Redefining Success: The Art of Lifestyle Design and Purpose-Driven Entrepreneurship

In the second part of his interview with The Leaderonomics Show, Cody McKibben dives deeper into the concept of lifestyle design and its transformative impact on both individuals and businesses.

Cody emphasizes the importance of creating a life that aligns with one’s passions, values, and goals, rather than being tethered to conventional expectations. For him, lifestyle design is about building a business that serves your ideal life — not the other way around. By defining what truly matters, eliminating distractions, and automating repetitive tasks, entrepreneurs and professionals can unlock more freedom to focus on what brings them joy and fulfillment.

At the heart of lifestyle design is the question: What do you really want out of life?

Cody urges his audience to reflect on their passions and what motivates them to get out of bed every morning. Whether it’s traveling the world, spending quality time with family, or pursuing creative projects, knowing these priorities allows individuals to structure their businesses around those desires.

Far too often, people chase money without considering whether their efforts contribute to a meaningful and enjoyable life. Cody’s approach challenges this mindset, advocating for a life designed with purpose and intention.

Drawing inspiration from Warren Buffett’s philosophy, he underscores the importance of simplicity and focus. He shares how Buffett’s practice of only investing in what he truly understands resonates with his own approach to business and life. Keeping things simple and aligned with one’s passions leads to better decision-making and greater long-term satisfaction.

When asked about advice for young professionals, Cody emphasizes the value of self-awareness and passion. He suggests a simple exercise: identify where your skills, passions, and market opportunities intersect.

For seasoned entrepreneurs and executives, Cody advises stepping back to reevaluate their priorities. While building a profitable business is important, he warns against getting lost in the grind of long hours and endless tasks.

By deconstructing their businesses and focusing only on the most effective activities, leaders can create more balance and rediscover the “why” behind their efforts. Whether it’s spending more time with loved ones, traveling, or pursuing creative ventures, Cody believes success is ultimately about living a life that brings joy and fulfillment.

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Discovering the Hero’s Path: Cody McKibben on Entrepreneurship, Coaching, and the Future of Learning

 

In this inspiring 2010 interview with Leaderonomics, Cody McKibben — director of the HERO Foundry — shares his journey as a seasoned entrepreneur, coach, and visionary in the realm of personal development and alternative education. With over 16 years of experience building businesses, growing remote teams, and empowering young creators, Cody offers profound insights into what it takes to succeed in today’s rapidly evolving world.

The conversation dives into Cody’s unique coaching philosophy, which blends psychology, mythology, and entrepreneurial strategy to help individuals unlock their potential. From navigating the challenges of building businesses across cultures to creating impactful educational frameworks like the HERO Library, Cody reveals how his ventures aim to equip the next generation with the tools, mindset, and confidence to forge their own paths. His emphasis on cross-cultural understanding, personal growth, and creative freedom shines through as a recurring theme.

Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, an educator rethinking traditional systems, or someone seeking clarity on your life’s purpose, this interview is packed with actionable advice and fresh perspectives. Cody’s reflections on the hero’s journey, the future of work, and the power of storytelling will leave you feeling inspired and motivated to take the next step in your own adventure.

Watch the full interview to explore Cody’s vision for a more empowered, innovative, and connected world — and learn how you can apply these lessons to your own life and career.

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How to Make Friends Around the World and Serve Clients on 5 Continents

 

In this thought-provoking talk delivered at the Guerrilla Entrepreneurs seminar in Kuala Lumpur, Cody McKibben, a pioneer of the “digital nomad” movement, shares his transformative journey of crafting a purpose-driven business and a fulfilling life.

Drawing from personal experiences and timeless wisdom, Cody challenges conventional ideas of success, urging entrepreneurs to prioritize lifestyle design and meaningful impact over the pursuit of profits alone.

Cody passionately explains how businesses can serve as tools for creating the life you desire, rather than being the end goal. This philosophy is central to his mission: to help others escape the “template lifestyle” and embrace a life of freedom, adventure, and purpose.

