Escaping the 9 to 5 » Awesome Sauce

33 Inspiring Quotes to Invigorate Your Day

Maren Kate — Tue, 10 May 2011 01:30:03 +0000

Last week I felt like I had hit a wall when it came to productivity. So I took the weekend off, walked a lot, ate some good food and read a lot.

During my reading this weekend I came across these 33 inspiring quotes that I wanted to share with you. Read through them – it should only take a few minutes – and let me know what you think, or if you have some to add.

They’ve inspired and invigorated me for the week to come and I hope they can do the same for you!

1. Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop. – Ovid

2. I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost always end up where I need to be. – Douglas Adams

3. Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people. – Eleanor Roosevelt

4. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. – Reinhold Niebuhr

5. When you are through changing, you are through. – Bruce Barton

6. A man always has two reasons for doing anything: a good reason and the real reason. – J. P. Morgan

7. Every man builds his world in his own image. He has the power to choose, but no power to escape the necessity of choice. – Ayn Rand

8. Don’t find fault, find a remedy. – Henry Ford

9. Doing is a quantum leap from imagining. – Barbara Sher

10. You have to think anyway, so why not think big? – Donald Trump

11. You’re only as good as the people you hire. – Ray Kroc

12. Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment. – Jim Rohn

13. Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

14. A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams. – John Barrymore

15. So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable. – Christopher Reeve

16. Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them? – Abraham Lincoln

17. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

18. The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. – Henry David Thoreau

19. Contradictions do not exist. Whenever you think you are facing a contradiction, check your premises. You will find that one of them is wrong. – Ayn Rand

20. I challenge you to make your life a masterpiece. I challenge you to join the ranks of those people who live what they teach, who walk their talk. – Tony Robbins

21. A goal properly set is halfway reached. – Zig Ziglar

22. Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it. – Helen Keller

23. Dreams pass into the reality of action. From the actions stems the dream again; and this interdependence produces the highest form of living. – Anais Nin

24. Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls. - Joseph Campbell

25. A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. – Winston Churchill

26. Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much may be done if we are always doing. - Thomas Jefferson

27. I will not take “but” for an answer. – Langston Hughes

28. A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others. – Ayn Rand

29. Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. – William James

30. Go big or go home. Because it’s true. What do you have to lose? – Eliza Dushku

31. I can, therefore I am. – Simone Weil

32. In motivating people, you’ve got to engage their minds and their hearts. I motivate people, I hope, by example – and perhaps by excitement, by having productive ideas to make others feel involved. – Rupert Murdoch

33. What you get by achieving your goals is to as important as what you become by achieving your goals. – Henry David Thoreau

Want more inspiring quotes, check out 45 epic quotes here.

How to Reach Goal Accountability

Maren Kate — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 01:31:48 +0000

Completing one little goal at a time is what builds skyscrapers and lean startups!

This is a Guest Post from Jaime Tardy at Eventual Millionaire. Jaime is a goal accountability coach and is giving away 3 months of her Goal Accountability coaching (one on one! a $441 value) to a lucky winner who tweets this post! It’s that easy to enter.

To quote Maren, “Self doubt, laziness and procrastination are sooo 2010.” We usually start out in January all motivated and pumped. You say, “Woo! I am ready for big changes this year!” Now the big question… Did you say that last year too? We are so excited in January. Then other things seem more important or self doubt steps in. When your goals start sliding downhill, what do you do? I work with small business owners and solopreneurs as a business coach, and I see it often. It seems to be a cycle. It might go something like this: January

Excitement. ”I have a huge goal. I’m not totally sure I can do it. Eek! But I want to ROCK IT. Bring it on!”

Motivation. Write a plan. Feel pretty good. Take a few steps down the road to a bigger and better year.

Self Doubt. Inner thoughts: Maybe that really isn’t the right goal. Maybe I’m just not ready yet. Who do I think I am? I’m not good enough.

Which leads to..

Procrastination and Laziness. Inner thoughts: I’ll get to it later. I think it’s more important to get this urgent email out soon. Maybe I should get my inbox to zero? I’ve been SO busy. I’m exhausted. I just need to crash and relax for awhile.

June

Renewed Commitment. *Find goals written down* “Oh yeah! I remember these.”

Self Doubt. Attempt again, make some progress. Obstacles rear their ugly heads.

Comfort. Go back to comfort zone. (Do not pass go, do not collect $200)

December

Realization. While it was a good year and you are doing ok, it wasn’t the massively amazing year you wanted it to be. Look forward to a new year!

Does this sound familiar? If this doesn’t happen to you congrats, because it’s incredibly common! It happens to all of us at some point. I think it’s part of the journey to an awesome life. There is one glaring problem with this scenario. Look back again. Did you see how little action was taken? Could you see how much thinking was done? What will separate 2010 from 2011?

You need to do something different. Goal Accountability for 2011 I’ve seen business owners make massive changes using these three things. These three things can be put in place at the start of the year. We all know we need them. It’s not a secret. Taking action and setting up a system now is your best bet to have an amazing 2011. Right Focus.

As an entrepreneur you are a massive idea generator and problem solver. You can go to bed at night thinking of a problem and wake up with five different solutions. This is an extremely valuable trait to have in business. It can help you push ahead of the competition. You can see new opportunities for growth. It is also a trait that can be a huge distraction. You can be really excited about a new idea or venture and it could be something to revolutionize things, or it could be a huge distraction that stifles your current business.

Actions:

Before you can determine your right focus you need to determine your priorities. Check out the priorities worksheet here.

Then pick the top 3 things you want to focus on. I’d suggest choosing 2 business goals and 1 personal goal. You can always choose more if you complete these. Decide to do the actions associated with these each week no matter what. Let your email slide if you need to (or get a VA to pick up the slack!).

Right Support Self doubt doesn’t need to stop you if you have the right support. Since most entrepreneurs are paving an unconventional way, there will be some self doubt. The right kind of support can help you accept that self doubt and keep moving anyway. Owning your own business has a ridiculous amount of ups and downs. The ups are amazing and great, but you need someone to remind you of the top of the mountain when you feel like you are at the bottom. You need someone that you can complain to; someone you can unload your fears and self doubt without them thinking less of you, or having it hurt your relationship.

Actions:

Find another entrepreneur or coach that can really understand what you are going through. They can support you when things are sucky and can make your remember the crazy motivation you had last week. Just make sure that they are strong enough to handle the role!

Right Accountability Procrastination and laziness doesn’t happen with the right accountability. Accountability is a very unsexy word. You might associate it with words like blame, responsibility and guilt. At the very best it doesn’t sound fun. But it is one of the keys that will really make you successful in 2011. What matter in 2011 are the week by week actions you are taking that are based only on your goals- the small movements in progress which create huge success. Do you remember when you were in high school? Think about your favorite class. Did you ever have homework in that class that you didn’t want to do? Even in a class you LOVED there were things you didn’t feel motivated to do. What made you do it? Two things: a deadline and consequences if you didn’t do it. When you own your own business, you can’t always see the forest for the trees. No one can be on top of everything every single day. I know I can’t! Someone on the outside looking in can give you a new perspective.

Actions:

Set aside time to plan your week. Ask your support person to meet quickly each week to hold you accountable. Tell them what worked and what didn’t in the past week and how you can do better in the coming one.

Tell them your top priorities for the week and make sure they hold you accountable to get them done.

There is more to an amazing business than just these three things, but it’s these three things that will create movement for you in 2011. Do more, be more and have an amazing 2011!

Goal Accountability Explained from Jaime Tardy on Vimeo.

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Do you want to push a button and get these three keys? Sign up for Goal Accountability. It’s $147 per month and you can work one on one with your own coach. Or if you want to a chance to win three months of Goal Accountability just tweet this post & we’ll be picking the winner in the next 7 days!

11 Things Every Entrepreneur Should Do in 2011

Maren Kate — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 05:31:46 +0000

2011 is just around the corner! So while you prepare your hats and horns don’t forget to plan your entrepreneurial journey for the coming year. There are 365 spankin’ new days laying in front of you, ones you can mold and tweak to be whatever you please if you’re willing to put in the hard work and the determination now!

In 2011 I’m going big or going home (teaser alert: I won’t be going home) and I suggest you do the same. Maybe you’ve been sitting on the bench for years, maybe you’ve been racked with anxiety or fear in the past, whatever your reasons for not starting something amazing – for not trying to carve your life into your ideal existence – it’s time to throw all those excuses in the trash and make this coming year like none before it.

Self doubt, laziness and procrastination are sooo 2010… follow these 11 simple things every entrepreneur should do and you’ll find yourself in an amazingly different place this time next year.

1. Chase breakthroughs

The most important thing the last year has taught me is how and why I should chase breakthroughs. Breakthroughs follow the 80/20 principle to a T, they account for a small percent of your ‘working’ time but they can create monumental change in your business, your life and the world at large.

Electricity happened in one ‘breakthrough’ moment, after 13 months of repeated failures. What could you be missing by not stopping and allowing your mind time for a breakthrough?

Whenever I feel ‘stuck’, I drop everything I’m doing – no matter how seemingly important and I start chasing a breakthrough. I will go to a park, take trains – spending hours staring at the window – or even hop on a plane and go somewhere new to gain inspiration. Breakthroughs can happen on the subway, in museums or even while laying on your bed – but it’s necessary to practice being present for them to occur.

Breakthroughs may completely change the course of your business, breakthroughs may alter the state of your relationship or lead you down a completely different path that will fundamentally change your life over the next few years. I like to imagine breakthroughs like a turn in the road… on your journey to success you never want to travel a straight “easy” road, that’s the road to failure. Instead your path should be speckled with turns and twists, it shouldn’t be easy, but it will never be harder than you can bear if you really want the goal you’re going for.

2. Do. More. Video.

Listen up honey bunnies. Video is the future, people have been saying this for years and it’s growing more and more popular as we speak (read? write? whatever). All of you with even slightly presentable mugs should be integrating some sort of video into your business/brand. If you have a face only a mother can love, do videos anyhow – Steve Buscemi has built a brand around that.

I hate doing videos, they make me incredibly nervous and I still have that nerdy, shy girl mentality from years ago when I was an uber dork. But, because of this, I’m forcing myself to start lifecasting anyway. I’ll be doing 5 videos a week from my new (secret till 2011!) Youtube channel and as much as I’m scared, I also know this will be a huge learning experience and a new way to grow my personal brand.

3. Slim down.

I mean this physically (if you need to lose a few), mentally and stuff wise (yeah, couldn’t think of a clever word for that one). My friend Tammy Camp wrote a great post on her new minimalistic approach to life. She’s getting rid of a warehouse of awesome stuff and will be giving it away to her readers. What a way to clear clutter in preparation for 2011!

Getting rid of all the crap that doesn’t matter is hugely important in the coming year if you want to be successful. It means ridding yourself of clutter and getting down to the ‘meat’ of the matter, whether that’s your business, your home or your body. I find that I’m 100 times as productive when I clean my house of all distractions and most items that aren’t essential. I have less left to busy myself with and the feeling is freeing. Two great reads if you want to get uber jazzed on slimming down and being minimalistic are The Power of Less by Leo Babauta and Everett Bogue’s blog on minimalism, cyborgs and all things progressive (partially joking about the cyborg thing, partially!).

4. Think Bigger.

Don’t settle for small goals in 2011, instead focus on going big or going home. A great book to read on the topic is Purple Cow and/or The Dip (both by Seth Godin), if I could have my way you’d read both several times. The gist of these books is that there are amazing products and there are mediocre ones, there are times to quit and “pivot” and there are times to carry on with dogged determination.

Be wise enough to not stick stubbornly to a plan you can’t win and be bold enough to go for something 99% of the population wouldn’t dare attempt. Then email me when you do it.

5. Stop chasing your passion.

*Gasp* what kind of heresy is this? Don’t follow your passion – but that’s what I live for, that’s what all the self help books have said and what all the get rich easy websites preach? Can it. It’s time to get real, or get out.

I tried for months to follow my ‘passion’ alone and started a string of abysmally unimpressive online businesses when I first got started that all flopped. It wasn’t solely because I followed my passion but it was because I didn’t check to see if my passion was shared by others, if I was indeed good at my passion or a myriad of other market factors.

If you want to escape the 9 to 5 for good and truly start a business that will change your life then you’ve got to get smart and stop listening to people who make ALL of their money teaching others how to make money online. Think about the circular logic, demand proof that they’ve made money in other ways besides just by teaching you how to make money. A good example of someone who is an honest, successful and legitimate and teaches about passive income is Pat Flynn – unfortunately few internet marketers have as much integrity as Pat and I like to think that’s why he does so well

So instead, think of a business you’re interested in and then do your due diligence. Check to see what kind of market size there is (you can go crazy and check Forrester’s or go cheap-o and just read your would-be competition’s press releases). See if others are making money in your field (social media, soaps or cloud computing). Analyze the industry leaders, what they’re doing right and where they are lacking. I swear if you spend 4 hours on this you’ll be able to tell 100% if you have a viable market or not.

Passion is nice, fluffy and sounds great… but you are in this for the money, honey. So definitely love what you do, but don’t be so blind to think everyone loves underwater basket weaving as much as you do and that they’ll all be breaking down your door to buy your new, $39.99 ebook, on the topic.

6. Grow your team.

Alright, get ready for an obvious plug, but it’s a good plug – so I don’t feel bad! I think everyone should at least try building their business by hiring virtual staff members this 2011. I have used virtual assistants for years and I can honestly say they have contributed to 80% of my success, I talk/preach/nag about them all the time and the one thing I wish is that more people would try a VA out for themselves.

A virtual assistant is a person who does tasks for you, virtually, this can be webmaster, project manager, personal assistant, SEO or customer support. There are lots and lots of ways to incorporate a virtual assistant and grow your virtual team (you can read about some here) and all of them will contribute to your bottom line (if done correctly) and grow your business faster than you could ever do on your own.

If you want me & my team to find you the perfect *insert hallelujah chorus* check out my baby Virtual Zeta which matches smart entrepreneurs with virtual assistants based on their needs & price range.

7. Change your scenery.

Even if it’s just for a week, do some traveling, move cities or switch residences. There is something so euphoric and creativity bearing about changing your scenery. Check out airbnb and book your next mini vacation today, but take your laptop with you and I’ll bet you dollars to donuts you get more, quality work done ‘away’ than you ever get at home.

*Check out this post by Dan Martell, it almost single-handedly convinced me to move from Nevada to the bay area.

8. Become a student, again.

Too many of us have forgotten our educational roots… whether you never made it past 9th grade or graduated Cum Laude, it’s important to always be a student first, while you are on the road to success. One of my top tips to any beginning entrepreneur is to just read for 6 months (or listen to audio books/podcast if that’s your thing). Study, digest, question everything you can get your hands on. My top three learning tips are picking up used books on Amazon (the one thing I like to save is books), listening to Mixergy interviews and checking out speakers at TED.

