JSL Colombian Insider Gives The Scoop on Tim Ferriss’s 4 Hour Body Launch Party

Posted on December 22, 2010 by Rob

David JSL Colombian Insider Gives The Scoop on Tim Ferrisss 4 Hour Body Launch Party

[Rob's note: This is a guest post by David Orlando Hincapie. David reached out to me a while back with a shared interest in Tim Ferriss blockbuster: The Four Hour Work Week. He Face-booked me last week, with photos of he and Tim, at the Four Hour Body launch party in Manhattan. I asked him, if he would share his story, of how he wound up partying with Tim. ]

Enter David

My phone rang and a message read, “Want to go to a Tim Ferris book launch party? Tuesday 8pm NYC.” It was Tito, of course it was. He always knows about these kinds of things; seminars, concerts, charities, you name it.

I offered the invitation to Mohammed. After all, I was at his close to finish property, which he had bought only months before, and was nearing conclusion.

“Bro, want to go to a book launch party in New York?” I asked.

“Book launch for who?” he replied.

“It’s Tim Ferriss, an author that I’ve followed for a few years. He demonstrates how to automate things in your everyday tasks and business while enjoying the simplicities life has to offer”, I told him with an optimistic tone.

“I don’t want to give you an answer yet, I still have homework, but I’ll let you know” Mohammed answered. After all, he was right, we had finals that week at Rutgers. My Economics classes and his dual major in Finance and Accounting weren’t exactly a walk in the park.

Either way I replied, “Nice. Alright, where at?”

It was Tuesday night, Mohammed wasn’t coming and Tito wasn’t here. “Where is this guy?”, I asked out loud and then proceeded to text him, “Donde andas?” ,which literally means, “Where are you walking?”, but in many Latin American countries is used as a means of saying, “Where are you?” or “Where you at?”.

I should be used to this, after two years and almost ten months, this is the norm. But it goes both ways, I’m usually late, my brother is too, and Tito, well he’s just Tito.

Who would have predicted that this business would have lasted for as long as it has. I mean, I haven’t had a romantic relationship that has lasted this long. But out of all the distresses, the agony and the frustration, this had grown to be a much more mature bond that was previously thought to be.

What was it that had brought us closer together? Maybe it was the cleaning or the constant oversight of each other’s work, or maybe the endless nights, when psychics, economics, astronomy, politics, and the future of civilization were discussed at two in the morning inside some empty cafeteria. Or just maybe, that before there were four and now the partnership consisted of only three.

After the man of the hour had finally showed up, we hopped into my sister’s hybrid. It had to be the hybrid, I mean it does around 45 miles per gallon and it’s a very comfortable. I guess that’s what I usually look for, no need to go from 0-60 mph in under 2 seconds, and have to fill it up with $60 worth of gas, or have a shiny logo in the front that basically means it’s the same car as the downgraded brand only worth $20,000 more.

The uneventful ride through I-95 North to Manhattan consisted of a brief conversation about the franchise, wikileaks and my appetite for public radio. We took the Lincoln Tunnel which was surprisingly empty and once in the city it only took a few turns and a drive through seventh street until Greenhouse.

It was a frigid night and the line extended around the corner of the club.

“This means waiting”, I said, “I hope they let us in with my book and your camera”, I added. He could not leave that camera. What began as a form of entertainment for him had now developed into a business that consisted of capturing images of voluptuous young women, national sporting events, and even family portraits.

Inside was packed. A myriad of yuppies stormed the club, some with expensive suits and others with high heel boots. Maybe it was the open bar feature that the club had been promoting for the event, or maybe they really liked Tim’s work. Either way, we took higher ground and waited for the show to begin.

A surprisingly fashionable Tim appeared in a high VIP booth that held an entourage and various owners of the venue. “Thank you so much for coming everyone, I really appreciate it”, said Tim, in his distinctive tone of voice.

I couldn’t believe it. Right there in front of me was the polyglot that held a Guiness world record in tango and did all these amazing things around the world and now he was talking to us. His fans.

A million things to say came to my mind and while Tim kept talking to us and saying how he had read every forty five thousand of his messages, I shouted, “What did I say?”, which apparently a few people including Tim found hilarious.

The extroverted gear kicked in and made me want to say something else. So, as he concluded in telling us that he would come down and greet us personally, I shouted, yet again, “Sign my book!”.

As he came down from the vip booth, he was surrounded by fans and six feet tall bodyguards, stopping for anybody that wanted a picture.

“Alright, here he comes!”, I said. I knew he had to come by us so I reached for the marker in my pocket and pointed at him. Tim looked confused, but proceeded to grab it. I pointed at my chest and signalled to sign it, which cracked him up.

“No, not me! The book! El libro!”, I shouted.

“The first edition! This is great!”, Tim said in a surprising manner and proceeded to sign the book.

The book read “Pura Vida” which is used in Costa Rica, as a way to express satisfaction or a means of saying, “very good”, or, “great”, and even to say, “thank you”.

He took a few pictures with us and proceeded to meet the rest of the awaiting fans.

“We have to speak to him!”, said Tito in a determined tone.

“Let’s just wait until there aren’t that many people surrounding him”, I replied.

Through out the night we met some interesting people. Financial guru, Ramit Sethi, was there, along with Christian Hudson, who was accompanied by a tall brunette. Daniel Huss who wasn’t famous, but was a huge fan of Tim’s work. Daniel, a young entrepreneur that had built a “muse” business helping college students ace test like the GMAT was about to go into a three month trip to Thailand. Nice.

After the mob of fans had left and Tim was ready to leave, I approached him and praised him for his unique people-charming skills and asked him various questions in Spanish and English.

“Tim, have you ever been to Colombia?”, asked Tito.

“Never, but I have been wanting to go for a long time”, Tim replied.

“You have to, it’s a beautiful country!”, I said.

“And your Spanish is not bad at all. How long did it take you to learn it?”, I asked really intrigued. After all, this guy knows fluent Japanese, Chinese, German and Spanish.

“Well, it took me about three years”, He confessed.

“And you have an accent! An Argentine accent!”, I quickly added.

