I love Kurt Vonnegut, granted our political, religious and sociological views different massively. But he was an amazing, inspiring writer whom wrote a treasure trove of classics. The other day I was rereading Time Quake and a sentence out of that book stuck with me…  Vonnegut writes that him and a friend decided that “only 17% of people in the world have lives worth living”. Now many people disagree with him, as do I to some extent (like I believe almost all people have some kernel of worthwhile in them – sans predators, perverts and sadists), but the power of the statement shook me to my core. After I read that I continually asked myself “Am I part of the 17%”? It is a sobering concept to think about, because you can have all the riches in the world and still be worthless as a person. In the same breath you can be desperately poor while being an angel among men.

So today I encourage you to look at your life, your dreams and your entrepreneurial path and ask yourself if you are part of the 17 or part of the 83?

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These are 7 amazing tools that every entrepreneur can use to help them make money online and build a mobile business, which is key to escaping the 9 to 5 and living the life you want. Try them out, give me feedback on which you love the best and feel free to add to the list in the comments section below!

1. Basecamphq – this is a site that me and my virtual workers use constantly to manage projects, keep notes, count time spent on each client, etc. For a low monthly cost Basecamp can help you make more money, get really organized and fertilize a truly mobile business model where you never have to meet any employees face to face, but still get a heck of a lot done.
2. Teqpad.com - this site offers a lot of free metrics on your website or blog, I am not sure if it is as accurate as other paid platforms but it gives you at least a good idea of what is going on behind the scenes. It also offers helpful hints and shows the amount of backlinks you are getting from all the major search engines. Read more…

I am reading through Start with Why by Simon Sinek, it is truly an eye opening read. But instead of just putting it on my reading list and hoping some of you will pick it up I am going to sum up some of the best parts and explain why WHY is the single best question that will lead to massive success.

In Sinek’s book he explains his concept of ‘The Golden Circle’ which is key to understanding the importance of presenting your businesses WHY even before it’s WHAT or HOW. Look closely at the below and take in this entrepreneurial advice because it may radically change the way you do business and make you vastly more successful and happy then you are now.

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Recently I’ve noticed an amazing and exciting trend within my own blog and others who I read avidly, its a practice I call building a comment community. Let me explain this blogging tip that I think is a good ear mark of a healthy blog. Some bloggers respond to the comments they receive after a post, others don’t do this so much. I learned from Pat Flynn in one of his stellar posts that responding to comments is essential to building a community around your blog… but even more interesting is when you notice the commentators responding to each other. This is truly a community being formed around whatever you blog’s niche is based on. So if you have a food blog where those who comment ask about recipes and then there are some “leaders” within  your food blog who will routinely respond to others comments, even often before you do, this is a GREAT sign of a healthy and interactive blog.

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If you want to truly live an extraordinary life, fueled by income streams you create, it’s imperative to have nothing to lose. I know that may sound unreasonable, irresponsible and like a misguided way to escape the 9 to 5 but in my entrepreneurial journey I’ve noticed it is the only way to go. So shake off your defensive about why you ‘can’t’ afford to jump head first into becoming an extraordinary entrepreneur and instead see why you can’t afford not to.

How to jumpstart your entrepreneur’s adventures

First thing you have to do is realize that extraordinary entrepreneurs live outside of societal norms 9 times out of 10. So don’t go chasing the dream of escaping the 9 to 5 and living the four hour work week then be surprised when you have to step way outside of your comfort zone to do it. People often say “But I have kids, a marriage, a job, a house, X, Y or Z how can I escape and live life on my own terms?”. Well I’ll tell you one thing, the path ISN’T the one you are currently on. But in reality you still are the only one that can decide which path will lead you to escape the rat race permanently… there is no quick fix, no magic bullet and no success pill.

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This is the second time since I started this blog that I am sharing one of my fictional short stories, I love to write and not always about business… let me know what you think!

He had hit it big when he snagged a 5 year contract to be the Goodman’s Goodies spokesperson. That’s the reason I started hating him I suppose, because he had made it in showbiz so fast and I hadn’t. Maybe not made it per say, but at least he had gotten his crunchy, brown foot in the door.

I was a screenwriter, though I had never actually finished a complete screenplay. So I guess it would be more accurate to say I wanted to be a screenwriter, someday. To pay the bills I had been reduced to writing scripts for shlocky late night reality dating shows. Every night I sat alone in my dingy living room watching one of the morally reprehensible episodes I helped create, and every night I would have to watch his smiling, round face pushing Goodman’s Goodies during the commercial breaks. I knew as I sat there alone on my out of date sofa that two doors down was the guy who had been parading all over the television screen that evening in the company of chocolate chips and lollipops. He was probably sipping champagne and toasting his success in a hot tub full of young starlets that hung on his every word. It made me sick.

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I have found myself lately in a internet business/blog funk, not that I don’t love my blog (**self hug**) but because it is easy for me to get maniacal about the number of comments, page views etc Escaping the 9 to 5 gets. The number of page views has only been growing, but I want reader interaction to grow as well and since with all things in life it takes a lot of hard work… I get frustrated. Today I heard someone say an old colloquialism “don’t dress for the job you have, dress for the job you want” and I thought… presto, that’s it, that is how to excel at writing a blog… you write for the blog you want, not the one you have.

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Today I am doing a case study on a blogger who is really killing it, he has gotten to a 43,871 Alexa rank within the whole globe (13,315 in the US) and is putting out an astonishing two to three articles a day. This is a step by step guide of how blogging can truly help you escape the 9 to 5 and build a business around what you love. Here are some more stats on James from theinfopreneneur.net:

• Hit an Alexa Rank of 50,000 in 3 months starting from nothing

• Over 4,500 comments left on 220 posts  published in 3 months

• Averaging 4,000 page views a day

• Guest posts featured on ExtremeJohn and DavidRisley and featured by BloggerIllustrated

• To cap it all off he works a 60hr full time job and have a young family and with no education and an IQ of 94

So I sent over some questions to James i.e. ‘The Infopreneur’ and he responded with a video post to help answer some questions about his amazing success in the blogosphere and how others can do the same.

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Have you ever wanted to make money while you sleep? Isn’t that the American dream? Or somebody’s dream, somewhere. Well lucky ducky it’s your day! Here are 11 ways to make money while you sleep that I hand picked and some I use myself You sleep better when you know your little piggy bank is growing.

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