9. Visualize your future

Whether it’s having a family while living comfortably off of your successful start up or traveling Europe and eating caviar as you lounge around in nothing but a mink coat… visualize your ‘end game’ as often as possible.

I do this on a daily basis, sometimes in the morning I lay in bed and either pray about my upcoming day or I let my mind wander into the future – mentally “seeing” how the best possible outcome will look. The advantages of this practice are immense – check out more detailed descriptions in the book (written ages ago but still super potent) Psycho Cybernetics.

10. Focus, focus, focus.

The one thing I wish I could go back and shake into my younger self when I first started out is the utter importance of focus. It’s one of the least talked about, yet most important, part of success. Let me just save you years of agony and wasted time:

Don’t do more than one project/business at the same time until you are well versed in the business process
Even afterwards try not to do more than one business at once
Don’t do with more what could be done with less

I use the pomodoro technique to help me focus and things like white noise when I study, your methods may be different but make sure that you have a very specific way in which you focus so your body & mind will know whenever you do that routine that it’s razor focus time.

11. Set 3 goals.

I’ve had a lot of success, in small batches, using the 3 goal mentality. Setting 3 specific goals is simple, anyone can do it, it’s easy to remember off the top of your head and there is something just plain magical about the number three. So for 2011 set just three overarching goals for yourself, or your business. These 3 goals can have sub goals and milestones attached to them (I use Basecamp to manage mine) or they can be stand alone.

My three business goals:

Graduate from Founder Institute with Zirtual and get it funded.
Build Virtual Zeta to $25,000 a month in revenue (a baby business in the grand scheme, but still a nice, lifestyle one)
Make my new, super secret ’till 1/01/2011 Youtube channel a popular startup/entrepreneur’s journey type vlog awesome (relative I know) and do it 5 times a week!

My three personal goals:

Cut negativity out of my life 90% (gotta keep a bit of that saucy edge)
Move to SF (will be nailing this goal in the first month of 2011)
Learn to dance like a fly girl

*alternates are good to have too, like if I can’t dance (which so far in my 25 years has been pretty evident) I may try DJing… but my boyfriend tells me I have no musical taste either… pickle!

**If any of you know an awesome dance/dj class in SF let me know, i will trade biz know how for Fly Girl training

What are your 2011 goals?

Why You Should be Madly in Love with Your Business

Maren Kate — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 06:08:03 +0000

I’m sure most people reading this have been in love at one point in their life. It’s a wonderful feeling that fills your heart with wonder, awe and inspiration. If you haven’t been in love before, promptly go out and find someone to fall in love with, then come back and read the rest of this post… go on now.

… Hey you’re back! How was it? Oh really… sorry to hear that. She did what? With who? Ooo… brutal. Moving on…

Another amazing, often less painful way to be in love, is falling head over heels infatuated with your business. Now this may seem nerdy at first, but I can attest to the joyous highs of being absolutely dreamy eyed about your start up. Yes there’s always problems (though they usually don’t rear their ugly head until after the honeymoon period is over) but overall if you are passionately in love with what you’re doing your life will be a thousand times better.

How to love your business

Think of your business like a person, you can think of it like a spouse that will one day support you fully (and hopefully make you filthy rich). Or you can be more diplomatic and look at it like a child who you raise, nurture into adulthood and finally turn it over to the world to make it’s mark (think: your exit strategy).

Sometimes your business can be a friend that gets you through a hard time and keeps your mind off things (think: starting a business after a romantic separation, during an illness, after losing your job). Regardless how you view your business you need to truly ‘feel’ that deep connection that you’d feel
towards a loved one or friend to really be in love with what it is you’re doing. This emotional connection is what will get you through the hard times and what will make the good times euphoric.

Just like with a person or beloved pet it’s important to love your business by putting it’s needs above your own at times. Like working 12 hours straight to fix a glitch on the website or missing a vacation with friends because it’s critical that you’re attending to your start up. Right now I am commuting back and forth between Nevada and the Bay Area every week while I’m in the Founder Institute for my business. Today I woke up at eight and took one subway, two buses and a train to get back home – I’ve been traveling for 9 hours, I think I smell because people keep inching away from me and I’m utterly exhausted. But when I get home I’m going to tend to my business a little more before I relax, because it needs a lot of my time right now and since I love it I’m okay with that.

Love what your business will be

Sometimes I sit and day dream about how my business will look as it grows. I imagine offices in San Francsico, housed in an old warehouse building with wooden floors and lots of windows. I can literally see the desks, the nerdy hipster people who will work there and the smell of an espresso machine making mini cups of liquid crack (also known as Segafredo extra strong blend).

You need to focus on not only what your business is today but what it will be in your wildest dreams, this is the key to building something amazing. Today your start up may be in a garage, or perhaps it’s just an idea scribbled down on a few napkins. Tomorrow though, or 3 years from now, your business could be the next Zynga, Groupon or 1-800-GOT-JUNK.

Just like when you imagine your ideal mate, or stare into the faces of children (preferably your own) and imagine what they’ll look lke when they’re all grown up… when you are in love with your business you don’t love it for what it is now, but for what it will someday be.

What happens if you’re not in love

You can grow a successful business without love, passion or inspiration, it happens on wall street all the time. But think about it… why would you want to? I heard a great bit of advice on the matter from Phil Libin (the founder of Evernote) while attending one of my Founder Institute classes. He said don’t become an entrepreneur to get rich, there are easier things to get rich doing, instead be an entrepreneur because you want to change the world and create amazing things.

So you can go ahead in a loveless business, heck you can go ahead in a loveless marriage – but what’s the point? What’s your end goal?

If you ask people why they want to be rich and delve into the answer deeply enough it always comes back to one reason: because they want to be happy. You can be building a business you love and be happy while doing it, even if you’re eating ramen and sleeping on a friends couch – or you can build a business because you want money that you don’t love, in hopes that when you get rich you’ll finally be able to do what makes you happy.

Think about it… and if you realize your as in love with your start up as I am with mine then lock lips with it and get busy (like with work, get busy working… perv).

Do you love your business? If yes, what do you love about it? If not, why?

The Radillac Returns: What do you think?

Maren Kate — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 23:37:06 +0000

Last summer I talked at length about an idea I had to cover a Cadillac Escalade completely in small advertisements & drive it around for a year. I thought that I could get a free Escalade and all the advertisers could get some cheap publicity. Unfortunately I hadn’t really thought the idea through… since bumper sticker sized advertisements aren’t very readable as I whiz by you at 60 miles per hour. I also didn’t realize the amount of work that would go into finding 100 sponsors to cover that behemoth of a vehicle.

So for the last 6 months I let the idea slide…

Then quite recently I realized that I was leaving money on the table by not at least looking into the idea of getting a sponsor or two for my podcast & possibly the blog (nothing that would interrupt the reader, instead companies that I actually believe would help you with your entrepreneurial endeavors). So while I’m at it why not take another shot at the Radillac I thought, because in reality I’m the kind of person that gets an idea stuck in her mind and can’t shake it until I’ve pursued it to the fullest.

The Radillac sponsorship breakdown…

The new and improved offering of the Radillac will include the following:

One late model Cadillac Escalade
Wrapped for a year with the advertisement/logo of your choice… that is 7,000 pounds of prime time people!!
Yours truly as a brand evangelist and ambassador for your company while I drive my Radillac all over the western part of the USA and do a one month long cross country tour promoting my blog, podcast & of course your sponsorship on my handsomely wrapped Radillac
A sponsorship placement on the front page of Escaping the 9 to 5 which currently gets 15,000 readers a month as well as a page that explains the story behind the sponsors of the Radillac
Inclusion in countless Youtube videos and mentions in blog posts since I’ll be very proud of my Radillac and very grateful for your generous sponsorship
Mentions on my podcast and active social media networks on a monthly basis throughout the year

Where you come in…

I’m going to paying a 10% finders fee to anyone whose help, introductions, etc. leads to me finding a sponsor for the marvelous mobile billboard. I’ve decided that at the minimum to pay for the car, insurance and such it will be around $1500 a month and I’ll be taking bids with the highest bidder sponsoring the Radillac – unless it’s like Viagra, the companies got to be one I believe in and can stand behind without being, you know… picked up on by old men.

So if you work at a company, or know someone who knows someone all you have to do is make the intro that leads to the Radillac deal being sealed & you’ll get 10% of the whole enchilada (12 months of sponsorship money!) to help bootstrap your business or grow your start up (or buy 1,000 rubber chickens… I’m not here to judge). Just comment and let me know and I’ll get in touch with you, it’s that easy

Next matter of business….

I’m antsy today so I think I’m going to drive out to SF (san francisco, CA) this weekend & just explore (I’ve been there many times before but I want this trip to be different). I’m making no plans before hand and will rely on connecting with my “contacts” in the blog/entrepreneur space to meet up with and to hopefully introduce me to fellow like minds.

If you’re in SF or know someone who you want to throw me at (like a wild spider monkey) then let me know in either the comments or via twitter.

So… what do ya think?

45 Epic Quotes for Extraordinary Entrepreneurs

Maren Kate — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 22:31:52 +0000

Epic quotes, they are what I turn to when I’m running low on inspiration I like to look to those who have been there & done that. Usually I’ll spend some time reading a business biography or if I just need a booster shot of entrepreneurial gumption I’ll browse through some of my favorite quotes. Then I thought “why keep these little gems all to myself?”, thus you get 50 epic quotes for extraordinary entrepreneurs. Hope you enjoy & feel free to mention your favorite quotes in the comment section!

Epic Customer Service Quotes

If we don’t take care of our customers, someone else will. – Unknown
If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell 6 friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6,000 friends. – Jeff Bezos
You’ll never have a product or price advantage again. They can be easily duplicated, but a strong customer service culture can’t be copied. – Jerry Fritz
The way to gain a good reputation, is to endeavor to be what you desire to appear. – Socrates
Here is a simple but powerful rule – always give people more than what they expect to get. – Nelson Boswell

Epic Inspiration Quotes

You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. – Jack London
I buy when other people are selling. – J. Paul Getty
Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind, than in the one where they sprung up. – Oliver Wendell Holmes
Try and fail, but don’t fail to try. – Stephen Kaggwa
Remember today, for it is the beginning of always. Today marks the start of a brave new future filled with all your dreams can hold. Think truly to the future and make those dreams come true. – Unknown

Epic Innovation Quotes

Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower. – Steve Jobs
Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow. – William Pollard
The heart and soul of the company is creativity and innovation. – Robert Iger
The most successful people are those who are good at Plan B. – James Yorke
We are always saying to ourselves.. we have to innovate. We got to come up with that breakthrough. In fact, the way software works.. so long as you are using your existing software.. you don’t pay us anything at all. So we’re only paid for breakthroughs. – Bill Gates

Epic Fearlessness Quotes

Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears. – Les Brown
The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure. – Sven Goran Eriksson
The key to change… is to let go of fear. – Roseanne Cash
Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will. – Mahatma Gandhi
Many of our fears are tissue-paper-thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them. – Brendan Francis

Epic Empire Building Quotes

It’s kind of fun to do the impossible. – Walt Disney
The empires of the future are the empires of the mind. – Winston Churchill
Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships. – Michael Jordan
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed. It is the only thing that ever has. – Margaret Mead
An empire founded by war has to maintain itself by war. – Charles de Montesquieu

Epic ‘The Good Life’ Quotes

The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge. – Bertrand Russell
Thank you, God, for this good life and forgive us if we do not love it enough. – Garrison Keillor
A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business. – Henry Ford
There are two great days in a person’s life – the day we are born and the day we discover why. – William Barclay
There is no shortage of good days. It is good lives that are hard to come by. – Annie Dillard

Epic Business Savvy Quotes

If you did not look after today’s business then you might as well forget about tomorrow – Isaac Mophatlane
Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve. Thoughts are things! And powerful things at that, when mixed with definiteness of purpose, and burning desire, can be translated into riches – Napoleon Hill
It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change – Charles Darwin
Hire character. Train skill – Peter Schultz
What I know is, is that if you do work that you love, and the work fulfills you, the rest will come.- Oprah Winfrey

Epic Travel Quotes

The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. – St. Augustine
I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them. – Mark Twain
When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money. – Susan Heller
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime. – Mark Twain
Travel and change of place impart new vigor to the mind. – Seneca

Epic Life Quotes

These are a selection of quotes from bloggers you may know…

“The Power of Entrepreneurship isn’t in how many companies you start, or how much profit you bring in. It’s strength lies in how much value you provide your customers.” – Gianpaolo Pietri
We live in a culture that is largely driven by expectations. We’re expected to go to school, get a job, make a living, and make the best of it. As an entrepreneur you know deep down that’s no way to live. If you live for the weekends you’re only living for 2/7 of your life. The way I see it is this. If your life is a book or a movie, at the end of it you want it to be the kind of thing that is worthy of an Oscar or a Pullitzer. You want it to be full of magic and memories that leave permanent imprints on your mind and when it’ all done you know that you looked forward to everyday. To me, the adventure and the excitement is just beginning…. Srinivas Rao

“Those who strive for success will rise with success” Rob Rammuny
“Don’t limit yourself by telling others what you’re not; tell them what you are.” Colin Wright
“Perseverance is everything. Never giving up will give you the ability to go through anything in your way and accomplish everything that you wish.”

-Ben Lang

I Refuse

Maren Kate — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 23:55:24 +0000

**This post was originally written just for my mailing list, but I had such an overwhelming positive response to it I decided I needed to share it with the “world” at large through a blog post. If this seems like it is speaking straight at you or you have additional words of wisdom to add please do so at the end.

I had a particularly frustrating last few days and the nagging harpy of self doubt was starting to whisper into my ear. So I decided that instead of entertaining those fears, those doubts and those nagging questions about my own capabilities as a person I’d just refuse…

And it worked AMAZINGLY!

So I quickly scribbled down every way I could refuse that would help me grow a person, embrace my dreams and banish the self doubt that tries to derail all extraordinary plans. I wanted to share them with you in hopes that they’ll encourage you to also shoot down your doubt and negative self talk and instead only pay attention to the positive goals and actions that will get you where you want to be.

I REFUSE…

1. I refuse to listen to my doubts, my fears and any negative self talk that goes on in my head.
2. I refuse to worry about the future and instead I will only focus on actively influencing my present.
3. I refuse to not give myself the fighting chance I deserve to do anything and everything I want to in life.
4. I refuse to accept failure as a permanent state and instead only choose to see it as a learning experience.
5. I refuse to entertain thoughts that don’t directly benefit myself, others or the greater good of the world at large.
6. I refuse to accept anything less than my wildest dreams coming true.
7. I refuse to acknowledge the limitations that most people think they have, no matter what the circumstances.

