We know how to lose weight (burn up more calories than we ingest), yet… most of us are upset about our excess weight.  Knowing doesn’t seem to be enough.  Aftr trying so many times, we just give up and claim something like “Well, it’s my genes,” or “I come from a fat family, there’s nothing I can do.”

This doesn’t apply to just weight… it applies to so many parts of our lives.We just give up, put our dreams and goals on the shelf, and make an excuse.  We think that we were not meant to have that particular thing in our lives.

I’ve given up on drawing so many times in my life. I wanted to be an artist since I was a kid.  I’d always quit  though… ’cause it took a lot of work, not just spending money on fancy brushes.  Recently, I made this image, and I’ll tell you how I was able to do it in this post.

I’ve tried just about everything, and I’m fairly sure I found an approach for accomplishing anything, that works (for me).  I discovered it in Costa Rica in late 2010… but I did not take action until this year– but boy, am I glad that I did!

In October I launched Make WordPress Easy (my course on how to make websites), and all of a sudden I had a bunch more money than I was used to. I started flying everywhere – rather than driving – and I was eating, and boozing it up.  There was much celebration…. which made me fat again. I was pissed off at myself, and decided that once I get back to Austin, I’m going on a diet, and to exercise.

It was as I made that decision that I saw my buddy Brad post a before/after photo of himself on Facebook.  He had a 6-pack! WTF?!

I called him up and got his exact diet and fitness routine.  He said the routine is supposed to work in 3 months, so I declared that in 3 months I shall have a 6-pack.

Many friends and family were concerned as I cut out all sugars and all carbs (except for 1 hour a week), and ate tons of bacon, eggs and steaks each day.  I started looking pretty good, but at 3 months, when I didn’t get my 6-pack, I got frustrated, and went on a binge.. that never really ended.

Boom.  Yo-yo diet.  I went from fat and bloated to “Whoa dude! Nice guns!” (seriously.. I posted a photo of me being immature at Costco (walking around with a towel wrapped around my waist, and posing as if the body pillow is a penis), and nobody commented on the pillow… they just commented on the muscle!) to fat’ish again (though, there was still a bit of muscle left).

I felt like a failure.  I didn’t reach my goal. I thought I was taking a tiny break, and then I lost all discipline, and I stopped dieting, and exercising.  *sigh* Not again!

Well… It turns out that Brad knew something I didn’t. It turns out that when we were at Awesomeness Fest in Costa Rica, Brad signed up for a particular event that I didn’t.

Since I brought Itay here, I’ve been taking him to many personal development courses, and have been giving him many books as well.  The changes have been phenomenal.  So, when we were at Leverage Summit, I ran into an employee of this particular event, and I thought it sounded great for Itay (and myself), as I thought he could learn to dream bigger.

Since we went, I have been exercising every single day, and drawing every single day… because I want to, not because it’s a chore, and I’m trying to get to a 6-pack. My drawings are improving, and I don’t go to sleep until I’ve posted at least one drawing.  I don’t go to sleep until I’ve exercised. I actually had a few 2am workouts.

The amazing thing is… I wanted to draw ’cause this event reminded me that drawing is something I am really passionate about.  It’s something I’ve always wanted to be good at, but I’d always quit.  I wanted to make a living at it, and be a professional artist.  The amazing thing is, that since I committed to post a drawing every day (most of them taking me about 15 minutes), people have already started to ask me about getting prints! One person asked me if they can commission me to do their book cover! Dreams coming true!

Here’s some of the drawings:

The first thing they did for me was give me a test (online).  This made me gauge 12 different areas of my life.  We generally don’t think about our lives in different categories… definitely not 12 categories.  It made me realize that I wasn’t ranking myself very high in many of them.  (Keep reading – that test is $129, but I got a code so you can get it for free)

We had a blast in Chicago-   we ate like pigs. We went to The Girl And The Goat – a place that had 1,400 Yelp reviews, all of them giving nearly a perfect 5.  Everyone told us we wouldn’t be able to get a table, so we went anyways, and got a high-top at the bar right away.  It was delicious! We also ate hot-dogs, had deep dish pizza, had amazing steaks. All the things you need to have in Chicago (and a few others)

We went to the zoo, the museum of industry and science (which totally inspired me), had lunch on the 95th floor of the Hancock Tower (what a view!), visited the Shed Aquarium, went to Navy Pier, took the architectural tour, and Itay got a private tour of the United Center (where they play Ice Hockey / Basketball).

All this, and we got to spend 4 days working on our life goals in a very unique method – which is what has me so excited, and able to keep my goals (and after a phone call, I realized that the reason Brad was able to get his 6-pack, was because he did his fitness goals in this method… not just had a set diet / fitness routine).

Itay, I forgot to mention, has hardly traveled.  Not by my standards at least… so, I’ve already brought him to Austin, San Antonio, and Chicago… since February. Many more trips are planned, because that’s something I’m passionate about, and Itay is certainly enjoying the travel as well.

So, the place we went to is called Lifebook (The link has a 5 minute video about what we attended).  You go there (though, they have an online version if you don’t have the time to spend 4 days flying to Chicago), go through their process, and come out with a giant book that has inspirational quotes, images, and very specific goals broken down into 12 categories, and each goal is broken down in a very specific way (actually, 4 specific ways).

When you come out of there, you get a physical book that actually has all that stuff printed out… It’s called your Lifebook.

Now, there’s the brain aspect of it-  which makes the difference between those new year’s goals that sound great on new year, but end up broken within a week… and those things you actually accomplish.  However…. that didn’t seem to be the only effect.

I kid you not… We landed in Austin, and before we even got home from the airport, I was looking up Capoeira places on my phone, called one, and made an appointment for that evening.

Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art that is kind of like breakdancing.

I figured it would thin me out some, ’cause it seems like everyone in the sport has a 6-pack, and amazing muscle definition (That’s ’cause all those kicks and flips burn up many calories).  Also, one of the things I wrote in my Lifebook was that I wanted to be flexible.  Well… you do major stretches in this all the time – it’s required in order to kick and flip (and to avoid injury).

I also chose Capoeira, ’cause it’s a social sport…. and I graded myself a little low on being social.

So I get home, drenched in sweat, and smiling from ear to ear.  I had a friend staying over, and she asked about my Lifebook, and if she could see it.  I said that’d be fine, and opened it up.  I am totally serious, I forgot this was there… but the very 1st image… the cover image for my health and fitness category… was a guy doing capoeira! I was kind of floored.

It turns out the Capoeira place also has cross-fit training… I couldn’t be happier — although, cross-fit really kicks my butt!

Now, I don’t know about you… but I believe in the law of attraction.  I believe that if I set my intent on something, and can actually visualize it, all sorts of strange things start to happen.

Well… since I’ve made my Lifebook, many such coincidences have been happening.  I wanted to do more public speaking, and I’ve had requests start coming in.