“Yes, it’s a Porteño accent. I picked it up in Buenos Aires”

I told him that for some reason Argentinians were very cocky and thought of themselves to be better than everybody else. I shared the joke of the Argentinian, that while making love to his girlfriend, he made her yell out loud “Oh, God!”, which he then replied “Just call me Carlos”. I thought he found that humorous.

Either way, I must agree, they have excellent fútbol players.

“Hey, Tim, so when are you going to Colombia?” I asked.

“I don’t know, but tell you what, leave me your business card and when I’m ready, I’ll send you an email and we’ll go!”, Tim answered.

I proceeded to give him two, in case he lost one.

We took a few more photos with him and then proceeded to leave.
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David Orlando Hincapie has been living in the U.S. since the age of fourteen and against his efforts has kept a distinctive accent. David acquired a commercial cleaning franchise using only credit cards and has kept himself in business for nearly three years. Mexico is his favorite country to visit, especially for its gastronomy and the modesty of its people. David is currently finishing his undergraduate studies in Economics at Rutgers University. Although he seldom writes, he loves the power of words and is considering very deeply into writing a financial help book. Reach out to David on Facebook here www.facebook.com/davidohincapie

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Rob: Speaking of Colombia. Kim and I are off to Cartagena for the New Years celebration. If you’ll be in the area- hit us up on FB or Twitter.

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5 Things You MUST do if you are a Frequent Traveler

Posted on February 9, 2010 by Rob

This is a guest post by Sean Mathena of Find Your Peak

If you know me then you know that I travel a lot. Because of this I have learned ways to make this travel as hassle free as possible. The following five things are a must if you want to ease your time on those giant flying tubes.

Challenge the Norms
If you have not already done it, go and sign up for ALL the frequent stay programs that you can. They are free so why not? In addition to signing up for all of them, pick your most used ones and give them a call. All of the frequent stay programs have tiers which, as you move up, give you additional perks. In order to move up the ladder you must fly a certain number of miles or stay a certain number of nights, or so they claim. If you will give the entity a call, many of them will allow you to challenge their qualification criteria. For example, American Airlines allows you to challenge the gold and platinum levels. Normally you must fly 25,000 or 50,000 miles to achieve gold or platinum status respectively. However, American offers the gold and platinum challenge where if you fly 5,000 or 10,000 miles within 90 days they will confer upon you the respective level. That is huge given the benefits you get, so go and do it today!

Take it With You
When you travel as much as I do, you want to travel as light as possible, ensure your luggage meets you at your destination, and avoid all the fees you can. I try to only take what I can carry onto the airplane to avoid checking any bags. This is much easier than you think if you plan a little bit. You can check out the site One Bag for some great tips on traveling light. You can also check out Rob and Kim’s tips for packing light. This will not only save you time at your destination, but it will also save money (no checked bag fees) and it will ensure you have your bag when you land. If you must pack a checked bag, make sure you pack a gun. Crazy right? Not really. You see, any luggage that has a firearm packed in it gets extra scrutiny. You have to claim it, fill out an extra form, and TSA has to mark that bag and positively track it. What type of firearm should you pack? A starter pistol. These are considered firearms by the airlines, and are legal to own in every state without a license. You can find a cheap one (~$50) here. Pack one in every checked bag and your luggage will never get lost.

Leave it at Home
Sometimes you have to pack less to have a better trip. That is why I follow Tim Ferris’ advice and allow a settling fund for each of my trips. Tim advocates in his book ‘The Four Hour Work Week’ a $200 settling fund to buy necessities when you arrive at your destination. This is great for mini-retirements, but it is a bit much for the frequent traveling that I do. I tend to allow myself $20US as a settling fund in order to buy things I might need once I get there. This might be an umbrella if it rains, toiletries I might have forgotten (you can get most of these free for the asking at major hotels), or other small pleasantries rather than trying to pack for every occasion. If you can use this to get down to no checked luggage you have saved yourself money on the baggage fees alone!

Pass the Time
When you are stuck on a long flight, it helps to have something to make the flight seem a little shorter. I have put together a little comfort kit that I always bring on long flights that has an eye mask and good quality ear plugs so I can try to get some sleep, Carmex lip balm, mints, and lotion. I also make sure I bring good reading material, music, and quality headphones. With the coming release of the iPad, I will probably leave the books and iPod at home and combine them on the iPad, I can’t wait!

I Feel Good
Jet lag sucks. There isn’t really any way to completely stop jet lag, but I have found a few ways to lessen the effects. Once you get on the plane, try to adjust to your new time zone. Check your watch and attempt to sleep when it is night time at your destination. Drink a lot of water, and reduce the amount of alcohol and caffeine that you consume. Get up and take a walk around the plane every once in a while. This will keep your blood flowing and provide amusement by watching your fellow passengers. Once you get to your hotel, do not take a nap. Stay up until it is time to go to bed at your normal time. Take a shower and go for a walk around your area, the exercise will help you feel better and keep you awake. Once it is time to sleep, make sure your room is as quiet and dark as possible (maybe use the earplugs and mask you packed). You could also take something to help you sleep that first night, there are many over the counter sleep aids or ask your doctor for something appropriate.

*Bonus Airline Clubs
I wanted to add this in as a bonus because while they can be pretty expensive, if you travel a lot, they are a bargain at twice the price. Not only do you get a quiet place away from the hustle and bustle of the terminal, but they are invaluable if you have disruptions in your travel. Have you ever had a flight canceled and had to stand in that never ending line at the gate to get rebooked? While you were there listening to people scream at the poor counter lady, I went to the airline club, rebooked my flight with the personnel there (probably taking your seat because your line still hasn’t moved), and was enjoying a cocktail and light snacks. If that happens only once it was worth the yearly fee (it always happens more than once). So if you can afford it, or better yet talk your company into paying for it, I would highly recommend joining your airlines club.

So there you have it, I hope these suggestions make your travel smoother and your vacations care free. Do you have any other tips for improving the lives of the Jet Set?

When Sean Mathena is not racking up his 100k+ annual flying miles, he authors Find Your Peak, a site to help people achieve peak performance in every area of life.

