The majority of people believe it is too difficult, or even impossible, to actually “work” while embarking on long-term world travel. “How could you possibly accomplish anything productive and bring in income while constantly on the move?”
If you are part of this group of naysayers, I’ve got news for you: A growing number of people (including myself) are hitting the road and seeing the world, WHILE working.
“But HOW?” ..you might ask.
In terms of jobs- they vary, but usually revolve around a computer and the internet (I’m not talking about bar tending from place to place here).
In terms of tools- there are a few that help: DropBox, Grasshopper, and Evernote make my working life much easier on the road.
But what is the real secret? What is the trick to balancing an endless bucket of brand new experiences and adventure with actual work?
Working in Sprints!
In athletics, anaerobic sprinting is known to naturally release Human Growth Hormone (HGH) in your body, which increases athletic performance and slows down the effects of aging.
Just like in athletics, working in sprints actually increases your work performance. Working in sprints, means going an extended period of time not working, and then taking a period of time to work very hard (and smart).
Waking up early can change your life! Early morning time is peaceful. You can use it to do creative work, take time to yourself, or for learning – things that are so easily lost once mid-morning’s hectic hand knocks at your door.
Here are 11 tips for waking up early so that you can enjoy your day before the world starts moving:
1. Think Right Away:
Right when you wake up in the morning, do something that requires you to think a little bit. I usually read the comments on my Instagram, or I’ll taking down some notes for my blog. Playing Angry Birds right when you wake up is perfect, as long as you can keep from getting sucked in and playing for too long. Do NOT check Email. Email is suicide this early in the morning. The first hours of the day are peaceful and you have a clear head. You can use that to your advantage. Don’t ruin it with Email. In general, if you can get your brain thinking about something other than how warm your bed is, it’s less likely that you will fall back into dream land.
2. Tongue Yourself:
Once I sit up in the morning, I usually rub the tip of my tongue across the roof of my mouth a few times. Try it. You’ll notice the nerves in the top of your mouth kick to life a little bit. I learned this one from a narcoleptic friend. No joke. He does this when he’s out of medication or if he’s worried that he is going to fall asleep at the wheel. If it works for narcoleptic people, it will work for you in the morning.
My apologies for the pretentious title. I will try to keep this one short. I’ve put together a short list of required readings for anyone thinking about jumping into the internet-startup world.
A little backstory: I wrote this post out of frustration about a person I did business with a while back. We started an internet related side project just because we had mutual friends and both thought “hey, we should start something together”. The problem was, the project was in my industry, not his. I quickly learned that he was content acting like the kid in school who never did any work during group projects. Although he tried to talk the talk (“game driven design” this, “revenue based business model”, that), it was clear that he had no desire to actually learn about what we were doing.
After weeks of trying to get him caught up on some basic principles I wrote this list. I’ve since fired this person and only work with people who know what they are talking about (Whoa, there goes the pretentiousness again! Sorry!). Anyway, here is the VERY BASIC (and probably obvious to most of you) list:
- The Art of the Start – Guy Kawasaki
- Getting Real – 37Signals
- The 4-Hour Workweek – Tim Ferriss
- Rework – Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
- Paul Graham’s Essays – They are ALL good but I recommend start, ideas, and die first.
- Mashable and TechCrunch – These blogs can be overwhelming but reading them once in a while will help you know what’s going on.
The internet-startup world is an incredibly exciting place! Reading the above literature will stoke your excitement and make you less of an a*shole! This is just the tip of the iceberg.
Photo: Sebastiano Pitruzzello
(Itacaré, Brazil – 2010)
There is nothing more daunting while traveling the world than checking in to find a full email inbox. The same goes for Facebook and Twitter communications! The following are 8 tips I’ve found to help minimize trivialities and keep from feeling overwhelmed when I get online for the first time after (for example) two weeks on the beach in Brazil:
I. Use proxy email addresses
I have 3 levels of email addresses:
- Spam – the one that I know will get spammed – I use this one for surveys and forms that I know will spam me. I don’t even check this email. The only reason I have it is because it has helped me get a free sandwich here and there.
- Mid-level – the one that could get spammed – I use this email address for newsletters that I “might” be interested in. I give this email address away whenever I don’t trust something completely. This email forwards to my main email portal on Gmail (the only one I check). I can turn this one off by simply turning off email forwarding.
- Exclusive – the one for people I trust – My friends, family, and business colleagues get this email address. I never put this email address into online forms, including credit card and online banking accounts, which tend to make it very difficult to unsubscribe from their “important” email.
(Photo: Jule_Berlin)
I’ve read it in startup book after startup book, but it wasn’t until last year that I got a first hand taste of what it means: People coming from a Corporate environment do not do well in Startup environments.
I first read this warning in Guy Kawasaki’s, The Art of the Start, where he talked about finding and hiring the right people for a startup. Of course, I didn’t take the idea too seriously until it slapped me in the face.