I just spoke at Pure Momentum, with very short notice… and many people told me I was the best speaker (the guy that spoke after me started his presentation by saying that my presentation was the most useful and content-filled presentation he’s seen in 3 years). In June I’ll be speaking at Global Speaker’s Summit (which you can still get tickets to – it’s just outside of Vegas). I also got an invite to speak in Australia in September.

Anyways- I’m really excited about life.  I think I found “a shortcut” that works (Now, it’s not really a shortcut– you have to invest the time discovering your goals, and then you have to do the work– but while at Lifebook, you come up with a strategy).  Despite a hectic schedule, I still haven’t missed a single day of exercise or drawing.

Even more exciting for me… I’m now pursuing inventing.  Something I’ve always enjoyed, but now I’m extremely excited about as a way to solve many problems that people face (and make great money while I’m at it).  I’ve “coincidentally” met the right people over the last week that can mentor me, finance me, and help get me massive retail distribution.  Sorry– can’t tell you what my 1st invention is going to be… but it outta fly off the shelves!

I’m not telling you to go to Lifebook…. but if you can, you should….  I’m telling you to take the test ( http://www.couchsurfingori.com/resources/lifebook-test use discount code “adventure” (without the “s) to get it for free, rather than $129).

I’m not too concerned about what the results it gives you are…. but rather just the fact you get to see what their 12 areas are, and how you rank yourself on them.  If you know what you think you can do better in, then you can work on that.  Without knowing, you can’t.

For example, I rated myself a bit low on my social-life… so… I’ve created what I call “Social Sunday”.  Every Sunday, I now spend at least 2 hours calling people that I’ve fallen out of touch with.  Cool, eh?

The people I’ve called so far, and told about it were blown away!

Anyways… it’s just about midnight, and I still haven’t made my drawing for the day (nor showered since coming home drenched from Capoeira).  So… I gotta finish this post.  I just had to share.

The things I’m looking to achieve (other than massive wealth, so I can properly help change the world) are becoming a well-known artist, a best-selling author, a global keynote speaker, and a successful inventor.  That, and having my own family, and being fit.  I got way more specific in my life book, but that would be a 200 page blog post if I shared all that

So, what are the things that you wish you could achieve?

Good becomes bad, bad becomes good… where I used to cause trouble, I now work on helping. Whether it’s cheering up the sad, bringing families together, giving lectures to raise funds for the sick, making websites to raise a few thousand for a young poodle that needs an expensive surgery…. I now bat for the good guys.

I’ll remind you that good and evil are only opinions—history decides who the good guys are… and the ones whom the world consider to be bad, always consider themselves to be good. Thus, the guys who flew planes into the Twin Towers, they considered themselves to be freedom fighters.

We choose what’s right and wrong in our eyes. I’ll come back to that in a second.

You see, good and bad aren’t the only priorities that have shifted in my life.

For 6 years I have couch surfed (traveled around, based on who’s couch I’m crashing on next), and my priorities were meeting new people, and having adventures.

Traveling for 6 years can rack up a large tab.

I’m going to tell you how I paid for it, as you can do the same if you choose. More importantly though was that this journey has absolutely transformed my life- and I’ll discuss that too.

At first my parents contributed gas money. Then, after a year, they realized that this is not just a phase, and they withdrew their assistance. They wanted me to settle down and get a job (and get active in making some grand kids for them), but my travels were too much fun, and I was not going to quit.

I have not told this story to many people, it’s very personal, and I’m a bit twitchy to share it… but recently my best friends have busted me on not being intimate with anybody in my life… so here’s me pouring my secrets, so you can have an appreciation of the magnitude of things when I get to my point—and trust me, there is a point.

Next to go were my savings, and after them about $40,000 of credit.

If you’re going to travel, I recommend the couch surfing approach, as it will make that $40,000 last a long long time. Also, you may want to consider a vehicle that gets good mileage. (I didn’t do that, with my 18-22 miles per gallon Chevy Blazer)

Racking up credit is one thing…. And everyone tells you that you shouldn’t just make the minimum payments. I learned this the hard way.

The banks and credit card companies are vicious, and I don’t blame all the people that pulled all the foreclosures, and told the banks to go suck it (regardless than many of them were just being irresponsible).

If you make the honest mistake of sending a payment in late, your percentages go from (in my case) 9% to 14%.

If you don’t check your credit statement, and just send what the minimum amount was going to be, and you are unaware that your interest rate went up, then your minimum payment is no longer enough, and now you get a late fee, and your interest rate goes up again… in my case, it rose to 24%.

I called and asked the credit card companies to help me out so I can at least catch up with them. No help was granted.

I kept stressing out over the minimum payments spiraling higher and higher. I would even decline to go out with many friends, as I’d be the low-tipper, or just always ordering the cheapest items on the menu.

Despite this, I kept traveling, adventuring, and enjoying my life as I wanted it to be.

2011 was a fascinating year, which started in Costa Rica, and included 2.5 months in Maui. Part way through the year, my stress levels shrank because I took Robert Kiosaki’s advice, and paid myself first.

Rather than let creditors calls set me racing to do another project (mostly websites), I buckled down and created my very 1st info-product: a course on creating websites that is so easy that a 9 year old can do it. It’s called Make WordPress Easy.

This product was a no-brainer, as how I had been paying for my travels is by creating websites for clients that I’d meet on my travels. Now I just shared how to do it.

Another thing that I did for clients besides websites was various aspects of marketing, with an arsenal that kept growing (as I kept attending conferences and seminars, connected with many experts, and listened to thousands of hours of audio books as I drove across the country).

While my work is quality, it was always frustrating to find new clients, or convince clients that my marketing wisdom will solve their problems. Another issue that sucks as a freelancer is to have the guts to charge what you’re worth. When stressed over bills, it’s easy to charge less than you’re worth.
Rather than proving my skills to my clients, I now had my own product to market. I took my own medicine, and my course became what seems like an overnight success.

MakeWpEasy became so successful, that I chose to finally settle down somewhere, as it required so much work that hearing my couch benefactors say “Hey man, I got some girl coming over on Thursday, can you find another couch for the weekend?” was no longer acceptable, as I needed to work non-stop to keep up with the business.

The course’s success has forced me to get additional help—I got a tech support guy, and a customer service gal. They’re great, and have been lifesavers. Additionally, I’m growing a company culture where fun is the top priority, followed by positivity and respect.

We follow the Zappos model of wowing through amazing customer service.

While many people were shocked that I went stationary, I adapted quickly. I now have a place near downtown Austin, and I imported my little brother from San Francisco to help me out.

His story is quite fascinating as well. You see while I have no college degree, he does. He had an obstacle in the middle of his college education though, 2 years 6 months and 15 days of prison.
Itay had been busted for dealing drugs in Gainesville, Florida. He was the number one dealer at the time. A year prior, he was making fake IDs, but he was making them so well that they had laser holograms.