The Importance of Getting Lost

Posted on December 14, 2009 by Rob

Guest Post By Jacob Morgan

Jacob Morgan is a social business consultant and the author of Twittfaced, a social media 101 book for business. Jacob blogs at Social Media Globetrotter on the topics of social business and travel. You can also connect directly with Jacob via Twitter (@JacobM).

When most people travel they usually book months in advance and plan out their itinerary to the last detail. “Monday we will be here, and then Tuesday at 10 am we will catch the train there and go see XYZ.” The hotels are all set up, the rent-a-cars are booked, and the scenic tours are paid for.

I want to encourage everyone to abandon this whole schedule and routine and to get lost. When you have everything planned out in advance you aren’t traveling you are merely going to go look at things in other countries. Traveling isn’t just about seeing the sights; it’s about experiencing the country with its unique cultures and customs. It’s about hanging out with the locals, trying new types of food, and exploring.

I used to plan out my trips in advance; I was the diligent little traveler until I got tired of it. Plans in foreign countries rarely work out the way you want them to and one of the reasons I travel is to get rid of any sort of routine. I want to explore and really get the sense of what it feels like to be in another part of the world. My solution to all of this is getting lost.

So what does getting lost actually mean? I’m not saying you should just wander into a forest and run around for a few days (although that might be fun). I’m saying you should let your travels guide you instead of you guiding your travels. Plan for your first night or two and then see where you end up. I spent a month in China and the only thing I had planned out was where I was going to stay for the first two nights. Everything from then on was done on the fly. I spoke with locals that I met and they told me where I should go or what I should avoid; I then used my guide book to read up on the places that the locals recommended (as I traveled there, most of the time on trains).

Getting lost isn’t for everyone. It takes a certain appreciation and excitement for the unknown. If you are the type of person that gets nervous or scared easily or the type of person that always has to have things planned out in advance and by schedule, then you’re going to hate getting lost. I spent four hours on top of a mountain in China trying to figure out how to get down. I was lost, but saw some of the most amazing things in my life. If I had a set schedule and had to be down from that mountain by 3pm then I would have never been able to get lost and see those amazing things. I would have also been quite upset that I was messing up my schedule.

So why should you even bother getting lost? Well, if you’re sight seeing then you probably shouldn’t get lost. However, if you’re traveling, then you should. Getting lost really lets you experience the country you are in and it changes you as a person. Getting lost puts you far outside of your comfort zone and forces you to adapt. Getting lost means that you will see and experience unique and amazing things. It’s easy to sight see and just go by what the travel agent recommends, but you guys are travelers not sight seers…right?

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Rob: Speaking of getting lost. We’re off to Florence, Italy for a few weeks to do just that (and take Jacob’s advice).

Budding Jet Setter Says Excuses Are Over. It’s Time to Live!

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Rob

1 Photo 1 Katie in Old Port Athens Greece 222x300 Budding Jet Setter Says Excuses Are Over. Its Time to Live!

I’ve been following JetSetLife and Rob and Kim’s blogs for over a year now, becoming more and more jealous of their ability to travel 10-12 weeks a year.

After high school, I chose not to take time off for travel, so while my friends were backpacking across Europe, I went to University right away. Although I don’t regret my choice, I missed out on the travel experiences my friends had and was very jealous of their stories. As my University career came to a close (I’m almost done!), I got to thinking “Why can’t I travel?” A close girlfriend of mine had approached me about traveling to Europe in late summer so I jumped at the chance.

Since I had been following JetSetLife, I took a look at their recommendations for Europe. I have never been a “backpacker” or “vagabond” type traveler so the idea of “hip” travel really resonated with me. After looking through their pictures and thinking about the time period I was traveling, my girlfriend and I chose Greece to visit for three weeks. Based on Rob and Kim’s recommendations, we chose Athens, Paros, Ios, and Santorini as the islands to stay on.

We began in Athens, staying one night in the old Athens port where all the private yachts are docked. There, we had our first white wine and authentic Greek salad experience.

2 Photo 2 Old Port Athens Greece 225x300 Budding Jet Setter Says Excuses Are Over. Its Time to Live!
- Old Port (Athens, Greece)

3 Photo 3 Greek Salad Athens Greece 225x300 Budding Jet Setter Says Excuses Are Over. Its Time to Live!
– Greek Salad (Athens, Greece)

4 Photo 4 Yachts in Old Port Athens Greece 300x225 Budding Jet Setter Says Excuses Are Over. Its Time to Live!
– Yachts in Old Port (Athens, Greece)

Next, we spent a couple days in Paros, a quiet island, perfect for relaxing. I celebrated my birthday there while drinking white wine in the moonlight in a town called Naoussa. We continued onto Ios, a party island similar to Mykonos where we met up with another girlfriend of ours. Since I had JetSetLife as a resource, I knew to not go out to eat before 11:00 p.m. and to not expect to get home from the nightlife experience until 7:00 a.m. JetSetLife’s recommendation to have a nap before dinner saved me on numerous occasions. In Ios, I was able to just let loose, have a great time, and do all sorts of activities including boating, cliff jumping, and participating in the nightlife.

5 Photo 5 Octopus Paros Greece 300x225 Budding Jet Setter Says Excuses Are Over. Its Time to Live!
– Octopus (Paros, Greece)

6 Photo 6 Cliff Jumping Ios Greece 300x225 Budding Jet Setter Says Excuses Are Over. Its Time to Live!
– Cliff Jumping (Ios, Greece)

7 Photo 7 Sunset Ios Greece 200x300 Budding Jet Setter Says Excuses Are Over. Its Time to Live!
– Sunset (Ios, Greece)

My favorite island was Santorini. The island is of course gorgeous, but because of JetSetLife we knew the best places to go. We took a sunset cruise off of Amoudi Bay to a nearby volcano, we rode donkeys in Fira, watched the sunset in Oia, visited the Santos Winery one afternoon, and picked our hotel because it was a block away from the Perivolas black sand beach in Perissa.