How I do this is when thoughts opposite of what I want in life come up I just simply tell them (sometimes even out loud) “I don’t care and I refuse to acknowledge you”. They’ll try a few more times but then after a while they’ll give up.

This is you training your brain to only bring in positive, goal affirming thoughts and ideas and it will help you exponentially if you really put it to work.

I refused… what can you refuse that will lead to greater success and happiness?

10 Maxims for Business Revolutionaries

Maren Kate — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:39:20 +0000

For the last two weeks I’ve hit that time in my life where one suffers from entrepreneur’s ennui. Maybe it was the fact that I turned the big 2-5, maybe it was because I was nearing my 150th post or possibly it had to do with feeling like I was working so hard at my business and I wasn’t seeing the earth shattering results I wanted to.

So I took a few days completely off. I avoided my Mac like the plague and instead sent it longing glances from across my condo as I forced myself to read, relax and go bicycle riding (very cathartic by the way). I spent some time thinking about the purpose by this blog and within my own life. I came to a few amazing conclusions which I will be sharing with you, my lovelies, later on this week.

But for now I wanted to share some of the best quotes I found while going through my quarter life crisis which I think will reinvigorate you just as they have me to continue to follow your passions and pursue an extraordinary life.

10 Maxims for Business Revolutionaries

1. My first six years in the business were hopeless. There are a lot of times when you sit and you say “Why am I doing this? I’ll never make it. It’s just not going to happen. I should go out and get a real job, and try to survive.” George Lucas

Have you had those feelings? Have you quit? If not then good for you, if so then get back on the saddle. Lucas didn’t quit after 6 years, most people in business quit after 6 months.

2. The entrepreneur is not really interested in doing the work; he is interested in creating the way the company operates. In that regard, the entrepreneur is an inventor. He or she loves to invent, but does not love to manufacture or sell or distribute what he or she invents. Michael Gerber

For me this was where virtual assistant’s came in… they help you with all the stuff in your company as the ‘inventor’ you don’t want to do but are essential.

3. I like to tell people that all of our products and business will go through three phases. There’s vision, patience, and execution. Steve Ballmer

All too often people have a vision, but don’t have the patience or execution to make it a reality… don’t be one of those people.

4. Dealing with people is probably the biggest problem you face, especially if you are in business. Yes, and that is also true if you are a housewife, architect or engineer. Dale Carnegie

Go read “How to Win Friends and Influence People” a.s.a.p. and you’ll learn how to deal with this ‘problem’ and make your own life a lot easier and happier.

5. To have passion, to have a dream, to have a purpose in life. And there are three components to that purpose, one is to find out who you really are, to discover God, the second is to serve other human beings, because we are here to do that and the third is to express your unique talents and when you are expressing your unique talents you lose track of time. Deepak Chopra

Being passionate about what you do really does make your entire life 100 times more pleasant and it makes what you do 1oo times more effective.

6. I feel sorry for the person who can’t get genuinely excited about his work. Not only will he never be satisfied, but he will never achieve anything worthwhile. Walter Chrysler

Do you wake up everyday excited about your ‘work’? If not think of what changes would have to be made to make you jump outa bed and whistle your way to your job… then make them happen.

7. Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve. Mary Kay Ash

If you find yourself starting to limit what you can do think of instead the worst possible scenario, like you go broke and a bird poops on your head. Then work yourself mentally out of that hole and see what the BEST possible scenario you can imagine is – say living in 5 star hotels with the love of your life while traveling the world and running a business that is turning sand into food so orphans can eat. You have one life, you owe it to yourself to at least try for the very best.

8. You have to pretend you’re 100 percent sure. You have to take action; you can’t hesitate or hedge your bets. Anything less will condemn your efforts to failure. Andrew Grove

Epic, and so true, action is always the #1 piece of advice I give to any entrepreneur or would be business builder when they ask what they should do more of… just act!!

9. The most important thing is God’s blessing and if you believe in God and you believe in yourself, you have nothing to worry about. Mohamed Al-Fayed

I personally love this one, you may not and may leave me a mean comment calling me a dirty religious but hey, it’s my blog so deal with it

10. The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense. Thomas Edison

I think often people see the word ‘hard work’ and think it has to be physically and mentally draining – instead it just has to be effective, so try to remind yourself daily to work ’smarter’ not necessarily ‘harder’.

Comments, Questions, Testimonials?

How’d ya like those apples? If you have any maxims you’d like to share or stories of inspiration (or heck stories of hair pulling out frustration) feel free to leave a comment below…

Being Outrageous is the New Safe

Maren Kate — Fri, 14 May 2010 23:47:06 +0000

As a child we were all asked by adults seeking some common ground in which to bond with us the cliched question “whatdaya wanna do when you grow up?”. Many of us answered honestly – we really let fly what we wanted to do. If we thought being Indiana Jones would rock, we’d say so. If we wanted to be a nurse, a mommy, a firefighter or a cowboy, all we had to do was utter the words and coos of adulation would come in drones. “Oh he wants to be an astronaut, isn’t that cute!” or “She said she wanted to be a judge, how adorable!”.

Fast forward to the present. Now go tell the next person who asks you “what you do” instead what you WANT to do when you grow up… see how fast you get hustled to the psyche ward. It is a sad commentary on the state of things that instead of being praised for saying “I want to fly a spaceship” you’d be mocked – or if a woman said “Hmm.. I really just want to be a mommy” she may be thought stupid for not taking up a career.

Who CARES what others think of YOUR dreams

That is why they’re yours!! Fight the overwhelming pressure to conform into a shape that fits the rat race’s mold and instead champion your own path. Think of the great minds of the last 200 years, anyone from Picasso to Warren Buffett. How many of them conformed to a stereotype? How many of them gained fame, riches and most of all the ability to live the life they wanted on THEIR terms – by being the same as everyone else. Nobody that’s who, because being outrageous is the new safe.

It’s time to think about your life people, I mean really think about what YOU (not your mom, your girlfriend or your great uncle Joe) want to do with YOUR life….

Being what you want to be when you grow up… now

Growing up I wanted to travel the world, to be rich and to be able to do whatever I wanted – whenever I wanted. When I would tell people this as a young adult they’d look at me funny so I started to say “I want to be a lawyer”. Which everyone – goodness knows why - would react to positively. “Lawyer, good job, yep, not a lot of competition in THAT field”. But it was safe, it was standard, it fit the mold and there was a map (aptly called law school) that drew a line between where I was at 18 and where I would be at 24 (pulling 90 hour weeks while my thighs got fatter from never moving my bum from an executive chair). It all sounded GREAT!

Actually it sounded boring, but I didn’t have the giblets back then or the creativity to say “Wait, I am going to school so I can work myself to death and die at 55 of a heart attack? That’s outrageous”.

Being outrageous in the new safe

At around 20 I realized, school sucks. I get fed info that has no practical application to my life and then I have to regurgitate it on a term paper that moves me up a grade where I can do more of the same. So in an attempt to have more control over my life I decided something that was epic… to be in control you need X amount of dollars (your X and my X are different, depending on what you want to do with your life). My X at the point was pretty low, so when I started pulling in hundreds a day selling crap on eBay I was thrilled.

I promptly ditched school mid-semester and moved back to Vegas to grow my little eBay empire and goof around. Little did I know there were rules on eBay I had to follow and when I didn’t I got kicked off – thus my main source of income dried up FAST.

So I went to work at a bar at the tender age of 21 and about 15 days old. I worked there for 9 months and it was the single WORST and best time of my life. Worst because I had settled, I had gone to work at a CRAP job with no future – was in a relationship with someone who I didn’t even like but had settled (see a pattern?) for and had NO clue what I wanted to do with my life. It was also the BEST because at the end of it I had realized my inner entrepreneur and KNEW beyond knew that no matter what I wouldn’t have an ordinary life like so many of the people I was around.

How to be Outrageous

In such a time as ours, where we rely on the government for everything and are obsessed with finding jobs that have decent 401k benefits it is very hard and very easy to be outrageous. Being an outrageous entrepreneur is difficult because you’ll face so much confrontation from others at first, on the same note it is supremely easy to be outrageous nowadays since everyone else acts so brain-numbingly safe all the time.

10 Ways to be outrageous and win

Start a business in the midst of a recession (check)
Quit your ‘job’ before it feels safe to do so (check)
Create a rocking personal brand that makes you stand out like a sore thumb from the rest of your competition (working on it)
Start a small business that consists of you wearing other people’s shirts and getting paid a 6 figure salary for it (see: www.iwearyourshirt.com)
Charge WAY more than anyone has ever charged in your market and call it ‘premium’
Offer a ridiculously good deal on something no one else is marking down and call it a ‘super deal’
Paint your entire office building BRIGHT ORANGE
Don’t give up even when people tell you your a fool for going forward with it (see: Richard Branson in building Virgin Records)
Give up even when people think your a fool for doing so in pursuit of your true passion (see: Michael Crichton going all the way through Harvard Med just to become a writer instead)
Don’t be afraid of ‘what ifs’ be afraid of the status quo (Check & check!!)

So I have two questions for you, how can you become more outrageous and what do you REALLY want to do when you grow up??

13 Audiobooks for Entrepreneurs You Shouldn’t Drive Without!

Maren Kate — Wed, 05 May 2010 20:25:35 +0000

I drive all the time and instead of rocking out to MmmBop (am I dating myself?) or whatever is popular with the kiddies, I try to enlarge my gray matter (squishy brain area) by listening to audio books. Some of you might benefit greatly from doing the same as I believed I have consumed an entire MBA’s worth of knowledge in the last year from this method alone. You can easily take in two to three audio books a week if you listen to them religiously and nothing grows your business like learning from those who have been there.

The Magic of Thinking Big (by David Schwartz). This book is incredibly encouraging, uplifting and helps truly put you in the mindset of success. Though written decades ago the Magic of Thinking Big is one of the most highly recommended books for business owners and entrepreneurs ever.

Tribes (by Seth Godin). Tribes teaches you just that, how to build a tribe around your brand and create products/services that will last a lifetime. A great read for anyone thinking of starting a business or getting into a new project, Tribes will make you think and inspire you to greatness.

Think & Grow Rich (by Napoleon Hill). A cult classic that I think should be mandatory reading for ALL MBA’s and entrepreneurs alike. The greatest business minds in the world all point back to Hill’s classic book as the start of their entrepreneur’s journey. Truly this book teaches you how to think and grow rich.

The 80/20 Principle (by Richard Koch). Want to work less and make more? Want to be far more effective in your life without having to use more of your energy and time? The 80/20 principle is one of the cornerstone philosophies of great lifestyle design artists everywhere – it teaches how to get more out of less time in ALL aspects of your life and will change your mindset when it comes to ‘time management’ for good.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (by Stephen R. Covey). Would you like to be highly effective in your life? Do you need 7 tips to really lay out the road map? Ta Da! Here ya go… no need to thank me, your effectiveness is thanks enough!

The New Pyscho-Cybernetics (by Maxwell Maltz). This book is the perfect blend of science and motivational thinking. It’s like “The Secret” on steroids – and not ridiculously corny! (P.S. That chick pretty much took ALL of her ground breaking ideas from this book written 40 years ago!). Also a great thing is this new edition is edited by the great Dan Kennedy!

Outliers (by Malcolm Gladwell). Many people know of Gladwell’s other classics such as The Tipping Point and Blink but few have read Outliers a true classic in my mind. “It is not the brightest who succeed,” Gladwell says in the book, “Nor is success simply the sum of the decisions and efforts we make on our own behalf. It is, rather, a gift. Outliers are those who have been given opportunities — and who have had the strength and presence of mind to seize them.”

Farewell to Summer (by Ray Bradbury). Why is this science fiction type book in here? Because it’s my darn list & I love Ray Bradbury – you should too, it’ll make you popular, beautiful and gold flakes will fall down on you wherever you go (promise!). Besides those bonuses this book is an epic read, Bradbury’s writing style is beautiful and it’s a nice escape from reality.

Man’s Search for Meaning (by Viktor E. Frankl).

Viktor Frankl talks about people’s search for meaning even in the midst of surviving the Holocaust death camps. This perspective helps us see no matter how bad we think we have it we’ve got nothing on this guy – and he still perseveres while finding a way to encourage others. Frankl’s book is uplifting, eye opening and truly a beautiful work – everyone should read it at least once. It makes it very clear that money really isn’t everything.

Linchpin (by Seth Godin). Another amazing instant classic from Godin. In this book he teaches you about how anyone can create truly meaningful art as well as how to become the linchpin that is necessary to your businesses success. If you are going to read one book from Godin this year – make it Linchpin – it’ll rock your world.

Getting Things Done (David Allen). Though the concepts in Getting Things Done may take you a few reads/listens to really understand it can truly change your life and productivity if you give it a chance. GTD has revolutionized the way I work and organize – it’s the reason I can work on 7 projects at the same time with nothing falling through the cracks. I’d say the best book on productivity and organization I’ve ever experienced.

Buy-ology (by Martin Lindstrom). This groundbreaking book is based off a 7 million dollar scientific study into why people buy. If you are selling ANYTHING in your business (which I think go hand in hand) you need to get this book a.s.a.p. It will change the way you look at the consumer economy and evolve your marketing to trigger what matters most.

The Art of War (by Sun Tzu). Whether your into War or Peace (get it??) this book is a must read for entrepreneur’s everywhere. It’s ideas and philosophies go far beyond actual war and into the depths of what drives people and creates amazing ventures. The Art of War is a beautifully written ancient text that is still 100% applicable in today’s world.

Go Get These Now!!

P.S. Oh you noticed I didn’t link to any of these books? That’s because they are audio books people! Type it into Itunes or Google it (let your fingers do the walking)! Or you could be an uber zealot and go to this ancient thing that people used to frequent called The Library and get it them for free!

Entrepreneur Blogs: 17 Radical Reads for Entrepreneurs

Maren Kate — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 03:13:57 +0000

Ever feel yourself thirsting for a little knowledge, want a head start or a push in the right direction? Well here are 21 entrepreneur blogs that will get you all fired up to get up and get out there! You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, heck you may even stumble upon your million dollar baby reading through these time tested jewels!