If you’re going to do something, do it well! Clearly he was an over-achiever, but did not have a proper passion to channel his talents into.

After Itay got out, he went back to school and got his degree (in telecommunications) – and stayed in Gainesville, Florida where he got a job as a bouncer at a bar / restaurant.

Itay rose through the rank from bouncer (he’s 6’2 and about 300 pounds) to the head of security, then bartender, then manager.

Gainesville though is not much more than a college, so there weren’t any opportunities for him to keep growing, and he is one smart kid. Anyone in my family would tell you that Itay’s potential is much larger than just running some bar. Life was good through his eyes, as he got to make up for lost time… girls, parties… etc…

Finally, when he realized there was more to life, our older brother Barak offered for Itay to stay with him (in San Francisco) until he finds a job, and a place of his own.

Barak’s plan (which Itay was excited about) was for Itay to move to San Fran, get a bartending job, then get an internship (free or paid), work there for a year, get a recommendation for business, school, then go to business school, come out with a degree, and get a great job.

When I heard this, I nearly cried in anguish. You see, not only am I entrepreneurial, but also over the last 6 years, I’ve met many business people, most of whom have no degree (or have made their fortunes in a field that did not use their degree), and I know many millionaires.

It blew my mind! Why in the world would someone want to go kiss ass for a year, just so they can go spend another 4 years and $120,000 just to try and get a job, which has no security?

However, we are a supportive family, and I did not talk down Itay’s choice. I just suggested that he also learn online direct marketing on the side, so he can make his own money, or at least become more valuable as an employee. He kept declining.

Recently though, he quit his first job in San Fransico, as he thought he had a better one. It didn’t work out.

So, here he was in San Francisco, without a job. Though it is not impossible to get a job with a felony background, Itay was declined again and again for many jobs / internships that he was very qualified for. This really bummed him out.

What’s a big brother to do?

I called him up and told him he works with me now at MakeWPEasy.

I bought Itay a one way ticket into Austin. Rented us a place downtown while my apartment-getting process was finalized, and I introduced him to a bunch of my amazing friends that are really successful… and within 2-3 days, he never wanted to go back to school.

What are Itay’s goals for 2012?

Not to get an internship so that he can get into business school….

The goal that he set for himself is to earn 6 figures this year, and I know he can do it.

What happened?

He had gained a new perspective. He had seen evidence that he could do it… that anyone can do it… he had someone believe in him, and give him resources.

Is Itay a bad kid? No way. He’s smart, talented, and just never had a passion to pursue.

In fact, Itay used to want to be a marine biologist. He went to summer camp for it, and he was a blast to go SCUBA dive with. He could always point out what was amazing, and not obvious.

One day our dad says “Yeah.. but what are you going to do for money? Are you going to get a government job or something?” Itay was crushed and immediately lost his desire to grow up and get a job as a marine biologist.

My older brother and I immediately yelled at Dad, “What right do you have to judge his career choices?” But… it was too late.

My parents were crushed when Itay was put away. I remembered the Marine Biology thing, and reminisced about how Dad had gotten his wish: Itay had a gig where he could easily make plenty of money.

Itay is not the only one in the world who was limited in their choices…. Which brings us back to what I was saying earlier, and why I named this article as I did.

At the start I told you how I went from (by society’s standards) bad to good. I went from dead broke and in debt (at the low point, I had to borrow $0.20 from the McDonald’s drive-through guy to cover food off the dollar menu) to having a fair amount of disposable income. I then transformed from living like a nomad to renting my own apartment.

Now comes the next transformation: A change in priorities.

Rather than focusing solely on my next product (there’s quite a big list of them coming), or about how to sell more of this one (which there are many things in the works), I now decided to focus on transforming a piece of our world.

I am Leaving a legacy.

I am donating 10,000 copies of MakeWPEasy to middle school and highschool kids. Initially, I’m looking to do this in underprivileged areas and in the homeschool market.

You see, I’ve seen what my course can do. I had this one guy Nolan email me right after Christmas. He said that he had $100 to his name a week before Christmas, and he didn’t know what he’d do about the rent, or car payment, or the kids’ presents.

He bought my course, and a week later, he had $7,000 to his name by selling and creating a handful of websites for people he met at a single networking event (I credit his sales skills, not just my course – though, I’ve checked out the sites he’s made, and they’re surprisingly good).

I have recieved many similar emails from my customers since Nolan’s.

I thought about how amazing Nolan’s tranformation was, and thought about how I could make that change on a grander scale.

So, I started a pilot program for donating MakeWPEasy to some inner-city schools. I’ve only done 10 so far, as I found I had a student or two that work in those kinds of schools. As their feedback continues, and as my resources grow, I’ll be able to do a full 10,000 donated courses by the time 2012 is over.

My theory?

These teenagers will learn to create websites, and will be able to help support their families.

Once enough families are supported, they’ll be able to contribute to and improve their community. The schools may be able to raise funds as well, and actually be able to get those desperately needed supplies.in my mind).

Some courses can be donated to schools for that reason, others will be donated to students directly.

Most importantly (in my opinion), think of the confidence they’ll get when they contribute to their families, and to their communities. For those that are not into contribution, they’ll still gain massive confidence by learning a valuable skill that is relevant to their worlds, as compared to many of the school topics.

Sure, they’ll be able to get themselves some playstations or ipods or whatever it is that kids get these days…. But far greater than any toy will be the inner belief that they can create their own wealth.

They’ll be able to create websites around their passions and dreams, thus making those dreams more of a reality.

They can choose to go to college if they choose (I don’t think they need to, for all my reasoning why, check out Seth Godin’s Linchpin: http://amzn.to/AfFAFd ) , and if they do choose to, they can pay for it on their own… thus giving them a far greater diversity of schools they can apply to.

Recently I attended a personal development course, and I saw people achieve transformations that I know will change their lives forever. Seeing people make such massive transformations helped me realize that I need to play big in empowering people. This is why I want to donate 10,000 courses this year.

I am creating the possibility of changing the world for the better, by empowering others.

Whereas I created the possibilities for my previous journeys out of my own selfish reasons of rebelliousness, curiosity, and wanderlust, I am creating this possibility from a place of empowerment and generosity.

I don’t have dates. I don’t have quantities (though, I think that for every 10 licenses of my course that I sell, I’ll donate one seat to a student that needs it). I know that I have a lot of work ahead of me to achieve this, and that I need help to achieve this… but it’s not just a dream…. It’s happening right now!

What I’ve learned in life, and was reminded of at this course is that possibilities become real when we enroll others in them. So, I’m telling you about what I am creating.

I want to be held accountable, so please leave a comment below with your thoughts on this, and if you’d like to be involved. Make sure to share this article. Perhaps it will empower someone else to get involved or take on their own vision of what’s possible in changing the world.