8 Photo 8 Perivolas Black Sand Beach Santorini Greece 300x225 Budding Jet Setter Says Excuses Are Over. Its Time to Live!
– Perivolas Black Sand Beach (Santorini, Greece)

9 Photo 9 Donkeys Santorini Greece 200x300 Budding Jet Setter Says Excuses Are Over. Its Time to Live!
– Donkeys (Santorini, Greece)

10 Photo 10 Katie in Oia Santorini Greece 300x225 Budding Jet Setter Says Excuses Are Over. Its Time to Live!
– Katie in Oia (Santorini, Greece)

11 Photo 11 Katie in Oia 2 Santorini Greece 300x200 Budding Jet Setter Says Excuses Are Over. Its Time to Live!
– Katie in Oia 2 (Santorini, Greece)

We ended the trip in a gorgeous villa called The Stargazer in Schinias (an hour outside of Athens) owned by a local couple that my friend’s parents were staying in before they embarked on their own Mediterranean cruise.

http://www.stargazervilla.com/

12 Photo 12 Stargazer Villa Schinias Greece 300x225 Budding Jet Setter Says Excuses Are Over. Its Time to Live!
– Stargazer Villa (Schinias, Greece)

Looking back, I almost didn’t go on the trip. I had lots of excuses as to why I shouldn’t – I had a long-term boyfriend that I didn’t want to leave, I didn’t want to be away from my family on my birthday, I couldn’t afford it, and I couldn’t take time off work. But as Rob says “Excuses are over. It’s time to live!” I made sure that each of those excuses where taken care of (the major one – my parents footing the bill as a graduation gift – thanks Mom & Dad!) so I could enjoy myself and really experience another culture.

I’m now planning another European adventure next April to Spain, Portugal, and Italy with another girlfriend. Since being bitten by the travel bug, I will definitely be using Rob and Kim’s recommendations in the future!

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Getting My Ass Handed To Me By Chris Haddad

Posted on August 17, 2009 by Rob

Getting My Ass Handed To Me By Chris Haddad

I recently got my ass handed to me in an interview I did with world famous copywriter Chris Haddad. Ok, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but it did sting a bit. Chris is one of those genius guys, the kind that can write the most amazing sales copy you’ve ever read. Just for sport, and if you’re chosen, he will critique your sales letter. Chris agreed to critique mine and I agreed to allow him to record it for the world to see. This process was about as fun as a root canal. Here’s an example of the maestro in action.

One of the questions that Chris asked me (which is the crux of this entire post) was, “Who are you writing this sales letter to?” In other words, who is Jet Set Life’s target market demographic? I quickly responded that we have two market demos. The Jet Setter who buys our Secret List and the aspirational Jet Setter who joins our Muse Membership (our discussion was about the muse membership page).

Chris then asked me to describe the person as if he or she were sitting in front of me. Exactly who would he be and what would he want? I said that he we would probably be a 30 year old guy working in a cubicle that is married with two kids living in the suburbs, that hates his job and wants to live a jet set life. Sounds perfect, right? Sure, except for one thing, my wife didn’t agree. So, I began to investigate. Did you ever have one of those things that gets under your skin and you just can’t stop thinking about it? Well, this was exactly that such thing for me. I went back and reviewed a few of the emails I received from new members of Secrets of Successful Muses. I wanted to look for clues to who they were and what they were after. Eventually, after much digging, I found that I didn’t know what the hell I was talking about! I had no basis to draw those original conclusions. I just assumed them. And yes, I was wrong!

My search found a commercial airline pilot, an aerospace design engineer and a painter. Not one of them worked in a cubicle. In fact, many of them were serious professionals. What did they all have in common? They were all tired of swapping hours for dollars and wanted more. The “more” part is what they (we) all had in common.

I realized that everyone who is into having a jet set life wants the same thing. To have time and money to do what they love – travel. We can create all the videos and guidebooks of the all the jet set sexiest places on the planet, but if you don’t have those two currencies, time and money, you’re going to be watching from the sidelines.

I realized that the Jet Setters that I had been reaching out to is not who I thought they were. Woops, talk about a big mistake.

So, let me hear from you. Who are you? Step forward and identify yourself. Dramatic, I know. Reach back out to me in the comment section and tell me who you are and what you’re after so I can create what you want and need. Then, hopefully next summer, we’ll be sipping a cool glass of rosé together while gazing out at the Aegean.

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On another note, we’re going to do a Jet Set Life get together in Florence, Italy on New Year’s Eve. If you want to be added to the list, add your name and email in the comment section.

Confessions of a Jet Setter: The courage to design the life you want

Posted on June 2, 2009 by Rob

Follow Rob (and Kim) on Twitter here.

dsc02385 2 300x225 Confessions of a Jet Setter: The courage to design the life you want

I receive letters everyday from around the world for all sorts of things. This particular letter just really stuck out for me and I wanted to share it with you (with Billy’s permission). Rather than making comments on the letter I decided to let it stand on its own and listen to your comments. As I believe this letter will resonate differently with different people. As Mike Myers in coffee tawk says – Discuss!

Hey Rob,

Just wanted to drop you a quick to say thanks. I’ve watched your site for a while but resisted taking the plunge in making a change to my own lifestyle.

Read 4HR WW a long time ago and tossed it aside… In fact I noticed some of my employees all of a sudden putting “out-of-office” responders on and I lost it on them (my best line must have been does Bill @#% Gates have an auto responder on!).

Anyways I’ve been making high 6 figures for a long time, traveled the world on business, and have all the toys I get to look at in my garage when I left my million dollar home (very early) in the morning on my way to a job I hated.

I sat down about two months or so ago and read every single blog item you had on your site and pulled a Richard Branson and said “screw it let’s do it”.

I parted ways with my partners, left a big pay check behind, and have started my NR quest. Scared out of my freakin mind but determined to figure it out (and convince my family I am not nuts).

Anyways wanted to say thanks. I am a Jet Setter at heart, have a worldwide rolodex, and have partied and stayed in some of the coolest locations but none of it compares to the sense of excitement about building a real lifestyle for me and my family.