Project Mojave Blog odd name, amazing story behind it and a guy that is truly taking the world by storm through his entrepreneurial grit. If you want to make money via internet business (the non scuzzy way) this is for you!
Dumb Little Man reading this blog will make you smart, it teaches you tips on how to save money, be more productive and get things done.
Think Traffic a great place to go for information on getting more readers to your blog and developing the content to make them stay for a while.
The Middle Finger Project how else can I explain it? It’s a blog called the middle finger project?! If you love sticking it to the man and hate the status quo the clever writing done at MFP will get you motivated to leave your boring life in the dust and start a new, exciting journey!
Ramped Up Blogging a great place to read about true pro blogging that isn’t copyblogger or problogger, I mean those are great, but it is time to give some others a voice and Robb Sutton does an amazing job at that.
Virtual Business Lifestyle for those of you who are sick of being stuck behind desks and in cubicles, this blog teaches you all about outsourcing and how to become a virtual business magnate!
Young Entrepreneur Blog every time I read something from 16 year old Ben Lang I get a kick in the pants to get out there and get moving – if learning tons of stuff you should be doing for your business from a teenager doesn’t jump start your engines I don’t know what will!
Income Diary is truly like reading through the secret journals of a mega successful internet business entrepreneur, check it out you’ll be glad you did!
Quick Sprout since I just interviewed Neil Patel (for an upcoming piece on this blog) I figured no time is better than to highlight his awesome site. He is a serial entrepreneur who is involved with businesses like Crazy Egg and shares his wisdoms freely at quicksprout.com.
Dragos Roua that’s his name & his game is providing amazing content for entrepreneur’s to make us all brilliantly better.
Untemplater a great multi author site that helps entrepreneurs and forward thinkers everywhere shatter the ‘template’ life and do things differently!
Johnny B Truant a great source of laughter and amazing internet business advice, Johnny’s blog is taking the internet by storm and helping you make money all at the same time!
Upgrade Reality a little diversion from all the biz talk, this blog written by Diggy is an amazing journey through personal development… with a fun twist, the writing within will encourage and inspire you!
Become a Young Successful Entrepreneur written by one in fact! This great entrepreneur blog is perfect for those of you who want to get involved with start ups and are uber motivated. Jun’s writing style is amazing and his advice is solid.
Social Triggers it’s like Freud meets ProBlogger! This site is a great way of learning how to get more out of your internet business WHILE learning a lot of psychological triggers for why people do what they do.
Exile Lifestyle for the travel happy among us, this blog will make you sell your house to see the world! Colin blogs about life, entrepreneurship and travel in the style of a true storyteller.
Mixergy to me this site is like entrepreneurial crack, it is SOO good. All interviews, all the time, seriously like one a day! And the interviews are from entrepreneurs who have been there done that and made millions! Start listening and you’ll never stop, that is why Mixergy is one of my top blogs of all time!
Smart Passive Income join Pat on his journey through supporting a family ALL on passive income online, he is incredibly transparent and more than willing to help – making Pat’s blog the perfect place to learn how to make passive income online without the B.S.
Viper Chill the name belies the pure awesomeness of this online marketing blog, last but certainly not least is Viper Chill a literal work of art in the internet business community – if you can only read one blog on online marketing make it this one!

How to Win Friends & Amaze People

Maren Kate — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 04:31:28 +0000

How’s your business? How’s your year going? How are your relationships or dare I say it, love life? Do you think there is an intrinsic connection between all of these areas of one’s being? Is it money – noooo. Is it good looks – noooo. So then what is it?! It’s simply called networking, that over used word that encompasses all of human interaction. Are you a rockstar at it? If not you probably wouldn’t answer a whole hearted YES!! to each question above… more of an ‘eeeh’ as you stuff your face with another bite of comfort food. So instead let’s learn more about what REALLY makes will get you to your goals, help you win friends and amaze people…

A trait that has always gone hand in hand with exceptional networking is confidence. Confidence is a characteristic groomed, yet so hard to pinpoint most people think your born with it. I get called confident a lot – I don’t know if people mean it in a good way or not – but I take it as a medal of honor. I used to be a quivering mass of jello when it came to self confidence. I would sit alone during school dances and walk literally blocks out of the way to not pass by frat houses in college due to the irrational fear that the guys hanging outside would mock me and call me ugly.

Sounds silly, but to many people low self confidence is the reason they don’t network and poor networking is the reason they don’t do well in many areas in life. There is a famous quote from someone I can’t remember that goes along the lines of if you stripped a millionaire of all his money and left him in a field chances are he’ll be a millionaire again in 5 years. Why? Because of the knowledge he possesses and the people he knows. You can be stripped down to your skivvies and still leverage major power if you know enough of the ‘right’ people.

Now the right people change – depending on what you do. If you are a mommy blogger your right person and my right person are two terribly different individuals. Yours probably wears a nursing bra, where mine more likely wears a power suit. But knowing the right people within your world is vitally important to success, to personal growth and most importantly to making the kind of money that can change your life.

My friend Colin just recently came out with a MASSIVE ebook on Networking (by massive I mean 251 pages!!!). When he sent it to me to read I thought “mmmm… I know enough about networking” but that little voice inside of me that says Maren don’t be a cocky idiot made me open the PDF. Three hours later I hadn’t stopped reading – the next day I was at it again – his book was so amazing, so life changing even for someone like me who networks ALL the time. I can’t even tell you in words…

So instead this is what I am going to say – this eBook costs $20, it is probably the best $20 you’ll spend ALL year. If you don’t fall madly in love with it I will give you a FREE session of networking consulting myself and teach you step by step how to become a social butterfly who brings in lots of dough through her networking prowess… OH WAIT, his book already DOES THAT!!! This eBook ROCKS…

Also Colin walks the walk, he’s young, he’s able to live all over the world and make lots of dough all through using networking properly – and if you don’t want to do that – well then, I just don’t know anymore. Point being… get this eBook … you won’t regret it! And if you do you can call me at 702-245-2423 and get your hand held until you do get networking in all it’s life changing glory! For $20 bucks that is quite a steal.

Burning the Boats & Doing Business like a Rock Band

Maren Kate — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 01:27:20 +0000

At first the connection between these two concepts may seem tenuous (look it up!) but stick with me and both of these awesome entrepreneur ideas will rock your world! I recently moved into a condo a little nicer and pricier than currently would be “wise”… if I was to sit down with a financial adviser they’d say “Your income is too sporadic” and wonder why I always have a huge jump in income at the end of every month (secret: it’s because I realize “oh crap I have to pay bills” and actually get up and go).

So why’d I do it, isn’t that “dangerous” in this present economy (say the word like all the talking heads do with the same inflection as when they say “SARS”)? Well firstly because I believe in myself fully, I know that by the end of this month I’ll have made X and by the end of next month that will have doubled – how do I know it?

Because I work my butt off, am always pushing myself farther and I have faith in my own abilities. Secondly I have a little trick up my sleeve that has worked on skyrocketing my income and quadrupling my productivity time after time. What is this amazing secret? It’s simple just…

Burn the Boats

Long ago the Greeks were masters at psyching their troops into success. As the warriors would pile off a boat, onto foreign enemy land, the commanders would shout for the boats to be burned as the bewildered army stood on the shores watching their only ride home sink into the sea. I simply ADORE this tactic and have yet to see it fail in my own life and the lives of other entrepreneurs.

When you are contemplating starting a business or becoming an entrepreneur it’s ridiculously easy to fall into the “maybe someday” phase – this can last years – and all it will do for you is ensure you’ll be older & wrinklier when you actually begin to escape the 9 to 5.

Instead I am a firm supporter of burning your boats and psyching yourself into winning. Becoming an entrepreneur is hard when you have escape routes all around you (your job, your cozy life, your 401k) but when suddenly you see your ships sinking into the deep blue sails ablazin’ you’ll get the picture real quick that you’re in it to win it.

So disregard all the small business tips you’ve read over the past seven years while you sat around ‘thinking’ about how great it would be to work for yourself. Instead take this one SIMPLE but HIGHLY EFFECTIVE bit of advice: burn your boats, leave yourself no recourse and get in it to win it for real this time.

Doing Business like a Rock Band

How many successful rock bands in the last 50 years have produced one and only one song, ever. Hmm… if you can think of one send me the name, because the answer is none.

So if you were a consultant for rock bands how would you respond if a client came to you and said “So we’ve been working on this one song for two years, nobody really likes it and we keep tweaking it to make it better but nothing is happening”. You’d smack them on the head and tell them to get lost – the music industry just isn’t for them (unless they were paying you tons of money, then you’d probably just sympathize and give them hundos to blow their noses in).

Why do would-be entrepreneurs and small business start ups do this ALL the time then!? They roll out ONE invention or business idea and if it doesn’t work like gangbusters they get mad at the world & continue their exercise in futility only to find out years later that the model is a complete dud.

Instead do business like a rock band, work on several projects at the same time - have laser focus on all of them but be sure to keep an eye out for the runaway hits and capitalize the pants off of them!

Currently I am working on 7 projects! This may sound absurd – and it kind of is – but due to my laser focus on each (mostly because of all the systems I set up) I can get 7x as much as other would be entrepreneurs get done. There is a difference between a small business owner and an entrepreneur on a side note, the couple that owns the local Irish pub down the street from you are business owners – they have one business and run it themselves, they probably will never grow it into something massive or start other projects while running their bar. To them it is just “too much” to keep organized.

An entrepreneur is the guy who is working on one project hoping it makes millions but if another amazing concept comes up that he believes in 100% he’ll spend time on that too… he may even drop the original business idea. Entrepreneurs are always growing, changing and adapting… they usually start many businesses in their lifetimes… some are runaway success stories others fail. But it doesn’t matter because the entrepreneur has burnt their boats, there is no going back for them and they know it – they must win at any cost or be destroyed. The entrepreneur also behaves like a musician, they work on an ‘album’ of projects and don’t get their ego caught up in just one that “has to work or else I’ll quit”.

So which are you? Are you the rock band entrepreneurial spirit or are you just a one hit wonder? Do you have the guts to burn the boats and force your mental troops into battle with no back up plan, or will you stew for years in mediocrity hoping something or someone will give you the push you never had the backbone to give yourself?

These are serious questions – and they deserve hours, maybe even days of thinking over. But once you discover that you have what it takes, that you are the Greeks going into battle, that you are the entrepreneur who risks it all but wins time after time for his persistence then there is only ONE thing left to do…

GET YOUR ACTION ON!!!

The Pomodoro Technique | A Tomato that’ll Rock your World!

Maren Kate — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 00:45:00 +0000

A few weeks ago I discovered a tomato that changed my life forever… seriously, my productivity has gone through the roof, my businesses have improved and I’ve started on 3 new and potentially super profitable business ideas all because of a TOMATO!! What’s my secret? It’s called the Pomodoro Technique.

Francesco Cirillo coined the Pomodoro Technique in 1992 using a basic kitchen timer (Shaped like a pomodoro - Italian for tomato) and a sheet of paper. The gist of the technique is that you break down all of your ‘tasks’ throughout the day into 25 minute increments called pomodoros. First you write down on a sheet of paper the things you have to do for the day… for example:

Write a blog post
Research for my new project X
Design a business card in Photoshop
Call 3 potential clients
Give my VA’s instructions for the coming week

Now look over your list and see what will take you less than 25 minutes, group that with another task because you must always finish the pomodoro once it’s set ticking. If your task will be over 25 minutes that’s fine, you’ll just use more than one pomodoro to complete it.

Now get your kitchen timer, or use e.ggtimer or use a Pomodoro Technique iPhone app (there are several). Before you set it going remember, pomodoros are indivisible – meaning you can’t break them into smaller time segments. So get ready to dedicate the next 25 minutes of your life to the task at hand. It works best if you turn off your phone, block out all distractions (yes I mean Skype, your pet kitty Friskers or your annoying roomate – I listen to white noise through my headphones) and get to work.

When your pomodoro rings no matter what you have to put aside what you are doing and take a 5 minute break, in this you can clean up your desk, skim a fun blog or make a phone call. Then after the break is up get back to your pomodoro if you aren’t finished or start a new task.

After you’ve finished 4 pomodoro’s back to back (including the 5 minute breaks in between) you must take a 30 minute break – this larger break should be used to do things completely non work related. I.e. clean out your sock drawer (during my last break I found 23 socks that had NO partners! so sad). If you have the good sense God gave a gerbil you get the point of this…. but let me tell you, THIS ROCKS SOCKS! You will within one day be amazed at how much MORE you get done. But you’ve gotta stick to the rules no matter what, if you break a pomodoro i.e. answer the phone, get distracted, work on something else you must reset the timer and start again. So no cheating!

If you want to learn more and download the FREE PDF offered by the people who created this amazing technique check out the official site for the pomodoro technique here.

Playing it Safe will Destroy Your Life

Maren Kate — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 01:30:32 +0000

I’m so sick of boring-ness, I’m sick of boring blog posts, boring advertisements, boring conversation and boring people. I loathe myself every time I think I’ve put out a ‘boring’ post on this site… I lie awake thinking “ugh, you just drained someone of a few minutes of their life reading your boring crap” but I digress. Point is boring is out, extraordinary is in and to be extraordinary you mustn’t play it safe because honestly avoiding risks is a terrible way to live.

10 Ways to kick boring’s butt & be extraordinary

Always do the Never.

Seth Godin is a genius, I don’t know if I say this often enough, but it deserves to be said. I was just reading Small is the New Big and he said something that stuck with me… Find the always and then do the opposite if you want to succeed. Example: blogger’s always are concerned with SEO, advertisers always are interrupting us, entrepreneur’s are always trying to get your business. What if you were a blogger who NEVER cared about SEO and just wrote from the heart, what if you NEVER interrupted people and instead complimented their life with ads that pertained directly to them, what if you NEVER did business with anyone except those who sought you out and practically begged you to take their money?

Take a risk every day.

What if you forced yourself to go out on a limb daily ? Like a major limb, what if each day you made a huge stride towards a goal of yours. Like you spent 2 hours a day working on the business you are planning on launching, come rain or shine, regardless if the wife yells or the kids scream – just force yourself to every day not play it safe and go for your unreasonable goal. What if you walked into the offices of the six largest business in your town and asked them if you could have their business EVERY day, never taking no for an answer, coming back again and again – to the point that they threw you out? You’d annoy 5 of them, but one of them, the CEO who had the heart of an innovator would be impressed and would be your first big client.

Play hooky.

I am a firm believer in scrapping college for reading 3 books a week and learning from the school of real life and I suggest people bail on their 9 to 5 jobs and give themselves no option to fail as a BIG motivator to succeed.

Drop everything you don’t love.

Has your boyfriend of five years been keeping you back? Do you “love” him but not LOVE him… drop him. Free yourself of baggage and start soaring to new heights. Dump the job you hate, drop the car you despise (in turn for a bike or something) and kick the relationship that holds you back to the curb with the ole its not you its me routine (or my personal favorite its not me, its you).

If you have an idea that is unrealistic seriously consider it.

When you tell people your ideas or inventions which one do you they respond to most fiercely to? Do that one… even if it is an epic flop like the Segway you know you’ll get some awesome press from it and meet new people along the way. At the very least you can blog about your amazing failures at epicflop.com (domain is FREE people!).

Introduce yourself to everyone.