At productivity workshops, you sometimes see the video about the big rocks… Here, found one:

(I can’t believe that while trying to talk about productivity, I just spent as much time as I did to find this friggin video! Sheesh!) -

Big rocks first?  (Take a deep breath- have a seat – this is a bombshell)-

I’m renting a place.

Yeah… you heard correctly, I’m signing a lease for 11 months in downtown Austin.  I may renew, I like it here. Let’s have a flashback… no… not that one, Charlie wasn’t there.

So, it’s 2006, I live in a highrise on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale.  The waves lull me to sleep every night… the old people with airhorns, waving at arriving cruise ships would wake me. (Ask me about that some other time- it’s a hilarious story about how I retaliated).

I had actually during that period in my life discovered the miracle that is the Audio Book– you can learn, and thus expand the possibilities in your life and imagination.

I wasn’t happy.  I had a few good friends.  Most of my people were mostly people that I enjoy seeing publicly.

People thought my life was the life to envy– I have no sleep schedule… I  got into all parties in South Beach for free, ’cause I was shooting them.  And often I was shooting lingerie models. But.. I wasn’t that happy.

Those are generic goals, it’s what you see in music videos, or movies, or magazines…. you’re supposed to throw parties in your channelfront condo, where everyone looks like they came out of underwear ads, and are probably going to snort some coke on the balcony.  Have a sports car you like.  Have a motorcycle (CBR 600 F2), go to raves.

I still didn’t feel at home   I guess I watched too many Indiana Jones movies as a kid or something, ’cause I thought there was a bigger adventure out there.  I didn’t know what I wanted, but I knew I didn’t want to get another “job” – and Photography was getting annoying- or at least dealing with clients.

Ok ok… fast forward   – my point is that I got on the road ’cause I didn’t feel at home, and now, afer basically 6 years of Back and Forth across the USA (and a tiny bit of international), I know where home is, and who my family is.

My home  is here– even though I keep, and will keep on leaving Austin to go to cray events– it’s home.

What kind of events?  Well?  There’s been quite a few lately.

Got VIP to some grand opening in Vegas, 1OAK. jump off the Stratosphere tower, eat like royalty, see Cirque’s Ka, Cirque’s Beatles Love, La Reve (Thanks Kevin Wilke, you are awesome, and I’m glad we got to finally spend some quality time.  My favorite was the “accelerated buffet line”, then “Do you have a bib for him?”  ”No, but I brought him these wet naps”  ”Excuse me m’aam, do you know what those are for?”  ”What?”  ”When you don’t have time for a whole dream!”  *poof* she’s gone.

Kate called it right…Either she’s calling the cops, or she’s telling that to all her coworkers.

She came back, her eyes no longer looking shocked, but now gleeful, like a little kid that just gave you your own shoes back as a gift… ’cause they already know you like ‘em, ’cause you already got them. “All my coworkers loved that one”

I think I butchered my grammar somewhere along the last few paragraphs, but there is much writing to be done-  onwards.

Why were we at the buffet at the Bellagio?  Wow, another flashback!

My parents brought us from Israel in December 16, 1985 to South Florida.  That, happened to be my 9th birthday. A short while later, we moved to that house on Raindance Lane that until just 3 months ago was my parents home.

After all these years, they finally up and left South Florida, and moved into the beautiful city of Brentwood, California – to be closer to my older brother, and have a neighborhood that has a community-    So… I was trying to surprise them — ‘cept I f’ed that up big time when I sent a newsblast to the buyers of my course… forgetting that my folks’ were on my buyer list (No, they did not buy- but I gave them access to the course).

So, I blatantly announced that I was showing up to surprise my parents on the day they get the key to their new house… and they got a copy. *sigh*

It was nice family time.  We (all 5 of us – Mom, Dad, Barak, Itay, and myself) did Hannukah at Mom and Dad’s new home.  It was a great celebration after their epic  roadtrip from coast to coast with 3 large dogs.

I drove out through some shitty weather to get to intercept them when they drove through Texas. They thought that was amazing.  We had dinner in the hotel room, and I also got to demo my hard boiled egg maker which I got ’cause…. Another story:  I’m on this diet and workout routine my buddy put me on to.

It’s a really high protein diet (twss), and I exercise almost daily.  Great tip by the way– using a Costco membership (yours, or someone else’s) you can order a membership to 24 Hour Fitness – 2 years for like $319.

If I thought it was a good deal before, now I think it’s the best deal ever.  ’Cause this gym does not just have a clever name… they really are open 24/7!  I have all these awesome 3AM workouts!  There’s no traffic to (or in) the gym.  It rocks. They also have locations just about everywhere. And… you don’t need anything- no annoying gym card.

Just dial in your cell phone number, and put your finger on the fingerprint scanner.  Ooooh! So high tech (And convenient)!

I was told about this deal by my friends Kevin and Bobby – who are just cool mofos that I met…

here’s another flashback (dizzy yet): Another cool mofo that I met, Rob Burns…

How did I meet Rob Burns?  Oh, I’m so glad you asked, ’cause that too is a great story!

I had gone on a cleanse, had just been dumped, was moody  as heck, and got an invite to house/dog sit for Jason Moffatt in La Jolla.  I drove out there, and kept taking Webber to play fetch… this dog is an addict!

Rob connected on Facebook, and said “You’re in La Jolla, and playing fetch with a dog named Webber…. are you house sitting for JMo?”

I confessed that I was, and he said we should meet.  We went to my favorite coffee bar in the world (so far) – which is Lestat’s in Normal Heights.

This dude has won international awards for his hot sauce.  He’s got so many rad stories, that I’m not sure he’d want me posting them.

His wife Kathi is equally rad.  She too can captain a boat. They are foodies, and adorable.  She’s the reason that I keep getting complemented on how I look.  ’cause She did some personal shopping for me.  I urge you to check out her reports –  I never in my life have been complimented so much about my fashion.  I’ve also been attracting the much more serious type of relationships as well too.

Actually, remember, I said I was working out /dieting? Well… that was ’cause of 2 reasons- 1)’cause I realized that I was giving other people over me, and I needed to be happy with who I am.  So… I’ve been pushing harder to be better.  I’ve been exercising hard, and dieting hard for 11 or 12 weeks now.  Is it effective?

Well… the other day I was at Costco, and posted a picture to Facebook of me at Costco wearing a bath-towel, and holding up a huge fuzzy black pillow.  Like, not just any pillow, but one of those body pillows!  You know… the ones you friction hump when your valentine isn’t there to share the room.  Ok. ok… they really are awesome, this is my first one.  Get one.

Anyways, the other use than not rolling over at night, is to pretend it’s something phallic, when you’re at a public store, and you’re posting this on Facebook to hopefully make some people laugh – if not them, I certainly was amused.

What do people say?

“Wow, Ori… I never knew…. ” Nope, not that.