All these NR guy’s I’ve seen online looked like a bunch of hokey computer geeks flogging crap info products (I know… unfounded opinions on my part may I add), however I find you cool and inspiring.

See you at some jet-set location in the near future!

Regards,

Billy

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I’m currently knee deep in some amazing interviews for our newest product Secrets of Successful Muses. If you want to step to the front of the line and be the first to know when they are released sign up here for the early alert list.

Finally – How you can start your own Muse: The New Jet Set Internet Business Academy

Posted on April 7, 2009 by Rob

Jason on a mini retirement in Buenos Aires at La Boca Jr Stadium

Rob: The one question I get asked dozens of times per week is “How can I live a Jet Set Life like you guys do?”. Well, today we just may have some answers for you. I’m really excited to interview Jason Van Orden of the hugely successful Internet Business Mastery Academy. Jason will deconstruct the questions that many of you have been asking about how to develop your own highly successful muse.

If you’re serious about having a Jet Set Life and are willing to educate yourself about how to do it by leveraging technology and creating a scalable, systematic online business (as discussed in the Four Hour Work Week), then let’s begin the process of joining the New Jet Set and take the first step in micro testing, together, the new Jet Set Internet Business Academy.

1. Let’s start at the beginning. Would you describe the concept of Lifestyle Design and explain what a muse is from the Internet Business Mastery Academy’s (IBMA) prospective?

Lifestyle Design is the idea of first knowing what you want your life to look like, then choosing the business and circumstances that provide for it.

Too many people let their lives be dictated by circumstances outside of their choosing. For most people, what dictates the circumstances of their life (e.g. how they spend each day, where they live, how much money they make, etc.) is their job or clinging to some definition of “security”.

This is completely backwards. I know a lot of people feel helpless to control the circumstances of their lives, but that’s just not true. There are so many opportunities out there that allow you to choose the lifestyle you want and make that happen.

The first step is choosing now what you want most in your life. What do you want it to look like ideally?

This includes deciding things like the following:

Where do you want to live?
What kind of place will you live in?
Do you want to travel?
How much time do you want to spend with family?
Do you want to live in the city, suburbs or in a rural setting?
What daily pursuits do you want to spend your time on?
What kinds of people will you spend your time with?

You should go into as much detail as you can with descriptions, what it will feel like, when different milestones will happen. Every decision I make in life or in my business is run through the filter of my Lifestyle Design.

Once you have this designed, you need a viable vehicle (a muse) that will provide for this. For me this is internet business.

Internet business can be automated, outsourced and systemized lending itself to all the factors I want in my life. It allows me to very effectively achieve my Lifestyle Design.

For our students, we recommend internet business because it’s inexpensive to get started and relatively easy to launch. The profit margins are high, the costs are low and the risks are minimal. In my mind, it’s an ideal arena for building a muse.

2. You do more than just teach the concept of lifestyle design – you really live it. How has putting the principals taught in the academy into action affected your own life personally and what has it allowed you to do that you weren’t able to do before?

First of all I find it extremely fulfilling. I have connected with very interesting and passionate people all over the world through my online business pursuits. I love that.

Second, it has allowed to be to increase my income to far more than it ever was as an employee. I get “pay raises” every month because I am in control of my business and my finances.

Third, it has allowed me to spend time all over the world in places like Paris, Buenos Aires, Hawaii, London and New York City. I can run my business from anywhere, or even take time off on a whim. That kind of freedom is priceless.

It has also been an interesting contrast to what’s going on in the economy. Currently, I’m spending time in Portland, OR. The unemployment here is really high. Peolpe are worried. Having my own business I’ve not been affected at all. In fact, my income has gone up every month since people started using the “recession” word on a daily basis.

That kind of security and control over my finances and the circumstances of my life is one of the things I cherish most, second only to the relationships I have with friends and family.

3. You teach about defining your “Definite Major Purpose” first. Would you explain what this means and why it is so important in creating your lifestyle design plan?

Your Definite Major Purpose (DMP) is an important element of Lifestyle Design. It’s at the center of what drives you. For the next week, I challenge anyone reading this article to ask people around them what they think the purpose of their life is. Some people will have a solid answer. Many of them will be vague (or make something up on the spot). A lot will have no idea or give an answer that equates to nothing more than “I just survive”.

Having a solid DMP is critical in your Lifestyle Design. It is at the core of who you are and what you want to do in this world, not only for yourself, but for society. We break the DMP creation process into three areas: freedom, fulfillment and recognition.

Freedom

How do you want to spend your time?
How many hours a weeks do you want to work?
Do you want to be location independent?
Do you want a business that has an office and employees?
What are things you never want to have to do?

Fulfillment

What things have to be present in your life in order for you to be fulfilled?
What makes you most happy?
What are your strengths?

Recognition

What do you want to be known for?

For example, here is a sample of my DMP.

Freedom

I want to be able to move around when I want to (last year I lived in Argentina for a few months).

I want to live in big cities.

I don’t want an office or on-site employees.

I don’t want to work 40 hours a week.

I want to have time to spend with my family.

Fulfillment

To be fulfilled I need to be teaching others.

I need to be constantly learning.

I need variety in my schedule.

Recognition

I want to have an impact on people’s lives.

I want to be seen as a business leader.

I want to be known as someone who uses their time and talents to help others find freedom in their own lives.

Then summarize that into one sentence. For me it would be that last bullet point: to use my time and talents to help others find freedom in their own lives. This is the compass that drives me in everything that I do.

Choosing Your Muse

4. The most common question I receive is “how do I find my muse”. What steps can someone take to finding the ideal muse for them?

Here is the basic process.

First, define your Lifestyle Design and your Definite Major Purpose.

Second, find a business model that fits and provides for those things. For me this was internet business.

Third, find a starving market, determine what they want most and give it to them.

When choosing a market, there are a number of factors you should consider.

1. Are you passionate about it?

2. How quickly can you act in the niche market and see what the market tells you?

3. Can you create an automated product or service for the market?

4. Is there potential for selling them a continuous line of new products?

These are just a few of the fifteen important factors we teach about in the Academy. Another reason we are so big on internet marketing is that it is easy to find something you are passionate about, hone in on a hungry market and test an idea with little risk.

