the road, the ‘why’ didn’t matter any more. It would be something akin to asking “the meaning of life?”. You can give examples of meaning in your life and what you may ‘think’ it is, but sometimes the magic is in the mystery.

A great quote comes to mind by Philippe Petit who, when after tight rope walking across the twin towers in New York in the 70′s, was berated by the media that asked “Why, Why WHY? Philippe risked his life to do something so beautiful, to dance on thin air; for us. While being escorted away from police after have played, touted and teased them from some time and eventually surrendering, he simply turned to the media scrum in response, stuck his head out of the police car and remarked, “There is no why!” With perspective and through the felt experience, I understand my own reasons better now. It was a ‘calling’ (of sorts). A calling I believe we all must take; to leap into the unknown conquer our fears and grow as individuals. The calling and the adventure is unique as the individual. The result is the discovery of the world around and within them. For some it may express itself through art, music, helping others or spiritual practice. But for some it requires two wheels and a long time on the road. Physically The CSX has been quite hard but mentally I found it even tougher. The mountains are high, the roads endless and every day is a new and exciting challenge. You learn to accept the heat, the cold, the humidity, the rain, the headwinds and the exhaustion with a smile. You learn to let go of control, doubt and fear and simply take each day as it comes. Day by day is how you cycle around the world. From little things big things grow. Being on the road and travelling by bicycle is unique. You give yourself the greatest gift, the gift of time. Time to explore thoughts and ideas, time to reflect, time to just be.

A bicycle opens doors. Doors to people and cultures, doors to discover the world and yourself within it. It slows you down to enough to see, smell, hear, touch, taste and feel. A famous Buddhist belief is that if you liberate yourself you liberate the world. I believe there is no more noble pursuit. The rewards lies in the journey itself and within each fleeting experience. You learn to trust yourself to believe in yourself and have faith (in the true sense of the word). …and so to you Lee, who is about to embark on such a journey, I can only smile. Knowing some of what lies ahead of you makes me happy. Remember to say yes to it all; and smile. I look forward to meeting you on the road. Travel safe. May you find smooth roads and lite wind on your back. Regards, Chris Roach The Cycle Strongman Expedition (December 2009).

Cycle Strongman Expedition – Guest blog The Ephemeral Project The Ephemeral Project - Travel photography & inspirational lifestyle choice

There’s so much information out there that it’s easy to get sidetracked with what to use etc. I made this e-book to run you through my own personal setup for living online, it’s pretty simple but I think that’s the key. I use as few plugins as I can and I read blogs that get to the point.

Included in this e-book is of course my own setup but I have also added a few little extra bits including an interview with Nick Reese, a expert in affiliate marketing and also a custom piece of code that will allow you to turn your commenters into subscribers and build up your email list (Code has been adapted from Yoast to work with Thesis).

Here are some screenshots from the e-book.

Nick Reese

Blogs that I read.

You can download the e-book simply by entering the CAPTCHA. Enjoy

Free E-book – Living online – My own personal setup The Ephemeral Project The Ephemeral Project - Travel photography & inspirational lifestyle choice

How to finance a lengthy worldwide adventure

This is the first e-book in what will develop into a series of e-books all available for free. This short book will go over how topic of how to finance a lengthy worldwide adventure. Topics included are sponsorship, creative ways to find money and getting your project funded. What is also included are programs that can help you travel more for free such as Travel Hacking Cartel.

Here are some screenshots from the book.

Travel hacking cartel

Creative ways to make money

Free E-book: How to finance a lengthy worldwide adventure: Part 1 The Ephemeral Project The Ephemeral Project - Travel photography & inspirational lifestyle choice

An introduction to ephemeral art

Ephemeral art is one of my favourite forms of art simply because it runs parallel to my perception on life and the world. Ephemeral art does not last and many pieces of art lasts only for a moment. In an interview Richard Shilling describes ephemeral art well.

The ephemeral nature of land art really appeals to me. There is a point a sculpture reaches where it is at its most vibrant and it is then that I take the pictures and it is often just before it completely falls apart. There is a tension and vividness revealed through their delicateness. The process is a parallel of life. Life creates order and beauty from raw materials and then nature returns everything back to dust once again. Just as I seek to learn about natural places, natural materials I also want to learn about the cycles and processes too and the ephemeral nature of land art helps me do that through learning how things degrade and change.

Ephemeral art teaches you about your environment. The art you create will depend on the season at the time. Eventually the art will decay back into the natural environment echoing the one truth of life that everything changes.