What would you do if a 5’1″ girl at 100 pounds who looks about 16 came up to you at a bar and said “So, what are you passionate about”? Run, put your hands in the air and say “I didn’t touch her officer” or maybe say go home child… maybe, but if you let me explain I’d tell you that this odd opening line works wonders. I don’t ask people “what do you do” anymore, I ask them what they are passionate about – usually people have to think a minute, then when their brains finally wrap around the fact that I’m A. not a hooker B. truly interested a fount of repressed ideas flow out. I have met the most amazing people this way (with a handful of creeps of course) it may work better if you are a guy – or worse – I’m not sure. But it definitely connects you with the person you just met FAR better than knowing their job title. Also it filters the boring people out fast because they’ll respond with “Umm… I sell Xerox machines??” my cue to signal the check.

What is the status quo?

Find the status quo in whatever field or area of life your in and then twist it up. Say you are a mommy, if the status quo is to wear mommy jeans wear gowns. If you are a sales person and the status quo is to cold call or send boring emails starting with “Dear Mr. X” flip it on it’s head. Imagine a salesman calling you and saying “Listen, I don’t want to be making this call as much as you don’t want to get it” he’d catch my attention there “but I have this amazing service X and it’s going to rock your socks… literally. So let me take you to coffee, you can see my see my super trustworthy face and it will be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.” Don’t know about you but I’d go, if not just to meet the guy ballsy enough to cold call with those lines.

Act as big as you plan to be someday.

When people ask me what I do I NEVER downplay my business, I say I run a global social marketing firm. Why? When I’m running it with two VAs from a coffee shop? Because I do damn it, why down play it or make myself sound littler than I am? Why not take a positive approach and paint the picture of what I am headed for (by the by – I am not saying lie ever, my company is global because I can and do business all over the world & my employees are in another country).

Don’t fall prey to small thinking – ever.

When you think I can’t it is your brain being scared and your butt being lazy. You can do anything you set your mind too – this quip is very true. Look at the Wright brothers, look at the moon landing (don’t even start with me freaky conspiracy theorists) and look at Oprah. If they can do it, can you SERIOUSLY not break free from your 9 to 5 job, make enough money to live the lifestyle you want and enjoy?

No pain no gain.

That saying was popularized by obnoxious guys in spike jackets wearing ‘NO FEAR’ shirts.. ugh… (sorry if you WERE that guy) yet it really rings true. Why isn’t everyone rich? Do you think its because they don’t want to be? Why isn’t everyone free? or why doesn’t everyone live the life of their dreams? It’s because the barrier to entrance for all of those things is HIGH. High barriers = fewer winners. Now this isn’t to say there aren’t short cuts. I don’t believe in the work 80 hours a week till your 60 then retire with a million bucks mindset – that is bunk, why waste the best years of your life slaving away in hopes that the last years of your life will be cozy? I’d rather enjoy every year as it comes and not have a million in the bank when I die. But remember there is PAIN, you must sacrifice, go beyond, think till it hurts, if it was easy EVERYONE would be living an extraordinary life. It isn’t, but what you need ask yourself is do you have the gumption, the grit and the wits to find the simplest path to your goals?

So no more playing it safe, go run in traffic, stick your hands in fire, wrestle near cliffs (metaphorically of course!) and get out there and start living life – so you fail, so you make a fool of yourself, better than blending into the background… in my humble opinion of course.

P.S. For whatever jack ass wrote the comment on my Youtube wall “you just want attention” my answer is NO DUH. Of course I want attention, EVERYONE who posts on Youtube wants attention – why the HECK else would you share something with the world? Alright, I’m done. Xoxo’s to all the rest of you awesome loves!

How to Get the Most Out of your Day the Ninja Way

Maren Kate — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 22:43:47 +0000

This post is pretty darn basic, it’s about productivity, but if you really pay attention and use the techniques explained below it can literally rock your world as it has done mine. Years ago I had a”brilliant” idea for a start up, called statuscheck.com, status check would be a social platform where people send out ‘updates’ on what they were doing throughout the day in little blips… I mapped the idea out in my mind several times and even put it to paper – but I never went further than that. About 6 months later something called Twitter hit the market, it was so similar to my idea I couldn’t believe it. The premise was simple, the platform was concise, but there was a huge difference between my idea for statuscheck.com and theirs. They actually ACTED upon their ‘great idea’ while I did nothing. Why? Because I wasn’t being productive enough, I had ideas and things I wanted to do but nothing to filter them through…

Problem > Us entrepreneurial types have loads of thoughts, ideas and plans swirling around in our heads that we just want to get out, but if we follow every thought as it happens we’ll never get anything done.

Solution > If your creative, entrepreneurial and idea centric you must develop a system to catch all your thoughts and organize them along with your daily tasks, this way both can be accounted for and nothing falls through the cracks.

First off you have to arm yourself with the correct weapons to be ninja like in the entrepreneurial space. My top must haves go as follows:

A notebook: I like moleskins but you can get a cheaper alternative at any drug store.
A pen & highlighter: one is for writing down all your ideas the other is for highlighting the important stuff in your own notes and other’s books.
A smart phone: whether it is the iPhone, a blackberry or something else if you are serious about becoming a kick butt go getter its time to get serious. I check my email from my smart phone, I record voice notes, schedule meetings and even send off proposals on the lamb.
A mobile office: this is probably applicable to more people than realize it, but if you can’t do it I understand – all I’m saying is my mobile office is bad (in a good way) and shoots my productivity through the roof. A mobile office consists of a book/laptop bag, a great book (for inspiration) all the above mentioned and a wi-fi card. Presto you’ve got a set up that allows you to do business from anywhere in the world and as an entrepreneur you never know when your next million dollar idea will hit you so be prepared take your office with you.
Munchies: no Ninja can fight crime, battle the forces of big business and smoosh his competition without a little nourishment. Don’t be a fool, grab some gruel.

Top non-sucky time optimization techniques

Notice I didn’t say time management, firstly because the idea that you can manage time is silly to me, regardless of what you do or how you do it you will ALWAYS have exactly 24 hours a day – until you die. So it doesn’t come down to ‘managing’ those static number of hours, it comes down to getting the most bang for your tick.

Use e.ggtimer and always give yourself a little less time than you need. Right now I have 30 minutes and 7 seconds to finish this post, ack! Normally I’d diddle around and get distracted but since I’m battling the clock I gotta get this puppy done… son. Try it yourself, any task you have guestimate the amount of time it will take then battle the clock to get it done. For the first few tries on repetitive tasks I suggest you keep a record, then you will know in the future how long X takes and can plan your day accordingly. This single technique has DOUBLED my productivity in one day and cut the amount of time I spend “working”.
Go through your email twice. I know Tim Ferriss says he checks his email once a week, well you know what he’s also a wunderkind who competitive dances with his spare time (ew?)… If you are not super human I suggest checking your email 2-3 times a day, especially at the beginning of your entrepreneurial ventures. In the morning check it and don’t leave your inbox until it is EMPTY… do this again at night. How do you empty your inbox? I’ll explain in the next bullet point.
File everything! A good book that is pretty hard to get through is Getting Things Done by David Allen. Most of you won’t read it so I’ll give you the basic gist: Create folders that apply to all sorts of situations i.e. Research, Read, Waiting on, Maybe/Someday, Projects, Email, etc. and then with every email/memo you get file the juicy bits into one of those folders. The best folder I use is called Next Actions it is chock full of the exact next step I have to do on tons of things. So when I am sitting here, twiddling my thumbs I remember ‘oh yeah’ and head over to Next Actions to find out exactly what I should be doing next.

Never stop learning. Often I get far older, far more successful business people tell me that they are ‘impressed’ by me or that I’m making leaps and bounds that they never did at 24. I smile and thank them but never let on to my real secret behind my perceived good business mind – I read non stop. I read so much it would make your head spin. If I’m not reading blogs, books and articles relevant to all the things I love I am listening to a book on tape (right now it is Seth Godin’s Small is the New Big and it rocks socks). I get inspired to write posts, encouraged to keep on my entrepreneurial path and ignited to go towards new business goals by constantly consuming content from people smarter than I. I honestly think this is the key to success that everyone has kept a secret. When I meet people who are far more advanced in the same field as I’m in I don’t stress because they usually also say I’m too busy to read so I know that someday soon I’ll overtake them because they are focusing only on growing their business, not their knowledge. Businesses come and go, your knowledge is what will lead you to an extraordinary life.
Mind Sweeps. Another of my secret weapons, about twice a day I open up my moleskin, pull out my pen (Aaah.. its all coming together!!) and write down what I call a mind sweep. This consists of me writing down everything on my mind at that moment. From personal stuff to business stuff to ideas and inventions, I literally turn my brain on it’s side and shake until there is nothing left in there. It’s amazing, I feel pounds lighter and my mind is free of clutter. The fact of writing down all those things literally takes them off my mind and frees up the thought waves to come up with more good ideas. Later in the day, or right then, I go through my mind sweep and figure out what the next step is for each item, then I add it to my Next Actions folder to be dealt with accordingly. If you try ONE THING from this post, try this one you’ll feel like a new person.

So when you are driving around or sitting in your office listen to a great podcast or book on tape, when you are working time yourself so you’re competing against the clock and when you check your mail make sure you have a place to put all of that info… do these things and you will notice your productivity double if not triple!

Want to learn more my suggestions would be check out: Getting Things Done & The E Myth (google them yourselves I’m too lazy to put a link and my timer is running low!)

Have a comment? Think your more of a Ninja than me (do you carry a night stick??!)? Holler below and we’ll figure out whose the top entrepreneur ninja around here!

Innovate or DIE!

Maren Kate — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 00:13:31 +0000

Yep, it is that serious. I mean think about it, if you don’t innovate in your business or start up you will die eventually, probably a slow, tedious death as your profit margins shrivel into oblivion and your competitors wipe the floor with your pride. Sounds grim doesn’t it? But there is a solution, one that is amazing, unique and totally free! It’s called innovation and it is the number 1 thing entrepreneur’s must do to ensure their business is a success.

Innovation vs. Evolution

We all evolve, it is clear to see that people grow and adapt, as do animals, fishies and just about everything in existence. But as a business you don’t want to ‘evolve’ with the market you want to ‘lead’ with an innovation that will trickle down into evolution for all the non-innovators years later.

Think about the internet now vs. the internet 10 years ago, or social media today vs. where it was 2 years ago. What used to be “crazy” innovations have turned into something you must be involved with to survive. Though this is how most businesses are run, adapting at the last possible second so they can hang on to their stubborn old ideas longer, this is not how you want to be. You want to be flexible, to be creative, to be young and fresh at any age and with any product.

Innovation draws like minds i.e. forms a ‘tribe’

Have you ever read Seth Godin’s book Tribes if you haven’t do and while you are at it just read all of his books. They, to me, are the equivalent or better of the MBA I never got. Innovation is what few do and many flock to. Look at the great innovators of our time? Few people created social platforms in the beginning, but millions use them. Few people know how to build a MAC but legions love them. Few people understand how 4G wireless works but everyone wants a faster connection.

So the great part about innovation is this: only a few are doing it and lots of people get psyched by those few. What’s the catch? Well, you have to DO something… I know cry babies, what a tough life you have, having to actually act before everything turns out your way. Know what I am doing right now? I’m writing, inside a Bucks (shorthand for Starbucks) while its lovely outside and everyone else is sitting in the sun. I’m staying pasty white because I have to be on top of the businesses I’m growing and make sure I am producing some kind of value on this blog.

I am innovating every day, I have 3 business ideas I’m actively working on but I won’t move forward until I find a way to beat the competition through pure innovation. The reason some of you read this probably is because you are like minds, you also love innovation and being market leaders – thus my focus on passion, action and innovation draws members of the tribe I belong to towards me and vice versa.

Innovation + Passion + Action | The Keys for Unbridled Success

Are you ready for super success? Not just the run in the mill I started a law office and its going ok type? Me too! I am dedicated to three simple rules that govern anything I do… mix these three gems together and you have the next Twitter, the next NetFlix or the next Zappos… Write this down and tattoo it on your heart…

Find your passion first, innovate where your competition has stuck to the status quo and throw in all sorts of action to see your dream into reality. Honestly, this leads to amazing things.

Why Unreasonable, Unrealistic People Win Big

Maren Kate — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:45:03 +0000

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. – George Bernard Shaw

I have been called unreasonable, unrealistic, obstinate and been described as living in a dream world more than once. I used to take it as an insult but now I smile and see it more as a “your on the right track” sent from above. In a world of 6,800,000,000 and growing how can you possibly stand out from the masses without being extraordinary? Usually even that won’t cut it, I know many people who are ridiculously bright, talented etc, but they’ve never sought out to challenge the status quo to seem unreasonable to others and chase their dreams so they fade into normalcy (the worst fate for someone like me).

It is actually far easier to succeed, to flourish and to make a name for yourself if you are unrealistic and unreasonable. There are just far fewer fish in the pond to compete with! The saying that it’s lonely on the top is dead on, it’s lonely because there just aren’t that many people up there… meaning there is plenty of room for you and I.

So what must you do to become an unreasonable, unrealistic and AMAZING person in life?

Set your goals ridiculously high. Don’t even say “I don’t have ridiculous goals”…everyone does, most people are just too scared to share them. So write down 10 goals you’d love to have happen in your lifetime, make them as far out as possible then look at them and go “buddies… I’m gunning for you” and start going after them.
See everyone as your equal. This is one of the best pieces of advice in the world, if you treat everyone as your equal you will get farther than 95% of the world. Problem is most people treat certain groups of people as “lower” than themselves and other groups (i.e. celebrities, pretty people, the rich) as “higher” than them. Instead treat everyone the same, whether it is the busboy who biffs it and spills wine on your shirt or the Queen herself, just treat them like people – because stripped away from titles and wealth that is what we all are.
Break the unreasonable down into little reasonable chunks. This is the concept of baby steps and it works well, instead of saying “I’m going to start X corp and make $500,000 in five years” say “I’m going to make $273.97 every day for 5 years…” that is NOT that hard. You could build up a solid affiliate network through several mini blogs, you could create a small product and sell it to a VERY niche crowd and get that easy breezy. Another example: “I want to create an organization that helps 10,000 woman over my lifetime” instead say if you are 35 you plan on living till 85 you have fifty years give or take… so your plan breaks down to “I want to help at least one woman every 2 days”.
Make reality your enemy. Who wants to lead a realistic life? Children are murdered in reality, horrible people get away with awful deeds, good people lead lives of misery… reality sucks, only a mental shift into an unreasonable thinking pattern will yield a life worth living… fight against reality, focus on unrealistic goals like curing cancer, feeding the millions of starving babies in the world, fixing the clean water problems in Africa, stopping the spread of AIDS, building up a massive corporation that is socially and ecologically responsible and provides thousands of jobs to well meaning people. These are goals worth pursuing, these are lives worth living.