5. Your course is mostly based around marketing information products, as opposed to physical products, would you explain why that is and what have your experiences been with selling physical products?

Information marketing is essentially taking valuable information that a niche market wants and selling it to them in a convenient form. There are information product-based businesses in every imaginable niche.

Information marketing has several advantages.

1. It has huge profit margins. You can sell it for many times more than it costs you to make it (often 10-30 times more).

2. You can produce it very quickly and easily. You can outline and create a product in a matter of days. Compare that to the creation cycle of a physical product that needs to be designed and manufactured.

3. It requires very little capital to get started. You can create products digitally and distribute them over the Internet, so there is no manufacturing or inventory costs.

4. You can create something once and get paid for it time and time again. My first product was a seminar that I did once. I recorded it and turned it into a set of audio CD’s and a manual. Then, I sold it through a web site. This product continued to pay me for years after I did that one seminar.

5. By selling digital information products you forego the logistics of inventory, order fulfillment and shipping.

I’ve never really worked at all with selling a physical product on ebay, although my business partner has. There are a myriad of headaches that can come up. Now, all of our businesses are purely information-based.

This is the information age. More and more people are going online to find content. They are willing to pay for that content when it is presented in the right way.

6. Would you give us a couple of specific examples of some of the best online muses you’ve seen, perhaps even some great examples from your own students at the academy, like Dale from Pigtones, whom I have previously interviewed?

Here are some of my favorite muses that have been created by Internet Business Mastery Academy students.

Patrick Flynn | www.intheleed.com

Last year Patrick was laid off from his job. A few months later he joined our Academy to see how he could create his own business. Two months later he was making five figures a month.

He took his expertise in LEED architecture and made a site to help people pass the exam. He took knowledge and interests he already had and turned it into an online business.

Shaun Noonan | www.learningindonesian.com

After taking our coaching course, Shaun and his girlfriend took their interest and knowledge in the Indonesian language and started a podcast. They now have a loyal community of followers and listeners that buy premium language materials from them.

Curt | www.UndercoverLawyer.com

Curt is a lawyer that took his legal knowledge and launched an online site to help pay medical bills for his family. In his first month he made $3000. Now, he is up to $8000 a month. He recently called and left us a very fulfilling message explaining how grateful he is to have this income stream in a time when many people are feeling like financially things are out of their control. In his own words “I’ve got more business than I know what to do with.”

One thing I want to point out is that each of these is in a variety of topics. Some people think that internet/information marketing only works when you sell information to other peolpe about making money on the Internet. This is just simply not true.

We’ve seen people make money with niches that range from project management to genealogy to medicine.

Monetizing Your Muse

7. For the readers who currently have an online muse and want to monetize it, what are your best general tips for doing that?

First, make sure you are building an email list. If not, start right now.

Second, survey your list/market and ask them three things.

1. What are the two top questions that you have about _____insert your niche topic_______?

2. How hard has it been for you to find the answer to these questions?

3. What would it mean to you to find the answer to these questions?

If you ask these questions, you will find a hole in your market that you can fill. Create an information product that solves these problems for your market.

Third, don’t be afraid to charge what you are worth. Far too many entrepreneurs charge way to little for what they offer.

8. What are the biggest mistakes that people make when trying to monetize their site?

They don’t build an email list. This is going to be one of the most important communication and monetization tools that you have for your business.

Also, they make assumptions about what their market needs and never ask them. You have to survey and do your research. It is much easier to sell what your market wants than what you think they need. Find the market. Ask them what they want. Give it to them. That’s how you make money online.

Finally, they don’t take fast, bold action. This is the quickest way to success.

9. What is the average someone can earn monthly after going through your course?

We’ve had people make five-figures a month after going through the course.

That said, this figure varies widely. Everyone has different goals. It’s going to depend on the market as well.

We’ve also had a lot of people tell us they were able to quit their job. We love hearing about our students’ “independence days”.

Our students are creating businesses that grow every month despite the “economic climate”.

We teach how to create a solid business model that will grow over time, making you more money while you work less and less.

If you follow the system, work on it consistently, pick up and move forward even when things don’t go as planned…you will make money.

Final Thoughts

10. How can someone get in touch with you and learn more about the Internet Business Academy?

I recommend taking two actions right now. First, head over to our site and subscribe to the podcast.

Here

Second, subscribe to our email list to get the lastest tips from us and to get our Lifestyle Design mini-course. This audio and email series goes in depth into how to create your own Lifestyle Design. It also comes with a worksheet to guide you through the process.

Here

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Rob: On a personal note these guys at Internet Business Mastery have blown me away at how they have taken the principals taught in the Four Hour Work Week and put them in to a step-by-step real tangible plan for success with your own online business.

Designing A Jet Set Mini-Retirement On A Tight Budget

Posted on March 30, 2009 by Rob

Designing A Jet Set Mini Retirement On A Tight Budget

Editors note: This is a Guest Post from Derek Johanson of Liveuncomfortably.com

Rob: I recently put a tweet out asking if anyone would like to be a guest blogger for this blog. I received a bunch of great offers, but there was one guy that really stood out above all the rest. His name is Derek Johanson. He writes a blog called Live Uncomfortably. At first, I was like, who the heck wants to do that? Then, I started picking up what he was puttng down. In Derek’s own words: “living uncomfortably is doing the unaccustomed everyday to break the cycle of routine and boredom”.

His blog is an experiment in micro testing his philosophy and creating his personal lifestyle design. I like this guy and I hope you will too. He’s not just talking the talk, he’s walking the walk. He’s the real deal, just check out this year’s travel schedule. In this post Derek will show you how you can create a Jet Set trip simply by taking advantage of a few simple strategies like currency fluctuations and location. Remember, life is about doing exciting things and Derek is an amazing example of that.

Designing A Jet Set Mini-Retirement On A Tight Budget

When I first stumbled upon Jet Set Life seven months ago, I was intrigued. Hip, chic, and trendy travel is to say the least, extremely appealing. I was looking to take my first mini-retirement at the time, but quickly realized I didn’t have the cash flow to support the lavish Jet Set lifestyle.

