Lifestyle Design School is a network and resource for entrepreneurs creating passion businesses. Originally inspired by the ideas of Timothy Ferriss and The 4-hour work week, our goal is to unite the "inner game" of success (attitude, motivation and higher purpose) with the "outer game" (skills, network, resources, practices). When done correctly this creates personal power and success in all areas of life including financial.
Openings in the program occur sporadically. To stay informed, you may join our mailing list on the right.
This is the recording of an interview I did with Jonathan Mead on Thursday Jan. 26, 2012 on the topic “Live life on your own terms — let your work be your play”. We conducted the interview over Skype video, with simultaneous broadcast via phone.
Jonathan Mead is one of the founders of “live life on your own terms” movement (quit your day job and let your work be your play). We covered a lot of questions of interest to internet entrepreneur startups, or anyone who wants to start generating money doing something that they are passionate about and/or is more aligned with what they care for.
Jonathan is starting a new, very ambitious program called Trailblazer, which is about getting clarity on who you are and what you are able to offer the world profitably without bending yourself into a pretzel. Given the topic of this website (“Build your platform on the internet without losing your friends, your family or your mind”), I thought this would be of interest to our readers
Yesterday I got a physical letter (!) from Brendon Burchard inviting me to his 10xNYC Conference in New York in April ($8000). The invite was very flattering for sure (I am a huge fan of Brendon).
At first I thought I would write him a personal letter thanking him and saying that I followed the advice in his book and I am doing quite well, and therefore don’t need a high-priced conference or coaching program at this time ( and incidentally that I think the large majority of such programs are a poor investment value, particularly for startups).
But then I had a better idea, which is to post a video response.
My name is Morgan but it Ain’t JP (“there is no bank on Wall Street they have named after me”)
This is an article I wrote for WP Academy yesterday. First version badly needed editing and went out anyway (egg on my face), my chief copywriter and wife gave me an earful, I listened carefully as I know what’s good for me (in more ways than one, lol). Second version is quite good (once narcissistic ramblings removed), check it here:
In other news, we are renewing the Lifestyle Design School coaching group in 2012. We have about a half-dozen committed members in a weekly 30-min Skype check-in / Mastermind call and I am trying to think through how to make this or similar free service available to all of you, if you want it. I will post more when we’ve mulled this through, and if you have any comments or feedback please comment to the post (don’t email).
For the rest, this blog is and will continue to be (among other things) the “insider’s group” (“opening up the kimono” view) of WP Academy business development, including all my neuroses, hope you enjoy and trust that there is method in my madness.
Karen is a “Muse”, Entrepreneur, Coach, Trainer, Catalyst for change. She’s provocative. She helps poke fun in your shopworn ideas about making a living so that you can start living your dreams.
On Monday Oct. 3 she was interviewed by me. For the recording click here, or listen to the audio below:
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For the topics covered in the interview, keep on reading.
(it’s best to follow the recording with the slides, but not necessary)
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“Game over” in internet marketing terms (as coined by Clay Collins) is that stage of an internet business where it is making a full-time income. Given the enormous challenges of making any money at all on the internet (let alone a full-time income), when this happens it is a triumph, a brillliant accomplishment, a miracle really.
My primary business WordPress Academy is very likely to reach “game over” with our fall course that begins in October. I am simply speechless, “knock me over with a feather” kind of amazed, grateful. It seems pretty certain that I will be teaching these courses to large groups (100+) three times a year, doing work I like, enjoying all the benefits of the internet entrepreneur lifestyle (location independence, work-hours independence, and equity accumulation), traveling in the summer as I have always wanted to, with time to pursue interests and relationships. Read more >>
My two heroes, Brendon Burchard and Tim Ferriss, share the stage today (Tuesday July 28) in a historic free teleconference on book publishing.
Read the invitation below. Tim Ferriss’ “The 4-hour work-week” sold 1 million copies in hard-cover. Brendon Burchard generated $7 million in a project that initially started out as a 5-week effort.
For my thoughts about “The 4-hour work-week” (and why it makes better book marketing copy than an actual business plan) see here. It’s still a damn good read, though.