Cody delves into the profound impact of Tim Ferriss’s The 4-Hour Work Week, outlining its four principles — Definition, Elimination, Automation, and Liberation — and how they guided him to redesign his career and lifestyle. By implementing these principles, Cody transitioned to a location-independent business model, which allowed him to work remotely while exploring the world.

This approach isn’t just about working less, but about working smarter and living more intentionally. Watch this powerful talk to learn how entrepreneurship can be a vehicle for accelerated personal development, deeply intertwined with meaningful experiences, quality of life, and the ability to give back.

On a practical level, Cody shares actionable insights for aspiring digital nomads and entrepreneurs. He discusses the importance of finding mentors, leveraging online tools, and building global relationships.

Ultimately, Cody’s message is about more than just entrepreneurship or travel — it’s about creating a life aligned with your values, passions, and VISION. By redefining success and embracing unconventional thinking, Cody inspires others to take bold steps toward designing the life they’ve always envisioned.

Whether you’re a seasoned entrepreneur or someone exploring the idea of digital nomadism, this seminar is a must-watch for anyone seeking to combine purpose, freedom, and adventure.

Watch the full video to explore how Cody McKibben has turned his philosophy into action — and how you, too, can break free from the ordinary to live life on your own terms!

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The IMPOSSIBLE List

Anyone motivated to be successful—to really make an impact with your life—has a list of important things they want to do. Things to have, things to be. Places they want to go, people they’d love to meet.

You may not have a list of life goals all written down on paper. You probably keep an immediate to-do list, you might have some of your long-term life goals written down on scraps of paper or word doc lists on your computer here and there, but you know at the very least you have those things somewhere in the back of your mind.

I’ve challenged myself with yearly goals in the last couple years, and I’ve mapped out plans for my businesses and different projects. I don’t frequently achieve everything on my lists, but as my friend Ramit Sethi once told me, if you’re not failing at a couple things each month, you’re not trying hard enough.

And I’ve found that sharing those goals publicly gives me additional motivation and accountability to follow through, and sometimes friends and readers can offer words of advice, help, or partnership on some goals.

I’ve had some pieces of the puzzle in the works for a long time, but I hadn’t put together a comprehensive “bucket list” of things I want to do before I die until recently. It wasn’t until Sean Ogle recently wrote about bucket lists, and how to identify the most important life goals that will enable you to achieve the other items on your list—the travel goals, the possessions, the fun stuff—that I finally got motivated to really solidify my whole life list and put it out here to share with the world.

Several friends and bloggers have compiled great bucket lists that have helped inspire some of the things I decided to put on my list. There’s a mix of places I’d love to jet set, landmarks I’d like to see, adventures I’d like to have, experiences I hope to share with specific friends and family, and of course I immediately took Sean’s advice and prioritized the importance of the enabling goals that will make everything else possible.

So without further ado, here’s my bucket list—or, 84 adventures you can follow me on here at Thrilling Heroics:

Enabling Goals

  1. Develop an online business that earns over $3000/month in passive income.
  2. Build a blog with 10,000+ subscribers.
  3. Write an ebook or launch a digital product that earns $6,000+.
  4. Publish a best-selling book.
  5. Achieve 100% freedom from all debt.
  6. Get an article published in the print edition of Esquire, GQ, Wired, Details, or Maxim magazine.
  7. Leverage my blog audience to make a major positive impact in at least 10 peoples lives (we’ve already helped my friend Ryan, and Tim & Rodrigo (two scholarship awardees at Digital Nomad Academy).
  8. Speak at South by Southwest Interactive and stick around for the music festival in Austin, Texas.
  9. Set up a Hong Kong corporation.
  10. Make at least $200K in a given year.
  11. Get a second passport, and maybe a third too.
  12. Complete my Personal MBA.
  13. Attend an official TED Conference. (Already had the honor of helping plan the locally-organized TEDxBKK!)
  14. Sell my photography and other creative artwork.
  15. Organize a lifestyle business summit (March 2014 in Costa Rica! – a 5 so far SE Asia)