Rob: Not always so lavish- here and here.

It wasn’t until I made my way through Central and South America that I discovered it was entirely possible to live like a king on a tight budget. If you haven’t yet reached the income level to afford luxury mini-retirements or you’re currently not able to justify the expenses during the recession, don’t fret. Just because we can’t live like Jet Set rock-stars quite yet, doesn’t mean we can’t get close. It just takes a little re-designing of our mini-retirements.

derek jet set life rob murgatroyd 300x225 Designing A Jet Set Mini Retirement On A Tight Budget

Step One: Take Mini-Retirements That Develop Marketable Skills

Mini-retirements should be about letting loose and relaxing, yes, but also, about personal development and learning new skills. When you take a mini-retirement to work on a skill-set and not just drinking margaritas at the pool, your costs will be significantly reduced. In addition, your future money-making potential will dramatically increase.

Most of the skills that you’re likely interested in learning probably won’t cost that much to attain. For example: Spanish classes or Salsa lessons are very inexpensive in nearly every Latin-speaking country. While focusing on a skill you won’t be tempted to constantly spend money on things to pass the time (like alcohol).

When you return home from a vacation you are in the same position as when you left, but with less money. When you return home from a skill based mini-retirement you come back with something marketable and maybe break even financially.

The new skill that you acquired can be channeled into a money-making opportunity which can even further fuel subsequent mini-retirements. For example, a friend of mine took his mini-retirement so that he can work on learning Spanish. He documented his progress, set up a small website to help others learn Spanish and now his site is drawing great traffic and creating affiliate sales.

Step Two: Rethink Your Destination

It’s possible to live like a rock-star outside of popular high-class tourist destinations. In a lot of countries, the costs of living have not caught up with the value of living. Meaning, you can spend half as much in South America as you would on a European vacation equivalent. Paris, France vs. Buenos Aires, Argentina is a great example of this.

Look into places like South East Asia, Central America, and South America. You’ll find countless destinations that are beautiful, safe, and best of all, cheap for what you’ll get.

Designing A Jet Set Mini Retirement On A Tight Budget

Step Three: Rethink the Tourist Off-Season

We all know hotels, airlines, and other tourist related businesses jack up their prices during the high season. You simply can’t get around it. But, there’s a perceived down season in many countries that is really not that much different from the high season. You can start taking advantage of this.

In Central America, the high season (the dry season), is from Nov-Feb. During this time you’re going to pay a lot more for accommodations. In many areas the difference between the rainy season and the dry season is only 1-2 hours of rainfall in the late afternoon which is hardly enough to ruin a trip.

A lot depends on the region. Costa Rica and Panama are so small that people think, “Well it’s the rainy season in X city, so it’s probably the rainy season in Y city”. The climate can change drastically even within a small geographic region. I enjoyed the low season rates in sunny Bocas del Toro, because I was there during the perceived rainy season in Panama: September.

These situations arise everywhere (not just Central America). Avoid the urge to travel during the expensive months and you’ll be rewarded with cheaper rates and not always perfect, but very tolerable weather.

Step Four: Get Long Term Luxury Accommodation for Huge Discounts

For the Jet Setter – having luxury accommodations is a must and with a little hard work securing it really is not that difficult. I’ve found that many smaller resorts and hotels will offer their rooms at severely discounted rates if you agree to stay a month or longer.

The best strategy for finding cheap accommodations in hotels or resorts is to hold off on booking a place until you get to your destination. In Central and South America I’ve been shocked by the quantity and quality of hotels and resorts that simply aren’t making themselves visible on the internet.

Once you’ve arrived in your desired location, spend a day or two searching for the best deals. Many hotels and resorts that you can’t find on the internet are cheaper but not necessarily lower quality. Also, you’ll be able to approach the managers and negotiate a price for a long term stay. If you book online you’re going to ‘get gringo’ prices and could get stuck in a place you’re not too happy with.

In Panama, my friend and I were able to secure a cabana at a hotel/resort in the mountain town of Boquete for $18 per night. The cabana included a full kitchen, laundry services, maid-service, WiFi, and access to organic fruit on the property. The normal prices were $80 per night, but since we agreed to stay for 2 months, we got more than a 75% discount!

You don’t have to stay in hostels and you don’t have to live like a poor backpacker to take cheap mini-retirements. It’s extremely possible to live like a Jet Set millionaire on a tight budget. You’re just going to need to re-think the- what, where, when, and why of your mini-retirement.

For more info on what Derek is up to contact him through his website Liveuncomfortably.com

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Kim and I are off to Los Angeles to shoot a video and create our L.A. Hit list- if you have anything that you think we should hit in L.A. please let us know through Twitter here.

Leo Babauta’s 5 Best Lifestyle Design Hacks

Posted on March 24, 2009 by Rob

By Leo Babauta of Zen Habits

Editors Note: This is a guest post from Leo Babauta of Zen Habits- you can get his new book The Power of Less here.

I’m a firm believer that we need to break free of the constraints of normal life, and begin to design our own lives — to start living the life we’ve always dreamed of.

And it’s possible. Most people tend to stick with what’s safe, what they know is possible, and don’t go beyond that, because of fear of failure — or success — or because they don’t pause to take a big-picture look at life and think about what can be changed.

Do you really need to work a 9-to-5 office job? Do you really need to be on salary? Do you really need to buy luxury items, have a big house and big car, just to look good in front of people you don’t care about — and do you really need to be a wage slave to support that empty lifestyle?

Or can you live the life that you want to live — that makes you happy, that makes a real contribution to the world, that feels authentic and exciting to you?

You can, of course — I’m just one example of that in action, and there are many more.

People like me have decided to follow their dreams, to make a living doing something they’re passionate about, to take a chance and start working for themselves instead of someone else, to live a life that’s really aligned with their values.

This is called lifestyle design by some, and today we’ll look at some of the best ways to begin to design your life. We’ll call them “hacks”, after the famous term “lifehacks”, but you could easily call them tools or tricks or just “methods that work”.

