Wherever I go, there I work (and play)

Lately, the virtual version of me has been hanging out on a few other sites. AnywhereMan.com is my main blogging/video home, but in the past few weeks some very exciting opportunities have been presented.

First, I am on a month-long trial as a contributor for a popular web app/software website called MakeUseOf.com. The site has lots of tips, tweaks, and reviews and I’ll be writing there a few times as they test me out (i.e. until they realize I’m just a wannabe blogger!). My first article was published this past weekend and was entitled “3 Ways To Use Google Reader As An Online Archive.” It’s been a fun experience thus far. I mean, I’m writing about web apps and even getting paid to do it. Perfect!

Next, you’ll recall that last week I did the first AnywhereMan interview with Lisa Kanarek. It was a blast! Much of the process of setting up the interview and recording it was made known to me through Andrew Warner at Mixergy.com: home of the ambitious upstart. Andrew’s a great and super bright guy, and my wife and I were lucky enough to spend some time with him when we were at BizConf last summer.

Well, Andrew took a look at my interview with Lisa and the next day one of his guests was unavailable at the last minute. He graciously invited me on his live program to discuss my interview experience and use it as an opportunity to emphasize to his audience the importance of doing interviews. He gave some awesome tips and I learned a lot from him describing some of the things he’s observed. You owe it to yourself to follow Andrew and his future interviews. He’s interviewed some amazing guests like Gary Vaynerchuk, Seth Godin, Tim Ferriss…and he’s just getting started.

Thank you, Andrew, for the opportunity! Folks, stay tuned for a future AnywhereMan interview with Andrew as he is definitely a fellow AnywhereMan (He’s currently doing all of his interviews from Argentina). Here’s my appearance with him last week:

Here is part two of my first “Startup Saturday” in which I built and launched a new business/site in a day. That site is TweakMyTheme.com.

Please note that some of the steps in this process are simple enough for anybody who has the ability to place orders online to complete, i.e. ordering a domain, ordering a hosting account, etc. You’ll see me flash a link in the video, but here’s a link to my exact steps for launching a theme-based WordPress website fast.

Amazing enough, I just publicized this launch for the first time yesterday and I’ve already gotten an overwhelmingly positive response and some potential business.

What kind of business are you thinking of launching? Would the ability to get it off the ground on a single Saturday motivate you to pursuit it?

I love throwing new business ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks.This mentality has led me to practice something I call “Startup Saturday” where I essentially launch new web business ventures in a day. Here’s part one of the vlog for my latest launch: TweakMyTheme.com.

TweakMyTheme.com is a WordPress theme customization service. I’ve customized quite a few WP themes in the past, so the service itself is nothing new. However, lately I’ve felt that it’s important to package certain skills into “products” and give them their own website. Sometimes listing everything I do (design, ASP.NET programming, video, SQL design, etc) on a single site results in a watered-down offering. Maybe I should just focus on one of those skills altogether, but that’s another story…

I spent a Saturday a few weeks ago putting the site, plan, and content together. To further complicate my life, while working on the TweakMyTheme site I also came up with two more startup-in-a-day ideas, so I’m already looking for the next free Saturday to launch another one. It’s a lot of fun and I’m getting good practice, if nothing else.

Am I off my rocker? Is it better to launch a lot of “small” businesses and see what works, or do you think one well-planned venture is more powerful?

“It’s not a pink slip. It’s a blank page”

Last night I finally sat down and watched “Lemonade,” a documentary about several different advertising professionals who were laid off by their respective agencies and used the opportunity to focus on turning their passions into careers. The 35-minute film itself was produced by one of the professionals in the film.

If you have any entrepreneurial spirit whatsoever (which I think many of you do), you need to see this film. Whether or not you have a job with an employer, the spirit and passion that these people used to turn a seemingly negative situation into motivation to succeed at their own venture is incredibly inspirational.

It’s a quick film (35 minutes), but it packs a lot of punch. It’s almost like watching a film version of Gary Vaynerchuk’s “Crush It,” which is a short book but really pumps you up to chase your passions. I think there are so many different stories in the film that you’re bound to relate to at least one of the featured individuals. The guy who created the film itself started a blog/job board for laid-off advertising pros called Please Feed the Animals, and I found myself really relating to him. Now, I haven’t been laid off before, but I am passionate about blogging and video.