Update: A very disappointing event, WAY too much selling of Ferriss’s $9,000 program. A few takeaways:
Use Evernote for research. Spend 80% of your time on content and research, and 20% on marketing
StumbleUpon much underused marketing vehicle. Spend $50 on SU advertising per post and hope for your article to go viral
Recommended books (Ferriss): On Writing Well (style), Bird by Bird (challenges of writing), 22 Immutable laws of marketing (marketing)
Gently nurture relationships with top bloggers at BlogWorld, South by Southwest
Burchard: have your back-end be ready BEFORE your write the book
Nurture your JV partners, always be focussed on providing value to them
Ok, so I have decided to give up the WordPress training business and become a counterfeiter… no, seriously, as an internet entrepreneur, money comes to me in fairly large amounts at fairly infrequent intervals, with a lot of grunt-work in between. I find it difficult sometimes to see the larger picture and get motivated to do business development, as my reptilian brain really desires little more than to eat, sleep, move my body and reproduce – and particularly in the summer (don’t laugh, these are some of the finest things that the Good Lord has given us).
In early June I sold about $15k of WordPress webinar services, about 50 seats in a 8-week course, mostly via a single large social media JV promotion (a Linkedin group). I have been an internet entrepreneur for 7 years, but this is the most money I have ever made on the web. Even more exciting is the feedback that I am getting from my students (“Marc I think you are brilliant”… mm, tell me more), and the possibility that this operation could be scaled very rapidly via a marketing technique called JV webinars, that is currently the highest converting sales vehicle on the planet.
I am now feeling qualified to reopen the Lifestyle Design School internet business development Mastermind / Coaching program. This is a free program, however I am asking for a commitment and a “pay it forward” (that you mentor somebody else). The program starts on Tuesday July 19 at 1pm EST and will consist of a weekly 1-hour call and follow-up.
Below is the recording of the first information call that took place on Tuesday July 5. The audio is terrible (particularly the first 10 minutes), but it is still hearable, so please listen to it. Enjoy!
Do you want to take your internet business (and your life) to a new level in 2012?
Then subscribe below and follow the instructions in the welcome mail. I am looking for "conscious entrepreneurs" who are serious about developing a web presence for the purpose of discovering and delivering their gifts.
"We can choose to make the success of all
humanity our personal business. We can choose to be audacious enough to take responsibility for the entire human family. We can choose to make our
love for the World what our lives are really about. Each of us now has the opportunity, the privilege to make a difference in creating a World that works for all of us. It will require courage, audacity and heart. It is much more radical
than a revolution, it is the beginning of a transformation in the quality of life on our planet. You have the power to fire a shot heard around the World.
If not you, who? If not here, where? If not
now, when?"
-- Werner Erhard, 1979
"The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet."
-- Frederich Buechner
"Describe the steps you would take,
the gifts you would buy,
the generosity you would bestow,
the kindness you would offer,
the enthusiasm you would have,
the attention you would give,
and anything else that appeals to you,
if you were able to give yourself the things you want someone else to give to you.
NONE OF US WANTS TO GROW UP"
-- Cheri Huber
“This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one...being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap, being a force of nature, instead of a feverish selfish clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy…
I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as i live it, it is a privilege to do whatever i can. i rejoice in life for its own sake…
Life is no brief candle to me, but sort of a bright torch that i got hold of for a moment and i want to make it burn as brightly as possible, before handing it on to future generations"
-- George Bernard Shaw “Bright Torch”
"Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy."
-- Joseph Campbell
"If your mind is on the right path, it doesn’t matter how fast you go. If you’re on the right path, you’ll get there. Commitment keeps you on the path."
"You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves."
-- Mary Oliver
"When we act from our deepest convictions it is impossible to reach perfection."
-- Dee Hock
"The heart has its reasons that Reason knows not of."
-- Blaise Pascal
"Narcissism... suggests that what we need is not humility, especially the false kind that arises from the repression of ambition, but great dreams, high ideals, and pleasure in our own talents and abilities."
This is the recording of an interview I did with Jonathan Mead on Thursday Jan. 26, 2012 on the topic “Live life on your own terms — let your work be your play”. We conducted the interview over Skype video, with simultaneous broadcast via phone.
“Game over” in internet marketing terms (as coined by 
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