It is harder to make $10,000 a month than it is to make $100,000, its more difficult to set your goal for mid level manager of a mid sized corporation than founder of a Fortune 500 tech start up. Why? Because EVERYONE and there mother aims at the mediocre in life…. no one says it but everyone does it. So there is fierce competition within the rungs of the average than there is for the “best” things in life. Try it for yourself, regardless of your age, education or background… in the next 60 days attempt two separate paths A. apply at every $10 an hour job you can find B. Start a side business with a goal of bringing in only 1,600 a month (p.s. this is what the $10 an hour job will make BEFORE taxes) – which do you think you can reach first? I bet you dollars to donuts you make the $1600 a month in a side business than get a job paying ten bucks an hour.

On a final note, and I hope you take this seriously, I think the phrase “be realistic” is one of the most depressing, draining and dream killing cliches in the world. Those who say it to you should be distanced, when you feel it you should shake yourself and remind yourself of the $10 an hour job that in our economy are now the HARDEST to get. Please, DON’T BE REALISTIC. Be brazenly unrealistic and unashamedly unreasonable!

Failure is Not an Option

Maren Kate — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 04:47:39 +0000

Today was a rough one for me, per usual I had some business ups and downs, things that are just part of life and I let it get to me. Occasionally I get very overwhelmed with my whole escape from the 9 to 5 and lose focus, I let fear creep up into my brain and it literally can paralyze my thoughts. That is until I grab myself by the shoulders and SCREAM “Failure is NOT an option!!”. This usually does the trick, this and Xanax for those anxiety attacks But seriously, if you ever plan on leading an extraordinary life, escaping the 9 to 5 and determining your own destiny you are going to go through these phases of fear induced frenzy. What is important is you have to realize they are just that – fear induced – and let your more logical brain take back the reigns. Here are some tips to isolate worry, destroy it and live the phrase ‘Action cures fear’ – because it really, really does.

Mapping out your worst case scenario

This is something I learned from Tim Ferriss’ book The Four Hour Work Week. In the book Ferriss dares you to envision your worst case scenario and then see why it isn’t that bad. Here is mine (note I’m moving into a Condo this month in a different city with more expenses):

Okay so I’m going to move to a different city closer to SF & Silicon Valley, there everything will go wrong. My business, built in Vegas, will crumble, I will lose each and every customer. I will have to fire my awesome employees and my savings will start to shrink by leaps and bounds. I will promptly FREAK OUT and have to come up with a whole new business model, preferably this time one that is not service based – while I figure out a new business I’ll get kicked out, have to sell my furniture and end up living in my sticker covered Cadillac with my cat Cooper Joe. I will have to *shudder* bartend or beg for money, or possibly one of my friends/family will help me out and then I’ll start from scratch with some new business ideas and one of them will finally catch on and then I’ll be back on top again.

Make a conscious spending plan

I friend of Ferriss’ Ramit Sethi (great minds think alike) also writes an amazing book titled I will Teach you to be Rich this book helps people of all income levels plan for the future, budget (in a good way) and save. What it taught me was that it is IMPERATIVE before I move to know exactly how much I will need each month to live on and how much I’ll need for my business. I drew out a ‘conscious spending plan’ and was floored by how much I really do live on each month… to sustain this isn’t too hard but it means I can’t let my business slip at all and have to continue to grow it so I can save a lot in the near future. So I encourage you to figure out where each penny is going and build your own plan, spend money on what you love but scrimp tons of what you don’t love. This is a way to defeat the evil B word and turn it into a lifestyle affirming plan.

Make sure failure isn’t an option

Failure really isn’t an option for me. I don’t know what I would do emotionally if I failed, though I’ve failed many times before – but by keeping up a you can’t fail perspective I find lots of ways to succeed in spite of the odds. Just think about how people always find a way to make an excuse or to get out of something, why can’t you be the person that always finds a way, a loophole to succeed? To do better than expected? To totally Crush It and have the bragging rights after wards?! You can make it so failure isn’t in your vocabulary… the best way is to create action plans, to create actionable items that you put on to do lists and to just you know, ACT vs. sitting there and doing nothing.

Action Item:

Write this down, on paper, or in the comments section:

What is your greatest fear?
What is the worst case scenario?
How can you overcome both?

Escape the 9 to 5 | Top Reads for any Escapee

Maren Kate — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 03:14:03 +0000

I think I may make this section a semi-regular part of my blog, maybe on Friday when I am feeling lazy. I’m going to outline the top blog posts I’ve read this week that will encourage, inspire and most importantly help you escape the 9 to 5 for good. Oh yeah, and these posts are GOOD, I’ve read all of them myself and out of the hundreds of things I read all week they stand out as the brightest. At the end I am putting in my top tips for the week as well where you can find a bunch of useful tools, tricks and tips for any entrepreneur or blogger.

If I Were to Start All Over Again | www.davidrisley.com - If you are just starting out on your journey of escaping the 9 to 5 this post is a must read, it is by a blogger who’s been at it for 12 years! He breaks down exactly what he’d do if he was to start over again, and considering all the knowledge he comes to the table with I’d sit up and listen, I sure did!

Top Ten Virtual Assistant Tips | www.virtualbusinesslifestyle.com – If you use virtual assistants like me this video will be very useful, also if you love the beach you’ll be green with envy of where Chris is filming from… If living a virtual lifestyle partying in Boracay is wrong, I don’t want to be right.

Your Only Successful Because | www.erinblaskie.com - For those of you who have reached some level of success this is a great read, Erin talks about how often when you do something out of the box people will criticize you and comment on how you are either only successful because of *blank* or aren’t successful because of *blank*. Point being, don’t listen, keep rocking and blow them away with your awesomeness.

20 Things Every Internet Entrepreneur Should Own | www.incomediary.com - This is pretty much just an epically amazing list of things you can’t live without as an internet entrepreneur, blogger or virtual business person. Warning: You will want to spend money after reading this!

Top Tips:

AwayFind – A great tool for the busy blogger, or business person. You can stay away from your inbox without still missing anything truly urgent Check this tool out you’ll be glad you did

Jott – I get my best ideas while on the run, but it is often hard to “jott” down stuff… enter Jott! this service allows you to speak a short note into your phone, then it automatically changes it into text and emails the note to yourself! No more forgetting and no messy sticky notes!

Are you Part of the 17 Percent?

Maren Kate — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:01:22 +0000

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?

Here is how I do it:

Is my business giving back anything?
Is my life giving back anything to others?
Do I bring happiness to others or sorrow?
How can I become more like the 17% and less like the 83?

Answer these questions honestly and you will find yourself striving for more. More freedom to do what you like, more inspiration to help others and more gumption to lead an extraordinary life as opposed to just a run in the mill “existence”. I also focus on my blog trying to be part of the 17% of blogs in the world that are worthwhile vs. the 83% that are just make money online get rick quick scheme jargon. I believe in getting rich quickly, but the problem is their is a BIG word missing… the saying should read: You can get rich quick, but it will be very HARD & you must be VERY CREATIVE.

Alright, that is my short rant for the day, stay tuned I have two AWESOME cewebrity interviews coming up this week that you won’t want to miss, they’ll inspire the pants of you… literally, you’ll be pantless.

9 Tools an Entrepreneur can’t live without

Maren Kate — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 03:00:11 +0000

So it is getting near that time of the year, that awful time, tax time. If you are an entrepreneur this is one of the scariest times of the year. I won’t even regale you with my tax terrors but instead I wanted to provide 10 tools I wish I’d had when I started out to escape the 9 to 5. These tools will make your life a lot easier and help you build systems around everything you do (my number one tip to any start up business). If I missed any tools or tips please feel free to add extra ones in the comment section below.

1. Keeping your finances in order with Mint.com

This site is great, it is free and it helps you keep ALL your finances in order as you build your business empire. It is also wonderful if you have any kind of business related debt, because all to often start ups allow debt to pile up without thinking about it… justifying it in their minds as “well when we have our big payday it won’t matter” but this is a recipe for disaster. Mint keeps you honest with that big NEGATIVE sign attached to any debt, which in turn helps encourage you to bootstrap.

2. Getting wisdom, encouragement and virtual mentoring via Mixergy.com

This has fast become one of my favorite websites, Mixergy’s host Andrew Warner is a bonafide start up aficionado and has a powerful entrepreneurial career under his belt. What is even cooler is that daily Andrew interviews some of the best of the best when it comes to start up wisdom, people that have been there, done that or failed in an attempt. I listen to an interview on Mixergy almost daily, it always encourages me to do more and get smarter in my business and I am sure it will do the same with you.

3. Use Ping.fm to manage all your social media accounts

Ever have something you want to share to Twitter, Facebook and a variety of other social networks but you just don’t have the time? Here comes Ping.fm a wonderfully simple platform that allows you to link up all your social media accounts and blast out a message with the click of a button. This definitely doesn’t replace getting on the social networks themselves but I use it at least once a day to send a message out to all my friends/fans and followers with one easy step.

4. It’s all about the Moleskins baby (keeping track of your business in style)

Yup, moleskins make up at least 50% of my business expenses. They are the “legendary notebook of artists, writers, intellectuals and travelers” as well as the legendary notebook of Maren Kate. I have a mini moleskin that I keep in my purse, this is my “home” inbox and has all my to-dos that are non biz related. I have a second larger moleskin that works as my traveling ‘inbox’ where I write every note, scribble and idea in and later turn it into .doc form whenever I have a chance. This is the thing in my business I couldn’t live without, take away my notebooks and you’ll find a shell of a woman, weeping in the corner, drawing on her arms to keep track of her ideas. BONUS: When I’m done with a moleskin (which I go through in record time) I store in with all the others, this works as a journal of my business and life and is fun to look back over and gain inspiration from down the line.

5. Basecamphq keeps all my employees and freelancers on task, literally

I love Basecamphq, which is created by the awesome people at 37 signals, this platform allows me and my project manager to keep track of all of our Oracle Launch projects as well as the other endeavors we are apart of while tracking time and effectiveness of our employees. Basecamphq is priced for a song compared to other ‘project management’ software and you can access it from any computer. So far I’ve had no problems with it and the support service is awesome.

6. You can’t & shouldn’t live without a WordPress blog

Or granted, any other platform works but I am a wordpress junkie. It is perfect for search engine optimization and so customizable major websites run on it. I had someone build this theme on WordPress for Escaping the 9 to 5 from scratch and I love it so far. Just make sure if you are an entrepreneur of any sort to get a blog and start building a personal brand online, I foresee that in the future your blog will be like your online resume. If you want to get super geeky you can create a social media resume like the one I did here.

7. An MP3 player to learn on the go

I am always running around and while I scurry to and fro I learn. Usually this is in the form of iTunes podcasts and audio books but lately I’ve been using audible.com which offers different levels of memberships for the varying amount of book worm within each of us. I try to read/listen to at least 3 business related/inspirational books a month with one fictional story thrown in their for good measure. I can honestly say I’ve learned more from reading in the last 2 years than I ever learned in 5 years of “higher education”.

8. Google docs rock my socks

I have used Google docs since I began doing business online (and off for that matter). There are thousands of uses for Google docs and the best part is they are easy to share, easy to manage and completely free. You can pay more, but you can’t get better quality or easier usability. To see some of the many uses of Google docs including making forms online check out this Erica.biz article.

9. A reason a WHY

Every entrepreneur needs a reason why, a passion that burns deep inside or you’ll lose your fire and fall into “business as usual”. A reason why for your business is more important than the what or the how of your business. If you don’t believe me read a little up on Simon Sinek’s concept and book Start with Why this is one of the most amazing concepts I have stumbled upon recently and is completely changing the way I do business, I hope it works for you too!

Did I miss anything? Do you disagree? If so let me know in the comments!

Escaping the 9 to 5 by Grabbing the Bull by the Horns

Maren Kate — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 06:26:15 +0000

How long have you thought about escaping the 9 to 5 and finally living the lifestyle you want? Has it been months or even years? You aren’t getting any younger, I am sick of people not going for their goals. This is the only life you have make it incredible. If you feel as if you can live an incredible life by being stuck in a 9 to 5 job than fine. But most people don’t, they just are too scared to leave their comfort zone. So if you really want to know how to escape the 9 to 5, make more than enough to live on and enjoy the lifestyle you want read on and I’ll go through the steps I used in making a break for it.

Find Your Passion

This is essential in escaping the 9 to 5 -ology. You must know what you are passionate about in life, not just what job you’d be passionate about but what makes you tick. Do you long to travel (like me) or are you more in tune with the arts. Would you love to spend several hours a day teaching sociology to students at a prestigious University or would you rather raise your children in 4 different countries? As long as you nail down the most basic of things that make you crazy (in a good way), the passions that you think “If i could do ANYTHING with my life it’d be this” then you are on the right track and you can move on to number two…

Finding Your System

I think one of the most important, yet overlooked things in life are systems. Systems can make your life 100x better by organizing and stream lining the tasks you don’t like and making more room for what you love. Considering we just found your passion… now we need to find a system that will make that dream a reality. Money is not the object here, but it is essential, since everyone needs an amount of money to live their dream life. Some people’s amount is smaller than others and some have aspirations that are very large monetarily (like me) but we need to figure out how to make the money that leads us to living our passions. Here are some options:

Stay in the 9 to 5 work for someone else world. If this is your choice then so be it, we need people that work for others or we’d not have a society (and I’d be out of business) but just make sure that you LOVE what you do and that you can do all the things you are passionate about.
Freelance. Are you a programmer, cook or writer? Do you loathe working for others but lack the motivation to start your own business from the ground up? Freelance, it is an amazing way to make a living (often a good one) and live life on your own terms. Some of the best blog posts I’ve ever read on freelancing are here.
Start your own business. If you chose this one you will be doing what I do, which means countless hours of work but in a year or two time you’ll have it much easier and know that you’ve created a solid future for yourself. I endorse this one all the way but it ISN’T for everyone. On more help to start your own business check out my free resource start up school and get started today!
Franchise. The ultimate business in a box, you pay more but also get everything handed to you, learn more about franchising here.
Go into business with someone else. If you’ve got the brains someone else has the money and vice versa. So if you are great at cakes but need a person with business savvy to take your biz to the next level partner up, like wise if you are awesome at biz development but need a creative side kick get looking. Partnerships are a great way to make something awesome come together.

Grabbing the Bull by the Horns

Now what are your excuses? Come on I know they are out there, well if you need a kick in the tush go pick up Gary Vaynerchuk’s book Crush It if that doesn’t convince you to get out of your comfort zone & start living the life you want I don’t know what else will. Actually if you are still whining probably nothing will, but for those of you who aren’t whining… who are saying “Wow, this is what I should/am doing with my life” then please double your efforts… put in more time, set your goals higher and truly become an extraordinary person in the mean time. Never be afraid to set your goals to high, never be scared to leave the comfort zone, like I’ve said before the biggest jumps I’ve made have always paid off in amazing ways.

