How to Build a Brand that Gets You Free Stuff (And Lots of It)

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Want to know a little secret? I get free stuff. A lot of it. I don’t want that to sound cocky or as if i’m freeloading, but I’ve structured my businesses in such a way that I get to take advantage of a lot of, shall we say fringe benefits of blogging. Perhaps, you remember the first episode of Location 180 Digs? Or maybe that trip to Jordan last year? Colorado ski trip? Or even this most recent round at world renowned Cog Hill Golf Club. Yep, all free. On top of how to build a lifestyle business, the thing I get asked most often, is how to build or leverage a brand that allows you to do more of

Continue Reading > 8 Comments posted: May 16th, 2013

10 Invaluable Lessons I’ve Learned in 4 Years of Being a Lifestyle Entrepreneur

Millenium Park Chicago

Yes, you read that right, today Location 180 is 4 years old. This is unbelievable to me. No seriously, I have a hard time believing that it’s actually been so long since I wrote that first post, and that I’ve been able to cram so much life into such a short time. Even in the time since our 2 year anniversary post, things seemed to have really picked up. This last week I’ve been in Chicago speaking at SOBcon 2013 which has had me reflecting a lot on where I’d like to see the next 4 years ago. Note – This conference was incredible, if you’re in Portland in the Fall I highly recommend you come check out their West Coast

Continue Reading > 27 Comments posted: May 8th, 2013

How Much Info Should You Give Away for Free on Your Blog?

Zero Dollars

In the last 48 hours I’ve received the same question from 4 different people, so I figured now would be a good time to answer this question: “How much information should you give away for free on your blog or website?” This is something I used to think about a lot, and up until recently my blog posts probably suffered as a result. I was afraid that if I gave away all my best information for free in the form of blog posts, I’d have nothing left to offer as paid content later on. This is one of the biggest misconceptions I see people make, and a lot of it comes down to understanding exactly why people buy premium products

Continue Reading > 22 Comments posted: April 25th, 2013

The 60 Minute Blog Audit (How to Increase Reader Retention and Subscribers)

blog audit

I’ve seen a lot of crappy blogs. No really. I hate to say it, but I get a lot of emails from people asking me to check out their blog and give them feedback on it.  I do my best to be kind, and respond with some tips, but I’ve found that without fail, almost every single time I’m giving the exact same advice. Now, I may not have the world’s best blog, but I’ve worked with a lot of Location Rebel members and others to help them position their blogs in the best possible place to be successful. “What do you mean you need a tagline?!” “Oh, I need a photo on my about page?! Says who?!”  “Wait, people

Continue Reading > 26 Comments posted: April 22nd, 2013

What Would It Look Like If…

Koh-Nang-Yuan

What would it look like if… …I ran a marathon even though I’ve never done it before? …I moved to a tropical island for two months? …I built a business that has the potential to help thousands of people? …I golfed all of the top 100 courses in the country – in a year? There’s one thing that sets successful lifestyle entrepreneurs apart between most other people: Their ability to imagine something most people would say is impossible. What Would It Look Like If… This is quite possibly the biggest mental reframe I’ve ever made in my life. Before I was running an online  business and traveling all the time, I used to spend a lot of time daydreaming. I’d pretend that I

Continue Reading > 10 Comments posted: April 15th, 2013

Everything I’ve Learned About Email Marketing (And a Little Something Special)

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Today is my 28th birthday. In order to start the celebration I’m giving subscribers a new ebook “How to Quit Your Job” that will eventually be one of three books in the new 180 Toolkit. This will replace the “6 Steps to Location Independence” email series. More below, but definitely sign up if you haven’t already! At the beginning of the year I made over $20,000 in one week just from sending out a series of emails offering an incredible package for Location Rebel. Last week I sent a short email out to my newsletter list that resulted in the highest traffic day ever on the blog. Why am I telling you this? Because in nearly 4 years of blogging

Continue Reading > 18 Comments posted: April 4th, 2013

10 Things You Can Do Today to Start a Lifestyle Business (Even if you have no ideas)

Boracay Office

In 2008, I had a pretty good idea that my day job wasn’t going to be a long term solution for me. However, it wouldn’t be for another 18 months that I’d actually leave my job. During most of those 18 months I stayed stagnant, and made no progress to the goals I’d really set for myself – namely traveling the world, and building a business. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to, but it was mostly because I didn’t know where to start.  In 2009 things started coming together a little bit more, but it really only took about 5 months from the time that I started actually taking action to the time I parted ways from my job.

Continue Reading > 52 Comments posted: March 25th, 2013

How to Handle Any Stressful Travel Situation (and the Biggest Mistake I’ve Ever Made)

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It’s 1:23 pm on a cloudy Monday afternoon in New York City. You’ve just hopped off the NJ Transit train to Newark Liberty International and you’re excited to get back home after 10 days of networking, socializing and business meetings. As you’re on the Airtrain you pull up Tripit to figure out which terminal you’re supposed to be getting off at. “2:45 – JFK Gate 23 Terminal 3″ You know that moment where you realize you’re at the wrong airport less than 90 minutes before your flight? Yep, that’s me as of about 20 minutes ago. I’ve been relatively lucky with my travels, as this is the first full on, all out, stupid mistake I’ve ever made. Sure I’ve had some close

Continue Reading > 13 Comments posted: March 19th, 2013

The Secret to Eliminating Spam and Annoying Emails Forever

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Email is the most important component of my business.  When I get to communicate one on one with readers and help them find solutions to their problems, everyone wins.  Yet as this blog grows, the email grows with it and managing it can be really difficult at times. A few months back Arman Assadi got in touch with me and was telling me about his new course for managing it.  I was seriously intrigued.  After checking it out, I was even more sold on his strategies and asked him to do an in depth overview of how to really implement a strategy for removing all the emails that I didn’t want to see each day. Needless to say, he delivered.

Continue Reading > 3 Comments posted: March 14th, 2013

How to Create a Product in China (And Make $100k in a Week on Kickstarter)

Original Grain Watches

Last April I decided to take a trip to China and see what kinds of opportunities I could find for myself over there. I had three potential markets in mind that I wanted to explore: Wood Watches Backpacks for the “flashpacker” Opportunities to import into China. The one I was most excited about at the time were the watches.  My girlfriend Tate has a wooden watch that looks pretty cool, is a unique idea, and is a magnate for comments.  Everytime she wears it she gets at least 1 or 2 comments asking about it. There was a ton of potential in the market, as few people had really started looking into opportunities with making watches out of wood. I

Continue Reading > 17 Comments posted: March 4th, 2013

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