“Wow Ori, that half black joke that you told in 7th grade is true!” Nope, not that either.

“Holy crap Ori! Nice Gun Show!”  ”Did you have THOSE arms last time I saw you???” “Sexy”

I was disappointed for 2 seconds, ’cause my immature stunt did not get the result I wanted.  *pout*  so… then I realized that I”m in a good mood , ’cause I got a bunch of people telling me that my hard work is paying off.

The other reason that I’m on the diet is because my product did well.  How well?  This well:

so, right off the bat, the first weekend it officially launched to a giant list (50,000 people at the time) and I sold over 100 units — and that by the way is how I let my parents know…. I forwarded them every single new order notification for the 1st 135 orders in less than 48 hours. I sent all those while they were out to dinner — yeah… I screenflow (recorded) the whole process… video, to show you… some day.

I also recorded the call when they opened their email, and realized what they were looking at.

Peace had been made.  Their son was no longer this thing that’s going out there ‘causing trouble and spending money.  All of a sudden, it was their son that has over 1,200 students in his course.

I think this picture applies:

I think this is accurate.

So, people see the video of me getting the award, affiliate signups drive me to remember I don’t have swipe (email / pictures) for affiliates yet.

So…. let’s see if I can remember to come back here.

Thought I’d mention that since you already know how I met Rob,  I’d close up where I met Kevin and Bobby.  ’cause I went, dressed as a monkey to the Playboy Mansion with these guys on Halloween.

Yeah… another crazy thing in the last 3 or 4 months.  With those guys there’s been a few times we’ve gone to Vegas… they have a place there, and it’s a quick drive rom LA.

So Rob says he goes to this pizza mastermind.  It’s like 20 or 30 guys that show up for lunch, and share what’s working in their businesses.

Since the dude who usually leads the group is out of town, why don’t we give each of these guys 10-15 minutes of consulting-  e.g. solve any problem.

I liked the rush, and solving problems.  There were some smart cats there.

So… went with them to Pubcon – which is basically an SEO conference… wore my ears there too – that was fun!

Wow, that’s a lot of flashbacks… Oh yeah- I remember (this sucks, but while I’ve been writing this post, my E key broke off, and keeps sliding away.  If I start missing Es, you know what happnd, k?  cool!

So, after that 1st mailing, I figured I’d have a bunch of money, so I immediately started taking my friends out that had treated me kindly.

I had a great life, but it certainly made that way by amazing friends, and a few credit cards that no longer are fans of my face.

In order to finish my course, and do with it what I envisioned, and knew I could do (Ask my parents, ’cause I told them 1 year ago exactly what would happen, and it is exactly what’s been going on (I’m now making “E”s by pushing this rubber nub in the middle of my keyboard.See? Took a pic!  Hope you appeEciatE all thE E’s, Eh?)

[[[[[[Insert photos here ]]]]]]]]]]]]]

So, I take Craig out to his favorite breakfast place, La Candessa, or something like that. He loves their Marmalade Margaritas.  So I was treating!  He’s been generous many a time.

Alas, I can’t turn down a good deal — $2 mimosas, and Bloody Marrys –  I had 1 of each.  I was done.

Afternoon nap, and let’s do it again.

I started meeting people just to give back.

I also was able to do things that I couldn’t do before-

Like fly intoVegas on short notice to surprise my Mom for her 60th birthday.  My brothers surprised her by tking her to the irprot with Dad, who had already taken Mom’s ID and belongings. They drank champagne at the airport.  I went to pick up a Limo– ok.. the limo got me.  Kudos where they are due, Kate found the limo dude for me, ’cause I was finishing up a project.

I’ve never been chaffered around before.  I had him take me to the store, where I got my mom some flowers, and champagne.

We went to the airport.  I told him to get their bags, THEN let them into the car, THEN put the bags in the trunk… ’cause if they see my bag in there…. they’ll know I”m here.  We tried to keep as much surprise as can be surprise.

So, Mom’s never had someone holding up a sign with her name at the airport, and then a limo ride.

We went to the Cosmopolitan.  My parents had never seen such a fancy boutique hotel.  It truly is impressive with these giant walls that are completely digital, so they have beautiful  images moving along them… such as giant Koi fish swimming across them.  It’s an experience.

We had the 37th floor.  The wrap-around corner suite.  What a view. What high tech. My parents were ecstatic.. They did, upon entering the limo, and after hugging me, they asked if I can make my students stop.

Curious, aren’t you? What could I have done?

I offered my students bonus content if they mail my mom a Happy Birthday (to a virtual email account that I created just for this occasion).  By the time they arrived in Vegas, they had over 105 birthday emails from my students, telling her how great a mom she is, and how things are amazing in their lives because of my course.

We saw a Vegas Show, The Rat Pack is Back.  It was ok, but it didn’t matter what I think…..   This was all about Mom.

There’s a lot of funny (now) stories from the day of the 1st mailing… but that’s a whole other story.

Well, just to throw in another Vegas event- Penn & Teller with Sheila… ’cause she called me up and said “I”m in Vegas for my ‘orphan christmas – I’m pursuing some poshness. No friends or family… you should come here. ”

Ok.  I got a ticket.  That’s what we did that night, and stayed at Mandarin Oriental.  Then we moved to Paris (hotel).

The morning of Christmas, I left my family in San Fran, and I went to Vegas for about 3 weeks.

Ok…. tons more stuff I havne’t finished, but am tired as heck… so… enjoy what I just told you.  I”m totally sharing tons of stuff on Facebook – you should friend me on there  (http://facebook.com/ori.bengal).

There’s the story of my new shoed from Vegas.  Partying in the Real World Suite.  and so much more.  I can write for hours…. but I’ve literally been fighting sleep.

They say it’s the year of the Dragon, in the Chinese Zodiac,  It sure as heck feels like it.

The course I keep mentioning is http://MakeWpEasy.com

Oh man… there’s also the story of the exploding tires!

Don’t let me forget the Young President’s Organization showcase I spoke at.  Driving without having the money to fill up gas by the next gas station– hoping that some money would come in.  What had to be done to finish…

(sure there’s a TWSS joke in there somewhere:)

Ok… seriously- any more typing, and this laptop will fall… sleeeeep

Y’all have seen me go through all sorts of diets. My standup comedy routine mocked my recent juice fast, and now I’m eating about 180 Grams of protein a day, no carbs, no fruit, no dairy.  Just meat, veggies, eggs, and a ton of leafy green veggies.

On my birthday, I was the only one who didn’t have cake nor booze.

It was on a Friday… On Sundays however… I am encouraged to binge on carbs for an hour…. So

Austin is known for its food… and one of  the things it’s known for are its trailers.  You have various Trailer Parks — these chromed out Aerostream diners…. you can get all sorts of great food in them.  Hitting the trailers is one of my favorite Austin activities actually.