Adventures to Have & Things to Do

  1. Learn to rock climb in Railay Beach, Krabi.
  2. Climb up to the mountaintop Wat Tum Sua Temple in Krabi, Thailand.
  3. Learn to sail.
  4. Climb a volcano.
  5. Eat slow-roasted crispy suckling pig in Bali (delicious babi guling).
  6. Spend a week with friends at Burning Man in the Nevada desert.
  7. Go skydiving. Go skydiving again.
  8. Learn to play guitar.
  9. Reactivate my French and achieve fluency.
  10. Learn to speak conversational Spanish. (half-way there in Colombia 2014)
  11. Get in the best shape of my life with my trainer Tom Frearson.
  12. Replace my morning coffee with Yerba Maté for at least a week.
  13. Get a tattoo with a design from my best friend.
  14. Take my dad to eat real Kobe beef at Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant CUT in Los Angeles.
  15. Spend a whole lot more time with my grandfather and learn about his life before he leaves us.
  16. Raise another dog.
  17. Take my best friend Patrick to a Daft Punk concert.
  18. Share a beer with Carlos Miceli in South America. (Sept 2013 in Santiago, Chile)
  19. Settle abroad for at least 3 months elsewhere in Asia, in Central and South America, and Europe.
  20. Live at least 3 months in San Francisco, San Diego, and Austin, Texas.
  21. Work for a month at a winery—like, in the fields, growing grapes—in California or France wine country.
  22. Drive the Pacific Coast Highway in a convertible Lamborghini.
  23. Camp under the stars on the beach and see the sun rise. (2009 in Prachuap, Thailand)
  24. Participate in the world’s biggest water fight during Thailand’s New Year’s festivities (Songkran).
  25. Do a beach photoshoot with a swimsuit model.
  26. Go to a shooting range and fire off a Kalashnikov rifle and a Desert Eagle .50 Action Express. More importantly, learn to disassemble & reassemble them.
  27. Drive a Tesla Roadster.
  28. Take a gondola along the Venice canals in Italy.
  29. Ride camel back across the Sahara desert.
  30. Take a Serengeti safari in Tanzania and Kenya.
  31. Trek through the jungle on the back of an elephant.
  32. See the view from the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (twice).
  33. See the view from the top of Corcovado Mountain in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
  34. Party on Ibiza for New Year’s Eve in Spain’s Ballearic Islands.
  35. Go to the Glastonbury Festival in England and see Stonehenge.
  36. Participate in the Brazilian Carnaval celebration.
  37. See what Mardi Gras and Voodoo Fest are all about in New Orleans, Louisiana.
  38. Train Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with my son.
  39. Learn to surf (took lessons in Bali 2010). Learn to surf properly!
  40. Learn to DJ or mix electronic music.
  41. Own a Ducati motorcycle.
  42. Buy and restore a 1965 or 1966 Shelby Mustang GT350.
  43. Stay in an over-the-water bungalow in beautiful Bora Bora in the French Polynesian islands.
  44. Spontaneously walk into the airport and randomly buy a same-day ticket to wherever looks appealing.
  45. Drive the Amalfi coast near Sorrento, Italy.
  46. Rent a villa on Lake Como or Lake Lugano with friends.
  47. Own a small bar or restaurant with live music.
  48. Leave any wealth or assets I have when I go out to people who really deserve and need them.

Places to Travel & Landmarks to See

  1. The ancient temples at Angkor Wat, Cambodia
  2. The Acropolis and Parthenon in Athens, Greece
  3. The Sistine Chapel and Vatican City in Rome, Italy
  4. The pyramids at Giza, Egypt
  5. Machu Picchu in Peru
  6. The home of the Oracle at Delphi, Greece
  7. The Taj Mahal
  8. The ancient city of Petra, carved into canyon walls in southern Jordan
  9. The Karnak temple and the Valley of the Kings near Luxor, Egypt
  10. The Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza near Cancun, Mexico
  11. Iguazu Falls on the Argentina/Brazil border
  12. The Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy
  13. The Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  14. The Banaue Rice Terraces in the Philippines
  15. The Borobudur stuppa in Java, Indonesia
  16. Gorgeous Zion National Park, Utah
  17. Niagara Falls lit up at night
  18. Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet
  19. Jerusalem’s Old City
  20. The Hagia Sofia mosque in Istanbul, Turkey
  21. The abbey of Mont-St-Michel in France

You’ll notice I’ve included a few things I’ve already accomplished (plus I come back to update this list every few months, so things are continually getting crossed off).