My Response

One thing my wife and I discussed after viewing this: People with a marketing background definitely have a leg-up when it comes to starting their own venture and making it known to the world. Many of them are web-savy and know how people respond to various approaches of advertising. Many times the business ideas are the easy part. It’s getting the ideas/products out to the general public that takes the most creative muscle.

With that in mind, one of the things I’ve recently started doing in my spare time is starting “mini-businesses.” These are basically products/services for which I can create an entire web presence in a day or less. I’m also looking at offering this type of service to clients (especially startups like the folks in this film, but not necessarily advertising pros) through yet another mini-business.

I’ve been doing some video documentation on this process, so be sure to come back soon for details on how I’ve been starting these mini-businesses in a rapid deployment manner. I’m a big proponent of throwing ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks. This is my attempt at forcing myself to do it on a regular basis.

Two Thumbs Up

I definitely recommend seeing this short film. In fact, you can watch in right now, right here! Here’s an embed of the full-film from Hulu:

Take the time to watch this film, be inspired, and then report back with your thoughts. If you’ve seen it already, what did you think?

SPOILER ALERT: One featured individual used his layoff as an opportunity to turn himself into a woman, but I’m guessing most of you won’t go down that path.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Lemonade: a short film about creative unemployment (core77.com)

This is a completely random post, but I was just getting ready for bed and happened to notice the specific items I had set out on my nightstand. Sometimes these things tell the story of our day or even our life. Here’s a shot of my nightstand as it looks at this very moment, and a description of the items:

A – My iPod Touch and clock/charger base. The Touch is a truly useful Anywhere tool and the base was a great Father’s Day present from my girls this past year. Waking up to something like U2’s “Beautiful Day” is much better than a standard alarm.

B – USB flash drive – A nice little metal 2GB drive from BizConf.

C – Glass of wine – I’ve earned this today. I will be sleeping well tonight.

D – LED head lamp – I use this thing all the time! Comes in expecially handy for catching nightcrawlers in the summertime.

E – Batman Begins DVD – Not sure why this was on my nightstand, but is that a great movie or what?!

F – Cub Scouts Magic book – So I was visiting my parents last weekend and my mom brought this out to me. When I was a kid I was really into magic tricks and this was one of my books of tricks. I guess she wants me to get back into doing those or something.

G – Latest issue of Entrepreneur Magazine – Probably my favorite magazine. They always have great articles applicable to both my field (tech) and my status as a small business owner.

H – In-Fisherman Walleye guide – Yeah I’ve read this a few times. I still can’t catch walleyes.

I – My change jar – I think I counted close to 50 pennies in there with not a hint of silver to be seen. My girls are thieves.

What’s on your nightstand? What story does that collection of items tell about you?

Yeah, that’s me at age 20 or 21 living the rock and roll lifestyle. I’m not sure if anybody actually attended that show.

In my previous post I mentioned a book I’ve been reading by Tina Seelig called “What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20.” Tina, who has a Ph. D. in neuroscience, is the executive director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program. She teaches courses on entrepreneurship and innovation.

Today I want to give you a little more info on that book since I really enjoyed it and took a lot of good knowledge from it. I think a lot of the topics it covers are incredibly relevant to us who are running our own freelance businesses.

The underlying theme I took from this book was the idea of challenging assumptions. Why do we do the things we do? Why not try something outside of the box? If you pay attention to successful entrepreneurs, you’ll notice a tendency to look at things from different angles and often trying different approaches to various problems. Throughout the book she gives some really creative examples of this type of approach in action.

Other notable themes: Failure is okay. Be fabulous. Be thankful. And more…I don’t want to give away the whole book because it’s definitely worth your time to read it. It’s a quick read and Tina did a great job conveying innovative ways to approach both your life and career.

As an additional teaser, here is an excellent video of Tina talking about some of the central ideas in her book:

More book reviews coming in the near future. I’ve been reading some good stuff lately!