Richard Shilling’s land art is made from natural materials which he gathers near to where each sculpture is made. Every sculpture is photographed in natural light, using normal camera equipment and without any photoshop trickery. Each photo accurately depicts how each sculpture appeared, at its most vibrant moment, before the elements reclaim the materials back to nature.

Through his ongoing relationship with nature he explores themes to do with time, ecology and the constant flux of the seasons and expresses these ideas through his unique land art images.

You can see much more of his work and read all about what he gets up to on the photo sharing site Flickr and on his blog with updates every week and many new sculptures.

Andy Goldsworthy

“I enjoy the freedom of just using my hands and “found” tools–a sharp stone, the quill of a feather, thorns. I take the opportunities each day offers: if it is snowing, I work with snow, at leaf-fall it will be with leaves; a blown-over tree becomes a source of twigs and branches. I stop at a place or pick up a material because I feel that there is something to be discovered. Here is where I can learn.

“I find some of my new works disturbing, just as I find nature as a whole disturbing. The landscape is often perceived as pastoral, pretty, beautiful – something to be enjoyed as a backdrop to your weekend before going back to the nitty-gritty of urban life. But anybody who works the land knows it’s not like that. Nature can be harsh – difficult and brutal, as well as beautiful. You couldn’t walk five minutes from here without coming across something that is dead or decaying.”

“Movement, change, light, growth and decay are the lifeblood of nature, the energies that I I try to tap through my work. I need the shock of touch, the resistance of place, materials and weather, the earth as my source. Nature is in a state of change and that change is the key to understanding. I want my art to be sensitive and alert to changes in material, season and weather. Each work grows, stays, decays. Process and decay are implicit. Transience in my work reflects what I find in nature.”

Ephemeral art – Andy Goldsworthy & Richard Shilling land art The Ephemeral Project The Ephemeral Project - Travel photography & inspirational lifestyle choice

Interview with Warren Macdonald

Warren Macdonald’s life changed when he was on a trip to Hinchinbrook Island, off the northeast coast of Australia. He got trapped under a one-ton boulder. The result was as Warren describes it; A test of will. After two days Warren was rescued but he lost both his legs which were amputated above the knee.

Adjusting to his new life Warren has since gone on to do amazing things such as climbing Tasmania’s Cradle Mountain using a modified wheelchair and the seat of his pants. In 2003, he became the first double above-knee amputee to reach the summit of Africa’s tallest peak, Mt Kilimanjaro (19,222ft). More recently, in a spectacular effort requiring 2800 pull-ups over 3 days, made an ascent of America’s tallest cliff face, El Capitan.

I was lucky enough to interview Warren and to ask questions about his perception on life and his accident.

Immediately after the boulder feel on top of me; all I could think about was getting it off of me. Nothing else; just “I need this thing off me NOW!” Soon afterwards my thoughts turned to strategy: How can we lift this? What tools do we have? How can we let someone know what’s happened to help us?

2. You say you wouldn’t have changed what happened to you, can you expand on this in terms of how your perception of life has changed because of this.

My life has become bigger; fuller. I see more possibility in things than i ever did before, and I was fairly good at spotting possibilities back then. I feel I’ve become a better person. I’ve developed a stronger sense of life being what we make of it. I had that sense before, but to nowhere near this level, so no; if I had the chance now I definitely couldn’t go back…

3. Just ten months after the accident you went on to climb Cradle mountain. What was the driving force behind that idea?

To see if it was possible. To show the world I wasn’t done; that I refused to become the commonly conceived “disabled person”. Interestingly enough; I held that perception also; I’d never known anyone who used a wheelchair or who had any kind of “visible” disability. On top of that, the outdoors was such a huge part of my life. I just couldn’t fathom not being able to have those wilderness experiences again, and I knew that if there was ANY way to keep having them; I had to find it.

4. In 2003 you went on to achieve a world’s first and become the first double above-knee amputee to climb Mount Kilimanajaro. What did you learn from doing this?

I learnt perseverance. It took three years to raise the money and get everything in place for that climb. I also learnt about commitment. In the end, I didn’t have anywhere near enough sponsorship to cover the costs involved. Twice I had to bail; calling up the guys (my support crew) just months before we were scheduled to leave for Africa. In the end, spurred on by one woman’s personal investment; I bit the bullet; set the credit cards alight (ie maxed them out) and went for it. Best decision I ever made.