The quality is usually surprising.  You can get anything from Crepes, to donuts, to Thai, to Vegetarian, to gourmet ice cream, to bratwurst and more….

Last week for my binge I had:

• Chilli dusted fries
• Fried Pickles
• A chicken cone
• A shrimp cone
• Brownie and Ice-cream
• 3 Cupcakes from Hey Cupcake

(which was my 1st Austin trailer)

So here’s the video of this week’s battle:

Big lesson?  Try to look around and figure out how big something is before you order a ton of it.

So… when’s the last time you ate yourself to the point of wanting to vomit?

My very 1st stand-up routine ever!

This has been a lifelong pattern (with many different punchlines.. it’s not always about the Rabbi), I entertain people everywhere I go, and then I get asked if I do standup, and I just shyly say no. But I never actually had a good reason why!

My older brother’s yelled at me before for injecting humor into every conversation… even the serious ones. I can’t help it.

I remember when I was in high school, there was a comedy club that opened up about 2 miles from my school, and they offered comedy courses, and I thought of going… but didn’t.

I’ve never taken a step to do this officially, and I’m guessing it’s just because of a fear. I can’t say exactly what the voices in my head were saying, but they were chatting up a storm. I’m guessing it was something along these lines:

And that sucks! Because I like making people laugh more than I like sex!

I can listen to comedy all day long (inlcuding on bathroom breaks), and yet doing standup comedy was never officially on my bucket list… That’s how much I was afraid of it.

So at the end of October I’m at this party in San Diego (Oh heck- I’ll give full credit– I’m at the after party for The Internet Marketing Party – which has connected me with so many people) and I turn something that someone says into a joke…

“That’s what I’m talking about!” an angry voice booms behind me. I turn around, and Joshua Pellicier is standing there. “You’re being funny again. You’re always funny. You were funny at the mastermind. You’re hillarious on Facebook. Your blog is funny. Every time I see you, you’re funny!”

“Uhhh… thanks bro!”

“No man… this is what you need to do! You ARE funny. This WordPress thing… it’s great that that’s going well for you, but THIS is what you need to be doing! This is what you were put on the planet for!”

I thanked him again… being modest (and I’m generally not modest), but he went on and on for what felt like 20 straight minutes (It was probably 5 straight minutes of talking where I had no reply) about how I need to do comedy– standup, movies, tv shows, etc…

So I said “Ok… I’ll do it.”

Since I always keep my word, I also posted it on Twitter/Facebook, so it’s official.

I still had a bunch to do in Cali, so I didn’t have time to mess with comedy. Then when I got back to Austin, life happened… so I didn’t have time to mess with that… but… when I had posted on Social Media I said “towards the end of this month” (November). I still had no clue what clubs to go to, or what one does to perform.

One of the other things I wanted to do when I was back in Austin was get practicing on my public speaking, so I also said I’d sign up for Toast Masters.

I Skype my friend Kathryn and ask what she thinks of toastmasters… her reply? That she’s actually researching a bunch of toastmasters for a blog post she’s posting the next day.

Not only was she ahead of me on the research (as in, she already had all the local ones sorted into which ones are near), but she found this one: Toastmasters Laughing Matters – a Toastmasters chapter that has an emphasis on humor.

As far as I was concerned, there were no other Toastmasters chapters in the universe… this little bit of serendipity (which is how many of my decisions are made) led me to find my Toastmasters chapter… which was meeting the next day. Easy decision!

I went, told many jokes, and during Table Topics, I told a funny story about my 1st time at a gay club (visiting my older gay brother) and having some hot chick come and make out with me (yes, she was female… not a tranny!) I also told them I was going to do standup this month. Turns out that many of them have done standup, and they told me which clubs have open-mic on which nights. So.. I signed up.

How I get things done traditionally (as compared to talk about them) is make it real… sign up for something… get paid to complete something… whatever… so long as there’s a deadline, and someone other than me.

So, I let everyone know that on Sunday I’m going to do my 1st standup comedy ever… the letting know being done publicly on Facebook of course.

This Toastmasters actually has a stand up comedy session as well as the regular presentations, so I signed up to be the stand up act for Thursday… and I wrote my act that day.

I memorized my 3 minute act in the car within an hour, and when I performed it to that crowd, the reaction was great. I was hooked.

When Sunday came around, more than 20 of my friends showed up. About 1/3 of the audience was my friends… including some people that never make it out in public! I was really humbled.

The video below is my act. Let me just fill you in on some of the other things that happened just before I went up…

So, this one guy says he’s been meaning to do some “Crowd work” so he is going to do some… He walks to the edge of the stage, leans towards the closest couple to the stage and says “So, why are you here tonight?”

The guy from the couple takes the microphone and says “I’m here to see Ori Bengal… the funniest man in this room!” It was my friend Bryant Jones, and that poor comedian lost all his momentum for his act… he had no reply to Bryant, and even when he went back to his notes, you could see he was demoralized.

As this happened, I blushed and scooched (had to look up how to spell that) down in my seat as everyone laughed at Bryant’s reply. I whispered to my buddy “Wow.. no pressure or anything!”

The next comedian up takes the stage and starts off “Who is this Whory, funniest guy in the room? I already don’t like you!”

So… now the intro will make more sense to you And with that… here’s me popping my comedy cherry (Also, I was the only clean act of the night, and one of very few that didn’t require notes on the stage).

I want to point out though, that it’s easy to quote motivational speakers, or speak up on the topics of passion, “Yeah! Do what you love! Confront your fears!” – but I don’t just tell you that… I’m taking my own advice.

As far as comedy goes, my family hasn’t been all that supportive. My parents have told me that I don’t have to be the class clown. My older brother has frowned at me for always trying to be funny, and has interrupted my jokes on many times, to spare people a punchline he suspected (not always accurately) would be inappropriate. My younger brother just groans and makes it sound like torture…. however, when I posted on Facebook that I’m going to do comedy, he said “Way to go!” and gave me permission to use his life story (which would definitely make for some interesting comedy… but that’s another blog post).

I just emailed them that I was doing this, and that was that. I wrote about this kind of thing recently in Have no regrets, don’t listen to people! Other people don’t know your passions. They don’t know what you can really do if you really wanted to.

I can actually see doing this as a career. I’m not worried about if it pays or not (what Mom and Dad would bring up if I said “Ok.. I’m going to be a comedian!”)… it’s just something I can see myself doing morning to night. Wow… picture it.. making people laugh every day.

My friend Kate put on a Robin Williams DVD the other day for me, and I imagined what it would be like to perform for over 3,000 people at a time.

So… there you have it… I knocked out a bucket-list item that was so freaky for me that I never even bothered to put it on my bucket-list. I plan on doing it again and again… The hypothetical plan is to do this 3 or 4 times a week with the same act, and then a new act the next week… rinse and repeat.