My Craziest Idea Yet p. 2 (All about the Caddy)

Maren Kate — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 05:07:06 +0000

So a few weeks ago I did a blog post which has so far been most popular and commented on ever, it was called My Craziest Idea Yet also known as the Crazy Cadillac Plan. So far it has a grand total of 49 comments and a lot of great discussion was started there. I’ll sum up the plan for those of you who are crunched on time…

I want to prove to people that you can get anything you want with a little creativity and a lot of drive (ah ha, car joke!). Anyways, point is I got so many responses, emails and questions from people willing to participate in my little shindig I decided to pursue it further. My plan includes:

Essentially getting a Cadillac Escalade for free.
Covering said Escalade in bumper stickers and/or silk screen prints that can range from your company’s logo to a life size picture of someone’s face.
Getting between 70-100 “silver” participants whose ad is no bigger than a bumper sticker (about 200 bumper stickers would fit all over the Caddy from my measurements), getting a few “gold” sponsors who take out space on the windows, and then having one or two “platinum” sponsors to take up the whole back window and the roof.

The Price Point

Now for the one I want, which is used by the by (because NEVER buy any car new), it will be around $40,000 k after my trade in. It will be about a 08 and either in black or white (haven’t decided yet). The price point per month, over 5 or 6 years will be around $700-$750 depending on how much I put down a month. Now that is a WOW for most people and trust me I’d never pay that myself. But it is the PRINCIPLE people, the principle, that I am going to get something for ‘technically’ nothing because of strategic planning and a little hamming it up.

What You Would Get

A universal question for all salesman is “what is in it for me”, I am confident I’ll get asked that a bunch from the people who sign up to ‘sponsor’ my experiment. This is what they get for a year’s worth of advertising on my sticker-mobile:

A 3-5 minute Youtube video on my channel describing a little bit about you and/or your brand/business… culminating on the viewers watching me find a space and slap it on.
Depending on the level of sponsor a choice of desired location on the areas we have left.
A guarantee that I will drive a total of X miles in one years time, visit X number of States in the Union and drive X number of miles per month.
The ability to check where your mini-ad has been at any time via the GPS tracking system I’ll install on the car (delayed a day for safety’s sake) as well as the option to track the sticker-mobile via the various social networks I am active on.

I Need Your Help

This is where you come in, I need your help on two things…

firstly what is the best price for a bumper sticker sized ad? I am debating between 7.00 a month price & 10 bucks a month
I need between 70-100 bumper sticker (silver) sponsors to have the confidence to buy the car, once I get that number I will be sure to get some press and then the larger sponsors will come flooding in. What do you think the best way of ‘marketing’ this is?

Thanks loves!

A Healthy Entrepreneur = A Happy Entrepreneur

Maren Kate — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 01:11:30 +0000

As an entrepreneur who spends all her time staring at a MAC it is easy to get sloth-butt, this is my unattractive term for sitting to long and being a lazy pile of a person. But even when you are in the midst of a start up or fighting for your small businesses survival in tough times you have got to remember that one of the key parts of escaping the 9 to 5 is not having to be STUCK at a desk all day. Remember…

A health entrepreneur = a happy entrepreneur

So how can you get healthy fast? Well you can’t but you can start making changes in your daily life that will bring your body back into balance and help keep your mind sharp as you build your business and live the entrepreneurial dream.

The healthy entrepreneur regimen

No snack foods! They are crap, full of dyes and do absolutely nothing for you. Sugar and saturated fat will rot your brain and destroy your entrepreneurial edge. Try eating fruit, nuts and other healthier snackies whilst you toil away building your empire.
Go to the gym 3 times a week…. fatty. Sorry to call you fat, you may be, you may not be… but I find that a little negative reinforcement does wonders to my exercise regimen (not necessarily my self esteem though). But in reality, make yourself go to the gym, or do exercises at home at least 3 times during the week. That is LESS than half so don’t start bitching yet. I find a little running, some leg exercises and arm exercises help me. Now that bikini season is a few months away I am going to be hitting the ab machines because I am determined to be the ONLY entrepreneur with a freakin’ six pack at the beach this year!
Exercise your mind. I try and read a non fiction and a fictional book every month, usually I end up reading like 5 business books and no fiction but the balance is important. I also write, it is extremely cathartic and I find stimulates my creativity in other areas like my business. Working out the main brain can also be as easy as engaging a smart person in conversation (a feat harder than you’d think in Vegas) or listening to a podcast, or heck, even writing a blog post.
Have some fun, son. It is important to keep a socially balanced life when you are in the throws of starting up a business, building your little empire or escaping the 9 to 5. Often times it is hard to schedule enough time for family, friends and relationships when you find yourself working 10+ hours a day but try your best because the moments you lose with loved ones are the ones you’ll regret the most even if you are rich and famous.
Get some sun. Yep, easy as that, the sun has great effects on your body in moderation. It will help stimulate your brain, keep you from getting scurvy (ick) and give you that lovely summertime glow.

T is for Travel

It is also for tuna, tina turner and tootsie rolls but that is besides the point. I travel A LOT, like practically all the time. Even if it is just a weekend jaunt across state lines or a trip to the mountains/beach/desert I think traveling helps open the mind, clear the conscious and unwind when you are living the hectic life of a start up entrepreneur. If you design your business to be mobile, like me, you can really work from anywhere. I find the new coffee shop I work in inspiring and often meet amazing people who are also escaping the 9 to 5 during my travels. So pack up the kiddies (or just yourself) and hop in the car/tram/airplane.

Action step: What is your entrepreneurial exercise routine? Any tips to be more happy, healthy and productive as we all strive to escape the 9 to 5?

Viral Marketing: The Pickle that has 91,944 Facebook Fans

Maren Kate — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 21:31:56 +0000

Yes, its true… there is a Pickle on Facebook that has almost 92k fans. What is the point behind this popular pickle? Well its someone who really doesn’t like Nickleback (totally understandable by the way) and it shows the incredible power of viral marketing.

So what does this pickle mean to you, an entrepreneur trying to get traction and become extraordinary in our world that worships the 9 to 5 and security. Firstly, it tells you ANYONE (or pickled veggie) can do ANYTHING. All you need is an idea, a passion (i.e. hatred of Nickleback) and the creativity to think WAY outside of the box.

This is going to be a short post because instead of spending another few minutes reading I want all of you to really brainstorm what wacky, crazy or ridiculous idea you have that could possibly generate the kind of buzz this crazy pickle is causing. You know the guys (or gals) behind it are going to get interviewed on CNN or start their own website, maybe they’ll start an uber successful Youtube channel all about the pickle and its adventures in taking down Nickleback. Point is, if they can do this with a pickle you have NO excuse but to get off your bum and hustle your way to the top.

Entrepreneur tip of the day: Here is a place to find all the sources of free grants and government funding for small businesses or entrepreneurs.

How to Brand Your Business Card | Creating an Extraordinary Business Card

Maren Kate — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 19:42:02 +0000

How many business cards have you received or given in your lifetime? Okay… now think of how many you’ve kept or better can even remember? Probably the business cards you can remember in detail you could count on one hand. These rare unique business cards usually don’t keep to the typical ‘business cardy’ model.

Maybe they are like www.meatcards.com where your business info and contact numbers are engraved in a piece of beef jerky. Have you ever gotten one of those? I doubt it. If you did I guarantee you that you’d tell all your friends and never forget it.

That is a business card to talk about at cocktail parties, that is a business card to carry around to show your friends, that is a business card that won’t soon be forgotten. I’ve been on a search for this kind of elusive business card, one that is highly branded and that is viral in nature. It isn’t an easy feat. But walk with me through some ideas and some of the best business cards to date and I’m sure at the end we can both come up with some highly branded business cards that will keep your business in the hearts and minds of people long after you’ve left the room.

Quicksprout.com has a post on 51 business cards that are nothing short of amazing. Here are a few of my favorites:

For more check out quicksprout’s post here.

Now what does your business card look like? I’ll show you mine.. its PATHETIC. I got them done when I first incorporated and all I knew is that my LLC’s name was Oracle Launch (named after my hero the illustrious Oracle of Omaha & my love for ‘launching’ new businesses) so the cards pretty much stink 6 ways to Sunday.

Sorry about the quality, I shot them on my phone… anyways give me your roughest people! Let me know what I can do to make my business cards *bling* and tell me about your awesome/ or not-so-awesome business cards and how we can all make ourselves more memorable!

My Craziest Idea Yet | (potentially) Profitable Business Ideas

Maren Kate — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:01:18 +0000

Okay, so I was just sitting here, in Starbucks, listening to Yaro Starak’s free blog blueprint (it’s very good by the by, get it here & its free) and it hit me… I want a Cadillac Escalade. So I looked it up… for a 2007-2008 used one its around $44,000. Hmmm… Lets say I put a few grand down to get it to $40k and divide it over 60 months without interest payments or any other add ons. Now its $666.67 a month (Aah!). So maybe that in and of itself tells me its a bad idea,but I want regardless and yes I’ll try to find a hybrid.

Anyways I tell you this, to tell you this… So I was thinking $700 a month, that is ridiculous, I don’t want to pay that. Instead I need to find someone to pay it for me. Maybe many someones. No not a sugar daddy, I’m no trophy wife/girlfriend, I work my little butt off all day growing my business. Instead I got an idea from the guys at www.iwearyourshirt.com who wear brands & businesses’ shirts 365 days a year and get paid for it. Well why can’t I do that with the Caddy?!

So here is the plan… tell me if it sounds crazy but darn it I bet it could work. To afford a $700 a month car payment I need: 10 silkscreen ads at $70 bucks a pop or 100 bumper stickers at $7 bucks a pop! I could even make some money if I rent out the back window for a silk screen ad at a few hundred a month (which is pretty standard). Here is the thing, I drive A LOT, like a crazy amount. So I install GPS on my Caddy and have it link to a map at my site for this shindig… then my ‘renters’ can see where my big ole sticker filled Caddy is at all times and know that they are getting some serious press.

This is kind of similar to the crazy kid who put up a website and sold a pixel for a buck, when he was done he made $1,000,000 and was an overnight marketing sensation.

So what do you think? Should I do it? Obviously I would not buy the car until I had all the advertisers locked in for at least a year. But who wouldn’t spend $7 a month to get some extra publicity, I will even throw in some added ones like doing a youtube video on each bumper sticker that gets added to my car and the business behind it.

Please let me here your comments, unless your going to say “buy a more fuel efficient car…that isn’t such a tank” < for you I say, have you ever been in an accident? If you have you will want a major tank protecting you from now on. They aren’t fun and I am just looking out for my own safety so bite me (kidding! I love you even if you hate my love of the Escalade).

Yours in shameless entrepreneurship,

Maren Kate

The 4 Hour Work Week is B.S. (Kinda)

Maren Kate — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 00:14:44 +0000

Alright, first up, the title is kinda misleading… I say kind of because it would imply I hate Tim Ferriss’ book The Four Hour Workweek (which I do not). But it is spot on when I say that the idea of a 4 hour work week is B.S. if you think you’re going to achieve it without an INSANE amount of work in the beginning. Let me digress…

Alright so I read the book 4 Hour Workweek like 3 times in May when I was visiting a friend who lived in Italy. It changed my life and opened my eyes to an entrepreneurial paradise I had never known existed. It made everything seem so easy, so simple and so cheap to do. When I got back to State side I immediately started working on a few online businesses to follow the ‘muse math’ Tim pushes in the book. Not surprisingly with no experience in internet business and no idea how to go about the nitty gritty my first attempt at $40,000 a month in passive income (which Ferriss claims he gleamed from his business) did not live up to that number. Now its still around PowersellerPrincess.com actually has a solid little fan base and I get lots of emails saying thank you for all your free content on eBay selling, but not nearly enough sales of the eBook to retire (just being honest).

So I switched ideas, I started a website called Tweeterpreneur.com which took me easily 80 hours a week working full time with an assistant (who I paid out of my own pocket) to get up. This site actually got more traction money wise and produces a livable income but still, lots of dealing with customers, lots of work on the product I actually sell… so I had to work harder, hire another virtual assistant and sigh whimsically about the 4 hour work week I wasn’t working.

Tweeterpreneur, though grand, didn’t get me to my goal of $10k a month in gross. I figured that this number will give me enough to travel on, pay my expenses and put up some serious savings. So I launch Oracle Launch, a new media company (whose website is still being built). Oracle Launch is like my other social media marketing endeavor but to a FAR larger level. I actually deal with businesses as clients and build them websites and create social media campaigns which I manage and build for them. This brings in contracts that are over $1,ooo each a month but takes even more WORK. So I hired a project manager, another employee and an SEO guy. Now I have 4 full time employees who (Thank God) telecommute so no overhead! But still 4 salaries costs money.

Right now I am nearing my goal of $10k a month but the paying of employees cuts into the bottom line and I’m working myself probably 8-10 hour days. So what is the moral of this story? Is the 4 hour work week a lie? No. I am sure that someone, somewhere does work less than an hour in any given work day. But I don’t and neither does Tim considering his impressive schedule and constant go go go entrepreneurial mindset. Unless of course he doesn’t call all of his endeavors work and then I guess he does work probably 4 hours. And so do I if I don’t count 95% of what I do to start up my business work… I love it, but it’s still work. I wouldn’t want to only work 4 hours (would feel like a pile) but still would like to work less than I do now and make more.

Moral? Tim’s book is right about its ideas on not working for works’ sake, streamlining, the 80/20 principle and the idea that you really can do anything you set your mind to. What it sugarcoats is this… to get to the idealistic four hour work week you have to work an 80-100 hour work week first. Maybe for some its less, but for most it’s that much if not more. Starting a business is VERY hard and takes a LOT of time.

Worth it? Absolutely. Should you do it? Yes & Yes. But please don’t work on a business or “muse” for 2 weeks and be shocked when you’re not making $20k a month and working 30 minutes a day. Be ready for a solid year of break back work, networking and blogging your butt off before ‘instant success’ catches up with you. When it does though It’ll be so sweet, because you worked yourself silly for it.

Keep it up entrepreneurs! You really can live your dream and escape the 9 to 5 if you are dedicated, a dreamer and a hard, hard worker all rolled into one.

P.S. Penelope Trunk does a funny & very biting commentary on her thoughts on the Four Hour Workweek book & Ferriss himself here. I do not necessarily endorse her strong opinions but its a funny read and her writing style is unmatched

Why 2010 Should be Your Best Year Ever

Maren Kate — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 07:07:41 +0000

If you are reading this blog, which obviously you are if you’ve gotten this far, then you must be interested in some degree with the idea of escaping the 9 to 5 and working for yourself. That or you love my wit which I’d like to think but probably isn’t the case!