5. How far do you think human will and desire can go?

As far as we want them to go. We are where we are at because we think that’s where we believe we belong. As a species we have a ton of work to do; starting with reclaiming our own hopes and dreams. We’ve been hijacked in many ways and brainwashed into believing we can’t be happy unless where thin, unless we wear the right clothes, own the right house etc. It’s bollocks,and the sooner we wake up to it, the better off we’ll be. Then we’ll get to see how far will and desire can take us, because we’ll own it.

6. You often talk about perception in your talks and how important it is. How do you think people can start to change their perception on life for the better?

Like many things, even a small step is significant; especially if it signifies a change in direction. So start with something manageable. Do something different. But a different newspaper than the one you usually buy; or better yet; go without news for a few days. See how that affects the conversations you have with people; where you’re not simply regurgitating something you read; something everyone who reads the same paper read…

7. What advice would you give to anyone going through something similar?

A similar accident you mean; a traumatic experience? Hang in there. And this goes for any kind of change really; from losing your leg to losing a job. Hang in there. Better yet, build up some resilience BEFORE something bad happens, because the odds are stacked in favour of at some point; something bad is going to happen to you. Stay in shape. If you’re not in shape; get in shape. Times of change, and we’re in one right now, favour those that have the odds in their favour. Do a course; learn a new skill. Connect with people in your community so they have a sense of what you bring to the table. There’s so much we can do really; the last thing we need to be doing is sitting in front of the TV complaining about whats going and waiting for the axe for fall. DO SOMETHING; ANYTHING!

Warren has written a book about his life changing experience called A test of will.

Warren Macdonald interview The Ephemeral Project The Ephemeral Project - Travel photography & inspirational lifestyle choice

Yes, cold showers are actually good for you

It’s that time of year again and the media and public go crazy. Everyone wears layers and layers of clothes and suddenly everyone has a cold. I respond to this piece of information the way I always do – “take a cold shower”. The response is usually the same, sheer horror. The thought of actually getting a cold shower in the winter with a cold doesn’t make sense to most people and so they continue to seek the warmth and comfort of hot showers without listening to the actual many health and mental benefits that cold showers can and do bring. Are cold showers good for you good for you?.Yes. Not only are they good for you but they are great way to start the day but reports suggest repeated use of them can help fight depression.

Benefits of cold showers

Reducing fatigue in chronic fatigue syndrome

Shevchuk NA (2007) suggested that exposure to cold can transiently reverse several physiological changes that are often associated with CFS ( chronic fatigue syndrome) and therefore, the hypothesis is that repeated cold stress can reduce fatigue in CFS patients. He provides several cases of evidence supporting this.

Winter swimming improves general well-being.

Huttunen, P et al. (2004) published the results of his study finding that:

“In the beginning, there were no significant differences in the mood states and subjective feelings between the swimmers and the controls. The swimmers had more diseases (about 50%) diagnosed by a physician. Tension, fatigue, memory and mood negative state points in the swimmers significantly decreased with the duration of the swimming period. After four months, the swimmers felt themselves to be more energetic, active and brisk than the controls. Vigour-activity scores were significantly greater (p < 0.05). All swimmers who suffered from rheumatism, fibromyalgia, or asthma, reported that winter swimming had relieved pains” and reaching the conclusion of “Improvement of general well-being is thus a benefit induced by regular winter swimming.“

Helps with depression

A study from Nikolai A. Shevchuk suggested taking a cold shower as a method of curing depression. He suggested that:

“Depression is a debilitating mood disorder that is among the top causes of disability worldwide. It can be characterized by a set of somatic, emotional, and behavioral symptoms, one of which is a high risk of suicide. This work presents a hypothesis that depression may be caused by the convergence of two factors: (A) A lifestyle that lacks certain physiological stressors that have been experienced by primates through millions of years of evolution, such as brief changes in body temperature (e.g. cold swim), and this lack of “thermal exercise” may cause inadequate functioning of the brain. (B) Genetic makeup that predisposes an individual to be affected by the above condition more seriously than other people”.

“The possible antidepressant effect may also have to do with the mild electroshock delivered to the brain by a cold shower, because of the unusually high density of cold receptors in the skin,” he added, explaining that these nerve endings are 3-10 times higher in density than those registering warmth.

Strengthens immunity

Shevchuk NA, Radoja S (2007) suggested that daily brief cold stress can increase both numbers and activity of peripheral cytotoxic T lymphocytes and natural killer cells, the major effectors of adaptive and innate tumor immunity. Studies have also shown higher antioxidative protection in winter swimmers than non winter swimmers.