I’ve also taken Sean’s advice to have a few things that will be easier to achieve, and a few goals I can obtain in the very near future.

I think when you make your own list it’s important to recognize the big things you’ve already done that you’d always dreamed of, and include a few “gimme” goals so you can start off strong and stay motivated.

Of course I expect that my feelings about some items on the list may change throughout the course of my life. I may not achieve everything, some of my goals will change, or I may add new items to the list. But, it’s a starting point and it’s something I can always refer back to to remind me what I want to accomplish.

Of course if there’s anything you can help me achieve, or something you want to join in on, leave a shout out and we’ll talk! 

What’s on Your List?

Take a look at my in-depth breakdown of how to establish meaningful personal and professional goals for yourself in all the important realms of your life. It’s written to help you establish yearly goals, but the principles can be applied to building your own life goals list too.

If you have a bucket list already, share it. If not, take a look at the above articles and get on it! Your time here is short, so remember to value every day you have and make the most of it.

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Get Out of Debt and In Control of Your Personal Finances with Adam Baker of Man Vs Debt

If you’re someone who’s tired of living from one paycheck to the next, want to build a solid safety net, curb impulse spending and increase your earning power, then Adam Baker at Man Vs. Debt is someone you should be listening to. He and his wife paid off about $18K in consumer debt, sold all their belongings, and were able to travel the world for over a year (with their 22-month-old daughter!). With a little hard work, they have been able to achieve some incredible things, and because he’s done it, Baker has become a huge authority in the online personal finance world who shares credible advice that will help you eliminate financial stress in your life.

I’ve known Baker since early on after he started his blog in 2009. Since then, he’s quickly amassed a loyal following, joined forces with some of the biggest forces on the social web (Leo Babauta at Zen Habits, J.D. Roth at Get Rich Slowly, and the team at WiseBread). He and I partnered together with a great team to start Untemplater, and finally got the chance to meet in person when he visited Thailand in January on his year-long location-independent world tour! I’ve been looking forward to doing a video interview with him for quite a while now, and this week we were finally able to sit down for a great conversation.

Baker just launched his first ebook guide, Unautomate Your Finances: A Simple, Passionate Approach to Money , which lays out his holistic approach to personal finance. I know from interacting with him on a weekly basis that he’s spent the last several months toiling away on this guide, he’s gotten a tremendous amount of positive feedback, and this is something that is sure to transform people’s relationship with money. Watch our video conversation below to see why you should un-automate your finances, how you can build a more conscious, simple, sustainable financial life, and get the scoop about his world travels since freeing himself from debt prison!

Click here for the full video interview.

  • 0:55 – Baker’s college experience, business background & financial history
  • 2:15 – White picket fences & opting out of the template life path
  • 4:54 – Unconventional approaches to eliminating debt
  • 6:45 – Deliberate, effective budgeting
  • 8:13 – How to plan for income fluctuations & irregular expenses when you’re a freelancer
  • 10:20 – Couchsurfing & backpacking through Australia, New Zealand & Thailand
  • 13:38 – Traveling the world with young children
  • 16:07 – More about Baker’s new ebook Unautomate Your Finances
  • 20:36 – Cultivating a conscious mindset about personal finance & money
  • 22:12 – South by Southwest Web Awards & where to find Baker

UPDATE: For more from Baker: check out his Sell Your Crap guide to learn how his family got rid of all their belongings before they went traveling around the world, and how you can sell all your stuff on eBay, Craigslist, and Amazon to make some extra cash. Also, if you want to add a guaranteed $12,000 to your online business over the next 12 months, you might want to grab a seat in his course with Corbett Barr, The Hustle Project. Corbett and Baker are both Faculty members at Digital Nomad Academy, regular recurring mentors for our students inside the Academy, so I can speak personally to the high quality of their coaching.