Here are my favorites, in no particular order:

1. Limit your workweek. My friend Tim Ferriss is famous for his book, 4-Hour Workweek, but you don’t need to go that extreme to get the benefits of a shrunken workweek. Start by setting a limit on your workweek, and enforcing it. If you work more than 40 hours a week, start with a 40-hour limit. If you work 40 hours, try 32 hours. How can you make this a reality? By getting vigorous about making sure you’re using your time wisely — doing the tasks that really need to get done this week, not wasting time, and quitting when you reach your limit. Sure, you won’t get everything done, but you’ll get the essential things done and the other things can wait. Use the time you save to do something you love — be it spending time with family, traveling, taking up a sport, creating something new, or what have you.

2. Be passionate about your work. This is such common advice that it might sound trite, but if you aren’t doing this now, don’t wait any longer. This is crucial. If you’re doing work you don’t enjoy, you’re just working for the paycheck, and you’re wasting at least a third of your life at work. Start to look for something you’re passionate about, if you haven’t found it yet, and when you do find it … start to look for a way to make a living at it. You might need to make a slow transition until you’re ready to quit your day job, but it’s a process that’s worth the effort. You’ll be so much happier about your life that you’ll spring out of bed, hardly able to wait to start working.

3. Dare to eliminate the non-essential. Our lives slowly fill up with things that we don’t really want to do, that we think we should do but that aren’t in line with how we want to live. You can get out of these commitments — just start to eliminate them. Say “no” to people. Tell them you just don’t have the time. This takes guts, but again it’s worth it. Tell yourself that you can’t do everything, so you’re just going to do what you really want to do. You’re going to create the life you want, and make room for it by eliminating everything that’s not in that ideal life. Let go of unimportant work and communications too — be liberal with the delete key in your email program, because if you tried to do everything that people requested of you, you’d never live the life you want.

4. Control your work environment. The problem with most people’s work environments is that they’re not set up to be focused, but rather are set up so that they have no real control over information coming at them. At any given moment, you can be interrupted by email, phones, instant messages, Twitter, your Blackberry, co-workers, or any other type of communication you might use. With an environment like this, it’s hard to maintain focus and get important work done — no amount of discipline will allow you to overcome this environment. Instead, set up an environment that’s more conducive to achieving your goals — shut down all distractions and only allow yourself to check email or make phone calls or use other communication tools at certain times of day. Look for other ways to set up your environment so you can achieve the goals you’re focused on achieving.

5. Schedule the important. What are the things you really want to do with your life but you don’t seem to have time for? Travel? Family? Exercise? Reading? Writing? Starting a new business? Outdoor recreation? Whatever these things are, make them a priority by scheduling them regularly: start with an empty calendar and reserve blocks of time for these important things before anything else. Make these appointments sacred — don’t allow anything else to violate them. This will mean you’ll have to say “no” to things, and eliminate other things from your schedule, but if these things are important, you’ll schedule them first.

Travel with style in Bangkok

Posted on September 19, 2008 by Rob

Champagne Travel on a Beer Budget’s Tara Skipp has written this months guest post. Read more from Tara at her blog here. Enjoy!

It drives me crazy to hear people write Bangkok off as a city full of nothing more than girly bars and market stalls hawking designer bag rip-offs. Now, if pole dancing and faux Prada is your scene, I am not denying that they can both be found aplenty in the City of Angels. But travelers in the know will find Bangkok to be so much more – a truly cosmopolitan city where you can wine, dine, party, shop and chill out in style.

Sleeping

When spending time in this steamy, chaotic city, a hotel that acts as your own personal sanctuary is a must. Bangkok is seething with run-of-the-mill chain hotels, but if you can see past them you will find boutique hotels that achieve chilled-out luxury with style (as opposed to gaudy buffet breakfasts and generic lobby bar bands).

For minimalist hip, try the Luxx Hotel off Silom Road. With only 13 rooms, the hotel has fabulous staff that are discreet and yet make you feel like a superstar. The location puts you in walking distance to all the action of Silom Road (including some of the city’s best day spas) and has a Zen-like aesthetic perfect for recharging after a hectic day in Thailand’s capital.

Eating

When it comes to dining in style, Bangkok’s one-stop-shop would have to be the Lebua Hotel at State Tower. Although this vertigo-inducing tower may not be for the height phobic, the Lebua provides plenty of glamorous-photo-shoot-worthy dining and drinking choices. Home to the famous Sky Bar, The Lebua also boasts award-winning restaurants with cuisines such as Italian, Thai & Lebanese. And although this traveler never tires of Thai curries and noodle dishes, my ultimate indulgence is an evening of oysters and champagne, so my recommendation is the oyster bar at Distil on the 64^th floor.

Shopping

The jewel in Bangkok’s shopping crown would have to be the Siam Paragon. It enables you to combine browsing luxury stores (think Gucci, Chanel and even a Ferrari showroom); with catching a movie (gold class seats) and the most amazing gourmet supermarket (the smoothie and sushi bars are my favourite).

However, if you’re interested in hanging with the cool kids, Bangkok’s equivalent of Japan’s Harajuku would have to be Little Siam. Gorgeous young things flock to parade and check out the fashions of young designers in this narrow strip of mini boutiques next to the MBK Centre (opposite Siam Paragon). You’ll find unique pieces for a fraction of the price you’d be willing to pay for them and will get a snapshot of Bangkok street style.

Photo credit: www.lastappetite.com

Partying

It may not be the newest kid on the block, but the Bed Supper Club is still one of the most happening places to party. So hip it hurts, this is where local cool kids, trendy ex-pats and visiting DJs collide, making it a fabulous place to either bust some serious moves on the dance floor, relax with a drink on the ‘beds’, appreciate the futuristic design (kind of like the Jetsons get glam) or simply people-watch. Just don’t forget to take a disco nap before arriving as despite the plethora of beds, it is still not cool to be caught dozing.

Tara Skipp

Champagne Travel on a Beer Budget

www.champagnetravelonabeerbudget.com

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This guest post was written by Tara Skipp

Read more from Tara Skipp at her blog here

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