Fat loss

Shephard RJ (1985) suggested that with more sustained exposure to cold air or water, humans can apparently develop the humoral type of acclimatisation described in small mammals, with an increased output of noradrenaline and/or thyroxine. This leads to the mobilization of fatty acids, which induces a substantial fat loss over a 1- to 2-week period.

More fertile

The good news is that you can produce more sperm by taking cold showers. The testes are on the outside of the body so that they keep cool and studies have shown that hot baths and anything that generally heats up the testes area produces less a less sperm count.

Video of taking a cold shower

My own personal experience with when taking cold showers

My own personal experiences with cold showers have been of course very positive, the colder the better. I usually start on hot then flip it to cold when i’m ready and stay under there until the shock has gone and i’m adapting to the cold. The result is usually an aliveness like no other; an alertness, a glow. I also sleep like a baby when I take one at night as many other people have reported. All forms of stress have dissolved away and I feel happy. This surprisingly lasts for hours and hours. Want to know the best part? It’s a low cost, better for the environment and rewarding. Cold showers are good for you.  Man up and turn that tap to cold!

Every human being is the author of his own health or disease – Prince Gautama Siddharta

Photo credit: Seanmcgrath

Why cold showers are actually good for you The Ephemeral Project The Ephemeral Project - Travel photography & inspirational lifestyle choice

We quit our corporate jobs to set up Escape the City. A community of professionals who want to ‘Do Something Different’.

Our journey and the journey of the making of Escape the City demonstrates if we can do it so can anyone. We want to make 2011 the year people Start Something They Love.

www.escapethecity.org

The Escape The City success story is a testament to how many people are unsatifised with their current job. Escape The City founders Dom Jackman and Rob Symington are on a mission to help talented people escape from unfulfilling corporate jobs.

Their numbers speak for volumes for how much people want to do something different.

31 Aug ’09: 2 members
01 Dec ’09: 1000 members
22 Mar ’10: 5,050 members
09 Aug ’10: 14,671 members
02 Sep ’10: 15,344 members
26 Oct ’10: 16,866 members
22 Nov ’10: 19,067 members
09 Dec ’10: 20,000 members
26 Jan ’11: 22,394 members
09 Feb ’11: 23,811 members
01 Mar ’11: 26,080 members

I was lucky enough to score an interview with Escape The City co-founder Rob Symington.

1. Since you co-started Esc you have had incredible press coverage including Times magazine & Forbes and also incredible growth in membership (now at 17,000+) did you expect this? What have you learnt from this? What do you think was the reason for your growth?

No we didn’t expect it. If someone had told us we would be where we are 12 months after launching we wouldn’t have believed them. I think the reason for our growth so far has been that we appeal to that question that everyone asks themselves: ‘what should I be doing with my life?”. Esc isn’t a traditional business, it is a call to action. We are on a mission to help people escape from unfulfilling corporate jobs. Lots of people out there also want to escape. It’s a good fit!

2.   If you only had one piece to advice to give someone who wanted to escape the city what would that be?

Save an escape fund. Money gives you choice.

3. Now that you personally have ‘escaped the city’ and doing more fulfilling work what was the biggest lesson learnt starting this?

The biggest lesson is that the best way to fight procrastination is to just commit yourself. Read Innocent’s book (Our story and some things we have learnt). They have a fantastic section where they say “Just start. Start small, but start. The lesson is that whatever project, plan, idea, business, job, etc you are considering you should put the first actions in place towards starting. You’ll never know a) if it will work or b) if you will like it until you start. So just start! It’s incredible what you can achieve with determination and by chucking yourself into the current.

4. If you could turn back the clock and change one thing when you started Esc what would that be?

Hmmm… don’t want to tempt fate by saying nothing. It has gone really well so far. I would say that we have made some bad web development decisions over the past 12 months which have slowed our progress towards the new site we are launching. But overall nothing that has greatly hampered our progress.

5. What was the hardest thing about starting this and how did you overcome it?

Overcoming the fear (ongoing process). We’re not selling carpets, we’ve started a business around a pretty big concept: DO STUFF THAT MATTERS TO YOU. It’s relatively provocative. People can easily come out with all sorts of (boring, cynical, pessimistic) reasons why Escaping the City is unrealistic. Stuff em! There are enough people who feel like this for Esc to be addressing a really considerable need. But yes, overcoming fear and allowing yourself to do the work you want to do is the hardest thing (Seth Godin style).