I’ll be honest: I’m someone who hates to sit down with spreadsheets and budget out my finances. I don’t even like to look at my bank statements every month! With student loans, a lot of random business stuff going on, and the fact that I’m a lazy excuse for a human, my finances are a damn mess, but Baker has developed a product that has fundamentally changed the way I think about money, and he and his wife Courtney are proof that you really can get conscious about how you spend, escape the debt “game” that the rest of the world is stuck in, and start to build the lifestyle you want now! Forget dreaming about retirement, if he and his family can eliminate their debt and go globetrotting, you can get control of your finances and do whatever you dream of doing too.

Here is what you get if you purchase a copy of Baker’s Unautomate Your Finances:

  • A comprehensive 83-page eBook. In “The Unautomation Theory” section, Baker relates his experience climbing out of the debt hole and the way that has transformed his family’s lives. He goes on to explain how to avoid financial burnout and unlock conscious financial awareness by un-automating. In “The Science of Unautomation” he’ll help you take a hard look at your priorities and figure out how to budget for what you really want in life. Lastly, in the “Applying Unautomation” section, he focuses on application, showing you how to actively manage your finances with a simple 2-page minimalist budgeting system and apply his “Debt Tsunami” tactic to rid yourself of debt.
  • A 27-minute video interview with Leo Babauta of ZenHabits.net. Baker interviews Leo on how he applied the principles of simplicity and minimalism to dramatically turn around his financial life.  Powerful insights from a leader in simplicity, blogging, and productivity.
  • A 29-minute audio interview with J.D. Roth of GetRichSlowly.org, one of the top personal finance blogs on the web. J.D. joins Baker on a call to discuss his own financial recovery story and what it’s like now that he’s in the “third phase of personal finance“.
  • A 2-page, custom-designed PDF version (printable) of the minimalist budgeting system discussed in the main guide.
  • A simple Excel template for those who want to take the minimalist budgeting system digital.
  • Free Extended Updates! Get on the exclusive email list and over the next 6 months, Baker will be releasing sample case studies, FAQ’s, and exclusive interviews… for free!

At just $17, I honestly thought he was nuts for giving away so much hard work, but it just goes to show how dedicated he is to providing real value and helping those who need financial guidance. This is a truly impressive product that would typically go for at least $39 if you look around at other bloggers online, and it comes with Baker’s “as long as I have a pulse” money-back guarantee. So if you need to learn how to get the best of your personal finances, start an emergency fund, successfully get out of debt, and create a realistic budget that will let you achieve your financial and life goals, then Unautomate Your Finances is definitely something you need to check out.

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3 Ways To Be An Unconventional Giver: What Jesus, Gandhi and Spiderman Knew

This is a guest post I’m excited to host from Dwight Turner, founder of In Search Of Sanuk.

You’re already en route to your thrilling lifestyle so why are you still giving the same way? In the footsteps of Jesus, Ghandi, Spiderman and all four Ninja Turtles, here are three steps to make your giving as revolutionary as your lifestyle.

Stop Giving Only When It’s Convenient

The template lifestyle dictates that you should probably begin thinking about what you can give back a few years before you expect to die. How much have you bought into that mentality? Have you repeatedly postponed giving until you have more money, more stability, and more success? My first big project last year was to design a fundraiser for Bangkok’s Refugee Center. I ended up throwing an art show that provided much needed funds for the center and got more people in the city talking about my initiative. However, had I let the unpredictability of my personal life govern the decision to be involved, it would have been scheduled for 2030. To play a role in social change, we can no longer conceptualize giving the same way we think about clipping our toenails or doing our taxes. Break the mold and transform giving from a mundane task to a part of your thrilling lifestyle.