Why? Because I listened to interviews with Jerry Seinfeld, and I listened to Steve Martin’s Autobiography (Kathryn gifted it to me when I announced that I was going to do this) — and it seems both of them attribute their massive success to non-stop repetition… just keep at it. So, that’s what I’m signing up for.

So what’d you think of my 1st time up?
Got anything you want to do that you’ve been scared to, but should confront?

Don't have regrets

Regrets are a bitch. You never hear about old people on their death bed saying “I sure wish I spent more time at the office” it’s always stuff about “Wish I traveled the world, like I wanted”  “Wish I worked less, and spent more time with my family”  “Wish I took up guitar playing”.

So why the hell do we listen to people when they tell us what we need to do (or worse, not do)?

I don’t know if Jimmy Hendrix’s parents said “Jimmy, why do you keep playing with that guitar?  There’s so many other people that are in the guitar business.”

If they had though, would he have quit?

I love my parents.  They love me.  I am clear on the fact that they just want me to be taken care of should anything happen to them. It is often well meaning friends and family that end up crushing our dreams.

When I started couch surfing, they were cool about it.  At the end of one year, they said “So, what are you going to go do now?”  Silly me gave my next destination.

We had words.

They thought it was just a phase, and I would only do it for a year.  That was not the case.  I was very happy couch surfing:  traveling, meeting amazing new people, learning new skills, seeing new things, taking cool photos, telling my story….  They saw it as pointless.

This year, I visited them in February, for 3 weeks.  I was working on a project from morning to night every day (I only took 3 breaks to join them for dinner during those 3 weeks).

I did consulting… and I like to pace when I consult (bloodflow to the brain, more ideas, I’m sharper, I process information better– plus by not being in front of my computer, I can’t get distracted by all the moving items on my screen), thus I had it on speaker phone, and my parents got to hear some of the projects.

One day, we’re having coffee, and they say “Wow Ori, we’re so proud of you.  You work so hard.  Your strategy is so solid.  You’re consulting for big experts, and they’re calling you up for help.  Your network is so diverse and influential.  This is so much better than your first year, when all you did was travel around and look for stupid adventures.”

I was instantly furious. Everything is possible because of my stupid adventures.

I have people that go up to me at conferences “Oh my god, is that Bull Poker video real?” – now everyone else wants to know what Bull Poker is, and I have many introductions just from that.

I’ve met the entire network of everyone through my couch surfing — my friends, my mentors, my role models…. if I wasn’t couch surfing, they’d be just people I read about…. instead, I get to spent time with them, be friends with them, do business with them, and learn from them.

I’ve spent thousands of hours on the road listening to audio books, because I was going around looking for adventures.

Would any of this have been possible if I listened to them and quit couch surfing after one year?   Not likely.  I’d be settled down and miserable somewhere.

So, my gripe is that everything that they’re proud of, has happened because I specifically did not listen to them. I followed my own passion, and pursued my vision for my life… not their vision for my life.

Look… the bottom line is that you know your potential and passions… others don’t.  They can only base everything on their experiences.

If you’re having opposition to an idea, that means you’re on the right track!  Stay on it!
Caveat: Do your research, and be smart about things…

When people tell you that you can’t do something… it’s often projection, and they mean that they couldn’t do that.

If you want to break a guiness world record for something… do it!

If you want to quit your job, or drop out of school, because you want to do something else that will make you happier… go for it! (See above caveat)

If you want to go on American Idol, you should go for it.

If you want to make a new search engine to rival Google, or a social media network that beats Facebook…. go for it!

You may flop, and crash and burn… but at least you tried! If you don’t ask, the answer is always no!

I’m going to do my first stand-up comedy performance this week.  Do I care if I get a single laugh?  Not so much.  I’m just thrilled to confront my fear, and finally do this.

I was born to make people laugh   So many times at parties, or conversations, I’d break out the jokes, and would get asked “Do you do stand up?”  My response was always a modest “pffft… no… ”

I never had a good reason.  I never tried.

Until now. Now I’m doing the things I want to, and I’m willing to do the work.

So… I’ve been drawing every day for at least 30 minutes.

If  you do ANYTHING for 5 years, you’ll be rock-solid at it (In my case, couch surfing).

I think the image at at the top really captures this.  Everyone remembers this scene:

Which of course led to:

In this case, you could say that it’s about deception and mind-tricks rather than just crappy advice from someone who didn’t know that storm-troopers dreams and passions…. and you’d probably be right.

However, the storm-trooper wanted to capture the droids, then someone gave him bad advice, and he believed it!

“You do not want to couch surf- you want to settle down and get a good job”  — uhhhh….  Yeah, that would have sucked if I listened.

Garry Vaynerchuk always spoke about how you have to hustle.  If you want to get something done, then sacrifice your time or social life…. but get it done.  Sleep less. Don’t watch television. Don’t play angry birds. Do what you’re passionate about!

These days, I’m not going to sleep if I haven’t spent at least 30 minutes drawing.

My death bed will be surrounded with cool photos and videos from my many adventures… I’ll be like that old chick in Titanic (who was so hot when she was younger)- that made sure to live her life after she survived that ship, and watched Leonardo Di Caprio plunge to a freezing death.

Well… once she got out of therapy for that, she started having a badass life.  She flew planes, and rode horses, and… I can’t remember the movie that well.

The thing I told my parents so often is that “At least I’m happy!  I’m doing these things now, while I am able.  I’m not waiting till I’m 60 to retire, and THEN see the world, when I can barely walk.  I don’t think it would end well if I tried playing Bull Poker when I’m retired.”

Don’t make excuses!  Don’t rationalize away the things that you really want to do!  Just start somewhere, and keep the momentum going!  Start now! You really have no excuses. You can find everything on the internet (books, courses, mentors), so you can learn any skill.

So… what is it that you always wanted to do? What would you be really upset if you hadn’t done it when you were capable?

Nothing could be farther from the truth. EVERYTHING has been going on.

SOME of the things (I don’t know that I could list them all)…

I’ve had a few amazing relationships (though, they were short lived, but I learned a lot about relationships, and myself).

I’ve run a tough mudder (obstacle course- 11 miles, lots of mud, 29 obstacles, lots of bruises and laughs).

I got a ukulele. I’ve committed to doing my 1st stand up comedy performance this month. I’ve fully launched a new business that I’ve been working on since February.

I did Halloween at the Playboy Mansion. I saw Steel Panther in concert. I helped raise money to for a child with rare bone cancer. I went to pubcon & blogworld. I had 2 different tires blow up while I was driving at high speed.

Inspired by one of my all time favorite movies, “Limitless”,  I even got a haircut following my recent successes.

Life’s been doing what it does best…. teaching, changing, and challenging.

You know, January 1st, at 2pm EST, I will have been couchsurfing a full 5 years.

I’m extremely grateful for all the experiences.  I’m extremely grateful for the people.  I’ve gotten to absolutely transform my life.