6. In one sentence please what Esc means to you?

To me Esc represents an aspiration to spend your short and precious life doing things that matter.

7.  Esc now offers coaching, do you have any other plans to move Esc to another level?

Lots and lots of plans. We’re building a new website at the moment. The current one is a kitchen-table job that has done fantastically well for us but we are outgrowing it. The idea merits a platform that really fulfills its potential. We’re expanding a presence to New York this year. And yes we’ll be introducing additional products and services as the new platform comes online (new coaching programmes, e-books, etc).

8. Can you tell us about the first person you helped escape and what it meant to you? How many have followed?

We don’t actually know how many people have escaped through Esc. We often hear about people having found opportunities or partners or started things having been inspired by our site. The first email we received was this one from Tom: Tom: Halo Trust, Mine-clearing charity, Cambodia: “I’m writing to you from Cambodia, having spent the day learning about how to clear minefields… One of your earliest emails had a link for the HALO Trust saying they were recruiting. All I can say is that because of you guys, I’m doing my dream job. Thank you so much, I’m not sure if you get told it but what you are doing really does work.”
What did it mean to us? It meant everything because it meant that our concept worked and that people were actually going to change what they did in their lives because of what we had built.

9.  Realistically where do you see Esc in 5 years time? What would be the ideal situation for Esc?

Our vision is for the Escape the City community to become the default global destination for high-flying professionals who are looking for exciting alternatives to their corporate jobs.

Escape The City are on a mission to help people do what they love. Join the revolution.

Do what you love – Escape The City (interview) The Ephemeral Project The Ephemeral Project - Travel photography & inspirational lifestyle choice

Interview with Colin Wright of Exile lifestyle

How has minimalism changed your perspective on life and how do you apply this to your businesses?

Minimalism has really helped me prioritize my life and identify the things (and people, and activities) that are truly important to me, and which are not.

Business-wise, I assumed for a long time that I would do better work if I had better equipment. I spent a LOT of money on fancy new computers, bigger monitors, better printers, and every new gadget I could get my hands on, justifying the expense and obsession with ‘it’s business.’

Well, limitations actually have a way of spurring creativity, and now I’ve found that if I don’t have everything I need with me at all times, I actually come up with better solutions and more novel concepts than when I had all the tech in my corner.

This has allowed me to be more nimble when things go wrong, but also has given me free reign when it comes to building something new: if there are no easy answers, the people with the most experience at rolling with the punches and building something from nothing have a huge advantage. My whole life is supported by ventures that are built from nothing, and I continue to innovate using this tactic.

Also, on a much more basic level, I now know that a business doesn’t require office space, a big fancy desk or a bunch of white boards. The WORLD is my office, and the people in it are all the inspiration I need.

You give your readers the chance to decide upon your next location every 4 months. When you re-locate you like to live like the locals and do what they do. What has been the biggest lesson you have learnt by living like the locals and how have you applied it to your life?

This is going to sound cheesy, but I think what’s stuck with me most over the course of my travels so far is that we all have similar ambitions, at least at the most basic level. We’re all looking to improve our situations on earth while also striving to achieve whatever moral or philosophical goals we happen to have tucked away for later.

The only difference is how we pursue these goals, and what they happen to be in detail. That’s it.

Recognizing this has allowed me to pare down a lot of the innate prejudices that come with being a citizen of any nation today and realize that they’re mostly propaganda or other peoples’ ignorance, and most can be ignored.

You run 5 businesses and have set them up so that you can run them anywhere you like. What advice would you give for someone looking to do the same?

I would say that first you should make sure that running a business is what you want to do. It’s hard work, and you should expect to fail often.

If that’s cool with you, then I would recommend starting as small as possible and scaling up. Reducing the risk to a super-low level makes it much easier to puck yourself back up after those inevitable failures, and even allows for the possibility of turning a failure into a success.

Do something that you love, because you’re going to be spending a LOT of your time on it (the concept of free time kind of goes out the door, and your life becomes a sort of ‘always working but never working’ mentality, so that you can work when you want, but you’ll ALWAYS be doing something related to work).

Don’t do what everyone else is doing. Seems obvious, but it’s amazing how many people wanted to build social networks after Facebook became big. When a social network is dominating the online scene, you should be creating the next frozen yogurt chain or curing cancer instead.

Always be innovating, especially with the business model. A burger joint is boring. A burger joint where the food is free but the tables are rented is interesting.

Cut an idea down to the essentials and figure out what’s necessary and what just SEEMS necessary. This is a great way to save money up front (so you can start in the black, rather than the red), but is also a great way to improve upon existing formats.