volunteering Thailand orphanage

Embrace Risky Giving

As a society we have bought the idea that giving should be feel good and secure. Sometimes it can be, but we are wrong to believe putting others’ well being before our own will be all smiles and rainbows. My hunch is this is because we’re not giving for the right reasons to begin with. I cringe when I hear, “Give and you WILL RECEIVE.” How much of what you give is steeped in what you’re hoping to receive? Are you doing it so more people will buy your product or read your blog? In reality, the people giving the most are hardly recognized or rewarded. Stop and think about your teachers and I know you’ll get my point. Why then do you expect some selfish reward for doing what we know is right? Really want to be an unconventional giver? Try this:

Give when no one is looking. Give and expect nothing. Be risky, be taken for granted and give purely.

Give From the Bottom of your Hurt

Your parents tried it. You tried it. So where did giving from the heart get us? Well, besides forcing smart non profits and NGOs to scramble, rearranging budgets or compromising their services for overpaid marketers who know how to tap into our vanity. To our detriment we’ve created an environment where cause marketers have to dupe us into repeatedly buying a latte laced with ‘feel good’ to do something noble like saving the rain forest. It works, so everyday we fall out of bed and into line for innumerable magic lattes until we’ve purchased such a monstrous caseload of feel good that we honestly believe we can end poverty without ever changing our daily routine. Nothing wrong with a laced latte, right? But, if you’re reading this it’s because you’ve already fallen off the bandwagon. So I challenge all former bandwagon riders to start giving from the bottom of your hurt. You don’t have to be hungry for long to have enough of an idea of what starving might be like. Likewise, you don’t have to travel to countries where every meal is an appetizer just to realize more should be done to relieve the suffering of those less fortunate than us. Pain is universal. Give when it hurts and because it hurts.

Thrilling Heroics Consulting is a regular supporter of In Search of Sanuk and fully sponsored their December teaching initiative in the Bangkok slums. Begin your unconventional giving by donating today.

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Ramit Sethi Illuminates the Path to Financial Success

personal finance wealth

Ramit Sethi was one of the earliest bloggers to inspire me when I first started writing my original site ‘Thrilling Heroics’ and building my professional network.

A Stanford alumni who studied technology and psychology, Ramit was one of the original co-founders of Silicon Valley startup PBworks, and runs the hugely successful I Will Teach You To Be Rich blog to help college students and young professionals take control of their personal finances and succeed with entrepreneurship.

I first met him in person in our hometown Sacramento, California, one chilly winter day in 2006 when he was home to visit his family, and I had the opportunity to interview him about his education, entrepreneurship experience, and his perspectives on new media.

One of the first bold moves Ramit made in his career was to call up Seth Godin and negotiate a job opportunity with him. He later consulted with Omidyar Network, the philanthropic social innovation firm started by Ebay founder Pierre Omidyar.

I Will Teach You to Be RichIn March 2006, Ramit published his definitive personal finance book, which immediately hit #1 on Amazon and made him a New York Times bestselling author. His educational background in social psychology translated well into a thorough guidebook that helps readers make real behavioral change:

At last, for a generation that’s materially ambitious yet financially clueless comes I Will Teach You To Be Rich, Ramit Sethi’s 6-week personal finance program for 20-to-35-year-olds. A completely practical approach delivered with a nonjudgmental style that makes readers want to do what Sethi says, it is based around the four pillars of personal finance—banking, saving, budgeting, and investing—and the wealth-building ideas of personal entrepreneurship.

This week Ramit is adapting his bestseller into a six-week online bootcamp

After meeting recently with him in San Francisco, I’ve been wanting to bring him on for a video interview to share what has changed in the last three years. Here’s our fascinating discussion:

Check out the full video interview here for the following:

  • How Ramit turned his writing and personal expertise into a 6-week personal finance training program
  • The massive importance of TAKING ACTION
  • The value of FREE content versus INVESTING in your success
  • How to use a blog as a laboratory for launching your own business and life experiments
  • What defines a RICH life? (what Ramit values most)
  • How to leverage failures to reach SUCCESS
  • How Ramit made the leap from blogger to NYT best-selling author
  • Personal finance & entrepreneurship tips for travelers & expats

lifestyle design Ramit Sethi interview

To learn more about Ramit Sethi, social psychology, technology in business, scrappy startups, and x-man abilities, make sure you also read my 2006 interview with him.