In fact, while I’m still looking for my dream gal, other than that, I’ve gotten basically everything I want in life.  This means I actually have a good ending for my book, thus… I’ll be working hard on that finally.

I’m grateful for you — – because without the people that have read my blog, the people that have interacted with me through real life and social media, I wouldn’t be here.

Not everyone is in the United States.  Not everyone celebrates Thanksgiving.  Gorging yourself on massive quantities of food does not mean that you’re aware of what your’e grateful for.

Just a reminder, one of the keys to happiness is to be grateful.  Even when things are bad, there’s always good in your life, whether it’s good friends, or good books, or a nice meal you can have, or a joke you can remember, or your health.

There’s always something good going on, even in a giant shitstorm….  If you really want to be happy, make a list daily of 10 things you’re grateful for.

Another life lesson towards happines that I was reminded of yesterday is to not care what other people think of you. This girl took me to an improv troupe performance, and these people were being so goofy…. no person in their right mind would be comfortable doing this in front of people….

They had such a blast, and so did the audience.  So… do whatever you want to, and don’t worry about what people think. In hind sight, that’s what I did with Couch Surfing!

Anyways– I’ve got a lot to write about… and I’ll spend a lot of time doing that…. so you’ll hear a lot more from me.

I look forward to sharing what’s new, and I’m grateful for you!

I replied “You speak truth! The things I’ve learned have been really deep life changing lessons… and I stumbled across them without having to do something really stupid and painful for once ”

There’s so much to say — and so much to blog about.  I can’t believe the stuff that happened “inside” while I’ve been here.  I can’t believe 2.5 months has gone by already.

I can’t believe that I haven’t had a car in that long, and haven’t noticed.

I got a plane to catch, but I thought I’d share a photo I took of my last sunset — 1/2 a mile from where I was staying.

Aloha!  Big blog post coming next week about Hawaii.

p.s. click on the picture to see it in more detail.

I thought the reply was something that anyone can benefit from, regardless of age or occupation, so I’m posting it on my blog.  I suggest you share this- someone will appreciate it.

It’s a patented multi-step process that took me years to perfect, but I’ll share it with you, ’cause you seem cool.

Step 1: Wake up

Step 2: Stretch

Step 3: Look in the mirror (optional) – and ask yourself “What do I feel like doing today?”

Step 4: Do that

Step 5: Did you like it?

Step 6: If yes, figure out how to make money off of it.

The bottom line is that people are full of shit. The people that say you’re supposed to go to school, get a degree, then have a career for 40 years doing that… are all miserable. Most people hate their life. They go to work, go home, watch TV, go to sleep. *vomit*

You can make money doing ANYTHING. If you’ve studied marketing, then that’s wonderful… now apply it to something other than “how to make money online” — you can help a local business get traffic, help improve their copy and design, and voila… now they make more $ than before. Get testimonial & get percentages. Or take friends that make stuff, and help them sell it online. MLM’s a biatch… I despise it… but I know many multi-millionaires from it… I’m just pouty ’cause I didn’t make money when I tried it before knowing marketing.

Think about branding. Think about marketing. Think about PR. It’s all about spin. how do you position something.

Perfect example- http://www.littlemissmatched.com/

What happens?

Little girls start going to school and showing off their mismatched socks… it becomes cool. Now everyone wants mismatched socks. They have hundreds of prints. You buy… you get what they send you… you show it off to your friends, and y’all compare.

Show me someone else (other than Hanes or Gold-Toe) that’s made millions off of socks… and at $9 per sale.

Get it? THAT is marketing. Not just making sales letters.

Great skill to have… but it’s just a tool… like a pencil. You can do anything with it. You can draw, you can stab someone, you can keep a door open, you can use it as a hole-puncher, you can set it on fire, you can play pencil-peg (a game where you keep hitting each other’s pencil until one of them breaks — lame… but as more interesting than my 7th grade science teacher).

Using Copywriting you can increase someone’s sales, control people’s behavior, make yourself seem more personable, make someone’s day, make someone out to be the bad guy, help a cause… the possibilities are endless.

When people talk of “Hackers” they generally are misusing the term. I think a hacker is someone that understands how something- or pieces of something – works, and then find other uses for it. In this regard, I am a hacker. So… learn skills, combine them, and do what other people aren’t doing.

Might I point out something? You asked “how you knew what you wanted to do with your life?” and then went on to speak about having no idea what you want to do career wise. Are the two the same?

So often when I ask people about who they are, they tell me what they do.

Sad.

You are so much more. You are your hobbies, your passions, your interests, your friends, your experiences, your hopes, your dreams, your failures, your successes, and so much more.

If someone asks me what I do, I say that I travel the world completely based on who’s couch I’m crashing on next… meeting incredible people, seeing incredible sights, learning about myself and the world, taking great pictures, helping people, solving problems, and telling many bad jokes.

Their response is usually a small delay, followed by “Uhhh… how do you pay traveling like that?” “Oh.. that… well, it depends on what I’m in the mood for, but… I do business coaching, business consulting, life coaching, photography, videography, video editing, motion graphics, 3d animation, print design, copywriting, pay per click advertising, search engine optimization, and a bunch of other things… how much time do you have? Or… better yet, why don’t you tell me what the biggest challenge you have in your business or life is, and I’ll come up with the proper solution for you?” (For a few references check out http://CouchSurfingOri.com/services)

Did you notice the difference between who I am, and what I do?

The two overlap… sure… helping people requires skills… photography’s in both. Both depend on my creativity and voracious appetite for learning… but… we are so much more than our jobs!

Now then… As a child, what did you want to be when you grow up? What are the things that when you do them, the entire day flies by, and people have to remind you to take breaks and eat? What are the things that when you watch them on Television (or Youtube/Hulu / movies / etc) you are on the edge of your seat, and find your pupils slightly dilating, perhaps you are slightly licking your lips?

One last tip- meet as many people as you can. Ask them about what they are passionate about, and ask WHY they are interested in those things. What do they enjoy the most. What sucks. Why did they end up doing this, as compared to the things they’ve done before. What is involved in doing this thing? Can you watch? — Maybe Google / Youtube it when you get home…. You’ll quickly find out what fascinates you.

Remember… money is just a means to keep on living… the more you have, the more you can do, sure… but… people who work at McDonald’s are in it because they need money. I doubt they are really THAT passionate about feeding Type 2 Diabetes to the people, while inhaling grease particles, or that they love the uniform that much. Then you got your millionaires in high stress jobs that hate themselves, and have no time with their significant others.

Then… you got the people that don’t make that much money, but do what they love…let’s call them artists. Read the book Flow, and watch the movie or read the book The Peaceful Warrior.

I think I’m going to repurpose this answer into a blog post, because I think many people can benefit from the answer.

Buying cough syrup would be simpler, but Terra said this will probably cure me in about 12 hours.

Terra’s site is Time and Truffles