How does your lifestyle enhance your businesses?

Well, it does help me build my platform, which gives me an audience that I can talk to, learn from and have help me test things out.

But really my lifestyle keeps me sane and provides constant inspiration.

A business should help you achieve your ideal lifestyle, your lifestyle shouldn’t help you achieve your ideal business. My businesses are things that I like to do while living, and they allow me to travel, meet interesting people and take girls I like out on dates, so they’re really just a part of my lifestyle.

Can you tell us about your interest in Stoicism?

Stoicism is deeply ingrained in my personal philosophy in part because I’ve seen over and over again how failure and pain improves me as a person.

This isn’t to say that I go out seeking failure and pain, but when something bad happens to me, I’m just as likely to laugh or just shrug it off and move on, because I know that after that kind of low, all of my highs will seem higher, and even the mediocre moments will suddenly be worth writing home about. That’s valuable.

Beyond that, I don’t have a huge interest in Stoicism, anymore than any other philosophy at least. It’s just something that aligns really well with my beliefs and because of that I’ve done a good deal of reading about it. It helped put words to what I already believed, you might say.

What inspires you?

Learning about other cultures or new fields of study. Trying new things. Taking risks. Beauty. Practical elegance. Co-conspirators. People who live interesting lives.

Thanks Colin.

All photos are owned by Colin Wright who kindly gave me permission to use for this post.

Interview with Colin Wright of Exile lifestyle The Ephemeral Project The Ephemeral Project - Travel photography & inspirational lifestyle choice

How to live anywhere and leave the rat race interview with Karol Gajda

What does it take to leave the rat race? Well, ask the people who have done it. So I asked Karol Gajda for an interview which he accepted.

In 17 words: The ultimate goal with RidiculouslyExtraordinary.com and my life is to help 100 people achieve Ridiculously Extraordinary Freedom

Karol has been working for himself for many years and has a very popular blog Ridiculously Extraordinary in which he uses to teach people about how to live a more minimalist lifestyle and how to live anywhere. Karol works from his laptop and lives as you can guess by his course, anywhere.

The internet has exploded and many people like yourself are now living the dream life and being able live anywhere and do anything while have the flexibility to work anywhere in the world and decide your own working hours. While a lot of people are living this life there are much more who are struggling. What advice would you give to them to create their dream life?

It helps to be clear about what your dream life looks like. I don’t mean in a vision board “The Secret” type of way. I mean, where do you live? What are you doing? What does your day look like? What are you working on? How excited are you to wake up every day?

That’s the first step. Once you’re clear about what you really want it’s much easier to reverse engineer the process to getting there.

What was the biggest lesson you learnt about a product launch?

There are tons of lessons to learn from product launches. I don’t do it perfectly every time. I’ve done product launches that have done 6 figures, but I have also done product launches that have only done 3. :) There are dozens of variables involved in a launch. I will say this: make sure your product delivers. If it delivers, then even if the launch doesn’t go well your sales will pick up.

What was the hardest thing you learnt about creating this type of lifestyle?

Working from home can be lonely. I love spending time alone, but it’s easy to get caught up in work or whatever else and never leave the house. Traveling helps force me to explore because I naturally want to check the pulse of my new surroundings.

In one sentence please explain the best thing about living a minimalist life?

I never have to worry about any of my possessions because there are so few, which allows me to think clearly and create.

Science has evolved and it’s now possible to go back in time to meet yourself as a child. What advice would you give to yourself as a 14 year old?

Cut your hair. Also drop out, get your GED, maybe go to university, but get started living life. You’re wasting your time in a school system that is teaching you how to pass multiple choice tests.

What’s next for Ridiculously Extraordinary?

Everything that’s coming up is either public or it hasn’t been announced yet. I’ll be announcing 2 new missions in March, but until then I’m writing 2-3 times/week and everything’s normal.

What do you think of The Ephemeral Project?

You’re doing fun and exciting things and I’m looking forward to what else you have in store for us.

9. Any other advice that you want to give people about breaking free of the rat race?

Don’t listen to anybody who tells you it can’t be done. They just want you to join them in not living their ideal lives. You can make things happen if you focus on making things happen.

Thanks Karol

Check out an interview I did also with Colin Wright of exile lifestyle who also left the rat race

Leave the rat race- interview with Karol Gajda The Ephemeral Project The Ephemeral Project - Travel photography & inspirational lifestyle choice