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Why You Need to Listen to the Legendary Gary Vaynerchuk

Gary Vaynerchuk embodies authenticity, transparency, passion, and hustle. His dedication to his community has made him a juggernaut in the social media space, so if you don’t know him already, you need to.

Garyvee, as he’s called, can teach you a lot about following your passion.

Gary’s a wine guy. He’s the 33-year-old director of Wine Library in Springfield, New Jersey, where he has successfully built up a following of over 80,000 viewers a day through blogging, Twitter, and Facebook. Wine Library TV, the company’s video blog, now has over 750 video podcasts. To quote his bio:

With a wealth of knowledge and an entrepreneurial spirit, Gary spent every weekend of his college years at his parents’ store, rebranding the family business as Wine Library and establishing himself as a respected expert. As the store’s only wine buyer, he sampled every wine that entered the store. Customers depended on Gary for his advice and within a five year time period, Wine Library grew from a $4 million dollar business to a $45 million business.

But Gary’s career took a new turn with the advent of Wine Library TV. Gary’s key goals are twofold: “First, I want people to try different wines. How can you have a favorite if you only know a few? Second, I tell people to trust their palates. If a wine appeals to your palate, then it’s a good choice. Don’t feel pressured to like popular brands or what experts recommend. Buy what ‘brings the thunder’ for you.”

Even if you’re no wine connoisseur, Gary’s experience in social media and business has far-reaching implications in this new economy.

In internet currency, Gary Vaynerchuk has more reach than Tim Ferriss, who you should be familiar with if you’re a reader of this blog. Gary has spoken around the world and been called the “Social Media Sommelier,” and he’s successfully leveraged all this exposure into a 10-book deal with HarperCollins, national TV appearances, and much more.

At the Web 2.0 Expo, Gary put out a call to action: he says it’s time to stop doing shit you hate and embrace what you love. The web makes it possible to go out on your own and make a living doing what you care about. In his new book out this week, Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In On Your Passion, he’ll share his path to success and teach you how to do just that.

He was kind enough to take a few minutes to record answers for two of MY biggest questions for our growing community here:

  • How can Gen-Y start applying your advice to “stop doing shit you hate” and the lessons in Crush It! to gear their career around their passion?
  • How can the non-profit & social entrepreneurship world leverage social media & transparency to be successful?

Gary still runs this huge multimillion-dollar business like a mom-and-pop store. He makes time to answer virtually everyone, to interact and respond with the little guys like myself, and I’ve watched him take full ownership of his mistakes. He’s someone who knows how to provide superior customer service, and how to go above and beyond. He treats everyone like a rockstar.

He’s incredibly enthusiastic and engaging in his videos. He’ll be uniquely honest and transparent about his feelings. He’s authentic and entertaining, and all of these things have made him a success. He’s REAL and Raw. He gives a shit. He’s himself.

He’s not afraid to call people out on their B.S., he advocates radical transparency, and Doing The WORK to make a living doing what you’re passionate about.

If you want to make a living with your passion, pick up your copy of Gary’s new book Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In On Your Passion today.

 

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How to Build an Internet Business that Supports Your Purpose & Freedom with Clay Collins

This discussion has been months in the making. Clay Collins caught my attention long ago with his writing, and his vision for a world where every person can be their own boss and secure a healthy income while offering their greatest gift to the world. Today he’s dedicating his attention to teaching people how to build purpose-driven freedom businesses.

Clay is an expert marketer, with solid knowledge of market research, testing, keyword research and SEO. But he’s also someone who uses this stuff for good. Clay Collins is someone who has built his life and his business around helping others find their purpose.

