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Other, More Important Reasons

If you’ve ever regretted missing something due to work (a wedding, a funeral, a once-in-a-lifetime occasion) I have a story for you today.

When Paul Baiguerra wrote me with this touching piece yesterday, we had just lost our beloved dog Kinsey to cancer about four hours earlier. During Kinsey’s last days, I was happy that I work from home and that I was able to spend so much time with him.

So when Paul wrote me with this, I couldn’t deny the power of this message and the incredible coincidence of the timing.

Somtimes there are other, more important reasons.

And now, the post from Paul:

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We’d been expecting it for so long that when it finally arrived it was a shock. I can still clearly see the Palliative Care Nurse choosing her phrasing very carefully. We were visiting for the night and would return the following week – she suggested we may want to stay.

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Remember Books? Here Are 5 That Will Change Your Life or Your Business

I joked on Twitter the other day (follow me here), asking if anybody remembered books, you know, those things we used to read that were made of paper.

Actually, I don’t read many paper books these days, but I still read books. They’re mostly just on the Kindle (in my case the iPhone version).

A funny thing happens when I read books. I usually learn something, or gain some perspective or change my point of view. Books often lead me to a breakthrough in business or life. Good books are an endless source of knowledge.

The same thing definitely can’t be said as often for blogs.

That might sound funny coming from a guy who runs two blogs, but it’s true. The bar is just so much lower with blogs that there’s a ton of “me too” blogs out there that aren’t worth your time. Just about anyone can write a blog these days, and just about everyone does.

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How to Become Rich and Famous Online So You Can Live Unrestrained

How’s that for a title, eh? (sorry for saying “eh,” I’ve been hanging out with Canadians lately, and yes, I did also just pronounce “sorry” like soree instead of sawree, but I digress)

When I started blogging back in March, 2009, there was a big argument going on about whether anybody could really make money blogging.

For some reason I brushed it off, decided it was worth giving a shot, and dove head first into building a blog-based business.

At the time, I knew NO ONE personally who was earning a living from blogging. I knew several entrepreneurs with successful venture-backed companies, but they all had pretty shitty lifestyles, working 60+ hours a week with very little time off.

I wanted something different. I wanted the freedom to live and work from anywhere in the world, I wanted to earn a very comfortable living without sacrificing my life and free time and I wanted to work only on projects I really believed in and to make a positive difference in the world.

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How to Become a Travel Hacker, Get Free Flights, First Class Upgrades and Complimentary Hotel Stays

Join the Travel Hacking CartelNote: Chris Guillebeau just opened the doors to the new Travel Hacking Cartel.

If you’ve ever wondered how people get free flights, first class upgrades and stay in hotels for free, you might want to jump on one of the 1000 pre-boarding spots open today. After that, the program will be available by invitation only. There’s a 14-day trial for just $1 for this inaugural group.

For about five years from 2000 to 2005 I flew almost exclusively first class and took about 150 flights around the country and to foreign destinations. Most of that travel was for work (I was a business technology consultant to Fortune 500 companies) and I flew hundreds of thousands of miles and stayed in hotels nearly 200 nights a year some years.

My company didn’t pay for first class tickets, but I managed to nearly always fly first class. I had to upgrade the flights myself, and after learning the ropes from my seasoned traveling colleagues, I quickly figured out how to never fly coach again.

That was my introduction to travel hacking. Back then it didn’t have such a cool name, but all of us at the company knew some tricks for getting free perks.

My wife and I took a lot of vacations during those years as well. Sometimes we traveled within the U.S. (New York and New Orleans were favorite destinations), and sometimes we went out of the country. We took quite a few trips to Hawaii and went to Puerto Rico, Buenos Aires and Mexico.

We took probably 12 to 15 vacations in total, and almost never paid for a flight or hotel room. Almost all of the flights were first class (even international).

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How to Turn $3,000 into $128,000

My wife and I were chatting the other day about a big new course I’m working on called Traffic School. I mentioned what the course will cost to start with, and she was surprised.

“Isn’t that expensive? Who spends that kind of money on online courses?” she asked.

For the longest time after I first started working online, I didn’t pay for any online business education. It seemed way too expensive to me, like it did to my wife the other day. I assumed I could get everything I needed from free articles.

Eventually I bought Chris Guillebeau’s Unconventional Guide to Working for Yourself (at $59 if I recall) and got a ton out of it. The course put me in the right mindset and made me realize I wasn’t crazy for trying to build a lifestyle business.

I then went on to purchase Cloud Living from Glen Allsopp and ended up creating my first consistently profitable niche-focused website (which still earns passive income today). I’ve earned over $1,100 just from that first site. Glen’s book cost me $37. Not counting my time, just from that first website I profited over $1,063 by purchasing Glen’s book. Not bad, right?

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