Either way the good news is if you want to escape the 9 to 5 and truly begin to lead a life of freedom, a life that is on your own terms, there has never ever been a better time than the present! That is right, 2010 not only could but should be your best year ever! I want to challenge those reading and then hopefully some of you will respond in the comments below or hit me up on Twitter @marenkate or on Facebook.

The Escaping the 9 to 5 “Challenge for 2010″

1. Write down 3-5 of your true ‘passions’ this can be anything from reading romance novels, to bass fishing, to gold mining.

2. Take that list & do the classic “If I had a million dollars in the bank what would I do” and see which passion the answer aligns with the closest.

3. Take that passion & develop an online 6 degrees of connectivity chart. The six degrees are:

Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Foursquare, Your Blog and Linkedin

4. Start accounts at each of these social media sites & begin a blog, even if it is hosted on a free source like blogspot.com

5. Next determine how much you want and I mean want to escape the 9 to 5 and begin living life on your own terms. Rate it on a scale of 1-10. One being… my job is pretty rad, my boss loves me and I go to work happy. Ten being… I contemplate stapling my eyes out every day so I don’t have to look at another CPS report and I flirt with the idea of putting cyanide in my co-workers coffee.

6. Based on where you rank on the ‘I hate my job’ scale and how passionate you truly are about your passions start drawing out a general ‘game plan’ of what comes next. This should be a rough sketch of how 2010 can and will be your best year ever. In the coming days and weeks I will be putting out LOTS of free content explaining things like:

How to build, host and generate content for your very own blog.
How to brand yourself.
How to harness social media and use it to its fullest purpose.
How to monetize your passions.

And much, much more all focused on helping you escape the 9 to 5 and join me in my entrepreneurial pursuits! I need more like minded, entrepreneurial friends!

Anyways hope this post on why 2010 can be your best year ever really revved you up.. please check back and hang out with me on Twitter to keep a look out for the next installment which should be packed full of useful (And free!) goodies on starting your own business and escaping your life working for the man once and for all!

The Four Hour Work Week | Myth or Reality?

Maren Kate — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:37:08 +0000

One of the books that propelled me into entrepreneurship was Timothy Ferriss’ Four Hour Work Week...I read and re-read this book to the point of pages tattering while traveling after college and loved the ideas, passion and personality the author put into helping others reach his 4 hour lifestyle. Over the next Year I focused 100% of my goals and motivation towards becoming an entrepreneur and living a similarly free life where I could escape the 9 to 5 (hence the name of my blog) and travel the world with ease. Not surprisingly it wasn’t so simple… but I don’t think Ferriss ever intended it to be. He was/is a very hard worker… and if he really does only work 4 hours a week than I imagine they are the most hard core, packed hours of his life. I don’t think the ideal of the four hour workweek is unattainable, I just think it isn’t for everyone. But if you do really want to cut your hours down to practically nothing and still make a killer living its possible… there are just some tricks and tips along the way.

So here I will lay out how I attempt to live the four hour work week and how its working for me so far.

First of all let me say this, right now I work more like four hours a day versus four hours in a workweek. So ideally I am not living the dream but I am happy and enjoy what I do. Secondly I do absolutely believe I could work a mere four hours a week and still run my business successfully (probably more successfully then I do now) it would just take a type of self control I have not yet mastered. How? you may ask… well I’ll tell you… working so little and still being productive is a cow of another color, it takes hard work to build up a ‘structure’ that allows that kind of freedom and hard work to make sure your own neurosis don’t drive you towards micro-management. Here are some tips:

Delegate some stuff. Even if you are barely making anything its good to start to get into the habit of delegation early, I’d say that is the number one way you’ll find freedom, fulfillment and the ability to escape the 9 to 5. This can be as simple as hiring your next door neighbor’s kid to transcribe some stuff for you or as complicated as hiring on a full team of four virtual assistants that do almost all the nitty gritty work of your organization (I do the later).
Focus on the 80/20 rule. Take Pareto’s law to a new level, force yourself to only focus on the 20% of productivity that leads to 80% of results. Instead of letting your mind get bogged down with the minutia of daily life focus on the big picture and let the rest fall by the way side. This concept alone is incredibly scary and probably hard to do for almost all new entrepreneurs.
Get insanely, OCD organized. Now this sounds like a horrible idea at first, but let me tell you this if you do it ONCE the right way you’ll NEVER have to do it again. I read the book Getting Things Done 3 times before I could grasp the enormity of David Allen’s organizational systems. But once I implemented them, which took a week, it upped my productivity 100x! This is not fun, I won’t lie to you, but getting ridiculously organized and making a ‘system’ for everything you do will ensure you only do it ONCE! That alone is worth the bother.. because repeating yourself over and over in business is incredibly draining also when you have the systems in place that is when you can start taking yourself out of the picture.

The four hour work week isn’t a myth.

Or at least I don’t think so, granted I also think that 95% of the population could never hack it but for those who can.. or who can even get close there is a world of wonder out there to explore. Once you take off the shackles of your 9 to 5 job and unburden yourself from constant financial worry there are truly unlimited experiences awaiting. Its more a mental barrier than a physical one to the concept of a four hour workweek but whatever your reasons are try to open your mind to the possibilities just for a while.

Outsourcing 101 | Profitable Business Ideas that Work!!

Maren Kate — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 01:20:47 +0000

Want to know the single best way I save tons on overhead, employee a team 2-3 sizes bigger than I could normally and do it all from the comfort of my macbook? One simple word: Outsourcing.

If you want a profitable business idea that not only works but kicks butts and takes name outsourcing is it. It is something that many look down on but done correctly outsourcing part or all of your employee force to other people and countries can be a business life saver. Outsourcing is the single biggest reason that I was able to build up a full fledged social media marketing business in less than 5 months and it has also helped me open two other entrepreneurial endeavors. I think that outsourcing, in any capacity, is one of the best ways to truly escape the 9 to 5 and start living your life instead of just working through it.

outsourcing the #1 profitable business idea ever

Instead of boring you with my views on while outsourcing isn’t “bad” but far from it… I’ll just tell you what my outsourced team of 4-5 people gets me done in any given week. Note to those who think outsourcing is ‘slave labor’ or immoral: I pay 2-3x the going wage in whichever country I outsource to, also I provide full time employment, continuing education and ample sick days. Its good to find an outsourcing ‘deal’ if it is a deal for both ends… i.e. if what you pay in pesos is a good deal for your employee and the translation into USD is a good deal for you. Its the beauty of currency exchange rates.

My outsourced employees build websites for me, in record fast time and with a considerable amount of knowledge and skill.
SEO… and I mean good SEO.
Writing blog posts for certain sites where I am not the expert, instead I find someone who is and outsource it.
Project management. I have a full time PM who is also fully outsourced, he lives in the Philippines and does an amazing job of managing all the pending projects for a variety of different businesses I’m involved with.
Outsourcing learning. When I am totally confused on a topic like ‘meta tags’ I have one of my outsourced employees study it (usually they already know it) and send me a screenshot tutorial on the subject.
Research for new projects.
Graphic design.
Creative ideas.
Customer service.
Management of social media accounts.

The best part is that I only use my outsourced team for a more specific niche of tasks, I know people that have their outsourced help get them tickets to Broadway shows and coordinate meetings with clients. I have yet to go that far… yet.

Even if your niche is something like Foreign Exchange, you can also find some tasks that you can outsource to your virtual workers like do some research about forex keywords or write content about it.

Either way outsourcing is amazingly easy, affordable and beneficial for both parties. If it isn’t don’t do it… ever. It has to be a good deal for both you and your employee. So far I have had no complaints and I adore my outsourced team, also as a way of engendering loyalty and because its just the right thing to do I have promised my outsourced help bonuses when we land really big clients and as profitability soars. This is a great way to really encourage someone to work hard and do their best, it also lets them know that your company is their company too.

Here are some outsourcing resources:

You’ve Got to be Spamming Me

Maren Kate — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:08:49 +0000

For all of those on Twitter, Facebook and the various other social media networks you’ve got to know this pain, the obnoxious, unending barrage of spam that constantly hampers our social media fun. You may follow someone on Twitter, thinking “this person seems cool”, then they send you 10 invitations to join their mafia family the next day.

WTF is a mafia family you may ask? I do. I still don’t know. Something pretty stupid that made two programmers living in the basement of their Grandma’s home bunches of money- probably, but nothing you (or I) care about. So why do seemingly neat people send this crap? Well the surprise is, most of them don’t, or at least don’t know they are. Often when you allow different games, applications or websites access to your social media accounts they implant little cookies (or whatever the techie term for it is) in your accounts and then start sending out crappy spam from you to others. Well this is one FAST way to lose friends and alienate people.

These spam attacks and hacking of social media accounts are on the rise, so if you’re a good Twit or FBer or at all deal in social media you need to know how to protect yourself against that gelatonous meat product mass called spam (both figuratively and literally-spams nasty). Here is your attack plan to stop spam in its track and protect (or regain) your good name in social media.

1. Check your ‘outgoing’ box in whatever social media services you use, especially Twitter’s “sent” folder, if you see your sending “bet you can’t beat my IQ” quizzes – you know you’ve been hacked. Now you have to change your password and send out a message to your friends/fans/followers saying “Sorry I got spammy, I didn’t mean to” or something else similar to explain.

2. Don’t click others spammy surprises, you don’t know what viruses or food poisonings lurk below.

3. Don’t give your Twitter (or other social media) username & password out to anyone except trusted “white listed” applications. Cheesy games & random quizzes online qualify as the crap you don’t want to give your info to… even if it means you can’t play (boo hoo, grow up!).

4. In many of the social media platforms you can check to see who’ve you allowed access to your account in settings or preferences. If you don’t recognize them remove them immediately.

5. Change passwords often, even if you rotate between 3 make sure you change your passwords often enough that Spammers can’t hack you. This pays off big time because there is nothing worse than getting your precious credibility & brand crushed to pieces by a spam campaign you don’t know is happening. Even if switching passwords is a pain its worth it.

Also, be kind to others, if you see a colleague or interesting social media user spamming you like crazy message them back to ask if they know its going on. Often times they won’t and they’ll thank you for the heads up. Its like Spam Karma in a way… next time maybe they’ll get your back.

How to Write an eBook in 7 Easy Steps

Maren Kate — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 20:18:36 +0000

eBooks are big sellers, some people rake in thousands of bucks a week selling just one! But how do you write an ebook? Can anyone write an ebook or do you have to be a professional? These are frequently asked questions among those who hate their jobs and want to quit, hoping possibly that an ebook or blog will help them escape the 9 to 5 and live the life they want. Its true, they can, but first you must know how to write a compelling and worthwhile ebook to get started. So here are 7 surefire tips to write an ebook and start making money online!

1. Choose a reason you want to write an ebook. Whether you just want to write one to say you have to say, or try to make money, you have to find motivation to turn out a good story. It’ll be easier to write if you have an account you have to get out of your head, because it’s hard to come up with subjects if you’re just writing for cash.

2. Find the topic you want to write about. As mentioned above, if you’re writing a story that you have to get out, then the flow will come easier and you’ll be able to have more time to refine the story. You’ll have time make it better, rather than sit around thinking of ideas. If you’re having trouble, write about something you enjoy doing or know a lot about. Knowing what audience you want to write to also help with a subject. If you are looking to write for adults, pick more adult subjects to conform a book around.

3. Choose your title. Name your ebook something catchy. Write down the names you’re thinking of and go through them. The best titles include something that has to do with the theme of the book; yet can be humorous to catch people’s attention.

4. Provide a thesis statement for your ebook. A thesis statement sums up the book in 1-3 sentences of the reasons for your ebook and what you expect to write about. The thesis should include the subject, your opinion about the subject, the reason for that opinion, and why this topic and reasons are relevant.

5. Now create a document in Microsoft Word and begin writing! Choose how you want to layout your ebook: the headings, chapters, intros, etc. Also, be sure to use more spacing given that ebooks are read from computer screens. It is easier on the eyes if you leave more breaks for readers. Choose the right font for the theme of your book, but also make it easy to read. Save often and use spell check. Also, back up your document on a disk or hard drive to be sure it’s safe.

6. Choose what file format to save your ebook as for distribution. .exe works with only Windows computers whereas .pdf words with all computers that have Adobe Reader. .pdf is the most common file format because it can be read universally.

7. Finally distribute your ebook. If you think your ebook will sell definitely try to profit off of it. If not, you can at least get your work out there. Do your research on top ebook publishers that will distribute your story. Check out http://www.ebookcrossroads.com/epublishers.html for a list of ebook publishers.

Lastly Patrick Flynn of www.smartpassiveincome.com has an amazing FREE series on writing an ebook… considering he has successfully published one himself I’d say its a source you should definitely take some time to check out. Go check it out here.

Escaping the 9 to 5 » Awesome Sauce

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11 Things Every Entrepreneur Should Do in 2011

1. Chase breakthroughs

2. Do. More. Video.

3. Slim down.

4. Think Bigger.

5. Stop chasing your passion.

6. Grow your team.

﻿7. Change your scenery.

8. Become a student, again.

9. Visualize your future

10. Focus, focus, focus.

11. Set 3 goals.

What are your 2011 goals?

Why You Should be Madly in Love with Your Business

How to love your business

Love what your business will be

What happens if you’re not in love

The Radillac Returns: What do you think?

So for the last 6 months I let the idea slide…

The Radillac sponsorship breakdown…

Where you come in…

Next matter of business….

So… what do ya think?

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I Refuse

10 Maxims for Business Revolutionaries

10 Maxims for Business Revolutionaries

Comments, Questions, Testimonials?

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Burning the Boats & Doing Business like a Rock Band

Burn the Boats

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GET YOUR ACTION ON!!!

The Pomodoro Technique | A Tomato that’ll Rock your World!

Playing it Safe will Destroy Your Life

10 Ways to kick boring’s butt & be extraordinary

Always do the Never.

Take a risk every day.

Play hooky.

Drop everything you don’t love.

If you have an idea that is unrealistic seriously consider it.

Introduce yourself to everyone.

What is the status quo?

Act as big as you plan to be someday.

Don’t fall prey to small thinking – ever.

No pain no gain.

How to Get the Most Out of your Day the Ninja Way

Top non-sucky time optimization techniques

Innovate or DIE!

Innovation vs. Evolution

Innovation draws like minds i.e. forms a ‘tribe’

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Why Unreasonable, Unrealistic People Win Big

So what must you do to become an unreasonable, unrealistic and AMAZING person in life?

Failure is Not an Option

Mapping out your worst case scenario

Make a conscious spending plan

Make sure failure isn’t an option

Escape the 9 to 5 | Top Reads for any Escapee

7. Change your scenery.