Most startup “theorists” warn that the Startup World is much different than the Corporate World. They warn about picking people from what we will call C-land (the Corporate World) and bringing them over to S-land (the Startup World), but they rarely say why. Based on my own experiences, here is why:
When people recommend you on LinkedIn it helps establish your credibility. In this day and age a LinkedIn recommendation could mean the difference between getting and not getting a job. So how do you get a person who you’ve done business with (who is probably busy as shit) to write you a recommendation?
I get asked to write recommendations a lot and it’s something I rarely have time to do. I got an email from my friend Chad Bowe the other day that prompted me to write a recommendation for him right away. Here is what it said:
Hey buddy,
How are things? Hope all is well. You in the US or some other part of the planet? Listen, I am trying to get some recommendations for LinkedIn. Can you write something about me in exchange for the recommendation below? Thanks in advance buddy. Let me know..
Austin visited the Bahamas upon request by the Bahamas Internet Association to present on the topic of internet entrepreneurship. Being one of the organizers, I got to spend 2 or 3 days with Austin and in that time I became impressed with his ingenuity, creativity and pragmatic perspective and approach to business (and life for that matter). Austin is a young entrepreneur with lots of ideas and a few companies already under his belt – I have a good feeling that the world will be seeing a lot more from him in the days and years to come!
What made me drop everything and write him a quick recommendation? He had already written one for me!
If you’re trying to gather recommendations for your LinkedIn profile, try writing a short recommendation for that person first. Flattering someone before asking them to do something helps. If it worked on me, it is going to work on other people too. Good luck!
Photo credit: lastbeats
I had the honor of doing an interview with Carlos Miceli from OwlSparks last week. Carlos is a great friend and colleague and we had a fun discussion. Here are some of the topics we cover in the video:
- Thoughts on minimalism and mobile lifestyle
- Taking a break from blogging to focus on entrepreneurship first
- Thoughts on the content publishing revolution
- The knowledge gained from applying to startup incubators
- Our experiences with startup co-founders, the problem when involving friends, and thoughts on being a “solopreneur”
- The necessity of working full time on your project
In my opinion Carlos has one of the most insightful perspectives on Twitter, you can follow him here: @CarlosMiceli. Thanks Carlos!
It’s been repeated like a broken record, and I’m sure I’ve repeated it many times through this blog: Entrepreneurship is a roller coaster. You have extreme highs and extreme lows. If you are not manic-depressive before going into entrepreneurship, there is a good chance you will be on the other end. The highs outweigh the lows, for most people, and that is why we do what we do. The lows are so excruciating though that it feels like the world is going to end. Getting out of your lows is more important than getting to your highs. Here are two techniques I’ve adopted for doing this:
1) Talk to your friends who are High -
No, not the ones smoking pot, the ones who are killing it in their ventures. One of the great things about being an entrepreneur is that gradually most of the people you surround yourself with are also entrepreneurs. Each entrepreneur is on a different roller coaster. Find the ones who are on their highs when you are in a low, and talk to them. Ask them for advice, motivation, whatever – just talk to them. Their high will rub off.
2) Hit Autopilot and Keep Moving –
If you can translate the feelings of defeat and disappear into some sort of motivation to keep moving, you will win. One of my favorite essays on entrepreneurship is Paul Graham’s, How not to die. In this essay he says that the startups who “make it” are the ones who find a way not to “die”. In other words, finding a way to keep moving forward, no matter how difficult it may seem, is what will make you succeed. If you’ve ever run or hiked long distances, you know this feeling. At first you start full of energy and feel like you can conquer the world. Then at some point, you hit a wall and really start to question how long you will last. At this point you can simply give up, or you can ignore the pain and just keep moving. You find a drone-like place that almost becomes pleasurable because you know that you are moving forward and your body is numbing to the the pain. I call this place, autopilot. If every time you hit “Entrepreneurial Armageddon”, you can switch into autopilot and just keep moving forward, you will be better off than most. The people who succeed are the one’s who don’t give up.
If you are on an entrepreneurial high right now, congratulations. This is why we do what we do. If you are in a low right now, read the two steps above and keep moving. Don’t worry, you’ll get out of it. If you don’t know what I am talking about yet, welcome to entrepreneurship. It’s a hell of a ride!
Photo credit: Shandi-lee
If you are like me you’ve been influenced at some point by the concept of the once extremely popular show, Entourage. The underlying message of this show is that “we can all make it together and not matter what, we should all stick together.” Unfortunately, a lot of times this notion couldn’t be farther from the truth in startup world. In this post I discuss some of the pros and cons of doing business with friends, why an “entourage” is probably not the best way to start a business, and what kinds of things you can do if you find yourself in a ‘entourage centered’ business.
This is a short video I recorded (apologies for the low quality) when I was backpacking in the High Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. In it, I drink water directly from a lake and explain why it is important to take extended periods AWAY from technology.
It is important to take time away from your cell phone, computer, and email. I take extended breaks from these things often, and so far technology has not “passed me by“. Doing this allows you to take a step back and look at your career, life, and goals from an objective standpoint. As an entrepreneur, this can be extremely beneficial!
Don’t be afraid to disconnect!