My Crisis
As I’m writing this, I have about 30 more minutes during which I am still 24 years old.
I’ve come to understand that for my 25th birthday I’m supposed to go a little crazy, completely rearrange my life, change careers, take up new hobbies, end relationships, dramatically change my priorities, and generally turn into a whirlwind of drastic activity, shocking friends and family with my sheer audacity and lack of respect for the rules.
Oops. Jumped the gun on that one.
But honestly, who decided we could only live to be 100 years old anyway? I don’t know about you, but I plan to be at least 250 years old, and I won’t even die at that point, I’ll just be mostly machine.
My Announcement
All age-related musings aside, I do happen to have a fairly significant announcement just in time for my 25th birthday. I don’t think it has anything to do with an imminent breakdown, but I’ll be sure to post some kiwis (the people, not the bird, though the mental image is funnier with the bird) outside my door just in case.
The announcement is that I have just completed a new ebook, and it’s monstrous.
No really. My first ebook on Personal Branding weighed in at a relatively tame 50 pages, while the second, How to Be Remarkable, more than doubled in huskiness, bringing home 127 pages worth of girth.
This new book again ups the ante about 200%, bearing over 250 pages of sheer intensity, insight and scintillating sexiness.
“Well that’s all fine and good,” you’re thinking. “But what is this titanic tome all about?”
A very good question my friend, and the answer is something that I’ve become very familiar with over the past 6 years that I’ve been running businesses, and even more so since I moved to LA and then left the country.
My new ebook is about networking, and how to do it awesomely.
My New Ebook
I’m not going to reveal all the little details about the ebook, evocatively titled Networking Awesomely, here and now because that would take away from some of the delightful buildup and inevitable speculation. I will tell you this, however: in addition to my own advice on the subject, I’ve managed to secure networking advice and stories from some of my favorite bloggers, entrepreneurs, and business-people.
I got an incredibly huge response from How to Be Remarkable (over 55,000 downloads and counting), and I am super-psyched by how it turned out, but I can honestly say I am even more proud of this new ebook, partially because of what it represents for me an the evolution of Exile Lifestyle.
My Evolution
Most of you probably know by now that in addition to running this blog, I also run a branding-focused design studio. It’s through this studio that I make money, enabling me to travel, party, rabble-rouse, and generally live the life that I enjoy, which includes taking time out periodically to write ebooks and operate this blog.
Well what I’m trying out is a business model that I’m hoping to slowly phase in to how I do things. This business model revolves around creating online content (like the ebooks and blog posts I’ve already published), but with greater frequency and variety. It also involves a slow move away from doing primarily client work for a living and toward doing more work through Exile Lifestyle.
This new ebook, Networking Awesomely, is the first phase of this evolution in that I’ll be selling it rather than giving it away.
If I’m able to make enough money creating ebooks, then I’ll be able to spend more time doing so (and of course I will continue to produce free ebooks as well, and the blog will always remain free, in case you were worried).
The Details
Networking Awesomely will go on sale next week on Wednesday, April 21 (that’s Thursday, April 22 for kiwis and Aussies) for $20.
I do, however, want to give a significant discount to some of my most loyal readers, so there will be a pre-sale going on during which people who are signed up to get my newsletter will be able to buy Networking Awesomely for 50% off (only $10) on Monday or Tuesday of that same week, so long as they promise to send me a quick review once they’ve had the chance to read it.
I would really love to hear your opinion, so if you’d like to get in on this sale and you aren’t already on the list, click here to join. Details on how to get your discount will arrive in the next issue of the newsletter very shortly.
Back to the Crisis
Business aside, since this is a day of reflection I want to take this opportunity to say thanks to everyone out there who reads Exile Lifestyle. Since the very beginning I’ve been fortunate to have an ever-growing group of really remarkable people reading what I write and interacting with me, and this has inspired me more that you can possibly imagine.
Sometimes it gets lonely traveling to new places all the time, and there are moments when I think that perhaps I am a bit nutty for doing what I’m doing, but when I look over the emails and comments that I’ve received and the great responses to my work on social networks and other blogs from all over the world, I know that I’m where I need to be and that I’ve got the best support team I could ever ask for.
THANK YOU. I’m sincerely looking forward to meeting even more of you, and another year of rule-shattering, expectation-destroying, edge-tip-traipsing good times.
Update: December 13, 2016
There it is: the post in which I announced that I would be segueing away from my service-based business into something a little less certain.
Man, I was so terrified. That it wouldn’t work, that no one would care, that I would find myself stranded somewhere. Or even that I’d find myself crawling back to where I started, the whole thing having blown up in my face, putting together a client list once more, in a less-favorable place from where I started because of all the lost time.
Thankfully, that didn’t end up being the case. And there’s never been as much money in what I do today — primarily writing books for a living, but also speaking at conferences and schools and businesses, and making some money through affiliates and advertisers on my podcast — but I enjoy it about a million times more than the client stuff.
Also, if you’re interested in reading the updated edition of the book (which I’ve also given a less-frantic name) mentioned in this post, you can read it free, here, or buy it for a buck on Amazon and other ebook platforms.