His writing has always been really compelling, but I feel like I’ve watched him find his true passion over the last year or so and the quality of his message has become truly captivating. Finance Your Freedom evolved into Project Mojave, where Clay and a faculty of awesome folks like Jonathan Mead, Laura Roeder, Johnny Truant, Michael Martine, and Dave Navarro have helped tons of people turn their passion into profitable businesses that can take them out of the 9-to-5.

Update: You can now find Clay providing his incredible marketing strategies at LeadPages and with The Marketing Show podcast.

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My Secret Recipe for 100% Guaranteed Happiness

My friend Dwight is slowly convincing me that I’m a philanthropist.

I’ve talked before about the impact Dwight Turner is making in Bangkok—making it easy for people to volunteer and contribute to charitable causes in Thailand. We have gone to hand out food to the homeless near Democracy Monument here in Bangkok, we’ve taken the great kids at Chonburi Children’s Center to the beach, we’ve volunteered with the infants and toddlers at Friends For All Children (F.F.A.C.) nursery, we’ve held events to raise money for an urban garden installation project here in Bangkok and for medical aide for refugees. Dwight’s hard work has even earned him the attention of CNN’s new local Asia site.

I’ve met incredible people with touching stories. I’ve made incredible friends with some of the other volunteers.

To commemorate September 11th this year, In Search of Sanuk hosted Bangkok’s Twestival celebration. Twestival is a Twitter-inspired social event where attendees can meet other Twitter users (much like our monthly Bangkok Tweetup), but also be a part of a global awareness and fundraising campaign for charitable causes around the world. We raised money for two orphanages near the Burmese border—Baan Unrak and Baan Dada.

The event was spectacular. Over 350 people came out to party on the Fraser Suites’ poolside rooftop bar and support our cause. People recorded and shared our social media-powered event live. We raised over $2400 US, which can go a long way in Southeast Asia. The founders of Digital Democracy even showed up to interview volunteers Jen, Danielle, and myself about emerging technologies in Thailand and about how the global Twitter event was helping make a social change:

So here’s the secret: Some of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had have been volunteering with children throughout Thailand.

A few days after the event successfully wrapped, Dwight and I took a 7-hour van ride to hand-deliver donations and visit the two children’s homes with our travel buddies Mark, Joel and Agnes.

Baan Unrak and Baan Dada educate and empower orphaned or otherwise impoverished kids—not only Thais but also Karen and Mon refugees who’ve been driven from their homes and persecuted by the Burmese military dictatorship. The children are instructed in playing musical instruments, sewing, fixing motorbikes, art, languages and technical skills. They’re taught to respect all people, creatures, religion and to practice vegetarianism. The homes also provide jobs for refugees and local families who help care for the children, assist with farming, construction and weaving projects.

Wandering through Sangklaburi farmland with the Baan Dada children

Hanging out with kids like these is a transformative experience. They are some of the poorest people in the world, often living in crummy conditions, many have lost their families, yet they are the most cheerful and gracious little people you’ll ever meet.

Words cannot describe, so I’ll let this video do the job for me. This is a montage of many of the great kids I’ve had the opportunity to share time with while helping out at Baan Dada, Baan Unrak, F.F.A.C., Chonburi Center, and more.

Whatever you do, watch this video.

Spending time with children in need will change your life. Once you begin to understand the loss some of them have experienced, the disadvantage they are at—and yet they still exude love—it should cause you to reevaluate how you look at your own life. You can’t help but smile around some of these kids.

The only activity I’ve found yet that is guaranteed to keep a smile on my face.

Find children in need (they are everywhere, unfortunately). Go and give generously with your time and any other resources you can share.

Some of the awesome kids at Baan Unrak

Some of the awesome kids at Baan Unrak

This message is dedicated to a gracious, playful little tyke who lost his life way before his time. Ali Baba lost a battle with disease on Thursday, September 17th, just two days after we said goodbye to him and the other children at Baan Dada. The loss was unbearable and affected a lot of us. Rest in peace, friend.

Cody with Ali Baba

If you’d like to make a donation on his behalf, the home is building a new medical clinic and needs your help. You can sponsor a child’s food and healthcare needs for three months for only $187. Donate to Baan Dada.

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